A saying I thought was very humorous at the Field Museum today :)

Interesting Words

Some have classified me as a loner in the past. I'd say in some cases, that's true. I like to hang out with friends and colleagues more often than not but you can reach a limit where too much contact can be detrimental to your psyche in my humble opinion.

I have just read 2 quotes that I like a lot that seem to say very clearly what I think. I thought I'd share them.

I found these on a newsletter I get called Love Your Work from Crosswalk.com. I tried to find the specific link but could not. I'll post the sayings and brief snips from the newsletter:

"Great Work Comes from Solitude"
Dan Miller
Many people are most creative and productive when they are secluded or left alone.

"Solitude is for me a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words. " Carl G. Jung

"We have to remember that we look for solitude in order to grow there in love for God and in love for others. We do not go into the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them: we do not leave them in order to have nothing more to do with them, but to find out the way to do them the most good." Thomas Merton

Silence is not just a void space. Silence is often where God is, waiting to burst forth with the possibility of a creative solution or a miraculous thought. Out of the silence comes the next chapter in a book or the opening chords of a symphony. Out of silence comes the natural breathing rhythm of restful rejuvenation and healthy optimism.

So sometimes, I retreat to a secluded place, but I'd wager that when you see me next, I'll be a better person and a better friend. I may even have answers I, or you, are looking for.

Obamacare

I remarked on my tech blog today regarding the federal decision today in Virginia against Obamacare. A federal judge correctly stating that forcing you to get health insurance is wrong and should be seen as unconstitutional. I agree and wanted to state that. Let's work on what actually makes health care and insurance so expensive. If we can lower the prices on medical visits, pharmaceuticals, and insurance itself, everyone would be able to afford it and a great many more of our US population would have it.

http://ow.ly/3oFym

My response to a Pogue response to one of his followers wishing for a data rollover plan

Original Nytimes post: http://ow.ly/1rXjKU

I think that's a great idea but there is one problem, after the change in data plans and prices a while back, I wonder how many people are actually staying underneath the cap, has anybody done a study of that yet? On my most conservative month, I just overtake two gigs of usage. On an average month, I use about 3.5 gigs. Both these scenarios overtake AT&T's current two gig pro plan, thank goodness I'm still on the old unlimited plan. So although a rollover data plan is a good idea, does anyone actually come under the limit anymore to save anything? If people are like me, AT&T must be reaping a fortune right now over new subscribers. Also, take into account that android phones use even more data than iPhones. I am very interested to see how these plans are working out for customers.

The Chevy Volt.

Just a few words about the Chevy Volt. It comes out next
month and it got me wondering, is it really a revolutionary next generation
technology? I think not. Why do I say that? The Chevy Volt is just another
hybrid car but instead of using a gasoline / electric symbiotic system like
the Toyota Prius for example, Chevy's programmed their car to use up all the
battery power first before switching to the gasoline engine. That's nothing
special, they've just decided to program the car to use it's power sources
in series rather than parallel.

Also, take this into account. A Toyota Prius uses it's combination
technology to get as much as 50 miles per gallon efficiency. It has a 12
gallon fuel tank to give it a total of 600 miles of estimated fuel
efficiency. Not solid numbers but best estimates because there's plenty you
can do to lower efficiency such as running the air conditioning for example.

If you take the Chevy Volt now, it claims to only get about 40 miles on a
single charge of it's batteries. Then, the best claims from Chevy are that
the Volt will get an extra 300 miles on gasoline �help� for the generator
powering the car (or is it the gas engine that then powers the wheels after
charge runs out?). Supposing this model has a 10 gallon tank, they usually
don't get too much smaller, that would give the gasoline engine only an
efficiency of 30 miles per gallon. Not revolutionary at all. In fact, much
like any other car out on the road today.

On the contrary, here's the part that is really exciting though. That part
about being able to drive 40 miles on a single charge. I was thinking about
my own life. Currently, I normally only drive as much as 15 to 20 miles a
day. That being the case, I could go months without using up any fuel. Now,
that part is revolutionary! It's funny though, here in Chicago, say you have
to drive to the suburbs every day or from the suburbs to Chicago everyday,
you might just cross that 40 mile mark and use some gas. Not much depending
on where you have to go but you probably will cross that line.

So, will I be thinking about getting one? Not really. I like the idea of
just running on electric power only first and not touching the gasoline
engine but the car other than that is really nothing special in my opinion.
In fact, I'd say, it's just a Chevy Malibu with an electric generator. I do
hope that someday, companies will push this technology further so that we'll
be able to get farther than just 40 miles on a charge and that the batteries
will charge faster. It's nice to have that gasoline backup but contrary to
what Chevy researchers say, I would guess many people will go over that mark
and it's radius is just too small. Just a few small trips a day and the
batteries will get used up, throw in A/C, heating, or whatever else you
desire (amps, subs, etc) and that power will go fast.

