Friday, May 27, 2005

Private records discovered on server

More and more, protecting private information is becoming a hot topic. At least in the circles I move in.

05.24.2005 - Dainty pink Mt. Diablo buckwheat rediscovered

"BERKELEY – A petite pink flower that hasn't been seen in 70 years has been rediscovered on the flanks of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County by a University of California, Berkeley, graduate student."
That's kind of cool.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Minnesota court takes dim view of encryption | CNET News.com

A Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the presence of encryption software on a computer may be viewed as evidence of criminal intent.
Well that's just stupid...

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Hatter Tea

Elizabeth Sharp has a picture site. There are pictures of Alan and Melissa's wedding, as well as pictures of the BABY! Wow... he is so cute.

And then there is a great picture of Melissa and Aiden. Yeah... she really looks like she just had a baby huh?

Way to go Alan and Melissa. Congrats!

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Emily Terbush: Uuuuuuupdate

The following is via email from Emily. She is in YWAM in Lakeside, MT on staff for a production of Peace Child. This letter is so Emily, as are all her letters. So I just had to post it. :)

Hello everyone!

Can you tell by the subject that this keyboard has
issues?

So here is the latest on me and my fun YWAM existance!

Yesterday, I made lunch for 200 people! And some of
you may say "but Emily, I know you can't cook! How did
this come about?" And to that I would say "I have no
clue but apparently no one died and that's all that
matters!" Hee hee!

But, I shall soon be leavng the kitchen and my title
as salad bar queen to be in what is known as
housekeeping! I actually do like this job though! Some
people may think that scrubbing toilets is a very
unglamorous job but, when you do it everyday it really
isn't that gross! I have been a part of housekeeping
for every school that I have been a student in! And
now it has come full circle! I shall be in charge and
instructing fun summer students in the way of "if you
can't kiss it, it ain't clean!" Oh the joy of it all!
Exciting!

I finally have a roommate! Her name is Megan Chase!
She is tall and has very short red hair! She is quiet
yet talkative, enjoys reading, singing, skipping and
cool walks on the beach! :) She is very fun and I
enjoy her thoroughly! Although, her bed is almost as
tall as I am and sadly that is no exageration! Funny!

I am countng down the days till my dear
friend/co-worker/swinging in the park buddy Amber
leaves! Only 24 days left! Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please pray for sanity for both of us as we have not
really been separated for the past 2 years! Very sad!

Our directors, Chris and Cara, have only one more
month before their baby girl is born so please keep
them in prayer as their lives will become completely
different! In the mean time please pray for Me, Anne,
Amber and Kirsten as we are planning a fun, out of the
ordinary baby shower/luau/limbo competition!

My dance training is going well! As I may have told
some of you, we take 4 dance classes a week, one of
them being tumbling! I am now able to stay in a
handstand for up to 6 seconds (results not common) and
I can do a front walkover (but only on the grass! The
wood floor in the gym scares me!) Hooray!

My 3-5 year old's are starting to learn their dance
for the recital in July! They are going to be tigers!
YAY! So that should be very cute! As they can not
remember a thing though, I have to be in their dance
as well! I am their tiger trainer so I will guide them
as they do fun tricks and try to scare all of the
audience! Fun times!

My job as dance recruiter is going alright as well! I
have 9 dancers who are interested so we'll see what
happens with them!

Also, drum roll please . . . we have our 1st booking
for our 2006 tour! YAY! Somewhere called Baker,
Montana! North east so I have been told! Exciting! If
you or anyone you know would like to have Peace Child
come to your city, let me know!!!! I would love to
come visit you all! We are trying very hard to go east
this year so pray for favor for that too!

So that's pretty much it! Life is good! God is good!
The grass is green and there's lots of rain which
makes me happy! YAY! Thanks for your prayers and
support!

Emily

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Wired News: Wright Hopes to Spore Another Hit

The whole concept was dependent upon this technology that did not exist, what I'm calling procedural animation. The fact that the player can create any creature, and then we figure out how it would walk and move and behave.
I think I've played one Sim game since the original. I may have to check this out.

Wired News: Want a Coke With That Railgun?

In-game ads in 2003 were worth a mere $30 million, compared to roughly $8.5 billion spent on internet advertising, Goodman said. But this year, that number will rise to $71.9 million, and by 2009 it will skyrocket to $562.5 million, he said.

Friday, May 20, 2005

BlogThis is very fast today

I've blogged a number of articles today, using BlogThis in my toolbar. Usually it takes a little while to come up, and then publishing it takes some time. Today publishing has take a few seconds... I don't know if Blogger did something or not... but if they did - Thanks!

Ah... after looking around found:


Scheduled Good Times

Blogger feeling snappier? The previously scheduled maintenance has resulted in a faster, better blogging experience for you, your friends, your relatives, your coworkers, and your fellow bloggers so post away my friends. Post away!

Biz [5/16/2005 05:33:00 PM]



Cound't easily find where to send "Thanks" - there was troubleshooting, but I didn't want to send a bug report... So I'll just say it here again. Thanks :)

CNN.com - Reid: 'I am at war with your country' - Jan. 31, 2003

Sent a copy of this around in mail. This is the actual transcript as repoted on CNN.com.

heraldsun.com: IBM, colleges: More top students needed

With a critical shortage of Information Technology workers projected in the coming years, it's crucial that university computer science departments do all they can to attract top students to the field, a local IBM official said Tuesday.
That seems like it would be good news for those of us in IT. Well... bittersweet perhaps. Supply and demand would suggest that our salaries will go up. On the other hand, not having fresh new people come into an organization is always a drag.

