Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Just a Leaf... Photo shoot!




We took a day trip to Yosemite today with some extended family. It was nearly perfect timing for fall colors and we inevitably began takings some pictures. We found a wonderful little leaf along the way and thought it might have album art potential. It's just a leaf after all, but it made for a few nice pics. Here are a few that turned out pretty good, I think. Of course, the top one has been messed with a bit :)

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Free stuff, Yahoo!

As part 2 of the last post, Googled, I would like to highlight some of the useful free services available from Yahoo!.

Although Google and Yahoo! are competing companies, they can work together, quite harmoniously, on your computer to fill all kinds of needs. Below I have listed, what I feel are, the most useful free products and services available from the 2k crash survivor:

Yahoo! Widget Engine: By far... and I mean FAR... the most useful of the Yahoo! line up. If you are Mac user, the only reason to use this would be if there is a particular widget you want that you can't get on your Mac. But for Windows users... this is where it's at.

So what's a widget? Widgets are mini-applications... little programs that to little things but that can effect your computing experience in a BIG way. Check out this listing of widgets by using the search bar or browsing by category and you'll get an idea of what these little buggers can do for you.

You can set these widgets to sit on your desktop, or (as I prefer) keep them cleanly hidden on a "dashboard" like mac os widgets. This way they do not crowd your perfectly ordered desktop or consume resources while not in use.

As an example, if you download this widget (after getting the whole program, of course) we can use this for an RSS reader for this blog, which would let you read my posts without coming to the blog itself.

  • Simply download the widget and double-click the icon once it is on your computer.
  • The right click the bar and select "Manually add content"
  • Add http://justaleaf.blogspot.com/atom.xml
  • Right click the bar again and select "Remove Content" to remove any feeds you don't want.
That's just one widget and one example of what they do. You can get email alerts, weather updates, RSS feeds, daily comics, and just about anything else delivered straight to your desktop or dash board. Microsoft will also be adding widgets to it's upcoming Windows Vista. But why wait? Have Vista now.

Flickr - Want to share your pictures online with friends and family? Well, there's no better place than flickr.com (at least, there isn't if you don't count the Picasa and Google Album combo). It is hugely popular and easy to use. Probably the best place to put photos online for viewing or for use in blog or forum posts.

Yahoo! Finance
- Yahoo!'s finance site is considered to be one of the best financial portals in the world (that is free). If you want to view stocks, read up on companies, learn some things, or research market trends... you'll probably find what you are looking for on Yahoo! Finance.


That's it! Yes, that all for Yahoo!. The main point here is really the widgets because they can be so useful.

It also bears mentioning that Yahoo!'s free mail service is considered the best email service on the web, besides Gmail. Some like it more because it has more frills and features. Gmail, on the other hand, is faster and has a higher inbox capacity. So, if you've got something against Google, use Yahoo! mail.

That concludes this series of helpful free products by Google and Yahoo!. I hope it has helped you to discover new ways to use your computer to make your computing experience easier and more enjoyable!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

.
Are you Googled?



This is the first of a two-post series. Over the years, I have come across many tools, like RSS, that have greatly assisted me in my day-to-day computing. But for now I would just like to talk to you about the best that Google and Yahoo! have to offer in the way of free software and services... without the fluff.

(Yes, that means Google Earth will not be in the list. I suppose that if you are a frequent international traveller, you might actually NEED Google Earth.)

At any rate, out of all the free products and services from Google, these are the elite and I highly recommend them to everyone. They are, for the most part, available to all, regardless of operating system (PC, Mac, Linux... even others, but I won't confuse you any further). Each is accompanied with a brief explanation of why I think you should use it.

Google Desktop: Mac users get spotlight. For everyone else, there's Google Desktop. Google Desktop basically uses Google's famed search engine to "index" everything on your computer. It then saves that information to a little program on your computer which can take the form of a little search box on your desktop or start bar, a bar along the side of your desktop that provides even more helpful information, or (my personal favorite) a tiny little icon on your system tray.

