High Caliber Guns

Officer Friendly…

ArrowJ — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Learning Ruby On An iPad…

ArrowJ — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 08:12:44 +0000

Our family PC having finally given out, and being unwilling to bring another computer running an OS other than Mac OS X into the house, I have found myself relying almost 100% on my iPad 2 while my MacBook Pro serves as an intermediary family computer until I can afford to purchase a suitable replacement.

One of the more interesting tasks I have been able to accomplish using just my iPad is learning to program using Ruby. Technically, I am using my laptop as well, but without the necessity of physically touching it or interrupting the kids’ homework. The process involves using two apps on my iPad and two apps on my laptop (one of which is simply a terminal).

To begin with I needed one or more books about Ruby. I am currently working my way through Beginning Ruby, From Novice to Professional by Peter Cooper. However, I found several additional resources I plan to use at least in part including, Programming Ruby 1.9: The Pragmatic Programmers’ Guide by Dave Thomas, Eloquent Ruby by Russ Olsen, and Ruby Best Practices by Gregory Brown.

These resources come in various electronic formats, but I prefer a good old fashion .pdf., and the best way to read .pdf files on the iPad is GoodReader. GoodReader may be the best .pdf reader to be had on any device, mobile or otherwise. My goal here is not to review GoodReader, but you will be hard pressed to find a bad review (unless it comes from a UX designer). I suppose it is fair to say that cramming that much power into a mobile app while keeping the UI neat, intuitive, and compliant with Apple’s HIG is tough, but it is GoodReader’s weak point and one that hopefully will be remedied in future releases. I digress.

So as I am reading my Ruby book, and following along with the Ruby implementation of “Hello World” how do I actually type in and interact with the language? Because Ruby is an interpreted language and can run in a terminal window, the trick is to connect to a terminal via the iPad. I use >prompt to accomplish this magic. It feels like I am sitting at the computer in front of a terminal window. That may seem obvious, but it could have been designed with an iOS feel to it, and in this case I think a one to one mirror of an actual terminal window is appropriate.

So I am reading my Ruby book in GoodReader, and connecting to a terminal session using >prompt but once I got beyond “Hello World” I needed a text editor. I thought about using a text editor on the iPad, but it made more sense to just use one designed for the command line. I am not a vim user, and I did not want to take the time to learn it now when I need every precious brain cell for Ruby so I decided to use nano. This tiny editor comes preinstalled with Mac OS X (although the version that came with Lion is 2.0.6 as opposed to the stable version 2.2.6 at the nano website). It is a matter of opening nano, editing the source code, exiting nano, and executing the .rb file.

So there you have it, 1) read the Ruby book of your choice using GoodReader, 2) connect to a terminal with >prompt, enter your code into nano, run and debug your code in terminal, 3) repeat. Oh, and getting back and forth between GoodReader and >prompt is as easy as a quick double press of the home button.

Mario Brothers Chess…

ArrowJ — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:20:44 +0000

I bought a Mario Brothers chess set for the kids a couple weeks ago after they informed me they were joining the chess team (they play sports too so keep your nerd comments to yourself, besides geek is cool now). I played a game (on my iPad, not the Mario board) with my 12 year old son and he won…in three moves. I wasn’t prepared for that.

My Apple branded cigar case…I love those stickers…

ArrowJ — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:19:10 +0000

An App Store A Day…

ArrowJ — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:47:00 +0000

UPDATE 01-17-11

Many people were unhappy to hear about the loss of the menu bar option. I found out today that the Sparrow developers have found a way to keep the option while at the same time meeting Apple’s demands. This speaks volumes about the developers of Sparrow, but changes nothing about the problems with Apple’s App Store policies. Let me be clear, I am not against the App Store nor do I think Apple’s rules are draconian. Still, I think there are problems, sometimes damaging to users and developers, that are the result of Steve’s desire to control. Ironic considering his beginnings.

———————————————————

Let’s face it, sometimes being addicted to what Cupertino has to offer is just a pain in the butt. Of course being fanboys we always find a way to convince others that what might look bad on the surface is actually a good thing. For that matter the really hard core fanboys among us actually convince themselves that what feel wrong at first is actually oh so right! Case in point, the new Mac App Store.

I’ve read the inevitable articles from both sides. According to some the new app store is great for developers and customers alike while others think it is an abomination. My opinion of Steve’s newest idea? My opinion is that my opinion doesn’t matter…and neither does yours.

You may think that the market drives Apple but make no mistake, Apple is at the wheel. Sure, when they start selling Microsoft quality software and services left and right they will lose much of that power, but turning Apple into fruit salad will be a slow process and in the end Apple will continue to make billions of dollars as we continue to buy “Vistas” at just below critical mass. For now though we just accept what Steve has to offer and thank our lucky stars that he is willing to make himself like one of us and let us read one of his occasional emails usually containing some form of the word “no”.

So what causes me to utter blasphemy toward Steve and his new app store before it is even open for business? The story goes like this. For the last few weeks I’ve been using Sparrow to check my Gmail. Why did I start using this crazy cool app? Two reasons: first, I was tired to checking my webmail with Mail.app and second, Sparrow allowed me to avoid having to keep a tab open in Chrome to read my email while at the same time running a Gmail notifier in my Menu Bar. But today I found out the bird is flying the coup.

I wrote the folks at Sparrow this morning suggesting a new feature related to running the app in Menu Bar only mode as opposed to running in Dock only or Dock and Menu bar modes. I was informed that this would no longer be an issue in the next release of Sparrow. Why? Was it because the developers at Sparrow were ahead of me? Nope. The reason I need not worry my fat head about menu only mode is because the rules of the Mac App Store prevent them from using whatever solution they had devised to make this magic work in the first place!

That’s right, the Mac App Store isn’t even open and it just robbed me of an app and Sparrow of a sale. Now Apple will be ok without the sale, and the folks at Sparrow will likely be ok without the sale, but that leaves one person still shafted. The user.

Still, all is not lost.

Steve is doing this for our good, and I trust that in the end I will thank him some day. A man who’s face has been on more magazine covers than Elvis’s has been on plates can’t be wrong. Not only that, Steve is all about making magical stuff that makes our lives better. How could the Mac App Store not be good?

———————————————————

UPDATE 01-06-11 (Mac App Store Launch Day)

I don’t know how many, if any, others have read this post. I don’t know if it has caused any confusion regarding Sparrow’s feature set, but let me clarify. Sparrow has not removed the menu bar icon. They have removed the option to show only the menu bar icon. That is to say, if you wish to use the menu bar icon you must also have the icon showing in the Dock.

This is the opposite of intuitive, but it is not, strictly speaking, the fault of the developers of Sparrow. Still, it doesn’t change what I’m saying here. As a matter of fact I could probably think of five or six times that I have installed an app and immediately removed it when I found out I have to have an icon living in two different places. It just doesn’t make sense, especially for the types of apps a menu bar icon is usually used for i.e. Gmail, Twitter, Facebook etc.

Sparrow is a nice piece of software in my estimation, and if you don’t use the menu bar icon or don’t mind having two icons I recommend you give it a try. If you prefer to access your Gmail from the menu bar alone Steve has put his royal stamp of disapproval upon the idea.

Living With Pain: Choosing A Fentanyl Patch That Works…

ArrowJ — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:18:59 +0000

Treating severe chronic pain can be a huge irritation for a number of reasons, and I’m hoping to address one of those irritations here. Namely, finding a Fentanyl patch that actually sticks to your skin!

Fentanyl patches can ease your pain a great deal, but there are several down sides to using them as well. For instance, picking up prescriptions in person each month can be a hassle. Add to that the special precautions you need to take if you have pets or children in the house, remembering when you put the thing on, and the side effects from taking Fentanyl (headaches, excessive sleepiness, and occasional looniness) and it quickly becomes apparent that you aren’t dealing with a bottle of Aspirin here. Still, the biggest irritation of all is getting the stupid little (or not so little) buggers to stick and stay stuck to your skin.

When I was first prescribed the patch I had the prescription filled at Walgreens. They filled it with patches from a company called Watson. I had my doubts when I took the very first patch out of the packet. The adhesive on the Watson patches sold by my Walgreens is applied only around the edges of the patch. The bulk of the patch has no adhesive whatsoever and just lays against the skin. The patch is basically a little pouch filled with a clear gel. Note: there was a recall at one point from reports that these pouches were leaking, but I never experienced that problem.

Over time the doctor has increased my prescription and until recently I had been using a larger patch from the same company. The problem is that regardless the size of the patch I have had to use first-aid tape to keep them in place, and even then I’m lucky if it stays on after a shower or on a hot humid day. To add insult to injury, it took me several weeks to find a tape that would work with my skin! At any rate, every three days I rip the old patch (and a little of my skin) off my arm and tape a new one one. Not a good experience.

Then a couple weeks ago my doctor increased my prescription again. When two different Walgreens could not fill the prescription we decided to try the CVS across the street. CVS had the patches, but theirs were from a company called Mylan. It turns out, Mylan’s Fentanyl patches are far superior to Watson’s Fentanyl patches in my experience.

To begin with the Mylan patches are smaller. In the image below, the packet in front is the new Mylan patch while the packet in back is Watson’s patch, but that’s not all. The larger packet from Watson contains a 25 mcg/h less dosage than the Mylan packet! More medicine, smaller form factor. But the best thing about the Mylan patches is that they are not gell filled pouches. The entire surface of the patch is covered in adhesive! Not only are they covered in adhesive, but the adhesive sticks to your skin and stays stuck even after a shower. They aren’t 100% perfect 100% of the time. A corner may come up or the edges may come up a little after a shower, but this does not mean the rest of the patch will come off as it did with the Watson patches. As a matter of fact, they usually just end up re-sticking themselves to your skin! Best of all, no tape whatsoever and they come off painlessly.

There has been a “down” side to these new patches, but even it is actually a positive. The Mylan patches deliver the medicine much more efficiently, and because of that the side effects have been incredibly severe. To combat that I have decided to wear the patches for the full 72 hours as opposed to the 48 hours that I was prescribed when using the Watson patches.

The bottom line is that if you have been struggling with this issue this may be the solution for you. Find a pharmacy that sells the Mylan patches and give them a try. Hopefully the Mylan patches will make the experience of wearing Fentanyl patches much more bearable.

Watson 75 mcg/h Fentanyl Patch filled with gel.

Watson vs. Mylan Patch Size Comparison (Note that the Watson

package had already been torn open, but it is actually the

exact height of the Mylan package when unoppened.

Note: Obviously I am not a pharmacist or Doctor, and these are just my experiences with the above medications. Be sure to follow your doctors advice and not mine. In any case, I am not responsible for your stupidity :)

Appstorm – Bohemian Coding competition…

ArrowJ — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:07:38 +0000

If it weren’t for bad luck…

From: Pieter Omvlee <@bohemiancoding.com">mail@bohemiancoding.com>

Date: October 18, 2010 15:42:15 CDT

To: Aaron Jackson <@gmail.com">jacksonaaronc@gmail.com>

Subject: Appstorm – Bohemian Coding competition

Hello,
I’m emailing you with regards to a competition you participated in recently on appstorm.net.
The website said they’d be giving away licenses to each of our applications, but they mistakenly also gave away licenses for SlipCover – one of which you’ve won.
The problem is that SlipCover is a free application anyway, and therefore have no licenses.
Best Regards,
Pieter Omvlee
- – - – - –
bohemiancoding.com
twitter: twitter.com/pieteromvlee

Safari Moves To The Back Seat…

ArrowJ — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:20:29 +0000

I’m a little depressed. I figured out what was making things so sluggish on my computer lately by looking at RAM/CPU usage and major changes in my workflow. It all started when I switched to Safari. I don’t know if it was the combination of extensions I use or just the browser design itself, but I suspect a little of both. It felt very snappy in the beginning so maybe the extensions are poorly written or maybe it doesn’t handle cached data so well. I don’t know.

