“So, Brent, what do you think of Apple putting RSS reading into Safari?”

The first thing to know is that we have no intention of stopping NetNewsWire development.

The second thing is, I’m not surprised. I half-expected it last year, and this year I’d heard rumors (even seen some screen shots) before WWDC, so it’s no shock. Syndication is such great technology, it makes sense for Apple—and Microsoft—to add RSS reading to their systems.

The RSS reader in Safari is not a full-featured newsreader, at least from what I could tell by the demo. For instance, it doesn’t appear to remember what items you’ve read or tell you how many unread items you have. And some of the other features that it does have—such as RSS searching—are coming in NetNewsWire 2.0.

So... even with Safari’s RSS reader, there is still a need for newsreaders that do more. (Much more.)

What I like about this announcement is that it popularizes syndication. Despite its fast growth, there’s still a huge education job to do. The average Mac user doesn’t know about the technology yet, but putting it in Safari means they will know about it, and it gives the technology a kind of validation, an Apple seal of approval, for the people who are slower to look at new technologies.

It also may mean that Apple will evangelize RSS to publications that haven’t yet adopted it. Which is great: it’s not something we have much time for, and when CNN hears from Apple it carries a bit more weight than when they hear from Ranchero Software.

This could trigger a shake-out in the Mac OS X newsreaders market. There are a dozen or so readers right now, but by this time next year there may be Safari and just a few others. (NetNewsWire will be one of them.)

So I don’t feel as we’ve been Sherlocked. But it does look to me as if the Konfabulator folks might have something to say about Dashboard.

[inessential.com]

As I said previously, I’m not worried about NetNewsWire. I think the situation with Konfabulator and Dashboard is very different from the situation with Safari and NetNewsWire.

The commentary on the Konfabulator situation has been interesting. Some of it has been knee-jerk: “How dare Apple!” and, on the other hand, “Apple is totally right!”

Here’s what I think:

Apple wants to sell more Macs—and I as a Mac developer want them to sell more Macs. One way to do that is to add features and applications to their operating system. Another way to do that is make sure that the competition doesn’t have a ton of cool stuff that they don’t have.

I have absolutely no problem with that. It makes total sense.

But, at the same time, Apple can’t do everything—they need other developers to make software for OS X too.

What concerns me is the message the Dashboard thing sends. It goes like this, “If you come up with a good idea and develop a successful product, we might copy it and bundle it for free with the OS.”

In other words, you could be penalized—heavily—for doing a good job, for doing exactly what every developer works very hard to do.

It would take so little for Apple to have made the Konfabulator folks happy. Some money, some recognition. (“Little” is relative: little to Apple, big to the Konfabulator folks.) And it would let other developers know that Apple cares about OS X developers, that it wants people to develop for OS X, that it’s safe to come up with great ideas and great products.

Forget ethics—it’s just good PR. Worth ten times the price they would have paid.

(A reminder: this post isn’t about NetNewsWire and Safari, which is a completely different thing. This is about Konfabulator and Dashboard.)

[inessential.com]

Fast Company has amended its atrocious linking policy, but the one they've put in its place is only slightly better.

Fast Company permits links to the Fastcompany.com Web site. However, Fast Company reserves the right to withdraw permission for any link and requests that you not link for any impermissible purpose or in a manner that suggests that Fast Company promotes or endorses your Web site.

Fastcompany.com does not allow framing of its Web site content.

The Web exists because there is no permission needed to create a link (and that includes a framing link). This is enshrined in the RFCs that defined the Web. It has been the guiding principle of the Web since the first page went online.

That permission-free world made the economy that Fast Company services possible. It is dangerous and irresponsible for Fast Company's lawyers to tell the lie to Fast Company's readers that there is a legitimate basis for asserting the right to control who may link to your website (you don't need a policy to tell people that links that create the fraudulent impression of an endorsement are illegal -- fraud is illegal even if you're not on notice about it).

