Cool.  I'm beginning to think that I will begin to use fewer packages and systems that do not allow integration, customization, and extensibility.  A few applications for Microsoft Windows (especially MS Office) ship with Visual Basic for Applications that allows customization and extensibility by using Automation and COM objects to script custom tools.

Radio UserLand offers a very open architecture complete with an object database and a rendering engine.  It's amazing what kind of underlying horsepower you get for the $39.95 initial price tag.

And, not for the faint of heart, there's always the open source world of applications based in Perl, PHP, Java, etc. that allow customization at a minimum.

But Movable Type is a great example of an application where customization and extensibility is built into the architecture.  That rocks!

Command Post is a war blog that was recommended by a friend for good coverage.

Whether you love hearing stuff about the war or hate it, Feedster (formerly Roogle) has a filter that lets you search RSS feeds with or without war stuff.

As often happens, a Google search leads me into unexpected places.  While searching for a particular USA Today online article, I found another one entitled, "'Narnia' won't write off Christian values."  C.S. Lewis was "the 20th century's most revered Christian apologist" and authored other works such as The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity, a book that Chuck Colson credits as being influential in his conversion to Christ.

"...in hindsight it becomes startlingly clear that this tweedy, pipe-smoking scholar was not only a clever author of children's tales and a keen apologist, but also a true prophet for our postmodern age. Lewis might seem an unlikely candidate for the role, not being a theologian but an English professor, and what's more, a convert late in life. What was it that made him such a keen observer of cultural and intellectual trends?

"For me, the question has intense personal significance. Twenty-five years ago, my friend Tom Phillips read me "The Great Sin," a chapter in Lewis's Mere Christianity dealing with pride. The words pierced the heart of this White House hatchet man, and the book became instrumental in my conversion.

"The ministry of Prison Fellowship is likewise indebted to Lewis."

While the controversy and the article from USA Today are a bit dated (2001), the article does talk about the following important issues:

Focus on the Family has recently announced the availability the of the Chronicles of Narnia in a dramatized audio form.  It will be available after April 15, 2003.

A thorough list of C.S. Lewis' works on Amazon.com is available here.

From USA Today: Parents fear online chatting ruins kids' language skills

April Fool's (maybe)

I first spotted this article on the front page of USA Today for April 1, 2003.  The teaser read like this:

u r what
u write
Language of online chat mangles grammar and omits punctuation - 9D

After turning to page 9D I quickly saw that there was no article by that title.  I couldn't find it on the next page either.  I'm thinking, "How cute!  USA Today made a funny on April Fool's day."  As it turns out the article was at the top of 8D instead.

Ah, yes, irony.  An article about English skills is put on a different page than advertised.  The problem with being a pedant (as I well know) is that every time I take an opportunity to criticize and critique, I usually make mistakes in or near my critique.

On to the article

You can find the online version of the article at USA Today's website.

My favorite quote:

A father realized that his son put this on his job application: "i want 2 b a counselor because i love 2 work with kids."  The father immediately yanked AOL instant messenger from their computer.  Yikes!

Funny fingers

I tend to be a perfectionist about all of the grammar and spelling rules that I can remember from school.  I even bought an American English usage guide recently so I could refresh my skills.  Strangely, though, my fingers seem to have a mind of their own (some might call it "muscle memory").  I often find that my fingers have typed letters or words that sound the same as the word I am thinking about.  (Examples: "there" for "their," and "no" for "know")

Fear of the future

Sometimes I worry that the new "script kiddies" with their "k3wln355" (coolness) will eclipse technologists with more experience just because they are able to tackle the new, cool stuff quickly.  But then I think, "It will still be a while before the generation currently in charge will hand over big corporate dollars to these 'dudes.'"