Stand Against SOPA

Don't stop the signal.

A New Weather Service

For those of us in geekdom that need a better way to appreciate the local weather beyond the tired "sunny" or "rainy", Spoiled for the Ordinary is pleased to point you to a new paradigm:

The Star Wars Weather Forecast.



Forget your Republic-issue thermal underwear?

Is it sunny where you are? It may be like Tatooine. Winter here in Idaho is best idenified by Hoth. The brainchild of Tom Scott, this new weather site is unlike any other in the galaxy. Be sure to read the screen carefully for tidbits only Star Wars fans will love.

And I dare ya to enter a fictitious place...

Hat tip to Technabob via Wired.

Yub-nub!

Art House America

I've been a fan of Charlie Peacock and his music since I first found out about him in 1991 (sheesh, that sounds long ago...). His music is intelligent, creative, risky, and often has a great beat to dance to.

He's taken his love of God and his artistic nature and fused into something that sounds pretty special. The Art House is the ministry in Nashville with his wife Andi where they host artistic types of all kinds and nurture them in creativity and faith. It has spun off to a physical location in Dallas as well, plus the internet home at Art House America. You can find out more of their vision on the About page.

Not all of us will get the chance to go there (though I'm holding my breath). The website has articles from thinkers on subjects of artistry (music, books, film), justice, creation care, and hospitality, just to name a few. I really enjoyed an article by Andi on raising artful kids, from her perspective as a grandmother. Neat stuff there!

I encourage my creative friends to check out Art House America. Maybe God has something to speak to you from there.
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Technology-Induced ADHD

I've wondered for a while if surfing the internet wasn't giving me ADHD.

A new article from Wired Magazine may prove me right.

It suggests the constant attention shift required by the Web "shatters focus" and "rewires the brain." I notice that I have a lot smaller attention span, which isn't a good thing. I also stream music in the background through the day at work, so quiet, focused time isn't something I am used to anymore. Not a good thing for my prayer life I can tell you.

Anyway, I wanted to let you all know of the dangers before I....

Facebook Follies

I had a few friends working on getting me onto Facebook this year. I finally took the plunge last month. I have a MySpace page, but it is so juvenile and unwieldy that I never go there. I didn't have high hopes for Facebook. It was a little scary when it ransacked my email when I signed up. Creepy!

However, it has been moderately addicting. I liked seeing who would turn up on finding friends. It has put me in touch with people I went to Thailand with in 1991, as well as high school classmates and other people around the globe. It is fun to see what people are up to, and having an immediate way to comment on their posts.

The down side is that it is basically a HUGE TIME SUCK! Holy cow. It is not the best thing for someone with IADD (internet attention deficit disorder). I can see how the connectivity is a great benefit, and I'm hoping to use it for some research purposes, but I really need to get this beast under control.

As soon as I go check my Facebook wall to see if I have any new friends!

A New Routine

Blargh.

That's the first word I uttered this morning. You see, I had a whole eleven days off of work, because it shuts down for non-essential personnel over the holidays. I know that people out there (Mark...) are saying that there's no WAY I should be complaining. However, I have to wake up at 5:00 am to catch a bus at 5:30 am to ride an hour to work. When you've been used to getting up at 8:30 am and going to bed at 11:00 pm over the holidays, "Blargh" is exactly the response that is appropriate.

Plus, it is my blog, so I can whine if I want. Anyone have some nice cheese?

I had a point here somewhere...

ANYWAY, I just wanted to discuss a little bit of change around here. Since my work has me prisoner away for almost 12 hours Monday through Thursday, I would try to do all my blogging during lunch or before the work day officially started. It served me well all year.

Except for the fact that I got in trouble.

It seems that the government frowns on using the internet on their time, and my computer got picked up on a random scan. I will confess to being a net addict, and I know I abused the "check your email at lunch" provision. So I am duly chastised. Unfortunately this changes how I'll do my blog.

This is actually a good thing, because I really do use the net too much. (This may come as a shock to many of you out there that this can happen) The nice thing about using it at work is that I tended to stay away from the computer on work nights and focus on my family. I don't intend to change this for the most part. This means that my blogging will shift from Mon - Thurs on average to Thurs - Sun. Or somesuch.

I still plan on being part of blog tours, but I hope my blogging friends will forgive me if I'm not "around" as much. I do count so many of y'all as true friends, and I will miss hanging out on the web as much. I think this may be a God thing though. If that works out, I'll report on it more later.

See you around!

The Interior - "Experimental TV?"

I had to check this out when I first saw it on Christianity Today. The Interior is a movie being released segmentally on its website. The result is a TV show like feeling of episodes, but it will be brought together at the end to be available on DVD.

It has an extremely interesting premise: a young missionary couple deals with their initial deployment into the field in the rainforest of Brazil. They are linked with an older missionary couple who are a little... different. As the interview says, this is a premise that has a lot of potential and has been untapped for the most part.

The filmmakers have been very bold - taking a second mortgage to fund the project, doing auditions via YouTube, yet the project seems to be succeeding and building a community.

The writer says that it is not necessarily a movie exclusively for Christians. He intends to show real struggles. The first four episodes are available online, and I can say that there is plenty of God talk and some surprising challenges presented. One scene in a church really tickled me - you'll have to check it out. I haven't really watched Lost, but the influence is there in the cinematography (at least to my untrained eye).

I don't know where this is going, but it looks very intriguing and is bold in its vision. Check it out!