better than quicktime!

For a while now I've been struggling to see some various avi codecs using quicktime. Stuff that just works nicely on my windows box just seems to be riddled with headaches on my mac. Well last night I discovered a little app called the VLC player.

How this happened: 1) Quicktime moaned that it couldn't play the movie correctly, so it sent me to the Quicktime site. Fortunately, I knew it was an XVID codec I needed (see, before, I didn't actually know - surely Quicktime should also tell us WHICH codec we need, not just send us to a list of 10 Quicktime plugins saying "pick a codec, any codec... oops, wrong codec").

2) I went to the XVID site, and downloaded the plugin, but at the same time I saw a link to another video player, suddently the mist started to clear and the sun came out and a chorus played in the background (it was late).

3) I downloaded this app also, and found my Quicktime plugins didn't solve the problem, so I installed VLC and happily forgot about Quicktime. What's great is that it is also multi platform, and responds to the Apple remote control too (Windows Media doesn't!).

It also supports Windows Media formats, and does a much better job than the Windows Media Player 9 for Mac. I'm impressed, so check it out.

anti-virus: ClamXav and ClamAv

Although the mac is reputed to have few or no viruses (a few have been made as proof of concept but they aren't really comparable to what windows users experience), it's better to take precautions. I've recently installed ClamXav, which came on one of the MacFormat DVD's. It's a freeware Anti-Virus for Mac. It comes from another project called ClamAv, which is for other platforms. It works well and you can also set up schedules to do a Virus scan, as well as a Sentry, which can watch certain directories always (for example your mail attachment or Downloads folder).

Now, although the risk is less for us mac users, we should be responsible and allow this to apprehend Viruses that could otherwise be passed on in an email to our colleagues or friends. It's like paying your TV license, it's the right thing to do.

the little coding factory comes to life...

The first training workshop on Saturday was a great success. We jammed 10 people into my little flat to learn web development, starting with HTML. 5 people couldn't make it, which means next workshop might need to be in a new venue!

To backtrack a bit, the idea behind this free training is to equip people who want to get into web technologies with the necessary skills so that they can become available for work. There is already a lot of interest in using the students for non-profit and corporate work, and two potential job interviews await the best.

The manual is available online here. More manuals will be done as we progress.

If you are interested in using the newly produced web developers for your own corporate or charity project, contact me directly.

Christian monastery attacked in Gaza

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (from PMW Reports newsletter)

During the recent fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah, the Christian community in Gaza was also targeted. The Palestinian paper Al-Ayyam reported that “Armed masked men… stole, destroyed and burned down a monastery and a church school in Gaza, after they bombed the main gate with RPG shells… they destroyed the main gate of the monastery with an RPG shell, and then entered the church and destroyed everything in the monastery: The crosses, the holy books, computers and photocopy machines." They appeared to be members of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, however, the Hamas has directed the blame at the Palestinian Authority police.

It should be noted that while this may have been a Hamas attack on the church, the Christian community has been suffering under Fatah rule as well. Ever since the West Bank cities were given over from Israel to the Palestinian Authority the Christian population has been living under very difficult conditions.

Palestinian writer Khaled Abu Toameh recently reported in The Jerusalem Post on the ruin of the Christian community of Bethlehem:

"The conditions of Christians in Bethlehem and its surroundings had deteriorated ever since the area was handed over [from Israel] to the PA in 1995…. 'Every day we hear of another Christian family that has immigrated to the US, Canada or Latin America… The Christians today make up less than 15 percent of the population'… "Samir Qumsiyeh [said]: "I believe that 15 years from now there will be no Christians left in Bethlehem."

When the West Bank was under Israeli administration the Christian population of Bethlehem was over 60%.

This attack on the Gaza church, though more aggressive than the actions in Bethlehem, seems to be part of a Palestinian pattern of marginalizing the Christian community.

The article from Al-Ayyam appears below. As the story of the Christian community in Bethlehem is important for the understanding of the Christian predicament under the Palestinian Authority, The Jerusalem Post article has likewise been reprinted below.