So, I'll be waiting for the next real revolution. Perhaps a much wider
radius on batteries, a bit of a smaller fuel tank (it needs to be truly
backup) and a bit bigger size OR smaller price tag would help. Don't price
it high just because the government is going to throw in some rebates. I
believe that's what they have done. It's not worth 40 Grand. That's what I
think, what do you think? Will you be waiting eagerly for the release of
this car next month? Do you care? Let us know!

I know a lot of people who have stomach issues. I know far fewer people who have stomach issues as well as blood and heart issues. If you do or know someone who does, I just read a story that confirms that if you do take a proton pump inhibitor like omeprazole (Prilosec) along with a blood thinner like clopidogrel (Plavix), you are more likely to get relief from your G.I. symptoms with no extra danger in cardiovascular health. This little tidbit was brought to you because of all my friends with stomach pain. You know who you are. Just file this away in the back of your mind somewhere. You're welcome. :)

You probably can't tell from the picture but this is Internet tv, looks great and no need for cable. Drop it.

I'm not catholic but pretty good saying

Personal reflection:

Contentment is a very difficult subject. How are you supposed to feel content in a world such as this? Are you content? How have you become so? In a world where you can be a success and be a failure, it's so easy to dwell on those failures. We know we shouldn't, but some dreams are harder to let go than others.

In the Bible, 1 Timothy 6:6, it is said that there is great gain with contentment, we have brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of this world, that's obvious. We mustn't fall into temptation and be roped into senseless desires of this world, that will only bring us to ruin and destruction.

It's easy to say, but hard to put into practice. What am I dreaming for, what is my real purpose for the goals that I have? Is it simply for personal gain? Do I want the stature and the reputation that comes with my dreams? Am I really doing what I do for the good of others? No. No. Yes. Should I just settle down and be content? I thought I made the decision a while ago, yet with one e-mail and one phone call, the dreams come back, the lure of my life's first intention.

I ran into a friend the other day who made my dreams of success true in his life. He started on his path after I did yet he has progressed farther than I have. Is the grass always greener on the other side? Maybe not, but I still dream.

I missed an opportunity to find out if I could reinitiate this dream tonight, it may have been my fault for not being more persistent, it may not have been my fault because I was supposed to receive a message and didn't. No matter what the cause was, I started dwelling on this topic and on the connected lesson I am writing for other men as well as myself for the near future.

My questions and reflections are for why I have this dream, why do I need it so much that it rules over my life? Can I be content? I've succeeded in many other things, acquired degrees is in many other subjects, why does this dream continue to depress me when I continually realize I have not yet succeeded. Will it ever end? Can it ever end? What will it take? I have asked my Lord God to answer those questions and to help me put aside my great need for this path. Maybe it's only because I, myself, have not yet become strong enough to give up this dream on my own. I'm going to think about these things throughout this week and you can comment if you like, I have a strange sense of contentment right now at this moment, but I know it won't last. It may not be God's path for me, I'll have to accept that, but when do I accept that? And then, will this haunt me for the rest of my life? It's a heavy burden and one at times I feel I cannot bear. I will bear it though, although I wish I didn't have to.

Strange Path Crossings

Have you ever been in a place where it seems that the goal of your life was just out of reach, where you had to settle for something just a little bit less than what you had intended, and you find it brings you no joy. It seems always like someone else is living your life and that you are living someone else's, but not your own. It's quite depressing, you feel trapped, walled in! And, it seems no amount of prayer, wishing, or work can get you out of this position. You try to break free over the years by earning degrees, volunteering, going in this direction, going in that direction, but the results are always the same. Your true goal is never reached. You feel like you want to run away, maybe even worse. But, there is no escape. You wish there was a way to reach your goal, but the world has not made a way for you. You keep waiting but it is the world that is behind the times. It is just too bad that you are the victim of the world.

Ground Zero Mosque? Now?

