This is: World Intellectual Property Day. World IP Day is celebrated every April 26th "to increase understanding of how protecting IP rights helps promote creativity and innovation." To learn more, visit The World Intellectual Property Organization's YouTube page.
Spirit food: "After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains." -- Walt Whitman
Brain food: Stephen Hawking warns that "trying to make contact with alien races is 'a little too risky'": "If aliens ever visit us," he says, "I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans." (via Huffington Post)
Young adults today...: annoying our professors and weakening our brains by using laptops in class. (via The Washington Post)
UU news: The Westside UU Congregation of Seattle, which has been renting space in the local Masonic Temple for 20 years, has purchased its own building and is looking for help in furnishing everything from the office to the RE classrooms. Donate money or items at their New Home Catalog. (via The West Seattle Herald)
UU voices: At Flower and Flame, Maura talks about her recent "conversion" to Unitarian Universalism and how her new congregation is becoming a home.
A joy: Good news for vegans and those bothered by lactose----starting in May, Starbucks will introduce a non-dairy version of its frappuccino. (via The Gothamist)
A concern: It appears that Warrior Transition Units, created by the U.S. Army three years ago to support injured soldiers as they recover and then return to combat duty or civilian life, aren't helping as much as was hoped---a piece in this weekend's Boston Globe calls them "warehouses of despair, where damaged men and women are kept out of sight, fed a diet of powerful prescription pills, and treated harshly by noncommissioned officers." More than 50,000 people have been treated by a Transition Unit since 2007. (via The Boston Globe)
Churchy things: For the entire month of May, Wellspring Community Church in Welland, Ontario, will be operated almost entirely by people under the age of 30. (via The Welland Tribune)
Unchurchy things: Two words --- Muppet. Cupcakes. (via Cupcakes Take the Cake)
Young adults of note: Salma Yaqoob, the 39 year-old left-wing candidate for the British parliament, is challenging traditional Muslim political culture and encouraging women in Muslim communities to be informed and vote. (via The Guardian)
