Life is a Prayer.com - Jeff Geerling's Website

Komen and Abortion

Jeff Geerling — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:58:54 +0000

Planned Parenthood should be destroyed. We should stop giving them tax money. We should stop supporting anyone who supports them. We need to support organizations that actually help women, not ones that abort them and push contraceptives. None of these help women or society. Write your legislators to tell them that you want any government support to these organizations cut off.

This. Very much this. Back to a Komen foundation boycott. I love women, I have a few relatives who have had breast cancer—some have not survived—and I hope we can find cures for all forms of cancer. But I can't support an organization that supports Planned Parenthood (one of the most anti-woman (and inhumane) organizations in the history of the world. Much more so than the medieval Church so many in modern culture satirize).

abortion

komen

planned parenthood

Ethics in Media Use: Catholics are NOT Excused from Licensing, Copyright

Jeff Geerling — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:30:06 +0000

As a Catholic who's worked in many different media fields (newspapers, photography, video production, and web development), I've seen a very wide array of copyright violations, improper media usage, and misuse of licensed assets. This seems to happen more in the non-profit world, where there is little or no budget for acquiring stock images, etc.

I'm extremely generous with my licensing for photos and other media I produce; typically, if someone asks to use a photo of mine, I'll send them a full-resolution JPEG and a license that allows them to use it for any non-profit cause.

However, what really gets under my skin is when I find my photos (especially) used in YouTube videos, for articles, and on posters, when I have never even been asked for permission, and when the photos clearly have 'All rights reserved' or some form of Creative Commons license.

The lifted photo.

Today, on Facebook, I noticed that 'Catholic Church' posted a video on YouTube about vocations (titled Life rooted in God...), and I know the first photo used in that video (a photo of now-Bishop Rice) was used without permission, and I'm pretty sure many of the other photos were, as well.

What the producers of these videos and other media don't realize is that:

It took me a long time to produce that photo (getting some time in Msgr. Rice's schedule, gathering the equipment, setting up the equipment, taking some 20-40 photos, processing said photos, and retouching the final photo).
It required the use of over $2,000 of photography equipment (taking professional-quality photos is not free, and isn't done on one's mobile phone).
Msgr. Rice never signed a photo release to allow the use of his photo in any videos (so, I could not have even given permission for this photo to be used in a public YouTube video).

Please, please, PLEASE try to always ask permission to use any photos, videos, sounds, music, etc. that is not in the public domain. Please respect the media owners' licensing restrictions and copyright.

In the end, don't steal other people's work, even if it's for a good cause. The ends, in Catholic morality, never justify the means!

Craigslist etiquette

Jeff Geerling — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:22:01 +0000

Just some tips from an occasional Craigslister:

For everyone:

Cash only. Don't do checks, PayPal, etc. Even if it's > $1,000.
Meet in a well-lit, public place. Starbucks is great. Target parking lot is fine. Nice gas stations are okay. Small restaurant parking lots are out, as are shady gas stations.
- Aside: Additionally, if the other party doesn't show, you at least have something to do if you're at a place like Starbucks or Target. If you're at a gas station, you'll have wasted your time.
Make sure you can contact each other. Either email if everyone has smartphones, or trade mobile numbers. One party is often caught in traffic and is late.
Haggling is okay. If you list something that sells for $50-80 for $80, and the offer is $50, either accept that or settle in the middle. Don't always buy things for the listed price.

For buyers:

Don't low-ball. Haggling is fine, but offering $20 for an item priced at $60 is not.
Don't send emails that say "is this item still for sale?" Instead, say, "I'd like to buy your item... I have a question about it..."
Stick to your agreed-upon price. Some sellers try to scam you out of an extra few bucks at the meet, but stand your ground on the price (this is why emails are better than calls—you have evidence of the price).

For sellers:

Allow people to contact you via email, and reply. Many CL'ers are introverts, and they'll ignore posts that require a phone call.
Don't feel obligated to respond to every email. Since your email address is anonomous, spammers will sometimes email you, then when they get your response, you're in their spam list. Only respond to legitimate-sounding requests.
Charge the agreed-upon price. Don't show up to a meet and ask the seller for a higher price than you agreed on already. That's just dirty.
Conversely, don't accept less than what you agreed on (don't sell your item short!). Many times, buyers will say "Oh, I only have $250, not $300 like we agreed on... will you still sell the item?" NO!

The general rule of thumb is to be courteous, responsive, and cheerful. Life's too short to waste it on dud Craigslist transactions!

Mobile Phone SMS Spam Can be Expensive

Jeff Geerling — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:38:29 +0000

I recently started receiving spam (unsolicited) text messages on my iPhone. I first received one on New Year's Eve, at 8:31 p.m., and then again at 5:00 a.m. a few days later (nice wakeup call... thanks).

These messages were all from some company named 'GagaCell', which didn't turn up many good search results (most were about Lady Gaga, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't harass people with text messages—just her music and lack of style.

