So Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, and now we're off to prepping for Christmas and the New Year. Each year as I sit down in front of a huge pile of food on the last Thursday of November, I think about how many people in the world have probably never seen this amount of food in one place in their entire life. American tradition has caused us to plop down around a huge table, say a little prayer and engage in a ritual of gluttony that should probably disgust us. There are lots of things to surely be thankful for. But in some cases, I think that we need to re-examine how we celebrate what God has given us. I'm not against eating turkey and pumpkin pie. What I am bothered by is not what we celbrate with, its how we celebrate it. Is God honored when we ritually sit down and eat until it hurts? Is he honored when we spend 3 to 5 minutes of thanksgiving prayer and then spend the next 3 hours feasting like its our last meal?
When was the last time we've heard a sermon on gluttony in this country? Do pastors preach on such a thing? Does anyone really understand what gluttony is anymore?
Not that I am in the least bit innocent of this charge. I'm certainly pulling more than my share of fat and calories each day. I just wonder if anybody else considers this issue each year?
Monday, November 28, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Free + Recycle = Freecycle.org
I can't really explain why I haven't posted about this really wonderful concept before, but now I am. A few months ago, a friend of Meg's told her about this online community called "Freecycle.org". Freecycle.org is a website that allows one to give away or recieve items for free from people within their surrounding community. Its kind of like a free version of the classifieds. Most of the community groups are organized by city or county. To give you an example of how it works, let me explain about our experiences with it so far:
1. the first experience we had was when Megan set up her account, which sends e-mails to your yahoo account (Freecycle is affiliated with Yahoo! Groups I believe). Each day the folder would fill up with "offer" or "wanted" notices for various items. One of the freely offered items was an all-wooden baby's high chair from somebody in the nearby area. Meg replied to the person offering the highchair, who gave us directions to their place as well as where she would leave the item. A couple of days later, we found the person's house, picked up the highchair, which was out on the person's porch, and went home. It was as simple as that.
2. Our second experience was a metal filing cabinet. Meg and I had been thinking of buying one, but when we saw this, we figured, "what the heck?". The person was out in E-Town, which is about 1/2 hours from our place. However, a free metal filing cabinet is a free metal filing cabinet. Because of poor written communication via e-mail by both us and the person giving the cabinet away, we end up driving out there and finding nothing. A week later, the scheduling for both the person and us was better communicated and we came home with a free working filing cabinet.
3. The 3rd experience we had was getting rid of a bunch of useless computer junk that I had lying around the house. Recylcing computers can be a pain, so this was a great way. We divided up our items into separate free offers and posted them on the web. We got several responses, asking for the items right away. The arrangements for pickup were made and we set the items out on our front porch. Within the week, all of the stuff was gone. It was so easy!!!
Of course, one has to realize that not everything that people are giving away is going to be top-quality, or in top-quality condition. For instance, the high-chair is very nice, but the finish needs re-done. The filing cabinet works fine, but its missing a metal folder rack in one of the drawers. Of the computer items I gave away, some work, others didn't (of course, I DID let everyone know that before they chose to claim the item).
All in all, I think that Freecycle.org is a great idea for people. It allows people to be rid of stuff that is taking up space, and allows others who are looking for various items to find them at no cost. Its a situation where everybody wins. If you think that you might be interested in checking it out, here's the link: Freecycle.org
1. the first experience we had was when Megan set up her account, which sends e-mails to your yahoo account (Freecycle is affiliated with Yahoo! Groups I believe). Each day the folder would fill up with "offer" or "wanted" notices for various items. One of the freely offered items was an all-wooden baby's high chair from somebody in the nearby area. Meg replied to the person offering the highchair, who gave us directions to their place as well as where she would leave the item. A couple of days later, we found the person's house, picked up the highchair, which was out on the person's porch, and went home. It was as simple as that.
2. Our second experience was a metal filing cabinet. Meg and I had been thinking of buying one, but when we saw this, we figured, "what the heck?". The person was out in E-Town, which is about 1/2 hours from our place. However, a free metal filing cabinet is a free metal filing cabinet. Because of poor written communication via e-mail by both us and the person giving the cabinet away, we end up driving out there and finding nothing. A week later, the scheduling for both the person and us was better communicated and we came home with a free working filing cabinet.
3. The 3rd experience we had was getting rid of a bunch of useless computer junk that I had lying around the house. Recylcing computers can be a pain, so this was a great way. We divided up our items into separate free offers and posted them on the web. We got several responses, asking for the items right away. The arrangements for pickup were made and we set the items out on our front porch. Within the week, all of the stuff was gone. It was so easy!!!
Of course, one has to realize that not everything that people are giving away is going to be top-quality, or in top-quality condition. For instance, the high-chair is very nice, but the finish needs re-done. The filing cabinet works fine, but its missing a metal folder rack in one of the drawers. Of the computer items I gave away, some work, others didn't (of course, I DID let everyone know that before they chose to claim the item).
