Jason Powell - Church IT and Other Musings

That's MY KING!

This weekend as part of the message a very powerful video was show titled "That's My King" ... explaination just doesn't do it justice ... it's just powerful.  Thanks Josh for sending the link to view it online:

http://www.verticalsky.com/thatsmyking.asp

Caution:  this video may make you want to stand up shout AMEN!!!

Trogdor RULES!!!

Somehow I've been missing out!  How could I be so blind?  My world is now more complete!

I'm an occasional Homestar Runner viewer, but somehow I completely missed this Strong Bad email which explains the creation of Trogdor ... and is now my favorite sbemail displacing my prior favorite titled Guitar.

Wanna know if you and I would be able to hang together?  If you enjoy Trogdor, that's a very good sign you and I could be buds :-)

And as my bud I would tell you that my birthday is coming up ... Sept 25th.  And I would drop you a HUGE hint that you should get me a sweet Trogdor T-shirt (XL) and/or polo shirt (L). 

Mega thanks to Terry Chapman for showing me the majesty that is Trogdor!

ALL HAIL TROGDOR!!!

Free the widgets! ... Yahoo buys Konfabulator

I keep meaning to write a post about Konfabulator ... a tool that has made my life better over the last few months ... and now that it's free (was $20) it's time to post about it!

Konfabulator has been around for several years ... first for Macs then for Windows ... Apple liked the widget idea so much they put in into the latest OSX version.

What's Konfabulator??  What's a widget??  The creators say it better than I can:

Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your WiFi signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.

Here are the widgets I run which I've found very useful...

Radar Widget - displays doppler radar images updated every 10 minutes from weather.com.  I've never been so on top of the weather in my life!  This widget and The Weather widget (below) are worth installing Konfabulator in my book.
The Weather - shows current temp and conditions plus 6 day outlook. 
WiFi Signal - displays the SSID and signal strength of your connection ... and looks flippin' sweet :-)
Digital Clock - just a large sweet looking digital clock (same look as the wifi signal above) ... I have it set to about 80% opacity so it's always visible no matter what I'm working on ... helps me keep track of how late it is so I don't get a grumpy call from the wife wondering why I'm not home yet ... doh!
Battery - looks like a C size battery sitting on the desktop showing how much juice is left.
miniIP - a very small widget that shows your local and public facing IP ... can also show CPU, batt, memory, and other stuff
systemDashboard CPU meter - a nice looking race car dial that shows CPU utilization ... my workstation at work is hammered all day long.  Hmm, must be time to upgrade ;-)
systemDashboard Uptime monitor - very similar to the CPU meter in looks.  Tracks your systems uptime showing you current uptime, past 4 uptime periods, and max uptime to date.  So far my workstation has been up for 31 days, 1 hour, and 39 minutes ... and it's running some big "server" apps ... so don't tell me Windows XP isn't stable!
What To Do? - very nice looking To Do list ... great for quick enties ... then later migrate into Outlook.

Why is it now free?  Yahoo just bought Konfabulator and now it's free [article].  If you bought it in the recent months they're giving your money back.

So if you haven't joined the widget craze ... now's the time!  Do note though that not all widgets are created equal.  Some are major resource hogs ... and yes, there are widgets that can help you identify them :-)

Any other Konfabulator users out there?  What are your favorite widgets?

Longhorn = Vista = lame

It's official ... the upcoming version of Windows will be called "Vista".  GRRRR, come on guys (and gals)!!  How much money was spent to come up with that lame name??

Anyone else think Seinfeld when they hear the word "vista"?  All I can hear is George's father saying, "Del Boca Vista" in my head.

I do think Vista is going to be a sweet OS, but the name is just so lame.

FREE TIVO!! Ends 7/27!

 Wow, what timing!  I just posted about how much I'm enjoying my free Tivo and I just found this...

Tivo is giving away their 40GB unit if you pay for a year's service subscription upfront!  Deal ends 7/27!!  Details right on Tivo's front page ... www.tivo.com

So another "free" Tivo deal surfaces...excellent!

If you do go for this deal...I would...please use my email address when asked if anyone referred you to get a Tivo.  I think I get a free month of service for anyone I refer.  email is gccjason(at)gmail(dot)com    :-)

Tivo ... if only I'd known

Got my 2nd and final rebate check today for my Tivo that I got "free" back in April ... story here.

To be honest I wasn't sure if I'd actually get both $100 rebates.  I figured either Tivo or Circuit City would somehow wuss out on the deal.  But today it's official.  $200 returned to me making my Tivo purchase ~$12 for tax.  There's just something very satisfying about that :-)

After having Tivo for about 3 months now here are my thoughts ...

