Category: techno

What’s happening in Hay Springs?

So I was nosing around geocaching.com today and found out about webcam caches.
Very cool. Basically you go find the webcam and either connect to the Internet with a Wi-Fi device and record a picture of you waving to the camera – or ask someone at home to record the picture.
Found out there’s a webcam on Main Street in Hay Springs, Nebraska where my Uncle Marvin lives.
I’m waiting to see if he ever shows up – I may be waiting a long time.
Either way – always fun to see what’s going on around the world.

Follow along

New blog on church technology

Digital.leadnet.org has a new blog on church technology.
I believe the site “opened” today.
One of the first posts on the blog discusses the ways txt messaging from cell phones is changing relationships and possibly the church.

Over dinner one night, I’m talking with Dave Browning, who pastors Christ the King Community Church. He described the difference in technology use in Africa, where getting internet access is rather challenging, but everyone has a cell phone. So we explored how he might use text messaging as a means to communicate and equip his multi-site church leaders in Africa from where he is in Burlington, Washington. (I’ll tell you more about a back door way to do this in a future post.)
Then over a breakfast conversation, I’m talking with 2 parents who are amazed at what their teenage children are doing with txting. One parent described how some txters are so proficient with their cell phone keypad entry that they can txt underneath the desk in class. Yes, a hi-tech way for passing notes in class. One other parent confessed that she was not a txter, and she gets pleas for help with errands from her son, but because she doesn’t know how to read txt msgs on her cell phone, one of her sons sends a text message to another son in another state, who then in turn calls Mom to relay the message by a cell phone call!

It will be interesting to see where this blog with a number of tech-savy contributors heads.
And speaking of txt messaging, how has it changed your relationships or church?

Flickr went down today :-(

One of my favorite sites in the world, Flickr, went down today – just as I wanted to find a photo of Jerusalem.
Drats.
But what I love about Flickr is the way they handle their problems. Here’s the post from their blog during the outage…

Ouch that hurt!
One of the big switches that lets Flickr talk to the outside world went on vacation without telling anyone about 30 minutes ago. The problem has been fixed and we’re wobbling our way back up, but you might still see some strange behavior for the next 10-20 minutes.

Actual photo serving wasn’t affected so any photos you were showing elsewhere (like on your blog) should have gone on happily showing up.

update 12:58pm: hmmm, still stuck in baggage claim on the way back up. We’re looking at another 20 minutes at least until everything is all shiny.

update 1:33pm: all cuteness aside, our dedicated team of server whisperers are bringing each frightened server up one by one. This is taking a bit longer then they had promised us. Current predictions are 15 minutes. We’ll provide updates as necessary.

update 1:39pm: WE’RE BACK! Thanks for your patience.

I remember back in the day when Flickr would be under maintenance and you’d get a little message that said, “We’re sorry Flickr is getting a massage.”
Sure it wasn’t access to the site like I wanted, but the fact that they eased my troubles with a “cute little message” made me feel all better and warm and fuzzy inside — and more importantly it kept me coming back — so much so that Laurie and I both have pro accounts (although that’s up for debate as mine is about to expire).
Either way I think it goes to show how great a little humility and humor can go a long way when you know you’ve messed up.
Way to go Flickr. Thanks for taking care of us.

FREE: Community group video

Gracepoint Fellowship has made a special offer available to churches.
They’ve produced a great video on small groups and are making it available to other churches for free.
You can download a flash file or MOV file or download the individual elements and edit the video for your specific church and application.
I don’t have After Effects or Final Cut Pro, so I may be a bit limited as to what I can do with it, but it’s even without editing, it’s a great generic video giving the high points of community groups.
I wish more churches were doing things like that – sharing videos and media with one another.
Speaking of… if you see an encounter video you like and would like to use for your church – just let me know – I’ll be glad to help you out. The only downside is that ours tend to be a bit more specific to the actual message and week – but let me know and I’ll do my best to get you a copy.

See and download the Gracepoint Fellowship video here.

This weekend

Another list…. 🙂

a. Ate dinner with Dan & Martha and Bob & Vickie
b. Purchased four new disks for disk golf
c. Checked out the new paint job and body work on my sister’s car
d. Visited with Kara & Tim, Mom & Dad and Grandma & Grandad
e. Did anyone just notice the arrangement of sexes on line a & d? odd
f. Enjoyed sleeping late on Saturday
g. Played Frisbee/disk golf with Phil in Cedar Hill
h. Phil’s better than us
i. Watched the Bourne Identity
j. Enjoyed What-a-Burger for dinner
k. Spent way to much time waiting on my Fantasy Football Draft
l. Went to encounter Sunday morning
m. Spent the afternoon in Kaufman at Hidden Acres
n. Tried a couple geocaches
o. Found one, didn’t find the other
p. Hid a third geocache for Casa de Blundell
q. It’s located at N 32° 22.864 W 096° 50.990
r. Slept in again on Monday
s. Drove around looking at homes and neighborhoods in Red Oak and Ovilla
t. Ate dinner with Brad & Jen and their kids in Ennis
u. Came home and that was about it for our three day weekend
v. What did you do this weekend?
w. Think you can fill a whole alphabet?
x. I may make it to Z but I guess I ran out of events
y. Over the weekend two people found our first geocache
z. Five people found our second one

DJ Shadow In Tune and On Time

DJ Shadow did a full gig recently in London with his DJ setup as well as an amazing visual/cinematic experience.
I love it.
The music along with the visuals is almost hypnotic and the combination of the two is great. I’m not sure if it was live or edited later in but it would appear several times that the video is primarily displayed using rear projection onto three screens but then it’s also projected from the front so the visuals appear on him while he DJs as well. I’m certain it’s just great video editing that took place later on – but it’s a cool look and idea.
He also utilizes a number of inteli-beams lights around the stage for added effects.
You can check out the set online on Ben Hanbury’s blog (just a heads-up, it’s a huge download)