This is a step in the right direction, but only a small one. The faxed-permission-form was ridiculous, but the real evil in it wasn't the ridiculousness, it was this damaging lie about permission being required for links.

I really hope that Fast Company acts like the heroes I know they can be here, changing their linking policy to something like:

The Web exists because no one has the right to grant or withhold permission for links. Fast Company exists because of the Web. Accordingly, we neither grant nor deny permission to link to our site, and urge you to do the same.

I would buy twenty FC subscriptions for twenty friends if they would do this. I'd settle for removing the linking policy entirely (but I wouldn't buy the subs).

Link

(Thanks, Fred!) [Boing Boing]

Harold Check is doing a reality check of what's missing from the RSSphere and he's cataloging The RSS Wishlist. Some samples:

"It may seem obvious to readers of this particular blog that just about anything on the web that changes, whether frequently or infrequently, should have an associated feed. Readers all over rejoice when a major publication decides to hop onboard the syndication freight train. And beyond your typical publications, there are hundreds of innovative services that are just waiting to be remixed with some RSS flavor. 

At Supernova, Scott Rosenberg pointed out that privacy policies are a perfect candidate for RSS feeds. I second that. I also want KEXP playlists to be updated hourly. And I[base ']d like car recall notices, too. And coupons for businesses in my ZIP code. And MetaCritic. And Aquarius Records new releases. And so on, and so on[sigma]

Nick Bradbury: CNN.com, The Onion, and PythOnline....

Michael Sippey: 'Until my entire family gets their act together and starts using Flickr for photo sharing, I want an RSS feed from Ofoto of new pics of my nieces, nephews and cousins.  That feed could be sucked up by a screen saver, or scripted to rotate as my desktop background, or have one every N photos auto-shipped to the photo printer.'

Jason Kottke: The New Yorker

So, what do you want to become available via RSS? Leave your requests in a comment. If you really wow me, you might just get a gmail invitation...." [The RSS Weblog]

My greatest wish - my local newspapers. Hopefully, the directory of my local library and I will be talking to them soon to turn on a few light bulbs. Then I want feeds for grant offerings of relevance to my job. Then, of course, I want feeds from my online catalog!!!!!

[The Shifted Librarian]

Safari RSS Reader

"Steve Jobs demoed Safari[base ']s RSS Reader today. Read about it and then check it out in action.

Update: Brent Simmons, developer of NetNewsWire, reacts to Safari RSS." [The RSS Weblog]

Is this big news? Sure, but anyone that reads Scoble knows Microsoft is working towards integrating RSS into Longhorn itself.

However, I agree 100% with Steven that the best RSS aggregator is one that is web-based, not a desktop client. As more and more people shift their information on the go, the last thing they'll need is to begin relying heavily on an aggregator that they'll lose when their desktop crashes. 'Cause we've all had that happen, haven't we?

[The Shifted Librarian]

ou'll want to check this out and pass it along to patrons...

'Having been taken to the cleaners to the tune of $2,300 by disreputable auto repair shops, Mike Smith of West Fargo, ND decided to put the power of the Web to work for others who may have had similar experiences.

The new Web-based Virtual Auto Mechanic http://www.vamech.com video library takes consumers inside an auto repair shop to educate them on automotive parts, maintenance and repairs. Consumers learn about specific parts and repair issues for themselves; enabling them to make educated decisions before authorizing any repair work.' Read All About It." [LISNews.com]

[The Shifted Librarian]

Great job for somebody

"In another time and place, this would have been my dream job." [rc3.org Daily]

I can see why, as LJ World does some a-mazing stuff online (check out the Little League Cell Phone Updates!). But check out the customize link next to the XML button on Adrian Holovaty's site.

"Want to syndicate my blog's content? Want to use a personal aggregator to read it? You're in luck. I've set up an RSS system that's limited only by your imagination....

