This just in from the “World’s Best Conspiracy Therory” department:

Have you heard of Halliburton’s devious plan for patenting patent litigation itself? I recently read about it on BoingBoing.net. Make sure to check out that post, otherwise the following revelation will not make much sense.

What I say now comes from inside sources: Watch for the Halliburton / Microsoft connection. Halliburton and Microsoft have some sort of secret deal going on, or one is about to buy the other. That way, ether Microsoft or “MicroBurton” will not only have a million stupid software patents, but a patent on patent lawsuits.

MicroBurton will finally make good on all those “Open Source infringement” threats, which will mean the end of legal, non MicroBurton-worshiping Linux (though Linux surely cannot be stopped). And for all you Mac fanboys out there, don’t think you are out of the hot water. If the Linux kernel itself has a crapload of supposed infringements, and Linux and BSD are quite similar, then don’t you think that OSX (which is BSD based) has code in it infringing MicroBurton patents as well?

Welcome to the future

P.S.

My inside source requested to remain anonymous, due to fear of Gitmo. Therefore I cannot back up any of the revilations in this post, but you know them to be true!

I have now had a few weeks to use my new Apple Macbook Pro in real life work situations. I bought this Mac after being disillusioned with Microsoft Vista and was really open to try anything. I must admit though, I felt a little trepidation about this move because of some of the bad things (myths) that I had heard being circulated in YWAM about Macs.

I am happy to report that so far, my move to the Apple platform has been an extremely pleasant experience and so I thought you might find my experiences on these myths useful. (If you are not a blog reader from YWAM, most of these still apply!)

Myth 1 - Switching to a Mac will require you to relearn how to use a computer all over again.

This is not true. If you can already use a Windows computer, then moving to a Mac will require a bit of learning of where things are at, but it is nothing at all like learning the computer all over again. In fact, I played with my Macbook Pro for part of one evening and got the hang of it very quickly. The interface, in my opinion, is in some ways simpler and cleaner. The change is not hard at all.

Myth 2 - Macs require special hardware.

This is also not true. My Mac has been able to work with everything in our home and YWAM offices, including a very old laser printer. I am certain that I will eventually find something that it won’t work with, but you will see this dynamic in play if you if you move from Microsoft XP to Vista as well, so it is something that is possible when you make a switch even within the same OS.

Myth 3 - Using a Mac will make it so you can’t work on a Windows network.

I was really expecting this to be a problem. However, what I have found is that it works within our home and YWAM offices just as any other Windows computer will. I can share folders, shoot files across the network, interface with my Windows server, etc. just as I could with my IBM Thinkpad. There has been no noticeable difference and in fact the transfer rates are faster than Vista.

Myth 4 - Macs have a proprietary operating system.

The reality is that Macs are now based on FreeBSD Unix. Unix is actually very common and this makes Macs a close cousin to Linuxes such as the very popular Ubuntu. Not only does a Mac base itself on this very mature operating system, but you can run bulk standard Unix programs particularly under the X11 interface. If you don’t understand anything that I have just written, just know that Apple’s move to Unix is extremely clever and uses one of the best operating systems in the world. Even some of my friends who don’t like Macs admit this was a good move.

Myth 5 - You will never experience any problems with a Mac.

This is false. Apples aren’t perfect. Just go to the Apple support forums and you will see what I mean. This shouldn’t be a surprise. Computers are just that way. That said, it is very, very stable and I have had no system crashes. No stuck hour glass or spinning circle. No “Unresponsive Application” messages. Nothing. Perfect performance. I should also say that on top of being stable, it is very, very fast. Will I never have a problem like a hard drive crash? No, but I have not experienced this level of stability on a laptop since Windows 2000. I can’t say the same for Vista.

Myth 6 - Macs don’t read Windows files.

Depends on what it is, but so far I have not found a common Windows file that I have not been able to read. Unless you are running some really specialized stuff, running macros, etc., you will just be using the Mac equivalents to open files. For 99% of users, this will not be a problem. For the 1% that is left, you can run Windows programs to open these specialized files on your Mac using VMware Fusion or Parallels. I have Fusion running Windows XP on my computer and it screams. At this stage, I don’t know of anything in the Windows world that I can’t do on my Mac.

Myth 7 - There aren’t many popular or free programs for the Mac.

This isn’t true. Most of my favorite software packages such as Skype, Word and Firefox have Mac versions. There is also a lot of free stuff out there as well.  Here is a link with a small sampling. However, loading up your computer with tonnes of stuff you don’t really need is one of the most common causes of problems and loss of speed. Regardless of what platform you have… Mac, Windows or Linux, my advice is to keep it lean and mean. Don’t run stuff you don’t absolutely just have to have.

Myth 8 - Macs are more expensive than PCs.

This is partly true. However, I generally don’t advise someone to go out and buy the cheapest computer that they can find. The reason for this is that if you invest in a good computer, you will have less trouble and it will last longer. Also, what do you get included with your purchase? If you have to go out and buy some of the programs that are included on a Mac, you will quickly begin to eat into any savings. It is true though, you will be spending a bit more up front for an Apple branded computer.

