In other news… the amazing little internet telephony app Skype could be in serious trouble. With a court date set for June 2010 according to this article, there is a good possibility that there may be no Skype after that date.
There appear to be questions as to who owns what. Hopefully they can be resolved in the courts or before the two parties get there. I like Skype…
Apple announced yesterday that their latest version of Mac OS X will be available for purchase this Friday, August 28th! The OS dubbed “Snow Leopard” will mostly streamline the current OS, Leopard, even down to the start up and shutdown time. Also, it takes up much less space on your hard drive. The software will only work on Macs that have Intel processors (so, sadly, not on the computer that is posting this information…). Up until Mac OS 10.6, every release of Mac OS X has had the architecture for both PowerPC and Intel processors. Snow Leopard will be the first release exclusively for Intel-based Macs.
The coolest and craziest part of this release is that along with the standard, stand-alone $129 price, Apple is also allowing current Leopard users to upgrade for only $29! A great deal that should greatly improve the performance of our Intel Macs.
So, visit your local Apple store on Friday and get your own copy! (Or, you can order via the Apple store online!)
An interesting overview of various forms of government throughout history, focusing on what our nation’s founders created and what we have today.
A woman asked Benjamin Franklin what the writers of the constitution had given them to which he responded, “A republic, Ma’am, if you can keep it.” Current events may suggest that we are losing (or perhaps have already lost?) that form of government. Watch the video and see what you think.
Link credit goes to my dad, who is often passing along such videos and other web links. 🙂
Jen and I stumbled upon this show last night when we were looking for something else at Hulu and decided to watch it… we’re sports fans – especially football – and actually really enjoyed the show! Perhaps you will too…47
I’m catching up on listening to some old podcasts while I work today, and just thought I’d take note of (and share here) something that was “just” said on The God Journey podcast.
“You get the idea that this didn’t begin with management. It began with life. And that life expanded among a group of people. And that’s how I see it now. I think what the church is is the fruit of something, not the cause of something.”
That was from the show titled, “The Wonder of Real Community” posted on Aug 7th. The discussion centers around life together as the church and how many things can get in the way of open, honest relationships with other people living life with Jesus. Good stuff as always.
I think the part that stood out to me was how quickly we took something that came out of real relationship with the real God (in Jesus) and have attempted to build it, manage it, control it, reproduce it, etc. The problem lies not only in the verbs previously used, but in the word “it”. I’ve said before, as soon as whatever we are part of becomes an “it” then “it” starts to become the focus rather than the life that is found in Jesus, and shared with his church.
I’ve been encouraged by reading through the stuff I wrote a few years ago now in my There’s The Steeple… Here’s The Church book, and the guys who do The God Journey podcast have also been an encouragement along the way. Check out either of those links, I think you’ll enjoy them.
It’s happening again. I never really know why. It just happens.
It’s time to change up my websites.
All three of my main websites. For some reason I have new ideas for this blog (cool ones, actually!) and my web design site, and our music site. All three will actually be a bit simpler (maybe not this one…) and cleaner, and more web-standards-compliant (you may not care about that part much…) and utilize some cool web technologies.
And it’s just time for a new look.
Bloggiversary number 6 is coming up next week… and I’ve had this look for a few years now as well… time to make a change.
I’ve been dabbling with WordPress for some clients… anyone want to weigh on on whether I stick with Blogger, or delve into the WordPress universe? I could go either way… as long as the export/import of my six years of posts isn’t too painful. (I don’t imagine it would be.)
So… stay tuned. Changes to come!
After re-reading another composition (titled, “Substitutes“) that was compiled into the book There’s The Steeple… Here’s The Church that I published in 2006, I am again pondering the ways in which we can get the various products sitting in our storage areas into the hands of people who would be inspired by, be made to think by and just enjoy them.
The main way people “discovered” our creative works before was when we were touring the country and performing our music (and even speaking on occasion) at various events. This was certainly the best way. But with the addition of a child or two (or six) we have taken a major break from that and such venues are no longer an option.