Al-Ayyam, June 18, 2007
Armed masked men, said to be part of Al-Qassam [Hamas] Operational Force, stole, destroyed and burned down a monastery and a church school in Gaza, after they bombed the main gate with RPG shells…

Father Manuel Muslem, the leader of the Latin community in Gaza, said that the armed men who carried all sorts of weapons, including machine guns and RPG launchers, burst in to the monastery and the Al-Wardiya Church school yesterday after they destroyed the main gate of the monastery with an RPG shell, and then entered the church and destroyed everything in the monastery: The crosses, the holy books, computers and photocopy machines… And he explained that the damage caused to the monastery, only on the inside, will require over 100,000 Jordanian Dinar to restore, all the more so the walls and the outer gates which were damaged by the shells and were entirely destroyed.

Muslem indicated that he got a phone call from President Mahmoud Abbas, who expressed his identification and his love for the people of the Christian community… similarly, President Abbas promised the church that the [Palestinian] Authority will be the faithful protector to its people, without differentiating between a Christian and a Muslim.

In a response to the blame directed at the [Hamas] Al-Qassam Brigades and the Operational Force… the spokesman of the Operational Force, Islam Shahwan, said that the events of theft, destruction and burning of some of the institutions are absolutely not part of the values and measures of our people…

[That] those who attacked the Al-Wardiya Church school wore the clothes of the Operational Force and bore symbols saying “Al-Qassam,” Shahwan explained that, concerning the Al-Qassam Brigades, since there was a agreement with them, and they completely left the street, only men of the Operational Force and of the Palestinian police stayed there. He denied [the claim] that this destructive way is the way of the Operational Force.
[Al-Ayyam, June 18, 2007]

The Jerusalem Post
Bethlehem Christians claim persecution
Jan. 25, 2007
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

A number of Christian families have finally decided to break their silence and talk openly about what they describe as Muslim persecution of the Christian minority in this city. The move comes as a result of increased attacks on Christians by Muslims over the past few months.

The families said they wrote letters to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Vatican, Church leaders and European governments complaining about the attacks, but their appeals have fallen on deaf ears. According to the families, many Christians have long been afraid to complain in public about the campaign of "intimidation" for fear of retaliation by their Muslim neighbors and being branded "collaborators" with Israel. But following an increase in attacks on Christian-owned property in the city over the past few months, some Christians are no longer afraid to talk about the ultra-sensitive issue. And they are talking openly about leaving the city.

"The situation is very dangerous," said Samir Qumsiyeh, owner of the Beit Sahur-based private Al-Mahd (Nativity) TV station. "I believe that 15 years from now there will be no Christians left in Bethlehem. Then you will need a torch to find a Christian here. This is a very sad situation." Qumsiyeh, one of the few Christians willing to speak about the harsh conditions of their community, has been the subject of numerous death threats. His house was recently attacked with fire-bombs, but no one was hurt.

Qumsiyeh said he has documented more than 160 incidents of attacks on Christians in the area in recent years. He said a monk was recently roughed up for trying to prevent a group of Muslim men from seizing lands owned by Christians in Beit Sahur.

Thieves have targeted the homes of many Christian families and a "land mafia" has succeeded in laying its hands on vast areas of land belonging to Christians, he added.

Fuad and Georgette Lama woke up one morning last September to discover that Muslims from a nearby village had fenced off their family's six-dunam plot in the Karkafa suburb south of Bethlehem.

"A lawyer and an official with the Palestinian Authority just came and took our land," said 69-year-old Georgette Lama.

The couple was later approached by senior PA security officers who offered to help them kick out the intruders from the land. "We paid them $1,000 so they could help us regain our land," she said, almost in tears.

"Instead of giving us back our land, they simply decided to keep it for themselves. They even destroyed all the olive trees and divided the land into small plots, apparently so that they could offer each for sale."

When her 72-year-old husband, Fuad, went to the land to ask the intruders to leave, he was severely beaten and threatened with guns. "My husband is after heart surgery and they still beat him," Georgette Lama said. "These people have no heart. We're afraid to go to our land because they will shoot at us. Ever since the beating, my husband is in a state of trauma and has difficulties talking."