To make matters worse, it turns out Google Chrome is faster, leaner, and more intuitive than Safari. I was so glad to finally get rid of Firefox for Safari. Not that I think Firefox is a bad browser, but Webkit is superior to Mozilla as far as I can tell. But Chrome just doesn’t look “right” to me…guess I’m gonna have to get used to it. Oh, and I just didn’t want to give Google control of one more thing in my life. Crap.

Found my two year old daughter watching The Three Stooges all by herself. I’m so proud!…

ArrowJ — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:13:28 +0000

Sign Up For Dropbox…

ArrowJ — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:06:18 +0000

This post is nothing more than a shameless attempt to get more storage for my Dropbox. The fact of the matter is that mine is running out of space quickly. If you don’t use Dropbox and want to give it a try (it’s free), please use the link below. This will automatically give both of us 250mb of extra storage space!

Simple Desktops #1…

ArrowJ — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:28:40 +0000

One of my favorite places to find desktop wallpaper is Simple Desktops. As a matter of fact, almost all of the wallpapers that are currently rotating on my Mac are from Simple Desktops. They are just that good. I’ve submitted a few, but they have never made the cut…until today. You might notice that I gave this post a number. I’m trying to be optimistic! This is my submission. See it on Simple Desktops and download the he-rez version.

Logos 4 Mac Shipping Soon…

ArrowJ — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:03:32 +0000

We have been waiting a long time (and through a bunch of alpha and beta releases), but it looks like Logos 4 Mac will be shipping very soon! There will be discounts, giveaways, and lots of Logos love. You can buy today and download a pre-release version. The final version will be available October 1st. Check It Out!

Firefox Moves To The Back Seat…

ArrowJ — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:08:55 +0000

I have been using a Mac for almost two years now, but it was not until today that Safari become my primary browser. There are plenty of reasons to use Firefox. It has been my browser of choice for as long as I can remember and I will still use it for certain things, but there are three reasons I want to replace it with Safari. First, it seems a little more nimble than Firefox these days. Second, WebKit is just cool. The Firefox team says they will not touch it, and I am afraid that might be a mistake. Finally, Safari is a Mac product and that means something to people who know what that means…if you know what I mean!

So why am I finally switching to Safari? It is simple enough–there are finally enough extensions available for Safari to provide most of the behavior I use on a daily basis in Firefox. Obviously 1Password and Xmarks have worked with Safari for some time, but there are a few other things I need if I am going to use a browser every day. For instance, I also need RSS to play well with Google Reader. I can make that happen now by using Google Reader Tools by Andy Allcorn. In addition I need session management. This is provided (and very nicely) by Sessions written by David Yoo. I also added a reload button using an app of the same name by John Siracusa, and a duplicate tab button in the same manner written by Thiemo Gamma.

These might seem like small things, but keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list. However, it is a good start and enough to make it time to switch. Of course now that Apple’s extension page is active new extensions are being added regularly and I am confident it will not be long before I a reach browsing utopia. Now will someone please write an extension for tab management!

Happy Nothing…

ArrowJ — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:29:10 +0000

Not counting my wife, who is my best friend, I have two really close friends. One is a woman I went to grade school and high school with, and the other is my friend and venture partner. To make matters more simplified when birthdays come around both of them were born on the same day which happens to coincide with the day my parents were married. Not only that, but I was actually with my parents today which happens very seldom as they live three hours away!

Despite these fortunate circumstances I forgot all three today! Wow. You might suggest something like marking it down in my calendar…I did. Wow.

A Temporary Loss…

ArrowJ — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:01:35 +0000

They buried my Grandpa today. I wish I could have been there. I wasn’t really close to him after I got married and moved away, but I will miss him. I loved watching him play old gospel music on his guitar (and an occasional verse or two of Folsom Prison Blues and the like) while we (mostly my Dad) would sing along. We never seemed to get through an entire song before we thought of another one. Sometimes he would watch my brother and I on summer break while Mom and Dad were at work. I remember he once tried to teach us to whistle with a blade of grass held between our thumbs. I never could get it right…he said I was blowing out the wrong end. He loved Jesus. Maybe he can give me another lesson some day :)

In The Beginning…

ArrowJ — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:46:00 +0000

I’m reading through Neal Stephenson’s classic essay (for geeks anyway), In The Beginning Was The Command Line. It was published in 1999, and explores the survival of proprietary computer operating systems, but it is not the author’s views on technology that I’m concerned with here.

In chapter seven of the essay, The Interface Culture, in preparation for making his arguments about the future of proprietary operating systems he gives a brilliant description of western culture as it relates to media. I would love to drop the entire chapter here, but I do not have permission to do so. I will therefore leave a few excerpts and a link to the full content provided by Mr. Stephenson (above). Finally, I would like to say that my conclusions in light of his observations are not the ones he voices at the end of the chapter. Frankly, I suspect they may not be his either when taken in juxtaposition with the rest of the chapter, but we will have to take his words at face value.

I was in Disney World recently, specifically the part of it called the Magic Kingdom, walking up Main Street USA. This is a perfect gingerbready Victorian small town that culminates in a Disney castle. It was very crowded; we shuffled rather than walked. Directly in front of me was a man with a camcorder. It was one of the new breed of camcorders where instead of peering through a viewfinder you gaze at a flat-panel color screen about the size of a playing card, which televises live coverage of whatever the camcorder is seeing. He was holding the appliance close to his face, so that it obstructed his view. Rather than go see a real small town for free, he had paid money to see a pretend one, and rather than see it with the naked eye he was watching it on television.

And rather than stay home and read a book, I was watching him

…

Orlando used to have a military installation called McCoy Air Force Base, with long runways from which B-52s could take off and reach Cuba, or just about anywhere else, with loads of nukes. But now McCoy has been scrapped and repurposed. It has been absorbed into Orlando’s civilian airport. The long runways are being used to land 747-loads of tourists from Brazil, Italy, Russia and Japan, so that they can come to Disney World and steep in our media for a while.

To traditional cultures, especially word-based ones such as Islam, this is infinitely more threatening than the B-52s ever were. It is obvious, to everyone outside of the United States, that our arch-buzzwords, multiculturalism and diversity, are false fronts that are being used (in many cases unwittingly) to conceal a global trend to eradicate cultural differences. The basic tenet of multiculturalism (or “honoring diversity” or whatever you want to call it) is that people need to stop judging each other-to stop asserting (and, eventually, to stop believing) that this is right and that is wrong, this true and that false, one thing ugly and another thing beautiful, that God exists and has this or that set of qualities.

…

The problem is that once you have done away with the ability to make judg- ments as to right and wrong, true and false, etc., there’s no real culture left. All that remains is clog dancing and macrame. The ability to make judgments, to believe things, is the entire it point of having a culture. I think this is why guys with machine guns sometimes pop up in places like Luxor, and begin pumping bullets into Westerners. They perfectly understand the lesson of McCoy Air Force Base. When their sons come home wearing Chicago Bulls caps with the bills turned sideways, the dads go out of their minds.

The global anti-culture that has been conveyed into every cranny of the world by television is a culture unto itself, and by the standards of great and ancient cultures like Islam and France, it seems grossly inferior, at least at first. The only good thing you can say about it is that it makes world wars and Holocausts less likely—and that is actually a pretty good thing!

The only real problem is that anyone who has no culture, other than this global monoculture, is completely screwed. Anyone who grows up watching TV, never sees any religion or philosophy, is raised in an atmosphere of moral relativism, learns about civics from watching bimbo eruptions on network TV news, and attends a university where postmodernists vie to outdo each other in demolishing traditional notions of truth and quality, is going to come out into the world as one pretty feckless human being. And—again—perhaps the goal of all this is to make us feckless so we won’t nuke each other.

Sarai with her “umbrella”…

ArrowJ — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 03:19:26 +0000

CronniX…

ArrowJ — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:50:00 +0000

Let’s face it. Much like Mr. Oddbody, I’m a geek — second class. I started with crontab -e, but after fighting with vi and not understanding quite what command I needed to add in order to get my Automator created apps to run, I turned to CronniX. If you still haven’t earned your pointed ears, or just want to take a shortcut and hope nobody sees, Cronnix is the tool you need to edit your cron tabs on Mac OS X!

–

The system’s scheduler “cron” is a Unix program that is automatically started at system startup. Every minute, it checks so-called “crontabs” for tasks that should be executed. Every user of a system and the system itself can have one crontab. CronniX allows you to edit all of these crontabs one at a time. — CronniX Help

–

I Want To Be A Wizard Some Day…

ArrowJ — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:17:12 +0000

Computational processes are abstract beings that inhabit computers. As they evolve, processes manipulate other abstract things called data. The evolution of a process is directed by a pattern of rules called a program. People create programs to direct processes. In effect, we conjure the spirits of the computer with our spells.

A computational process is indeed much like a sorcerer’s idea of a spirit. It cannot be seen or touched. It is not composed of matter at all. However, it is very real. It can perform intellectual work. It can answer questions. It can affect the world by disbursing money at a bank or by controlling a robot arm in a factory. The programs we use to conjure processes are like a sorcerer’s spells. They are carefully composed from symbolic expressions in arcane and esoteric programming languages that prescribe the tasks we want our processes to perform.

A computational process, in a correctly working computer, executes programs precisely and accurately. Thus, like the sorcerer’s apprentice, novice programmers must learn to understand and to anticipate the consequences of their conjuring. Even small errors (usually called bugs or glitches) in programs can have complex and unanticipated consequences.

Fortunately, learning to program is considerably less dangerous than learning sorcery, because the spirits we deal with are conveniently contained in a secure way. Real-world programming, however, requires care, expertise, and wisdom. A small bug in a computer-aided design program, for example, can lead to the catastrophic collapse of an airplane or a dam or the self-destruction of an industrial robot.

Master software engineers have the ability to organize programs so that they can be reasonably sure that the resulting processes will perform the tasks intended. They can visualize the behavior of their systems in advance. They know how to structure programs so that unanticipated problems do not lead to catastrophic consequences, and when problems do arise, they can debug their programs. Well-designed computational systems, like well-designed automobiles or nuclear reactors, are designed in a modular manner, so that the parts can be constructed, replaced, and debugged separately. — Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Abelson and Sussman

Collins America’s Danglet…

ArrowJ — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:54:34 +0000

I hate putting my iPhone in my pocket so I use a lanyard made by Collins America called a Danglet. I bought mine in February and it broke in April. Naturally I wrote asking for a replacement. They agreed to send the part, and attached a document explaining proper care of the Danglet. The Danglet is designed to withstand the maximum amount of pressure possible without damaging the iPhone’s connector. I knew this from the videos I had seen on their website. What I didn’t realize is that it is designed to break regardless of which angle the force is applied, not just directly down as you might expect. Talk about some excellent engineering. I wrote back and told them the Danglet worked as designed and that according to the instructions I had not used the device properly. Guess what? They are going to send the replacement anyway because the first Danglets apparently didn’t ship with a copy of the “care and feeding” document. It’s great when you find company that aims at excellence and exceeds your expectations.