After some online research, I discovered that many people, even after sending STOP to these shortcodes, end up with monthly charges on their cell phone bills. Since I watch my bill pretty closely, I noticed that, all the sudden, I was getting a $9.99 subscription from 'BULLROARE', a content provider I'd never heard of, from short code 31850 (The subscription name was 'IQ32CALL8668611606').

From my work with flockNote, I know just how difficult (and expensive!) it is to get and maintain a shortcode, and how difficult it is to meet all the mobile phone carrier's stringent requirements for legimacy... so I was surprised that there is/was almost no way to retaliate against these spammers!

A Rampant Problem

Looking around online, I found countless forum threads and blog posts on the topic.

There are literally thousands of people finding these fraudulent charges on their bills, and in addition, I'm sure there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, who have no idea they're getting an extra $9.99, $19.99 or more on their monthly bills!

I asked the kind AT&T representative who I called about any method of reporting short code abuse or spam, and she said, "Well, you can call the number for the company that owns the shortcode. It's on your bill."

Yeah, just like I'm going to ask the used car salesman if the car he's selling is really the best deal I can find.

Sigh.

Purchase Block

Like Dan, from the blog Ordering Disorder, I asked the AT&T representative if there was any way I could prevent automated subscriptions on my line, and she mentioned something called 'Purchase Block.'

Basically, any time a company adds any charges to my AT&T bill (which currently happens invisibly to me), I will now get a text message from AT&T asking me to enter my 'parental control' PIN to authorize the charge. What a brilliant idea!

Just like Dan, though, I wonder why this is not the default. It's as if AT&T was in cahoots with these spammy companies... I truly believe that if AT&T seriously cared for its customers more than its own interests, it would not allow any company to automatically bill anyone for anything without the user's explicit authorization. That's kinda how it works for everything else in the world.

Reporting Abuse / Spam Shortcodes

As mentioned earlier, the representative told me that if I wanted to report abuse/spam from the shortcode, I should contact the 1-800 number on the bill for the company that was actually spamming me. No thanks! You'd think AT&T, Verizon, etc. would care more about preventing spam for its users...

Does anyone else know anything about a more effective way to shut down frequent abusers like 31850 (Bullroare from mblox.com), or 25870 (GagaCell IQ), both of whom are from the same company, which can be reached at 1-866-861-1606?

Calling the company and telling them they should shut down their primary source of income is not going to help (in fact, they'll probably try sending SMS messages to the Skype or Google number I'd call them from!).

Life is a Prayer Online Store

Jeff Geerling — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:37:35 +0000

The Life is a Prayer Online Store is currently undergoing revision, as the website has changed. We will be back online soon, selling Pro-Life bumper stickers and other odds and ends.

What happened to Life is a Prayer.com?

Jeff Geerling — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:53:50 +0000

[Update: I've finished building a new theme for Life is a Prayer.com; it's a bit of the old, mixed in with a bit of the new. What do you think?]

I'm in the middle of upgrading Life is a Prayer.com to Drupal 7 (to the non-geeks out there: I'm changing up the structure of the site a little bit, and giving it a new coat of varnish).

So... for a while you'll probably see a few things here and there that are out of place (especially in sections like the Pictures area, where photo galleries are displayed). Please report any problems you have in the comments below, and wish me luck as I start redesigning the site to make it look even better than ever!

(This current look is only temporary - Things will be back to normal soon!).

Interview on Make Web Not War

Jeff Geerling — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:43:33 +0000

A recent interview focusing on my involvement in open source development (mostly centering around my work with Make Web Not War website:

Interview - Jeff Geerling - Open Source Catholic

In the interview, I speak about my involvement in Drupal, and my appreciation for a variety of different open source projects. I'm glad Microsoft is putting some resources behind sites like 'Make Web Not War', and I hope they continue to reach out into different developer communities.

They still have a stigma of being closed and have tech that's hard to develop for (which, in some cases, is true), but that could change (it is changing, but very slowly)...

Crestwood Mall - Ghost Town

Jeff Geerling — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:25:25 +0000

A week ago, I needed to drop off a package at the post office, and I noticed there was a post office inside Crestwood Mall—an old shopping mall in southwest St. Louis County. Since this post office was on my way to another stop, I decided to venture into Crestwood Mall to the once-mighty mall that was in dire straits.

When I pulled into the mall parking lot, I noticed a few things:

There were two other cars in the entire lot where I parked.
There was a huge, black crow sitting on a handicapped parking sign, watching me walk towards the door.

Not very encouraging.

Anyways, I purposely parked at an end of the mall so I could get a little mall-walking into my day (hey, when you're a programmer, and you sit 90% of your life, you'll take any exercise you can get!). My spirits weren't lifted when I tried entering the automatic doors, but was stymied:

Now, I can understand a temporary problem, but it looked to me like none of the doors had been maintained in a while; paint was falling off, locking mechanisms were detached from the push-to-open doors, and the doors felt a bit like they would fall apart when I pushed them open!