The Lamas have since knocked on the doors of scores of PA officials in Bethlehem seeking their intervention, but to no avail. At one stage, they sent a letter to Abbas, who promised to launch an investigation. "We heard that President Mahmoud Abbas is taking our case very seriously," said Georgette Lama. "But until now he hasn't done anything to help us get our land back. We are very concerned because we're not the only ones suffering from this phenomenon. Most Christians are afraid to speak, but I don't care because we have nothing more to lose."

The couple's Christian neighbor, Edward Salama, said the problem in the city was the absence of law and order. "We are living in a state of chaos and lawlessness," he said. "The police are afraid of the thugs who are taking our lands." Salama expressed deep concern over the conditions of Christians in Bethlehem, noting that many were leaving the country as a result of the deterioration. "When I see what's happening to Christians here, I worry a lot for our future," he said. "They are targeting Christians, because we are seen as weak."

The Lamas said they decided to go public with the hope that the international community would intervene with the PA to halt the land-grab. "We will fight and fight until we recover our land," Fuad Lama said. "We will resort to the courts and to the public opinion for help.

"Unfortunately, Christian leaders and spokesmen are afraid to talk about the problems we are facing. We know of three other Christian families - Salameh, Kawwas and Asfour - whose lands were also illegally seized by Muslims."

A Christian businessman who asked not to be identified said the conditions of Christians in Bethlehem and its surroundings had deteriorated ever since the area was handed over to the PA in 1995. "Every day we hear of another Christian family that has immigrated to the US, Canada or Latin America," he said. "The Christians today make up less than 15 percent of the population."

People are running away because the Palestinian government isn't doing anything to protect them and their property against Muslim thugs. Of course not all the Muslims are responsible, but there is a general feeling that Christians have become easy prey."

Please feel free to forward this bulletin, crediting Palestinian Media Watch.

Apple drops the ball

In what most deem is a big risk, Apple decided to release Safari 3 public beta to the masses. By masses I mean both PC and Mac platforms. This move could have been ingenious, if the product was the usual Apple offering. However, it has fallen short, FAR short of expectations. Where is the "3 years into the future" design thinking that Apple are famous for? What, I can shift my tabs around and find things?? What were you thinking? Yes, the time is now to get PC users in, but do it with a product that isn't absolutely terrible! Think of a bunch of amazing browser innovations, build in some ideas from the firefox plugins if you can't think of them yourself. And reduce the features in favour of making it a little more stable. Yes, it's a beta, but my download didn't even start up after it was installed! I'll look again when there is a better offering, but my opinion is, most people wouldn't be bothered.

Another note on Safari. It claims to be a standards based browser and the best for web developers to test their goods on. In my experience, being a web developer, I find it dreadful to use. I've never thought much of Safari, and no amount of hype thrown at a bad product will ever turn it into a good product. I'm just concerned that Apple start resting on their good innovations in the previous few years, and rely on riding the wave of hype. This won't cut it with PC users (remember, they don't worship Apple), it won't work on a bad browser, and also, let's hope Leopard has more to offer than a few shiny makeovers and some irrelevant functions.

Adobe are getting this right, concentrating on workflows and cutting down production times. I'm hoping Apple don't get sidetracked and that recent popularity hasn't gone to their heads. That being said, I'm still a big fan of the company. I guess the expectations are high because people have become accustomed to only the best from Apple.

dumpers busted

I caught this truck dumping rubbish illegally behind the centre at Chilli Lane. This area was completely clear before I went away in March 2007, I used to ride through there on my mountain bike. It has now been turned into a dumping ground by builders in the area (possibly).

This was taken on 12 May 2007 at 2:17PM, from the entrance to the Virgin Active gym. The license of the vehicle is TZJ708GP.
One word comes to mind: BASTARDS.

photoshop CS3

Firstly, WOW. I mean it. Photoshop has come a long way since I was cutting up impossible designs by graphic artists back in the late nineties with Photoshop 6. Since going my own route in business meant keeping legal software, which meant limiting myself to the necessities - I have used the Macromedia Suite of software since Studio MX. Now with the merge of Adobe and Macromedia, I get all the MM stuff I know and love like Fireworks, Flash and (ahem) Dreamweaver, and then now I get my hands on Photoshop too, and a bunch of other Adobe specialities. After attending the Adobe Live show (workshop more-like) last week, I've been using a few of the tips that I've learnt, and I'm loving using it again.

