BrianAndPamela.com

Link to Many Eyes : Co-Occurrences of Names in the New Testament

Some of you know, I have a soft spot for data visualization.  I love interesting ways that people come up with to show data connections.  I've mentioned this love before, and have been meaning to talk about digg swarm and digg stack for a while now.  But this latest find is even cooler… all the people of the New Testament, organized into social networks.  Guess who has the most "friends"? (more…)

Link to Awaken the Dawn : Awaken the dawn podcast #1 now live

It's been a long dry spell and I don't know if it will go on after the conference, but I'm back on the virtual air. 

I've been doing a lot of work with Grace Church of Fredericksburg audio post production lately, and we're all getting ready for the Awaken the Dawn conference which is being held at Grace in February.  Saturday night, I posted the first episode of the Awaken the Dawn podcast.  I could spend a really long blog post explaining what is Awaken the Dawn, but it's better to just point you at the website (which we're working on) and the first podcast episode.  My co-host (Missy) and I interview Steve Dornbush and find out about what ATD is all about.  Give it a listen.  You can download it, or listen online, RSS feed is coming soon.

The more observant of you will have noticed a new tab in the site menu of late.  the Caffeinated at BrianAndPamela is the latest addition to the site.  At the most basic level, it's web forums for y'all to interact with us and with one another.  What else can it be?  Well, it could be a brooch or a hat or a pterodactyl… sorry, I was channeling Airplane.  It can be what ever your little heart desires.  Just a place to chit chat, ask us questions, and contribute your two cents.  You will need to register to post… sorry about that, but as an incentive there are special members only topic areas available!  (There are also private areas for friends and family, so if you register with a weird screen name that I won't recognize, make sure you tell us who you are.) 

Yes.  Next question? 

Ok, seriously.  This question comes from a first time reader to the blog.  Culture, language, just about everything changes.  Do table manners?  Is it still rude to have your elbows on the table?  It is, but not for the reason you might think… and, there are exceptions.  Pass the barbeque sauce, it's time for dinner!  

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So I'm trying to get a computer set up for a new employee coming in on Monday.  We're giving her the computer that was used by the person she's replacing, only no one bothered to get the login for the machine before the last girl left.  I tried unsuccessfully to access the local admin account that was supposed to have been created on the box, and was about ready to cry.  Then I remembered… "Ophcrack Live CD". 

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The Unethical but (Mostly) Legal Retail Shopping Tactics of Devil Consumers - SixWise.com

Learn before you return - Charlotte Observer

There's a fine line between protecting your bottom line and punishing your customers.  Best Buy, Target and other retailers are pursuing ways to stop you from being a "Devil Shopper" that costs them money. 

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Yes, yes.  I’m to be congratulated and celebrated.  Look at me, I managed to avoid becoming compost for another year.  Quite an accomplishment if I do say so.  So raise a glass (of geritol) and join me:

May the best ye’ve ever seen
Be the worst ye’ll ever see
May a moose ne’er leave yer girnal
Wi’ a tear drap in his e’e
May ye aye keep hale an’ he’rty
Till ye’re auld eneuch tae dee
May ye aye be jist as happy
As I wish ye aye tae be

I'm about to back up and upgrade the blog software.  Wish me luck.  There may be some instability, reduced functionality or even complete failure as this happens.  We'll be back as quick as we can.

UPDATE:  Well, looks like it's all working.  Please let me know if you find any problems.

Link to Privately, Hollywood admits DRM isn't about piracy

Ken Fisher has a good little piece over at Ars Technca about DRM.  He's basically saying what we've all been saying for a while now.  DRM isn't about piracy for Hollywood, it's about profit. 

DRM is about nickle and diming away what used to be "fair-use".  I won't repeat all of Fisher's arguments, but quite telling is his link to a Business Week article by Ron Grover.  Grover quotes an anonymous Hollywood exec complaining that Apples DRM policies are already too lax, because you can authorize up to five devices on one iTunes account.  Quoth the exec, "His [Steve Jobs] user rules scare the heck out of us."  Why?  Because I might lend my authorization to a friend?  The way I might lend a DVD? 

I've got more to write about DRM, maybe it's time for another long DRM rant, but not today.  Lucky you.

There are tons of Online Deal aggregator. I'm going to tell you about another one… And yeah, it's got a weird name: Wubee.com.
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