I am in New Yorker, I felt it was my duty to say something about what's
going on at Ground Zero at this time. September 11 is coming up fast and
it's true, for most people, especially those from New York, you cannot
forget exactly where you were at the time of the twin towers disaster. I
remember it as if it were yesterday. I was actually just starting school in
another country. It was first day of classes. A quarter of the class was
from New York. The talk was rushing across the campus very quickly that
morning. Some of us didn't even have TVs yet so we got the word by hearsay,
I remember for a fact that I didn't even get a chance to watch TV that
morning. The words came in slowly through each ear, bombing, New York, twin
towers, Muslims, Islam, is there class? There was confusion all over the
place. Most of us congregated in the public places and watched the TVs on
campus, it was devastating, planes hitting buildings, buildings falling
down, national treasures at that. People running all over the place in
familiar places I knew! I'll save you from the rest of the thoughts and talk
around campus for the morning and the rest of the day, the announcement that
we would all get free calls back home. I would just say and imagine it would
be like finding out your house had burned down while you were on vacation in
another country, but on a greater scale, a surreal yet devastating feeling
of helplessness. The news, pictures, years to come, visits to Ground Zero,
were a painful reminder. I can only imagine what those people who had loved
ones die in the area must have felt. To this day that pain must linger, and
it does, as evidenced by what is going on in New York today.

Because of this, I feel I must say something, for good or for bad, as far as
the state of Ground Zero goes. The future as of this point is unwritten for
the area, but forces are fighting for the property, the future, the overall
meaning of what and who will be remembered at Ground Zero in the future.

I feel I must weigh in. First, I'll give you my opinion short and sweet. It
is, that a mosque should not be built at Ground Zero or in the near vicinity
of ground zero.

Why? First I'd like to explain that I do understand the Muslim reasoning
behind why a mosque should be able to be built at Ground Zero. This country
was built on the precipice that freedom would be given in all things, for
example, speech and religion. Religion being key here, most people coming to
America in the past which probably includes your family and mine, came for
religious reasons, the right to practice their own religion without
prejudice and fear of death. Protesting and denying a mosque's right to be
built at Ground Zero does fly in the face of what this country was built on.
Seeing the protests and reasonings on TV every day does seem more like
hatred and less like the understanding this country was built on. I don't
deny that, and it's painful to watch. In truth, American citizens have done
this to others in the past. Other citizens mind you. To the Jewish, to the
African Americans, to the Japanese, to the Chinese, more, and now, to the
Muslims.

I would say that this time though, the reasonings are different, and they
should be respected. Underneath it all, this time, it's about remembrance
rather than hatred. On the surface, it looks like hatred, there is no other
way it can be seen in public. People yelling, people screaming, calling each
other names, fighting, it looks bad, but what are they really fighting for?
I'd wager that it is that they want to keep Ground Zero a place of sacred
remembrance, a peaceful, neutral place, that those who have lost loved ones
at the site can go to as to not be reminded of the radicals that took their
loved ones away, but a place that can give solemn peace. After such a great
tragedy, I think those who have lost loved ones have the right to ask for
that, and to receive it.

I can't speak for everyone, and I didn't lose anyone in the tragedy, but
just as someone who has New York in his heart, I truly believe that a mosque
on ground zero will bring more harm than good (at this time). On this side,
I do believe that most Muslims are very good people. I have many friends
that are Muslim, that speak of peace, understanding, but to a point. That's
fair, but I don't see the understanding here. This Ground Zero is still an
open wound, a sore, that has not fully healed. We all know that in human
nature it is easier to remember the bad over the good. We always remember
the wrong someone has committed against us much easier than remembering the
good that people have graciously given us. I am not against the building of
mosques and I believe a good percentage of the people of New York are the
same. It's just not yet the right time to fight to build one on Ground Zero,
Muslim understanding and sensitivity should be greater here. I imagine one
fear is that if the property goes to someone else now, Muslims may fear
losing that site forever. It's prime real estate! Perhaps, some Muslims are
truly wanting to build this mosque as a sign of peace and as a base of peace
at Ground Zero. I commend that. As we all can see though, from this local
issue becoming national and how strong the views are, it's just not the
right time. You can't force peace, Israel and Palestine should have taught
us that much already. If a mosque is allowed to be built there now, I see
years of hatred and anger and fighting and prejudice for decades to come,
truly, I foresee it! If given time to heal though, to a future, better time
and place, a mosque may be welcomed with open arms. For my idealistic view,
I imagine the time in the future when all faiths and houses of worship will
be allowed at ground zero as they should be anywhere else in America.

I can see, with a little patience and a little sensitivity, that time can
come. So to my Christian brothers and sisters and to my Muslim brothers and
sisters, we are all a family on this world, let's quiet our hearts and our
mouths, be respectful of each other, look toward peace and the future. I
hope as they say, cooler heads can prevail, and we can all work toward peace
before the riots that are more apt to come in America show their ugly heads.
Thanks for reading.