This pic is an example of that. I took 3 pics on my holiday in Vietnam, and Photoshop, all on it's own, has stiched these together, keeping the layers and masks - creating the most amazing panorama-style photo. I didn't even use a tripod. Behold - Photoshop CS3, making "awesome" a matter of simplicity. (Sounds kinda Steve Jobsy hey?)

Note: The original doesn't have those little crack-lines I see, that's due to my bad resizing skills, or something. It did produce a 120+ Meg PSD file!

billings

I've stumbled upon some awesome software for the Mac-equipped own-business user/ freelancer/ developer. It's called Billings, and it is a time management and billings management system. It works so well and has allowed me to become more professional in my time-keeping and billing, and at the same time the half hour estimate and invoicing tasks have been reduced to a minute or two.

It's also quite motivating for a freelancer to work and see exactly the time being spent. I want to have integrity as a foundation of my business, and this product helps me do that.
The best is, it only costs 74 Canadian dollars, which means it's already paid for itself in the time I've saved in my last 5 invoices!

I get a kick out of supporting smaller lesser known software companies/individuals if their product is good and worth the money they ask. This is definitely worthwhile. In my books, it's up there with amazing software like Textmate, Yojimbo, ConceptDraw Project, OmniOutliner.
Nice work guys, thanks.

good ol' Chuck

"Behold, I am vile." --Job 40:4 One cheering word, poor lost sinner, for you! You think you must not come to God because YOU are vile. Now, there is not a saint living on earth but has been made to feel that he is vile. If Job, and Isaiah, and Paul were all obliged to say "I am vile," oh, poor sinner, will you be ashamed to join in the same confession? If divine grace does not eradicate all sin from the believer, how do you hope to do it yourself? and if God loves His people while they are yet vile, do you think your vileness will prevent His loving you? Believe on Jesus, you outcast of the world's society! Jesus calls _YOU_, and such as you are. "Not the righteous, not the righteous; Sinners, Jesus came to call." Even now say, "You have died for sinners; I am a sinner, Lord Jesus, sprinkle Your blood on me"; if you will confess your sin you shall find pardon. If, now, with all your heart, you will say, "I am vile, wash me," you shalt be washed now. If the Holy Spirit shall enable you from your heart to cry Just as I am, without one plea But that Your blood was shed for me, And that you bid me come to You, O Lamb of God, I come!" you shalt rise from reading this morning's portion with all your sins pardoned; and though you did wake this morning with every sin that man has ever committed on your head, you shalt rest to-night accepted in the Beloved; though once degraded with the rags of sin, you shalt be adorned with a robe of righteousness, and appear white as the angels are. For "now," mark it, "_Now_ is the accepted time." If you "believe on Him who justifies the ungodly you are saved." Oh! may the Holy Spirit give you saving faith in Him who receives the vilest. (by Charles Spurgeon, modern-englishified by me)

textmate and svn

I'll keep this short cos I know I'll bore many. I needed to install svn on my mac, which was relatively straight forward. I found that the graphic interface plugin to the Finder left a LOT to be desired. It was nothing near as easy as the TortoiseSVN on pc. So, after manually clicking through about 200 files, I was fed up enough to read the manual and try the command line version, which works great. Ofcourse, the first time i got thrown into VI on a commit I panicked, forgetting my all important commands: i for insert, escape for stop inserting, :wq to write and quit. Simple? yes, but try that after you've started typing wildly into the editor who you've just told to divide by zero in VI commands...

Enter Textmate. I've been happily using Textmate to edit my code and then apply the changes to SVN from command line. No more, it's all built into Textmate as an SVN Bundle! Pretty impressive.

ok, now i am relaxed!

well, i haven't been posting much since i been on leave (a week ago I left for Vietnam) - but that's been because my trip has been so eventful, and relaxing, that posting to my blog is the last geeky thing i've thought about. I have a few moments now, so here goes.

I'm on the beach in a place called Mui Ne (said "mooi ne"), and while it's windy, it's so nice being here. I'm super sunburnt, and super relaxed! I love it here and am using this spot to do a few odd jobs (the work doesn't stop)...

