How to | Nerdlets

A Guide to Using Zotero in Biblical Studies: Collecting, Annotating and Citing Bibliographic Data
Zotero is free bibliographic software that allows you to easily collect, annotate, and cite bibliographic data. It runs as a plugin for the excellent Firefox browser, which means that you have the web at your fingertips as kyou manage information, and also that it can run on any operating system that Firefox can run on [...]
Logos Rolls out Biblia.com, with Desktop Integration
David Stark at New Testament Interpretation reports on the (still beta) roll-out of Biblia.com, an excellent web resource for Biblical Studies. Check out the full report here, or if you’d just like to see the goods, check that out here.
Sale at WTS Books
WTS Books currently has a super sale on all NICOT commentaries. The sale is running until August 19th, so be sure to check it out!
ESV Study Bible Now Available on iOS Devices
The folks at Crossway have produced a really phenomenal application for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. The iPad version is especially handy, with an interface perfectly fit for its widescreen. The app is currently on a promotional sale ($9.99), so check it out on iTunes. Via: What’s Best Next
Upgrade In Progress!
No, Nerdlets is not dead. It’s just been on sabbatical. But now that I have graduated (so now it’s Dr. Nerdlet), I should have more time to regularly update this blog. Here’s what to expect in the future. Faster and better. Some plugins were slowing things down, and those have been removed or replaced. I [...]
Using Greek and Hebrew on your Web Site
The always interesting Phil Gons has a wonderful guide to blogging in Greek and Hebrew. You can find that here. Looks like he is prioritizing Gentium as a Greek font, which is also my font of choice. And if you don’t know how to type in (Unicode) Greek and Hebrew, make sure you check out [...]

Make Your Zotero Collections Recursive

Computing, How to, Research Tools, Software 2 Responses »

Jan 262010

Do you use Zotero? Do you wish that your folder collections showed all the items in their various subfolders? I do. And there is a hidden setting in Zotero to allow you to change the behavior.

Here’s the official explanation:

By default, each of your collections displays only the items you have placed there. When you place a collection inside another collection, the contents of the second collection are not added to the first. If you enable recursive collections, items from subcollections will appear in all higher-level collections.

To change this behavior, type the following into your Firefox URL bar:

about:config

Be careful when you are on this special page. Firefox stores all of its settings here, and you can really mess things up if you go poking around without knowing what you are doing.

In the “filter” bar at the top of the page type:

zotero.recursive

You should see a line pop up that says:

extensions.zotero.recursiveCollections

Set the “value” of this setting to “true,” which you can do by double-clicking the line.

Now your folders are recursive! You can find other “hidden” settings, and what they do, here.

Use Remember the Milk and Gmail to auto-capture Ideas Anywhere

Computing, How to, Research Tools 4 Responses »

Nov 202009

I do a lot of teaching and preaching and writing, and often an idea will occur to me at an inconvenient time–that is, when I don’t have pen and paper handy. No problem, though, RTM makes a great idea-catcher! (Ideas can be anything, by the way, like “I need to do such and such of Friday”).

The best way to catch ideas is through your phone. I have a special drop with drop.io that I can call and leave myself a voice message. Any internet-based voice messenger will work, though. I call my voice-messaging service and leave myself a message with my idea. I have it set up so that anytime I get a voice message it sends me a little notification in my email.

So how does this get added to RTM? There are two very easy ways. I use Gmail filters and RTM’s awesome Gmail plugin. RTM lets you automatically create tasks from a Gmail Label, and Gmail in turn lets you automatically label incoming emails based on a set of preconditions. So I have Gmail set to automatically label all my voice-mail messages with the label “Task,” and I have RTM set to automatically create Tasks from any email with that Label. Presto: instant automatic idea catcher.

The second way you can set up independently of Gmail. Your RTM account also has an email address, so alternatively you could set up Gmail (or whatever email program you use) to auto-forward all emails of a certain type to that address, which would then get created as tasks.

