RFID - Good Idea for Humans?

There was a very interesting post in WIRED this month about an elementary school using RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) in student IDs to pot attendance [link].

Appearently this caused a big stink in the local community...'Big Brother,' 'Mark of the Beast' and what not.

What would the local church think about using something like this to easily track attendance? How easy would it be to install a system that automatically posts attendance to any event or activity at church. This could be used for the worship service, small groups, childrens activities, the nursery, anywhere.

What would you say?

Blackberry Etiquette???

Notice: There is a little bathroom humor in this post!!!

Today I go to the restroom and am standing at the urinal 'doing my thing'. A gentleman that works on the same floor (I assume) approaches the urinal directly next to mine...this is a violation in Urinal Etiquette. He then proceeds to 'do his thing' and in the process, takes his Blackberry of his hip (I assume) and began reading his email or something!

Note to those with a Blackberry: Are you truly that important and/or crunched for time? Which odd places do you check your email?

Has anyone published a Blackberry Etiquette reference guide?

...How do you 'clean' a Blackberry?

Live 8 - Live on XM Satellite Radio

If ever you needed an excuse (not that you really need to make up an excuse for your wife to let you get a new techno-gadget) to purchase an XM Radio this is it!!!

http://www.xmradio.com/live8/index.jsp

U2, Coldplay, Madonna, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Sting, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, REM, Andrea Bocelli, Youssou N'Dour, Crosby Stills and Nash, Lauryn Hill, Will Smith, Puff Daddy, Sarah McLachlan, Dave Matthews Band, and many more.

Global coverage of Live 8 starts at 7AM ET on July 2:

• Live Global Coverage - XM Channel 40
• London - XM Channel 41
• Philadelphia - XM Channel 42
• Berlin - XM Channel 43
• Rome - XM Channel 44
• Paris - XM Channel 45
• Toronto - XM Channel 46

Learn more at www.live8live.com

Is This Why Tom Cruise Is Acting 'Crazy?'

Bring attention to yourself...bring attention to a remake?

Why in a time of so much dazzling technological innovation, from the iPod to the cellphone camera, were so many gifted filmmakers retreating into the past, devoting their time to remaking old TV shows and movies? Think about it...

• Herbie: Fully Loaded
• Bewitched'
• War of the Worlds
• Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
• The Bad News Bears
• The Dukes of Hazzard

Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern. "But the studios are frightened by newness. And, more scarily, audiences seem to feel the same way."

Sorry to do this but I also feel the same way about Christian artists remaking each others songs. How many different ways can we really hear 'Over the Mountains and the Seas?"

What ever happened to innovation?


P.S. Mr. Cruise, in regard to your 'Ritalin Rant' on the Today Show...it is unlawful to practice medicine without a license.

Mr. Graham...seriously? Did you really say this?

Mr. Graham...seriously? Did you really say this?

Here's a quote I heard Bill Bennett talking about this morning.

"Graham called the Clintons 'wonderful friends' and 'a great couple', quipping that the former president should become an evangelist and allow 'his wife to run the country'." [link]



A great couple???

Dell and the Patriot Act?

What do Dell and the United States Government have in common? Apparently they want to know what you are typing on your computer...

http://c0x2.de/lol/lol.html

Maybe that's why Dell laptops are so inexpensive...the cheaper they are the more people will buy one. All Uncle Sam has to do is subsidize this little program...

Time to move to Toshiba or Mac!!!

Thanks to Chris Wick for pointing this out.

Devotional Minute

Please welcome my father-in-law, Donnie Davis, to the blogging community. He has been writing minute long devotionals for a few years now and sending them out via email. Now he's 'going global!!!'

His URL is http://devotionalminute.blogspot.com

Welcome to the WorldWideWeb Donnie!

Sermon Pod Casts for Volunteers

I visited a fairly large church over the weekend in the Houston area and noticed something. A young lady was walking around to all of the volunteers (children's church, greeters, parking lot guys/gals) and handing them sermon tapes. That got me to thinking...

Why not setup sermon podcasts for volunteers at churches? Surely a church with a IT guy/staff that maintains it's own website might be able to arrange something like this. The 'Vols' could use a promo code to download the message free of charge and others could by it if they did not want to sit and watch a video of the service at their desktop...