This is one of the best kite surfing spots around apparently, and there are schools where you can learn this art, but it's a bit out of my budget right now...

Here is the view from my office! ahh, life is tough hey! :)

OK, check back soon, but not too soon...

this road

As I'm about to embark on a journey to the other side of the world, I'd like to post the lyrics to one of my favourite songs. It's about travelling also, but more about our life's journey than a physical trip. Sometimes a journey can impact your life's journey also - which is what I'm hoping and praying for in this trip. My next posts will be from Hong Kong, Vietnam and Australia. I thank God for this opportunity, and I'm so grateful He hasn't given up on this earthen vessel.

This Road - Jars of Clay

All heavy laden acquainted with sorrow
May Christ in our marrow, carry us home
From alabaster come blessings of laughter
A fragrance of passion and joy from the truth
Grant the unbroken tears ever flowing
From hearts of contrition only for You
May sin never hold true that love never broke through
For God's mercy holds us and we are His own
This road that we travel, may it be the straight and narrow
God give us peace and grace from You, all the day
Shelter with fire, our voices we raise still higher
God give us peace and grace from You, all the day through

groenkloof

Had another great ride at Groenkloof Nature Reserve this Sunday. We arrived late and had to storm into the reserve to catch the rest of the group. Using our Navy Seal training, we determined which part of the reserve they were on and intercepted them speedily. (well, me less speedily and more exhaustily).

We spotted some zebra and this pic was taken while i cycled past. I've also seen giraffe, wildebees and a variety of buck and small animals at the reserve. I love it.

quizlet

Every few weeks or months, you come across a site that just blows you away. Either because of it's look, or more often, because it is the execution of a brilliant idea. Enter Quizlet. It's a study aid site, the 21st century i-need-my-computer version of flashcards, and it is so well done I have to mention it to the at least one person I know reads this who isn't me.

It's great for learning vocabulary, also for definitions, dates, anything flash-cardy. I'm going to use it to memorise scripture, and learn more French and Russian vocab. Heck I might throw up some Vietnamese sets myself.

How it works it simple. You register, then from there you can either Create your own set of words, or look at the thousands of existing sets. With a set you can familiarise yourself with it, learn it or test yourself. Your stats are all recorded too. I think it's a great idea... What's even more facinating, is this site was built entirely by a high school student.

textmate, e-texteditor and notepad++

With more power failures in Sunninghill, I decided to take my wireless connection and go elsewhere with my laptop. It was an opportunity for a home-cooked lunch, so mom-wards I went! I had some time to spare, so I decided to check out TextMate on my macbook. I downloaded some screencasts (video tutorials) available on their site and off I went. The next 12 minutes was seasoned with "wow" and "no flippen ways!" as I saw some of the nifty TextMate features in action. The software fits the hand of a developer like a glove, in a completely different way to the other great IDE's such as Eclipse. It was there, sitting in the satisfaction of having eaten a home cooked meal, that I bought TextMate for 39 euros.

My first hint at Textmate's brilliance was when I saw it being used in a Symfony demo a few weeks back. Fabien used TextMate to code up some awesome AJAX controls in his cart demo (Available from the Symfony site). It seemed to do all the slog work for him, and I was impressed. Then I saw that TextMate won the Apple Design Award for best developer tool in 2006. I started telling my friends about it and they asked "is there a Windows version". I checked, nope sorry. Or so I thought, until yesterday, when the Wikipedia entry led me to the e-texteditor. The developer is in essence copying TextMate features to this beta editor. I'm running the trial beta version of that now, but I haven't yet been able to get some coding done with that. I still prefer Notepad++ for now. When I get more familiar with TextMate, I think I'll progress to e-texteditor also. Check out Wesley's comment on Notepad++ here.

free designs, free IDE's

OK, I've known about this for a while, and I've told some people, but I think the site needs more credit. For those of you looking for a free designed website, where all you need to do is adapt the content and throw in your logo, look no further. Check out www.oswd.org. Terms and conditions may apply, you might need to leave the designers details in the source code or something. Definitely worth checking out for a quick and nasty look. I sometimes send people there to tell me the kind of look they're looking for, and design accordingly - customising it.