*  How did I ever get along without Tivo!!!  If I had only known how it revolutionizes the way you watch TV I would have found a way to buy one years ago!

*  I don't think I've actually watched any live TV in 3 months.  If it's not on the Tivo I'm not watching it.

*  I can go a whole week and never turn on the TV.  I'm no longer a slave to TV schedules.  I watch what I want when I want...ahh, the power! 

*  Shows are so much more enjoyable and shorter without commercials.  I do wonder what clever commercials I've missed though in the past 3 months.

*  My 7 year old has figured out how to run the Tivo.  He records some cartoons and stuff he thinks is cool off the discovery channel...like anything dealing with sharks.

*  40 GB is not nearly enough room.  I shouldn't complain since I got mine almost free, but I'm looking forward to the day the warranty expires so I can slap in a big 250+ GB drive :-)

*  I find I'm more selective about what I record and therefore watch.  With only 40GB available, it forces me to only record/watch the stuff I'm really interested in.  Hence I don't watch some of the shows I used to ... which means even less time sittin' in front of the tube.

*  My Tivo is hooked up to my home network so I can download stuff from the Tivo to my PC ... and vice-versa.  Probably the best part is that I can sit at work and schedule stuff to record on my home Tivo ... from my desk at work! ... I've done it a time or two and it's sweet.
 

So, what shows am I recording? 
American Chopper - I still can't explain why exactly I enjoy this show but I do.
Nascar - typically I watch the first 10-20 laps, fast forward until there's a crash, then watch the last 20 laps.  On some of the more tight tracks I'll actually watch the whole thing.  Bristol for instance has some amazing close racing.
Anything Racing - I told Tivo to record any auto racing show ... it scans my channels and hooks me up.  Of course I only have basic cable so there's not much it picks up besides an occasional American Le Mans race.
Austin City Limits - some great "live" tunes
Hell's Kitchen - my wife thinks the show is stupid, I think it's interesting to see some behind the scenes of a restaurant.
Myth Busters - our current family favorite.  Though some of the "science" is really lame, it's always fun to watch stuff get destroyed and learn something new.
Top Gear - new show on Discovery showcasing a lot of overseas exotic cars ... and the hosts are British and quite funny. 
Dirty Jobs - ahh, one of those shows that makes me glad to be in IT
The Apprentice - Like most of America, Kim and I enjoy this show.  Come on new season!
Deadliest Catch - it's now over, but it was such an interesting show.  Catch the reruns if you can.
24 - arrrgh, I can't wait until January for the next season to start.  Best show on TV IMHO.

I'll occasionally check the Discovery Channel lineup and schedule a few non-season shows.  I haven't played with it yet, but you can setup the Tivo to automatically record shows it "thinks" you like based on other shows you've recorded.  I'm sure I'm missing some interesting stuff on Discovery...but then again...that's just more time I can devote to other things.

Tivo rocks ... but I'd recommend getting the 80GB version or bigger ... unless you can get a 40GB unit free :-)

Dell "off lease" computers

Ever wonder what becomes of the computers that companies lease and then return?  If it's a Dell it ends up at Dell's DFS Direct Sales dept.  The equipment is given a once over and then sold on the DFS site for way cheap...typically with about 6 months warranty still left.

I purchased about 30 of these off lease units for the school system to put together a small lab on shoe-string budget several years ago.  The great thing is that we could buy optiplex units that fit our standardization model...but get them for a song.  I've also gotten a couple Latitude laptops in the past as spares.

I got an email from DFS Friday that they were having a big sale.  Perfect timing!  I needed to get some inexpensive laptops to have available as loaners, spares, training, workshops, etc.  The deals are very good...but only last until the 20th.  I snarfed up 6 Latitude C610's (Dells previous laptop standard) and after double discounts...sale discount plus volume discount...paid only $2700 total!!!  And all 6 are same specs:  1200MHz, 1GB ram, 30GB drives.  We already have a C610 ghost image so getting these into production will be cake.  Only things lacking are internal wifi cards (~$45) and probable weak batteries. 

So if you need some good business class hardware, but have a limited budget check out Dell's off lease equipment.  And no, this is NOT the same as Dell's Outlet site.

Rob Bell and Spinal Tap?

So I go into our bookstore at Granger Saturday night to grab Rob Bell's new book, Velvet Elvis.  Sweet title BTW!