Getting Things Done (In Prayer)

Christian Living, Christianity, Computing, How to, Webapps and Websites 6 Responses »

Nov 112009

Now that I am (interim) pastoring at Christ the King PCA I find that I am spending a lot more time in prayer. I also find it difficult to keep track of all that I am praying for, and for how those the situations were resolved.

I started with a pen and paper prayer journal, but I have found that I never have it when I need it, and since I tend to lose things I worry that it might fall into the “wrong hands” if I try to carry it everywhere. So I am now experimenting with a new system. I am treating prayer like I treat other parts of my life—prayer is something that I need to prepare for, that I need to keep track of, and most importantly, that I need to do. It is a (blessed, glorious, holy) task. So, like other tasks, I have begun putting prayer requests into my Remember The Milk (RTM) list. (For an introduction to using RTM for Getting Things Done (GTD), see this.)

: Image via CrunchBase

I have a “Pastoring” list where all prayers get added (along with other churchy things). All prayer requests get tagged with the “@prayer” context tag (I use the @ in RTM to create contexts; if you’re familiar with Getting Things Done that probably makes sense to you, if not try here). If the prayer is about a person, I stick their phone number in a note, and if they have a tag in my system (my wife gets a tag, and so do co-workers and other people I interact with regularly) that tag gets added as well. I also add the date of the prayer request to the note. If the prayer has an expected end date (“pray that my stressful event Friday goes well”) I give it a due date, if it is more open-ended I don’t. I use the notes feature of RTM to keep track of how it all develops. When the prayer is answered, I “complete” the prayer, but I can still go back to it later because RTM will let you see completed tasks—all your answered prayers.

This system is secure (RTM’s servers are super encrypted, and my passwords are super weird and long), it is available to me anywhere (I love my new phone!), and it works almost exactly like most prayer-journaling systems I hear about. The biggest downside is… well, it feels weird. Prayer is such a sacred thing, and pen-and-paper seems more personal/appropriate/holy.But is pen and paper more sacred than bits and pixels?

I have talked to a couple of pastor friends regarding this but have yet to find a system that works for me. Does anyone have any suggestions, pen-and-paper or otherwise? Is there anyone out there who uses technology to keep track of their prayer life? Anyone think that sounds, for lack of a better word, weird? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

New Polytonic Greek Font

Biblical Greek, Christianity, Computing, How to No Responses »

Jul 132009

: Image via Wikipedia

There is a new Unicode Polytonic Greek font available for all you font collectors out there. Rod Decker has the details and download instructions. His post is so complete, there is not much need for me to add to it.

The basic idea: this font supports a very wide range of characters—Hebrew glyphs, for example–but is not as professional looking as (my still-standing recommendation) Gentium (or GentiumAlt).

If you are clueless regarding this discussion, but want to better understand fonts and right way to type in Greek, start with this post by yours truly.

Type in Polytonic Greek in Linux

Biblical Greek, Christianity, Computing, How to, Linux, Research Tools 3 Responses »

May 112009

I have written a series of guides on best practices for typing in Greek. The trick is to use Unicode. Though it requires some initial struggle the payoff is enormous, and will save you frustration down the road.

There is a new guide out for Linux users, and it looks excellent (pretty pictures). Find that here.

For Windows setup follow this guide. For fonts, check out my review here. And if you need a font with text-critical glyphs, try this.

Set Up a UPnP Media Server with Foobar2000

Computing, How to, Linux, Tech/Gadgets No Responses »

May 072009

As the title implies, this guide is for advanced users, but the payoff is huge. By following my guide you can turn your home computer into a media server, which allows you to stream music to any of your other computers anywhere in the world. In fact, it will work with any device that can access a UPnP server, including the iPhone. In order to use this guide you will need to know how to do things like port forwarding, firewall tweaking, and messing around with Windows, so be forewarned. In any case, here it goes.

Install Foobar2000

Foobar2000 Media Player

Foobar2000 is not the prettiest Media Player out there, but it is by far the most powerful. By far. Get it and install it on your Windows desktop. It also runs perfectly in Linux under Wine.

