rare bird

STAR WARS The magazine's interview with the film-maker and a great photo portfolio, including the original stars (my gosh, they've gotten old. Oh yeah, that's right; I was a kid then).

Like 99.9% of technical writers out there, I use Arial as my primary font. Today I received a document in Helvetica, which I haven't seen for years. Just for fun I googled it and found out there is a fierce anger in the typographic world over the fact that Arial is a knock-off (and a bad one at that). This is also thanks to MSFT, since Windows chose to adopt Arial and Apple chose Helvetica, and Windows won. Of course only professionals can tell the difference. But that's the whole point, isn't it?

Don't know if anyone saw this in Sunday's Star Tribune (free registration required). "Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of the interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."" By the way, in Minnesota the last Friday of April is Arbor Day. Go plant a tree.

Every generation brings along a person who re-discovers the gospel of God for their time. Paul did it - he set the stage; Augustine did it; Luther and Calvin did it; Edwards did it; Wesley did it; Barth did it; C.S. Lewis did it; Stott and Packer have done it; and now I believe Brian McLaren is doing it. "More to come," as Johnny Carson would say...

Rare Bird welcomes Vision Man, our Lifestyle and Entertainment editor! He is chief sound engineer at a liberal arts college whose expertise ranges far and wide. Listen, those with ears to hear.

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.