Blogfodder

A Tech article with View Comments posted 26 November 2008.
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I suppose some people just blog everything they see, but I like to let things ruminate for a while. I keep a “Blogfodder” file in Tomboy where I paste URLs (with a little note about what they are) and then go back a few days later and look at them again. The things that stand out twice get written up.

Thanksgiving Din-ner

A Family article with View Comments posted 26 November 2008.
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I have no idea why First Things would be offering up a list of stuff to argue about over dinner! I mean, my family never argues about politics and religion at the dinner table… (wink)

Dégénération

A Church article with View Comments posted 25 November 2008.
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Via the First Things blog comes what they call an “edgy protest song – a protest against cultural suicide, that is.” I enjoyed the melody, and the words (though I don’t really know French, it was fun to pick out words I recognized) cut to the heart of what is a serious problem for the western world.

History is more like a hike through the foothills than climbing a mountain. With each step, rather than reaching ever increasing heights, we instead plod up and down well-worn paths.

On a related note, I think Mother Teresa’s amicus brief about Roe v. Wade is worth hearing as a part of the discussions on abortion, the birth rate, the economy, and the West, no matter which sides of the issues most hold your attention.

Don’t print me!

A Church article with View Comments posted 18 November 2008.
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I just received an email with a signature line that captured my attention. Instead of pseudo-witty quotes or a 500 word legal disclaimer, it simply said “Please consider your environmental responsibility before printing this email.” I thought that was a pretty cool reminder that killing trees is bad.

Closed File Formats and Christian Ethics

A Church article with View Comments posted 11 November 2008.
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This article is #6 in the 8 part series Freedom Software and the Church

Professor Vern Sheridan Poythress, a Presbyterian seminary professor, has a great website where he has made a huge portion of his lifetime writings available completely free. On his site, he has published an article discussing the ethical implications of closed file formats.

Poythress roots his discussion primarily in justice for people in the Third World who cannot obtain copies of proprietary software to open files saved in proprietary formats. This is an important point for the church, where communication with people in other countries has been strongly facilitated by the Internet, but I would like to extend his argument somewhat. When one is in the position to choose between software which interoperates with free and open formats and software which does not, one is, in part, making a choice to obligate the future users of one’s work to use particular software.

It’s important to note at this point that none of this discussion necessarily points to using freedom software. If Microsoft, for example, produces a version of Word that fully interoperates with the OpenDocument format, the ethical question of file formats goes away. You might choose to use costly proprietary software to create your document, but the recipient is not obligated do to likewise because the file format is open and anyone can write a program to work with it. Hence, the ethical question of file formats is not even whether the file format is open or closed. Instead, the question is whether or not there exists freely available software for reading and fully manipulating that document down the road. As long as that software exists and is readily available, you can choose whatever software you like.

There are plenty of good reasons to choose freedom software over proprietary software in many instances. Freedom software almost always uses open file formats, so interoperability is guaranteed.

Ultimately, the ethics of file formats is about control. It is irresponsible of the church to give control over access to data or choice of software away unnecessarily.

Things that are hard to do left handed

A Family article with View Comments posted 9 November 2008.
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With my dislocated shoulder, I don’t have a whole lot of use for my right hand or arm. I can clutch a few things close to myself, but that’s about it for now. Without further ado, I present the Not-so-comprehensive List of Things that are Hard and/or Impossible to do One-Handed:

Hard to do

  • Scratch your nose while holding anything else.
  • Tying shoelaces. Extra points for double knots.
  • Putting on and taking off shirts. Extra points for polo shirts that aren’t very stretchy.
  • Typing. Mostly easy, but when you can’t move your shoulder much, hitting backspace is tricky. Try it!
  • Passing the peace in church. People look at you funny and then try to make a left handed handshake with their left hand. Awkward. Which brings us to…
  • Shaking hands. People sometimes put their right hand out, expecting me to be miraculously healed and reach out with my big black sling. I grab their hand with my left and shake that way instead.
  • Holding books to read. Easy while sitting, but holding a hymnal while standing to sing, for example, is quite the feat. Turning pages while standing is well nigh impossible.
  • Liturgical gestures. Sticking one arm awkwardly out and raising it doesn’t mean “Time to stand up now, folks.” quite as eloquently for some reason.
  • Anything having to do with contact lenses.
  • Playing piano. I cheated and scooted my butt up and down the piano seat so I wouldn’t have to move my right shoulder to play a little bit for Coffeehouse last night.
  • Sweeping and mopping. But with a little imagination, it can be done!

Impossible to do

  • Buttons. Buttons of any kind flummox me completely. Extra points if your pants seem to have (cough cough) mysteriously shrunk.
  • Carrying heavy things. Thank goodness Chuck carried our new travel system from the baby shower up the stairs this evening. With Jennifer 7 months pregnant and the right half of my body being eaten by a sling, we’re nearly helpless.
  • Dialing a phone. Okay, I’ll admit, this isn’t impossible, but somehow my brain won’t tell my left hand how to push the right buttons, and it takes a few tries to get it right.
  • Putting on a knit hat. Protip: if you don’t mind the taste of cotton, you can use your teeth and get the job done without help.

I hope I’m done with this sore shoulder soon!

Left Handed Friday

A Family article with View Comments posted 7 November 2008.
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I hereby declare today Left Handed Friday in honor of me dislocating my shoulder last night in the Youth Room and having to do everything left handed today. Fortunately, I’ve found a comfortable position for typing with both hands – otherwise, my universe would likely cease to exist.

Baby Shower Pictures are up too!

A Family article with View Comments posted 6 November 2008.
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Jennifer’s family threw a baby shower in Kansas City last weekend and here are the pictures we took. (I know there are others out there, so please send them to me.) Check out that last picture – the pile of presents is devouring our living room. AIEEEE!

Edit: Moved pictures to my own domain.

Wartburg Oktoberfest 2008 Pictures

A Family article with View Comments posted 6 November 2008.
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Pictures from this year’s Oktoberfest celebration are now up in my Picasa space. Check them out:

Edit: Moved pictures to my own domain.

Also, here are some pictures from Oktoberfest 2007:

Student Technology Task Force

A Church article with View Comments posted 5 November 2008.
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Here’s something genuinely unexpected: The WAS Council today voted to form a Student Technology Task Force and appointed me the head of it. We’ll be looking for ideas on how to advance technology on campus and working with the administration to implement solutions. I’m pretty excited – hopefully we can get something done.