Star Wars Spoiler- See the plot and pictures from Episode 3

digg / movies: "Star Wars Episode 3 - 80 Link to Screenshots [+ 75 diggs]
The entire story of Star Wars: Episode 3, laid out in about 80 screenshots from the film."

Language Log: Google defies Europe?

Europeans are afraid of American culture. Should they be?

Language Log: Google defies Europe?: "Google defies Europe?"

Saved!

I would have never guessed I would have anything positive to say about a Mandy Moore movie. I guessed wrong. Saved! is a movie that satirizes the conservative Christian community. It manages to use the teen movie iconography and tell a meaningful message about forgiveness and dignity. The most powerful moral that the movie presents is that the Christian community is most likely to fail when people can't talk openly and honestly to each other.

The biggest disappointment about the script of the film is that portions of it tend to jump on the popular notion that it is somehow "Christian" to affirm the homosexual lifestyle. There's a lot I could say about that, but I'll save it for another post.

Between thought and expression: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

A Japanese company has released a Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan bootleg on the internet.

Click This!

Between thought and expression: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

Is that Bling-Bling on your GUI?

I use Firefox and I download themes. In fact, I have about a dozen. My favorite theme is called Noia 2.0 Extreme. This is the theme that I use most of the time to cover up the boring standard interface.

Another theme that is pretty good is called Curacao.

The most extravagant theme I have is, I regret to admit, called Pimpzilla. This is the theme that the bad guys in Pam Grier movies would use if the internet existed in 1974.

Sit to Talk don't Stand to Reason

I get a newsletter from a group called Stand to Reason. The reason they send me the newsletter is because a while back I supported a subsidiary of them, an anti-abortion group called Justice for All. For the past two years I have been sent a variety of material from them and most of it is just your standard evangelical news flashes about political and social issues. However, this month's news letter contained one of the most asinine pieces of advice and I thought I would use this blog to let everyone know. I will quote the text verbatim:

"I've actually encouraged Christians to ban words like 'faith' and 'belief' from their commentary. These words no longer communicate what we intend them to.

It's not that faith isn't valuable. It's vital. But faith is often misunderstood as a 'leap,' a blind, desperate lung into the darkness. It sounds too much like religious wishful thinking." [emphasis mine.]

I understand the point that the writer is trying to make. He believes that the speech of Christians needs to be more fact based and less based on opinion and feeling. I agree. However, the solution is not to ban important scriptural words. Christians need to have conversations long enough to explain what they actually mean. Besides, sometime faith is a leap, but it usually isn't a leap into darkness it is a leap into the light.

If you see this...

Gmail

I use G-mail and I think it is the best web based e-mail. They have upped the number of invites. If you read this blog and want a free gmail account post your address and I'll send you one.

Tunak Tunak Tun

In order to prove that American culture has permeated nearly every cultural nook and cranny on the globe one has to look no farther than the Indian Hip Hop star Daler($) Mehndi. Watching his music videos was a fad while I was in college and looking at them still makes me laugh today. While there are quite a few songs available on the net, the best is titled Tunak Tunak Tun. There is also a video of a bunch of kids dancing to the song. Here is a translation of the lyrics. It is not quite the Song of Solomon, but it is worth 5 minutes of time. If you really want to be a follower you can go to the Univeral Life Church of Daler Mehndi.

Sweatshops have Sunk to a New Low

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "Third-World Sweatshops Producing Virtual Goods
Role Playing (Games)
Posted by timothy on Sunday February 06, @08:10AM
from the what-the-market-will-bear dept.
prostoalex writes 'MSNBC points to the court cases spawned by virtual worlds. Recently, Tom Loftus notes, a virtual island in one of the MMORPGs sold for $30,000, enough to attract commercial attention. Apparently, some businesses create third-world sweatshops, where low-wage laborers are being paid to play and accumulate enough virtual merchandise, so that an eBay sale of it makes the operation profitable. 'One such business, Blacksnow Interactive, actually sued a virtual world's creator in 2002 for attempting to crack down on the practice. The first of its kind to center on virtual goods, the case was eventually dropped,'"

I took another quiz...

I guess I've been bored this week. I've taken two of these quizes in one week. I think that's more online personality quizzes than I have taken in the last year. Anyway, I liked the results of this one so I decided to post them.

Go buy whatever they are selling!



Which OS are You?

Communist Mario?

Communist Mario?