After entering, I saw not one person for the first few hundred yards. In fact, during my entire 20 minute circuit around the mall, I noticed about 8 people in total, and only three were inside stores. I felt like I was Will Smith in I, Legend! There were areas of the mall (for example, the old food terrace) where not one store was open, and every inch of storefront was boarded up. In fact, many of the mall's bathrooms looked like they'd been closed for a very long time:

Now, what if I wanted to get a few dollars to spend at one of the three or four remaining stores? Oh, sorry... the ATMs here don't work either:

What happened, I asked myself, to the glorious mall that just ten years prior boasted a Dillards, Macys, all the requisite indoor-mall stores (Auntie Anne's, Claire's, Sam Goody's, Pasta House, hundreds of cell phone stores, etc.)? It used to be a destination for southern countygoers, but no longer.

The few remaining kiosks in the mall were empty (completely!), and many of the storefronts weren't even barricaded by a dropdown metal grate, meaning people could simply walk back into the abandoned store and sit behind the counter if they wanted. It was quite eerie—especially with the echoes of music played over the PA system in a large, empty space.

Even when I walked by the Sears (the only remaining store that had any semblance of being a 'mall-type' store, but which is also closing soon), I didn't see anyone inside.

It was almost a nightmarish experience (I really thought I heard a few zombies every now and then), and I think I'll avoid the place for a while.

Inspiration and Garbage

Jeff Geerling — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:04:10 +0000

My relationship with writing is a funny thing; I've never been a 'writer', per-se, but I do love writing things from time to time. I probably write about as much prose as the average active blogger, but a lot of my writing never sees the light of day, nor is it focused in one particular area.

I blog about Drupal development and technology over on my Midwestern Mac blog, about the Church and technology on my Open Source Catholic blog, about life in general here, and about a variety of other things on various other blogs and fora.

But I think it's really important for someone who is serious about writing—and writing well—to do two things:

Stay inspired
Throw out the garbage

These two actions support and help each other; discarding mediocre writing projects and posts will allow you to take a fresh look at what you're writing, while staying inspired can help you more easily discern what's garbage, and what can be engaging and/or informative.

Just yesterday, I spent over an hour writing a post I thought would turn out funny, a bit tongue-in-cheek, and mildly informative... but it just didn't happen. Instead of wasting more of my time trying to make a mediocre post a little less mediocre, I threw it out, and started this post instead.

It's hard to stay inspired, but simply clearing away distractions helps (very rarely do distractions aid in inspiration). My favorite writing is often done after I've taken a break from coding or playing a game (or something else that involves a bit of concentration), and simply read a book, watched a video, prayed a short prayer, or did nothing at all.

Buzz or Hum in Computer Speakers

Jeff Geerling — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:37:25 +0000

I recently spoke with an audio engineer (my Dad, who has worked in radio for many years) about something that's been bugging me for many years: Why do almost all computer speakers have some sort of annoying buzz or hum?

I know it has to do with voltage differences, power, RF emissions, etc... but I wanted to know more about what I could try to do to reduce the level of the noise. I've tried things like plugging everything into one outlet/power strip, using a filtered power adapter, using a ground loop reduction magnet, etc., with varying degrees of success.

Power/Amp-induced buzz

60hz buzz in a speaker is typically induced in the power lead. If that is the case, the buzz will be in the speakers even if the audio connections are removed.

If the buzz is there with audio input to speakers is disconnected, the problem is the AC adapter, the actual power supply (from your mains), or the amplifier for the speakers (usually, for computer speakers, these are in one of the speakers or inside the subwoofer).

RF-induced buzz

If the buzz starts when a wire is connected it can be a few things. One is a high level of energy in the surrounding air - like a MRI machine would do or possibly a wireless device. Another is a bad ground connection somewhere - like a bad audio cable. Change the cable. If you can't do that, wiggle it a lot and move it around and see if there is a difference.

(Note: At my current residence, I'm less than a mile from no less than three radio towers, with more than 15 radio stations' antenna broadcasting at thousands of watts each... many computer speakers are unable to cope with that amount of RF, as shielding on computer speaker cables is notoriously weak or not present at all).

Voltage-difference buzz

The last thing to look at is the voltage difference between the audio output device (computer) and the input device (amplifier in the speakers). The first thing to try is rotate the power plug on just one of the devices. The second is to try and run a separate grounding wire between the two - finding a nice grounded spot on both. Third try is running a ground wire to each device from a good ground like a water pipe that goes to the outside.

Another simple test is to short the inputs on the speakers — if there is more than one short the one not in use.

Conclusion

The best solution is often to shell out a few more dollars for some better speakers. I've used more than 10 different speaker sets in the past 15 years, and I've settled on the Bose Companion 2 Series II speakers, as they are pretty compact, and put out great, almost noise-less sound, without a large footprint. For a long time, I suffered through a bunch of cheaper Creative, Altec-Lansing, etc. speakers, all with similar problems (one set of speakers tuned in quite clearly to 94.7 FM!).

I figure I have a 700W 5.1 sound system with some nice, big JBL and Sony speakers in my main room, and if I need some really pure sound, I'll work from the room with that setup instead :)