jeffernet by jeff alldridge

Phases of Life by escaworks.com

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:56:43 -0500

Phases of Life

Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes This...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:33:12 -0500

Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes

This is not good. Apparently “those not paying their fare share” are paying for half the country who don’t pay anything.

Big Trouble in Little Japan by xiaobaosg

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:11:43 -0500

Big Trouble in Little Japan

by xiaobaosg

So you want to be a modern poster designer? by Dr. Monster

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:41:02 -0500

So you want to be a modern poster designer?

by Dr. Monster

Cutting the cord We stopped getting cable television almost...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:48:31 -0500

Cutting the cord

We stopped getting cable television almost exactly a year ago. It took a little time to adjust, but it’s been very worthwhile. Even with the nominal cost of Netflix and Hulu+ ($15.98 monthly total), we still don’t watch much TV.

Cutting the cord helped us focus and see where we were spending our currency of time.

I have no idea what I’m doing

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:32:01 -0500

I have no idea what I’m doing

The original LEGO patent filed October 24th, 1961

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:48:44 -0500

The original LEGO patent filed October 24th, 1961

Visual Theology: The Attributes of God by Tim Challies

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:04:29 -0500

Visual Theology: The Attributes of God

by Tim Challies

Visual Theology: The Books of the Bible by Tim Challies

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:01:00 -0500

Visual Theology: The Books of the Bible

by Tim Challies

Church + Children

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:45:00 -0500

Yikes. It’s scary to see people’s comments online about raising children in church —how awful it is and indoctrination.

A few comments from an article in The Stranger:

What I’m trying to figure out is why this isn’t widely regarded as developmental abuse. You should be free to martyr your intellect on behalf of a ridiculous invisible sky-daddy of your choosing, but doing that to your child’s intellect is disgraceful. Where do the parent’s civil rights end and where does the child’s begin?

That is the beautiful beginning of a life filled with manipulation, fear, and guilt. It always starts off beautiful and innocent and turns into control.

Why do you need someone to tell you how to live? What makes you happy that doesn’t inflict harm on others? What the machismo in that scene takes away is empathy. It takes away life’s natural balance.

Amazing similarities to the origins of the Third Reich. Hitler Youth, blind obedience, macho violence, etc. As to the claim cults don’t last; true for Hitler. His only lasted around 13 years and 70 million or so dead afterwards.

Didn’t take long to devolve into Godwin’s law:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”

Who are you to tell anyone how to raise their kids? If I don’t raise my children based on my faith and beliefs, who’s faith should I use? Yours? Why?

Understanding issues with logic

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:56:40 -0500

Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood

Lets walk through this:

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure does a lot of good to help women and families suffering from breast cancer with the goal of finding a cure. So that’s good right? Right.

“Komen” has given money to Planned Parenthood to help with mammograms, breast cancer awareness, etc. OK, that’s good too.

Some people (myself included) do not agree with all that Planned Parenthood does and, naturally, do not support them. I acknowledge that Planned Parenthood does do some good things I agree with, but I cannot support the overall mission of Planned Parenthood or overlook the negatives that outweigh the goods.

Komen has decided not to give money to Planned Parenthood —via new rules that bar support to organizations under congressional investigation. But whatever, they don’t support all that Planned Parenthood is even though they admit (and supported with money, for years) that they did some good. Fine.

Hey, that’s similar to me: admit there is some good, but can’t support fully because of other outstanding circumstances. OK.

Now people are outraged when they see a company make that type of decision of not supporting Planned Parenthood. In turn, the outraged don’t support Komen —even though up until Komen not continuing to give money, those Planned Parenthood supporters would admit what Komen did was good.

Holy crap there’s a pattern!

So what is there to deduce? If you are upset with Komen for not supporting Planned Parenthood, your justification is the same justification Komen used to end their support. This is of course only if you want to argue with clean logic.

Likewise, Hell has free health insurance, but I can’t support it fully.

It’s entirely different when you include emotion, religious or non-religious beliefs, politics, personal ethics, moral standing, etc. into the argument. And if you devolve your argument to that, you’re actually having a different argument entirely.

