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TopSat, 31 Mar 2007
Mar 31, 2007, 12:41
[home/movies] Joanne and I watched the movie "Ray" the other day, which is a biography of Ray Charles life. Jamie Foxx portrayed him, and did a fantastic job. Many times I said to Joanne, "He looks just like Ray Charles." The theme of the movie was inspiring as well. I didn't realise that Ray was tormented with so many personal demons, that he felt responsible for his brother's death, that his mother's love even after she died, kept him going, and that he struggled so much with drug addiction and marriage infidelity. I also didn't realise he loved country music so much. Actually, all of this stikes a remarkable simularity to Johnny Cash's life. That's the thing about being a professional musician, eh? The drugs, the pressures, the haunting pain of personal demons which drive them to perform and succeed and exceed everyone's expectations. I'm glad I was saved from that drama! ~Jason
Ray
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Fri, 30 Mar 2007
Mar 30, 2007, 10:18
[home/journal] This is a sad day— I am sorry to see Roy Green retire. Roy Green is a Hamilton talk radio host on 900-CHML AM radio. I love to listen on my way in to work, and often tune in from the office as well. He always hosted great interviews… asking hard questions, but always with respect and integrity. We're gonna miss him! Thanks Roy, blessings in your new career moves. ~Jason
Good Bye Roy Green
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Mon, 26 Mar 2007
Mar 26, 2007, 12:40
[home/webdesign/perl_scripts] The amount of spam hitting the various sites I design lately has been getting crazy. Some of my clients are getting dozens of ringtones, porn, and scam links posted to their comments boxes and guestbooks. So this morning I wrote a Captcha-style script, which I’ve called Cotcha. (Yeah, I know, really original — an acronym for Coded Objective to Tell Computers and Humans Apart). What makes this script so cool is that it can be integrated into any pre-existing form and/or perl script to add an extra element of spam protection. Right now the Cotcha code is only plain text— the next step of this script’s development is to create an image of the “Cotcha” code using ImageMagick. Since most web servers don’t come with this program preinstalled, I’m going to leave it off until it’s absolutely critical or someone makes a special request for the code to be imagefied. So if you’re having trouble with comment spam, feel free to get this script. I’ll be putting it up on Intelliscript.net soon. Watch for updates. ~Jason
I Wrote a Captcha Script
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Sun, 25 Mar 2007
Mar 25, 2007, 22:03
[home/church_work] This is a video of our March 18th “St. Patrick’s Day Service” at Philpott last week.
St Patrick’s Day 2007 - Video
~Jason
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Wed, 21 Mar 2007
Mar 21, 2007, 10:39
[home/books] I'm reading a powerful book right now, called "Spiritual Leadership" by J. Oswald Sanders. It looks like one of those books I need to read and re-read every year. The following is a list for the qualifications for leadership. He calls it a criteria for leadership potential. I just had to duplicate it here, because this is a list I want to refer back to often: ~Jason
Spiritual Leadership - Qualifications
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Tue, 20 Mar 2007
Mar 20, 2007, 15:42
[home/politics/american] From The Sunday Times [U.K.] Iraqis: life is getting better Marie Colvin MOST Iraqis believe life is better for them now than it was under Saddam Hussein, according to a British opinion poll published today. The survey of more than 5,000 Iraqis found the majority optimistic despite their suffering in sectarian violence since the American-led invasion four years ago this week. One in four Iraqis has had a family member murdered, says the poll by Opinion Research Business. In Baghdad, the capital, one in four has had a relative kidnapped and one in three said members of their family had fled abroad. But when asked whether they preferred life under Saddam, the dictator who was executed last December, or under Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, most replied that things were better for them today. Only 27% think there is a civil war in Iraq, compared with 61% who do not, according to the survey carried out last month. Related Links By a majority of two to one, Iraqis believe military operations now under way will disarm all militias. More than half say security will improve after a withdrawal of multinational forces. Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, said the findings pointed to progress. “There is no widespread violence in the four southern provinces and the fact that the picture is more complex than the stereotype usually portrayed is reflected in today’s poll,” she said. Nod to Proud to Be Canadian. ~Jason
LIfe is Better in Iraq
Interesting:
March 18, 2007
Resilient Iraqis ask what civil war?
