…I’ve added a captcha test to the submission forms (both on the list page and the submission applet). I know it’s an annoyance and an inconvenience, but recently spammers have been flying high with emails and spam submissions. As of late the contents of these spams have been unrepeatable. So, to stem the tide, I’m using a simple captcha. Should be enough to discourage the lengthy URL-filled submissions, as well as the occasional operamail.com or gmail.com spammer with fifteen different names per submission.

I don’t often trot out old posts and repost them, but today I think I should. So, like this time last year, I give you this nugget from the Weather Channel:

A while back I, like most geeks, downloaded the newest release candidate (beta, at the time) of Office 2007, Microsoft’s latest offering in the Office suite. I wanted to see what it would be like, how it would work, what new features were there, etc. And, as a college student, I’ve had more than enough work to do in Word and Excel, primarily. In all my use of those apps, here’s what I have found:
Click for more…

This won’t be long. I’m officially trained as a preacher - so says my diploma - but sometimes preaching can muddy the waters. Sometimes it’s better to let a passage speak for itself. With that in mind, let me give some background before hitting my main point. This past Sunday, Chorale was scheduled to sing in the morning service on campus. Terry, the guy who runs the Calvary Quartet, with whom I sing tenor, has learned to accept the fact that one Sunday a month he has to find a replacement for me - prior obligations being what they are, I don’t ask to be excused from the Chorale’s ministry, even though I’m one of seven tenors there versus the only tenor in the Quartet. This past Sunday the Quartet was in Chattanooga, TN. Terry really wanted me the whole weekend, but he absolutely had to have me Sunday night. So we made a deal - I’d sing with the Chorale Sunday morning, pick up his van (which has cruise control and is more comfortable than It, my car) at his house, and book it to Chattanooga, a four-hour drive. I’d sing that evening, then try to get back to Greenville by midnight so I could be at work by seven the next morning. (It was closer to 2a by the time I got to bed.) Going into Sunday I admit I was viewing the Chorale activity as a bit of an inconvenience; looking back, though, I see God’s hand in ordering the schedules as He did.

The morning message Sunday was delivered by Dr. Berg. He preached from 2 Peter 1:1-15 [+/-] [1:1]Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.. As I read the passage between going onstage and actually singing, verse 12 popped out to me: “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities [that he just wrote about in verses 5-7], though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.” Translation: I’m going to keep reminding you of what God’s done for and given to you, even though you already know about them. Dr. Berg then recited a list of those “precious and very great promises” (v. 4) - things like God’s promise of His constant presence (Deut. 31:8 [+/-] It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."); His promise that He works everything together for good (Rom. 8:38 [+/-] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,); His promise that what He does in my life is for good and not evil (Jer. 29:11 [+/-] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.); and many, many more.

It was in that passage that it hit me - up until then, I had been questioning why God had brought these back problems into my life. (Quick recap - a work injury has put me in increasingly extraordinary pain for the last two months.) It’s not a sin to question. But it is a sin to question accusingly, which is what I was doing. Now, I know all these passages and promises. But I needed to be reminded of them. Badly.

God knew I needed that reminder, so He made sure I’d be in a place where I could hear them and be reminded. And so now I can actually rejoice in the middle of this pain. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt anymore. Trust me - it hurts. A lot. Doesn’t mean I’m going to give up trying to get relief. Doesn’t even mean that I’m going to be walking around smiling all the time. More likely than not it’ll be more like a grimace. It does mean, though, that I can thank God for working in and through my life. God has promised that all of His plans turn out for good - His good, it should be noted - which means that, when all of this is said and done, He will have glorified Himself through me. That’s an awesome thought! God has chosen to bring Himself glory through this temporary trial in my life. Not your life, my life. In short, God has given me this very unique chance to show His power and glory to others. That’s an honor and a big responsibility. So if you happen to see me walking with a 30-degree tilt to one side, do pray for me, but also think of me as a reminder of God’s goodness and his promises to sustain His children.