We have websites. (Here and here, primarily.) We have sold our music via iTunes. That’s cool. But sitting here in my attic office are boxes and boxes of CDs, tapes (yep! we have tapes!!) and books.
So how do we get those out of storage and into grateful hands, hearts, and minds? Any ideas?
I’d be willing to listen to any ideas as I really do think people will still enjoy any and all of our products. We have 5 different albums of our original music (well, one is a Christmas CD with mostly original arrangements of familiar songs) and I have three books of collections of writings that are mostly short anecdotal writings on various life topics that will make you smile, and often make you think.
If you are a marketing or sales wizard, please drop me a line and let me know what you think might work. You can leave a comment here at this post, too. Any and all ideas are welcome 🙂
If you’re interested in getting your own copy, click the links above, or you can search for our stuff at Amazon.com as well… usually better to just buy from us at basicmm.com or, for just the books, here at gregshead.net/bookstore.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Today I wanted to bring you another product recommendation. I don’t do that very often, so hopefully that gives a little more weight to my recommendations.
For a few years we have enjoyed the benefits of a Tivo DVR for recording, pausing, rewinding and really all of our television consumption. It’s fantastic. Really. Can’t recommend it enough. (They could use a few tweaks to their software, but … overall, fantastic.) For a few more years than that, we’ve been enjoying the same service (but, for free!) with our radio consumption.
We saw the radioSHARK from Griffin Technologies at an Apple store many years ago (I’m pretty sure that’s where we discovered it) and we were intrigued because we like to listen to local radio shows (especially during football season!) but were never near a radio (or able to listen) when the shows were on. radioSHARK lets you schedule recordings, pause live radio, rewind/fast-forward recorded content… it’s fantastic. Works really well. There are tons of features. Have a look at the page at the Griffin Technologies website.
I’ve just really enjoyed how easy it is to use (it even automatically exports the recordings to a playlist in my iTunes library!) and thought perhaps some of you might enjoy it as well. It’s available through Amazon (see widget to the right), or directly from Griffin … or probably lots of other places.
If you like radio … I’m guessing you, like me, will really like the radioSHARK. Check it out.
If you are new to the GregsHead.net scene, you may not have seen/heard/noticed that if you are a regular Amazon.com shopper, with a simple click of any Amazon link here, you can get what you are looking for, AND help to support the free-to-you service of this weblog. It’s a fantastic “win-win”! 🙂
I received an email from Amazon today reminding me that they have gift cards, and I thought I’d pass that reminder along to you. Amazon literally has everything under the sun. I’m pretty sure that’s not an exaggeration. And they often have the best prices. So a gift card lets your beloved recipient get 1) whatever they want and 2) more of it … in whatever amount you’d like to give them. You can choose to send an email code (redeemable immediately, or delivered on a specific day and time) or print out a certificate and mail it or deliver it to them in person. Very cool.
So, if you’re looking for a gift to give someone… Amazon Gift Cards are a pretty cool option! (And we thank you for you clicks!)
(NOTE: you can always click through the banners at the top of the page, or the search box at the top of the right sidebar column. Every bit is appreciated!)
Radio/TV talk show host, Glenn Beck, posted a list of the (currently) 32 czars that have been collected from “media reports from reputable sources that have identified the official in question as a czar.” It’s a fascinating list that I hope to read in more detail later today.
The reason I am posting it is that I am still so confused by two things. First, why is Obama hiring these people to lead various departments and task forces and such… don’t we elect people to do that? How can he use taxpayer money (some of these czars’ salaries are listed in the page linked above) to pay these people that only report to him, not to the American people? Where are the checks and balances?
Second… why would anyone want to use the word “CZAR“??? Only has negative connotations in my head! (Even crazier… read the “American” portion of that wikipedia link… these are not our first “czars”.)
So, check out the list and, well, pass it along. We are still “we the people”.
