Hi, this is Anthony Holtberg. I'm glad to see some folks on here who likewise seem to appreciate this game!

OK, metal has no representation here, and this is what I've been listening to. It's definitely not your typical stuff, and isn't quite well known.

Electric Wizard - Return Trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXpFV9sW2bI

Electric Wizard is the essence of Doom with guitars so down-tuned, the strings hang off the guitar and can be used to fire arrows.

High On Fire - Devilution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euALIidJYsA

High On Fire is the complete package with intense vocals, driving rhythms, and overall listenability. More 'casual' listeners will find this approachable rather than the expected onslaught of guitars and screaming that usually comes with the territory.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - I'll Cut You Down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSpsffboOAc

Moving back to the 60's, this is more like rock today, but the dark edge and disturbing vocals make it more the choice of the metal fan than any 60s metal listener.

Elder - Hexe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y48mDuY8rI0

A symphony of darkness. This song is lengthy, like a journey into some hopeless and dark abyss. Listen to it.

This is stuff I wrote my Master's Dissertation to, in addition to baroque classical. Sometimes you need a little darkness and to behold the apathy of the universe to trudge forward.

I must say it sits quite comfortably with me, and I see no flaws. I can safely say I have indeed identified the task I am best suited for which there is nothing but an endless horizon in accomplishing.

I can only say it is not a thing of comfort, nor is it a thing of accomplishment, but a thing of sober and daunting responsibility.

I do hope we make strides in lengthening the human lifespan...

Religiously athiest cosmologists would do well to acquaint themselves with Stoic physics:

"The main objective of Stoics is to overcome the dualism between mind and matter taught by other philosophical schools. The Stoics achieve this goal by identifying mind and matter with each other and with God. They therefore propose a totally unitary reality, a monism in which God is mind, God is matter, God is the universe. One may speak of mind and matter, but this is merely a façon de parler. For the Stoics, everything that acts is a body. There is a continuum between mind and body. They are completely translatable into one another; they are simply two ways of viewing the content in the continuum. In Stoic physics, matter is not 'dead' matter in the Cartesian sense; it is dynamic, charged with vital force. Mind is not something external to matter, an abstract ideal quality, a principle of rest toward which an imperfect material world transpires; it is rather an active principle, the creative force permeating the universe and holding it together. God is called by several names in Stoic physics--the 'logos', the rational structure of the universe; 'pneuma', the fiery breath of life, the creative fire; or 'tonos', the vital tension holding each thing together within itself and making the whole universe cohere. The entire universe, or God, constitutes one living organism, at the same time sentient, rational, and material, existing in and of itself. The universe is its own creative force and its own source of growth, change, and activity. God, or the universe, is not only its own cause; it is the one cause and explanation of all things."

(Marcia L. Colish, The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages, pp. 23-4)

Ah, they just never made codes as well as they did back in the Renaissance.

Yes. My favorite AD&D character was my paladin, and this image pretty much sums up why.

While the one side has been treated to death, I know of very few athiests who are educated on religious philosophy.

The notion of the world being older than the bible states is purely a Christian perspective, and hardly answers for the deities in various other cultures. In Judaism and its mystic practices the scale of years is wholly morphic in accordance to the time-frame of the the deity. Sacred text makes no distinction between what mode of calendar is being used.

The Stoic notion of the deity and Einstein's perspective mesh quite neatly (http://books.google.com/books?id=F7lMoretG8EC&pg=PA312#v...; see final paragraph forward).

More clearly:

"The main objective of Stoics is to overcome the dualism between mind and matter taught by other philosophical schools. The Stoics achieve this goal by identifying mind and matter with each other and with God. They therefore propose a totally unitary reality, a monism in which God is mind, God is matter, God is the universe. One may speak of mind and matter, but this is merely a façon de parler. For the Stoics, everything that acts is a body. There is a continuum between mind and body. They are completely translatable into one another; they are simply two ways of viewing the content in the continuum. In Stoic physics, matter is not 'dead' matter in the Cartesian sense; it is dynamic, charged with vital force. Mind is not something external to matter, an abstract ideal quality, a principle of rest toward which an imperfect material world transpires; it is rather an active principle, the creative force permeating the universe and holding it together. God is called by several names in Stoic physics—the 'logos', the rational structure of the universe; 'pneuma', the fiery breath of life, the creative fire; or 'tonos', the vital tension holding each thing together within itself and making the whole universe cohere. The entire universe, or God, constitutes one living organism, at the same time sentient, rational, and material, existing in and of itself. The universe is its own creative force and its own source of growth, change, and activity. God, or the universe, is not only its own cause; it is the one cause and explanation of all things."

Marcia L. Colish, The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages, pp. 23-4

From this perspective and further careful research, I find conclusions of the existence of a deity that works in conjunction with the assertions of science to be a viable possibility.

It is odd that I am putting quite a bit of time into researching a PhD thesis proposal that flies directly in the face of this. Odder still how much fun it is?

The size of it actually creates a small atmosphere of creepiness. Very cool!

Puffs cigar

I prefer my science fiction dreams to stay away from my living nightmares.