May I Have Your Money Please?…

ArrowJ — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:31:48 +0000

Am I missing something here, or is this company asking you to let them keep your money even if they don’t deliver content? Afterall the price is only $2.95? I’m assuming the three bucks is credited to your Logos account.

No Parking…

ArrowJ — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:21:25 +0000

1Password For Windows…

ArrowJ — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:52:56 +0000

I keep all my passwords on my Mac and my iPhone. This way if I need to check my bank balance or login to Facebook while I’m away from the Mac I’ve got all my data right there. I do this using 1Password which is the best password manager available for the Mac in my opinion. Up until recently this has been a Mac only app, but it looks like the folks over at Agile Web Solutions got greedy enough to start working on a Windows version. You have to pay for the iPhone version and the desktop version seperately, and they aren’t cheap, but a better solution can’t be had by hook or crook. Even if you don’t have an iPhone you should still consider checking it out. If you use the same password for all your online presence don’t bother.Your idenity will be stolen soon anyway

Agile Web Solutions

1Password

1Password Windows Forum

BBQ

ArrowJ — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:40:54 +0000

See the full gallery on Posterous

This season’s BBQ starting with my birthday…

Born To Abuse Children…

ArrowJ — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:48:02 +0000

I just heard a psychologist on NPR say that treating pedophilia is like treating having blue eyes…you have to explain how painful it can be to others etc. in order to talk them out of pursuing who they really are.

Mark The Spot…

ArrowJ — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:34:24 +0000

The weather is finally getting warmer, and this means more time outside the house on the swing with a cigar or cooking up some BBQ (with charcoal of course…I can cook with gas in the house) or working in the yard etc.

All of this also means stepping outside the range of my super fast Wi- Fi and into AT&T’s useless Edge network. Sure Edge isn’t as nice as a solid 3G connection, but that’s not what I’m talking about. In my back yard connecting to the Edge network means dial-up speed data, or more often than not, no data at all.

Fortunately, I can use AT&T’s Mark the Spot iPhone app to inform them about my problematic data connection. Of course I generally have to wait until I go back inside for the message to get sent once I’m back inside the range of my home network, and I have to report a bad connection every single day, but I’m sure AT&T will get to working on improving my Edge network as soon as they get my enough of my daily reports. Either that, or they will ignore me because I’m just one guy in a little town complaining about my terrible service. Let’s face it, I’m going to be marking the spot until it’s time to buy my iPhone 7G.

Playland

ArrowJ — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:31:55 +0000

See the full gallery on Posterous

I thought our equipment was getting old until I saw the other one.

Interesting People Smoke Cigars…

ArrowJ — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:28:30 +0000

I have met some extremely interesting people at various cigar lounges within the last couple of years. Most recently i have had the pleasure of building a friendship with Dr. John Saint. John is a great guy, and a follower of Christ. Imagine my surprise when I discovered he is the cousin of Nate Saint, one of the missionaries famously martyred by the Waodani people in the 1950′s. The sacrifice of these missionaries was recreated in the movie “End of the Spear” a few years ago.

In addittion I’ve met several of the reps from various cigar manufacturers, and even a couple cigar makers themselves, including José Oliva of Oliva Cigars and Sam Lecia, the creator of the Nub and Cain lines of cigars.

I regularlly smoke cigars with a former Illinois state representative, a man that played backup banjo for Dolly Parton, a retired United States Army Reserve General, various lawyers, doctors, soldiers and ministers, and even a “mercenary” that regularlly works for the United States Government in the Middle East.

There are lots more, but that is a good sample. Moral of the story? Find a lounge, buy a cigar (locally if you can), enjoy.

Cigars

ArrowJ — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

See the full gallery on Posterous

Cigar Smokers Ride For The Kids…

ArrowJ — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:45:54 +0000

Matt from Matt’s Cigar Journal

http://mattscigar.com/2010/03/13/rfk2010/ is participating in Ride for the Kids again this year. He’s trying to raise five large this year and needs all the help he can get.

“This year I am trying to raise $5000 and reach the “Champion” level with the charity. I want to thank those of you who have already donated again this year. I really appreciate the support…I have gotten a lot of support from the cigar industry and community again this year and I have some nice things to give away to my donors.”

Oliva Smoker…

ArrowJ — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:44:02 +0000

Oliva Smoker at Cigars For Aficionados in Springfield IL with Oliva Rep Paul Hight…awesome!

www.olivacigar.com

Dancing Angels…

ArrowJ — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:03:56 +0000

Awesome day. My son Caleb (8 years old) came to me today wanting to talk about Jesus. Long story short, he will be getting baptized this Sunday. My two oldest sons have now decided to become followers of Christ! It just doesn’t get much better than that.

iStat For iPhone…

ArrowJ — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:48:26 +0000

I use iStat Menu to monitor my Mac’s vitals, and now I can monitor them from anywhere using iStat on my iPhone. Very cool!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/istat-sys-monitoring-battery/id303034517?mt=8

Sent from my iPhone…

Uninstallers For Mac…

ArrowJ — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:56:00 +0000

I started wondering yesterday if was using the best solution available for removing software from my MacBook Pro so I decdided to do a little test. I tested three different solutions and came up with the following results.

CleanApp is just too much tool for the job, it listed several items using its Relics feature that would have been problematic to remove, and it was the most expensive solution I tried at $15. The Relics feature relies upon other users sharing their data with Synium Software via its CleanCommunity technology, and it is reasonable to expect that it will become more reliable over time. CleanApp also has lots of features the other solutions do not provide, such as the ability to remove unwanted language files and to monitor software installations to insure it gets every file when it comes time to remove it from your system. CleanApp is perfect for users that equate more features with more power.

AppZapper is a beautifully designed intuitive piece of software. It is also just a little more affordable than its powerful competition at $12.99. It provides the user with the choice between a simple “Hit List” view that lets the user choose which applications, widgets, or plugins they wish to remove, or an even simpler drag and drop interface where the user drops their unwanted software and sees it zapped out of existence. The fun sound and screen effects could get old if you were removing a lot of software, but fortunately you can turn the effects off if you wish.

AppCleaner provides a free solution to software removal that is very similar to AppZapper. It will give you a list of applications, widgets, or plugins from which to choose or you can simply drag and drop the unwanted software onto AppCleaner the same way you drag a file to the trash. What is really cool about AppCleaner is that you never need to actually open the app if you do not want to. When AppCleaner notices that you have moved an application into the trash it automatically provides you with a list of files to be removed. Click delete and the software and associated files are banished.

During my tests all three solutions deleted the application and its associated plist files. However, CleanApp and AppZapper also found cache files that were no longer needed. Fortunately, I routinely delete all my cache files using OnyX, and AppCleaner removes all my old Mac software for free. Of course you could make a $10 donation to the developer and still come out ahead!

iPad Fail…

ArrowJ — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:14:42 +0000

The big event is over and the chances that you read my thoughts on the release of the iPad are slim indeed, but I am going to put them out there anyway…for posterity.

So how did the event begin? Steve jumped right into demoing Safari by browsing a website that required Flash. Guess what happened? Nothing. That’s right folks, still no flash support. You can say what you want about Flash sucking or not sucking, but the fact of the matter is that every day I follow links on my iPhone from my email or tweets that lead me to nothing because my iPhone (and now the iPad) lack support for Flash. FAIL

I new there wouldn’t be enough memory in this new device and Apple did not destroy my prediction. The high end model has only 64gb and the low end has an embarrassing 16gb! Of course Apple can’t include an SD card slot because that would mess up their price points. FAIL

The Home Screen on the iPad just looks goofy to me. I think it’s because there aren’t enough icons per row. While the device is a glorified iPhone, it doesn’t need to look like they just pixel doubled the Home Screen. FAIL

In the midst of all the fun, someone had to remind me of one of the biggest negatives of the day. Not only are there not dual cameras on the iPad, there are no cameras on the iPad. DOUBLE FAIL

AT&T as the data provider? Is that a joke? FAIL

I’m not sure this is a bad thing, but it is at least a little disconcerting that the iPad using Apple’s own silicone. As a friend of mine pointed out, this is probably just somebody else’s chip branded by Apple, but it gives me the willies all the same.

It wasn’t all bad. I am quite excited about iBook and the iBookstore. The mobile versions of iWorks are interesting, and watching movies on this thing would be very cool. Heck, as an ebook reader the iPad may be worth the price when compared to every other reader on the market. I would have liked to have seen iBook and iBookstore for the iPhone, but I guess that would pull people away from the iPad.
I guess the best thing about the iPad was the price. I would never in a thousand years thought that Apple would sell this thing for under $1,000 let alone $500. Sure, the $500 iPad is Wi-Fi only and sports a massive 16gb flash drive, but for Apple that price is amazing.

I am about as close to being an Apple fanboy as you can get without actually being 100% fanboy. Before I started writing this post I was fairly excited about the iPad, but when I look back on what I took away from the event I have to say that I’m a little more than disappointed. I’m fairly confident that this device (or at least its ancestors) will do very well, but I can’t say I would buy one even if I had the $500 burning a hole in my pocket. Who knows, maybe it will FAIL? Doubt it.

iPhone Passcode Lock…

ArrowJ — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:28:36 +0000

There have been a lot of stories lately about iPhone thefts. The phenomena closely resembles purse snatching. The thief grabs something valuable that is out in the open and runs like mad! Also, much like having your purse snatched, losing an iPhone is about more than the iPhone itself. Sure the iPhone is valuable, but perhaps not as much as what’s inside.

For instance, in addition to my adress book, my iPhone stores my browsing history (including online banking), access to over 13,000 email messages, my Twitter, Facebook and IM accounts, personal photos, over 1.5gb of data on Dropbox, several personal documents, access to my source code repository and well, you get the idea. If all of that isn’t enough, a would-be iPhone snatcher could concievablly gain access to my MacBook Pro using the VNC client I installed on my iPhone!

However, unlike the victims of purse snatchers, you can do something to protect what’s inside your iPhone. If you touch the System icon on your iPhone’s Home Screen, then choose General and Passcode Lock, you can create a four digit numeric passcode which must be entered by anyone attempting to access your iPhone. For even more protection you can have the iPhone wipe itself clean if anyone enters the wrong passcode ten times in a row (be sure you keep current backups if you use this option). If the thought of entering a passcode every time you use your iPhone is less than appealing you can choose to lock the phone only after it has been off for several minutes or even hours.

This isn’t government level security by any stretch of the imagination. Personally I would prefer a five or seven digit code and the ability to erase the data long before ten failed attempts, but it’s still much better than leaving all my data unprotected. Also, it’s built-in, it’s free and let’s face it, it’s more than enough for most of us. Protect yourself, protect your iPhone, protect your data!