The Church in Our Midst

Picture taken from http://ow.ly/2pWJT

This is an update to my previous post about the goings-on at CCUC in Chicago. It has been a rough last few weeks. When I last reported, I made it known that I was going to try to stay at CCUC to help people transition and help people find a new pastor for our flock. Since the time of our last AMA meeting though, it seems that internal changes had taken a few more steps in the wrong direction. It seems that 50% of the English deacons were asked to step down and the other 50% were left with the job of transition but given no blueprint for help on how to do that. Now, there were only four deacons on the English congregation side so 50% was a large amount of manpower. That aside, these four people, who spent much of their life helping the church and doing their best to help it grow and guiding the younger, seemed to be cast by the wayside in lieu of plans that they were not privy to. Long story short, the deacons decided to stick together and see if this was more of an opening of doors rather than a closing of doors on their ministries and their time at our church. I for one, am glad they did.

In the previous few years, I have seen more and more disregard for certain people and ministries in the church. It started out as just friends and colleagues who were upset or disgruntled about certain things as far as their leadership was concerned, at least that’s how it seemed to me. Then, it started leading to rumor and stories behind the scenes, people leaving secretively and publicly. So in the previous few years and more recently, I guess people who have left, who were more in the know than I was, left for good reason. I didn't give it much thought for a time, but I ended up leaving for a good 6 to 8 months as well. It seems the atmosphere of the church had really changed from the time that I had entered CCUC. I told friends and leaders this a few times. I didn't feel the atmosphere of understanding, of fellowship, and of love that I use to. Although I did find it at another church for a few months, the atmosphere there changed as well, and I realized that all churches must have a time that they go through where they deal with this. With that change at the other church, I made my way back to CCUC. With that lesson learned, I decided to come back and be patient. Things kept changing for the worse though, I saw leaders who seemed to be almost prejudiced against, I saw the leadership very distraught over bitterness, rumors, accusations, and other issues that had remained for many years. I saw people I trust very much, reach out with open arms and try to repair damage that was caused by certain parties in the church, yet it was rejected, or no definitive answers were given. For me as well as others, the ousting of Pastor Green was the “straw that broke the camels back.” I won't mention it again because there's a previous post on it but from that event, I saw ugliness, disregard, and sinful attitude from more than one person that made me think about leaving again.

To the exciting time that started today, I guess I'm part of a church plant now. I know I said that I would stay at our current church, I had resigned to do that after much thought and much prayer. But, I also was torn thinking about how I could even think about leading or think about a position in leadership knowing that those above me would have such disregard for their fellow brothers and sisters. Church is not a business, it's a family, and it should not be treated like a business, cold and heartless. I am pleased to say that I know three of the deacons fairly well. They are all people I consider and I can call friends. And although one of the deacons I don't know as well, I know of him and his family, and he and his family do not take the word of God lightly. Make no mistake, these four men must have prayed, talked with each other, and agonized over this decision for many a night. God gave them an opening though, Pastor Green, who still feels that his calling is to our community and to Chicago, made that fact known to them over conversations as well. So now we have a core group of five, highly respected, leaders of our congregation who feel courageous enough to start a new church based on the biblical values that we all, including all of the CCUC deacon board, should be following. I know we are all human, some of us get drunk on power, money, our own self-worth, entitlement, and a multitude of other things. The deacons are making this move because of a continual disregard and sinful actions though, and although I have not been here as long as they have or experienced all that they have, I trust them greatly and have seen the same actions toward leaders and our congregation over the past few years. For me, I probably was privy to these types of actions for the first time just over a year ago. Perhaps that's when Pastor Green started becoming a target, I don't know but I've digressed too far.

The point of all this was to tell you that a new church is starting! For now, opening day seems to be September 12^th. We had a good turnout this week for an informative meeting. A lot of people I've had the pleasure to fellowship with for many years were there. A lot of leaders that I respect and care about were there as well. They were all making a commitment or strongly thinking about making this move together. I too am in that boat. My human side wants to say, “You reap what you sow,” there was sinful action and total disregard for an entire congregation and a man who was treated very unfairly who didn't deserve it. But, my brotherly Christian side worries about what is going to happen to CCUC. One of my friends today said it looks like the English congregation is over, it will collapse. I seriously doubt it. For me though, I must, or I need to, worship where I feel loved. Where I feel I am trusted and where I feel I can trust others. So for now, I cast my lot with this new church. I promise them that I will help them with whatever I can. That doesn't mean I won't help CCUC. There are brothers and sisters who I care about there and I will continue to endeavor to make sure they are well served. I will continue to check on them and I will continue to pray for them. For now though, I am excited and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us. We have been blessed with great leaders, who, in the past, have literally wept for the church, they are caring leaders and all at different stages of life, are great examples of how to live biblically. Yes, no one is perfect, they even admit they are not, but they are great examples, and worthy of trust.