You will also need a couple of plugins. You can find the most important 3rd Party plugins for foobar2000 here and a whole host of others here. There are lots of good components here, but you absolutely need at least two of them: columnsUI and UPnP Server. You install these by placing them in the “Components” folder in Foobar2000′s installation directory (usually C:/Program Files/Foobar2000), which you can access in Foobar2000 by going to “File-Folders-Browse Components Folder.” Copy the required files in here and restart Foobar2000.

Set Up Your Server

To set up your server go to “File-Preferences” and then browse “Tools-UPnP-Server.”

Under “Basic Settings” you should not have to change anything, unless you want to customize your port number (which I did).

Under “Advanced Settings” click the “Allow Internet access” box. This allows your server to be accessed from somewhere other than your local network—at work, for example. Enter your IP address or host name here. If you do not have a static IP address, you will need to use a Dynamic DNS service to access your computer. This one is easy and free. Add a login and password to protect yourself, and you’re good to go.

At this point you may need to forward the port you selected to the computer running Foobar2000. Do this by going to your router and making the necessary modifications.

If you have a lot of large or lossless files, be sure to set up transcoding in the “Streaming” tab.

Accessing Your UPnP Server

Most UPnP compatible software on your network should recognize the new server automatically. The instance of Foobar2000 on my (Linux!) laptop had no problems.

To get an album list in Foobar2000 you will need to install the UPnP plugin on all instances of Foobar2000 and then add a panel to your theme. Its not that hard; just follow the advice in the UPnP Server forum.

Getting Music on Your iPhone

To access your UPnP server and play music on your iPhone you will need the $6 PlugPlayer. Install that from the App Store. On your local network it will automatically recognize the Foobar2000 UPnP server. To access your music remotely, click on “Configure”, select the Foobar2000 server you set up, and then change the “Base URL” to the Public Server IP you added in Foobar2000 (with port number). Then you will need to type “/[USERNAME][PASSWORD]” substitution [USERNAME] for your username and [PASSWORD] for your password, without spaces or anything. For example: http://dummy.homedns.org:9001/namepassword. The “9001″ is the port number as listed in “Basic Settings” in Foobar2000. After testing those instructions at my workplace I can confirm that it works as expected. The one problem (in the 2.2.0 release of PlugPlayer) is that the app forgets your settings, so you have to add this manually each time you login remotely. The developer has promised a fix for this shortly.

Have fun!

Spell Check your Ancient Greek in OpenOffice

Biblical Greek, Christianity, Computing, How to, Research Tools, Software No Responses »

Apr 292009

: Image via Wikipedia

Are you using Unicode to type in ancient Greek (if not, follow this guide)? Do your prefer OpenOffice to Microsoft Office? Well today is the day where it all pays off. There is only one Word Processor in the world that spell-checks ancient Greek, and that’s OpenOffice. You can set it up by installing this plugin for OpenOffice 2.4 or higher.

Protect Yourself from the Conficker Worm

Computing, How to, Software 2 Responses »

Mar 312009

You may have heard about a new threat to your computer: the Conflicker worm. Over 3 million computers are infected, and the scary thing is, you won’t know if you’ve got it until it’s too late. By too late, I mean tomorrow, when the worm “activates” and starts making a real mess of things. What will happen? NPR has the (slightly oversimplified) details about April 1:

That’s when many of the poisoned machines will get more aggressive about “phoning home” to the worm’s creators over the Internet. When that happens, the bad guys behind the worm will be able to trigger the program to send spam, spread more infections, clog networks with traffic, or try and bring down Web sites.

Technically, this could cause havoc, from massive network outages to the creation of a cyberweapon of mass destruction that attacks government computers. But researchers who have been tracking Conficker say the date will probably come and go quietly.

By “go quietly” NPR means that there will probably not be a massive world-wide shutdown of the internet. That’s all well and good, but your computer may still be infected, and this can and will massively slow down your own internet connection, as well as more significant problems. The best option is to fix the issue by following this excellent guide.

You may also want to consider using OpenDNS in the future, which is a faster and safer way to access the internet, and has been Conflicker-free for awhile now. It’s pretty easy: follow this guide.

As usual, Mac and Linux users are safe and sound.