Myth 9 - You will be on your own for technical support and find no Mac friendly YWAM Centers.

Yes and no. Yes, you will be on your own for technical support, but this is generally the rule because we don’t have I.T. departments which can help you diagnose individual problems. For example, I had problems with my Vista laptop which were never looked at because there isn’t the staff to look into it. So most of my technical support I do through using Google and talking to other users. Also, as Mac usage has increased, there is a growing sympathy particularly at some YWAM Centers for Mac users. Oddly enough one of my biggest technical support issues has been trying to get Microsoft Entourage to talk nicely to Microsoft Exchange. It is ironic that two software packages made by the same company don’t always work well together!

Myth 10 - There are a lot of Mac snobs.

When I had a Windows laptop, I used to get jibes and pokes by Mac users telling me to get a real computer. Funny thing… now that I have a Mac, I have discovered there are a bunch of these guys on the Windows side who are ready to give me a hard time too. Some of the comments are as if I had just committed treason or worse. Why people make a fuss of this over other items such as which mobile phone I own, what sort of jeans I wear, etc. I don’t know. So in essence I have found that my Apple is a magnet for Mac haters. They just seem to pop out of the woodwork. I just thought this sort of thing happened when I had a Windows laptop! So this myth is true, but it works both ways.

So there’s 10 myths debunked for you. All this said, I am not promoting the Mac platform, because if you are quite happy with whatever you are using, then stick with it. However, if you need to consider options, hopefully some of this will give you confidence to look around.

Even if you disagree with most or all of what I have written, consider these trends: I read an article that said that for the first time in history at Princeton University, more Macs were purchased than PCs by students last year. I have also read a couple of studies that said up to 40% of university students will purchase a Mac over a Windows PC in the near future. These young people will be coming into YWAM and in the future running our projects. So in the near to short term future, we will be seeing a more diverse computing environment than what we have previously because our main consituents are youth. We need to be ready to figure out how to make this work, regardless of our biases.

I have been drawn to read books that were written before these contemporary times. Currently I am reading Charles Spurgeon’s “Pursuit of Holiness” which has been very good and I hope to blog on it in the near future. Reading books from different “eras” other than just from our present does a couple of things.

1. It gives us a perspective outside of our current era and cultural dynamics. Particularly in these contemporary times, some of the older works just have such precious simplicity and yet depth.
2. It also gives an indicator of what is really not that new. Sometimes we wrestle with an issue and perceive that we are the first generation to struggle!

For the same reason, I have also been reading articles and books from other parts of the church that I would not normally read. One such type of books is from the Christian church in Egypt, which has been around for thousands of years. While the customs of this cultural context might be a bit foreign to us at first from our white western perspective, these people genuinely love the Lord. For the same reasons, I find the simplicity and depth of some of their writings profound.

My friend and leader Lynn Green gave me a copy of “The Grain of Wheat” by a Christian monk named Father Matta El-Meskeen. This book is actually the transcript from a sermon he gave on John 12:24.

“unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone”

Father Matta starts his sermon on the very known subject in the Bible about our flesh and how the Spirit sets itself against the flesh. With a western mindset, I have read these scriptures many times, but have not understood the impact of these scriptures. I understand that the flesh must die and therefore providing a place for the resurrection power of Jesus to work, but how this practically works out and ties together is a mystery to me. In fact, I would have to say that in general that even though this truth is mentioned numerous times in scripture, it has often not been much of a priority for me!

After reviewing and refreshing your mind about what the Bible has to say about this, the bulk of the book then focuses on some of the practical outworkings of how to apply it.  In brief, these are the things he covers:

1. To be fully aware of what God is doing in us, to kill the old self and to bring to life the new one, and so perfect our salvation.
2. To accept all the means or measures God takes to fulfill His plan.
3. Not to put obstacles in the way of God completing His plan in due time.
4. Not to falsify God’s work, by pretending the old self is dead, when it is not, or to make it appear that it has developed into the mature new man, when it is still like a mere child or even an embryo.
5. Not to be anxious to take on spiritual responsibilities before being sure that we are spiritually mature.
6. To put ourselves completely in the hands of God, whose power is ever at work until a man’s spirit is made free.

Of these, the one that most impacted me was point 5. How often I have been ready to jump at responsibilities, new tasks and endeavors for the Kingdom and not counted the cost. I have not understood what is required beyond the practical, thereby relying on my talent and own human effort.

All points, however, were thought provoking. In fact, I have read this booklet at least four times now, each time getting a bit more out of it.

Unfortunately, this booklet is very hard to get a hold of. I was able to obtain my copy from the YWAM Bookshop in Harpenden because YWAM England has published this booklet. Here is the ISBN number for the booklet and I have noticed that you can download a ecopy of the book from the monstary’s website.

So if you are so inclined, this is a brilliant book and will provide a precious perspective on this passage of scripture from a middle eastern point of view. Excellent read and highly recommended!