Walgreens iPhone App…

ArrowJ — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:18:34 +0000

I used the free Walgreens iPhone app to order refills of my prescriptions today. I received an email confirmation when my order had been received and when it was ready for pickup. It just doesn’t get any easier than this…it’s even easier than the automated phone system.

Although I only use the app for managing my prescriptions you can also order prints from the pics you take with your iPhone, view weekly adds, and a bunch of other stuff. If you don’t have an iPhone you can access these features by pointing your mobile browser at www.walgreens.com/mobile or your Firefox running on your Mac at www.walgreens.com (ok, it works using other browsers on other computers, but why would you want to do that?)

The Pampered Chef 7″ Santoku Knife…

ArrowJ — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:12:56 +0000

My favorite Christmas present this year came from my favorite Sister-In-Law. I don’t host or attend Pampered Chef parties, but I have to admit I really love cooking with their stuff, and this Christmas my Sister-In-Law added a new piece to my cooking armory, the 7″ Santoku chopping knife. To say the Santoku knives are awesome is an understatement. First of all, this thing is sharp. Not sharp like a paper cut, but sharp like butcher a bovine. Second, it just feels great in the hand because of it’s solid construction. It’s made from one piece of steel. In other words, the handle isn’t going to fall off some day. Finally, it’s Pampered Chef which means if it does break, they replace it…period.

If you want to get awesome deals on tons of Pampered Chef stuff you can certainly have a party. If you’re a guy just have you wife host one and tell her what you want…I’m hoping to get the rest of these knives by years’ end. If you’re in Southern Illinois, by all means shoot an @gmail.com">email to my Sister-In-Law, but even if you’re not you can order directly from her website.

WideMail, Widescreen Apple Mail Plugin…

ArrowJ — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:44:18 +0000

I stumbled across a very cool plugin for Mail.app today. WideMail is a plugin that brings the more familiar, and arguably more productive, vertical layout to Mail.app. I’m using the plugin with OS X 10.6.2 and have had no major problems thus far even though the plugin is still in beta. The plugin is free, however I encourage you to join me in using the PayPal link to donate something to the developer…because frankly, I would hate to see him give up on this project. The first screenshot shows the default view in Mail.app followed by Mail.app using the WideMail plugin.

See the full gallery on Posterous

High Priming Humidor…

ArrowJ — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:02:32 +0000

I was surprised with this handmade humidor today from a guy at the cigar lounge. The inscription is of my choosing and says “High Priming”. Primings are the rows of leaves on a tobacco plant…the higher the priming, the stronger the tobacco. I don’t actually have any cigars to fill it with at present (three of the four shown are Christmas gifts for my Father-In-Law), but nobody needs to know what’s on the inside! Note: the pics were taken with my iPhone so please excuse the low quality.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Cool Transition From Login To Desktop…

ArrowJ — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:58:17 +0000

I use the same image for my login and my desktop. Lately I’ve been using one from Samuel Adams. I wasn’t impressed by the original and decided to play around with desaturation. I thought it might be cool to desaturate the entire image for the login and use the partially desaturated image for the desktop. You will need the following:

An image that will look great after removing the color from everything other than one distinct foreground element.
An image editor that performs desaturation. I am using a demo of Pixelmator ($59 after 30 day demo). Pixelmator is the best all around image editing software available for the Mac bar none. I am sure that you could do the same thing using GIMP which is free but frankly, GIMP on a Mac sucks really hard. I will be purchasing a license for Pixelmator as soon as I have the scratch.
Third — You need a copy of Loginox. Loginox is an app that will change your login image via drag and drop, and it works with Snow Leopard now!

Once you prep your images, simply use Loginox to switch out your login screen, and the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane in System Preferences to switch out your desktop. Now log out from the Apple Menu and log back in to see the magic.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Advent Reflections About Kings And Presidents…

ArrowJ — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:03:28 +0000

My Dad wrote this for the advent season at his church, and I really like it…

“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS , AND LORD OF LORDS.” Rev. 19:16 KJV

The only time when there was no King or Queen in Britain was when the country was a republic between 1649 and 1660. In 1649 King Charles I was executed and Britain became a Republic for eleven years. The monarchy was restored in 1660. So it was a challenge for us as a new nation to create a new system of government.

When our country revolted and broke away from Britain the question was what form of government would we create. Much debate ensued. Several plans were suggested. In fact Alexander Hamilton suggested a system much like Britain’s system which would have a lower house and upper house as well as an executive whose title would be Governor and whose term would be for life! Of course it was decided that our government would have three branches. One of those branches would be the executive branch, but the question arose as to what title would be chosen to describe the executive. Should we call him King, Governor, or President?

The important factor that we need to remember this advent season is that regardless of what title the leader of any nation my have that individual will bow before the KING OF KINGS one day. Scripture says:

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow , every tongue shall swear” Isa 45:22-23 KJV

Don’t Be Good…

ArrowJ — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:36:48 +0000

People are getting more and more concerned with Google’s ever present fingers meddling with their data. Fear not, “Google CEO Eric Schmidt told reporter Maria Bartiromo, ‘If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.’” Source: Slashdot Let me just say, Wow.

Why I Don’t Subscribe To Cable TV…

ArrowJ — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:23:00 +0000

DVD Library — I have way too many DVD’s and quite a few VHS tapes around the house, but when you find Tommy Boy and Black Sheep as a double feature for $5 it’s hard to pass up.
Netflix – I recently downgraded our Netflix account to one DVD at a time for $9 a month. With all the other content we use it just didn’t make sense to keep paying more.
Roku – Sure, a lot of the content is not “cutting edge” or “hip”, but there is a lot of it, and we dig it.
iTunes – I admit it, sometimes I rent a movie through iTunes because I don’t have the patience to wait on the DVD in the mail, and I don’t want to leave the house.
Redbox – When I do leave the house for media, it is usually to visit the Redbox. New Releases for $1 is hard to beat, but where is the iPhone app? Please!
Roku – TWiT Netcast Network: all of Leo Laporte’s tech content streaming in my living room…awesome!
Roku – Revision3: all of Revision3′s tech content streaming in my living room…awesome!
Roku – Pandora: endless free music streaming in my living room.
Roku – Mediafly: the options here are incredible…sign up for Mediafly on the Internet, create all the podcast and video content channels you want and watch them on your TV. I haven’t gone through to set up content for the family yet, but I use it for Mark Driscoll’s sermons and to get a bunch of CNET‘s tech content streaming in my living room…awesome!
Hulu – There are only a few shows I really like on TV, Sanctuary and V come to mind. I get an email each time a new episode is available, and I watch it on my computer with limited commercials…very nice indeed.
iTunes — I use iTunes to download several podcasts. Some of the same tech materail on the Roku is duplicated on my Mac because sometimes I want to watch or listen on my iPhone or Mac instead of the TV.

This article was brought to my attention after I posted about my alternatives to cable TV. It provides an actual review of several different options. Thanks Anthony!

Redbox?

ArrowJ — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:58:02 +0000

Notice anything wrong with this picture?

Sent from my iPhone…

Astro Pilgrims…

ArrowJ — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:58:56 +0000

My oldest son Josh asked me if he could use the computer tonight to write a short story he had been thinking of…below is his story:

ASTRO PILGRIMS
Hi my name is Josh captain of the prime oss1. Me and a coupel others are bord of earth the rools,money,and crimanels eratate me. Me,Caleb,Carlos,and Cony are going to outer space to discover a new world to live on. 3 2 1 BLAST OFF FOOOSH we were out of the aptinesphere. Carlos set the ship on hiper drive. Caleb set the course North. Cony set it to auto pilet then everybody lets go play new super Mario bros.wii. 6 HOURS LATER. Z Z Z beep! beep! BEEP! Ah aleins! Caleb to the lazer turents. SPEW SPEW SPEW! There dead. Lets land on that planet. FOOSH! We landed on a grassy planet with trees to cut down to make houses. One rool we will keep is no steeling. THE-END

Apple’s Mistake, By Paul Graham…

ArrowJ — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:16:28 +0000

I just read a fantastic article by Paul Graham that outlines some of the reasons Apple is getting such bad press with developers lately. Interestingly, I posted a tweet a couple days ago about the irony of Apple’s 1984 add (although admittedly from a different perspective). Here are a few of my favorite excerpts, but you can read the entire essay here.

…How would Apple like it if when they discovered a serious bug in OS X, instead of releasing a software update immediately, they had to submit their code to an intermediary who sat on it for a month and then rejected it because it contained an icon they didn’t like?…
…I just bought a new 27″ iMac a couple days ago. It’s fabulous. The screen’s too shiny, and the disk is surprisingly loud, but it’s so beautiful that you can’t make yourself care…So I bought it, but I bought it, for the first time, with misgivings…In the past when I bought things from Apple it was an unalloyed pleasure…This time it felt like a Faustian bargain. They make such great stuff, but they’re such assholes…
…When you look at the famous 1984 ad now, it’s easier to imagine Apple as the dictator on the screen than the woman with the hammer. In fact, if you read the dictator’s speech it sounds uncannily like a prophecy of the App Store…

Rotisserie Rabbit…

ArrowJ — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:08:43 +0000

Sent from my iPhone

No Compassion For Jesus…

ArrowJ — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:57:00 +0000

Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church) just started a three year journey through the Gospel of Luke. If you can’t find time to listen to the full sermon, listen to this last few minutes of the first sermon in the series. It will expand your understanding of the crucifixion further than you thought possible.

Driscoll by Anthony Martin Aaron Jackson
Listen on Posterous

Wind Farm…

ArrowJ — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:05:39 +0000

It turns out there is a wind farm just outside of Lincoln. Who would have thought we were so green? I don’t buy into the extreme rhetoric of global warming, but I also don’t have a problem with using energy from alternative sources windmills are just neat…unless you’re my wife in which case they are scary.

Sent from my iPhone

HandBrake Replacement Icon…

ArrowJ — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:58:18 +0000

If you want to get those DVDs (of your wedding) onto your Mac, iPhone or iPod Touch so you can watch them on the road or simply to back them up, the best freeware solution is HandBrake. There is one huge ugly problem with HandBrake. The icon is simply hideous. Icons can be ugly and you live with them, but when icons are this ugly something has to be done. Fortunately, Taylor Carrigan took care of the problem. You can download his replacement icon directly from his website. The icon is free (and for most icons I’d be ok with that), but if you’ve seen HandBrakes icon you know what I mean when I say it’s the right thing to do to drop Taylor a couple bucks. Enjoy!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Songs My Dad Loved…

ArrowJ — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:40:53 +0000

I heard about Ricky Skaggs new CD, Songs My Dad Loved, during an interview on NPR the other night and enjoyed it so much I bought the album. The album has fifteen tracks in all, five of which are spiritual, a couple instrumentals, and various other songs. The mood of this CD isn’t fast paced bluegrass, but it’s also not “bluegrass blues”. If you like bluegrass I don’t know how you couldn’t like this…grab your copy on iTunes.

