rare bird

What a great idea - learn from professors with Harvard and Yale quality without having to go there! Follow the link for an excerpt on Luther.

One of the issues reported by Jon Gordon is that the song "Happy Birthday" is used in the film. Apparently it is also under copyright and cannot be used without a license. If any song should be in the public domain, it's "Happy Birthday."

The browser wars are back! Will open source prove to be the development model that can actually challenge MSFT's decade-long dominance? If you don't already have Firefox, get it here . Even if you run OS X, or don't speak English! Let's show the world that open source can compete.

Finally , a music radio station that is not owned by someone out of town, with DJ's that have personality and are allowed to express them. These guys are from RadioK and Rev-105, classic Twin Cities "modern rock" formats that have a mind of their own. And ... no ... commercials! Pinch me.

Rare Birds worldwide are very happy this has finally come to pass. Hopefully the oligarchic (now) opposition will not make too much mischief while the new Mr. President is globetrotting. First item on the domestic agenda: picking a prime minister. Apparently Yushchenko has promised the post to Julia Tymoshenko, who is kind of a Ukrainian Howard Dean (but a lot more clever). This decision is very important, because in approximately nine months the new laws Yushchenko agreed to will take effect, and they give the prime minister and the Duma much of the power currently enjoyed by the President.

Link : Daily Show. As Jon says, " Have pride in a government that allows for such a peaceful non-transfer of power ." (Seriously, does it make any sense to have an inauguration for a second term?) The Freedom 27 - Liberty 15 final score that Hamlet refers to was part of the show yesterday, where Jon commented: " It was a noble effort by Liberty, which as you know has been playing hurt since the PATRIOT Act ." If the result of Bush's rhetoric is a foreign policy that promotes liberty throughout the world, this is a vital mission. Given the success of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine (BTW, Yushchenko's inauguration is this Sunday! Link .) we need to ramp up support of democratic / libertarian movements everywhere. I wish Bush had spoken out more openly about Ukraine than he did. I hope that he will speak out more in the future, when it comes to movements in other countries. My hope is that we will create the greatest diplomatic push in history to carry out

George W. Bush was sworn into office yesterday, making him only the 16th president to ever be elected to a second term. In this 23 minute inauguration speech he used the word freedom 27 times and liberty 15 times (thanks Daily Show). Already the Bush dynasty has lasted longer than the Kennedy dynasty, and there is already talk of a Jeb Bush in '08 campaign (he is the taller and smarter brother), with rumors of a George P. Bush to follow (he is the son of Jeb who George Sr. once referred to as "one of the brown ones"). I for one welcome our Bush overlords.

I will be watching. They've been re-airing the mini-series this week and it looks quite good. Producer Ron Moore: "Our goal is nothing less than the reinvention of the science-fiction television series." I think they will continue where Star Trek: TNG left off, and go even further.

Got this from Hamlet. As he says, "What a collection of great quotes." Luther was a neverending source of great 'table talk.' I hope I get the chance to meet him someday.

My Galileo Themometer tells me it's 68 degrees. Inside the office.

It took me some frustrating digging, but I found an RSS feed for Microsoft security bulletins. This way you can keep up to speed when Windows Update is really necessary without getting a bunch of emails.

"Now that Apple Computer has shown it plans to go after new, low-cost markets for its Macintosh computers and iPod music players, investors will turn their attention today to the company's top and bottom lines when Apple delivers its 2005 first-quarter results."

Scobleizer is reporting that Apple has released the Mac Mini, an honest-to-God PC with no peripherals. He says "looks like a great place to run Windows" and laments that the price of Wintel machines at Wal-Mart is still lower. While I would argue that's completely missing the point, if he buys a Mac Mini I won't complain. What is more important is that Apple is finally willing to release themselves from their insistence on PC-peripheral linkage-bondage and is acknowledging the reality of the market. This means they've got a fighting chance against the other PC makers to win over consumers who are not going to stop using Windows and can't ditch their Wintel PC, not to mention their monitor and keyboard (like my family). Using a KVM switch, my wife and I could use the same monitor and keyboard but different PC's. I could have a Mac without finding a new room to use it in. It also shows Apple is a serious technology company, not just a fashion company w

Rare Bird is proud to have Hamlet D'Arcy as our Foreign Affairs editor. He's just returned from a trip to Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and - simply put - has traveled more than anyone I know. You can also check out his blog at mi vida poco .

Holy Day After Tomorrow ! Seriously, though, the NOAA defines a Wind Chill Watch as when temperatures plunge below -35 deg. F. We're not going to reach that, so it could be worse. That makes me feel a whole lot better.

This is a reference to the last time this happened.

John Kerry has refused to join the challenge - the result will not be changed - but Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has agreed to sign a challenge from House Democrats so that a spotlight can be shined on voting problems that arose in Ohio. Discuss.

J.R.R. Tolkien did not like it when people tried to find analogies in LOTR or any of his other writings. He wanted people to take his books at face value, not try to read meanings "into" them from the outside. Regardless, many people have found analogies in LOTR, most commonly images of world war. Despite Tolkiens' protestations, this makes sense because he did fight in World War I. After seeing Peter Jacksons' films, particularly the "Council of Elrond" scene in FOTR, a new analogy arose in my mind - that of the Ring as the terrible power of nuclear weapons in our postmodern world. The scene is like a mythological IAEA - all the races of Middle-Earth gather to debate the fate of the Ring, and to decide who will be the Ringbearer. There is a lot of argument and conflict over this issue; jealousy and suspicion abounds; precious unity is sacrificed to the thought of using the Ring as a weapon to defeat Middle-Earth's enemies. In the meantime, the Ring ag

This template is perfect. The star represents the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and the other hues represent my Blue America sympathies. It's also cleaner in terms of organization and feel.