We were on the front
Nov 30, 2003 Uncategorized
We were on the front page of the Lansing State Journal today. You can read the article here: Lansing State Journal:Reviving Religion
The Observer | International |
Nov 26, 2003 Uncategorized
The Observer | International | Russians fume as Mormons ‘buy souls’: “The Russian Orthodox Church has expressed its outrage at what it claims is a Mormon scheme to buy up the names of dead Russians in order to baptise ‘dead souls’ in their faith.
In one archive, in the town of Nizhni Novgorod, east of Moscow, the Church of the Latter Day Saints has paid ten US cents for each page of thousands of names of dead people dating mainly from the late eighteenth century to be put on a microfilm.
The idea, the last-ditch attempt of a cash-strapped archive to fund urgent preservation work, has caused fury among the predominantly Orthodox nation. The Mormon Church is angry at what it sees as an obstruction to its religious practices. “
A little Tivo update. I
Nov 24, 2003 Uncategorized
A little Tivo update. I love technology. Yes, it makes me lazy, yes it makes me sit in front of the tube and confuse my wife as I jump from show to show, but dangit, it is awesome.
I can’t tell you how often I am looking for a particular TV clip or I see something and wish I had just recorded it. In fact just recently I had this conversation with someone. They said, “I wish they could invent a technology to record what you just watched.” They have. behold the wonders of Tivo.
This might be one of
Nov 24, 2003 Uncategorized
This might be one of my favorite sites of all time. Check out Jesus’ photo album while you are there: I’m Jesus Christ. I’m a messiah. This is my story.
Thanks to Caroline for this
Nov 24, 2003 Uncategorized
Thanks to Caroline for this revelation: “The truth is finally known! Barney seems innocent and sweet but in fact he is Satan.”
It’s all very simple:
1) Start with the given: CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR
2) Change all U’s to V’s (which is proper Latin anyway): CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR
3) Extract all Roman Numerals: C V V L D I V
4) Convert into Arabic values: 100 5 5 50 500 1 5
5) Add all the numbers: 666
Thus, Barney is Satan.
Thanks to Pavi for turning
Nov 24, 2003 Uncategorized
Thanks to Pavi for turning me onto this article from Wired News: Feel Free to Jack Into My IPod
During his regular evening walk, software executive Steve Crandall often nods a polite greeting to other iPod users he passes: He easily spots the distinctive white earbuds threaded from pocket to ears.
But while quietly enjoying some chamber music one evening in August, Crandall’s polite nodding protocol was rudely shattered.
Crandall was boldly approached by another iPod user, a 30ish woman bopping enthusiastically to some high-energy tune.
“She walked right up to me and got within my comfort field,” Crandall stammered. “I was taken aback. She pulled out the earbuds on her iPod and indicated the jack with her eyes.”
Warily unplugging his own earbuds, Crandall gingerly plugged them into the woman’s iPod, and was greeted by a rush of techno.
“We listened for about 30 seconds,” Crandall said. “No words were exchanged. We nodded and walked off.”
The following evening, Crandall saw the woman again. This time, she was sharing her iPod with another iPod regular Crandall had spotted on his walks.
Within a couple of days, Crandall had performed the iPod sharing ritual with all the other four or five regulars he sees on his walks. Since August, they’ve listened to each other’s music dozens of times.
“It’s very strange,” he said. “It’s almost like you’re being a DJ for the other person…. It’s very gratifying if you see someone dancing around to the music you’re listening to. It’s a great feeling to see other people enjoying your music, and my tastes are fairly bizarre.”
I am sitting here staring
Nov 22, 2003 Uncategorized
I am sitting here staring at my TV while it sets up my brand new TiVo. Basically my mom asked me what ridiculous thing I would like for my birthday and that I would not spend the money on myself. I didn’t know what to say, then while I was hanging out with my friends Chris and Marty they kept telling me how much they love having Tivo. Well, now I sit and stare at my screen while it takes over my entertainment world. I can’t even watch other TV while it sets itself up. I have approximately 10-30 minutes of setup left to go. This better be worth it. Oh, and Chris told me his Tivo cost $99. True, but that was because he has Direct TV. I am a lowely cable user. Mine was more. Oh well. Still waiting………..
FCC Ruling on ‘F-Word’ Fires
Nov 18, 2003 Uncategorized
FCC Ruling on ‘F-Word’ Fires up Pro-Family Groups — 11/18/2003: “Pro-family groups are urging action after the Federal Communications Commission’s ruling that the use of the ‘f-word’ during the 2003 Golden Globe Awards does not violate the commission’s obscenity standards.
The American Family Association (AFA) and Parents Television Council (PTC) sounded off over the January broadcast of the awards show in which performer Bono used the phrase: ‘This is [expletive] great.’
‘This ruling clearly opens the floodgates for general use of the ‘f-word’ in any TV show or radio program - except in sexual situations,’ said AFA founder and Chairman Donald E. Wildmon in a statement.
‘That means that real soon, you will be watching a sitcom on TV, or news, or any drama or movie - any program - and it’s okay! Hollywood is rejoicing!’ Wildmon wrote.