My custom feeds include the headline, full text and permalink from the 5 latest entries that include a word or phrase of your choosing. This lets you filter which Holovaty.com content you get.

To access a custom feed, use the URL convention holovaty.com/rss/filterstring, where "filterstring" is the word or phrase you want to require in each entry. To separate words, use the ASCII space character %20 or just a plus sign (+). You can also require an exact phrase by using putting double quote marks around it."

Google News and every major newspaper ought to emulate this setup. Today.

[The Shifted Librarian]

washingtonpost.com - Computer security experts warned yesterday of another new Internet threat that can steal the passwords and account information of people who bank online -- the second such discovery in a week. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

Reuters - In the flourishing forest of computerized adventures, game developers are always looking for something new to make their product stand out. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

"The Rev. Richard 'Whitey' Koons felt a small, special pang of empathy when he heard about last week's deaths at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.

"The tragedy was painfully familiar to him: children drowning during a church-related event." [Christdot]

"We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic flaws that can never be altered."

-Marshall Goldsmith , Fast Company

[Fast Company]

It can be a catalyst, a transformative force. Five corporate leaders who "get" design talk about how it has influenced their companies' strategies. [Fast Company]

“A major security hole discovered in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer last week has become a golden marketing opportunity for alternative browsers such as Mozilla and Opera unaffected by the flaw.” [Lockergnome]

Looking for a mechanism by which you can add headlines to your Web site? You might want to try FeedDirect, at http://www.feeddirect.com/. It has a wizard that generates JavaScript code... [ResearchBuzz]

A researcher finds that companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase and Verizon are among the prime users of pop-up advertising. [CNET News.com]

"The NY Times is now providing its own RSS feeds, with several new categories including media and advertising, most-emailed, real estate, theater, Times on the Trail, multimedia, theater, Circuits, Week in Review and the Sunday magazine section. Unfortunately the education, dining and wine feeds and perhaps others are gone. The continuing feeds redirect, so most aggregators should adust automatically." [Scripting News]

A very good thing, and a note to myself to change the URLs in the slides for my RSS class and presentation.

[Jenny Levine: RSS]

Multi-tiered drop-down menus can be a hassle to build and maintain -- especially when they rely on big, honking chunks of JavaScript. Nick Rigby presents a way to handle this common navigation element with a cleanly structured XHTML list, straightforward CSS, and only a few concessions to browser quirks. [A List Apart]

Adrian Miles was kind enough to send me the notes for his Lugano lecture (see his trip report) on "Blogs, Disruption, and Reflective Learning". He's got an interesting definition of weblog:

That's consistent with what I see as a key trend in weblogs and weblog tools for 2004: this is the year of the archive, the year we get our old work linked and organized and connected to all the new work. Lots of weblogs have tremendous value locked away in the archives, and lots of tools (RSS, Tinderbox, Atom, mt3, blosxom) are helping us unlock that value.

Miles also uses the term, cognate post. I don't think this is his intended meaning, but isn't "cognate link" the perfect description of a WikiLink, a link that connects two posts because one mentions the title of another?

[Mark Bernstein]

Paul wrote, that God said to him, "...My grace is sufficient for thee: for my [God's] strength is made perfect in weakness [your inability]. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities [inabilities], that the power of Christ may rest upon me," II Corinthians 12:9.

The context is speaking of Paul's "thorn in the flesh." Paul was weary of people attacking him. Some of the things others did to Paul, and the effects of those persecutions and afflictions upon him are listed in chapter 11:23 thru 29.

In 12:8, Paul went to God in prayer, "thrice," about these messengers of Satan sent to "buffet" him, to hit him hard. Then our verse of study, verse 9, where God answers Paul saying what we read above, "My grace is suffcient for thee...."

Paul learned from God, that in Paul's personal inability to handle the situations, that the power of Christ rested upon him. Paul's heart changed into an attitude of "bring it on." Paul was not inclined to fight, but he was inclined to "walk with God," by God's revelations to him. That made him sufficient! in God's power via Christ.