On a side note, there is talk of joining “The Alliance.” For the few months that I was at another church, it was a Presbyterian church. I had noticed that the pastor as well as the church was part of a larger, stronger group of churches, a Presbyterian organization. I always admired that and I wondered why Christian churches, CCUC, and other Baptist churches I've been a part of, didn't have this. It must be a great stress reliever to not only the pastor but also the congregation to know that there are funds as well as resources and materials to help the church grow even if the congregation is small or not that well off. It was suggested today that perhaps we would join The Alliance for at least a few months to a year and see how that relationship plays out. I'm leaning towards that as a good choice on how to start. I've been looking at their website and they have many good articles and materials for church plants as well as established churches. They also share their resources with foreign ministries which is really great as well. So, like I said, I’m not a leader, but I'm looking forward to this as being a very good long-term relationship, I don't know much about them other than what I've read today, but they look like a great organization that has the tools that might help us get off on the right foot. There are church accountability and Internet accountability groups for example, they seem like great programs that are outside the box. I'm really interested in seeing how these programs work and they impress me as far as not seeing programs like these anywhere else. I encourage everyone to take a look at their website and check them out, especially if you're thinking about joining this new church and giving your opinions.

Well, I've practically written a chapter in a book here, I'll give it a rest for now but I just wanted to express my thoughts and my excitement for the future, God is really working toward something here. If anybody wants to visit after this church is started on September 12th, just show up, it's going to be at the Daystar elementary school. It's on 15 and State, easy to find, see you there!

If anyone wants to comment, leave one here as well. I welcome all comments although remember, I’m not part of the leadership and they may or may not be reading. As always though, my space is always open for your words as well as mine.

Where Is The World?

I woke up this morning and I felt that I had to say something about the situation with all the floods in Pakistan. I've been watching all the news programs the last few days and it boggles my mind! Why is it that the response to the Pakistani flood seems to be so low?

Pakistan is an important partner to United States. Right now, we depend on them to help us in the "fight against terror." Whether we believe what the president of Pakistan says, that terrorism simply passes through his country and does not originate there, or we think that's a total lie, it does not give the world the right to withhold help in a natural disaster.

Maybe we're all getting numb to all the natural disasters going on in the world today. We've had many, and the news comes out so fast, sometimes it feels like we've been helping every body! The soon to be disaster in Moscow comes to mind as another.

Maybe the reason is because the president of Pakistan himself doesn't seem to give a dang about what's going on in his own country. He states, that's the prime minister's job, and he is doing it. In the meantime, thousands if not more people are starting to succumb to hunger, disease, and death. The people on the news are calling out for help! Unless I've been blind or on the wrong channel, I haven't seen any response from anyone.

Perhaps the reason is one of the saddest of them all. Many people perceive Pakistan as an extremist Muslim country. I would venture to say that is only a miniscule amount of the population. In case you didn't know, there are Christians there too as well as Buddhists, and even the occasional atheist. I hope the reason is not discrimination or fear.

I'll admit, I may have more of a connection to Pakistan because two of my best friends in college were Pakistani. We were like brothers, and it pains me to think that some of the people that we see on TV could be living like their family members could be living right now. I just want to place this situation higher in the American hearts and minds than it seems to be right now.

People are people everywhere. On this world, in my opinion, religion or ethnicity should matter less than the value most of us give it now. We should hold each other as valuable. The world seems to be getting worse and worse, falling apart. We don't need to help it. That's my two cents.

I found an annoying problem from iOS4 the other day!

This irked me so that I had to make a quick video the other day that can be
seen at:
http://ping.fm/7ULt1

Basically the problem is with the alert / badge system on the iOS4.

When you get an alert, video stops! Why is this so annoying?

A lot of the time, when I'm cooking, washing the dishes, working, reading,
even taking a shower, I like to multitask. While I'm doing other things, I
usually will play a podcast, usually a video podcast in the background.
With the iPad on the old OS, when an alert for email, fb, twitter, baseball
game or other event comes up, the video will keep right on playing with an
overlayed alert badge on top. That's the way it should be.

Now, on iOS4, at every alert, video stops! From just some of the tasks I
mentioned above, you can see how it would be quite a hassle to stop and have
to touch the screen to get rid of the alert and restart the paused video
(especially when showering or cooking). I listen to a lot of news or
educational broadcasts. That's precious minutes that I'm missing out on
information that might be interesting or usable later. I just can't stand
it.

Don't get me wrong, I love iOS4 but if I'm getting baseball, cricket, email,
updates for example (which I don't want to turn off), this at times makes me
restart video 4 or 5 times in an hour. It get's real annoying real fast.

