Quick request

Hey, nerds and nerdy visitors, I have a favor to ask of you. Some of my friends are going through some deep and powerful things, things that are rooted in years and years of pain within the family, and now they're trying to sort it all out. Some other friends are helping them through this, mediating and guiding with the goal of this all turning out to be healthy and life-changing. They all met for hours last night (into the wee sma's) and God did some tremendous things.

So here's the favor: I'd be very grateful if you would pray for both of these families, that they will seek God's will and that He will heal these ancient and new wounds. This is, of course, an ongoing process, but please especially pray this evening (starting around 6pm MST to be specific) when they'll be meeting again. Thank you!

optical media

www.shop4tech.com
10% off coupon: Gift10
good price on dvd media.
i've been pleasantly surprised by the Sonic 1x-4x DVD-R media.

Fulfill, Part 1: the Passage

i felt that for people to comment on our meaty friend's question about fulfill they may need a little proding. so i decided to make it a new post and also to give a little framework to it. (i will be working from the NRSV mostly and will try to remember to cite other versions as applicable.)

one of the most notable passages that contains fulfill is in Matthew 5. this chapter is an excellent one to read in its entirity, and we'll get most of it, but we'll start in verse 13 and end with verse 48. i reccommend slow thoughtful reading even if you remember this passage.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lgihting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good workds and give glory to your Father in heaven.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truely I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
"You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother of sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You foo,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So whne you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose oneof your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that nayone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven , for it is the throne of Go0d, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by the had, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, Yes,' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward to you have? Do not even the tax collectors do teh same? And if you greet only your borthers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

to me there are three key concepts hidden in words that i will study further: abolish, fulfill, and perfect. i will write a brief word study on each of these words in the coming days. and then, i think i will be prepared to discuss what Jesus meant by "I have come not to abolish but to fulfill."

day off?

who else has el presidente's day off?
it sure was tough getting up this morning after watching nearly all 3 of The Lord of the Rings - man we sure got lucky on that library visit.

Fire Hazard?

so i like to read bbc news on my yahoo page.... which led me to an article about the xbox possibly having a fire issue with its cable. which made think i might know someone who owns an xbox.... sure enough i do. so check that manufacture date you nerd!

its kevin

light engine.

hello nerds.
dust off those pointed hats, i'm looking for feedback on TWO (count them, 2) things here.

1. What is the most optimized shape?
2. What is a recommend method for construction, medium to retain the shape, and reflective surface/coating?

Problem:
I've about 220mm between the lamp and the lcd screen. the screen has a surface area about 30.5 cm across. 22.75 cm high. ~38cm diagonal. I'm looking for the 'best' reflective shape and surface (reasonable here people, like mylar, not gold) to get the MOST light through the screen and ideally EVEN on the screen, i don't want to burn a hole in the middle of the lcd!


link this got me thinking.


The bulb i'm using is about 1.8" in diameter and 9" long, just a cylandar. it puts out at startup about 40k lumens, and a mean lumens of 32k.



I was considering mounting it horizontal across the back (punch two holes and push the lamp through).
If the ellipse reflector is back enough from the focal point where the lamp is at, maybe those 2" holes wouldn't hurt as much.

I was considering building a modified egg ellipse (I beleive made with 3 points instead of two) so the light would spread out to the entire 15" panel instead of converging to a point.

check out the ellipse with pins and string method of construction . it looks like i was paying attention in geometry! because the 15" panel is not square, our best shape is going to be an Ellipsoid (rotate the render for another angel) but i'm still figuring out poors mans tools to make an egg ellipse into an ellipsoid with the right properties. who needs calculus? i've got a drill and a pen...

Anyone have any ideas for a reflective surface - whether paint, or film, like mylar?
mylar is listed as having a melting point of 254 degrees C. I wonder how much before that it starts to not reflect light like we want it to?

things my flatmate does

by accident I ran across Things I hate about my Flatmate and it looks a bit intriguing.

recent comments; hack the hack

well, it seems blogger changed it's date options for posts and RESET everyone to a shorter date which screwed up the recent comments hack.
I changed the date stamp for comments back to the one we can parse for recent comments hack and then got to looking at all the bloated space those full dates takek up.
i re-implemented the recent comments hack wiht KEVIN's version.

it's hard to read at first, but give it a few days and let me know if you like it.

year of the.....?

so today on Google, it had a special google symbol cause its chinesse new year or something. me and a coworker did 30 seconds of snooping and ran across this


it turns out 1977 was the year of the FIRE SNAKE. how cool is that? you can find out what year you are HERE

filezilla ftp server.

if you guys need a nicely equiped ftp server (and client that i've not tried out yet), are sick of putting up with IIS's 'native FTP' limitations, and have not found another solution:
FileZilla may be your rescue. it's got some fancy accounts mangement, homefolder/ refernece folder stuff, and some fancy encryption plust fxp attack blocking.