Ten One Design Pogo Sketch…

ArrowJ — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:40:00 +0000

There’s one thing my wife doesn’t like about the iPod Touch…the touch part. As pathetic as that is, I still love her so I bought her the Pogo Sketch by Ten One Design. I also bought her the clip pack that allows you to clip the pen to the side of your iPod or iPhone (it comes with several different clips). To be honest with you, the pen is overpriced. If they included the clip it would be reasonable, but $15 (before shipping) for a stylus (no matter how stylish the stylus might be) is too much. Then you add $5 for the clips and $5 for shipping and well…too much. Still, I did get a copy of their Autograph software (Macs with Multiouch Only) free with the order. I don’t think I’ll use it much, but it did lesson the blow a bit. In the end, if it makes my wife’s life better it was worth it. We shall see.

UPDATE: About five minutes after I posted this I discovered that the top of the stylus has broken off in my wife’s purse. I will be contacting Ten One Design and will update again later.

UPDATE: I got a reply to my email about ten minutes after I sent it and a replacement will be shipped out tomorrow! So far, so great.

UPDATE: Recieved a replacment yesterday as promised. Satisfied customer.

Wise For Salvation…

ArrowJ — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:28:31 +0000

A couple days ago I was in a discussion with my brother and a good friend about what is known theologically as "soteriology". That fancy word just means the study of the doctrine of salvation. We were discussing the role of reason and faith in our salvation, and also asking questions about how old someone needs to be in order for their profession of faith to be efficacious. I think 2 Timothy 3:14-17 is germane to our discussion.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Great Hymn: This Is My Father’s World…

ArrowJ — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:17:29 +0000

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

Multiple Firefox Profiles

ArrowJ — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:46:00 +0000

I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard and made the decision NOT to use multiple user accounts and the “fast user switching” feature. There are several reasons I chose to avoid multiple accounts, but sharing data (iPhoto, iTunes, Calendar, and Address Book) is the primary reason. It can be done, but it can also be a huge pain in the posterior. Having multiple users operating under the same user account isn’t all that bad. However, there is one huge irritation. Namely, it is extremely frustrating to constantly log in and out of websites such as Gmail, Facebook and Google Reader.

My first solution to this problem was to let Firefox save my user names and passwords. This is something I have never done in the past, and was still not comfortable with. Still, it made the process somewhat smoother. Then I started to wonder if there was a way to have multiple instances of Firefox running at the same time and I accidentally ran across the Firefox Profile Manager when I downloaded MultiFirefox. MultiFirefox is an app that allows you to run multiple versions of Firefox on the same machine. The app is really for developers, and isn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it utilizes the Firefox Profile Manager which I didn’t even know existed. Let me emphasize that this was an accident! I don’t understand for the life of me why this feature is not obviously visible. At all events, I had MultiFirefox running so I used it to access the profile manager (rather than using the terminal), and created two profiles. I should note that when I ran the profile manager from the terminal I was unable to access the GUI controls. I don’t know what the problem was, but using MultiFirefox I was able to create my profiles.

When you access the profile manager to create your profiles you have to be sure to untick the check box that says “don’t ask at startup” IF you plan on choosing which profile to open each time you run Firefox.app. I did this for about 60 seconds before it occurred to me that there must be a way to create an alias that would open a specific profile by passing it the appropriate parameters. It turns out you can’t. What you can do (thanks Anthony!) is create a shell script that will do the job. Through much trial and error, and rather prodigious use of Google, I discovered there is a bug that prevents the usual terminal command from running properly on my machine. I think it has something to do with the combination of Firefox 3.5 and Snow Leopard. Rather than go into the details lets just say that if the usual command does not work on your system, you may need to create an AppleScript that executes the following shell script: “do shell script “/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P XXX &> /dev/null &” where XXX = the name of your profile. Now I can dump a Firefox icon on top of both my scripts, dump them in the dock and I’m all set.

UPDATE: I ran into another issue. I dropped both scripts on the dock (two icons), then I opened both profiles resulting in two instances of Firefox (two more icons), at this point I had FOUR FireFox icons in the dock…not good. This is the solution I chose. I set the profile manager to NOT show the actual profile manager dialog box when Firefox starts up. This has the effect of opening the default profile when you click on the Firefox icon in the dock (one icon). I then dropped the script for the second profile in the doc with a different firefox icon (one icon). Now there are two icons in the dock and each user simply closes Firefox when done with their session.

Fiddler On The Roof…

ArrowJ — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:33:21 +0000

I see this from time to time and I just don’t get it. It’s almost always some musician and lots of the time a worship leader. Why dress up like an actor in Fiddler on the Roof? Sorry about the bad pic.

Sent from my iPhone

Labor Day BBQ…

ArrowJ — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:38:00 +0000

Snowing At My House…

ArrowJ — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:03:17 +0000

It took me a week, but I was finally able to rummage up enough scratch ($29) to upgrade my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5 Leopard to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The first question I was asked was, “was it worth it?” As I am quickly becoming a Mac fanboy I have to admit that just the warm feeling of having the latest version of OS X on my MBP makes its worth it, but in reality I do really like the few visible refinements of Snow Leopard.

A couple of the nicest refinements for my purposes are found the Dock. First, you can now minimize your windows into the application icon instead of them adding another item to the dock when minimized as is the case in Leopard. Secondly, and really the coolest feature, is the addition of application specific Expose being accessible via each application’s icon. This is all the more cool for users of Logos Bible Software or other apps that tend to generate lots of windows in a typical session.

There are lots more of these little tweaks included in Snow Leopard, and you can find them easily by visiting the Apple web site or doing a quick Google search. In addition there were some fairly significant changes to what goes on behind the scenes in OS X that will mostly effect developers for the time being and users in the future.

How about problems? The upgrade process was quick and painless. I lost a handful of screen savers, but was able to recover them in less than 60 seconds via Time Machine. My custom login background has been replaced with the default background which I haven’t taken the time to change again. When I launched Mail.app I was shown an error about a ProxiMail plug-in (whose origin I am still in the dark about). I deleted the offending plug-in and all is well. Finally, OnyX quit working, but the developer tells me a Snow Leopard version is on the way.

Would I recommend upgrading to Snow Leopard? Of course I would, but I always seem willing to be an early adopter. Now I can’t help but wonder what the next OS will bring!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Word(s) For The Wise?…

ArrowJ — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:41:00 +0000

On the way back home from dropping off the boys at school I was thinking about “wisdom”. I read lots of books, blog posts, Facebook status updates, and Tweets that claim to be, or are lauded as, wisdom. This may or may not be depending on the content of each assertion, but it occurs to me that there must be something of The Eternal in any discussion of what can be rightly deemed as wisdom.

Surely eternal wisdom cannot exist in a universe void of eternal knowledge, just as eternal knowledge cannot exist in a universe void of eternal truth, and eternal truth cannot exist in a universe outside of which The Eternal does not exist. The existence of a universe without The Eternal holds only temporal wisdom which is no true wisdom at all. In this universe wisdom is used to fill the void left by the absence of The Eternal. It is fleeting at best, and completely empty at worst.

Finally, it occurs to me that it operates as a proof rather than a contradiction for the existence of The Eternal that human beings can discuss wisdom in such terms to begin with!

Simplify Media…

ArrowJ — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:05:11 +0000

A few days ago I wrote about the apps I had downloaded or bought for my iPhone and/or iPod Touch that I do not use anymore. Among those was Simplify Media’s Simplify Music. After I wrote the post I did a search in the App Store and found out they now have Simplify Photo. Guess what…I bought it. It is one of the coolest apps I have on the iPhone. I now have access to my entire iPhoto library from my 8GB iPhone!

I figured I might as well give Simplify Music another shot while I was at it, and I have been enjoying hours of old time radio streamed to my iPhone every night. There are still too irritating limitations to this app. Namely, you cannot play protected .aac files (including Audible audio book files), and you cannot use the app in the background. Unfortunately, Simplify Media has no control over either of these shortcomings. Obviously, I could go through the painstaking process of converting all of my protected audio files into a non-protected format, but I am not sure I have the patients for that. As for apps that run in the background we can only wait for Apple to allow this feature at some future date.

Luggage…

ArrowJ — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:35:23 +0000

When I told Sarai it was time to pick up Mommy today she said, “yah”, grabbed her luggage and headed for the door. I guess she thought it was going to take longer than usual today.

Sent from my iPhone

Homework…

ArrowJ — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:00:12 +0000

Sent from my iPhone

And Again…

ArrowJ — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:01:58 +0000

Sent from my iPhone

Too Many Apps…

ArrowJ — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:22:00 +0000

It is easy to purchase apps for your iPhone. By that I mean most of them are $0.99 and it just does not register at the time that this is the 50th app I have bought for $0.99! If it is easy to purchase apps, it is painfully easy to download free apps. This post The next few posts are is going to feature apps that were on my iPhone at one time, but no longer hold that honor. So why are these apps considered surplus?

reMovem — A bubble pop game that I paid $0.99 after playing the free version. Lots of fun, but i have popped enough bubbles.

Crosswords — I started with the free version of this app, and upgraded for $9.99 thinking with more puzzles I would find one I could actually do…not so.

Nightstand — This nifty $0.99 app turns your iPhone into bedside table clock. I just quit using it after awhile.

Skype — Free. Never use it. (Now back on the iPhone…it just seems a guy should have Skype on his iPhone)

PanoLab Pro — This app lets you create panoramic images with your iPhone camera for only $2.99. Never use it. (Also, back on the iPhone. You never know when I might want to take a panoramic shot.)

CropForFree — Free app for cropping photos. I have another app that performs cropping now so I no longer use this app.

Pixel Perfect — Allows you to apply effects to you photos i. e. sepia, black and white etc. I use another app for these filters now. This is a free app, but I did not care for its implementation.

SnapBox — Another free photo effects app that I do not use.

Pandora — Don’t get me wrong, Pandora Radio is far out, but I just never use it on my iPhone. (Back on the iPhone. What if I decide to start using it?)

SkyVoyager — I discussed this pretty thouroughly in the last post. I realized when I was getting the next batch of apps ready that there is no way I am going to be doing any astronomy in the near future so SkyVoyager is getting the boot. Although the app costs $14.99 I got it free on the aniversarry of the moon landing.

1Password — This is the iPhone version of the popular desktop app. I downloaded it because it was free at the time (it may still be), but I just don’t use it.

Stanza — This is a popular free ebook reader. There is a free desktop app for wirelessly syncing as well, but I find that I just do not use it much. (You can never have too many ways to get text onto your iPhone so I put this one back…I’m pathetic.)

NPR News — The “official” free NPR app. Lots of NPR content at your finger tips. I just do not have the stomach for listening to NPR’s dribble tight now, but I go through phases so it may find its way back later.

Mars Hill — Much like the NPR app only with much better content from Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill church in Seatle. This app is also free, but I do not listen to the content regularly enough to make it a permanent resident on my iPhone.

Google Earth — If you do not know what Google Earth is, you are probably not reading this post. It is free, and I do not use it.

Beer Brands — I downloaded this free app to see if it was worth recommending to a friend. It is fairly cool to be sure, but I do not care much for the taste of beer so away it goes.

Constitution — Fairly self explanatory…and available on the Internet should I want to refresh my memory. The iPhone app is free of you really want an app dedicated to one document.

Ambiance — I paid $0.99 for this little sleep aid. Unfortunately, the soothing sounds do nothing for me.

Dual Level — This nifty free app uses the iPhone’s accelerometers to measure the level of any surface. Guess how many times I used it?

