Here are some really cool LEGO models based on the best XBOX game so far (waiting for Halo 2!)

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The guys over at Gene Expression have stayed busy despite the holidays. Here are some highlights:

A link to recordings of lectures by great thinkers.

A fantastic post that takes on the tendency of many to romanticize communism.

In a comment to this post, we find that godlesscapitalist is a clothespin Republican!

And finally a post on brain-machine interfaces that reminds me of Master Chief and Cortana.

Enjoy.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I wonder if the guys at SFSignal have seen this? Via the Corner, here is a listing of the Democratic candidates for president as D&D characters.

I love the extended riff about the Zeppelin-versus-Rush-inspired-band in the Wes Clark profile. Brilliant.

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Last weekend in his regular "Libertarian Bookwork" post, Tim Sandefur recommended Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand. In the process, he provided us with a very well-written overview of Ayn Rand's life and her work.

I would recommend this essay highly to anyone new to Rand's works, and even to those who have read her before.

Like Tim, The Fountainhead is my favorite of her fictional works, although I also love Anthem.

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I've added a short list on the left of links that I am checking daily to keep up with the progress of Spirit (and, I hope, Opportunity, soon). I will augment this as I discover other good sources of information and commentary.

These are in addition of course to Rand Simberg, Professor Hall, Rocket Man Mark Oakley, and The Eternal Golden Braid, all of whom you should be checking on a daily basis anyway for more than just coverage of Mars.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I have just read the last line of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to my eldest son, completing the year-and-a-half project of reading the books out loud to him. It's amazing how moving much of Tolkien's dialogue can be when spoken aloud (especially much of the speech of the Rohirrim). Of course that is balanced out by lengthy passages and genealogies rivaling some books of the Old Testament (or Tanakh, depending on your preference) in their difficulty to read aloud. The title of this post is also appropriate for my return to regular blogging, which I tried to do last night before a Blogspot outage shut me down.

I note that Professor Hall is back with regular postings and a great "what I did over my vacation" post. I had a similarly fun break for the last two weeks, although with less traveling.

We spent the weekend before Christmas exploring Dinosaur Valley State Park and Fossil Rim nature preserve in Glen Rose, Texas (about an hour and a half from where we live). We stayed in town for Christmas, but thanks to the babysitting duties of my wonderful parents-in-law, my wife and I got away for a couple of days after Christmas to a fantastic bed and breakfast in the Texas Hill Country. We spent time enjoying good food, walking outdoors, shopping in Fredericksburg, and visiting the National Museum of the Pacific War.

I've lived here almost my entire life, and am still amazed at the treasures Texas offers up.

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Looks like the Martians failed to repel this landing attempt.

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I have been enjoying time off with my family. I've done very little surfing in the evenings, and haven't been moved to blog. I'll get some new stuff up this weekend, and regular blogging will resume with my regular routine next week.

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