My shared del.icio.us bookmarks from 12-30-2005

• RCW 9.73.030: Intercepting, recording, or divulging private communication � Consent required � Exceptions.
  Revised Code of Washington re surveillance & privacy
  (tags: monitoring, privacy, surveillance, workplace)
• Washington Privacy Laws Update – Dec. 2005
  A thourough look at Washington State case laws pertaining to privacy by Randall K. Gaylord, San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney "Federal law sets the minimum rules regarding the recording of private conversations. In many areas, Washington is more rest
  (tags: monitoring, privacy, surveillance, workplace)
• Privacy in the Workplace
  A 32 page paper on the legalities of monitoring employee actions in the workplace. "Privacy in the workplace" actually covers a broad range of topics. The traditional employer activities that raise issues of workplace privacy include: drug testing, work
  (tags: monitoring, privacy, surveillance, workplace)

David, over at JollyBlogger writes a real good summary of the whole debate on the pagan origin of Christmas.

I have to admit I have gotten tired of the whole thing. You end up feeling like poor ole Fred the Fundamentalist, having to boycott stores that are ‘taking Christ out of Christmas’ and now you have to boycott the stores that are celebrating that pagan holiday in sheep’s clothing – Christmas.

But the JollyBlogger’s 2nd reason that we shouldn’t get worked up, quoted below, really hit my funny bone. I guess I have gone to too many of the History Conferences in Moscow, ID. George Grant invariably pulls a little black book out of his coat pocket and reads a quote – usually from G.K. Chesterton:

For me, I don’t see the point of getting all worked up about this for three reasons. Reason number one is that the pagan/Catholic origins argument comes perilously close to committing the genetic fallacy. Secondly, George Grant says that G. K. Chesterton says we shouldn’t get worked up about it. And if George says we shouldn’t get worked up about something that’s good enough for me. But if George says that G. K. says we shouldn’t get worked up about something by golly we doubly better not get worked up about it. The third reason is that I think the Bible offers principles which allow us to celebrate Christmas.

This sounds like a great idea.

It�s much easier to take digital photos of serial/model numbers and receipts than to write them down, type them in, or scan them. It costs nothing. The data is by nature stored away from the affected insurance area.

You need to keep a record of your stuff for insurance purposes. Not just because they might not believe you, but also because it is easy to forget what stuff you have. Well, why not just take photos of the items – and serial numbers for electronic equipment – and store them on a site like flickr?

You would want to set them up in a separate folder and mark them as private – but what a great idea. All my photos are also burned to CD which in this case should probably get stored in either a fireproof and melt-proof box (yes if it gets hot enough they may not burn but what good is a melted cd) or at your safe deposit box at the bank.

HatTip to lifehacker for this great idea!

My shared del.icio.us bookmarks from 12-29-2005

• TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor
  TinyMCE is the WYSIWYG editor used in WordPress 2.0 – It has the ability to convert HTML TEXTAREA fields or other HTML elements to editor instances.
  (tags: editor, wordpress, wysiwyg)
• Electronic Surveillance | The Privacy Lawyer: To Videotape Or Not To Videotape | August 16, 2004
  InformationWeek – The two prime exceptions to the ECPA afford employers broad rights to monitor their employees, providing that the employer strictly satisfies these exceptions. An employer may monitor employee conversations if the monitoring occurs (1) i
  (tags: office, surveillance, workplace)
• Ultimate Tag Warrior: Start Here
  "Ultimate Tag Warrior is a tagging plugin for WordPress. It allows storing a set of tags on posts that behave like categories – the tags can be displayed on a post, you can go to the archive page for a tag, and there are RSS/atom feeds available. Unlike
  (tags: plugin, tagging, wordpress)

You’re driving along on your daily commute when a car pulls in front of you and slams on its brakes.

You want to steer left into another lane, but a second car has appeared at your side. Wham — you rear-end the car in front and you find yourself handing out your insurance information and later paying for the other driver’s medical bills.

