We-blocker and Blog Rings
It's an e-jungle out here. You know it, I know it.
What are you doing about it?
If you are strong enough never to go where you shouldn't on the 'web, I don't believe you!
At the risk of getting rev'ed for advertising, can I recommend We-blocker?
Much like other packages (CyberNanny, SafeSurf, etc), We-blocker acts to stop you seeing web pages that you really don't want to or don't need to see.
However, I choose We-blocker over the others for a few reasons.
Firstly - price. Free. 'StruasBob! You can slip them a donation (if you have a credit card and live in a country with a currency!), but it works fine for free with only a "one in every 15 clicks" pop-up to remind you who you have to thank.
Second - ease of use. This is unfair. I'm not an expert in the other packages so they could be as good. But I am getting to really like how easy and intuitive We-blocker is.
Third - user input. You find a site you don't want to see, you can do three things. You could try remembering the URL so that you don't go back there (yeah right!), or you can tell We-blocker to block it for your purposes or, and here's the good bit, you can tell We-blocker you think other folk might want it blocked too. We-blocker then review the recommendations, and roll out updates on a regular (and invisible) basis.
So today I stumble across a cesspit, and push the button for an e-heads-up to We-blocker. Tomorrow, you are spared the same trap. No more depending on a group of specially desensitised specialists to decide what to block. We're in this war together. I help you, you help me, and that's the way we go.
And sometimes we find some really strange things.
There used to be a couple of "Christian Blog Ring" links at the bottom of this page. Used to be.
Don't ask me what was blockable on the one "Christian" link, but it has started being blocked by We-blocker. I trust them. If it's blocked, I'm not gonna waste my time digging for why. I've just removed the links from the page altogether.
It's easier that way!
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Inflation
Central Statistical Office says that, for the month of April 2003, Zimbabwe's inflation rate hit a new level.
269%.
We are into an arena of unimaginables. How does one plan for anything?
I remember growing up hearing of folk in (then) Israel going straight from the pay office to the shops to buy anything and everything. Making sure that all the pay was spent imeadiately. Stockpiling whatever they could find - from jam to Jaguars. Anything to get the capital as goods rather than cash.
It was a joke.
We pitied them in a distant, far off way.
Now I buy a month's supply of bread at a throw, and that twice a week.
It freezes, and it's going up.
It's no longer "them" - it's "us".
And ZCTU says that we need to stock up on food because the next strike will be the big one.
What food?
OK, I'm at the top of the food chain, but what proportion of the population feel in a position to stock up on anything?
What proportion can find the necesaries to stock up on?
Where will it end?
And still we know it is not as bad as it might have been. Do you remember that "one hit wonder" STEP team band "Voyce" who came through Zimbabwe in the late '80s? They had a song which included the words
If the Lord had not been on our side
We would have been the ones who died
That's easy to say. Many are dying anyway. It almost feels as if God has abandoned us. I don't believe He has. It's not His style!
It would be so much worse if He had.
Central Statistical Office says that, for the month of April 2003, Zimbabwe's inflation rate hit a new level.
269%.
We are into an arena of unimaginables. How does one plan for anything?
I remember growing up hearing of folk in (then) Israel going straight from the pay office to the shops to buy anything and everything. Making sure that all the pay was spent imeadiately. Stockpiling whatever they could find - from jam to Jaguars. Anything to get the capital as goods rather than cash.
It was a joke.
We pitied them in a distant, far off way.
Now I buy a month's supply of bread at a throw, and that twice a week.
It freezes, and it's going up.
It's no longer "them" - it's "us".
And ZCTU says that we need to stock up on food because the next strike will be the big one.
What food?
OK, I'm at the top of the food chain, but what proportion of the population feel in a position to stock up on anything?
What proportion can find the necesaries to stock up on?
Where will it end?
And still we know it is not as bad as it might have been. Do you remember that "one hit wonder" STEP team band "Voyce" who came through Zimbabwe in the late '80s? They had a song which included the words
We would have been the ones who died
That's easy to say. Many are dying anyway. It almost feels as if God has abandoned us. I don't believe He has. It's not His style!
It would be so much worse if He had.
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Make a comment!
I'm not sure if this is a good idea. This is the first time the "[View/Post Comments]" link has been attached.
It means that you can tell me (and the world) what you think of my blog entries. What a scary thought.
However, if no-one comments, it will be a bit of a downer, no?
So do this thing, OK?!
I'm not sure if this is a good idea. This is the first time the "[View/Post Comments]" link has been attached.
It means that you can tell me (and the world) what you think of my blog entries. What a scary thought.