Not Everyone Copies Apple

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:47:00 -0500

Not Everyone Copies Apple:

Tim Cook in his first email to Apple employees as Apple’s new CEO sent August 25, 2011:

[Apple is] going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.”

Kazuo Hirai in response to being appointed Sony’s new President and CEO on February 1, 2012:

The path [Sony] must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses —primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains.

Apple: best, world, delight, proud
Sony: growth, businesses, accelerate, domains

Not everyone copies Apple.

Facebook IPO

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:27:22 -0500

So 85% of Facebook’s revenue comes from ads? What ads? I don’t see ads. Ah, yes because I have a simple plugin blocking Facebook ads. Then 12% alone on Zynga transactions. I don’t play Facebook games let alone pay hard dollars for virtual currency.

Does this really merit a $5 billion IPO for Facebook? Web ads are essentially the internet’s version of a tip jar.

At least Google’s ads have value to what I am searching for. There’s better context. How does Facebook add that same value to their ads? By combing your personal information of course! That’s their context.

Facebook IPO —how much do you wanna’ bet this will be the next AOL Time Warner?

Murdoch buying MySpace in 2005 seemed like a smart investment too. In 2007 Myspace was valued at $12 billion. Today? Estimates of $109 million. Less then ONE percent it’s projected value less then five years ago. You thought you had $100, but you really have 91 cents.

But Facebook is a little different. They saw how fickle a social network site can be. From Livejournal to Friendster to MySpace. So they added “hooks” to their site with integration outside (every news site has a share/like this on Facebook button) that draws people back inside their walls. And more importantly, they have established critical mass. That creates a gravity that attracts things (people) simply by momentum.

But what about competition? There isn’t a good competitor today. Google+? I’m sorry —Google has launched their product with too many missteps to recover at its current trajectory. Having to have a Google account alone is a big hurdle. Grandma cannot use her old Hotmail account to signup or sign in to Google+.

Imagine it’s 1997. Facebook today is Microsoft of 1997. Google+ today is Apple of 1997. I don’t think Google+ can emerge to be what Apple is today without some crazy paradigm shift. Apple’s 1997 paradigm shift was a man named Steve Jobs.

But lets look at history. In 1997 Larry Page and Sergey Brin registered google.com. Google was incorporated as a company mid-1998. So while Microsoft was dominant and Apple was dying, Google didn’t even exist. In 2004 when Google had their initial public offering, Zuckerberg launched The Facebook in his Harvard dorm.

If history is any indicator, there are some young people, maybe in junior high, that in a few years will start the next shift in technology and communication that will disrupt everyone.

Oh yeah, so Facebook? Sweet ads. Hey, stop snooping through my stuff.

3:16 in the New Testament

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:39:13 -0500

Matthew 3:16-17

After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!

Luke 3:16

John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John 3:16-17

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Colossians 3:16

Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

1 Timothy 3:16-17

And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

From Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Costa Concordia Shipwreck

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:48:13 -0500

Costa Concordia Shipwreck

RIM creates 4 cartoon characters to spread the “Be...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:00:40 -0500

RIM creates 4 cartoon characters to spread the “Be Bold” message

"Apple’s profits ($13 billion) exceeded Google’s entire revenue ($10.6 billion)."

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:30:17 -0500

“Apple’s profits ($13 billion) exceeded Google’s entire revenue ($10.6 billion).”

- Farhad Manjoo @fmanjoo

Matt Richman: Takeaways from Apple’s (Q4) 2011

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:16:42 -0500

Matt Richman: Takeaways from Apple’s (Q4) 2011:

In 2009, Apple sold more iPhones than it did in 2007 and 2008 combined. In 2010, Apple sold more iPhones than it did in 2007, 2008, and 2009 combined. Last year, Apple sold 93.1 million iPhones, slightly more than it did in in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 combined. The pattern continued.

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park Mountains Photo by b80399

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:32:30 -0500

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park Mountains

Photo by b80399

Beautiful “Mad Men” season five ad

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:55:46 -0500