how to create a crossover cable from a network cable and electrical tape.

I’ve wanted to put Kubuntu on my desktop for a while but have had two obstacles to do so: First, I didn’t feel like putting aside the time to configure it, and second, it had no networking capability. Sure it had two network ports, but my network was wireless and the little usb wireless thing I had didn’t work in Linux.

So today, in a blizzard, I decided it was worth setting up. Second problem however: no internet still. This guide is my solution to getting the internet working. I didn’t have a cross-over cable, nor any network plugs or jacks, but I did have a normal cable:

1) Find yourself an old crappy Ethernet cable:

 

2) Cut it in half and bare the wires:

3) Begin splicing wires together. Connect the blue and brown wires together first.

4) For the last four wires, connect the colors together as follows:
Left Side -> Right Side
Striped Green -> Striped Orange
Solid Green -> Solid Orange
Striped Orange -> Striped Green
Solid Orange -> Solid Green
5) Wrap them up and you are done creating your crossover cable!

If you are on Windows, and you wish to share your laptops internet connection just right click on your connection and choose “Share this connection”. In Vista/7 the location of the share option is different, but root around a little and you’ll find it. On Linux you may have to add to your routing table.

Collection of iPad videos.

There have been different humorous videos about the new Apple iPad lately that I was wishing I could share with people. Then I remembered I had a blog and voila!

This is a comparison of features between the Rosetta Stone and an iPad:
http://i49.tinypic.com/33a99wz.jpg

A friend of mine also has a leak of the next Apple device: The iPad Mini:
http://msprout.tumblr.com/post/356860399/because-ipad-jokes-are-in-vogue-leaked-photos

This first video is of Pee-wee getting an iPad,

Here is a rant from Hitler about the iPad,

MADtv iPad parody: NSFW but pretty funny,

Christmas Thoughts 12-2009

I am not a big holiday person. I prefer structure and repetition and would rather avoid the hassle that holidays bring.

I do think Christmas is an important holiday though and while I avoid putting up lights and decorations or even a Christmas tree – I certainly don’t tell anyone else to not do it. Here are a few comments about Christmas that I wanted to make, geared towards Christians who may have problems with this holiday:

1) Yes there was a winter festival that Christians adopted, but really – who cares? If we were looking for a day to celebrate Christs birth, and there was a huge secular holiday, it would seem like a great idea to us to integrate our own celebration on the same day. That way Christians wouldn’t look like sore losers but instead have our own celebration that could draw others to wonder what we were doing. Christianity isn’t about being boring – it’s about celebrating accurately.

2) We should celebrate the birth of Christ. Not only because His entrance into humanity expresses true love, but because His life is also important. He was born not as an adult ready to be crucified, but as a baby ready to live a full life. As the epistle to the Hebrews writes, it was through his life that he learned obedience (5:8).

3) There are a lot of distractions and consumerism – but there also is a lot of beauty and symbolism that can be used as well. If you get sucked into consumerism and rote such that it distracts you from meditating on the holiday, then that’s an addiction that needs to be handled. If not, as it may be for most Christians, then it doesn’t matter. Just as a Christian can witness at a bar, it’s possible for Christians to worship God during a celebration of stuff.

Some thoughts at least. My favorite holiday in particular is Easter. Possibly because of the lack of other stuff going on. Second favorite is Christmas because of the music as well as the symbolism that can be present.

For everyone out there, I wish you all a Merry Christmas. It may not be December 25th 2009 years ago that Jesus was born, but heck, it’s when we celebrate it so celebrate away. Remember Him, and Merry Christmas!

“This is our present festival. This is what we are celebrating today — the coming of God to man…so that we might return to God…

”So let us keep the feast, not like a heathen festival, but in a godly way — not in the way of the world, but in a way above the world — not as if it were ours, but as it belongs to him who is ours, our Master’s — not as of weakness, but as of healing — not as of creation, but of re-creation.”

Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 38, on the birthday of Jesus, AD 380. (stolen from here)

Introverts in the Church – Quote – Pg. 53

The shyness cycle. Introversion and shynessare not synonymous. Introversion is a natural personality trait where we go inside ourselves to process our experiences. Shyness, on the other hand, is a condition marked by fear or extreme anxiety in social situations. It is common for introverts to struggle with shyness, because if social skills and confidence are earned through experience, then it’s logical that introverts who run low on social energy and, consequently, have less experience would struggle with uncertainty and tentativeness. Our fears are compounded when we take a risk and are misunderstood or rejected, leading us into greater self-doubt and social anxiety. Our painful emotions lead us further into ourselves, and we often resist sharing our feelings with others. This ciompletes the shyness cycle, as we hide from social situations, even becoming cuynical of social interaction, and seal ourselves off in our internal worlds.

Pg. 53 of “Introverts in the Church” by Adam S. McHugh

I’ve been reading through this book and find it quite refreshing and helpful as an introvert. If you’re an introvert I’d encourage you to give it a browse at some point.

How does ‘Christian’ fit with Church?

Could we but climb where Moses stood,

And view the landscape o’er,

Not Jordan’s stream, nor death’s cold flood,

Should fright us from the shore.

I wrote in a prior post a critical breakdown of the methods our congregations utilize on typical Sunday mornings (link).  Any criticism, without follow-up, will be one sided.  It is possible that the effectiveness and implementation of our church service exemplifies the best case in our worst case world.  I don’t think it is however, and I wish to continue discussion on the topic.

If we are criticizing how churches operate, it means there is some base assumption that we believe is not being met.  For me, it is the idea presented in the comment that stated, “the time in the NT when Believers [sic] were most hyped about living in community, singing praises to God, and worshiping, was early in the book of Acts… those people were 100% authentic and into their formal worship, but they were not engaged in mission”.  Certainly, there is a directive given to be mentors across the world (Mt. 28:19-20), leading others in holiness and Christ-centered living.  To do this requires a severe focus on our own holiness first.  Not only is there hypocrisy if you attempt to lead others in holiness when you are not holy yourself, but there is an issue of priority.  About priority, the leaders in our churches are not required to score 10 conversions per year, nor required to condense the gospel into 1 minute, 5 minute, or 15 minute retellings.  Instead of unleashed torrents of words; leaders are called to integrity, holiness, moral living, and effective representation as images of God.  This is why Jesus demands us to make “disciples” of all nations and not speak the gospel to all nations.

If then our own lives center around retooling our minds into Christ-thought, then our encouragement and support from fellow believers should also be to that end.  Hebrews 11-12 dictates men known for faith in God (not morals!) and then calls the reader to endure and continuously press forward “looking to Jesus”.  Acts, describing the new dispensational growth of God’s program, were indeed “100% authentic”.  Could you imagine today an Annias or Sapphira situation where a speck of deception is met with death?  Our congregations would expire in a matter of days!

Today we sit in a nation saturated with information.  Christian dialogue is plentiful, and excellent sermons and lessons exist with free and easy access.  As we think about church criticism, we must take into account our saturated environment, and our priority towards holiness.  I fear the order of service we mentioned before even if it has a similar goal, has rested in traditional patterns when a need to rethink itself is prevalent.

My next post will offer suggestions for rethinking church paradigms, but until then how do you see our goals as Christians relating to the goal of the Church?  Are they the same goal?  Do you think that there are various goals represented by different churches?

QuotedPost: What to do when you cannot die for Christ?

I am quoting the following in full from Michael Patton linked here: http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2009/11/what-to-do-when-you-cannot-die-for-christ/

The blog is an extension of “Reclaiming the Mind Ministries” who put out some good resources for studying and learning the bible.  Check them out: http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/. I wanted to quote the blog entry in full because I really resonate with what he is saying and think it is very important to keep in mind for all Christians.

You know what it feels like: you are on fire; you are ready, willing and able; you don’t need any more sermons on Rom 12:1. You are a living sacrifice; you listened to Piper’s “Doing missions when dying is gain”; you are ready to die. You are ready to die for Christ, the Gospel and whatever other mission God puts you on.

