Timelapse photos of our move to Sterling
Jennifer and I thought it would be cool to take some timelapse videos of our move to Sterling. We ran two cameras during the loading and cleaning process and one camera on the dashboard of the moving truck the next day. A few people have asked me how these are done, so basic instructions are [...]
Eight Steps to the Radically Transparent Church
Radical Transparency is all the rage right now. With President Obama opening access to government data in order to encourage transparency, more attention is being paid to the way that restricting information restricts collaboration, decision making, and progress. This is, however, a value derived strongly from the Internet – more specifically, from the Freedom Software [...]
Viola! New Theme!
I just got done implementing the Vigilance theme for my blog. I had started out working on my own theme, but I am a terrible designer and my site was very… iffy. With a very few minor modifications, though, Vigilance is working great. I blame Dean for the idea. Rather than tossing all my ideas [...]
Pay per use MS Office on the way?
A new Microsoft patent application was noticed by someone on Slashdot today. They want to offer Microsoft Office services on a pay-as-you-go basis. I took the liberty of fixing it so that everyone can see what this could eventually mean for the church. If you go with a system like this, you are dependent on [...]
Freedom Software vs. Freedomware?
I have proposed using the term “Freedom Software” instead of “Free Software” to describe software which gives its users the same freedom to redistribute or modify the code as the original developer. Of course, not everyone is convinced that that is the least confusing term. In this comment on an article about the Cisco open [...]
Closed File Formats and Christian Ethics
Professor Vern Sheridan Poythress, a Presbyterian seminary professor, has a great website where he has made a huge portion of his lifetime writings available completely free. On his site, he has published an article discussing the ethical implications of closed file formats. Poythress roots his discussion primarily in justice for people in the Third World [...]
The Coming Death or Rebirth of Church Publishing
Every church I’ve ever attended has had to spend time, energy, and money contending with copyright infringement. Every duplicated hymn in the bulletin, every extra copy of music for the musicians, etc. is potentially a source of copyright violations. Many churches work hard to prevent this kind of problem with organizations like CCLI (Christian Copyright [...]
The Christian Ethos of Freedom Software
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” – Matthew 18.20 The essence of the Christian life is community. This promise of Christ places God’s presence in the other, so that while God is present within each one of us, God’s presence is most available to us in [...]
“Freedom Software” versus “Free Software”
“‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy; …O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” – Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Perhaps the most frustrating thing for me as an advocate for the use of Free(dom) software in the church [...]