Are you and your insurance company being scammed?

According to The Olympian newspaper, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler will request about $2 million in funding from the Legislature to create a five-person insurance fraud unit in his department, which would investigate such ‘staged accident’ rings and other scams.

“It’s clear that we are ranked as one of the more fraud-prone states because we don’t have the resources to investigate and prosecute,” Kreidler said. “We’re going to start small and see how that works, develop a track record.”

My shared del.icio.us bookmarks from 12-28-2005

• Anthony Bradley: Wife Beaters: Good Men Misguided In The Wrong Battle
  An interesting article where the author warns us that many have become "wife beaters" , beating up the bride of Jesus: the church. Titus 3:9 "Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprof
  (tags: apologetics, church)
• WordPress 2.x Hooks for Action – Comprehensive List for Plugin and Theme Developers -Java and Web Software Blog
  This contains all the available action hooks (documented as well as undocumented) for WordPress plugin and theme developers
  (tags: wordpress)
• WordPress Template Modification Tips for Non-Programmers – Robustness -Java and Web Software Blog
  Normally most of the time you are asked to include a code block similar to this: <?php func_name(arg1,arg2�); ?> change it to this: <?php if(function_exists(‘func_name’)) @func_name(arg1,arg2�); ?> 1) Testing the existence of the function ensures
  (tags: plugin, wordpress)

Well, as you can tell from my del.icio.us links that get posted nightly I am working on upgrading my blog to the latest version of WordPress. WordPress 2.0 has some cool features that I am looking forward to having available.

I am ‘practicing’ first. I backed up this blog and then restored it to another location. Now I can fix all the problems before I take the upgrade public. I am installing one plugin at a time, downloading the newest version, making it active, fixing any problems. The best thing I am doing when I install the plugins though is changing the call to the function.

So the plugin calls are being changed from:

to this:

Prefacing the fuction call with the if(function_exitsts()) call tests to make sure the function is actually available. If you disable it for some reason your site will not throw up php errors but instead continue to operate.

Appending an @ before the function name ensures that any errors while executing the function are ignored and do not cause further problems down the road and do not prevent the overall page from displaying. I am not as familiar with this technique (and trying to search for the ‘@’ symbol in google is hopeless).

Thanks to Simple Thoughts for this simple way to keep things from breaking if and when I have to turn off a plugin in the future.

My shared del.icio.us bookmarks from 12-27-2005

• Sadler on the Invisible Church
  Tim quotes M.F. Sadler: It is really as absurd to talk about the invisible Church if you really attach to it any idea of a Church, or build any doctrine upon its separate existence, as it is to talk of an invisible appearance, and unorganized organizatio
  (tags: FederalVision)
• WordPress 2.0 Released
  Scott Yang has been using WP.com, beta and RC for a while, so he can�t say that this release contains anything �surprising�. It actually runs slower on his various sites. Says his sites should be upgraded to 2.0 sometime today.
  (tags: Blog, WordPress)
• WordPress 2.0 Download
  The latest stable release of WordPress which is the latest in the Strayhorn line is available in two formats from the links below.
  (tags: Blog, software, wordpress)

Procrastination has many forms. This video shows how much you can actually get done while procrastinating.

HatTip to Knowledge Jolt with Jack for this video.

I just noticed the little orange RSS label at the bottom of the Fatwallet HotDeals page. It has probably been there forever but this is great! Now instead of having to pop into the site on a regular basis to make sure I don’t miss any great deals I can just let the new posts get sent to me.

If you are not familiar with FatWallet it is worth a look. People post great deals they have run across. Usually a quick scan of the title lets you know if it is something you might be interested in. I have picked up some great deals by price matching between stores and sending in a rebate – all things I would not have known about had someone not gone to the trouble of posting it.

I set my feed up with a very simple:

http://www.fatwallet.com/rssfeed.php?c=18&deals=200

which should keep a maximum of 200 messages in my feed reader. ( I really don’t get on every day so this way if I am gone for the weekend I can pick up any I miss.)