Now, I've just heard on the Hal Helms and Jeff Peters podcast that there is a nifty new IDE for web developers called aptana. It's based on Eclipse and apparently is very well suited for web development, including AJAX, CSS, HTML and your scripting languages of choice (PHP, Coldfusion et al). I'm busy downloading it and will rant or rave about it later.
The other thing they mentioned was wink. Looks good but I don't need that now. It's a presentation builder of sorts, recording what you're doing on screen. Check them out...

SA government to switch to open source!

Well, what can I say but wow and at last. It makes sense, and is perfectly do-able.

I interrupt this news flash to report that I just completely freaked out when something moved under my foot, slamming my knee into my desk. In my mind, it was a Park Town Prawn, in reality, it was the wires behind my desk... ow. Even so I'm glad it wasn't a mini Geiger monster.

OK, back to open source. Why spend thousands of rands per computer of software for normal day to day business activity when you can use an open source alternative. See, I don't only blast the government..
Read up more here: http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1377&s=news

free thought

Something I heard Ravi Zacharias quote, which left me chuckling sadly...

Creed by Steve Turner

We believe in Marx, Freud and Darwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in
horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same--
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.


"Chance" a post-script

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear

State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

the hype continues

So, in response to all the hype about the documentary about Jesus' family ossuaries being found, thanks to a documentary (mockumentary?) by director James Cameron and Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici. Check out the following links:

http://losttombofjesuschrist.com/
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2007/0305lost-tomb-review.asp
http://dev.bible.org/bock/node/106

They put it much better than me. Question, has anyone else noticed the growing animosity towards Jesus Christ? We are becoming far more polarised on the issue of who Jesus is. Over the past few years we have been bombarded by Time, Newsweek, etc with very strong claims which attempt to undermine the gospel accounts of Jesus. His birth, His death and resurrection, and His life here on earth. I expect this to grow, and I expect the proponents of these stories to continue in trying to malign the name of my King. My only concern is those who are led astray due to bad information being the order of the day... the Dan Brown's don't bug me personally, but when they reach those who would otherwise simply be following Jesus, and they cause them to stumble, then I get annoyed.

As the apostle Paul said - (1 Cor 15:1-4,12-22)
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
...
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Client site promo: UNAIDS

Yesterday at 'noon the UNAIDS RSTESA website went live. Lots of work went into updating the content to be relevant and informative. There were a few iterations of this before I got my developer paws on it, but none of them went live as far as I know. Check back periodically for new sections like calendar of events and polls and the likes. You can find the site at www.unaidsrstesa.org.

Any comments, ideas and suggestions are welcome, I'll forward them on to the appropriate channels.

symfony 1.0 released

Symfony, the php 5 based web framework hit version 1 (stable) on Monday. We're currently developing a site using this technology, so it's great news. More on that when we go live. Check it out - www.symfony-project.com

pet peeves version 1.0

I don't want this site to be a place where i just sit and moan at all around me. But sometimes a good moan needs to be had, even if it's just to make me feel better. Here are my current issues:

1) Being phoned by robots.
This is the second month now that I have been harassed by an unknown company offering me interest free credit. It starts with a phone call, where I get asked if I want "cash in a flash" and I must push any key to find out more. There was no mention of any company, nothing. After the 4rth time of hanging up the call, I decided to push any button to speak to a human to find out which company they represented. I got through to what sounded like the loud background noise of call centre, and no one answered my repeated "hello, HELLO?"... The second time I pushed a number (yes, they keep calling me) I did get through to a human that heard me. She said "yes?" so I asked which company I had gotten through to. She hung up. Now I can't call back because they're calling me.
The calls have not stopped, I got another 3 today, and I still don't know which company is at the source of this madness.
At least with the other companies that harass me for their credit, I know who I'm dealing with and can take action. (Which I will do if flippen Nedbank send me any more SMS's offering me credit)
Is anyone else receiving these highly annoying calls? Please comment here, let's turn this into an Internet Investigation!! Heck, if this works we can branch out and have a site dedicated to this, drawing all CSI-wannabe's from around the country. POP, ok, back to reality.

