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Some more interesting stuff for your week...

1. This Denver Post editorial clarifies why private businesses can't be allowed the right to turn away customers solely on the basis of personal prejudice.  It also points out the distinction between that and freedom of speech exceptions, which answers my own concerns about cases like this.

2. Although I was never homeschooled myself, I knew a fair amount about the homeschool movement back in the 90s when evangelical groups were pushing hard for it.  Thus, it's very interesting to get this update on the results of that grand experiment.  Granted, there are many homeschooled children whose experiences are far more positive than these, and there are cases in which home schooling genuinely is the best option for a kid, but we now have a generation of young adults that can attest that separatism and indoctrination are never good reasons...

3. ThinkProgress points out five ways in which the world is becoming a better place.  In the midst of all the reasons we have to worry for the future (destruction of the environment, terrorism, the decline of the American middle class, etc.), it's helpful to be reminded that all is not bleak.

4. From the "this is cool" department, a collection of maps that will help to clarify the way you see the world.

5. Finally, a plug for an upcoming project that I'm personally excited about: a live-action version of the long-running comic Knights of the Dinner Table...