For all of you that were at the freed for Life session on Tuesday 11th at the King’s Lodge, you can listen to the teaching on repentance again by clicking here

I grew up in the church when abortion became a really big deal. It was such that there was a few radicals that tainted the issue by burning abortion clinics, attacking abortionists, etc. I think between this and an onslaught of attack from pro-abortionists this issue has come off of the radar for many. The attack has branded you to be a angry, judgmental and narrow minded evangelical if you raise this topic at all. In fact, the reaction is one that intends to make you pay for even raising the subject.

The thing is, the issue has not gone away. It concerns me deeply because it is a reflective of a broader world view. I don’t judge people, but it does trouble me deeply for them personally and the state of society. If that puts me in the camp of being an judgmental evangelical that is tragic and not my intention.

Below is a quote that a friend showed me the other day from Mother Theresa on this subject. Mother Theresa summarizes some of what I feel and am concerned about.

“But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. “

So I pray and don’t judge. My feeling is that abortion is one of a handfull of issues that costs us way more than we dream or imagine. I pray that this fundamental concern for life will be back on the radar for Christians and non-Christians alike.

I have blogged before that I have a love for live albums because of the dynamic nature of them as opposed to studio music. This summer I picked up The I Heart Revolution album by Hillsong United. This album comes in two CDs. The first CD is from different Hillsong United concerts from different parts of the world. The second is just full of live music, presumably from their home base.

I particularly like disk 2 and probably my favourite song is “You’ll Come”. All the songs though are fantastic and are great to play when you are driving somewhere in the car.

If you know of any other live albums that I should check out, particularly in contemporary worship, let me know. I’m always looking for another brilliant one like this one.

Here are some living legends… The Gypsy Kings…

Apparently I have some loyal subscribers to my “Musical Collection”, so I’ll dedicate this one to Josh & Jake. Hope you guys enjoy this one.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

As I have recently mentioned, I have decided that early next year, when I switch web hosts, I’ll also be switching from the comfy confines of WordPress to a site made with Django. For those of you who want to follow along on this little journey, subscribe to this feed.

Since there are so many Django apps running wild on the Internet, I have decided that I will probably not actually write any myself for this project, to focus on practicing putting sites containing multiple apps together. This will change however if none of the candidates I have found for a category suit my purpose. Speaking of which, I’m beginning to notice that many of the apps available online have absolutely no documentation, which is a little frustrating. Perhaps I’ll pick a few pet projects in the future for a little documentation love.

Anyways, the features I am looking for are basic CMS functionality, blogging, photo gallery, bookmarking and site search. In hunting for some suitable apps online, I obtained more questions then answers, so I’m looking for advice. If you have a preferred app for any of these categories, please tell me about it in the comments below, along with why you like it.

Without further delay, here is my list:

CMS

Without hesitation, the winner in this category is Django CMS. It looks fully featured, easy to use, and it is from Switzerland. What could be better?

Blogging

There is no clear winner that I have decided upon yet, though I am leaning towards Socialblog. I could not find a great amount of info about any of the blogging apps available, so I’m leaning towards Socialblog simply because it is something that broke off of the Pinax project, which is one Django project that I happen to be quite impressed by. What I need for blogging isn’t all that advanced. So here are the list of contenders in the blogging category:

• Socialblog
• Coltrane Blog
• Basic Blog
• Diario
• Galaxy
• Liveblogging

Photo Gallery

In this category so far I have two main contenders, though I’m leaning more towards the first one on the list below. What I want in a photo gallery, besides basic “galleries,” is the ability for visitors to comment on individual photos, and tagging for both photos and entire galleries. Geo-location support would be nice too.

• Photologue
• Fleshin
  • note: I find this to be a rather odd name for a photo gallery app.

Bookmarks

I only found one app in this category, with the unique name of “bookmarks.” The project page gives absolutely no information on this app. If you know anything about this one, or know of any others, please leave a comment. I’m looking for something basic, with which I can create entries with titles, descriptions, URLs (duh!), and support for tagging.

Site Search

I want visitors to be able to search all of the content of my site, including CMS content, bookmarks, photo gallery content, and bookmarks. The ability to couple search queries with tags would be a great plus, but isn’t necessary. I’ve considered just using Google site search, but it takes time for new site content to make it into their indexes.

• Search
• Sphinx

So now you have seen my grand plan for world domination… er… a new website. To top it off, check out the fancy mind map below. Again, I’ll appreciate any advice you may have.

After a week of reading, thinking, playing around with code and talking to the friendly folks in #django on irc.freenode.net, I have decided that next year I will rebuild crashsystems.net with Django. Why last year, you might ask? I have been contemplating a switch of web host recently. Bluehost.com tech support is rather friendly and nice, but their server’s seem a bit slow, likely due to overselling. After a plethora of advice, some of which was conflicting, I have decided that I will switch to WebFaction.com, both due to general good reports by people who have purchased their services, as well as their support of Django 1.0.