Well, maybe this isn’t so weekly. Actually it’s the first (and quite possibly last) roundup I’ll be doing, so there. First off, a Dilbert from a few weeks ago highlights a very important concept - don’t ever click on popup boxes. Ever. Really. You on-campus folks who know Dave Talbert should read Wally’s lines with Dave’s voice in mind - it’ll make it that much funnier.

Second is in reference to a previous post I wrote about slipstreaming a Windows XP cd. (And here you thought it was about grammar! Silly readers.) I did find my slipstreaming tool, and I’d like to post about it. For starters, slipstreaming is not just a cool propulsion method dreamed up in the Star Trek universe. It’s also a method of SLIPping drivers, preferences, tweaks, etc. into the STREAM of data on a Windows XP cd. No, I didn’t make up the name, and yes, I’m sure someone could come up with a better name. But the name is what it is, and so that’s what we’ll be using. Slipstreamed CDs come in handy when you have hardware on a block of systems that require drivers that don’t come with Windows. The process is simple: copy the CD contents to your computer, unpack all the drivers and find the .INF files, load the drivers into the copied CD folder, make a bootable ISO of that folder, and burn the ISO. Of course that’s not easy to do in the Windows world. Thankfully there are programs like nLite, which automate that process. nLite gives a lot more, too - the ability to roll up registry and visual tweaks, automated answers to different parts of the installation process, etc. Plus it creates a bootable ISO once your done. The only thing it doesn’t do is actually burn the ISO, but I’m sure that could come in the future. I’d recommend checking it out - I was able to install XP on a dual-SATA system that didn’t have a floppy drive. (Note to Micro$oft - floppies are dead technology. Get used to it.) I was also able to roll half our standard build sheet into the installation so I didn’t have to do as much tweaking when I was finished the base install. I highly recommend checking that tool out.

Almost last but not least, we have another update on the list. We should have three, but two of the sites aren’t accessing right on campus. (Hint: one of them returns the following as the entirety of the HTML source: “ok.”) The one that does work came in this afternoon - Sam Guzman runs samguzman[dot]com, home of a blog. Yes, that’s not much by way of description, and no, I can’t think of anything better. So there.

Really last, if you have a few thousand dollars on hand, the IBM Thinkpad X40 is really cool. Trust me. Any combo laptop/tablet is bound to be cool. We got a few at work for the doctors at the clinic, so they can move around and have a fast computer always at hand. I’ve been pushing for all the techs to get one of those - a thin, light wireless laptop with you when you go out on a job means you can update problem tickets and research problems on the wiki without using the client’s machine, which may not even work in the first place. 17 techs times $1500 each, though, is a little more than The Powers That Be want to spend. Go figure. Someone want to buy me one out of sheer gratitude for the escape from reality this site provides?

It never ceases to amaze me. You frequent readers know I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep on saying it because it keeps on getting proven true. Very often, when an accusation is made, the one(s) being accused will prove those accusations correct while trying to disprove those accusations. Last time I said this, I was referring to Hysteric Fundamentalists © who prove their marginalistic and just plain crazy views while trying to prove they’re not marginalistic and just plain crazy. Typically this happens shortly after they run out of logical arguments against the accusation. Well now we see it again, this time well outside the Christian sector.

You all, I’m sure, have heard about some comments the Pope made in an academic lecture last week - how he quoted an ancient text that fingered the fact that violence seems to be the leading edge of Muslim missionary efforts. If you took the time to read the whole speech, you would have realized that the quote in question took a very small part of the larger speech. Of course Muslims took offense to this, just like they took offense at the political cartoons depecting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, etc. Interestingly enough, if you read some of the comments from Muslim-controlled countries, you’ll find out the following:

1. We don’t actually know what he said,
2. but whatever he said, we think it’s offensive.
3. He should apologize, but we won’t accept it.

To greatly simplify things, let’s say the Pope came right out and said that violence and Islam go hand in hand (which isn’t what he said). For about two days there were folks getting up using the Koran to disprove that misstatement (at least the parts of the Koran that disproved it; what they did with the parts that do prove that misstatement is a mystery). Seeing that no one was believing it, they went and endorsed violence as the only way to correct this problem. And they apparently think that this makes perfect sense.