My shared del.icio.us bookmarks from 12-26-2005

• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe…a look at the theology of C.S. Lewis
  The Theology of C.S. Lewis: Somewhere between Ransom and Reepicheep
  (tags: christianity, movies)
• Is "Intelligent Design" anti-Biblical?
  Unfortunately, for some, faith isn’t enough. They feel the need to "defend" God with (pseudo-) scientific proof. So many Christians have gotten so wrapped up in the modernist dichotomy of fundamentalism vs. liberalism that they can no longer read the Bibl
  (tags: creation, evolution)

Incarnation Day was wonderful! We had my brother’s family (5) and my wife’s sister’s family (4) both here from Boise for the long weekend. My oldest daughter, her husband, and 2 of the cutest grandsons also came over after church service.

The kids were all excited to open presents. Being that Incarnation Day was on Sunday it caused a change in our usual plans. There was no way we were going to be able to open presents in the morning and get everyone ready for church in time so presents had to wait till we got home from service. The kids all did real well waiting. I thought they might have a hard time with the change of plans but they weren’t even in a rush to open them when we got home.

In order to keep some kind of order and to enjoy the day we have a rule that only one present at a time can be opened. Works real well. It does take a couple hours to open all the presents but everyone enjoys watching others open presents. All the kids seemed to enjoy their presents. One of the most appreciated presents was a photo album Hans received with all his most important people in it.

Some of the more interesting gifts this year:

• Brendan received a pair of coconut halves.
• Geoff got a ‘Keep of the Grass’ T-shirt that has an image of a marijuana leaf
• Kip got some clay balls that Kirsten made it for him.

Dinner is quite an affair! 21 people takes some coordination. Figuring out where everyone is going to sit takes some creativity. Food was abundant and wonderful. My wife cooked up a 17 lb. prime rib that was quite the hit. In the photo you can also see Mystie’s layered jello that was also a big hit. We all ate too much and then we had to eat the pumpkin pies and apple pies that my sister-in-law made.

Truly a day of blessings. As our pastor has been preaching the last couple weeks, we celebrate with presents the presence of God.

My shared del.icio.us bookmarks from 12-25-2005

• Celebrated, not Tolerated
  "Don’t go where you’re tolerated; go where you’re celebrated."
  (tags: lifehacks)
• Skipping Church on Christmas?
  But alas, and alack, some of the largest and most influential churches in our nation have decided to join Luther Crank in skipping Christmas this year.
  (tags: Christmas, Church)
• The Marketing of Narnia Run Amok!
  ‘Is the church being used?’ or more precisely, ‘How crassly is the church being used?’"
  (tags: Church)

My kids got me using the phrase “Have a Mighty Christmas” which I liked just because it was different. It makes people stop and pause. “Merry Christmas” can begin to sound so much like a “God Bless You” after a sneeze. Then we have the whole “Seasons Greetings” debate. I just read Steve Camp’s great suggestion that instead of getting caught up in this ‘War on Christmas’ we could change the rules of engagement:

The big debate in the media these days involving evangelicals is over the phrase “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays.” This is a distraction at best, but, can be used for good to bring people’s attention to “the reason for the season.” Why not try, as one on this blog suggested, calling this day, “Merry Incarnation Day”? I like that. You’ll surely get people asking questions as to what you mean and in turn, you will have the providential opportunity to explain yourself. That means telling about the Virgin Birth (which you’ll have to biblically explain its importance); which means you’ll have to also tell about His sinless life, atoning death and bodily resurrection from the grave. In short, you’ll have to proclaim the gospel message itself.

What a great idea.

Two things I hear all the time:

1. Jaeger is so cute.
2. Jaeger looks like you.

Seems like there is a logical conclusion to those two statements.