As for why I’ve decided to switch to Django, there are several reasons. First of all, I’ve decided recently to start getting into server-side programming. With 1/3 of the world connected to the Internet, and the other 2/3 likely to be connected within the next two decades, website programming is not only a very useful skill, but a very important one as well. The reason why I’m switching my site to Django in specific is because I am already familiar with Python, and have heard a lot of good things about Django. This framework allows developers to launch fully functional websites with advanced features in a fraction of the time it would take to write all those features from the ground up in PHP, or even with Python without a framework, for that matter.

I think that moving my site to Django will be good incentive for me to practice what I am learning. Also, though such a site will require a little more work than a WordPress powered site, it will also be far more versatile as well. I still think that WordPress is a really good blogging platform / CMS. However, in being so easy to use, it does detract somewhat from potential versatility.

Besides, everyone and their mother has sites powered by WordPress, so why follow the crowd?

P.S.

I’ll be posting an update soon once I have decided upon what apps I’ll be using, features, etc.

P.P.S

For those of you on the Interwebs who would like to follow this little project of mine, I’ve created a “crashsystems.net-2.0″ tag. Subscribe to this feed to follow it via RSS.

Well, the election is over in the U.S. I don’t blog on political issues very much as it is not a domain for which I feel is my focus. I do pray very seriously for elections and vote. My prayer life is not perfect, but I do regularly pray for leaders in both the U.K. and U.S. as I live under both flags.

I think whether we are happy about the outcome or not, we need to be grateful for the fundamentals at work which were established by the founding fathers of the U.S. constitution. The first is that no one leader, regardless of how good they are, can stay indefinitely in power. There is an element of serving and then passing on “the power” so to speak. The second is that within certain guidelines, anyone can run for political office. I think though that the age of modern “professional” politics is not quite reflective of this and has its shortcomings at times. The third is that there can be a peaceful and orderly election where anyone who is a citizen in good standing can have a part in deciding the future through voting. All these things are wonderful. We shouldn’t worship them as holy or the only way, but it has so many things about it to celebrate.

There were also some very interesting dynamics around this election that disturbed me.

• I am very concerned about the amounts of money and length of time that has been spent campaigning. You could argue the U.S. is a large country, but at what point does campaigning become a war of resources instead of an examination of issues represented by candidates?
• I am not certain that the democratic process is well served by having only two main political parties. What about a third party?  I know there are pros and cons to this, but it is something that concerns me.
• I found it alarming the bias the media had in coverage of issues. This wasn’t exclusive to the U.S., but also here in Europe. At what point does media start to influence public position, rather present facts on both sides of an issue?
• I also found the daily drama in the media to almost create a “reality show” hype. The amount that this seem to consume and overtake focus at the expense of other things is concerning. It is important, but at what point does this dominate over family conversations at table, our prayer life, the news, etc.?

I am in no way being critical, but if my concerns are valid, these points will in the long term erode what was supposed to be a great public process.

The thing is, now that the election is over, this is far from over. Here are some of the things I am watchful in prayer over.

1. Freedom of Choice Act - Obama has said this is one of the first things he will do and I think this could be one of the biggest impacting pieces of legislation that America has ever passed. I think the implications of this could be more profound than many realise. I will be watching this very closely.
2. Supreme Court Appointees - More than likely, Obama will be making at least one supreme court appointee. In my view, these people have more say so than just about anyone else in the country about the fabric of society in regard to how law is applied. These appointments are for life and in some ways I am more concerned about this than presidential elections, so I will be watching to see who is appointed.
3. Federal Appointees - Similarly, Obama will be making a number of appointments to Federal government. These appointments are for life and probably will not receive any coverage media wise, but are part of the fabric of the American government.
4. The United Nations - A number of attempts to place broad and implicational verbage in U.N. resolutions under the banner of sexual reproductive rights has been opposed up until this point in the U.N. by two primary entities: The U.S. and the Vatican. I will be watching to see how this chemistry changes.
5. General Legislation - whether you liked Bush or not, Congress has been Democratically controlled since the last election and has increased it’s majority. This essentially means that there is not within the government much opposition should the majority decide to take a partisan position on legislation. I will be watching to see how they wield this power.

I am far from an economic expert, but I will also be casually keeping an eye on new tax legislation that effects small businesses and corporate tax reform. A number of businesses are struggling and if this is not done with delicate care, this economic downturn could be amplified.

On a positive note, it is wonderful to see a black president. It is cool that the country is in a place where it can be comfortable with voting for someone regardless of their color.  This is way cool.

So we watch, pray and hopefully work in a place of humility as Christians. It is interesting to note that even though Israel was occupied at the time, Jesus said very little about the Roman occupation. Jesus would have been instantly popular had he done this. Instead Jesus was giving us an example to focus on the kingdom of God coming in our own lives first. We must do this first before we engage in our duty to vote or work in government if we are called to that domain.

We’ll see what history says about this presidentical decision. I pray and hope for the best.

