Sneak peak of the new Microsoft.com

Take a look at the future website. It only works with Internet Explorer.

The Missionary Game

Take a look at this.

It's cool and simple. The jumping can get trickly at some places. I tried it once and I could only set up 3 out of potential 19 churches.

Here is where you can pray for the rhino to go to sleep.

The head of the natives is so happy to get a copy of the Bible.

This flash game gives a very simplified picture of missions work. You face dangers. You need to understand the needs of the locals and you definitely need prayers.

The ganglion on my wrist is gone

Dear reader,

The ganglion on my right wrist is gone. I think is has ruptured. I can feel the 'balloon' under my skin. I am not sure what should be done to it. I will check with the doctor perhaps during the weekend.

Thank you all for your prayers. The GP and the specialist both told me ganglion won't go away on it's own (so do all the reports on the web.) Well, it did.

All glory to God!

He will lead us into the new era!

Read this blog.

I have it here in its entirety. What will we do without Senator Ted Stevens?

Thursday, 29 June 2006

Your Own Personal Internet

The Senate Commerce Committee deadlocked 11 to 11 on an amendment inserting some very basic net neutrality provisions into a moving telecommunications bill. The provisions didn't prohibit an ISP from handling VOIP faster than emails, but would have made it illegal to handle its own VOIP packets faster than a competitor's.

Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) explained why he voted against the amendment and gave an amazing primer on how the internet works.

There's one company now you can sign up and you can get a movie delivered to your house daily by delivery service. Okay. And currently it comes to your house, it gets put in the mail box when you get home and you change your order but you pay for that, right.

But this service isn't going to go through the interent and what you do is you just go to a place on the internet and you order your movie and guess what you can order ten of them delivered to you and the delivery charge is free.

Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet?

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.

So you want to talk about the consumer? Let's talk about you and me. We use this internet to communicate and we aren't using it for commercial purposes.

We aren't earning anything by going on that internet. Now I'm not saying you have to or you want to discrimnate against those people [...]

The regulatory approach is wrong. Your approach is regulatory in the sense that it says "No one can charge anyone for massively invading this world of the internet". No, I'm not finished. I want people to understand my position, I'm not going to take a lot of time. [?]

They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.

It's a series of tubes.

And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.

Now we have a separate Department of Defense internet now, did you know that?

Do you know why?

Because they have to have theirs delivered immediately. They can't afford getting delayed by other people.

[...]

Now I think these people are arguing whether they should be able to dump all that stuff on the internet ought to consider if they should develop a system themselves.

Maybe there is a place for a commercial net but it's not using what consumers use every day.

It's not using the messaging service that is essential to small businesses, to our operation of families.

The whole concept is that we should not go into this until someone shows that there is something that has been done that really is a viloation of net neutraility that hits you and me.

The full audio can be found here.

(Hat Tip: Art Brodsky)

I love Google too

Alex, 12 year-old girl from US wrote this. Apparently, she got 106/100 for her effort.

Google has been such an integral part of my internet experience, which in turn has been such an integral part of my life, I understand what Alex tried to say in the closing of her essay.

You can see it in her blog. I am keeping the original colour.

Nine out of ten times when I use my computer I find myself interacting with Google’s products including Search, Froogle, Google News, Gmail, Google Earth, and the Google Toolbar. What do I like about these products? They make finding different types of information extremely easy. Google has different search engines that I use to find all the information I need, whether it’s a website, new article or an item for sale. I also use Google to communicate with my friends, answer simple questions, and find locations. It’s not just I like these products; I also find them extremely useful, making Google the center of my internet world!

Google’s user interface (human computer interactions) is clear, easy to use and understandable. Search boxes are located at the top and bottom of every page making a constant and reliable interface. Changing search phrases is common for me, so I like knowing where the closest box is going to be. I love Google because when I do a search, the advertisements are clearly marked. Advertisements are consistently displayed on the right hand side, don’t take up too much room. I think Google’s simplistic, non-cluttered look makes it easier to use than other search engines.

In addition to searching websites, Google also has news and product search. Google News makes finding articles extremely easy. Articles from all the popular news websites are gathered together and then made searchable. This puts all the news you could ever want in one place, at Google News. I use Google News mostly for current events homework and other research. Similar to Google News, Froogle gathers products for sale into one searchable place, providing “smart shopping”. I like Froogle because after you type in a product name you can narrow your search by categories. The categories range from price, to seller ratings, to brands. I really think the categories are useful and they help me filter the merchandise correctly to find what I’m looking for. I use Froogle a lot during the holiday season to make gift lists. Google News and Froogle both return multiple pages of perfect results. I find all of Google’s search engines to be simple, efficient, and to have ultimate speed.

Sometimes what I’m looking for is the answer to a short question. Google Search has the perfect features for me. When I want to know what the weather will be like, I simply type “weather Seattle” into the search box. Google answers my question by giving me the forecast in Seattle for the next four days, the current temperature, and the humidity. Another common question I have is “What is someone’s phone number?” Google does a terrific job answering this question. All I have to do is type in “Jen, Brawn, Wa” into Google Search to get her phone number and address. To learn the definition of a word I type, “define: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia” and Google gives me the meaning of that word. These are three of my favorite short answer questions out of a list of over 20 that Google provides

Not all of Google’s products are directly related to searching. Some of them are internet tools like Gmail, and others are free downloads, like Google Toolbar and Google Earth. These are some of my favorite products. Google Toolbar lets you search the internet without first going to Google’s homepage. Other toolbar features that I use a lot are spell check and pop-up blocker. When I’m looking for a picture of my house, a map of my neighborhood, or a nearby park, I use Google Earth. I zoom in and out easily always getting clear pictures. The Google product that I use multiple times a day to check my email is Gmail. I like it because I have over 2,733.812316 megabytes of storage space. This way I will never have to delete another email message! Since I can have so much email, being able to search my emails makes it a lot easier to find an old message that I’m looking for.

Now you know how important Google is to me when I’m online or using my computer! Whether I’m finding a friend’s phone number or just checking my email, Google covers it all. Google has a product for everything and they’re so easy to use! I’m not sure if I could survive without Google and all of its products, they are just way to useful!

Whoa! Another ganglion.

On Thursday, I noticed a little lump (1 cm in diameter) on my wrist (near the thumb.)

I didn't know what was it. I thought I could have sprained it. I thank you for all your prayers.

I got it checked this morning. It's a ganglion. To be specific, it's a volar wrist ganglion.

The ganglion is right on top of my artery and vein. So, if surgery is required, the surgeon has to be more careful. If it were not so, I can request all of you (my dear church members) to take turn whacking it with a Bible to burst it. Heh.

In 2 weeks' time, we shall know if surgery is required. Doctors do not know the cause of ganglions but they theorize that repetitive strain could be one factor.

Just found out that besides being known as Bible cyst, a ganglion is also known as Bible bumps or Gideon's disease for the unorthodox book-whacking treatment.

Do continue to pray for me. Thank you. May the Lord bless you richly.