openswitch

Familiarity breeds contempt. The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them. The reason this phrase exists isn’t to dissuade us from getting to know people better; for without deep relationships our lives would be vast, meaningless voids. Rather, the purpose is to provide a gentle reminder that as we get to know someone better we will have to work hard to not take them for granted. This principle applies not only to our relationships with other people but to our relationship with God as well.

As a minister I’m publicly seen as being “on God’s team”, as it were. The downside of this is that sometimes I find myself in a position where I need to be reminded that I deserve God no more than anyone else. Over the past 5 years since entering full time ministry I’ve grown very close to God. But there are many times that I take Him for granted, and sometimes the familiarity has made it difficult to keep my prayers as they ought to be. I have to ask myself, “What drives my prayers?”

Many of us struggle with knowing if we want what God wants or what we want. We can’t decide which we want more! This vacillation between what we want and what God wants tends to show itself in our prayers. Let me ask you this: when was the last time God interrupted your prayer time to share with you what’s on His heart? For most of us, prayer isn’t prayer; it’s more like a one-way letter. Let’s not allow our prayers to become one-way telegram to God. Let’s make sure to listen in our prayer life as well as share with God what’s on our minds and hearts.

What drives your prayers? Is it a desire only to tell God what you want? Or is it also a desire to also hear what God has in mind for you?

Q: What makes you believe Linux will continue to gain momentum?

A: I think, fundamentally, open source does tend to be more stable software. It’s the right way to do things. I compare it to science vs. witchcraft. In science, the whole system builds on people looking at other people’s results and building on top of them. In witchcraft, somebody had a small secret and guarded it — but never allowed others to really understand it and build on it.

Traditional software is like witchcraft. In history, witchcraft just died out. The same will happen in software. When problems get serious enough, you can’t have one person or one company guarding their secrets. You have to have everybody share in knowledge.

- Linus Torvalds

(link to source)

52 Proven Stress Reducers. All very good suggestions. I personally have found that prioritizing tasks can be extremely helpful.

Chimpanzees ‘hunt using spears’. “Chimpanzees were observed jabbing the spears into hollow trunks or branches, over and over again … The researchers say they were using enough force to injure an animal that may have been hiding inside.” Just goes to show you that, like humans, Chimps also enjoy torturing things that have no means of escape (think ants w/ a magnifying glass, pulling wings off fireflies). Yes, me linking to this was meant to make you chuckle

Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of different cars on the road? There are a lot of Chevrolet Monte Carlos too; but until I got a Monte Carlo I didn’t realize just how many there actually were! Once I had my car, all of a sudden I noticed all the other Monte Carlos. It seemed like everyone got the same model car as me at the same time as me because they just seemed to “appear” on the road at the same time as mine. The same is true no matter what car you drive, whether it be a BMW 3 series or a Pinto; all of a sudden you notice all the other cars on the road that are just like yours.

I’m experiencing a similar effect with Linux. All of a sudden I look around and notice all the people that are using Linux, and many of those are using Ubuntu just like me. While I was using Windows I was aware of those people who were also using Windows, mostly because a lot of people use it, and I was also keenly aware of those using Macs because all those Mac fanboys are so darn vocal about it ;). HAHAHA. But Linux users have always flown under my radar, I just wasn’t aware of people out there using Linux and how helpful they all are!

Who’s using Linux? Well, you’ve got a Donncha, a Jon, a Wil, and … well … that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Hey, how about this, if you’re using Linux let us know by leaving a comment and a link to your site below. Sweet, let’s get a list going here.

The Dog Ate it Manifesto is a list of 87 excuses for not doing your homework. I needed this back in high school.

Cleaker WordPress Theme. Nice colors, nifty 3-column layout. Good job, Adam!

New computers are always fun. Since I’ve started doing a lot of design work I quickly realized that I needed to upgrade my tools. I have been using a very small monitor, a very slow processor, very little RAM, and a very very small hard disk. The computer I’ve been designing on to date has the following specs:

• 17” CRT monitor
• 30 Gb Hard Disk
• 1.6 Ghz AMD processor
• 512 Mb of RAM

Today, thankfully, my new computer should be arriving from Dell with the following specs:

• 20” Ultrasharp LCD flat screen monitor
• 250 Gb Hard disk
• 2.8 Ghz Pentium

Really this is old news but I thought I’d post it anyway. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has complied a legal guide for bloggers. If you’re a serious blogger you really should give it a once-over.