At least if I knew who it was I could get them to hound my bad payers: (people like Two Tone Branding who owe me R5600 since February 2006) - yes, it's unprofessional to mention them, but hey, they've been promising "we'll pay you next friday" for 4 months now, so I don't believe they actually intend on paying me. Anyone know the laws on me mentioning this publicly on this site? If they sue me, or pay me, I'll remove this entry. (If you're from Two Tone and you're reading this, go with the paying me option please!)

2) Seeing my taxes subsidise cheap air travel
SAA, and Mango give us cheap rates because our tax-Rand is being pumped into their business to support them. So the prices are cheap, but paid for by us, who knows what we're paying really. Also, what about the other airlines who are trying to run a decent business. This parasitic nature is obviously big in the business world, but it shouldn't be actively funded by the government. Also, service levels are affected: why should a business give good service to attract return customers, when 1) their subsidised low price will do that, and 2) no matter if they treat the customers like rubbish, and their profits dive, they'll be handed a bundle of cash to run their business anyways...


3) Bad internet connections
When can I have real bandwidth like my friends overseas? Please please? when?


Thats it for now.

OMG

I sometimes come across song lyrics which really get my attention. Either because I relate to them entirely, or because they raise some interesting things I haven't thought about, or because I don't know exactly what they mean. Well, this song fits all three of these. When I first heard it I was uncertain if I liked the lyrics. I had no idea what Danny Haseltine was on about. But the more I listened to the song, the more it seemed to unravel itself to me. Eventually it had the same effect on me as my first encounter with Jars of Clay all those years back. In my opinion this song is a music epic, on par with Worlds Apart - in the way it has different sections and just builds up throughout.

Until tonight I was still unsure of what the writer meant, but I had my theories, and I was happy to find out I was spot on. Give this song a listen when you get a chance, and take a look at the meaning below also... (skips back to song, plays it again)... ahh

Oh my God, look around this place,
Your fingers reach around the bone,
you set the break and set the tone
For flights of grace, and future falls
In present pain all fools say, "Oh my God."

Oh my God, why are we so afraid?
we make it worse when we don't bleed,
there is no cure for our disease.
Turn a phrase and rise again,
or fake your death and only tell your closest friends,
Oh My God.

Oh my God, can I complain?
You take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief.
Weddings, boats, and alibis,
All drift away, and a mother cries...
=========================
Liars and fools, sons and failures, theives will always say..
Lost and found, ailing wanderers, healers always say..
Whores and angels, men with problems, leavers always say..
Broken hearted, separated, orphans always say..
War creators, racial haters, preachers always say..
Distant fathers, fallen warriors, givers always say..
Pilgrim saints, lonely widows, users always say..
Fearful mothers, watchful doubters, Saviors always say..
=========================
Sometimes I can not forgive
and these days mercy cuts so deep,
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep.
While I lay, I'd dream we're better, scales were gone and faces lighter,
When we wake we hate our brother, we still move to hurt each other,
Sometimes I can close my eyes and all the fear the keeps me silent,
Falls below my heavy breathing, what makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder, we all have the need for wonder.
We still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder.

Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven,
All the times I thought to reach up, all the times I had to give up.
Babies underneath their beds, in hospitals that cannot treat
All the wounds that money causes, all the comforts of cathedrals,
All the cries of thirsty children, this is our inheritance,
All the rage of watching mothers, this is our greatest offense
Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God.


Written by Dan Haseltine, Charlie Lowell, Stephen Mason, Matt Odmark © 2006 Pogostick Music (BMI) / Bridge Building (BMI). All rights for the world on behalf of Pogostick Music (BMI) administered by Bridge Building (BMI).

Behind the Song:
"With Oh My God, we wanted to kind of communicate that everybody at some point intersects with God, whether they choose to believe or not, and people all have their reasons for crying out to God. And some of those are really deep, deep doubts. There are times when I wrestle with that now, but growing up I didn’t know the gospel could stand up to the scrutiny. It’s a question that I think needs to be asked. This song has three parts. It starts out being many people’ stories and the third part is my personal story...Why I cry out to God." - Dan Haseltine (Jars Of Clay)

[words and information from: www.jesusfreakhideout.com, lyrics updated from official in-sleeve booklet]

blood diamonds, blood platinum

I was appalled to see news articles about South African Government welcoming, and meeting with the President of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao, this week. Not only is South Africa meeting with him, and strengthening ties, we're accepting his donations. Are we so simple minded to not think that there could be consequences to this? Dire ones.

