One step closer to the death of DRM for music … we can add Rhapsody to the list of online music retailers that sell DRM-free music. This list now includes Amazon, Wal-Mart, eMusic (I think), and (kinda-sorta) iTunes.
Now if only we could get them to do this with Movies and TV Shows, we’d be all set …
Hmm, this looks interesting.
Seems a company has adapted a metal-hydride reaction to a fuel cell that lets them create electricity with just water and air. This general technique has been around for a while, but has been limited by short durations of use. This seems to have a longer duration for the production of hydrogen & oxygen.
Someday, the price of distilled water will reach $.50 per gallon, too …
Sprint gets kudos from me!
The other day I got two spam text messages from some random site: “I bet you don’t know who I am but come check out my profile on …”
That sort of nonsense. So I sent the Sprint support folks an email asking for spam text messages to be blocked, because I don’t get any free text messages, and I don’t feel like paying for spam.
I was filled with dread when I sent the message because I have bad luck with email support. As in, the responses I get (from any company) almost never help, and are often only tangentially related to my issue.
But I was pleasantly surprised when I received Sprint’s response stating that they had blocked the spam text messages. Go Sprint!
And then feeling daring, I asked them to just go ahead and block all text messaging services from my account, because I don’t use them and don’t like getting text messages.
And lo and behold, Sprint did that too.
Well played, Sprint. Well played.
So I’m doing the Children’s Message at church each eek this month. I’ve basically been following the lectionary or whatever Scripture the Pastor is using for the service, so that it will tie in a bit to the Sermon.
I like to do an object lesson, because I think if the kids are able to start with something familiar, they can pick up on the spiritual bits easier.
But I am having trouble with this week’s lesson. The scriptures are: Isaiah 49: 8-16, I Corinthians 4:1-5, and Matthew 6:24 – 34.
I was hoping that by blogging, I’ll come up with something. Leaning on my own faculties isn’t helping though, so I’ll just have to let the Spirit give me something. Hopefully inspiration is given to me before Sunday morning.
So instead, I’ll just post about last week’s Children’s Message, because I liked the way it came out:
Last week, the pastor (a guest pastor) used part of Romans 12 for the Scripture, so I based the Children’s Message on Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
I did an object lesson around clay. I started out by asking how many of the kids play with clay, and then I mentioned that I used to play with clay when I was a kid, etc. Then I moved into the properties of clay, how you can sculpt it, or squeeze it into shape, or put it into a mold to form it. Then I talked about how if you put clay through a kiln, it bakes and hardens — and is transformed into a ceramic that can’t be squeezed into shape anymore. Then I related our spiritual lives to the clay — without God, we’re like clay, and we’ll be sculpted, squeezed, and molded into whatever pattern the world has for us, which isn’t what God wants. But if we keep God’s word in mind, and follow what we know His will to be, then we’ll be transformed, like the clay going through the kiln, and we won’t conform to the peer pressures of the world (I probably could have made a comparison between the Holy Spirit and the fire in the kiln, but it would have been too much, and wouldn’t have flowed well with the kids). Then I read Romans 12:2 to tie it all together.
Short and sweet, but I think it got the point across.
Now I guess I just wait patiently on the Spirit to give me something for Sunday. Le sigh …
So a while back, I ordered a Cactus V2s wireless remote flash trigger & two receivers from Midwest Photo Exchange. They were back-ordered. No big deal.
No big deal, that is, before Bank of America got itself on my “List of Companies I Really Have No Reason to Continue Using.”
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