Once it has indexed for the first time, you simply double-tap the "ctrl" key to bring up the search box (or use the search box on your desktop or sidebar, if you chose that option). It will search every file, program, and folder, on your computer in real-time, with no waiting, as you type. I don't remember the last time I had to browse my hard drive's hundreds of folders, thanks to this little guy. Definitely one of the top free services available. Google asks nicely if it can use your file information for research purposes (non-public); if you refuse, it is kept completely private under a non-disclosure agreement.


Picasa: THE best program for managing the pictures on your computer! It even gives Apple's iPhoto a run for it's money (I wouldn't trade in iPhoto just yet though). It's freely available to all operating systems and allows you to easily sort through your pictures (no matter how many), fix red-eye or lighting problems, and quickly create emails, collages, online private albums, blog your pics, or screensavers from your photos with very little effort or computer proficiency. Oh yeah... did I mention that it's FREE!?

Gmail: If you know me, and haven't heard me raving about Gmail... you don't know me. Gmail is a free email service that is web-hosted like Hotmail. But that is where the similarities end. Gmail is highly resistant to spam and has a fast and easy to use interface that rivals the likes of Microsoft Word and Outlook in functionality. It has a dynamic address book that auto-fills your "to:" fields as you type and lets you know if those people are online checking their Gmail as well. If they are, you can send them a quick chat message, right inside the browser.

One of the most impressive features is the storage space. Your average PAID email service, through your ISP, gives you 10-20 megabytes of storage... that will store somewhere between 100-200 emails, depending on how many attachments you receive (for me, it would fill up with 4-5 emails). Gmail gives you around 3,000 megabytes of space and it grows as they add more hardware! Even guys like me will virtually never run out of space. Which means no more "quota full" messages ever again! A+++++ for Gmail.



Google Maps: Ok, so some people like expedia or map quest. I won't hold it against them... as long as they convert! Seriously, Google maps is the first innovative service since map quest started. Besides being utterly beautiful, compared to the competition, it remains intuitive and allows for special map views. See the intersection where your hotel is? Click the "Satellite" button to see the satellite photo of that location so you can see what the surroundings look like. Yes, Google Earth's satellite shots are built in! Then click print and you're good to go (or even bring it up on your phone).

This is just of the tip of the iceberg - the best of Google's selection. If you like these, feel free to toy around with their other services. But these are the tools that have earned a place in my daily routine (well, maybe not the maps). The Blogger service is also Google and is what I am writing this article on right now. If you want to start a blog, use that :). If not, I hope you'll come back here anyways because tomorrow (or the next day) I will do the second part of this topic, focusing on Yahoo!'s offerings. By the way... I don't get paid to do this. I just really like it!


Until then... so long!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Digging through the archives, I found an article I wrote a few years ago looking at the concept of "Pets" as they related to the Bible. I hope you will find it uplifting and I look forward to any comments on the article. I know it's not thorough but I think there is enough there to encourage.


-----------------------------

2 Samuel 12

1And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

2The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:

3But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

4And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

5And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:

6And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

This is a very interesting passage in the Bible because it shows the current attitude towards pets of that day. David was so angry that someone would take and kill another’s pet that it decreed that not only should the rich man pay the poor man back fourfold, but that he is also worthy of being put to death.

Little did David know that this story was about to be turned on him to convict him over taking Bathsheba for his wife by killing her husband…

This passage alone would indicate that there was no conflict amongst the Jews if someone decided to keep a “pet”. In fact, such animals were venerated to some degree, otherwise David would not have reacted as emotionally as he did. For us, this passage comes to life much more fully if you insert “cat” or “Dog” into it anytime you see the word lamb. Also I haven’t fully investigated it, it appears that dogs and cats were considered unclean animals by the Jewish community, which may be why a lamb is the pet of choice in this case.

The primary question that comes up when an owner gets particularly attached to one of his/her animals (the passage above indicates that the lamb was as a daughter to the poor man, as much a part of the family as the other children) is: Will Fluffy-poo go to heaven?