China, while undoubtedly a world leader in many respects, is no world leader in liberty. Yes, it certainly would be good economically to make ties with this giant, but we cannot afford to consider economics at the expense of doing what is right.

Now while you might think I'm going to shoot off on a tangent about under-age and under-paid kids producing western label gadgets and clothing, I'm about to shoot of on another tangent entirely.

OK, let's step back and look at this. What do they want? According to a Bloomberg news article they want to invest in our mining. We have an abundance of precious metals and minerals which they would love to tap into for continuing development of their technologies. OK, fine. We get that.

What do we want? Well, it seems, handout: Gifts, Money, Business. Thats good for us, right? I mean, as long as it's not ivory or rhino horns - because that would create a stir these days.

So we're all set to go. But wait a minute. Isn't this the same China that persecutes hundreds, if not thousands of Christians yearly? Yes it is. Even today, even this month, there have been reports of people being arrested, molested and yes, even killed. You haven't heard about this? That doesn't mean it isn't happening.

We westerners are very skeptical of the US and British governments, I've heard endless opinions criticising Bush and Blair; and yet, when President Hu lands on our soil, we welcome him with open arms?

If we support China's development, we support their government, and we condone their actions, philosophy and methodology. The countries which had economic sanctions against South Africa in the Apartheid era made this statement by their actions: "We do not support or condone your Apartheid philosophy and legislature, and so we will not support your development." The countries that had a business as usual attitude with South Africa back then, weren't necessarily supporting apartheid, but they were not prepared to lose their benefits for the sake of what is right. Right now, South Africa boldly stands in the position of the latter, which is ironic taking her past into account.

This year alone, in China:
3 Jan 2007: Christmas Celebration Raided in Inner Mongolia
China ranked 8th worst country of persecution in the world
9 Jan 2007: New Year Bible Study in Communist Party School Raided in Hebei
14 Jan 2007: Released two of nine underground priests arrested in Hebei
16 Jan 2007: Christian service raided in Henan Province
25 Jan 2007: Christians under attack in China
28 Jan 2007: House Church worship service raided in Anhui Province
28 Jan 2007: 9 Arrested House Church Leaders in Henan released after 15 days detention
29 Jan 2007: Beijing House Church Activist Hua Huiqi and his mother attacked and detained by police
30 Jan 2007: Executed for distributing bibles
6 Feb 2007: China's shifting policies still hindering religion

Information taken from Persecution.org, a watchdog of Christian religious freedom worldwide.

Release International, describes China:
Religious Freedom Rating: 6 (7 is worst)
Population: 1287 million (2003 est.)
Widespread persecution of church leaders and members, especially those in unregistered (underground) churches, which may represent as many as 100 million believers.

A last note: before reading this, your ignorance to what is happening in China protected you from responsibility of doing something. Now you are informed - and your choice is simple:
1) denial, which is willful ignorance. It will appease your conscience for a while, but you will be guilty of knowing the facts and deciding to pretend they aren't there or are lies.
2) acknowledgement, where you realise what is going on, and admit to it, even if doing nothing.
3) action, where you protest either actively or passively. Actively would constitute writing letters or speaking to people, praying for the Christians in China, getting involved with organisations that support those who are persecuted there - passively would be deciding in your own capacity not to support China's trade by buying their products.

It is important that you understand that I am not speaking out against the Chinese people, or people of Chinese heritage. I am aiming my words straight at the South African and Chinese governments, their policies, decisions and statutes.

well said Steve

Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. just gave his thoughts on the DRM (digital rights management) restrictions of the downloaded music from iTunes on the iPod. Let's open up the DRM-restrictions on downloaded music.
Though I think Option 4 would be to incorporate an open standard that is open source and managed by the community. While the Record Labels might have a problem with this, and solutions might come in slower to breaches in security, at least no one company or small conglomerate of companies control the DRM development and implementation.

Steve, if you're reading this (haha, I think I'm the only person who reads my blog at this point) - how about opening the iTunes Store in South Africa too?