Units — This free app will convert just about anything into just about anything else…as will Google.

AroundMe — this app uses your GPS location to search for businesses (restaraunts, gas stations, etc.) near your current location. It is a great idea, however, the results are not always acurate…especially in rural areas.

Barnes & Noble and Amazon both have free dedicated apps, somehow I just don’t use either of these enough to bother having them installed on my iPhone.

Craigsphone — a free interface for Craig’s List…which I uses once…and was unable to find a buyer.

tChess Pro — this is a very powerful chess app that cost me $7.99. I go through phases with chess and right now I am not playing much.

Tap Tap Revenge 2 — This is the free version of a game that takes its playbook from similar console games. I downloaded it for the boys, bit have not seen much response.

Bejewled 2 — A classic that I have been playing since my first PDA (a Palm M105 my Dad gave me for Christmas). I removed this game because my wife achieved a score so high I could never hope to beat it. I have probably spent $10.00 on various versions of this app including $2.99 for the iPhone version.

UNO — This is my son’s favorite card game so I shelled out the $4.99 and put it on my wife’s iPod Touch for him.

Lemonade Stand — A very nice implementation of the classic Apple II game. More than worth the $0.99 price tag. I sold enough lemonade to last a long while though so I dumped the app.

Phase 10 — Fankly the only reason I removed this app is because there is no network play, and this is a game best played with people of the real variety. At $2.99 I will keep checking back to see if they add the feature.

WordSearch — My son Caleb likes doing word searches, but he quickly tired of doing them on the iPhone. This is a nice, if feature bare, free app.

Adrenaline Pool Online — I bought this game at the behest of my friend Anthony. He actually said the free version would work, but I wanted the added features of the $4.99 version. I enjoyed playing the game although I think the interface could use some work. I got tired of virtual pool and removed the app.

Mocha VNC Lite — I bought the full version of this verry nice VNC client for controlling my Mac remotely when I am away from home. No need to have the free version and the full version.

iFlipr –A flashcard app I paid $4.99 for to help with learning Hebrew. I may put this on my wife’s iPod Touch to help the kids with math this year.

PocketFlicks — An app for managing your Netflix account. I bought the app for $1.99 to support the developer of “Now Playing”, bit since that app does almost everything PocketFlicks does I ended up removing it.

RemotePad — I think this app is supposed to turn your iPhone into a trackpad of sorts for you Mac. I downloaded it for free, and then realized I had no need for it.

Remote — This is Apple’s free app for remotely controlling iTunes. I just never seemed to used it.

POTUS (Presidents Of The United States) — A free app that provides information on, uh, the presidents. I thought this would be good for the kids, but I do not like them touching my iPhone.

Cookbook — A free electronic version of the Betty Crocker cook book. I downloaded thos primarilly for my wife.

SkyGazer — I got this app free on the aniversarry of the moon landing. This is a powerful astonomy app topped only by its big brother SkyVoyager which I also got for free. No need to have both apps on the iPhone at the same time. Of course I will probably never use the other one either, but it feels good to have free software on your iPhone. SkyGazer and SkyVoyager are $2.99 and $14.99 respectively.

Planets — a free astonomy app that I obviously do not need.

iDoodle2Lite — This is a fairly self explainitory app. It was free, and I downloaded it with the kids (and my wife’s iPod Touch) in mind. I was not overly impressed, and I do not think this one is on either of our devices.

TrippingFest — It is hard to explain what this app does so I’ll just let a picture do the talking. A very cool app. Free. I played with this for a long time, but it will live on the iPod Touch now for emergencies. (I lost the image when editing this post…oops.)

Sudoku and Pass The Pigs — Two games my wife loves. These both live on her iPod Touch now. These games were $2.99 each, but they are well executed and like I said, my wife likes them.

Maze Finger — I never could get into this game. You have to trace a maze before the time runs out. Free, but not for me.

Trace — This game did not cost me anything, and is actually quite fun. The player must draw shapes to help the stick figure man make it across the screen. I just traced enough I suppose.

Mancala FS5 and Mancala Lite are both free Mancala games with the latter being the better of the two. I would rather play the physical game for some reason.

Moonlight Lite — a very nice Mahjong game. There is a paid version available that I have been considering purchasing, but since I play the free version so much that I am removing it…

JirboSays — A free matching game for the kids…but not on my iPhone.

Touch Four — Another free connect four game. Just as boring as the real thing.

Air Hockey and FS5 Hockey — Electronic air hockey. The latter (free) was fun enough for my oldest son that I paid $0.99 for the former. I do not know of this syltill lives on my wife’s iPod Touch or not.

Tris — A well done Tetris clone that was free and proved just as imposible for me to play as any Tetris game.

tChess Lite — An extremely powerful chess game. I bought the full version so I no longer need the free version.

Tangram Pro — I got this app for free, and it has hundreds of puzzles. After I played for a fee days it just became monotonous.

Cross Light and reMovem free were actually cool enough that I bought the paid versions of these games. Obviously I do not need the free version and the paid version on the iPhone at the same time. Cross Light is a crossword app and reMovem is a bubble pop game.

Sketchy and EtchASketch are the generic and name brand implementation of an electronic Etch A Sketch respectively. To be honest, I liked the simplicity of the generic version better and bought the “official” version for $1.99 on accident when my wife asked where the app had gone. Now she has one of these on her iPod Touch, but I got bored quickly… just like the real thing.

Minesweeper — a really nice implementation of the classic game. I paid $0.99 for the app even though there was a free version available. I guess I got tired of blowing up and removed the app.

Paper Toss — I got this app free, although I think there is a paid version. I “threw” a few paper wads in the trash and then threw the app there as well. Not badly done, just not my wad of paper.

Flick Fishing — a really nice fishing game! I paid a very reasonable $0.99 for the app, and even though I caught more virtual fish than real fish this season, I just got tired of it.

Four Free — a free implementation of connect four. Boring.

iHandgun and Lightsaber both make noise for free. That is all they do, but not on my iPhone.

TicTacFree — Free tic tac toe for the kids…on my wife’s iPod Touch.

Checkers — see above.

Cradle –an electronic Newton’s Cradle at Bo charge. Fun for an hour or so, but not as satisfying as the real thing.

Wild West — A free pinball game. Not a good fit for the iPhone in my opinion.

Lemonade Tycoon — another accidental download. I thought I was grabbing the Lemonade Stand app I had downloaded earlier. There is a paid version, but the one I downloaded was free. Lemonade Stand is a much better app in my opinion as it mimics the original version I played on an Apple II in gradeschool.

BClassicLite — a really good free breakout clone. This one is on my wife’s iPod Touch too. I’m not much good at breaking out.

SpeakEasy Voice Recorder — this is a great app that allows the user to choose the audio quality of recordings and sync them with your computer (via free companion software available on the Zarboo Software website). I paid $1.99 for this app. Two days later OS 3.0 was released with a built-in voice memo app. While the built-in app lacks the ability to change the audio quality, it does sync directly with iTunes no setup required, and allows you to email your recordings. I don’t do a lot of recording on the iPhone so SpeakEasy went away. (What was I thinking, this is so much better than the Apple app. It’s back on…I’m starting to realize how obsessive compulsive I am.)

Twitterific — If I could just convince myself that what I have to say is important and profound enough that my blog and Facebook cannot contain it…or that anyone else’s Tweets were interesting or profound enough for me to follow I could not ask for a better app than Twitterific. The app is free (unless you are such a Twit that you need more power, in which case you can purchase the $3.99 Premium version.) After several tries I just cannot find a good reason to use Twitter, so Twitterific flew away.

Lose It! — a great weight loss app with tons of configuration and zero calories. It’s free. Unfortunately, I am also free…of determination…so Lose It! got lost.

WorsPress — a free app for posting to your WordPress blog either hosted on your own server or on wordpress.com. I imported my blog to Posterous so I simply do not have a use for the app any longer.

Steps To Peace With God — Obviously free, this is just a simple presentation of the Gospel provided by Billy Graham. I downloaded this app just to see how they presented the graphics on the iPhone. Not great I must admit. Also, if I do not know the Gospel by now, well…

Trapster — The idea behind this free app is a sort of social radar detector. If you know of a speed trap you can report it. If you are approaching one, it informs you (using your iPhone’s GPS). I downloaded this just to see how it was implemented. It did not pan out terribly well, and I do not drive fast enough for police to care so I deleted this one too.

WebMD — The title really says it all. It sounded cool at first, but if I need this data I can get it…on the web at WebMD. I had to surgically remove this app. Fortunately it was free…just like health care will soon be…right?

Shopper — This powerful $0.99 app helps you create shopping lists based on the layout of your stores and track your spending. It has tons of features, and I really bought it for my wife’s iPod Touch so I do not really need it. To be honest I do not think she uses it either.

Visible Vote — This app was free, but simply was not enough of what I wanted. I wanted to be able to see more of my legislators, and be able to contact them. I voted this app off my iPhone.

Simplify Music — This is a downright awesome app. Install the server on your computer, the client on your iPhone, and now you can listen to your entire library via WiFi or EDGE/3G…except for Audible audio books and protected .aac files. If you do not do Audible and do not have a lot of protected files it is well worth the $3.99. (I got the app free during a promotion). (This app is back on, and I’ll have more to say about that in an upcoming post.)

Fandango — The “official” Fandango app works great and is free, but when I discovered that “Now Showing” (THE iPhone app for movie lovers) duplicated its features it went away.

Decible — This app cost me $0.99 and measures the decibles of what ever is going on around you. I have no idea why I bought this app. It was cool to play with for a day.

MotionX GPS — This is an extremely powerful app geared toward hikers, bikers, campers etc. It currently costs $2.99, but I would not be surprised if that price is temporary. I guess I just do not do as much biking as I used to.

Darkroom Premium — This was one of the coolest apps I ever bought…until OS 3.0 broke it. The app compensated for shaking hands when you took a pocture with your iPhone. Unfortunately, the developers have been unable to get Apple to approve their 3.0 compliant version. I paid $0.99 for this app.

Dictionary.com — Takes up space, and after all, I have an always on Internet conection. My wife does have a copy of this on her iPod Touch. Free.

Dictionary! — See above.

Well, that does it. Almost six screens full of apps I have downloaded and no longer use. Lest you think I have been throwing away money, keep in mind that several of these apps are used on my wife’s iPod Touch, and some of them will end up back on my iPhone when I get tired of the games I am playing now. Still, if one thing is for sure, be careful before you pay for that app because it adds up quick!

Cousin Itt…

ArrowJ — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:13:21 +0000

Sent from my iPhone

Aren’t They All Witches Inside?…

ArrowJ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:58:03 +0000

More BBQ…

ArrowJ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:20:06 +0000

See the full gallery on Posterous

Joshua’s Dance…

ArrowJ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:05:00 +0000

This is from last year, but it’s a good one…

Good Morning…

ArrowJ — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:16:49 +0000

Time For A Cigar…

ArrowJ — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:49:53 +0000

My latest in cigar band art…

Choosing A Worldview…

ArrowJ — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:32:00 +0000

Everyone has a worldview, everyone!