Read the Google headlines - there are fears of violence, violent protests, and calls for more violence in the wake of this misunderstanding. “Orthodox Islam isn’t violent, and if you don’t believe it we’ll just kill you!” Am I the only one that thinks this is nuts?

Did Ratzinger come out and say that pure Islam is violent? No, not really. He quoted someone else who did as an illustration. But he might as well have said that, for all flurry it caused. And he probably would have been right, too. Because whenever someone is ashamed about something, and that something gets fingered in a very public way, the typical reaction is not a calm, reasoned response. It’s usually an explosive tirade designed to deflect public attention away from that something. But when that something happens to be explosive in and of itself, there aren’t many other ways to turn. In the end, Islam will live by the sword. It’s been that way historically, and no amount of attention-deflecting can hide the fact that, in the four or five thousand years since Ishmael came and went, his descendants have been and will continue to be violent in their beliefs. Let’s stop pretending all these radical Muslims are really peaceful folks who are willing to live and let live. If anything, the events of this past week prove otherwise.

Always carry a pencil. Always. Doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, where you’re going, or what you’re planning on doing - always carry a pencil.

In my choir experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion that not having a pencil in choir makes you a bad choir member. There are always breaths to mark, problem spots to circle, and helper notes to pencil in. In fact I’ve got a system going on - a circle with a slash through it means “cut off here.” A circle without a slash means “this note isn’t what you keep thinking it is.” A solid curve connecting two notes, or a dashed curve connecting two words means “don’t breathe here even if you’re going to die without more air.” And then there’s a whole host of markings to help me visually see how far one note is from another, like “-p5″ or “+1/2″ - these are sometimes accompanied with arrows, in case “+” or “-” isn’t enough.

But it’s not just choir - having a writing utensil of some kind means that you’ll never need to ask to borrow a pen or keep someone on the phone waiting while you find something to write with. In fact I’ll bet you don’t ever go through a day without writing something down; and you probably always have to look for something to write with. Wouldn’t it be so much better if you always had a pencil on you?

Now, it’s important that the pencil (or pen, but I prefer the former) be kept on your person at all times, not just near your person. The pocket is always a good place, until the end of the day when your pencil (or, heaven forbid, your pen) ends up in the laundry basket. The advantage of the pocket is that there’s probably no chance it’ll accidentally fall out somewhere on the ground and be lost to you forever. The disadvantage is that you can easily forget it’s in there. If your pencil is not mechanical, you run the risk of breaking it in your pocket; and if you’ve got a pen, not a pencil, you run the risk of forgetting it’s in there and needing to buy a whole new wardrobe in a few days when it leaks in the washing machine and turns all your cothes a lovely shade of Bic Blue. Ladies, if you have no pockets, you can try the purse with the understanding that the same cons still apply. The other location is behind the ear. This is a great place for a pencil - it’s handy, and if you happen to forget it’s up there, you’ll remember as soon as you lay down and get jabbed through the temple. It’s also fairly secure, even while walking around. The disadvantage is that it’s hard to have a pencil and a pair of sunglasses on the same head at the same time. It’s possible, but hard to get; and even if you get it, the sunglasses feel a little weird wrapped around the pencil. Sunglasses aside, though, I much prefer the ear method of holding a pencil.

This brings us to the question of point direction - when stowing a pencil, where does the point go? Experts differ strongly on this point, so I don’t wish to get into this kind of debate. The options are: up or down, or forward or back. If you’ve got the pencil in the pocket, the point can either face down, towards China via the Earth’s core, or up, towards the ISS. Facing down makes it easier for the point to break (especially you’re putting it in the pants pocket) but harder to jab yourself when reaching into the pocket. If the point’s down in a shirt pocket, though, you get a little pencil point mark on your shirt, especially if it’s white. Facing up, you run less risk of breaking the point off, but more risk of giving yourself lead poisoning. As for the ear, style’s the word here - there are no pros or cons to point direction. I prefer facing out (forward) simply because I don’t have to flip it around when I mark my music. Others prefer back because it’s easier to slide the point through hair than it is the eraser.

