March 26, 2006

Books 3-27-6

A few years ago, I was in a discipleship lab at seminary (grad. school), and we were sharing which books had impacted us the most. This seventy year old gentleman indicated that Sun Tzu's The Art of War had made a rather lasting impact upon him.  I thought that curious and since have always wanted to pick up a copy.  I received a bookstore giftcard for my recent birthday, and ran across it.  On the back of one of the paperback versions (I nabbed the Oxford version), the publisher was saying how relevant Sun's work was for today's modern business.  So, I'm going to read up on being a battlefied commander.  Perhaps it will help out with PvP in World of Warcraft.  Or maybe get me on The Aprentice.
I also picked up Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.  Some people hail this as a continuation of Douglas Adams' style.  However, though i've only got through the first third of the book so far, I don't think that the humor and ingenuity of the authors is on par with the manaical wit of Adams.

March 21, 2006

Scintillating Miasma

I was browsing around Meridian, Idaho on Google Maps and realized there was a huge rift running along Cherry Lane/Fairview boulevard.  It's there for everyone to see: the rift in the time space continuum as caught on Google Maps.  I'm pretty sure that Jean Luc Picard Patrick Stewart is somehow involved, though I'm almost positive that William Shatner has nothing to do with it. Oddly enough, the rift has watermarks bearing © 2005 Google, which leads me to believe they are somehow responsible.  Unrelatedly,  I'm not normally a fan of the Oregon coast (excepting Cape Perpetua), but check out these cool panoramas.  Also of interest are these cool computer graphic movies involving water, sharks, and helicopters (always a fun mix).

March 17, 2006

World of Warcraft PvP

I've been playing some of the Player versus Player (PvP) parts of World of Warcraft lately. This game is one fun MMORPG.  The PvP portion of the game pits your characters against those of other players, so the strategy and gameplay become rather intense, as the opponent is going to be alot different than a computer opponent, and learn and react and approach other players differently.  And there are cool in game rewards for being an awesome PvP player.

March 5, 2006

Reading 3-6-6

I recently started reading though Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, by William Lane Craig and J.P. Moreland.  Two professors out of Talbot School of Theology, who are also deeply involved in the scholarly Evangelical Philosophical Society.  I picked this book up a few years ago after some time with some friends who attend Talbot, and attending an E.T.S./E.P.S. meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.  I've been hoping to make it back to it before I turn 60, and I think it's found its time.  It's an excellent read so far, and not nearly as incomprehensible as philosophy books tend to be.
I'm still working through W.H.C. Frend's Rise of Christianity, also.  It's an interesting history, and I'm not sure that I agree with some of his perspectives on a few issues.  Notably, it would be interesting to see an analysis of primary literature of Christian Fathers where the Christian church is vying with the Jews as a new Israel.