Even though Mark Pilgrim agrees with Joe Clark that blogging is talking at someone rather than with someone, this statement is for Dean.

With recent recognition, how will you use the spotlight?  Any particular causes that you would like to pursue/promote?  With the recent clamour over the need for Christian web services, the season is right to start talking about other uses.

Here are a couple of personal thoughts on worthwhile web services:

1.) A prayer request syndication service that allows any ministry or source to publish prayer request that a person can consider during their devotional time.  I reserved prayerchannel.com for such a purpose.  Oddly enough, I received confirmation on the need.  After reserving the domain name, I did a google search on "prayer channel."  A ministry I greatly respect, Prison Fellowship Ministries, has a page called "Prayer Channel" for exactly that reason: to list current prayer requests for people who would like to support them in their prayers.  I didn't know this until after God had layed the phrase "Prayer Channel" on my mind.  Plug in whatever prayer channel you want into whatever website you want.

2.) A need syndication service that operates primarily for a geographical region that allows a ministry to publish the material needs it has.  Imagine if an entire community became aware of specific needs in a community.  For instance, a man on the northeast side of town could grab a spare coat from his closet when he reads that a homeless shelter downtown needs a coat for a man.

OK, there I've said it.  Now, the question is...Do I let the Lazy Web take over and hope that this is created by someone else who has the passion?  Or do I do as you have, and jump in where I am, and whatever happens next is up to God?

Anyway, one final point I would like to make: This is the beginning of a new wave ("techumenical movement") of the phenomenon  described in Acts 18:3.

Paul stayed with Priscilla and Aquila because they were of the same craft and they worked together.  The Greek word homotechnos (yeah, see the "tech" part?) is used only one place in the New Testament.  It means "of the same trade."  There is a powerful output when Christians of the same trade put asside denominational and dogmatic boudaries and come together to collaborate on a work product.  It's actually very exciting.

Honestly, I don't know what denomination you're from, Dean.  I don't think it matters.  I don't know what denomination Taylor University is affiliated with, if any.  Or Gospel Communications.  Does it matter?  Maybe a little, but not much.

Let's unite under a trade banner flown just below the Christian flag.  And march on.

P.S. Forgive me for name-dropping Dean, but you're such a nice guy, I didn't think you'd mind. :-)

Another problem is feed update error handling...I'll need to make sure that fatal errors (like 404 errors) are reported as message boxes and not as status bar notiications. [yole's devblog]

One thing I noticed is that, behind a proxy server, I couldn't find a way to specify credentials for background updating.

Dean Peters of blogs4God will be guest-blogging for Joshua Claybourn on Thursday.  He has also had recent mentions in Christianity Today related to the Bible Gateway API, etc.

I'm sure, as is probably true with most innovators, the outcomes of initiative can never be predicted or anticipated.  Yet, this is exactly what can happen when someone is outspoken in a positive way.  All of a sudden a person finds himself in the role of spokesman or advocate.  Way to go Dean.  Keep up the good work.  Even if you do have to be "Mean" about it sometimes. ;-)

If I can ever get organized, I hope to also have a great impact on some part of the things that I touch.

James Robertson pointed me to BottomFeeder - another free news aggregator currently on the market. The interesting part about BottomFeeder is that it is written in Smalltalk, which is not quite a common language nowadays.

I have just upgraded to MovableType 2.6, and installed Brad Choate's MTTextile plugin. This is a test of the Textile formatting.

• I love bulleted lists. I hate entering HTML by hand.
• WYSIWYG would be even better, but Textile is better than raw HTML.
• I wonder if tools like w.bloggar could support it.

[yole's devblog]

Textile sounds more and more compelling.  Maybe later...Must work now.

An important achievent today: My.Yandex, the only RSS syndication service in the Russian Internet that I'm aware of (maybe the only one that exists), now exports its list of feeds in the OPML format. This is especially exciting because this finally makes Syndirella useful for Russian users...

So tomorrow I'll implement my part of the agreement with Yandex - support for importing OPML files from HTTP sites, with the possibility to preview the feeds and select the ones that should be imported. This will, of course, open the doors to other major RSS feed directories like MoreOver and NewsIsFree.

[yole's devblog]

File under: OPML, Syndirella, RSS News Sources

Yet Another Geek Anniverary - the BBS. The TEXTFILES.COM BBS Timeline: 1978 - Snowed in during the Great Chicago Snowstorm of 1978, Ward Christensen begins preliminary work on what would eventually become CBBS (Computer Bulletin Board System), the first Bulletin Board System Read more about it at... [Heal Your Church Web Site]

Yeah! I got it!  Snowed in...some great creation emerges.  Well, that settles it!  I'm off to code my next great invention.  It may take a year, but it will happen, Lord willing.

I just don't get it yet.  Maybe I still have a while to explore personally managed content, but wiki just doesn't make sense to me.  Oh, well.  Maybe when I have the time, I will explore the cultural aspects of it.

Yeah, don't knock it until you've tried it.  But it's not really on my radar as important yet.

Now, I like the idea of it being used within a small group for documentation purposes like the link above mentions, but a world-writeable wiki...Well, I just don't know.