Religion and Science
Isn't that the way it is with religion as well? As Christians, we must have faith there is a God. We must have faith that Jesus' death was enough to atone for us. However, just like science, our faith also applies reason. It is reasonable to believe abiogenesis is impossible, and evolution is a simply a device for Secular Humanism to displace religion. Natural revelation reveals a beauty in this earth that can only be from divine orgin.
So, the next time someone suggests that science is much more reasonable than religion…. Remind them that all science requires faith, and most scientists need a lot more faith than one needs to accept the Bible. The burdon of proof is on science - whether they admit it or not. Quite frankly, acceptance of God is the only truly scientific response to the evidence we have.
The Comments of Tired Tim
And, this week, an unexpected task took up a bunch of time. As mentioned previously, I run two mailing lists (with the help of my co-administrators) - ChristianSource FSLUG and OfB-Talk. Well, last week rumblings were going on that another one of my favorite lists - KDE-Cafe - was on the chopping block, since the KDE Project no longer wanted to be associated with it. So, Tink (the list admin) accepted an offer to bring it over to OfB.biz's server. That took some work, but the worst was still to come.
This week this server was upgrades to use suExec, which, among other things, made Mailman get a lot less friendly URL out of the box. So, I compiled a new version of Mailman (a tedious project!), and finally was able to get it going last night. So anyway, while these two list events weren't exactly connected, they both ate up time that should have been devoted elsewhere. Oh well.
Hopefully this next week I'll get more of my todo list done rather than unscheduled tasks…
Nine Eleven
Be still and know that He is God Be still and know that He is faithful
Consider all that he has done
Stand in awe and be amazed
And know that He will never change
Be still
—Steven Curtis Chapman, “Be Still and Know”
I wrote up a small piece on 9/11 at Open for Business. You can find it here.
Odds and Ends...
Let's see, lots of stuff to mention, so lets try a Timback (sorta like a Slashback, but only… well, you get the point):
- My friend Ciaran Hamilton has brought his Journal back online at his theblob.org domain.
- I've done a number of interview on Open for Business you may find interesting. Take a look at the interview section on OfB to find interviews with Gael Duval of MandrakeSoft, Andreas Pour of the KDE League, and more.
- I redesigned Uninetsolutions.com with a dramatically different look. Take a look.
Judging as They Enter the Door
My friend Kevin Hartwig has an insightful piece about judging at his site. I must say he is quite right. I'm certainly guilty of judging… It is so easy to judge, but so hard to “undo” that judgement.
Still here.
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart do? Will I dance for your Jesus, or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence, or at your knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine, I can only imagine…
- mercyme, I can only imagine
It has been awhile since I said anything, so I thought I might as well say something. I feel rather like waxing sentimental, the end of summer always makes me feel that way. The festivities of the summer are over, the brilliant color explosion of autumn are still on their way. Its kind of a time for quiet reflection, considering half the year has now been spent - either for good or bad. Hopefully more good than bad.
For me, its been a busy year. In the last six months, I started CS-FSLUG (with the help of the dedicated team of JW, Jerry Kreps, Ciaran Hamilton, and Jonathan Drews); revamped Open for Business into a mostly original content outlet, and pushed on some behind the scenes work toward getting FreeMoz (f/k/a OpenMoz) going again. LinuxDailyNews also came into existance - after an exhausting few weeks of work - in early July.
I've also spent a great deal of time on consulting work, which is really booming at the moment. I've hit the niche of designing sites for speakers and storytellers, and that seems to promise to continue to keep my company busy for the rest of the year.
On the RnR side of things… I've also taken two wonderful trips to the Missouri Ozarks outside of Branson, MO; and traveled to Indiana for the wedding of my grandfather. Pretty busy travel schedule - at least for me - I usually don't travel much (the amazing communications powers of the Internet prevent the need most of the time).
