Writer and director Francis Ford Coppola had millions of dollars of his own money on the line. He had a great screenplay to work with from writer John Milius, as well as Joseph Conrad's classic novel, Heart of Darkness, to use as a guide for the film. However, many thought the project he was embarking on was a tragedy waiting to happen, or at least a bloated art-project from a self-absorbed young director about to embarrass himself. This was a distinct possibility. After all, he wasn't even...

A priest recently explained to me that Judas Iscariot's primary fault was not that he betrayed Jesus. That was just a consequence of a deeper disorder in his mind and soul. No, Judas' primary fault was that he refused to be formed by Christ. Jesus did not conform to Judas' idea of what they Messiah should be. Judas, like the other apostles, was thrilled that the long awaited One had finally entered history. However, he expected something entirely different. Judas was awaiting an earthly King...

Biosphere 2 began in the 1980's as an experiment in creating artificial enclosed ecosystems - preparing for the colonization of other planets. Very cool. In the highly controlled environment of the dome, researchers were faced with a mystery. As hoped, trees grown in the biosphere grew faster than their free-range brethren in the wild. However, once they reached a certain height, they would mysteriously fall over and die - nearly without fail. What they discovered was that this perfectly...