I am continuing reading a trail of books which provoke me to examine my life. This book by Bruce Wilkinson, Secrets of the Vine, focuses on one my most favourite passages of scripture, John 15. This is the passage of the vine and branches.  “I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit…” John 15:5

Bruce emphasizes many aspects of John 15 that would be known to many of us, but he also raises some new insights that I had not considered before. One which has stuck with me since reading this book is the passage of scripture “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away.” John 15:2  A few snippits from what Bruce wrote:

What a troubling thought! Some Bible teachers have intrepreted this verse to mean that if you bear no fruit, you can’t be a Christian. Other have said “takes away” means if you persist in a life without showing evidence of your salvation, you lose it…

…a clearer translation of the Greek work airo, rendered in John 15 as “take away” would be “take up” or “lift up”. We find accurate renderings of airo, for example when the disciples “took up” twelve baskets of food after feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:20), when Simon was forced to “bear” Christ’s (Mathew 27:32), and when John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who “takes away” the sin of the world (John 1:29) In fact, in both the Bible and in Greek literature, airo never means “cut off”. Therefore, when some Bibles render the word as “takes away” or “cut off” in John 15, it is an unfortunate interpretation rather than a clear translation. “Lifts up” suggest an image of a vinedresser leaning over to lift up a branch…

Bruce Wilkinson,  Secrets of the Vine, (Oregon: Multnomah Publishing Inc, 2001) 31-32

Bruce then goes on to recount an experience that he had when he met a vinedresser who explained the value of branches and that when they are in the dirt, he lifts it up, seeking to place it so that it can reach its full potential. The ultimate desire of the vinedresser is that the branch would bear fruit. Lots of it!

He also goes on to describe the difference between pruning and discipline. I think this is so important. The key difference of what needs to go in pruning is self and the thing that needs to go in discipline is sin. Understanding what is God’s objective in both events helps us understand what our focus is to be.

There are many other things about the book that struck me. The importance of forgiveness. I think unforgiveness is one of the most caustic things to our well being. Carrying unforgiveness for many years results in deep cyncicism and bitterness. The opposite releases unconditional joy and peace. He also makes a point about how getting up at 5:00 a.m. to spend time with the Lord every morning was a turning point for him.

I could go on, but this book is not very long. It is only 126 small pages. But as it seems with a lot of little books, it has a lot of punch. In fact, often I only wind up reading a chapter a day because I want to meditate as much as possible about the items of discussion before moving on too quickly.

I highly recommend this book. It is a great read and will enrich anyone who wants to dig into John 15 or just wants to know about greater fruitfulness.

So this past week I was able to create a wireless internet bridge from one building with internet access to our new residence with no real viable prospect of internet access. The story goes like this. We moved into a farmhouse just 200m from the YWAM location. We contacted Lattelekom and they said, “You’ll have to pay 1500 Ls to get internet to your house” (that’s about $2700 USD or 2100 Euros) and we said, “Uh uh!”

So, with the help of DD-WRT & a couple of Linksys WRT54GL wireless broadband routers, I created a link that my wife & I are both using even now. Here’s the line of sight:

After many, many years of being a DOS, then windows user, I went back to my first roots computing wise and bought an Apple Macbook Pro. I was disillusioned with Windows Vista, which I have blogged about several times on here.

So after taking the plunge, I thought I would blog about my first week with it. I haven’t had a lot of time to use it, but here are my first impressions.

THE GOOD:

• It is fast. Let me say it again to give it the appropriate emphasis… it is very, very fast. It has been ages since I sat down at a computer and I thought, “Wow, that loaded fast!”. The entire operating system loads in 35 seconds, as opposed to 4 minutes and 15 seconds on my IBM Thinkpad. Along with a lightweight antivirus, my Thinkpad only runs the minimal necessary software to utilise all the features, but still it takes a long time to boot up Vista. Also the sleep function on my MacBook is extremely fast. When you lift the lid from it being in a sleep state, it is already up and running by the time you have it fully open. Applications are snappy and everything responds with laser light speed. I am impressed.
• OS X is a great interface. The design of Mac’s version of Windows is clean, intuitive and very pleasing on the eye. I have found it very simple to use and a fairly easy jump from Windows to find everything as it seems very user friendly. The designers of the OS X interface know what they are doing.
• Design Quality is Awesome. This new MacBook is built utilizing a new process that Apple has created which uses a single brick of aluminum. As a result, it seems very, very solid. The keyboard is very well done and the new buttonless trackpad is so nice, it would be a shame to connect an external mouse to the laptop. I love the screen and there are little features, such as a sensor that can tell when you are in dim light, so it adjusts the screen brightness accordingly and switches on a backlight for the keys. There are many other refinements which I could go on about that one discovers over time.
• Great Software Included. The software included with the Mac such as iMovie, iCal, Garage Band, etc is so good, that you really don’t need to buy additional software unless you are a power user. In my case, I work in a team that collaborates using Microsoft products, so I have had to obtain a copy of Office 2008 for the Mac. If it wasn’t for this, I could easily see myself needing very little additional software simply because the stuff built in is so great. As Macs are a bit more expensive than their PC counter parts, this software included is a very real argument on offsetting the costs as you would most likely have to buy some of this software anyway for a Windows computer.
• UNIX rocks. I studied UNIX in college, so when I need to go beyond the interface, I can go to a command line to do things. For instance, I needed the ethernet interface addresses to register my Macbook on our office network. I knew there was probably some way to get this information out of the interface, but as I know UNIX, I went to the command line and typed: “ifconfig /all | grep ether” and instantly had what I wanted. Having BSD UNIX underneath is not only very secure and stable, but very, very powerful. I also might mention that X11 programes written for UNIX will also run on the Mac.