And Paul's writings are replete with the walk by the spirit as contrasted to the walk by the flesh (look at Romans 8:6, 14, and 16; II Corinthians 10:3 thru 5; and Galatians 5:16 thru 24).

Paul lovingly obeyed God for answering in defense with the Word of God by God's power and revelations rather than by his weak ability, or rather inability. Paul stood-up to and answered lies and falsehood of others with God's Word, enduring the persecutions and afflictions, along with the tribulations and distresses, with God's power in Christ resting upon him in evidence, in manifestation.

Paul really understood the importance, the significance, and the need for the powerful use of "the whole armour of God" in the nine manifestations of holy spirit, as he wrote concerning, in I Corinthians 12:7 thru 11 and Ephesians 6:10-20! He experientially knew the truth of what he preached. He lived it daily.

Thus, God had Paul write, "Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ," I Corinthians 11:1. Paul was a type, or an example of Christ that the believers in the Church could follow or imitate!

In our day and time, we, too, are to follow or imitate Paul, even as he imitated Christ. You follow Paul by reading and studying the seven Church epistles, as well as the book of Acts. After learning his ways in Christ, you begin imitating Christ's ways as seen in the Gospels.

The apostle "Peter" also followed Christ's ways, and left behind instructions to us today to follow Christ's ways, I Peter 2:19 thru 23,

"For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering [enduring] wrongfully.

"For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered [endured] for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

"Who did no sin, neither was guile [evil intent] found in his mouth:

"Who, when he was reviled [railed at, abused], reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him [God] that judgeth righteously."

This is what Paul learned to do, also. Paul committed himself to God that judgeth righteously, as Peter did, and as Jesus Christ did as well, look at John 5:30. Paul did not always confront others back for their railing upon him, for their abusing him and beating him, but many times he simply endured it, out and out, as the other apostles, Acts 5:40-42.

Paul went to God three times in prayer asking for the removal of these thorns in the flesh. But, God answered Paul back, as we read above.

Paul learned that as he held back in reviling not again and in not "threatening," that God would give instruction, strength to stand - - and, especially, that God's grace was "sufficient" for him!

Sufficient means "to ward off, keep off, to be of use.*" God's grace is of use to ward off, to keep off. God's grace is God's gift of holy spirit born within believers. As you believe and exercise that gift, God energizes that spirit of God with "word of knowledge,""word of wisdom," and "discerning of spirits" for solution in the senses realm for God's power in manifestation. This is the meaning of "that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

When a humble son or daughter of God waits on God's "directing," committing themselves in judgement and action according God's wisdom as given by the revelation manifestations, then the power of Christ is consummated for power in warding off attack.

Acts 28:30 and 31,
"And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired [rented] house, and received all that came in unto him.

"Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him."

Paul grew, waxed so strong in his believing, relying upon God's strength in him, growing to maturity in fully persuaded believing of God - - in all confidence - - to the point, that near the close of his life, no man could forbid him.

Talk about walking in the power of the Holy Spirit! Paul was walking in his God-given "power from on High" via the power of the holy spirit. Paul grew and learned and stood firmly and humbly in God's ability to do for him via Christ - - for praise to God's glorious grace!

Paul was sharp in God's Word because of his many years of faithful study and practice, and by his walking with God - - - - so much so, that he became a "type" for the believers to imitate that they might walk in Christ's power, in Christ's fully consummated power.

The close of Paul's life reminds me of the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 3, as we will close today's log with the following verses...

verses 4 thru 9,
"And he [God] said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

"For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

"Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them [those with strange speech and a hard language], they would have hearkened unto thee.

"But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me [God]: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.

"Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads [the truth in Ezekiel's mind was greater than the darkness in the minds of God's peope who were impudent and hard-hearted].