However, if no-one comments, it will be a bit of a downer, no?
So do this thing, OK?!
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, Harare
Dinner for two. Great grub, great company, Great Wall.
I could go back there.
Where? You know - East Road, behind Reps
And not as bad as the Fingaz review from July 2002. (Not to mention the other bits of Grace Mutandwa's private life and newspaper article!)
So you were surprised I have a web page(/blog/whatever)?
Well now your dinner is on it. Ha!
Garlic chicken wings, gingery lamb something or other and grilled bananas. Ha!
Dinner for two. Great grub, great company, Great Wall.
I could go back there.
Where? You know - East Road, behind Reps
And not as bad as the Fingaz review from July 2002. (Not to mention the other bits of Grace Mutandwa's private life and newspaper article!)
So you were surprised I have a web page(/blog/whatever)?
Well now your dinner is on it. Ha!
Garlic chicken wings, gingery lamb something or other and grilled bananas. Ha!
Monday, May 12, 2003
Donate your PC
I love technology. Especially when it works.
Distributed technology is just such a technology.
What it means is something like this...
Some clever clogs wants to find, for example, a drug that will bind with a cancer cell and stop it misbehaving and being cancerous.
Easy enough - in theory. We know the structure of a target molecule on the surface of the cell we just have to try other molecules to see if they will bind and then we can build the drug.
Any ideas on the number of possible molecules we could try?
No problem - use a computer.
Nope, the number is too big for a computer. Truly. The cost of a computer to do such a gob-smackingly huge and useful project far exceeds the research funding.
But Clever Clogs isn't beat.
What if, he muses, instead of using one super-computer with a super price tag, we use several ordinary computers which are already paid for (ie, free)?
You see, you and I are sitting at computers that are not using all their smarts. So, if we "donate" our spare processing capacity, together we all, worldwide, make up some humungous amount of processing power.
That's distributed processing.
I'm working with two organisations - one from my work PC (shhh!) and one from the PC at home. These two organisations send down "work" to my PC and the PC processes it and, when finished, sends it back. The impact on my PC speed is zero (or closer to zero than matters), and the dowload / return results time is also absorbed into other connection time such as when I download my email.
Good stuff.
Why do I use two different companies?
Simple - United Devices expect a smarter PC than the one I have at home, so they get to use my work PC. However, my older, slower PC at home is working away for Folding@home.
United Devices / Grid.org are at the University of Oxford. Currently we are working one two project lines - cancer and smallpox. (They "did" anthrax last year)
Folding@home however is on the other side of the pond at Stanford University. This is an interesting one as the research is to do with a family of diseases which includes Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, and Parkinson's disease.
What these diseases have in common is that all of them are the result of some important molecule getting bent. Literally.
If a dopamine derivative folds the wrong way, it can't bind correctly to its target site, and the result is Parkinson's disease. By running Folding@home we hope to learn more about these folding errors and maybe...
My Dad died of Parkinson's in March this year. We miss him massively - but I pray that someday, either through Folding@home or some other research, someone else will be spared the pain as their Dad is spared the horrors.
Meantime, I donate my PCs to the cause, and my knees to praying that those who do die in these horrible ways are ready to die.
Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Dad lived in Christ and believed in Him. Even though he is dead, I know he, along with Lazarus and many others will live. Can I say the same for you?
Donate your PC - yes. But give Jesus your life as well. It's even more important!
And the rewards are better too!
I love technology. Especially when it works.
Distributed technology is just such a technology.
What it means is something like this...
Some clever clogs wants to find, for example, a drug that will bind with a cancer cell and stop it misbehaving and being cancerous.
Easy enough - in theory. We know the structure of a target molecule on the surface of the cell we just have to try other molecules to see if they will bind and then we can build the drug.
Any ideas on the number of possible molecules we could try?
No problem - use a computer.
Nope, the number is too big for a computer. Truly. The cost of a computer to do such a gob-smackingly huge and useful project far exceeds the research funding.
But Clever Clogs isn't beat.
What if, he muses, instead of using one super-computer with a super price tag, we use several ordinary computers which are already paid for (ie, free)?
You see, you and I are sitting at computers that are not using all their smarts. So, if we "donate" our spare processing capacity, together we all, worldwide, make up some humungous amount of processing power.
That's distributed processing.
I'm working with two organisations - one from my work PC (shhh!) and one from the PC at home. These two organisations send down "work" to my PC and the PC processes it and, when finished, sends it back. The impact on my PC speed is zero (or closer to zero than matters), and the dowload / return results time is also absorbed into other connection time such as when I download my email.