I'm going to try to use the iPad for most of my video watching now in these
situations but I'm going to want to upgrade when iOS4 comes out for this
device and unless they change this feature/annoyance back to the way it was,
I'm just going to end up with the same problem. Aaaaargh! I wish there was
a solution.

That's it for my rant, thanks for reading!

Wow, it's packed, hot, and it rained!

Wow, it's packed, hot, and it rained!

Visit the cookie shop!

Chinatown Fair!

My Friend Had a Great Question on Facebook

and I had a sarcastic smart
*ss response I wanted to share!

Q. Why do prisons keep releasing sex offenders early??? Make them serve
their full time, this doesn't make any sense!!!!

A. Didn't ya hear? Illinois is outta cash! :o So are a lot of other places
and of course from the government's vast amount of wisdom and knowledge,
they usually say releasing criminals are the best way of saving money! There
are way too many "regular" people and police officers to protect us and
outnumber all of the bad guys anyways! *mean smirk/sarcastic voice* Isn't
that right? We all must see the logic here!

What do you think? Leave a comment below!

http://ow.ly/2aY8M I did a short video blog on my experiences with the
iPhone 4 and if I think there should be a recall! What do you think?

Let's watch Tivo programming on our iPhones! Or other devices.

For all those who wanted the update to my previous post about watching video
on Apple devices, here it is. This video should tell you how to move TiVo
videos to your apple device or any other devices you choose. If you have any
questions leave a comment. It's fairly easy.

By the way, the audio and video on this post was not very well synced, no
matter what I tried in post production, I just couldn't get it perfect.

Enjoy! And thanks for watching!

http://ow.ly/28nyB

Lebron, Who the Heck is Lebron?

I saw this WPIX news report the other night when I was in New York and I
just had to rebroadcast or re-tweet this awesome clip. It has to do with all
this crazy Lebron stuff. I can't believe the country is making such a big
deal out of this guy. It's really aggravating and really gets the New Yorker
rising out of me. So, I never saw this guy on the news before but his name
is Lionel, he basically said everything I wanted to say. We're making way
too much of this guy and he doesn't deserve it. Just look at ESPN today, and
how they pandered for his love. That's so appalling! So if you hate Lebron
as much as I do, sit back and relax, Lionel is going to tell you how it
should be. All except for the Knicks stuff at the end, I'm a Nets fan, after
all, they are moving to Brooklyn.

http://ow.ly/285J4

Review of a TPU / Polyurethane Case for the iPhone 4

It's great!

I was in NY the last week or so and I met this guy who sole phone
accessories at my local mall.

He showed me this case and let me handle it. After I did, I could see how
much stronger this case was compared to previous ones I had. I snapped one
up for a good price and I have it here now for you to see.

http://ow.ly/27IHC

Thanks for watching and Follow me if you enjoy my podcasts and feel free to
leave comments as well.

Poor Excuses

It was a sad day in church yesterday. The devil and people’s selfishness ruled the day. Yesterday, I saw a church hold politics and technicalities over the calling of God. Our pastor, who’s only crime was being a human being like the rest of us, was forced from the pulpit by a vote in a meeting that was a poor example of what a church should be. I had been witness to so much hatred, ignorance, and ill will toward the people of the English congregation that it pains me to even think about stepping back through the doors of CCUC. Church is not about the rule of some constitution and it’s not about the control that one person, who will remain nameless, seems to have over his congregation, it’s about love and leading people toward love. There was no example of that yesterday.

Yesterday’s meeting was a farce! A vocal and public few who dislike Pastor Green took control of the meeting for over an hour explaining to 2 congregations how the English Pastor is in a sense, not in control of his feelings, hurtful, spiteful, greedy, and a poor representative of what a leader in the church should be. All accusations were given without context, overblown, and without chance of defense from anyone or the pastor himself, in order to clearly remove him from his “calling.” When some were finally given time to represent the views, both through statistically relevant research and through personal experience, they were in comparison only given 1 minute each to speak with that cut down by translation to Cantonese or cut down by the moderator himself who seemed at times very much part of this conspiracy.

Yes, there’s something wrong with this. 3 years ago, we all agreed it was God’s calling that Pastor Green join us in leading the English congregation. That hasn’t changed. God did not come down from the heavens and say, “It is time for Pastor Green to move on,” or “This man is not right for your church!” No, in fact in the face of all this, Pastor Green has remained composed and loving toward our congregation and our church that has shown so much hatred. That’s the biggest issue. Our church has allowed a select few church leaders and now adds to that improperly informed people in other congregations to overrule God’s calling! Clearly all the good that has been committed in the previous 3 years has been overlooked and an unfair weight was given to a few instances where Pastor’s humanity shown through, all to overrule God. When a church allows politics and hate to overrule God, yes, there’s a problem there.

