Monthly Archives: May 2007

I've Been Quoted…

May 17, 2007 – 9:26 am

..in a real, honest-to-goodness, book no less: Religion and Technology in the 21st Century: Faith in the E-world. That link should take you to the page where I’m quoted while highlighting my name. The quote’s from an article I did way back in 2001 for Suite101, The Internet Church?.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. I posted to a message board around that time as well, and the post made it into Making Sense of Church.

Some day I won’t even have to write a book; I’ll just compile my greatest hits.

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Technology Websites

Flickrvision

May 16, 2007 – 11:08 pm

Addictive much? Possibly, depending on your level of acceptable and anonymous voyeurism. Sounds worse than it is. Flickrvision presents realtime Flickr photos as they’re geotagged to Google maps. If that didn’t make sense, just see Flickrvision in action. Weddings, car crashes, feet, family photos, hangover cures, pets…you name it, you’ll most likely see it. When will we get to the point where there’s a site like Flickrvision, but for video, where you can zoom in on any city and see someone’s live broadcast? It’s coming. You know it is. How long watching Flickrvision until you recognize someone?

I’m more and more impressed with what people can mashup. Thank goodness for open APIs and an increasingly colloborative online community.

I almost forgot to mention Twittervision. It’s just as enthralling. Although you’ll most likely just get updates on a person’s daily humdrum activities, sometimes words of wisdom, ancient koans, and thoughtful haiku are waiting to be read.

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The Church Websites

Meebo Rooms Released

May 15, 2007 – 9:56 pm

I’d heard of Meebo a few months ago, and, like most web services of interest, I sign up, only to use the service for a few weeks to try it out, and only to forego using it continually either for something a little different, or because it really doesn’t serve a need I have. Meebo was like that at the beginning. Essentially, it’s a web-based Instant Messenger that interfaces with a variety of other IM clients, like MSN, Google, Yahoo, etc. It is useful, but I’d gotten away from IM’ing, so I hadn’t used it much.

Enter Meebo Rooms. Meebo Rooms are easily embeddable, public or private, chat rooms. There’s a variety of public rooms to pick from, or you can just add an “I’m Awesome” chat room to your own site. As for me, I created one for my church website for visitors to ask questions. Of course, one of the staff members this morning created a role in the chat room, pretended to be a visitor interested in the church, and played me for awhile, but I eventually caught on, even though he did do a good job of covering his tracks. He’s forever lost the engraved pens I was going to get him for Christmas. Or receiving any Photoshop help. Or promotion of his events.

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Writing

The Story of My Life

May 14, 2007 – 8:31 pm

I began writing my story a few days ago. It’s a vain attempt, in both meanings of the term, to recall my life thus far. Age brings some sense of discernment as to past events. It’s helpful and sometimes cathartic, to relive painful moments only to realize that they were necessary. I’m going year by year, attempting to remember events, people, stories…It’s amazing how much I’ve forgotten. Or, conversely, how much I remember after stewing on a time period or subject. It’s also turning into a bit of a research project, as questions arise as to the timing of events, or someone’s name, or a motivation for action. Sometimes I guess. What’s more fun, since this is a personal project likely to never see the light of day in someone else’s hands, is commenting on a person or event. This is where it gets more therapeutic than anything else. I recommend the practice to everyone. It’s surely cheaper than actual therapy.

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Television

Friday Night Lights Has Been Renewed!

May 10, 2007 – 10:59 pm

If you appreciate good television, great acting, and a plot worth caring about, you should be watching this show. It may be based on a movie that’s based on a book that’s about football, but the show is much, much more than football. It was truly one of the best new shows of the last season.

I’m ecstatic that NBC has renewed Friday Night Lights. It hasn’t been extremely popular, but it’s been a ‘critic’s favorite’ since its inception. I’m more partial to the show as well because much of it is filmed in Austin and most of the actors live in Austin. They’re going to run the first season again this summer, so if you didn’t get a chance to see it, set your DVRs. Apparently the DVD set for the first season will be out before the next season as well. This is the best news I’ve heard today!

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