Just a personal story here - more than once, I’ve been sitting in choir, and someone will lean over and ask to borrow my pencil, even if it’s not in plain sight. I asked one girl one time how she knew, and she said, “Well, you always have one with you, right?” Yes, I suppose that’s true.

Finally, a plug for the supremacy of pencils over pens. Back in the 60s, during the Space Race, NASA spent millions of dollars to develop a pen that could write upside down - really, that could write in any direction in the absense of gravity. Notably, they succeeded…but the Russians, faced with the same problem of writing in zero gravity, brought pencils. Yes, loyal readers, they may both work on Earth, but only one can still write in space with no modifications.

Jared tells me that, as server admin, he has the right to request blogging on demand - in other words, he wants a blog, and it’s my responsibility to blog. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that theory, but since I’m chilling (literally - it’s freezing in this hotel room…just the way I like it) in very southern Georgia I figured I might as well catch up on some bloggers. In that line of thought…

Tonight marks the up-and-over landmark over at the list - we hit 200+ tonight! The most recent entries, in no particular order other than most recent to most not recent, are:

1. Title: kimchi corner
   • URL: http://kimcheecorner.blogspot.com/
   • Author: Larry Fitch
2. Title: A Voice for Wisdom
   • URL: http://avoiceforwisdom.blogspot.com
   • Author: Larry Fitch
3. Title: Tropical blonde
   • URL: http://tropicalblonde.blogspot.com/
   • Author: Kate Gardenghi
4. Title: Crucial_Force
   • URL: http://www.xanga.com/Crucial_Force
   • Author: Zach Smith
5. Title: SpecialK703
   • URL: http://www.xanga.com/specialk703
   • Author: Kelly Mooney
6. Title: jonkilp
   • URL: http://jonkilp.wordpress.com/
   • Author: Jon Kilpatrick
7. Title: The Lord’s Battles
   • URL: http://dustinbattles.blogspot.com/
   • Author: Dustin Battles
8. Title: CLAWS
   • URL: http://robstopher.wordpress.com/
   • Author: Robert Laws

Some are present students, while some are former students; some are people I know quite well, while some I’ve never met. But the point is they’re BJ-related, and I’m over 200.

Now, while I’m thinking of very southern Georgia, let me ask my northern-impaired brethren and sistren a few things:

1. What’s with the adjectival phrase “ever-lovin’”? For instance, “I’ll preach the ever-lovin’ sense into ya’ll!”
2. Do you really use the phrase “Can I get a witness?” in normal conversation? I only ever heard that in two places - as part of a comedy routine and as the name of a song by Marvin Gaye (yes, I had to look that up, and no, I didn’t intentionally listen to it - it was playing as I was walking out from, of all places, a department store).

A third question, harkening back to my Charleston vacation a few weeks ago - I got the part about that not really being a crescent moon on the SC flag, but what’s with the occasional red SC flag?

On a somewhat unrelated note, has anyone besides me ever used the word “belie” in a sentence? I looked it up - it’s a real word, pronounced “bee-LIE” and it means “to give a false impression of” (thanks, Merriam-Webster online). I’m on the bus heading down here this morning, and somehow or another we start talking about clip-on ties. I note my propensity to break out in rashes if I’m in close contact with metal for any length of time, and I used that word to delicately and succinctly point out that it wouldn’t look very good for a BJ student to be wandering around town with a nice big red rash on his neck. So, I simply said that said rash would “belie my single status.” That touched off a ten-minute discussion on what I meant and why I phrased it why I did…which time would have been saved had I just come right out and said I didn’t want to look like I had a massive, well, you know. Lesson learned: um…well…so I didn’t learn any lesson. Live and don’t learn, that’s me.

So yeah, that’s about all. I hope Jared (and all the rest of youse) in readerland are happy. Go Eagles, and go my fantasy football team.