"As an adamant [as hard stone, like a diamond, for scratching, for pricking] harder than flint have I made thy forehead [because of the Word of God given unto him for speaking against God's rebellious people was even harder than their hard hearts, which would scratch, prick their hard hearts]: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house."

Footnote: * - - Bullinger, E. W. A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament, page 750. Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, MI 49506, 1975

Another God-log by grace, Joe [Joe Christian's God-log]

John 14:17,
"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

The reason the world, worldly people, cannot receive the spirit of truth is because they must believe on the name of Jesus Christ for salvation, that only occurs as they confess and believe the loving instructions of Romans 10:9.

The only way to see the spirit of truth in operation is by believing on Christ to receive that spirit of truth, also known Biblically as the spirit of God, the gift of God, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, etc.

The spirit of God is the spirit of truth. It is truthful as God, and it lives and dwells within Christian believers who have obeyed Romans 10:9.

In our verse, above, verse 17, Jesus Christ was speaking to the apostles after "the last supper" but before the actual betrayal by Judas took place. He was leaving the apostles with some important words, saying in verse 16, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he [it] may abide with you for ever."

Then, Jesus Christ said, "Even the Spirit of truth. . .for he [it] dwelleth with you, and shall [futuristically] be in you."

During the Old Testament, and at that time in the Gospels, the holy spirit could only be "upon" certain individuals. It dwelled with them but not in them.

After the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter two, the spirit of truth would be "another" Comforter (as clearly stated above) that would be in them rather than dwelling with them. This is because the spirit of God would then become impregnated by the new birth, by men and women becoming "born again!"

Becoming "born again" was not available before the day of Pentecost of Acts 2, thus the spirit of God, the spirit of truth, could only be upon and with believers. Its giving was also conditional, it could be taken away upon unrighteous behavior, however, after the day of Pentecost the holy spirit was born within and unconditional in its giving. It could not and can not be taken away from the believer, for it is seed, incorruptible seed-life.

John 15:26,
"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."

The spirit of truth born in the apostles and as given for all other believers came on the day of Pentecost, and has been available ever since. Today, man can believe Romans 10:9 and receive the spirit of truth, the spirit of God, the comforter, the gift of God, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit - - and, it is "Christ in you."

John 16:13,
"Howbeit when he [it], the Spirit of truth, is come, he [it] will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."

This is the basis of confidence for walking with God and having reliance in the power of the Holy Spirit for the born again believer in Christ.

The spirit of truth speaks within the believer, and shows you things to come. The "all truth" spoken of is the truth of the Grace Administration as laid out in the Church epistles. Thus, when a born again, Christian believer reads these epistles, then they begin "to come unto the knowledge of the truth," I Timothy 2:4.

The "things to come" of "the all truth" is shown in the Church epistles by Paul, an apostle "born out of due time" that brought most of the "all truth" to the Grace Administration times. The "things to come" are Paul's written revelations from God concerning "the return of Christ" in the book of I Thessalonians. The return or "second coming" of Christ is yet to come to pass. When you read this Church epistle, then the spirit of truth causes you to see the truth of Christ's coming back to gather us together into his Father's Kingdom.

The apostle John writes again, but this time after the all-truth had come by Paul's writings, saying in I John 4:6....

"We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."

The apostles were of God. The born again believers are of God. "Of" is the Greek word ek, meaning "engendered out of, born out of, or out from."

John was saying, we are born out from God. We are the children of God, look at chapter 3:1 and 2! And then John contrastingly wrote, "...he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."

Jesus Christ spoke to the apostles, as shown above, saying, "...whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify [witness] of me."

The spirit of truth, the comforter, the spirit of God proceeds out from the Father. We are born again of God's Spirit, look at John 3:6. God is our heavenly Father, and we are His children. God is truth, and his holy spirit in us is truth; and it testifies, it witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ, Acts 1:8a, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost [pneuma] is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me...."