Of course many times there is a different first statement made along the lines of:

1. Jaeger is so chunky

When this is followed shortly by “Jaeger looks like you” or “There is a strong family resemblance”, I act hurt and accuse them of insensitivity! “Why does everyone say that Hans (thin) looks like his other, thin, grandfather but Jaeger, who has never missed a meal, looks like me (not so thin)?”

They become very apologetic. Saying that is not what they meant – it is a family resemblance, blah blah blah.

Yes, I do have a mean streak… Nothing new there!

Eric over at xphiles.com writes a great post about the difference between being a sheep and a goat. Many times in discussing how to reconcile ‘salvation by faith alone’ and ‘salvation without works is dead’ we get caught in a false dichotomy. It deserves the same answer that my professor from college quoted when asked, ‘How do you reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s free will?’ His answer, “You don’t. Friends do not need to be reconciled.” There is nothing contradictory between the two positions. The only thing lacking is our understanding.

When you read Matthew 25:31-46 you see that Jesus commends the sheep: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me” but condemns the goats, identified as those who did not do these things, to hell. So is our salvation dependent on these works?

‘Twas the night before Christmas (12:01 a.m. 12/25) and all through the house (single family, joisted masonry, e.c.3, terr. 44, pc5), not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse (thorough pride of ownership and excellent maintenance).

The (flame-retardant) stockings were hung by the (contractor-installed) chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there (in spite of deadbolt locks and central station alarm system).

The children (ages 4, 8, 14, & 16) were all nestled snug in their beds (check MVR on 16-year-old) while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads (check for drug use).

Today I had a bunch of slack time so was able to catch up on some RSS feeds that had been piling up. Here are the ones that I bookmarked over at del.icio.us.

My shared del.icio.us bookmarks from 12-24-2005

• Enhanced Daily Del.icio.us plugin
  incorporating links added during the current day to a WordPress blog
  (tags: del.icio.us, plugin, wordpress)
• Yet Another DailyDelicious hack for WordPress
  a nice simple way to mirror my daily bookmarks that I�ve added to del.icio.us into WordPress
  (tags: 2Do, del.icio.us, plugin, wordpress)
• Steve Jobs SNL Sketch
  Too Funny! Jobs introduces the next of the iPod family
  (tags: humor, video)

I just saw this good explanation of the myth of “Full Coverage” with auto insurance. As an insurance agent, I constantly have people coming in saying they want “full coverage”. It is usually because when they bought the car the salesman told them that they needed “full coverage”. What is really needed? I usually start off lightheartedly with my clients telling them they cannot afford “full coverage” but we can give them coverage that will make the bank happy and protect them too.

The bank (or car salesman) that that tells you that you need “full coverage” really only cares that you have comprehensive and collision coverage to fix the car if it is damaged with a maximum of $500 deductible. They don’t care if you even carry liability coverage – but the state does, so I usually begin with showing a client the minimum coverage that will make the state and the bank happy. From there I will explain why they should have more than the minimum and why they should carry other coverage such as Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Uninsured Motorist. (The article referenced above has a good explanation of these coverages.)

There is a popular myth if you have purchased “full coverage” from your automobile insurance company, you will be covered for anything and everything when an automobile accident occurs. It is only after a collision that the myth of “full coverage” is soon replaced by the reality of “insufficient coverage.”

Ship of Fools has as Day Nine of the 12 Days of Kitschmas these ‘Cross Shaped Cards’. I think I have finally been able to find the perfect gift for a certain son-in-law who is very hard to buy for.

Now our monthly poker nights can be much more edifying:

“A pair of kings… but there can only be one king in our hearts.”

“Three of a kind… Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

“Six of spades… umm…”

Brian Kaylor over at For God’s Sake Shut Up! talks about an article at the Associated Baptist Press asking Is the ‘war on Christmas’ worth fighting against?.

Is the “war on Christmas” one worth fighting? Despite the dutiful culture warriors lining up to defend the religious trappings of the holiday, some Christian ethicists aren’t so sure it’s a wise battle to pick.