THE BAD:

• A fly in the ointment. There has to be something to gripe about and this is it. As I have started to use it, I have noticed at times a small lag time before I can use the trackpad after typing. At first I thought this was a feature to help you minimize messing up your typing if you accidentally brush your hand up against the trackpad. This is actually a customizable feature that I have read about for the MacBook Air.  So when I called Apple Care about how to adjust this lag time, they proceeded to tell me that actually this is not a feature. After a few tests, they told me that I shouldn’t put up with this and that they were going to ship me a new one. Now to some who don’t like Apple, this will be proof that Macs aren’t perfect. However, accepting that no computers are perfect, I would have to say that Apple Care has been awesome.  When I called them and the subsequent calls to set up the delivery of a replacement, every time I have made it through to a very knowledgeable technician with no waiting times. Also, in all my years of computing, I have never had any company offer to replace something that was not absolutely perfect and found their technicians to be so good. I might mention that my IBM Thinkpad developed a problem with the trackpad in the first week and to the opposite, IBM did not offer me a replacement, after numerous calls asked me to ship it to Scotland to be repaired and on top of that I had to pay for the shipping!
• Entourage - A minor bad. We use Exchange 2003 at Highfield Oval for calendaring and messaging, so this means we need to use Microsoft Outlook. Like it or love it, I have used Outlook since 1999 as my personal information manager. The only thing for Macs to do the same thing is Microsoft Entourage.  Whilst Microsoft Entourage works, its some years behind Outlook in refinements. Its tolerable, but it is a step down. Snow Leopard 10.6 OSX which is due to be released next year is supposed to have Exchange support built in, so we’ll see if when this is released if I can abandon Entourage. Or by that time Entourage might have been improved.  In either case, it is a small compromise in the meantime that I have to make.
• Glossy Screen - Another minor bad… the new MacBook Pro only comes with a glossy screen. I would have gone for a matt version had it been available, but Apple has discontinued this option. That said, it is only bad because I don’t have the option to fulfill my preference and in general the screen is brilliant. In fact, this screen is way better than my IBM Thinkpad by a long way.

So all in all, I am very, very impressed. I have set up Windows XP in VMware Fusion to run my Logos Bible Software and to act as insurance for anything else that is in Windows that I might need or want to run. What I will say about running Windows on Mac is that it is also impressively quick. In fact as quick or quicker than it running solely on native hardware that we currently have at the house.  When Logos Bible Software for Mac is out of Beta, I’ll switch from the Windows version, but in the meantime Fusion will let me run the Windows version.

At this stage, I have no regrets. In fact, it is hard to imagine going back to Windows because this is such an enjoyable laptop to work on.  I just wanted it to work and to be fast. Aside from the trackpad issue, it is ticking the boxes in every way and at least at this stage, I have not come up with any reason why I shouldn’t have done this a long time ago.

I’ll blog again in another four to six weeks to let you know how this transition went. So far, so good!

In transit “A bend in the road is not the end of the road, as long as you make the turn.”  Unknown Years ago, my wife Rite and I were leading a team of young people to West Africa and the cheapest flight was with a Russian airline via Moscow.  Unfortunately, it was before the wall had [...]

Today is the first day that Marti is not feeling significant nausea. It has diminished steadily over the past four days and is almost gone. She has one painful mouth ulcer, but at this stage last time, her mouth was full of them. So, we feel we can safely conclude that the [...]

It seems that just about every month, someone I know has their email, Paypal, Facebook/Myspace, etc. account “hacked.” Though most of the tricks these “hackers” use are often easily avoidable, most Internet users wouldn’t know how to stay safe online if their life depended upon it. In this article I am going to explain, in terms anyone can understand, how the average person can avoid the biggest traps on the net.

As is the case with much in the field of security, the more useful something is, the less secure it is. The safest computer is the computer not connected to a network. I could easily write a guide for the safest web browsing possible, but it would make things very inconvenient, as the guide would cut out much of what makes the Internet useful. Instead, I am going to try to seek a balance between safety and usability. Most of what I will say in this post pertains to everyone on the Internet, no matter if they are using Windows, Mac or Linux. There will be some bits that are specifically for Windows though, as Windows is by far the most vulnerable operating system. If you want a truly secure and easy to use computing experience, switch to Linux.