I’ll probably shock some and make some enemies with this open letter but if people didn’t notice the total disregard and unfair treatment by at least 2 leaders yesterday, you are blind, pure and simple. It was an AMA meeting held just for the sake of having one and orchestrated to give the impression that an informed church together overruled God’s calling. I’m very disappointed in the behavior of some of the leaders in other congregations that I had hoped to serve with and some I already serve with who showed timidness and bowing down to their leader’s pressure. I too was timid, I couldn’t find the words to speak yesterday, but I have them now.

Just finished watching the Gran Prix of Europe! Love F1!

Slacker

Slacker just can't seem to get this right. It's getting downright annoying.

Ever since, I think, Apple OS update 3.2, the slacker app's sleep timer functionality has been broken. It doesn't have a timer on its own, it's supposed to use the iPhone's built-in sleep timer to turn itself off after a preset length of time.

Needless to say, it's been broken for well over seven or eight months. For me, I need to fall asleep to some type of noise. Without slacker, I had to resort to an app called Irelax which plays weather noises, nature noises, or white noise to help me get to sleep. With my new iPhone four, two nights ago I decided to try the sleep timer once again. It worked! I was ecstatic! I don't know what happened between two nights ago and last night but I tried again to fall asleep to slacker last night and it didn't work! The music never turned off and I was awoken by the music at 5:30 in the morning this morning.

Oh how painful it was. I just don't understand it, I tried the timer with Pandora and that works just fine, but I don't like Pandora. Their music selection is just too narrow for me. I guess I'll have to get used to it though. That's why I can't use my own music collection to fall asleep, I don't even have enough songs to satisfy myself.

Oh well, I wish they'd get it right. Apple blames slacker, slacker blames Apple, and in all that time. I can't get to sleep. So goes the breaks in modern technology. I hope it works some day, thanks for reading my rant.

On a sidenote, I made this post using dragon voice recognition as well as posting with ping FM. Two services that make the public life a lot easier, I believe you'll see more postings starting today. Try them out sometime, I'm not affiliated with them at all. Thanks for reading.

I've beaten heavy rain six different ways, I think I've seen all the endings.

Testing an update message and pic via ping.fm




Sent from my iPad

iPhone4's Prejudice Against Lefties and Sweaty Palmed Citizens

This was my response to David Pogue's article dealing with the signal loss issue of the new iPhone4. Read his article, it's humorous and right on!
http://ow.ly/23p1U

My response:

This is such a wild development. I guess there's a range of effects for whoever uses the phone. I can say without a doubt, I can reproduce the problem of the bars going away but I haven't seen any detriment in my call quality. In fact, it's improved over the 3GS! Was it you or someone else who said it might be an indicator issue?

To me, there has always been something underhanded and sneaky about how Apple does business. These bumper theories are just an outgrowth of how much we trust or distrust Apple.

At least for me, I haven't had any issues with call quality AND I'm getting a case in the mail soon from China. A very good rubber case that's only a dollar and came with free shipping. I've had the same sort of case on the 3GS as well so it's quality without the Apple price tag.

Anyway, I guess that will be my solution should the problem ever develop. I hope it's a software issue but for now I guess I don't have to worry about it. I'm not left handed either :) (just a joke) Great article, I enjoyed reading it.

As promised, how to change all the systems sounds on the Iphone

First option, you'll need an FTP program, I like filezilla and winscp best.
I currently use winscp.

You'll want to use this as your info and ssh in:
File Protocol: SCP (WinSCP)
Hostname: Your iPhones IP address - it needs to be on your internet network (use the network address 192.xxx.x.xx or plugged into your computer using the data ip address).
Username: root
Password: alpine

I would suggest changing that default password after this if you haven't done so. If you use the Rock crack store, it should allow you to change it the first time you log in.

Option 2:
IF you are not used to SSHing, I believe for system sounds, you can just use Iphone Explorer which is free as well instead of SSH and WinSCP. You need to go to Rock or Cydia and install "afc2add" though, this will allow you to reach the root on a 3Gs phone using Iphone Explorer.

Then- back to common instructions:
Go to this directory:
System/library/audio/uisounds
Make a backup of it and store it somewhere safe. You'll be replacing these files.

Then, I like Switch sound file converter, you need to change the sounds you want to use to .aiff format. Then, rename the file to a .caf file using the original name of the file you want to replace.

For example: I use the NCIS theme song for incoming text messages so I changed my NCIS.aiff to sms-received4.caf. Also I sometimes use the transformers transforming sound for my unlock sound so I changed tf.aiff to lock.caf.