Anyway, that brings me to the present. Several questions loom ahead. I've tossed around the idea of launching another site, although I fear I may take on too much and live (or maybe not) to regret that. Also, while FaithTree.com has done alright, I would like to think of ways to bring those who have quit visiting back - and to bring in new visitors. Google AdWords are my current idea for bringing new people in - certainly FT hasn't been publicized much since its launch over a year ago. Also in the near future, I'd like to see what I might need to get a press pass for next year's LWCE San Francisco…
Oh well, before I bore you, my dear reader, to death; I guess I ought to wrap up this message. I'll try to keep this updated more frequently in the future…
Revelation on Revelation
Not to sound like a “date setter,” but I really think we should be watching for continued fulfillment of the book of Revelation in the near future. Why? Well, it all started late last year…. Slashdot.org carried a story about human bio-chips. One poster aptly summed up what this sounded like.
Moving that out of sight out of mind mode, I didn't think about it much more - until last month. It was then that a report surfaced about a pontential nationalization of drivers licenses in the U.S., eventually moving toward a card that could do much more. Combine that with the previous biochip link, and you can clearly see what I am suggesting.
Now, a friend of mine on CS-FSLUG sent in a message suggesting that the third temple of Israel may be being built very soon (he didn't have more information for now). Someone else on the list noted that he had heard that Israel may be stockpiling the needed granite to build the temple as well.
The final piece of my prophecy puzzle come in a blog post today by a Pastor, who coincidentally works at the hosting company I am with. He notes a very interesting parallel between Israel's condition and Bible prophecy. While this isn't something that necessarily only fits now, it does round out things quite well.
In summary, while this could be a lot of rumblings from a storm that ends up going somewhere else, I can't help but think something larger is happening right now. With the increasing push toward globalism, and the means to facilitate it - including technology and the UN, as well as an increasing disregard for the Bible, don't be surprised for something to happen. Soon.
Zaurus Survives Fall
I don't recommend this at home, but my poor little Zaurus went with my belt clip case on to hard pavement yesterday, and seems no worse for wear. I was chasing after some soda cans that fell off my cart at the Grocery store when the fateful “trip” took place. phew Nothing like dropping your 1-week old $350 PDA. cough
Zaurus
Well, after seeing one, I couldn't resist. I bought a Zaurus SL-5500 Personal Mobile Tool (a.k.a. a Linux PDA) last week. It is at least partially going to replace my trusty Palm Vx Connected Organizer. So far all I can say is - this thing is REALLY IMPRESSIVE!
Yes, it is very impressive. The color screen is bright, the functionality is great, and the keyboard is ingenius. The fact that it is based on Qt is another plus, providing a very polished environment with lots of KDE apps being ported.
The Yopy is rather intriguing too, but the Z seems to be the first Linux PDA with a chance at the mainstream market. Its smaller size and front light surely helps with that. It is more affordable then the iPaq which is another really great thing.
Infact I only paid $359 for mine from Amazon.com, but right now if you go to BestBuy you'll pay even less - just $319 during the current sale (I'm not sure how long that price will last, then it will return to $399). Anyway, at just 7 oz. it is extremely light, just a bit heftier then my Palm, and it's 206 MHz StrongARM processor with Linux offers so much functionality. If you want a PDA, don't stand here, go get a Zaurus right now!
BTW, to those of you still misled into thinking you should use Windows, the Zaurus comes with two Windows sync programs. In fact, in some type of horrible irony, it is easier to get this Linux based PDA running in Windows then in Linux. sigh
LinuxDailyNews Launched, Survives Slashdotting
What a day. Less than two weeks after we set the master plan in motion, LinuxDailyNews went live - a collaboration between Open for Business, Linux and Main, DesktopLinux.com, LinuxDevices.com, and KernelTrap.org. We had over 26,000 unique visitors, totaling well over 200,000 hits within the first 18 hours.
Most of that traffic came from Slashdot, and thanks to the excellent crew at Hosting Matters during the first 30 minutes after /.'s posting, we were unable to fulfill only five requests. So yes, LDN survived Slashdotting - on its very first day.