The gift of the Holy Spirit is also holy spirit. They received and then manifested the power of holy spirit born in them on the day of Pentecost and became witnesses unto Jesus Christ and his resurrection by God from the dead. The spirit of truth, the spirit of God came upon the apostles again in Acts 2:2-4, but this time became born within them as incorruptible seed-life of God, as Peter attests to in I Peter 1:23.

Those who know God will hear us, but those who do not know God will not hear us. And, this is how we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error! What a fantastic reality, a fantastically simple truth for discernment in separation. The Word of God still "...pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit...."

After being given to opportunity to hear God's Word by the witness of the children of God in the earth via the declaration of God's Word and by demonstration of God's power in that declaration - - then those who do not know God, those who do not have "the spirit of truth" living within them - - can not hear us; they have "the spirit of error" of the world. But those who do know God, by believing on the name of Jesus Christ, do hear us, for they have "the spirit of truth.""Hereby know ye!" Those people in the world who want to sit and chat and question and argue the veracity of God's Word in skepticism, argument, and doubt with their own religious doctrines rather than the rightly divided Word of truth have a "spirit of error." They can and never will be able "to hear" God's Word of truth by the spirit of truth, because one must first believe on the name of the son of God to receive the spirit of truth.

Another God-log in God's truth and grace and glory by Joe [Joe Christian's God-log]

Posted By: Nfuego
Posted On: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:21:57 GMT

Go to

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum [Lockergnome Forum: Internet]

When Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the company's next generation operating system, Mac OS X Tiger, at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco on Monday, many of the new features were met with applause and cheers from the crowd. But one new feature, Dashboard, generated an equal amount controversy for the company as Apple demoed a feature that many onlookers claim share many similarities to a shareware application called Konfabulator. [MacCentral]

Crosswalk Jun 30 2004 3:49AM GMT [Moreover - Christianity news]

While Apple jabs at Microsoft with their OS X Tiger banners at the 2004 WWDC, saying things like “Redmond, start your photocopiers.” Another developer has accused Apple of being a copycat.The developer behind Konfabulator, a OS X only app that allows users to use mini-apps called “Widgets” on the screen, claims that Apple is using their idea in OS X 10.4 Tiger.Read more about this, and other apps that have accused Apple of being a “copycat”… [Lockergnome OS X Fanatics]

[jesusgeeks.com]

“This site is meant for online conversions of RSS feeds into WML for access on WAP devices (RSS2WML, RSS WAP or RSS-to-WAP). It’s free and you can make a link on your web site. Do you have WAP enabled mobile phone? Why not use it to read news or weblogs online? There are not many sites which offer WML pages but you’ll be surprised how many sites offer RSS feeds.” [Lockergnome's RSS Resource]

Jay Rosen writes a letter to Bill Gates with advice just in case Bill writes a weblog.

[Scobleizer]

Tristan Louis: OSX 10.4 hits and misses.

[Scobleizer]

Steve Kirks: "Kleenex has become interchangeable with tissue and now RSS has done the same with syndicated content. Now, we can move on to the next step: doing something great with the tools available."

I had a similar thought this morning as I checked the new posts on the Atom-Syntax list, and reading the Scripting News archive from one year ago, when the flamefest that launched Atom was still raging. I was reminded of the student strikes we'd do in the late 60s and early 70s. First have an organizing meeting with the steering committee, print up the leaflets, hand them out, march somewhere, sit-in the lobby of the school, maybe get on TV, whatever, and then what? They were great affairs while we were expressing our outrage, but in the end, we had to go back to school, get good grades, get accepted at good colleges, etc etc. We possibly helped end the war sooner, in some way (although the right-wingers said we did the opposite). It certainly was a lot more fun than sitting in a classroom, getting good grades, etc. We used to joke that we didn't do too many strikes in the winter, mostly they were in April and May when the weather was too good to be caught up inside a classroom.