Unfortunately, the bible does not indicate any clear-cut answers along these lines, but as it was said to me: When we get to heaven, we will agree with God’s just decision on every matter.

It may be, however, that animals do indeed have souls (or ARE souls, would be more correct). This may be alluded to if you compare these two passages:

Genesis 2:7

7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 7:15

15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

The phrase “breath of life” could actually be interpreted: The Spirit of Life. The same word used to indicate our spirits in the Bible. In fact, we know that God cares for they animals… how then could they be soulless walking sentients?

Matthew 10:29
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

Luke 12:6
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Of course, there is a flip side to this as well:

Matthew 10:31
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:7
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

This comparison of scriptures indicate to us that animals, even the smallest birds, are important to God, but we, however, are worth much more than them.

Another interesting observation is that there was no death on the earth prior to the sin of Adam. That would also indicate the immortality of animals pre-fall. Now, however:

Ecclesiastes 3:19

19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath [a] ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.

On the physical plane, we have no advantage over the animal. We both have the same breath (which again, can be interpreted Spirit). There’s only one major difference in the destiny of man and the destiny of animal. Man has sinned. Animals did not. If animals don’t have a sinful nature how can they pay the price of death? Surely they can die physically… but if they DO have the breath of life, then under what penalty should it be taken from them? Like I mentioned earlier, God is just and has made the correct decision, I am only speculating with my meager knowledge and human understanding.

There are references in the Bible to animals in heaven and on the new earth, but they are debatable. Many insist that the “animals” in heaven are just symbolic of different types of angels or beings and not the literal beast referred to. The Bible uses the word “heavens” interchangeably with “sky” and, thus, makes it difficult to make concrete decisions as to heaven bound pets. All we really need to know at the end of it all is that God cares about the animals of the world, He made them, and He is a good God, and a just God.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Well, I was a bit late getting this blog out the door!

My last blog went inactive a little while ago mostly do to schedule changes, but also because I found the blog platform inadequate for how I wanted to blog. Google seems to have proven (again) that they know how to build the best web apps around. So I'm now officially on Blogger! Yes, this site is hosted by Blogspot, I will post about how to use a different address soon. With the change, I decided to create a blog that had an environment that was more conducive to my personality so that, hopefully, I will feel like updating it more! Here is the purpose of this blog, as taken from it's description:

"A blog of a simple Christian dedicated to following his endeavors in art and music, a platform to post spiritual thoughts and articles, and occasional relay of technology related opinions and recommendations. It will likely contain many run-on sentences and exclamation points along the way! Comments are more than welcome."

So now I have broadened the focus a bit since I am not moving forward on my "Just a Leaf" project as I had wanted. The first thing I wanted to enter on this blog was a post to help you use RSS.

Many have heard of RSS but do not know what is. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndicate". Basically, what it is good for is taking the leg work out of your daily updates. It will let you know when your favorite blogs or websites are updated so that you don't have to surf there just to find out.

My RSS feed is "http://justaleaf.blogspot.com/atom.xml"

Here's how:

For Everyone (PC or Mac) -

  1. Mozilla Thunderbird - If you receive your email directly to your computer, I highly recommend using this program if you aren't already! As great an email client as this is, it also makes a great RSS reader. So if you are the type that leaves their email up all day so you can see emails when they come in, this is perfect for you as you can also see when your favorite web places are updated! Here are exact instructions on setting up your RSS feeds for Thunderbird.

  2. Sage for FireFox - If you are a FireFox user and would prefer to get your feed updates in your browser, sort of like bookmarks that let you know when to check, you may want to give this a shot.


PC (Windows) -

If you are on Windows, you have many options for RSS. I will only recommend one for simplicity's sake:
  1. SharpReader - If you would rather watch RSS feeds in their own program, this is a easy to use and simple reader.
Mac -
  1. Vienna - Like SharpReader, this should do the trick if you want to stay away from email or browser integration.

Even if you don't use RSS, I hope you will check back often as I continue to improve this blog! Please leave feedback for me and let me know what you like so I can make this a better place.