Tommy

Mark Driscoll on Silence

Dec 112008

I love all my gadgets and widgets, my beeps and bops and all the many tools I use to make sure I’m always connected all the time. But there is a danger—all these technological tools tend to feed my idolatry. From Mark Driscoll:

As I drifted off to sleep, it dawned on me that I had not had one minute of silence during my entire day. It was possible, I realized, that I could live the rest of my life without ever again experiencing silence.

In that moment, God deeply convicted me that I was addicted to the false trinity of our day, the gods known as Noise, Hurry, and Crowds. I remembered the words of missionary martyr Jim Elliot, who said, “I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds . . . Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.”

The Bible also describes multiple benefits of purposeful silence, including:

hearing from God (1 Kings 19:11–13)

waiting patiently for the Lord to act (Lamentations 3:25–28)

worshiping God (Habakkuk 2:20)

knowing God better (Psalm 46:10)

praying effectively (Luke 5:16)

Since God convicted me of my addiction to noise, I have sought to conform my life more to the pattern of Jesus’, which has proven quite helpful. I try to spend at least five minutes an hour in silence, at least thirty minutes in uninterrupted silence each day, and a full day in silence once a month. During those times I find myself going for silent prayer walks to listen to God, writing in my journal, and sometimes doing nothing at all, which for me has become an act of faith that God is at work even when I am not.

Read the whole thing. Of course Mark is not talking about just technology, but all the many ways in which we avoid the silences that surround us. But for me, technology is my number-one crutch.

Vern Poythress makes some similar remarks, though with a slightly different focus. From a secular perspective, Peter Sagal has some thoughts on the subject.

WebNotes Lets You Annotate the Web

Research Tools, Webapps and Websites 2 Responses »

Dec 112008

Use WebNotes to annotate your favorite sites

The web is now a primary arena for serious research. With Google Scholar, the Internet Archive, academic blogs where writers self-publish their complete works (such as this one), it is now possible to do a whole host of respectable research on the internet.

But how do you take notes on a web page? Should you print it out? That seems to miss the point. Use Zotero? Sure, for simple things, but it would be nice to have a dedicated web-note taking system (to complement Zotero’s functionality).

Enter WebNote. From ReadWriteWeb:

There are any number of services that offer the ability to annotate Web pages or share finds with friends. So why spend time on WebNotes? Because it seems awfully serious about providing the types of features that allow professional researchers to do online research – and only those features.

Anyone who has spent a great deal of time doing research by sifting through printed materials will immediately notice that WebNotes offers the two most critical research tools for any bookworm: sticky notes and a highlighter. But it also offers a filing system that allows users to categorize notes and pages under topical areas, as well as the option to share your findings with others.

Read the whole thing for a full review and list of features. I have been initially impressed with the software, which runs as a plugin for your web browser.

The service is still in private beta, so you will have to request an invite. I have 10 invite codes available, so if you want one, request it in the comments or email me at tommy@nerdlets.org.

Amarok 2 (Finally) Released

Software No Responses »

Dec 102008

Amarok is a Music Player that not only plays any music file you decide to throw at it, it also supports iTunes, can sync with your iPod, is (theoretically) cross-platform, and is generally pretty slick. The latest release has been a long-time coming, and is now finally available. If you are a Linux user, definitely go for the download. Mac and Windows users can still give it a try, though the application is still buggy on these systems.

Find a full explanation of this excellent software here.

I will be testing this new release over the next couple of days, and will give it a try on Windows, so stay tuned.

Update: It appears the design team has scaled down there original plans. For the time being iPod and iTunes support has been removed, but is likely to return in future releases. I’ll be keeping on eye on this software, but right now Songbird is probably a better open-source multi-platform alternative.

Free Books

Books 1 Response »

Dec 102008

Here is a compiled list of books available online (from a variety of sources) for free, all relating to Biblical Studies. There are a bunch of winners on this list.

Oh, and don’t forget to search the Internet Archive for more.

More Ubiquity Commands

Bible and Hermeneutics, Culture, Software, Webapps and Websites No Responses »

Dec 102008

For those who found this post interesting, there are a whole host of additional Ubiquity commands available to you. If you have already set up Ubiquity (follow this link if you haven’t), then you may be interested in Mozilla’s (incomplete) repository of commands that other people have been creating for this exciting new interface. Be warned: many of these are still a little buggy, so don’t go crazy, but some are still worth a try.

Update: There is also a Ubiquity command for Cli.gs, which is not listed in repository. Get that here.

If you’re still unsure whether to install Ubiquity, check out this video (but be careful—it may blow your mind):

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Best Webapps of 2008

Webapps and Websites 1 Response »

Dec 092008

Webware’s Webapp year in review includes a list of 10 apps that have recently begun to move into the mainstream:

It’s a well-known fact that our readers are on the cutting – if not bleeding – edge of technology. But sometimes, it’s important to take a step back and realize that the apps to which we’ve grown so incredibly accustomed are just barely beginning to register with the general public.