“A worldview is a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic make-up of our world.” — James Sire, The Universe Next Door

Various philosophers have used different categories to help “define” particular worldviews, but they can all be represented by the following list: God/Prime Reality, Cosmos, Humans, Knowledge/Revelation, Ethics, Death, and History. How well does your worldview stand up against possible alternatives using the criteria below?

How well does the worldview relate to itself?

Consistency – It does not violate the law of non-contradiction.
Coherence – Do its parts fit together; do separate statements support one another? (For instance the following statements are true [grass is green; 2 + 2 = 4, Springfield is the Capital City of Illinois] however they do not support one another in any way and therefore taken holistically they are not coherent)

How well does the worldview explain the world?

Comprehensiveness – Does it cover all the bases?
Congruence – Does it fit with reality; does it fit the data?

How well does the worldview explain humanity?

Compensation – Does it provide a sense of satisfaction; is the worldview livable?

Is the worldview the best alternative?

Comparability – Does it do the best job of answering all the questions?

Here is a list (not exhaustive) of how specific worldviews answer the questions of God, Cosmos, Humans etc. This list begins with my own worldview, but is not a statement of which worldview is correct, but rather is provided simply to show how each worldview answers the categories given above. Keep in mind that most people won’t fit neatly into one worldview as delineated here.

Christian Theism

God/Prime Reality:

Creator, Infinite, Personal, Triune, Rational

Transcendent And Immanent

Sovereign And Good

Cosmos:

Created Ex Nihilo

Operates With A Uniformity Of Cause And Effect

Open System (Miracles Possible Through God’s Immanence)

Fallen World

Humans:

Created In The Image Of God

Possess Self-Transcendence, Rationality, Personality, Morality, Creativity, Sociability

Originally Good, Now Fallen But Capable Of Redemption

Knowledge/Revelation:

Can Have Adequate Knowledge Of The World And God

Available Through General And Special Revelation

Ethics:

Transcendent

Based On the Character Of God As Good (Holy And Loving)

Some Ethical Principles Are Universal (Not Relative)

Given By General And/Or Special Revelation

Death:

Gateway To Eternity With Or Eternity Separated From God

Outcome Determined By Relationship With Christ

Individuality Retained

History:

Linear

Meaningful

Leading To the Fulfillment Of God’s Purposes

Guided By God’s Providence And Miraculous Intervention

Deism

God/Prime Reality:

Creator

Transcendent Not Immanent

Not Fully Personal

Cosmos:

Created

Operates With A Uniformity Of Cause And Effect

Closed System (Miracles Not Possible/Actual Because God Lacks Immanence)

Not Fallen

Humans:

Personal

Part Of The Clockwork Universe

Capacity For Morality Is “Built In”

Not Currently Dependent Upon God’s Involvement

Knowledge/Revelation:

Cosmos Is Knowable Via Human Reason

God Is Knowable Only Through Natural Revelation

Ethics:

Moral Principles Based On God’s Transcendent Nature

Knowable Only Through Natural Revelation

What “Is” Must Be “Right”

Death:

Possibly Devine Judgment With Rewards And Punishment Based On Merit

Possibly Death As The End Of Personal Existence

History:

Linear

Determined At Creation

God Does Not Act In History

Optimistic Naturalism (Secular Humanism)

God/Prime Reality:

Eternal Or Self-Generated Matter

No God

Cosmos:

Uncreated

Operates With A Uniformity Of Cause And Effect

Closed System (Miracles Not Possible Because There Is No God)

Everything Is Within The “Box” Of The Universe

Humans:

“Fee Yet “Complex Machines”

Personality Not Yet Understandable

Appears To Be Nothing More Than The Interaction Of Physical And Chemical Properties

Knowledge/Revelation:

Possible To Discover

Important To Effect Progress

Not Divinely Revealed

Ethics:

Created By Human Consensus

Autonomous (Not Dependent On Any God)

Situational

Death:

Extinction Of Consciousness, Personality, And Individuality

History:

Linear Stream Of Events Linked By Cause And Effect

No Overarching Purpose

Pessimistic Naturalism (Nihilism)

God/Prime Reality:

No God

A Cosmos That Appears Not To Care, To Value Goodness, Or To Be Rational

Absurd

Cosmos:

Operates Either From Necessity Or Chance

No Inherent Value Or Meaning

Provides No Answers

Absurd

Humans:

No Value, Meaning Or Self

Freedom And Consciousness Undermined

Knowledge/Revelation:

No Foundation For Knowledge

No Reason To Think The Brain As Pure Matter Would Give “Truth”

Truth And Illusion Indistinguishable

Ethics:

No Basis For Moral Values

Values Relative

Cannot Produce “Oughts” From What “Is” The Case

Death:

Extinction Of Consciousness, Personality, And Individuality

Final Absurdity

History:

No Direction Or Purpose

Individual And World History Are Meaningless

Atheistic Existentialism

God/Prime Reality:

Two Disunited Forms Objective (Matter) And Subjective (My Experience Of Freedom)

Cosmos:

Consists Of Objective “Essences” Which Are Governed By Nature’s Law And Logic

Absurd

Humans:

Existence Precedes Essence (For Humans Alone)

Man Free To Define Himself

Alienated From The World

Knowledge/Revelation:

Objective Knowable By Logic And Science

Self Removed From Analysis

Ethics:

Humans Must “Revolt” Against Absurdity And Create Value

Good Actions Are Those That Are Consciously And Freely Chosen

Death:

Undeniable Absurdity

Face It Boldly As The Final Exercise Of Revolt

History:

World History Is Meaningless

Temporary Individual Meaning May Arise Through Choices And Personal Encounters

Theistic Existentialism

God/Prime Reality:

God Is Personal, Transcendent, Immanent And Good

Accepted Without Proof Through A Leap Of Faith

Cosmos:

Paradoxical

Gives No Meaning

Offers No Evidence For God

Humans:

The “Personal” I-Thou Is Valuable

Finite

Fallen

Not Satisfied Apart From Surrender To God

Knowledge/Revelation:

Often Paradoxical

God Believed Without Reason Or Proof

Revelation Is Personal Encounter Not Revealed Propositions Or Doctrines

Ethics:

Understood Primarily In “Personal” Terms

Emphasis On Personal Relationship Not Moral Values

Death:

Personal Encounter With God Can Prompt Hope Over The Absurdity Of Death

Literal Continued Life Uncertain

History:

Uncertain And Unimportant

Can Provide A Model To Live By

Eastern Pantheistic Monism

God/Prime Reality:

All Reality Is “Divine Oneness” (Brahman)

This “God” Supersedes All Rational/Moral Distinctions

Cosmos:

Cosmos Is One

Not Perceived As It Is, It Is Thus Maya (Illusion)

Humans:

Real Self Is Not Psycho-physical Self (Jiva)

Real Self Is A Passive Observer (Atman) That Is One With Brahman

Atman is Brahman

Knowledge/Revelation:

Transcends Logic, Language, Physical Senses

A Direct Experienced Knowledge Of One’s Oneness With The Universe

Ethics:

Distinction Between Good And Evil Abandoned Due To Oneness Of Reality

Death:

Cycle Of Rebirth (Samsara) That Is Only Stopped When Oneness Is Achieved

Future Life Determined By Karma

History:

Individual And Cosmic History Are Cyclical

Time Is Unreal As One Passes Beyond It In The Experience Of The One

New Age

God/Prime Reality:

Self Linked To A Permeating Force Throughout The Universe

No Transcendent God, Only The Good Within

Cosmos:

Visible (Accessible By Normal Consciousness)

Invisible (Accessible By Altered Consciousness)

Humans:

Individual More Important

Atman Is Brahman

Growing Cosmic Consciousness Leads To Superior Human Race

Knowledge/Revelation:

Experiencing True Reality In Its Unity Is The Goal

Accomplished Through Altered States Of Consciousness

Assisted By Meditation, Mantras, Mediums, Etc.

Ethics:

Good Is Whatever Facilitates A Cosmic Consciousness Of Oneness

Often Involves Ecological And Human Sensitivity

Everything Part Of Mother Earth

Death:

Not The End Of Self

What Lies Beyond Unclear

Many Opt For Repeated Reincarnations

History:

Cosmos And Man Have Entered A New Age

Some Stress A One-World Government And Coming One-World Leader

You may also want to read my post about The Line Of Despair.

Ron Speaks From The Grave…

ArrowJ — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:23:02 +0000

This is just scary. It’s like he gave this speach yesterday instead of decades ago…

Sent from my iPhone

My Son The Pirate…

ArrowJ — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:30:26 +0000

Photo taken by my brother. Posted from my iPhone

The Late Great Planet Church…

ArrowJ — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:54:00 +0000

A friend recently loaned me the first volume of a two volume set entitled, The Late Great Planet Church, The Rise of Dispensationalism. The DVD’s are produced by ni cenecouncil.com, and while I wasn’t happy with the “King James” way they chose to present the information, or the choice to spend what I considered needless time on the personal life of C. I. Scofield (a tactic that I think was properly used when examining John Darby), the overall impact of the information presented was powerful to say the least.

I have known many dispensationalists in my life, and indeed I grew up as one myself. However, when I began studying the Word on my own several years ago I started to feel that something just wasn’t right. I won’t use this post as a polemic against dispensationalism because I think the Bible itself and a close study of the history of dispensationalism (such as these DVD’s) can do that much better than I. I did find that a few points and quotations really struck home with me such as…

dispensationalism has a flawed hermeneutic or method of interpretation (see the third item)
dispensationalism has embraced an unbiblical view of the church and Israel
dispensationalism is not an eschatology built on theology but a theology built on eschatology
dispensationalism inevitably leads to cultural withdraw and surrender

The third item in this list is something I came to believe on my own through study of the Scripture, and when I saw it mentioned in this study it was reaffirming.

The history of John Darby is fairly damning. Not only did he evolve what he himself calls “new wine”, and present it in ways that are eerily similar to some of his well known contemporaries such as the Mormon’s and Jehovah’s Witnesses, but his outright arrogance and refusal to participate in dialog about his theology was not a positive element of his character. In fact, his attitude (summed up here by Spurgeon) is often duplicated in dispensationalist today!

“Mr. Darby is, to all intents and purposes, a through Pope, though under a Protestant name. He will never admit that his is in error, and therefore naturally declines to argue with those who controvert the soundness of his views.”

Only time will tell if dispensationalism will die out as “quickly” as it popped into Darby’s mind.

Simulated Divorce…

ArrowJ — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:16:54 +0000

My wife has recently become involved in a game hosted on Facebook in which the players each maintain a virtual farm. If you walk into the room and hear her talking on the phone with her Mother or Sister about the game you would think they really had crops to get in before the bad weather rolls in…amusing to be sure. However, this type of simulated life doesn’t always set well with me. For instance, the neighbor’s kids were over today and their 12 year old girl explained to me that she had been married, had twins, and was now divorced in her simulated world. Does anyone else see where I’m going with this?

Greenpeace = Fools…

ArrowJ — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:01:16 +0000

t’s hard to find words to describe people that do crap like this (read the article)…ignorant, bored, misguided, criminal…I can’t find just one word to sum it all up…maybe fool?