Browsing Best Practices

Though using secure software is rather important, by far the most important component is the behavior of the user. I have a friend who uses her first name as the password on her computer. It would not matter if her laptop was the digital equivalent of Fort Knox: her bad choice made her computer’s security of no use.

Picking Good Passwords

Obviously using a strong password is important, but what makes a password strong? The general public is just beginning to figure out that your mother’s maiden name might not be the best choice, but there is a lot more to it than that. First I will explain what a bad password looks like, and then I’ll give you some tips for making a good one.

The first rule is that anything that is a matter of public record should be off limits. However, with more and more of our lives happening on the Internet, the number of things that are a matter of pubic record is quickly growing. Would your third grade teacher’s name make a good password? I’m sure there is an official record of that somewhere, and you may have even discussed it with a friend on Facebook. What about your first dog’s name? I hope you took it to the vet some time, and if so, there is a record of that somewhere. Also, don’t base the password upon anything that you might have ever talked about before ether via email or instant messaging, as both are trivially easy to intercept.

Also, just a simple combination of words that can be found in the dictionary is a bad idea. Why? Usually a computer program trying to find your password will launch what is known as a “dictionary attack.” This means it will systematically try every word combination in it’s dictionary, until it finds a match. You might be surprised how fast that match can be found, as a computer can try thousands of combinations per second. Also, you must redefine your definition of a “dictionary,” as these custom made dictionaries always include common misspellings of words, slang, words that are not actually in any official dictionary yet, etc.

So what would a good password look like? The two things that matter most in a password is complexity and length. When I say complexity, the goal is to make sure that any computer trying to guess your password cannot make any assumptions about that password. For example, if your password is a few words, then it can be assumed that some combination from a dictionary would work. However, if you also use numbers with those words, then the addition of the numerals 0 – 9 increases the number of possibilities many hundreds of thousands of times over. Also, if you mix upper and lower case, you are again increasing the number of possible combinations exponentially. However, the best scenario is that the computer cannot assume that anything in your password can be found in a dictionary. This increases the number of possible combinations by some absurdly large number.

While reading online about the subject, you’ll see a lot of fuss made about complexity. However, length is rather important as well. In fact, a short but complex password is rather easy for a computer to guess. Lets say that your password was as random as imaginable, meaning that you used a combination of random letters in both cases (a – z and A – Z), random digits (0 – 9), and all the special characters (!, $, &, etc). With this, you would need a password 20 characters in length to be absurdly unbreakable with modern technology. With “sryx829$@5FJS%@IUE09” as your password, even the US government isn’t going to be able to crack it. Of course, that password is much more difficult to remember as “jack” (the name of my parent’s dog).

Lets throw out complexity for just a moment, and say that your password was just random words. You would need eight random words to reach a point where the complexity was high enough that trying to guess the password with a computer would not be practical. This would be much easier to type, but also not very easy to remember.

For most people, having the truly perfect password is not going to work, because they will never remember it. Therefore I suggest a middle ground, something less than perfectly secure, not difficult to remember and yet stronger than the vast majority of passwords in use today. I suggest the following five step process for picking your password:

1. Pick about three random words (give or take a few).
   Example: balloon quickly strange
2. Add some random capitol letters.
   Example: ballooN Quickly sTrange
3. If you have spent much time online, you have probably noticed that some people randomly substitute letters for numbers, just for the fun of it. Some common combinations are ‘3′ for ‘E’, ‘0′ for ‘O’ and ‘1′ for ‘L’. Do something similar with your password, but don’t necessarily use the same combinations that I used.
   Example: ball00N Quickly sTrang3
4. To top it off, add some special characters.
   Example: (ball00N-Quickly=sTrang3)

Since this method allows the attacker to make certain assumptions about your password, it is far from being perfectly secure. However, the number of assumptions that can be made are far fewer than the average password. Also, the length of the password made with this method is long enough that a computer will need to spend a long time trying to guess it (potentially as long as several months).

Needless to say, such a password will take a little while to memories. Write it down on a small piece of paper, and stick this in your wallet/purse. Quiz yourself on it on a regular bases, and if it is a password you use often, it will probably only take a week to memorize. Once it is memorized, ether burn the piece of paper, or lock it in a fireproof safe, if you have one.

Now that you have created a good password, you can pat yourself on the back, as the single hardest part of safely using the web is now over. However, you must be careful how you use that password, or else all your hard work is waisted.

Saved Passwords

Many web browsers have a fancy little feature that will remember your password for you. Never use it! In fact, you should disable the feature, so you will never be tempted. Not only does this increase the chances of you forgetting your own password, but this makes it very easy for any virus on your computer to retrieve your passwords (more on viruses in a moment).

“Secret” Questions

Also, the so called “secret questions” are nothing but a trap, seeing as the answers to the questions are rarely secret. A perfect example of this is the recent “hack” of Sarah Palin’s email account. Basically, the perpetrator went to the secret question password reset page for Palin’s email account, and took a look at the questions. After 45 minutes of research on Google and Wikipedia, he found that the answer to “where did you meet your spouse” was “Wasilla high.”