Violence slashed as troop surge hits Baghdad
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Mon, 19 Mar 2007
Mar 19, 2007, 10:00
[home/church_work]
Irish Sunday
We had a terrific time on Sunday, doing Celtic music (since Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day).
Chris Marshall played the bagpipes, Mike Leech played fiddle, Jim Franklin played mandolin and guitar, I played penny whistles and accordion, Tom Bigas and Chris Lasar played percussion, and Scott Orr played upright bass. We did a lot of Robin Mark songs. What a blast!
Derek Wilson, a really great guy who actually hails from the Green Isle, read scripture with a rolling Irish accent. All around it was a great time, and I think many enjoyed worshiping God.
~Jason
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Sat, 17 Mar 2007
Mar 17, 2007, 15:16
[home/movies]
The Prestige
I saw an amazingly good movie with Joanne last night, about two feuding magicians. It was set in the turn-of-the-century, so it was full of all those cool mechanical gadgets. But aside from a great look, it had a really intriguing plot! It twisted all around, and kept me guessing.
I recommend it!
~Jason
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Mar 17, 2007, 15:09
[home/politics/global_warming] This revealing documentary was released in Europe last week. It’s quite concerning. ~Jason
The Great Global Warming Swindle
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Mar 17, 2007, 15:04
[home/webdesign/perl_scripts/blog] I've finally done some major modifications on the blogpost script… LONG overdue. I cleaned up the code, helped it to handle memory a bit better, added some overwrite protection which should have been there all along, added more comments to the code, and put more explanation for the user as well. ~Jason Update: Today I completely rewrote much of the code as well— it was way too complicated. I hope people like the changes I've made. It should be easier to use and understand. Another update: Last night and this morning I rewrote some of the code again so that the script communicates with the web server and presents error messages, alerts, and confirmations without loading another page. Instead the alerts appear in an "iframe" and go away when the user resumes editing. I'm beginning to develop a new system to program Perl scripts which are more asynchronous… in other words, not only can the script communicate with the server, but hopefully the server can communicate with the browser independently. At the most simplistic level, error messages and alerts will appear from the web server without the user leaving the page. A real-world example of this style of web interface would be Gmail or Flickr. It's about time I started programming in this manner, considering how easy it is. Stay tuned!! And More: I finally replaced the HTMLAREA WYSIWYG interface, (which only worked on Windows using Internet Explorer) with a new WYSIWYG interface called TinyMCE. This HTML interface uses JavaScript and works on all platforms and many browsers including Opera, Firefox and IE. The HTMLAREA interface was very lite, didn't use much server space, and was super easy to configure. The TinyMCE interface is more complicated— but the cross platform benefits are obvious. Soon I will be replacing HTMLAREA in AutoFollowup and other scripts which require WYSIWYG.
Post Blog Script Modified
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Tue, 13 Mar 2007
Mar 13, 2007, 21:31
[home/faith] This man is annointed. God bless him!
~Jason
Bono
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Mar 13, 2007, 10:14
[home/curiosities] By Tom Harper, Sunday Telegraph Scientists who questioned mankind’s impact on climate change have received death threats and claim to have been shunned by the scientific community.
They say the debate on global warming has been “hijacked” by a powerful alliance of politicians, scientists and environmentalists who have stifled all questioning about the true environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions.
Timothy Ball, a former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg in Canada, has received five deaths threats by email since raising concerns about the degree to which man was affecting climate change.
One of the emails warned that, if he continued to speak out, he would not live to see further global warming.
“Western governments have pumped billions of dollars into careers and institutes and they feel threatened,” said the professor.
I can tolerate being called a sceptic because all scientists should be sceptics, but then they started calling us deniers, with all the connotations of the Holocaust. That is an obscenity. It has got really nasty and personal.
Last week, Professor Ball appeared in The Great Global Warming Swindle, a Channel 4 documentary in which several scientists claimed the theory of man-made global warming had become a “religion”, forcing alternative explanations to be ignored.