BBQ = Good…

ArrowJ — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:16:32 +0000

Photo taken, cropped, touched up and sent from my iPhone

Beautiful Sleep…

ArrowJ — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:59:34 +0000

Photo taken and posted from my iPhone

A Day Too Good…

ArrowJ — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:48:00 +0000

I had a day I did not deserve today. About the only thing you can do under those circumstances is to be thankful.

First, my wife was in a great mood today. She was generous and loving even more than usual. She cleaned most of the day, but sent me off to Cigars For Aficianados for a few hours. In the evening she cooked a fantastic spaghetti dinner (in my top five list) to top everything off. To be honest, my wife was the main ingredient in my great day.

Second, while at the lounge my tobacconist shot me a free SCR by Alec Bradley AND the Alec Bradley rep just happened to be there and dropped a free Family Blend on me. Before today I hadn’t payed much attention to the Alec Brsdley line, but I smoked a fantastic one today (the SCR), and I have two for later (I bought one as well…suppoert your local tobacconist and all that).

Finally, I scored a free copy of SkyVoyager for the iPhone (a $15 app), and a free copy of SkyGazer for the Mac (a $50 app) due to a promotion Carina Software held in honor of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Astronomy software is one of those things I’ve always wanted, but never wanted to pay for. This is top notch stuff, and I’m looking forward to gazing at a few of those twinkling spots and knowing what they actually are.

All-in-all a really good day. Thanks to The Creator and thanks to my wife.

Shut Down!…

ArrowJ — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:50:36 +0000

The boys were being their usual selves in the car today as we waited on Mom to get done in Wal-Mart. So, I being my usual self, decided to ask them to be quite by screaming “Shut Up!”. Sarai understanding that the phrase was meant to be delivered with enthusiasm, but not being as good with “up” as she is with “down” proceeded to sternly tell the boys to “Shut Down!”

Ball Of Fire…

ArrowJ — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:21:26 +0000

I have one of these great Ronson Tech Torch’s. I use it to light yard waste, my grill, and mostly cigars. I was filling it today and without going into details…I enveloped the upper front portion of my body in a ball of flame. It was almost instantaneous and I wasn’t harmed, but it burned hair off both my arms and heated up my shirt enough to make it smoke for several seconds…long enough to make the boys make sure I wasn’t on fire! The stench was horrible. Definitely scary, but fairly cool now that it’s over…

Wonderful Wife, Wonderful Food…

ArrowJ — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:40:00 +0000

When you live in SmallTown USA it can be challenging to find new flavors for the dinner table. Tonight my wife spent a couple hours in the kitchen and brought not one, not two, but three new dishes to our table. The first was simply a beet that had been baked like a potato…a litter butter and fantastic city. The second was sautéd kolrhabi (a member of the cabage family)…garlic, olive oil, et al…my favorite of the night. The base flavor was a mix of cabage and turnip with only the good flavors of the turnip. Finally she mixed the kolrhabi greens with a concoction of flavors that made a rich, but very enjoyable side dish. It was the highlight of my day, as is my wife!

Posted from my iPhone

User Stories…

ArrowJ — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:42:17 +0000

Several years ago I took a Systems Analysis and Design course. I’ve always remembered the class with fondness because of its extremely analytical nature (and because of a great instructor). The process required hundreds (if not thousands) of pages of documents, countless meetings, flow charts, CASE tools, and other wonderfully analytical things designed to help the stakeholders successfully design, implement, maintain, and eventually retire/replace the system.

My friend Anthony and I are just beginning a new venture into the land of iPhone, iPod Touch and Mac programming. While there are only two of us involved I thought it might be interesting to apply at least some of the tools and information from my Systems Analysis and Design class to the inner workings of High Priming. When I mentioned this to Anthony he sent me a link to www.extremeprogramming.org.

Extreme Programming, or XP, is basically a new approach (OK, not exactly new…it was around when I took my class, but it is much more prevalent today) to systems analysis that removes much of the deeper analysis and replaces it with more robust design processes. That is certainly an oversimplification and I don’t pretend to understand it completely, but what struck me as most profound about XP was the underlying philosophical changes that had taken place within the domain of systems analysis. To put it rather (over)simply, the systems analysis of yesterday was modern, while the systems analysis of today is postmodern. What required hours of thought before, requires hours of action now. What was once a use case is now a user story. Think about that because it is critical to understanding this entire discussion…a user story.

I wonder how many of those involved in the birth of XP and similar paradigms believe they have simply followed the natural course of systems analysis and design to arrive at the best possible solution without understanding the almost neccessary progression from analytical to narative solutions given the current philosophical landscape?

The more I think about how the broader philosophical domain has impacted the more narrow concrete domains the more I begin to understand the unbelievable power of evolving communal thought. How much do we control what society comes to believe and act upon philosophically, and how much does what society believes philosophically control what we come to believe and act upon?

Note: I’ve made some rather sweeping statements about the state of systems analysis today that may not reflect what stakeholders in all arenas are seeing, but I think the philosophical implications hold true overall.

Keeping Out The Florida Sun…

ArrowJ — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:39:41 +0000

iPhone Still Awesome…

ArrowJ — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:45:59 +0000

I’m sitting at the grocery store waiting for my wife, and it struck me again how magnificent the iPhone is. Now I love my Mac more every day, but the truth of the matter is that I use it at least 50% less than I did before I had the iPhone. Of course that is only possible because of the fabulous browsing experience and the thousands of apps available for the device.

If I had to choose between an iPhone or a PC it would be a difficult choice. Obviously some things are not possible or at least not easy on any mobile device, but what can be done is incredible…everything from email to podcasting without touching a laptop or desktop computer.

One final benefit is that I bought the 3G when it went on sale so I can post this without wearing oven mits…

Posted from my iPhone

Miss Teen USA 2007 South Carolina…

ArrowJ — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:46:17 +0000

It just never gets old…

AddressBookSync…

ArrowJ — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:03:40 +0000

I found a cool app today called AddressBookSync that lets you sync the pics from your Facebook contacts with your Address Book contacts…very nice (mac only of course).

My Favorite Vacation Pic…

ArrowJ — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:50:17 +0000

Back From Vacation…

ArrowJ — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:43:28 +0000

Jodi and the kids had a great time at Disney…Sarai and I had a great time NOT being at Disney!

Twelve Years…

ArrowJ — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:51:40 +0000

Respironics REMstar Auto M Series With A-Flex…

ArrowJ — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:34:43 +0000

The unthinkable (for those of us with sleep apnea) happened today. My trusty Puritan Bennett GoodKnight 420E took the long sleep after over fives years of service. What this type of unexpected loss would normally mean is three or four days of no sleep while my insurance company decided to give me the green light for a new machine.

Fortunately, Janice from Memorial Home Services in Lincoln Illinois got on the phone and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Tonight I sleep with my new Respironics REMstar Auto M Series With A-Flex. Even more exciting is that for the first time in five years my insurance gave the go ahead for a heated humidifier. As if that weren’t enough the M Series comes with a travel case. For those of us that depend on these devices if we are to get any sleep you can understand what a nice addition a dedicated carrying case can be.

I won’t go into details, but the 420E has been giving my troubles of all kinds for the last couple of years. I’m very excited to have a new machine. Fortunately, our insurance will pay the majority of the $2,000 price tag for my new rig!

Free Logo Templates…

ArrowJ — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:59:22 +0000

I found an excelent resource for anyone looking for a template to create a logo for a website, blog, software, or whatever. LogoTemplater.com provides dozens of free logo templates that you can modify and use in any way you wish. Did I mention they are free? When you download a set of logo templates you get several different versions of the file from .pdf to .eps. If you use one of their images be sure to provide a link on your website somewhere that will give everyone else an opportunity to use the images. The link isn’t required, but it’s certainly cheaper than paying someone to create a custom logo for you.

World’s Smallest Political Quiz…

ArrowJ — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:29:49 +0000

My results from the “World’s Smallest Political Quiz“.

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 90%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 80%.

LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.

Border Patrol Beating…

ArrowJ — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:11:00 +0000

You can read updates on this story on the family’s website…you can also make a donation to help cover legal and medical costs.

Hex Color Picker…

ArrowJ — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:39:40 +0000

Something I’ve always thought was missing from Mac OS X is a hex code color picker built-in to the operating system. Yesterday I found a solution to this oversight in Hex Color Picker by waffle software. Just drop the file into your /Library/ColorPickers directory and, “Instantly see the hex color code for any color, and edit it just the same with a number of shorthands. Problem solved.” Hex Color Picker is freeware, but you can make a donation (yes I made one too) to show your thanks!

Bare Your Bookshelf…

ArrowJ — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:52:54 +0000

I have mentioned from the pulpit on more than one occasion the huge discrepancy there is between the resources American theologians, teachers, preachers, and evangelists have as opposed to the resources those same people have on the mission field. This is not to say it is wrong to have the resources we need, but if you do have something on the shelf you aren’t using, or even something you can live without, think about sharing with someone that has nothing. The people at Christian Resources International are providing a simple way to get started with their Bare Your Bookshelf initiative. Sign up with CRI and they will send you the packing materials you need to ship 4lbs of resources to anywhere in the world. Pack up your extra Bibles, take them to the post office, pay the $12 in shipping, and help spread the Gospel by helping others spread the Gospel.

Adium…

ArrowJ — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:20:03 +0000

I have had some irritations with iChat since day one. Several of those were addressed by the quite powerful plug-in application Chax. Still, iChat just isn’t a very satisfying chat client from where I’m chatting so a few days ago I started looking for a replacement and found Adium. Simply put, Adium is the #1 chat client if you are using a Mac.

What makes Adium so great? First, if you can’t connect to your protocol of choice with Adium, then your protocol doesn’t exist. Second, Adium handles all your accounts seamlessly and with zero effort. Third, Adium is completely customizable in just about every way you can imagine. Fourth, Adium is open source and free! If you only have one chat account, download Chax, fire up iChat, and chat yourself silly. If you chat using more than one client, and your on a Mac you should be using the Duck!

A Well Stocked Humidor…

ArrowJ — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:55:50 +0000

Just about every year my wife gives me my birthday present early for one reason or another. This years gift was a fully stocked humidor. The primary reason the gift was early was to avoid the new Bull SCHIP tax. Two days ago I received two boxes of Oliva Serie V Lanceros, one box of Oliva Serie O Number 4s, two six cigar Oliva samplers, and one five cigar Oliva brands sampler (a Famous Smoke Shop offering). In addition I have a box of Oliva Serie G Maduro Torpedos on order from Cigars For Aficionados in Springfield Illinois (my local tobacconist). I saved over $60 in taxes by placing my order before April 1.

Two Oliva Ashtrays…

ArrowJ — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:51:06 +0000

Almost a year ago I received a gift from Oliva Cigars. Yesterday, in addition to my order from Famous Smoke Shop, I received another gift from Oliva! About a week ago I wrote to Oliva telling them that I appreciated the newly added wallpaper images they made available on their website. I guess they appreciate being appreciated because they sent me another ashtray, some Nub matches, and a couple of mini-posters!

Now you might be thinking, who needs two Oliva ashtrays? Well, I do of course. My wife and I sit outside on the swing during the warm months, and I smoke as she reads to us. I’m always moving my ashtray from one table to the other in order to stay downwind in order to keep the smoke out of Jodi’s face. Now it doesn’t matter which side I have to sit on because there will always be an ashtray waiting.