So the best thing to do is not to use secret questions. However, some accounts force the use of them. In this case, pick something like “my favorite hobby,” and enter something long and random such as “secret questions are stupid and dangerous, so I’m not telling you the answer!”

Personal Info And Privacy Policies

Unless you enjoy receiving Viagra advertisements every day, you need to be careful who you trust with your personal information. First of all, when signing up for any account online, it is best to give no more personal info that what is absolutely necessary. Secondly, you need to check out the privacy policy.

When signing up for an account anywhere online, you usually must click a button or check a box saying that you agree to the privacy policy. Most people don’t read it, but you should. Skim reading certainly comes in handy, but you are basically looking for something that says that your personally identifiable information will not be shared with any third party, for any reason. If you cannot find a statement to that effect, do not sign up for the account, or create a second “spam” email address for signing up with such services.

Don’t Browse Without Protection

In the first section I covered best practices for when you are browsing the web. Next I will give you some simple tips for protecting the browsing experience itself.

As I briefly mentioned at the beginning, Windows is by far the must insecure operating system on the planet. Mac OSX much, much more secure than Windows, but is not perfect. Linux however comes the closest to security perfection, plus is the cheapest of the three systems (aka free). For users of OSX and Linux the next two tips are unnecessary, though Windows users should pay close attention. The last tip (Use Firefox) is for all three systems.

Viruses, Worms And Other Nasty Bugs

The number of wide spread viruses that can attack Windows is into the hundreds of thousands. By far the most important thing for a Windows user to do the first time they turn on their computer is install some anti-virus software. Most PC vendors put ether Norton or McAfee on their computers, but both of these slow down your system, plus cost money to use.

The best in my opinion is AVG, which provides high quality protection without slowing down the computer. AVG is a free download, but feel free to pay some money for a few extra bells and whistles.

Use A Separate Account

On Windows everyone who uses the system has an account (even if there is only one account on the system, in which case you never see the login screen). By default, each account has full administrator privileges, which gives the user the power to install software and change settings. If a virus gets past the anti-virus software (and eventually it will), being on an administrator account makes it much easier for the virus to go crazy on your system.

I recommend that you create two accounts on your Windows computer, one named “admin,” and another with your own name. Both accounts should have different passwords. Admin of course is where you would go to install software or change system settings. Make your personal account an unprivileged account, and use it for your normal computer usage. If a virus does get onto your computer, this is often an effective form of damage control.

Use Firefox

Simply put, Firefox is not only the most secure web browser on the planet, it is rather cool too. One of it’s great features is that whenever you visit a page, it will automatically check to see if that site is suspected of doing naughty things, such as spreading viruses or conning you into giving it your bank account number. Especially if you are running Windows on your computer, you need to upgrade to Firefox, as Internet Explorer is a security nightmare. Go to Mozilla.com to download the newest version.

Not only is Firefox secure right out of the box, but you can easily add extensions that make your browsing experience both more secure and more pleasant. Below I have listed several extensions that you should download immediately.

• Adblock Plus: Though not a security enhancing extension, Adblock plus blocks advertisements on the websites that you visit. This is especially useful for sites that display advertisements with disagreeable content.
• Perspectives: When logging into most websites, such as an email account or bank account, your password is protected in transmission with encryption. To insure that you are only giving your password to trusted sites, these login pages are digitally signed with what is known as a certificate. Like a signature that is impossible to forge, these certificates help insure that your browser is sending your password to the right place. However, sometimes the signature cannot be validated. This validation failure is usually just a technical glitch, but can sometimes mean that an attacker has tricked you into going onto a fake login page, so he can steal your password. Ether way, you will see a certificate warning. What the Perspectives extension does is ask a series of “Notary Servers” if they have seen this certificate before. If the notary servers have consistently seen the certificate in the past, then it is very unlikely that someone has sent you to a fake login page. If not, then you should leave that site immediately
• Dr. Web LinkChecker (Windows only): It is important for Windows users to scan any download for potential viruses. This extension allows you to right-click the download link from any web page, and scan the file prior to downloading it.
• Web Of Trust (WOT): The idea behind WOT is whenever a user of the extension finds a suspicious site, they use the extension to report it. As more visitors rate the trustworthiness of the site, it builds up a grade, which is automatically displayed on links in Firefox. So whenever you are about to click on a link, you can see if other users trust the site.

Conclusion

That is all there really is to safe web browsing. While using the Internet will always include a certain amount of risk, following the tips just described will keep the average user away from the most common dangers of the web. If you have any questions regarding the guide, please post a comment below, and I’ll answer the question as best I can. Happy browsing!

Update - 22 October 08

After using the extension a little more, I have found that tweaking some of it’s settings can make WOT much nicer. To access it’s settings, ether go to Tools/WOT/Settings. Then in the “Searching” section, check “Show only negative ratings” to only see ratings for sites that you should be cautious when visiting. You’ll still be able to move your mouse to the area just right of the link to see a rating for any other site.