Then I copied these files to the directory above replacing the old files. You may have to respring but after you do that, viola! You have customized sounds!

I hope this was helpful, take care, backup, and share the info with someone if they need it.
The net should be a free, open, helpful society as an ideal world. It isn't but we can help.

Have a good one!

Btw, this was an aggregation of many sites I have read in the past and I give full credit to those who had done this before me. I needed to compile the info into one easy to read instruction sheet though so that's what this is. I hope it's as easy to use as I think it is. Feel free to copy and save it.

Add a customized mp3 ringtone to your Iphone!

Someone from Walyou asked about how to change ring tones and UI sounds on the jailbroken Iphone. I thought I'd post them here in case anyone else needed them.

For Ringtones:
You DO NOT need a jailbroken Iphone:

I would first select an mp3, use something like Techlogg.com Toneshop because it's easy and free - there are others out there as well - to clip the mp3 to 30 seconds or less. I think that's max.

Then, go back into Itunes, import and right click on the audio file you created and convert it to AAC.

When you see the new file, right click and go to "show in windows explorer."
It's an .m4a file, rename that to .m4r

It should appear in the ringtones folder. If not, drag the file to ringtones. There you have it, a new customized ringtone.

I'll post another blog later about changing UI sounds, I have to head out.

Have a great day out there in internet land! :)

We need to do something about Apple.

My response to a jailbreak Iphone blog online at http://ow.ly/18GeF
Picture of the "Bad Apple" from: http://ow.ly/18Glw

Thanks Ant,

That's great news! I'm glad it worked for you. That method hasn't worked for everyone but I doubt people have thought of erasing their backups or even want to if they have hundreds of apps like me :) But anything is worth a jb. I'm taking pics of all my apps now so I can find them again just in case little by little.

I know that I plan on trying the shift bypass if I have to before any connection to apple for restore or anything like that. I hope that if I ever have to restore during this time, that will help. Now I have another method to try thanks to you. Thanks. Others if they can should try this too and let us know how it works.

I know Geohot must be totally overwhelmed by the ungrateful and that might be what is making him avoid doing another jb (I can only speculate from past posts) but I hope that he and other devs who have the skill realize they are doing this for the good of the community over those loudmouths that seem to think they are entitled to the resources of developers just because they wrote a break once.

The truth is that Apple is a very closed company, they want to give it to you THEIR way or the highway and most people right now choose to let Apple spoonfeed them. That's sad. Most internet communities are about openness and sharing resources and knowledge, apple is totally the opposite. If I had the skill, I would work night and day on the jb just to stick it to apple. That's not a good way to do business, it's a way to build a dependent empire of slaves. (IE all the ppl that will buy the worthless iPad).

We need to do this for the nature of the internet and so future companies don't do business this way.

Ok, that's my soapbox speech for the week. I've already decided, if my jb fails in the future, I will go to verizon and to android. I'm gonna sell my iPhone for it's price plus breaking my contract. It's so sad, people will jump on it.

My response to Japanese iPad article

Response to http://ow.ly/14Mb7 touting the iPad as the next best great study tool.

I don’t understand why people think the iPad is the next revolutionary tool for study and learning. Other than it’s speed, worldwide computer companies have been making very good tablet computers and standard computers that can do more than any iPad could ever hope to do. Fujitsu, IBM/Lenovo, Acer, to name a few. Here is the link to a video I made that touts all the things my tablet can do. http://ow.ly/11Yet

I have been using my tablet for work and play just about everyday with no complaints. Even the speed, though not as fast, is just fine for working. And the pen/stylus (for me) is a necessity for taking down notes and drawing pictures of things I learn as well as when I make notes and tests for my students.

It’s really quite a surprise how people are just finding out about tablets because of Apple. Please don’t forget about the others though, in many ways, they are better.

Slacker response.

My response to a Slacker article at: http://ow.ly/11S2w

I encourage everyone to give it a try. It's almost perfect to begin and with your hearts and hates it can only get better! Slacker.com - I received no payment, this is just my honest opinion.

"I love the slacker service. I have been a PLUS subscriber ever since Nov 2008 when I needed to find a replacement for lowering quality Satellite Radio. It's great, I've used the online version at home and out at friends' houses. I've used their G2 device in my car and I use the iPhone app endlessly. They are adding news soon and caching from what I hear and I can't wait for that. My preloaded and my personally created channels are just about perfect. I don't even need skips anymore but I have unlimited skips. They really know what they're doing when it comes to the service. If I had one gripe, it's that they haven't upgraded their Chinese music selection in over a year. Yes, they are multicultural too. Bollywood fans will get their fix as well. Try it, I think you'll like it. "