I'm looking all over expecting it to really stand out ... I finally give up after a minute or two and ask one of the bookstore workers.  She walks over to the rack I'd walked by several times and picks it up.  Well no wonder I missed it ... it's just a simple white cover with almost no writing and what writing there is is very small and subtle ... no pictures ... no graphics ... almost plain white.

Go look at the book picture on amazon.  You can't even tell where the book stops the background begins.

I instantly though of Spinal Tap and the "Black" album :-)  "none more blacker" ... that kills everytime :-)
Of course the bookstore person had no clue about Spinal Tap.  Oh well, her loss.

Hmm, I have to wonder if Rob Bell is a Tap fan?  I'm betting he is.  Gotta go...must read.

my blog turns 100

Wow...this is post #100 for me.  I started this blog in Feb after being inspired by Terry Storch and Brian Bailey.  My initial goals were to a)  keep my boss, Tony Morgan, updated on what I'm working on and b) hopefully provide some helpful info for other church IT folks.  I "think" I'm in some part meeting those goals based on my blog stats.

From what I can gather there are right at 70 of you subscribing to this blog!  If you're not subscribed to my feedburner feed it would help me if you would ... dump the old atom and index feeds and signup for the feedburner feed pretty please :-)  http://feeds.feedburner.com/JasonPowell-ChurchItAndOtherMusings

I'm flattered your read this blog, but I gotta wonder why you do?  I was telling a friend about my blog the other day and he asked, "Why do people read your blog?"  I'm really not sure was my reply.  If you have a moment to leave a comment I'd certainly be interested as to why you're subscribed.

For stats reasons I know one should post something everyday ... well, for me that just aint gonna happen anytime soon.  A)  I don't have enough time, B)  I don't want to post just to be posting ... trying to keep this a "no fluff" zone ;-)

Here's looking foward to another 100 posts.  If you have suggestions on things you'd like to see let me know.

Stats:
Started Feb 2005
Posts = 100
Comments = 109
Subscribers = ~70
Google Page Rank = 3/10 (highest achieved to date = 5)
Total page views = 5773
Technorati Rank:             115,367

Why is sky blue ... and NOT violet?

If you paid attention in high school physics you already know part of the answer ... at least you would have if you had been one of my students ;-)  When sunlight hits the atmosphere the shorter wavelength light (blue) scatters the most and thus your eye receives mainly blue light.  That's generally good enough for most people.  As to why it's blue and not violet (shorter wavelenth than blue) the answer has been the eye picks up blue better than violet.  Why?  Umm, good question but now were talking biology.  Physicists have done some newer research and can now better quantify the why.

At the bottom is a short blurb on the research.

And here are a few fun physics tidbits about light and human eye...the rods and cones in the eye are just so fascinatingly complex.

* Red light doesn't disrupt night vision because night vision comes from your rods which aren't affected by red light or really much of any color at all.
* It takes approx 30mins to reach your optimal night vision. 
* Rods are responsible for your peripheral vision and are way more light sensitive than your cones thus you can see dim stars with your peripheral vision which may "disappear" when you look at them directly.
* Rods are also better at detecting motion and thus your peripheral vision is better at detecting motion.

WHY IS THE SKY BLUE, AND NOT VIOLET?  The hues that we see in the sky are not only determined by the laws of physics, but are also colored by the human visual system, shows a new paper in the American Journal of Physics.  On a clear day when the sun is well above the horizon, the analysis demonstrates, we perceive the complex spectrum of colors in the sky as a mixture of white light and pure blue.  When sunlight enters the earth's atmosphere, it scatters (ricochets) mainly from oxygen and nitrogen molecules that make up most of our air.  What scatters the most is the light with the shortest wavelengths, towards the blue end of the spectrum, so more of that light will reach our eyes than other colors.  But according to the 19th-century physics equations introduced by Lord Rayleigh, as well as actual measurements, our eyes get hit with peak amounts of energy in violet as well as blue.  So what is happening?
Combining physics with quantitative data on the responsiveness of the human visual system, Glenn Smith of Georgia Tech
([email protected]) points to the way in which our eye's three different types of cones detect color.  As Smith shows, the sky's complex multichromatic rainbow of colors tickles our eye's cones in the same way as does a specific mixture of pure blue and white light.  This is similar to how the human visual system will perceive the right mixture of pure red and pure green as being equivalent to pure yellow.  The cones that allow us to see color cannot identify the actual wavelengths that hit them, but if they are stimulated by the right combination of wavelengths, then it will appear the same to our eyes as a single pure color, or a mixture of a pure color and white light.  (Smith, American Journal of Physics, July 2005)