With the Top 10 Consumer Web Apps of 2008, we’ve tried to select the apps that have burst onto the radar of the everyday user this year – or if not quite, then perhaps they will next year.

Many of them have been mentioned on this blog. Check them out here.

Gmail Adds To-do Lists

Webapps and Websites 1 Response »

Dec 092008

Gmail finally has a built in to-do list, a much needed and requested feature. It’s pretty bare-bones, but its there, which is certainly an improvement. You have to enable it through Gmail Labs. From Webware:

Since e-mail is where and how many of us get things done, both in our personal and professional life, why not add a list of things that we may not be able to get done via e-mail, such as a reminder to make dinner reservations?

To enable Tasks, go to Settings in the upper right of the Gmail window and click the Labs tab. Click Enable next to the Tasks selection, click Save Changes. After refreshing Gmail, a Tasks link will appear under the Contacts link. Just click that Tasks link and you are ready to be productive.

Personally, I’m a big fan of Remember the Milk for to-do lists in a getting-things-done fashion. RTM has a Thunderbird plugin, interfaces for iGoogle, netvibes, and twitter, and even a Ubiquity command set. It also integrates perfectly into Gmail, which I posted about here.

Use Ubiquity to Listen to the Bible Online

Bible and Hermeneutics, Software 14 Responses »

Dec 092008

Use Ubiquity to Read the Bible

It is now even easier to search, read, and even listen to the Bible online.

A much improved upgrade to Ubiquity has been released, making this ground-breaking Firefox plugin prettier, more robust, and exceedingly versatile. More to the point, the ESV command for this plugin has also been updated, and the update allows you to listen to the Bible as you browse. You can watch the video at the end of this post for a full demonstration and how-to instructions.

If you are already familiar with Ubiquity, then download the latest version and install the ESV command. If not, read on for a short introduction.

What is Ubiguity?

Ubiquity is a plugin for the Firefox browser. You can read the full introduction, complete with an excellent video demonstration, here. In a nutshell: it gives your browser a basic understanding of language. You can use Ubiquity to type in simple commands in order to make Firefox do things that it would normally require several clicks and minutes to do.

Check the weather with Ubiquity

Take checking the weather as an example. The old way: (1) open up a new tab, (2) type in the URL of the weather site, (3) type in your zip code, (4) scroll past adds and other useless information. The Ubiquity way: (1) Type in “Weather”, (2) Wait while ubiquity does everything for you (it uses your IP address to automatically determine your location, check the weather site, and output todays weather in the same window).

Ubiquity Commands

Ubiquity includes a number of built in commands, such as “wikipedia” to search the site with that title, “calculate” to crunch numbers, “add-to-calendar” to add an event to your Google calendar, or “twitter” to change your twitter status. You can see all available ubiquity commands by using the command “command-list.”

The true awesomeness of Ubiquity, however, lies in the fact that any web page or service can generate a set of commands that allow you to interact with its services. You can add these commands to Ubiquity by “subscribing” to the page in question. You can find a large list of commands here, but be warned that these should all be considered beta-at-best.

How to Set Up Ubiquity and the ESV Plugin

The good folks in charge of the ESV Bible have provided a ubiquity command that allows readers to search, read, and even listen to the ESV Bible. I have written a small screen cast that shows you how to set this up and also demonstrates some of Ubiquity’s best features.

You will need to go to the following sites in order to set things up.

Download the latest version of Ubiquity here.
Subscribe to the ESV site here.

Below is a brief screencast demonstrating how to get Ubiquity set up, how to install the ESV plugin, and how to use both to do a number of interesting things while you browse the Internet.

Update:

Don’t miss the official video from ubiquity! It’s truly amazing:

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Avoid Attachment Embarrassment: Thunderbird Edition

Software No Responses »

Dec 072008

Awhile back I posted about a handy little Gmail feature that many of you enjoyed. If you use the word “attached,” or any number of related words, but fail to actually attach a file to the email, it alerts you to that affect. This prevents those embarrassing moments when you realize you are going to have to send the same email a second time because you forgot to attach the file.

This plugin does the same thing for Mozilla Thunderbird.

The Unicode Collection: Volumes I-IV

Biblical Greek, Culture 5 Responses »

Dec 032008

Awhile back I posted a four-part series on the advantages of Unicode for typing out Biblical Greek and Hebrew. I am linking these posts here so those interested have a one-stop shop for the whole series.

These posts provide a detailed but understandable explanation of what Unicode is, how to set up Greek and Hebrew Unicode keyboards, and what Fonts work best for each language. Enjoy.