Here I am Lord; I am ready.

Problem: there is no altar. Well, not like you thought. If it exists, it does not exist in the glory of your perceptions. You pray continually for God to show you his direction.There has to be a place for me in his army.

Here’s what you do:

You decide to become a missionary. You talk to your wife and your family about quitting your job and becoming a full time missionary in Africa. Why Africa? Just because. You wife thinks you are nuts and your children don’t understand. All attempts to infect her with the desire to die have the opposite effect. But you are not about to question yourcalling. In your spiritual high, you place some distance between you and your family, believing that it is the Lord’s will. Discouragement has yet to set in.

Or maybe . . .

You decide to start a church. Your passions will be realized as you minister in your local community, transforming all those around you with the preaching—expository preaching—of the word of God. You are sick of the churches that would not know the Gospel if it hit them in the knee cap. You are going to be the lighthouse on a hill. You don’t really know what to do so you get on Microsoft Word and make a flier. You put a nice Bible graphic that you found from Google image search on the flier, along with the announcement of the new Bible study that is going to be held at your friend’s coffee shop.

The day comes. Hundreds of fliers have been handed out. Two people show. One is your wife. The other is a nice young girl who just broke up with her boyfriend and had nothing else to do that night. It’s past time for the Bible study to start and you look outside in hopes that someone else will show. Someone pulls up and leaves upon the realization that they might be the only ones there. You attempt to teach the Bible study, but the disappointment of teaching two people when you hoped for 30 to 40 takes the wind out of your sails. All you want to do is go home and cry.

Or maybe . . .

You decide to go to seminary, but don’t get accepted.

Or maybe . . .

You start with a small missions endeavor, but you don’t get the funds.

Or maybe . . .

You start with a bang, but then it fizzles and no one is as anxious and excited as you are.

What do you do when you try . . . I mean really try to die for Christ, but he won’t let you. What do you do when you are on the altar and you don’t die, but your are getting really sunburned?

This is to those of you who feel called to do something big for the Lord, but it never happens.

Don’t give up your zeal. This is the hardest thing to do. The first two illustrations given above are reenactments of my life. God is not setting you on a 100 meter dash, but on a long distance run. I love new Christians who are set on giving their lives up for the Lord. But I am so saddened when I see those who had such a zeal reenter their old life with great discouragement, wondering why the Lord did not use them. God will use you. God is using you. But he does not move as quickly as we like. Keep the zeal and passion, but let the Lord set the pace.

Ministry is not the de facto solution to satisfy your intense craving to die for the Lord. Remember, you are a living sacrifice. Living sacrifice. Don’t be surprised if you live. Don’t be surprised if you live a life that is rather ordinary, not making a significant impact every direction you turn. Don’t impose such a goal upon the Lord.

Be quiet and tranquil. The Lord will show the path in your tranquility. Paul tells the Thessalonians to “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands” (1Th 4:11). Ouch. But impacts are never “quiet.” I want to make an impact. I want to stir things up. I want to drop a bomb on the world leaving behind the sign of the Trinity! The problem is that your bomb could be the very antinomy of God’s plan. Your bomb could be you getting off the altar. God will direct you.

I have just watched a very dear friend who had so much zeal for the Lord, so much passion to follow him, so much desire to die that he now sits, divorced, estranged from his wife and family, with his head in his hands wondering why the Lord gave him a spiritual cement job.

Your passions may open the doors you expect and they may not. But you are to sit on the altar, no matter where you are or how God leads, and be a living sacrifice. Chuck Swindoll once said that the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the altar. Get back on the altar.

What do you do when you cannot die for Christ? Live for him.

Why do you go to Church?

Flooded church on Lake Mavrovo

I wonder if our church gatherings will be praised or condemned on the last day.

Consider the typical church service* that begins with a word of prayer to prepare people and dedicate their time before God.  Proceeding the prayer a set of songs are sung intending to give outlet to praise and bind the community together in unity.  A short lecture is given highlighting principles from Scripture that help us draw closer to God through His character or by seeing His unfolding plan.  Sprinkled between these stages may involve announcements, other prayers, or vision statement.  Stretching may also be inserted to keep individuals attentive and awake.

