Because you can observe a lot just by watching.
I recently wandered onto Godbit.com because they were mentioned on one of the podcasts I am trying out. While checking around I found this post on Podcasting Your Church. There is some useful info in not only the initial post, but the comments as well.
In other news, I have chosen a new background image.
I was about to walk into my office and noticed an odd smell. When I smell something odd around the building I make sure I seek out its source. Sometimes it is a candle left burning, sometimes it is popcorn left in a microwave way too long, and sometimes it is something completely different.
I noticed the gym light was on and stepped in to see this:
I love the idea of the gymnasium here. It has a full size basketball court with rubberized flooring. It can have two volleyball courts or we can drop down all six basketball nets. The great thing is that this is on the second floor and gets great looks from people seeing it for the first time. It actually has a raised section in the roof for it to fit in the building.
What was the smell? Lots of vinyl airing out. If I am here when the kids show up I will include some pictures of the action.
Update: I saw them playing golf in the “Attic” (The youth auditorium). They were hitting some sort of really soft ball off the stage. I then saw them playing volleyball in the bouncy, but the kids were more interested in jumping than using the actual volleyball.
Pictures? Um, well, the battery died.
George W. Bush (POTUS) took a visit to the National Security Agency (NSA) a while back and spoke with the director for a photo-op. As usual, the background behind the president was used as part of the the visual story. The background is a really cool tech movie style control panel thingie.
That thingie is actually the Talisker Computer Network Defense Operational Picture.
I am still looking around the Talisker Portal but it has links to many great security tools. It is almost overwhelming and easier to say “Just look at it yourself” so that is what I am going to do since it is easier.
Network searching, password finding, data packet testing, computer rescueing, and more.
If you thought it was amazing that Wednesday had the time of 01:02:03 04/05/06, wait until you check this one out!!!!!!
Tomorrow will have: 13:59:28 4/7/06
That is all the numbers from 0-9 in a completely random order.
According to my calculations this won’t happen again until 1 hour 29 minutes and eleven seconds later when it will be 15:28:39 4/7/06
Isn’t that amazing?
I been reading http://churchtechblogs.com/, how ’bout you?
THis is an idea that has been passed around a bit for a while. THere was even talk of starting something like this at OSM.
Basically, it is an aggregation of several tech oriented ministry blogs (or is that minsitry related tech blogs).
I have found it interesting since it keeps me from having to visit several blogs. Unfortunately it really is just several blogs mixed in together. There is no homogeneity to it.
Have you been reading it? What do you think?
If you haven’t been reading it then read it for a week or two and then come back and post what you think.
My mp3 player has 1GB of space, my backup mp3 player has 128MB of space. I have never downloaded a song to either of them. Instead I listen to lots of podcasts.
I finished my regular list of podcasts (I’ll post a list later) early this week so I am looking for more to enjoy.
I found the TechPodcasts.com Directory to help me do some filling.
I know that this is not news to many people ready this, but it still hits hard to read it from Microsoft: Recovery From Malware Becoming Impossible.
We have had a few systems get infected recently that needed drastic measures taken.
We run the removal tools (worked a few times), we go back to a previous backup (rarely works), or we drag the box upstairs and toss in the Windows disc.
Fortunately most important documents are stored on a server with backups and good antivirus. Nobody surfs the web on these servers and their delicate areas are protected from all but administrator.
There are a few things we do to make wiping and restoring easier.
1. We are getting pretty good at running Windows install. That includes the bench specifically set up with CRT and LCD monitors and all peripherals ready to go.
2. When a new computer is comissioned we take the cd with the motherboard drivers and computer specific software and tape it inside the computer case (the cd is in its paper holder of course). THis keeps us from having a huge stack of nearly identical CDs to dig through in the future.
3. All software setup programs (with exceptions for programs with limited usage or licenses) are stored on one server so once ethernet is running we can get right into the update process.
What other options do you use?
So, Google Maps API 2 is coming out.
I have never done well with Javascript and my old fossilized mind isn’t learning it well now. I would love to get some church ministry tools together using the Google Map API (Small Group lists, off site activities, perhaps member maps even), but I know I am not going to do anything great.
I keep hoping someone out their in the Christian Web Geek community gets a calling to do some Google Map API based scripts. If it is good I think I could even throw a chunk of change at it. I know our church would pay for some of this. The question is whether we hire expensive programmers doing propriety code or people in it for the minsitry doing some open code that benefits many people.
We already have a company nearby that could probably do some of this, but I would like something out in the community that will continue to grow.