I think i'll start using it.

no sabbath?

I got this from a coworker at work.

from Moody Bible Institute
Founder's Week
Jan31-Feb5,2005

its a little pamplet, on P13. I'm retyping quickly so I appolgize for type-o's


Q:
Does Genesis 2:3, which predates moses and the ten commandments mean that observance of the sabbath is binding on us Christians as it was on Jews?

A:
A compplete answer requires more space than we can allot to the issue here. However, here is my answer to the question on posed. No, observance of the sabbath is not binding on Christians. Genesis 2:3 has no bearing on the subjct; it notes only that God rested on the seventh day. The seventh day was not ahllowed (established as a day to be observed) until centuries later--at the time of the events described in exodus 16:22-30. Then, it was given to the people of israel, not the gentile world. It was also unique amongh the Ten Commandments in that it alone was not morally bniding forever. In the eternal state, it would be wrong to worhsip false gods, to bear false witness, etc. But there was no evidence that the sabbath would be observed. It was a temporary commandment given exclusively to the people of israel.

what do ye nerds say to that?

Capacitor vs Battery

i think it was last week i was talking with a certain someone about capacitors; although i can't remember in what context we were exactly talking. today i was reading to keep up on some of my chemistry knowledge and came across an article on ultracapacitors. which eventually let me to this capacitor, which if i am reading its data sheet correctly it says it is 5000 F. this struck me as a wow! because i though capacitors were lucky to get into the millifarad range...

then i read a little bit more and found this article about ultracapacitors. but it still seems a bit like the capacitor is a battery. it is interesting and gives some good rumination material.

gmail invites off the chart

http://isnoop.net/gmailomatic.php
this place use to only have between 1-5 availble at a time. now it's up to about 49,000. I think i've sent it at least 75 in the past few days. gmail must have decided it wants to flood the market with invites.

GiveAndTake is another goup using more conventional methods of collection and distrobution.

in the day and age when people are selling and more selling invites, this is pretty cool.

"I'm Invincible!"

some of you may recall a simpson's episode that had mr. burns have every disease and he declared himself invincible. mostly this attitude of invincibility is reserved for the young, though. they think that extreme sports and other dangerous activities won't affect them. here's a story on a study that shows what is probably an everyday task for many young people makes them not so invincible. talking on a cell phone while driving makes young people old. however it did show that old people can talk on a cell phone without aging further, which is interesting; perhaps the old are invincible.

my favorite quote of the story is, "In fact, motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding .08, Strayer and colleague Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology, found during research conducted in 2003." now i'd believe that!

solder with your getto toaster oven

http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200006/oven_art.htm
made for a good read of what is possible.
i was also inturested in using someting like you'd use to repair your broken defrost wires for your car - something like http://www.frostfighter.com/ff_pdt_2100.htm as that baby has got to be conductive...

lcd screen 15"

http://www.icuepc.com/www/productdetail.asp?did=353

The price just fell at icuepc to $169.00 and free shipping for the
CMV CT-520D 15" LCD w/Speakers & DVI_D and D-sub
500:1 contrast, 16ms response

I think i'll get one. we'll see what the innards look like.

This sale is over at 2/1/2005 1730pst.

I choose this display because the quality is ALMOST as good as the BenQ line - and a bit cheeper AND it has dual inputs (i'd need another 50$ to get a benq with that)
the innards are untested for wiriing issues for use in a projecter, but i'm about to find out. It's got excellent specs (although not always an indication of viewable quality, this company is definatly in te top 70%) and dual inputs. the inputs is what made my decicions. future compatible.

Edit:
icuepc.com - 3 dead pixel return policy.
newegg.com - 8 dead pixel return policy (and many panels are only warentied throuh the manufacture - especially the more inexpensive panels)

It's that time again...

Rabbit rabbit!