What do you think?  Is this the Christian gathering Paul would approve of; that Jesus would design?  Is this a group the apostle John, full of unity and veracity for truth would affirm?  What would Jeremiah, suffering with flames in his bones, think of how we conduct ourselves?  Or Daniel, John the Baptist, James, Ezekiel in exile?

I have some concerns with how we do conduct ourselves.  I suppose my concerns fall back not to the purpose of gathering, but potential (and real!) abuses that are not only tolerated, but encouraged and perhaps forgotten to even be abuses.

If Israel was repeatedly blasted for empty worship and empty hearts, what of our own?  Is a minute opening prayer enough to take our tired minds and bring us into the presence of a transcendent God who has dipped His toes into reality for us to enjoy Him?  Are praise songs intended to bring us into the presence of God, or to be an overflow of a mind united to His divine character?  Furthermore are praise songs in anyway a form of ‘worship’ if they do not flow from depths of our souls and desires of our hearts?

I wonder what type of gathering Paul would organize.  Would the goal be reviving tired and struggling exiles with faith in a world of unfaith?  Would the structure be dynamic to account for the dangers of tradition and repetition?  How can we make a vibrant and passionate community?

Perhaps I am the only Christian who attends that does not mean the songs I sing and wonders what goal our leaders (and ourselves) are aiming for.  If I am the only one, then I must think, perhaps “justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic. (Amos 5:13)”  Where is our justice-oceans of it?  Where is our fairness-rivers of it?
*with some variation of course

Obama Announces Smart Grid Plan (from Stimulus $$)

Yesterday around lunch time (EDT) Obama announced stimulus funding for the US energy grid at the largest photovoltaic power installation in the US.  Arstechnica has a full story on the event here.  The breakdown of where the current $3.4 billion commitment will go can be found here.  After scanning through it, I found my own local power company was going to be receiving some cash:

 

PECO Energy Company
Funding Awarded: $200,000,000
Total Cost: $422,570,000
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Description: Deploy smart meters to all 600,000 customers, upgrade communication infrastructure to support a smart meter network, install 7 “intelligent” substations, and accelerate deployment of more reliable and secure smart grid technologies that will reduce peak energy load and increase cost savings.

 

I’m not sure how granular or helpful these “smart meters” will be.  It will be cool though if they allow me to check at any point how much power draw is coming from my house, and possibly from what appliance as well.  Part of the reasoning for dumping cash into the energy grid is for future sustainability.  Our current grid has limited ability to shuffle power across the continental US.  Renewal energy plants typically are geographically bound (solar potency, geothermal options, water dams) and if we have more green plants in the future we will need a more efficient and effective system.

An interesting point the Arstechnica article also makes is that Arnold Schwarzenegger just approved a smart grid measure to bring a smart energy grid to California.  Because of the size of California this will may match the impact of the Government program.

Fitness CAN be Fun

Taken from Dr. Claude Mariottini’s blog.  Perhaps fitness CAN be fun:

Microsoft XBOX 360 getting Blu-Ray Player (Updated: Apparently not…)

theRegister is reporting the following for today,

During a recent interview on the future of Project Natal, the motion-control system for Xbox. Ballmer was asked if Microsoft plans to put Blu-ray into the games console.

Although he told website Gizmodo that he doesn’t know if Blu-ray needs to be integrated into the console, Ballmer added that “you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories”.

During the format wars between HDDVD and Blu-Ray Ballmer made comments that explicitly stated Microsoft would never back the Blu-Ray format.  This announcement is great news to the plethora of 360 owners out there who would like to watch some amazing Blu-Ray DVDs (Netflix anyone?) such as Planet Earth.

Update:
Apparently there has been further clarification from Microsoft about Ballmers quote and Microsoft has no immediate or near future plans to release a Blu-ray accessory.  Phoey.