Good stuff.
Why do I use two different companies?
Simple - United Devices expect a smarter PC than the one I have at home, so they get to use my work PC. However, my older, slower PC at home is working away for Folding@home.
United Devices / Grid.org are at the University of Oxford. Currently we are working one two project lines - cancer and smallpox. (They "did" anthrax last year)
Folding@home however is on the other side of the pond at Stanford University. This is an interesting one as the research is to do with a family of diseases which includes Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, and Parkinson's disease.
What these diseases have in common is that all of them are the result of some important molecule getting bent. Literally.
If a dopamine derivative folds the wrong way, it can't bind correctly to its target site, and the result is Parkinson's disease. By running Folding@home we hope to learn more about these folding errors and maybe...
My Dad died of Parkinson's in March this year. We miss him massively - but I pray that someday, either through Folding@home or some other research, someone else will be spared the pain as their Dad is spared the horrors.
Meantime, I donate my PCs to the cause, and my knees to praying that those who do die in these horrible ways are ready to die.
Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Dad lived in Christ and believed in Him. Even though he is dead, I know he, along with Lazarus and many others will live. Can I say the same for you?
Donate your PC - yes. But give Jesus your life as well. It's even more important!
And the rewards are better too!
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
You all come back now!
Having been a less than regular blogger, I'm aware that I have few (a.k.a. no) regular readers. My bad.
Blogging is, I guess, like any relationship. It requires continuous upkeep. However much effort was put in to start or at any stage in the past, the relationship depends on the effort put in now.
And putting in the same effort day after day, week after week is not necessarily enough either. I could publish "Mary had a little lamb" every day, religiously and without fail and it would not attract more readers. In fact less.
You'd be less likely to come back for "I wonder if he's changed" than you would for "I wonder if he's posted anything at all".
Or, if a husband brings home five red roses every day, religiously and without fail, that too will loose it's "specialness" with time. Although maybe initially an act of love and passion, it soon becomes an act of habit and duty. The impact comes when it stops.
"Where are my flowers? He didn't bring me flowers today. Is something wrong with him? Has the relationship died?"
Whatever is wrong with him has been so for a while, and the relationship too may have been dead for a while. You only just noticed.
Happily, not all things are so monotonous. Although GOD, unlike me, puts in the effort to maintain His relationship with us, He is not just doing the same thing every day. As Eugene Peterson translates the book of Lamentations in "The Message",
"GOD's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!"
New every morning.
GOD 1 : Mankind 0.
Again.
Having been a less than regular blogger, I'm aware that I have few (a.k.a. no) regular readers. My bad.
Blogging is, I guess, like any relationship. It requires continuous upkeep. However much effort was put in to start or at any stage in the past, the relationship depends on the effort put in now.
And putting in the same effort day after day, week after week is not necessarily enough either. I could publish "Mary had a little lamb" every day, religiously and without fail and it would not attract more readers. In fact less.
You'd be less likely to come back for "I wonder if he's changed" than you would for "I wonder if he's posted anything at all".
Or, if a husband brings home five red roses every day, religiously and without fail, that too will loose it's "specialness" with time. Although maybe initially an act of love and passion, it soon becomes an act of habit and duty. The impact comes when it stops.
"Where are my flowers? He didn't bring me flowers today. Is something wrong with him? Has the relationship died?"
Whatever is wrong with him has been so for a while, and the relationship too may have been dead for a while. You only just noticed.
Happily, not all things are so monotonous. Although GOD, unlike me, puts in the effort to maintain His relationship with us, He is not just doing the same thing every day. As Eugene Peterson translates the book of Lamentations in "The Message",
"GOD's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!"
New every morning.
GOD 1 : Mankind 0.
Again.
Monday, May 05, 2003
He's back - I think
Nearly a whole year, and no ZimLemming post.
I know why, but I'll be nice and not go into the detail. Suffice it to say that the major problem is now over, and much of the follow on problems have now resolved themselves as well.
So I'm back.
I think.
Much has happened in the last 49 weeks, so I won't try and fill you in on it now. Rather, I'll call up issues "pole pole" as they become relevant.
For now, it suffices to say - "He's Baaaack!"
Nearly a whole year, and no ZimLemming post.
I know why, but I'll be nice and not go into the detail. Suffice it to say that the major problem is now over, and much of the follow on problems have now resolved themselves as well.
So I'm back.
I think.
Much has happened in the last 49 weeks, so I won't try and fill you in on it now. Rather, I'll call up issues "pole pole" as they become relevant.
For now, it suffices to say - "He's Baaaack!"
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