Anyway, seeing the list of formats that Apple supports, RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, Atom, I sighed on behalf of Atom and poor not-respected-by-geeks RSS. Reminds me of what my doctor said when I showed up for an annual checkup five pounds heavier than the year before. I shrugged it off, not too bad I said. She said "But you're going in the wrong direction." Sure, people say that it doesn't matter how many formats there are, but it actually does matter, even for users, as I've said repeatedly, every new format is another brick in the wall of Barrier To Entry, and that means less choice, but it also might make it harder for efforts that build on RSS to get started. I'll give you an example.

Yesterday, I got a note about a great BitTorrent-with-RSS application. I saw the URL to the feed, and groaned. It's RDF. Now, all the BT+RSS apps have been built around RSS 2.0 because it has the enclosure element, and we'd never, as far as I know, anticipated that the RSS confusion would creep into this space. I looked at the file to see how they did it, and whoa, it's a 2.0 file, even though on the outside it says it's RDF. Once you combine RSS with other things, which definitely should be happening more, you add another dimension with the two other flavors. Instead of having to do something once, you have to do it three times. And that's more than three times the trouble, which makes it less than one-third as likely to happen. Imagine going to the BitTorrent people with that problem. "Call us back when you make your mind up," they might reasonably say.

Anyway, when it's all said and done, there will be another flavor of RSS, another name on the list, more work to do, not too bad. If my doctor were here she'd say "But you're going in the wrong direction."

[Scripting News]

"You can't choose the ways in which you'll be tested." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Microsoft Corp. has settled a class-action lawsuit with customers in Massachusetts for as much as $34 million, the company announced Tuesday. [InfoWorld: Top News]

Microsoft Corp.'s Brazilian subsidiary has initiated legal proceedings against the Brazilian government official credited with developing the country's open-source strategy, saying he defamed the software giant in statements published in the magazine Carta Capital.

ADVERTISEMENT

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Find out how your company can reduce IT costs or improve efficiency, you are probably considering Linux and what role it will play in your company.

[InfoWorld: Top News]

At a time when many Americans consider journalists no more trustworthy than the politicians they cover, the profession needs to cast a critical eye on itself. Adam L. Penenberg's column, debuting here today, takes a step in that direction. [Wired News]

"Now: Safari. We're going to take it a step further. New thing - RSS. Get all this datafrom sites and format it how you want. List of site that offer RSS sites (MacRumors,surprisingly, was not mentioned... though we do have one :) )

Wouldn't it be great to aggreate rss feeds and search through them for things youwant? Demoing Safari's RSS reader.

New search field in Safari for RSS. Shows search in Google, but says there's a delay by days.Instead can search RSS feeds, and presents them together."

[BryanBell.com]

"Well, we standards folks have been railing at Microsoft and each other regarding the crap standards support in IE 6.0. Recently, Robert Scoble and others from Microsoft addressed the issue by saying that Microsoft is more concerned with their security... [molly.com]"

[BryanBell.com]

"A Trojan horse program installed through malicious pop-up windows can capture normally encrypted financial information from victims' computers, security researchers warned on Tuesday." - CNET

[BryanBell.com]

Received a note from Hal Huffman highlighting another "seemingly innocent technology" and the incredible negative effect this technology can have in impacting the moral fabric of society.

The link Hal provided was to an article from Wired - Pursuing the Libido's Dark Side. This article paints a vivid picture of how online games based on adult-themed role-playing indulge many sexual taboos. This indulging - which can many times be rationalized as "its only fantasy - or "its only online" is counter to our need as Christians to "abstain from all appearance of evil".

Additional comments from Hal are provided below - and they very much are worth considering.

Not only (do we need to consider) the "avoidance of all appearance" of evil".....but what about the actions that take place inside the human heart? As our Lord taught us....we can be a murderer, a rapist, whatever.... in our heart without even taking action on the thoughts. What he wanted us to fully understand is that is where it really takes place first. Dwell on it long enough and the outward action has a very strong potential of being fulfilled.

