After installing a piece of software on my wife’s computer we sought to use the new software, but encountered the following descriptive error dialog.

[tags]software, ui, screenshots[/tags]

As various European countries are considering a ban on the burqua, a garment worn by some Muslim women (see Wikipedia entry), Cardinal Renato Martino offered a perspective from the Vatican on the issue. He was quoted as saying:

[immigrants] must respect the traditions, symbols, culture and religion of the countries they move to. (see NYT article)

What makes these remarks so interesting to me is that at the same news conference in which Cardinal Martino made these comments he also advocated Christians’ right to worship throughout the world. He noted that some countries impose heavy restrictions on Christian worship (see here).

I’m sure that Muslims who advocate the use of burquas see laws prohibiting women from wearing them as an infringement on their right to worship and practice their faith. How can the Cardinal express disapproval of countries restricting Christian worship while also holding to the position that Muslim immigrants should respect the laws of the land even if those laws prohibit specific religious practices?

[tags]Islam, Christianity, faith, worship[/tags]

I don’t have cable TV and I’m not able to receive any local stations on my TV with the aid of an antenna. In order to stay current with the news I rely on news websites. Lately, however I’ve been wanting to watch news reports and not just read them. Many news websites have been offering video clips for quite awhile, but I wanted something more substantial than a 1 minute piece.

I purchased a day pass for CNN Pipeline. You can watch the available content via a web browser or via a desktop application. I found the desktop app to pretty useful. It even allows you to watch in full screen. The problem with Pipeline, which is really the problem with always-on news, is that there often isn’t anything interesting to watch. I think the offering would be better if you were able to watch the same programs that are shown on cable.

Recently NBC has begun videocasting NBC Nightly News. You can subscribe to the videocast in iTunes or any other RSS reader or you can simply download the program manually. The program is broadcast Monday through Friday and is made available daily after 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific. It’s a 30 minute broadcast so you only get a few highlights from some of the day’s bigger stories, but I find it more interesting than the 1 minute clips I mentioned earlier. I would love to see more programs made available in this manner, but for now I’m content to get what I can.

[tags]news, media, videocasting[/tags]

Grand Illusions has many optical illusions you check out at their website. You can also see a demo of an illusion using a mask of Einstein’s face below.

Joe Thorn is writing on “quiet times” or “devotions”. I always enjoy his thoughts on this topic. I want to encourage you to read his first post. An excerpt is below.

Sometimes we fall into the habit of evaluating “how we’re doing” spiritually based on the consistency of our daily devotions. It is not uncommon to place such an emphasis on this private aspect of our faith that it trumps everything else God requires of us. It’s not that we intend to view the Christian life this way, but sometimes a portion of an hour in the morning carries more weight than does a demonstrable love for neighbor, forgiving those who have sinned against us, or doing justice. For many of us our quiet time can become a point of pride that provides a false sense of confidence with which we try to approach God.

[tags]Bible reading, prayer, spiritual disciplines, spirituality, Gospel[/tags]