We all know from the news that Christians are arguing that the retail stores and cities are taking Christmas out of Christmas. (I remember when it was a fight over taking Christ out of Christmas because people were using an X in Xmas). Well, some Christians are wondering why we fighting a battle to keep the commercialization of Christmas. Here are some comments from the article:

“The examples about Wal-Mart not using ‘Merry Christmas’ in its ads, Lowe’s putting up signs that say ‘holiday trees’ � they’re reacting to a kind of political correctness on the left, if you will, that has made us all more sensitive to our religious diversity,” Haynes said. “But this religious correctness from the other side is equally ridiculous, you know — somehow telling people by saying ‘happy holidays’ they’re anti-Christian.”

“Christians really need to exhibit a deeper concern for the way ‘Christ’ is used by ‘Christmas’ in order to stimulate a massive orgy of consumerism and thus stimulate the American economy,” Gushee said. “But that is a more counter-cultural message than anyone seems willing to hear.”

Haynes went further. “We’re not talking about the religious Christmas here. That’s one of the strangest things about this; we have people saying they are religious people � defending the secularization of Christmas,” he said.

“And they’re not saying they want stores to really focus on Jesus this year, [they're] saying, ‘No, we just want stores to continue to exploit the Christian faith and use the birth of Jesus to sell things �. One of the oddities of this whole debate is that here you have these folks defending the commercialization of Christmas.

So what do Christians want to buy – well, I have written on Jesus Junk before, but if you need some more examples, see what blogs4God, LordMart, and again Google Images, suggest for your gift giving pleasure.

It has been cold here in the Tri-Cities lately and the other morning the trees all around had been ‘flocked’ by Mother Nature.

This Christmas light display from WFTV.com in the Hunter’s Creek subdivision in Orlando, Florida, is getting some negative attention. It would appear that someone bagged Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and has him field dressed and hanging from a tree.

You can see the one red light in the photo that represents Rudolph’s nose and the rest that show the blood draining from the body. According to the news story many of the neighbors say it disgusts them. There is a video on the site with interviews.

HatTip to Reformissionary

I just was reading Lifehack Your Books: Dogear, Writing In Books, and Apologizing to Librarians and thought about how I treat my books.

I agree with the author’s first point:

The first taboo I think everyone should just plain get over is the taboo of writing in books. I write in most of my books. Notes about the content, things the content reminds me of, etc. When you just plain write in the margins, inside the cover, etc. there�s no way the notes for that content will get lost. They�ll forever be attached to the text they refer to.

I have no problems writing in my books. I will write notes in the margin – my ‘conversation’ with the author; agreeing, disagreeing, or asking questions. I will mark any ‘important’ notes with an ‘NB’, an abbreviation for the Latin for Nota Bene, or Note Well.

I do not like to underline in books. First, I cannot draw a strait line, so the long squiggly line I would put in the book would distract too much. Second, even a straight underline would distract too much. I mark the beginning of the area to be ‘marked’ with an ‘L’ like bracket and then end of the area with a backwards ‘L’. I then mark in the margin a vertical line that draws the eye’s attention. A double vertical line is used for those areas I really want to ‘highlight’. I guess you could say I ‘sideline’ instead of ‘underline’.

The next point I cannot bring myself to do:

Counterfeit money is making a big hit in the Tri-Cities. At our office we are using a Counterfeit Detector Pen to check all bills. Besides using the pens there are a number of ways to tell if a bill is ‘good’:

• Know Your Money – From US Secret Service
• Counterfeit Protection – How to tell a good bill

What to do if you have counterfeit currency
Since the consequences for passing counterfeit currency include fines up to $5,000 or imprisonment up to 15 years, you need to be careful. If you have a suspicious bill:

• Write your initials on the back so you can identify it later.
• On a separate sheet of paper write in detail how you got it:
  • Who gave it to you.
  • Where you got it.
  • When you got it.
• Handle it as little as possible to preserve any fingerprints.

• Contact the local police.