I'm reminded of how Bundy, before his execution, disclosed that his murdering began with pornography, then deeper fantasies about sexual violence....and then he began to carry out those fantasies.

I don't mean to imply that anyone who gets involved in role playing simulations are going to eventually go out in society an act out what started out as role playing....the deeper issue is that someone even comes up with the concept for role playing.

[Christian Walk Idea Engagement Area]

Follow Up Considerations On Predestination - "Have You Answered The Call"?

"Just why God saves some and leaves others to perish is a mystery. It is not unjust, for God owes no man anything. Reprobation is an act of God's justice just as predestination is an act of His grace. In both God manifests His virtues." - (De civ. XIV, 26) ST. AUGUSTINE

This topic is one of the great mysteries of God. Scholars throughout the ages have differed on it - and while an understanding of what predestination is and the views one can have of it are certainly interesting, it most certainly should not be at the center of our theology - as even Martin Luther himself did not view it as central to his theology.

From my simple perspective, I think the uniting point of both of the Reformed view and the Arminian "view" of predestination occurs at the point of the decision to live for Christ - as whether you have a Reformed view or a Armenian view - you are called to follow Jesus - so the key question for believers at that point (decision to live for Christ) is not "have you been called?" or "have you answered the call?" but are "you continuing to answer the call" - and the key point for non-believers is "have you answered the call"?

Should anyone be interested in learning more about writings in this area - a great resource of different links on predestination can be found at: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/predestination.html.

[Christian Walk Idea Engagement Area]

The Last Last Word - Predestination Reprise

Once heard the following analogy:

Man is only capable (best case) of having perfect knowledge of the present and the past - but just because we have knowledge of events in the present and past does not mean that we individually are responsible for those events (i.e. we know about the attack on Pearl Harbor in WWII - but may not be responsible).

God has perfect knowledge of the future, present, and the past - as he is unconstrained by time. Just because he has knowledge of events in the future, present, and the past does not mean that he is responsible for the decisions man made based on man's free will - he just knew what decisions were going to be made.

[Christian Walk Idea Engagement Area]

Devotional for Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Something Beautiful Today's Scripture: Ezekiel 40-43 Read it online at the Bible Gateway: (NIV) (NASB) (KJV) (The Message) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! - 2 Corinthians 5:17 Ezekiel was taken in a vision to a high mountain overlooking Jerusalem, a city that had been demolished and plundered. From this mountain, God gave Ezekiel a vision of what was to come as recorded in Ezekiel 40. "Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see" (40:4). A temple, grand and glorious, would rise out of the rubble, and once again God would be glorified in that place. Is your Christian life all that you want it to be? Are you as close to God as you would like to be in your walk of daily discipleship? God can breathe in a freshness of new life and bring a new beauty to your soul. But it will take some effort on your part. Begin the day with morning prayer and Bible reading. Get into a good Bible study designed to get your roots down into Christ and give your spiritual life a solid footing. Take some of the most meaningful verses from your Bible study and commit them to memory. Put them in your heart so God can continue to use them to encourage you and transform your life. God gave Ezekiel two visions of how His power could bring beauty out of tragedy. Is there a relationship that was once like a beautiful city that has been destroyed and plundered? We are called to cooperate with the power of God in Jesus Christ, by which old things are taken away and all things are made new. Prayer Lord, bring glory to Yourself as You transform the rubble areas of my life. Amen. To Ponder By God's power, life and beauty can emerge from death and destruction. Where is that happening around you? Send this devotional to a friend The text for this devotional comes from the NavPress book Daily Discipleship, which features devotionals taken from radio broadcasts by long-time Navigator LeRoy Eims. For more information or to order a copy, visit the NavPress website. Copyright 2004 The Navigators. All Rights Reserved.

[Christian Walk Idea Engagement Area]