The cost would be for bandwidth instead of physical cassette tapes and that's about it!

Chipotle on PBS???

Chipotle is the sponsor of a new PBS television show 'Mark Bittman Takes on America's Chefs.' Check out the 3 'quick ads' (very funny) that are played before and after the show. [link]

P.S. Thanks for the free burrito yesterday!!!

P.P.S. Check out their whole website it's entertaining.

Sorry Honey!!!

It happens everyday, everyday!!! My secret affair. I get in my car and drive to work, or at least that's what my wife thinks! On my way to work I think over and over again, "Is it eight o'clock yet? It's got to be eight o'clock!" Then it happens...The Laura Ingraham Show. This woman drives me nuts and each day I feel awful about it. She is so easy to listen to. She makes great points. She's witty. Well that's that! There you go. Now it's out in the open.

Anyone else feel the same?

My First Business Trip

I've been with my company for 5 weeks now and I just got back from my 1st business trip. My boss and myself went to Houston Saturday and Sunday to work with an organization. Let me tell you it was a blast. I had to book my first business flight, book my first rental car, book a room to stay in (and stayed in it alone). WOW!!! A lot of firsts. I know this might be a little over done, but this is something I have always wanted to do. I have finally done it.

Just think about it for a moment...what was your first overnight business trip like?

Notice: All Podcasters...

Be very careful about publishing podcasts with any music in them! I found this note on Glenn Beck's podcasting page.

Dear Subscribers,

Recent court rulings have made clear that music of almost any kind cannot be included in podcasts, since, unlike streams, podcasts are a physical copy of the audio, and music is not licensed for this use.

We regret that this means podcasts and downloadable MP3's must be edited to remove all such music, including bumper music that leads out of commercial breaks, and any music content in the show.

On occasion, this may result in rougher than usual edits in order to follow the law. We are working on technical solutions to eliminate this music without the need for such editing, and we ask your patience until that is in place.

As always, all streams of the show, including those delivered on demand, do include all show content, including music.

Thank you very much

GoogleGoo...WOW!!! 

A Google Store?

I'm not sure how long this has been around but you can get some pretty sweet stuff at the Google Store. Things like...Google Beanbag...GoogleMini...Google Spiral Notebook...Google Goo...stuff.

There you go Google Freaks.

Mr. Bernard

Saturdays at the Vinson household usually consist of being out and about during the morning. While out driving around the radio is always on 570 KLIF. There is a wonderful show on from 8:00AM to 1:00PM called Wheels with Ed Wallace. This guy is amazing not only does he know everything there is to know about cars but history...man, he does a segment titled The Backside of American History...what you didn't learn in high school. It is absolute greatness.

Anyhow, between segments he has little 'one liners' by two different characters and one is Mr. Bernard. This weekend I heard the best one yet.

"Why is it anyone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone zooming past you is crazy?"

It made me laugh out loud.

Bargains at the Expense of Others

For years I’ve heard Glenn Beck preach about how wonderful Bill’s Khakis are. My wife and I went to purchase a pair for myself and man-oh-man are they expensive! The latest clothing rage is 7 for all mankind and again, man-oh-man are they expensive! But are they really? Or, are we getting a bargain at someone else’s expense? Where does the Gap, American Eagle, Nike or almost any other clothing manufacture produce their clothing? I’ll give you a hint…can you say outsourcing? With all the talk of companies sending jobs overseas it looks like this huge market has been overlooked. Bill’s Khakis and 7’s are produced in the good ole’ U.S. of A. Maybe that is why they cost a more. Not because they are trying to make a huge profit, but because they actually pay at least minimum wage to their employees instead of $1 a day or whatever. So the next time you are out shopping and supporting the economy, think about these two products. By American made or stop moaning and groaning about outsourcing!

P.S. They look and feel great.

Google tops Time Warner

WOW!!!
I guess Google is doing okay...
Here is an article on Google topping Time Warner. [link]

Pod Casting Mainstream?

My favorite talk show host is by far Glenn Beck. He's funny, conservative, and does some pretty great bits (I'm a fan of great bits.)

Well now he's hopped aboard the Pod casting band wagon. [link]

I Don't Want to be a Hilton

Great article by Kathleen Parker about back in the day.