rare bird

Wired magazine's cover story this month is on George Lucas. This is an online exclusive interview with the man behind the Star Wars franchise.

Check out these video previews for the coming game Auto Assault. They were edited by our friend, Matt James. If you have need of an incredibly talented video editor, email him: peacejames at aol.com .

Awesome... two free lectures from the Teaching Company . Kind of bad timing to release these though, at this point I'm pretty burned out on the whole Pope thing. I've been listening to the free lectures at ITConversations.com instead. Download it, transfer to mp3, and listen on your commute.

"The world of the Bible comes to life in this campaign setting for the d20 System. Play a wandering Babylonian magus, a sorcerer in the service of Pharaoh, a Canaanite maker of idols, or a prophet of the God of Israel. Walk the streets of ancient Jerusalem, stand beside King David as one of his Mighty Men, smite Philistines, ponder the mysteries of gargantuan tombs, look upon the dwellings of the gods, and battle demons, dragons, plagues, and the legendary beasts of Babylon." There is also a decent review at this blog Is it a sin to play as Jesus Christ? What do you think his stats would be?

Quench your thirst for knowledge.

Note: this is a 'semi-hostile' takeover.

Who will control the commanding heights of file sharing? Governments or markets?

Even better - if you increase individual and corporate sales taxes, not only do you not have to cut anything, you can cut income taxes, increase services, and still have a 1 million dollar surplus. Meet Minnesota's obligations without giving employers reasons to leave the state. Try the Budget Balancer for yourself!

Gov. Pawlenty's budget cuts health care and aid to local communities, and expands gambling. Mine doesn't.

NPR featured this band on St. Patrick's Day, so I ordered their album, The Kinnitty Sessions . It just arrived. If you like Irish/Celtic music you'll enjoy this album!

This is an article by Robert V. Rakestraw, professor of theology at Bethel Seminary. It was written in 1992, but seems especially appropriate now, given the Schiavo situation. Dr. Rakestraw is an evangelical Christian, yet argues that in PVS situations it is morally appropriate to remove food and water from a patient.

89.3 The Current just played Trip Shakespeare to commemorate our new snowfall. That's beautiful.

This is a Beatles-Metallica parody band. Some of the most hilarious music I've heard in a long time. Sony was not amused, however - afraid this would somehow take away from Metallica sales, they issued a cease-and-desist order that shut Beatallica.org down. But never fear - this site is streaming their songs. Oh, brings back headbanger memories.

Led by former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), this organization reflects the ideals I spoke of in "The Ring of Doom in the Postmodern World," but has an eminently practical application. Sam Nunn should be president! I can heartily endorse this org and everything they are trying to do.

Let the significant women in your life know.

Now contains the best movie trailer in history, downloads, concept art, and news.

Tolkien proved more right every day!

Reformation!

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 aga...

It's Yahoo's tenth anniversary. Check out their page circa 1995.