“
A follow up from Blogger
Nov 17, 2003 Uncategorized
A follow up from Blogger on the previous post:BLOGGER - Knowledge Base
Hilarious: The Onion | Mom
Nov 17, 2003 Uncategorized
Hilarious: The Onion | Mom Finds Out About Blog
I just read Rush Limbaugh’s
Nov 17, 2003 Uncategorized
I just read Rush Limbaugh’s opening comments after getting back from rehab. What struck me is here is this man who trumpets “Rugged Individualism,” but he has discovered the need for community. Check out the entire monolog here:Rush Speaks! His First Public Comments Here are Rush’s comments:
“I thought I was going into a treatment center to be treated for an addiction to opiates, to painkillers, and I was - but it’s so much more than that. It is about so much more than that. I tried to treat myself twice for my addiction. I detoxed myself twice and tried to do it by force of will, but this is something someone cannot do alone.”
Here’s a great article I
Nov 17, 2003 Uncategorized
Email is a communication concept. As hard as it is for people to get this, your email is like a phone number. As such, when you give out your email address, you are telling people “it is okay to communicate with me this way.” Think of it this way—most people would never give out their phone number and then refuse to reply to phone calls or messages left. Certainly there are some times that you get a phone message that you choose to ignore, but most of the time you respond. You call the person back. And you do it within 48 hours most of the time (heck, for many of you, you do it within 48 seconds). An email demands the same level of response.
If you don’t reply to my message to you, I think you are rude, angry at me, are refusing to talk to me, etc. Believe it or not, not responding to an email is the same as not responding a phone call. Both took the same level of investment by me; I want to hear from you. You are being rude not to reply!
You must check your emails at least once a day. Like phone calls, left untended, emails become numerous. Imagine not answering your phone for a week; how many messages would you have? Now consider how difficult it would be to contact all those people; it would take all day to call them all back. Instinctively we know this, so we check our phone messages daily (or more often) and call people back. We know that if we don’t, in the end we won’t call them back at all, making us look rude, and, if these are potential clients, that is a huge mistake.
“But I have so many emails daily.” Yes, on one of my three emails that I check daily, I receive an average of 400 emails. That is why you use a filter and delete them as easily as you don’t answer the “unknown caller” on your caller ID. It takes about as long to look at the caller ID to determine “this is not for me.”
You don’t HAVE to have an email address. Many people would make the world a better place if they’d just answer the question of, “Do you have an email address?” with a simple “No!” Remember rule #1—email is a communication concept. If you tell me you have an email, then I am going to use it as surely as I will use your phone number. But if you don’t plan on replying, then we have a problem. So, if you don’t want to communicate by email, then don’t. Get rid of your every email address and live in peace.
You don’t have to give your email address out. Okay, so some of you have an email address due to work or school or whatever. But you hate email, and you don’t plan on using it that often. Okay, then don’t ever give it out except in those cases that you are forced to (just your clients for instance).
Be honest with people about your preferred communication style. Now, after years of frustration, I am in the habit of asking that question of new contacts: “Do you prefer email or phone?” It varies, and I always tell the person that I hate phones and love email, so they need to be prepared to meet me halfway if they want to do business with me. But at least I go into the relationship knowing what they prefer.
Group emails still mean you may have to reply. Of course this all depends on the group concept that you are a part of. My extended family uses it simply as information communication; no reply is expected. However, my church also uses group email, and from time to time, a clear expectation about reply is there. Make sure you check clearly to see if the sender expects a reply or not.
Sometimes to help people, you have to clearly ask for a reply. As silly as it may seem, some people need that clear prompt that you expect a reply. Make sure you give them one if you want to be certain they reply.
We were in NOISE again:
Nov 16, 2003 Uncategorized
We were in NOISE again: “In November of last year, NOISE published a story on the efforts of Riverview Community (sic) Church in Holt to make church more appealing to younger generations by giving it a hip style and casual atmosphere, and by serving lots of free coffee.
According to Noel Heikkinen, one of four pastors, the biggest change in the year since is that he’s switched to decaf. Actually, it’s the fact that the church has grown from about 800 regular attendees to about 1,300. They’ve also doubled their acreage, added more parking and instituted a Saturday night service that’s ‘aggressively younger.’
But some things haven’t changed.
‘We’re still turning out a lot of coffee,’ Heikkinen said. ‘Actually, we had to add more 220 power to the kitchen to run our brewers.’”
WorldNetDaily: Al-Qaida: Be ready for
Nov 14, 2003 Uncategorized
WorldNetDaily: Al-Qaida: Be ready for attack killing 100,000: “An al-Qaida commander in Iraq close to Osama bin Laden warns of an imminent massive attack against the U.S. designed to kill as many as 100,000 people.
A leader who identifies himself as Abu Salma Al-Hijazi said in an interview posted on al-Qal’a %u2013 ‘The Fortress’ %u2013 an Islamist Internet forum, ‘a huge and very courageous strike’ has been planned, reports the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.
The attack, which he anticipates during the current month-long Muslim observance of Ramadan, will ‘amaze the world and turn al-Qaida into [an organization that] horrifies the world until the law of Allah is implemented, actually implemented, and not just in words, on his land. %u2026′
Al-Hijazi vowed, ‘You wait and see that the balance of power between al-Qaida and its rivals will change, all of a sudden, Allah willing.’ “
Have you seen those horribly
Nov 13, 2003 Uncategorized
Have you seen those horribly chessy signs in front of churches? Now you can make your own at…The Church Sign Generator