Richard Lindzen, the professor of Atmospheric Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology - who also appeared on the documentary - recently claimed: “Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves labelled as industry stooges.
“Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science.”
Dr Myles Allen, from Oxford University, agreed. He said: “The Green movement has hijacked the issue of climate change. It is ludicrous to suggest the only way to deal with the problem is to start micro managing everyone, which is what environmentalists seem to want to do.”
Nigel Calder, a former editor of New Scientist, said: “Governments are trying to achieve unanimity by stifling any scientist who disagrees. Einstein could not have got funding under the present system.” I don’t know what the facts are, but there is no harm in being sensitive to environmental issues— as long as the big picture of economical health is always kept in mind.
Scientists Threatened for Climate Denial
Last Updated: 12:24am GMT 11/03/2007
~Jason
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Mar 13, 2007, 09:33
[home/faith] I’m often suprised at the good lessons available to us in the Old Testament. If we will look with eyes ready to see, God can show us our character, our failings, and present a faith alternative. The lesson for me today was simple: when I am in my “figurative desert”, do I trust God to provide? Do I pine for the old days of abundance, or cheerfully anticipate how God will supply my needs today?
Manna From Heaven
One example I read today. This was the thousandth time I read it, and yet today something special jumped out at me.They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.
I choose faith.
~Jason
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Mon, 12 Mar 2007
Mar 12, 2007, 00:08
[home/journal] I’ve been reading about quantum theory, because I got tired of hearing about it all the time and not really understanding it. What does this mean to us in context of prayer and faith? Interesting.
The Quantum Universe
I was stunned by what I read. In particular, the nature of the universe as understood in the context of quantum theory suggests that the smallest divisible unit of the cosmos is not atoms, or electrons, or quarks, but actually information. If this is true, the question of consciousness describes reality. So in other words, “facts” in the common consciousness of all people make up reality. I suppose that the more a particular piece of information is widely held as true by people, the more that universe comes into existence.
I’m still reading and learning, but I’m completely blown away by this notion. Here’s a quote from the article I linked to above:
For many years, it has been assumed that the universe exists independently of human perception. Why would scientific minds now alter their perspective? The answer is based on a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics, sheer observation affects the observed – its potentiality collapses. Therefore, if information is fundamental, exists in a duality of nature, and is affected by observation, there is strong evidence that observation itself may cause it to exist – and even if that is not correct, certainly that shared knowledge of existence affects the “probability of trueness”, and the emergence of an information element into what humans recognize as “reality” – a part of our universe.
~Jason
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Fri, 09 Mar 2007
Mar 09, 2007, 12:54
[home/church_work] We’ve been putting together a “God and Science” series over the last month, and last Sunday was the first message on that topic. For this occaision, I suggested to Lane (our senior pastor) that he consider a blog to elicit feedback, questions, and more. I set it up for him, and it can be found here. I also made a video yesterday to go with the message this Sunday, concerning God’s existence. The video is on YouTube, and can be seen and you can leave comments, by following this link. ~Jason
God and Science
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Wed, 07 Mar 2007
Mar 07, 2007, 20:14
[home/faith] My cousin through marriage, Darren Friesen, left a terrific quote from Henry Nouwen on his blog today (which he picked up from Jordon’s blog). I just had to reprint it here: ~Jason
The Ministry of Presence
More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.
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Mon, 05 Mar 2007
Mar 05, 2007, 07:38
[home/church_work]
String Quintet Sunday
This last Sunday we did something different for our music-worship time. Instead of a full band, which usually has drums, bass, mandolin or violin, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, and keyboard, we had only two cellos and three violins.
I spent the week arranging seven songs (I only finished the last one Saturday evening!). I really made them complex, with extended harmonies and lots (LOTS) of counterpoint. Part of my plan was to communicate the ideas of a full band— with bass lines and percussive ‘snare’ beats, and other similar elements. Overall the effect was very good.
We’ll try stuff like this again. I think Adam was hoping to have strings and brass for the Easter service.
~Jason
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