I don't fully understand though how this all aligns with the whole off-shore/outsourcing strategies. But maybe it is driving part of it. As demand increases and supply decreases, it drives salaries up, and thus drives companies to look elsewhere to fill the demand.

But as it has been suggested in numerous articles, that just means that you stay in demand by increasing your skills, such that you can't easily be replaced by off-shore/outsourcing.

OK... back to work.

About Google's Schmidt - Part 2 :: AO

Schmidt: Well, I think the evidence is that more information is almost always the right answer to every question. My view is that the cure to the problem of free speech is more free speech, not less. And Google exists in order to further that outcome, which is more communication.
This was from part 2 - you should start with part 1, but I liked the above quote.

Google Labs - Personalize Your Hompage

New from Google Labs, the ability to personalize your homepage. Similar to homepages on Yahoo and other portals.

Yeah - that was easy and pretty cool. :)

Google CEO defends privacy policies | CNET News.com

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt acknowledged that his company's search engine can ruffle privacy feathers, but said the company's technology doesn't violate the company's founding motto, "Don't be evil."

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

No, I'm not crazy

One of the pitfalls of working at home is that there is no one to talk to. So sometimes you just talk to yourself... But then you get in the habit of doing it.

So I'm sitting in my cube, "Hmm... bug 306? Yeah, I think it was bug 306" and realize that I'm saying that outloud and the people around me may think that is weird.

I just have to repeat to myself - "I'm at work not home, I'm at work not home." ;)

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Click Fraud: State of the Industry, Part I - Pay Per Click Analyst |PPCA|

A "new" form of fraud. Who would have thought... I'm too busy helping fight fraud to think about new ways of actually committing it. :) Interesting stuff.

Monday, May 09, 2005

My baby is back

I know that stress is a bad thing and all that, but I never realized how much.

Tina stepped down as Associate Pastor... what, 2 or 3 weeks ago? She is like a whole new person. I think I blogged how the kids thought she looked younger. But its more than that. She has stepped back in time. I got my wife back and I'm so happy. I never realized the extent to which she had changed. She smiles now and her eyes twinkle and she just looks at me like... like she used to. I'm so incredibly happy and glad to see her again. And I never even realized she had left.

Who would have thought. Work (and that is what being a pastor is much of the time, but its more than that because "its for God" and because "you can't hurt the people", etc., etc. So the stress is even more than a "normal" job) can eat you up and change you. I'm also glad that with all the stress that is in my job, I still really enjoy it and can find pleasure it in much of the time.

Anyway... welcome back babe, glad to see you again.

Profile change

Had to change my profile because:
  • Tina stepped down as Associate Pastor
  • Jaime decided not to move out so is back home. Yay!
  • Tiffany is home now (and has been for a month. Yay!

Worship - you have to Lose Yourself

So I think about worship alot, as you've probably gatered if you follow this blog at all. And as I've said before, its all about passion and going for it. Sometimes I have that reinforced in the strangest ways. :)

So I'm listening to Lose Yourself by Eminem, and I start thinking, "Man, the chorus so applies to worship!
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime you better,

You can do anything you set your mind to, man
So... how does that apply to workship?
  • You better lose yourself in the music, the moment - you have to be able to block out everything around you and just go for it. There's no congregation, there's no issues at work, home, church, wherever. There's no - what's for lunch, what's the service going to be about, what are we doing later. There's just now. That's it. The music, the team, and God.
  • You own it, you better never let it go. You don't worry if you are doing good enough, the right thing, whatever. Its you, and you are worshipping God and you just follow the Holy Spirit and go where he says.
  • You only get one shot, do not miss your change to blow Life and circumstances are fragile. This moment will never happen again. Don't pass it up. Who knows if everyone on the team will be here next week. Who knows if you'll ever play with these people again? This may be your last shot to worship like this, so go all out.
  • This opportunity comes once in a lifetime you better. Again, you never know. This moment, this leading of the Holy Spirit, each time is different. You better take advantage of it.
  • You can do anything you set your mind to, man. And that is always true with worship.
You can do anything when it is you and God. The team matters, in that you are flowing with them. And the congregation matters, to the extent you let them. Eminem said something like, "Its all about the battle. And you can't lose it. Folks will say "If you lose, just go back and try again." But that's not it. If you lose, its over. You've failed. It doesn't matter if you are playing for 20 people or 200 people, its all the same."

And that can apply to worship. You live in the moment. It doesn't matter if you are doing worship and there are 20 people there or 200... because they shouldn't matter. What matters is you and God. And he's always there.

So you never think, "Today doesn't feel good - but I'll make it up some other time." You ALWAYS live in the moment and Lose Yourself in it, with Him.

Monday, May 02, 2005

InformationWeek > Software Quality > IT Execs To Vendors: Your Software Stinks > April 28, 2005

A panel of IT execs at Sand Hill Group's Software 2005 conference in Santa Clara, Calif., said the software industry needs to build higher-quality software and closer relationships with customers.
And yet there is still a disturbing focus on just "getting it to work" vs "doing it right". An issue, imo, is that "getting it to work", especially in complex systems can be very hard to quantify. Just because a test case passes doesn't mean the entire system is clean, it just means that one test worked. On the other hand "doing it right" often provides you with a simplier system doing a complex task, and makes it easier to spot issues, find defects later, etc. But many people just don't get it.