All in all, I think that Freecycle.org is a great idea for people. It allows people to be rid of stuff that is taking up space, and allows others who are looking for various items to find them at no cost. Its a situation where everybody wins. If you think that you might be interested in checking it out, here's the link: Freecycle.org
Friday, November 11, 2005
Links and Thoughts #5
I'm posting this link in dedication to my conscious decision to switch to the Mac Platform with the purchase of my next computer. More details to come about the reasoning behind this. Here's an article detailing the history of Apple's long-standing operating system:
history-of-mac-os/
Pictures of Michael Dell's house. So much for modest living. If I were as rich as him, my house would only be 23k square feet. :-)
the house that dell built
Interesting Patents, including...um, Coffee Beer?
weird patents
Happy Birthday to the coolest available web browser out there:
happy b day firefox!
history-of-mac-os/
Pictures of Michael Dell's house. So much for modest living. If I were as rich as him, my house would only be 23k square feet. :-)
the house that dell built
Interesting Patents, including...um, Coffee Beer?
weird patents
Happy Birthday to the coolest available web browser out there:
happy b day firefox!
Thursday, November 03, 2005
What Microsoft Needs To Do
Ok, let's insert this opinion right here. After reading tons of articles and comparing products and such, it is clear to me what Microsoft needs to do in order to not only survive, but somehow improve.
Release Operating Systems More Often
One issue we've seen with them is their lack of dependability because of operating system vulnerabilities. Rather than continuously putting out new patches and fixes each month, they should just mimic Apple (like they do for their OS anyways). Release an operating system every year to 1.5 years. This would make it easier to insert current tech features into the OS, and periodically reinforce security issues. The whole OS could be progressively improved, and it would also make a great way to keep hackers from figuring out the code. If its always changing, then its less likely to be hacked and exploited. It would also provide improved revenue.
I understand that the cost to support all of the new products at this measure would increase, but that's another area where Microsoft could make money, in offering support contracts with every OS that they release. This would guarantee enough revenue to handle the support. Every 3 to 5 years, they could just drop support for the oldest OS, as they do now. This would prompt people to upgrade every couple of years to keep up with new changes.
Innovate
Let's face it. When was the last time that Microsoft actually came up with something original? Do you mean to tell me that with billions of dollars flowing throughout that company that they can't just invent something new? They've been copying ideas long enough. Its hard to give somebody credit for their work, when most of it is copying their main competitors ideas 5 years after their competitor introduced the concept.
Read comments in the comment box
Come on, Microsoft! I've been reading article after article where people have been mentioning huge annoyances that have existed for years in Microsoft Operating systems. Why doesn't Microsoft address it? The registry? The false "Time remaining" stats when you're copying files? The copy feature that quits in the middle of copying a huge amount of files if there is one error, and you have no idea what files are copied are what ones didn't make it. These issues have existed for many releases. Listen to us and fix them please!!!!
Of course, I'm no expert. I know that there are probably a few flaws in my rant, but I think that the ideas are still something Microsoft should consider. If they keep going in the same direction like they are now, my daughter might be reading about them in her history books when she grows up.
Release Operating Systems More Often
One issue we've seen with them is their lack of dependability because of operating system vulnerabilities. Rather than continuously putting out new patches and fixes each month, they should just mimic Apple (like they do for their OS anyways). Release an operating system every year to 1.5 years. This would make it easier to insert current tech features into the OS, and periodically reinforce security issues. The whole OS could be progressively improved, and it would also make a great way to keep hackers from figuring out the code. If its always changing, then its less likely to be hacked and exploited. It would also provide improved revenue.
I understand that the cost to support all of the new products at this measure would increase, but that's another area where Microsoft could make money, in offering support contracts with every OS that they release. This would guarantee enough revenue to handle the support. Every 3 to 5 years, they could just drop support for the oldest OS, as they do now. This would prompt people to upgrade every couple of years to keep up with new changes.
Innovate
Let's face it. When was the last time that Microsoft actually came up with something original? Do you mean to tell me that with billions of dollars flowing throughout that company that they can't just invent something new? They've been copying ideas long enough. Its hard to give somebody credit for their work, when most of it is copying their main competitors ideas 5 years after their competitor introduced the concept.
Read comments in the comment box
Come on, Microsoft! I've been reading article after article where people have been mentioning huge annoyances that have existed for years in Microsoft Operating systems. Why doesn't Microsoft address it? The registry? The false "Time remaining" stats when you're copying files? The copy feature that quits in the middle of copying a huge amount of files if there is one error, and you have no idea what files are copied are what ones didn't make it. These issues have existed for many releases. Listen to us and fix them please!!!!
Of course, I'm no expert. I know that there are probably a few flaws in my rant, but I think that the ideas are still something Microsoft should consider. If they keep going in the same direction like they are now, my daughter might be reading about them in her history books when she grows up.
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