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Friday, May 24, 2013

Forget the Dropper

I have fallen in love with essential oils.  Who knew that these simple elements could be useful in so many ways?  I make cleaners with them.  I wash clothes with them.  I produce my own specialized insect repellant with them.  They're just great!  And the more I learn about them, the more fascinated I become with them.

One of the things that bothers me, however, is the means of applying some of these oils.  Since essential oils are extremely potent, a little goes a LONG way.  For that reason, most of the bottles of essential oils are fitted with a dropper system.  Basically, you turn the bottle on the proper angle and in the proper direction, and the oil drops out one little drop at a time, ensuring you get the proper amount.

For my insect repellant, I use a 32-ounce bottle, which means I use 30 drops of each of the six essential oils in its preparation.  Some of the dropper systems work great, and I can get my 30 drops out in no time.  Others don't work so well, and I find myself shaking the bottle fiercely in an attempt to get the oil to come out.  This can cause a simple, five-minute task to become ten minutes of tedious bottle-shaking and name calling.  In many ways, I prefer the bigger bottles that don't have a dropper.  While portion control is much more difficult, getting the oil to come out is a lot easier.

Aren't you glad that when God pours out His love, grace, mercy and forgiveness, He doesn't use a dropper?  Instead, He uses a bucket.  He doesn't sprinkle us.  He drenches us.  Abiding under the shelter of His wings is like standing out in a torrential downpour.  We become saturated, not with water, but with all things good that God wants us to have.  Need strength to face the day?  He'll give it.  Need wisdom to say the proper thing at the proper time.  He'll provide it.  Need guidance in making an important decision?  He'll lead the way.

I know there are bottles in Heaven because one of the psalmists recorded that God keeps our tears in a bottle.  Whether or not there are other bottles, who knows?  But I'm inclined to think that, like a medieval apothecary shop, there are shelves lined with bottles.   If we were to examine the bottles, we would see that each one contains a label.  Grace.  Mercy.  Forgiveness.  Strength.  These are just a few.  But upon closer examination, we would also discover that the bottles contain no stoppers or droppers.  They're intended to pour!

Whatever you need today, God has it in abundance, and He is both willing and able to give it to you.  Tell Him what you need.  Ask what you will.  And then get your umbrella.  The downpour is coming!

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. - Ephesians 3:16-21

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Deadly Darts of the Devil: Discouragement

Old Fable:
In the devil's marketplace were found many tools.  Tools such as deceit, lying, jealously, pride, hatred, envy, etc. were all up for sale at discount prices.  However, in the corner of the room, there was another tool, separated from the rest.  It was well-protected and encased in glass as a means of protection from the dust.  Unlike the other tools, its price was high.  This tool was discouragement.  When asked why such a small tool was so highly priced, the devil answered, “It is the most terrific of them all.  It can pry open a heart no matter how shielded.  It gets inside a heart when I cannot.  Adultery, idolatry, hatred, etc. have my labels placed upon them, and so people will know it's coming from me.  But not so with discouragement.  You see how badly worn it is?  Because I use it on almost everyone, and few people know it belongs to me.”

Discouragement can suck the joy right out of life.  It can warp our focus to where all we can see is the negative all around us.  Worst of all, discouragement leads to the desire to give up on everything, including God.  Discouragement argues, “Look, you've tried.  You've done what's right.  You've lived by God's standard.  Now, what has it gotten you?”  And sadly, we listen, and that is where our trouble begins.
To illustrate just how much discouragement can change our outlook, I want to share with you two quotes that I found.  Read them carefully.

Quote #1:
It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.

Quote #2:
I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth.  Whether I shall be better I cannot tell.  I actually forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible.  I must die or be better.

Isn't it amazing that two people could have such different views of life?  You want to know what's even more amazing?  The above quotations were both spoken by the same man in different times of his life.  Yes, even Abraham Lincoln knew what it was like to face discouragement. While there is no true “cure” for discouragement, there are some things we can do to keep it at bay.

First of all, we need rest.  Yes, I'm speaking of physical rest.  It is an accepted fact that when our bodies are tired, we are more susceptible to mood changes and stress.  However, as important as that is, it is also important to get our spiritual rest.  Psalm 37:7 says, Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.  To rest in the Lord means to lean on Him, to cast our cares upon Him.  The word “rest” implies peace and comfort.  These can be found by going to God and sharing with Him the source of our discouragement.  Then, lean on His strength to see us through.

Second, we need to reflect.  This takes some practice, but it's worth it.  Reflecting means taking all of our negative thoughts and turning them into positive ones.  Bad circumstance?  Yes, but what good came from it?  Sometimes, we have to look really hard, and when all else fails, reflect on Romans 8:28 that reminds us if good hasn't come out of it yet, it will!

Third, we need to resist the devil who will be shouting at us constantly.  No, it's not an audible voice, but sometimes it feels like he's sitting right on our shoulders, filling our ears with complaints and negative thoughts.  It's easy to listen to him without even realizing we're doing it.  That's why we need to become more aware of his presence.  If the thoughts we're having are negative and leading to discouragement, they're not of God.  II Corinthians 10:5 speaks of bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.  When we resist the devil, that's the first step in getting our thoughts straight.  Once he's no longer shouting in our ears, it's easier to bring those thoughts to where they need to be.

***Excerpt from The Deadly Darts of the Devil by Dana Rongione***

Monday, May 20, 2013

Doorways and Decisions

Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. - Acts 16:6-7

No doubt about it, there are a couple of strange phrases in those two verses.  Did you notice them?  "And were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia."  The Holy Spirit forbade preaching?   I was under the impression that preaching was a good thing.  Didn't Christ say, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel"?  As far as I can tell, that's exactly what Paul and his gang were trying to do, but the Holy Spirit wouldn't allow it.

Look at the next one:  "but the Spirit suffered them not."  In Bible times, the word "suffer" meant "allow".  So basically, it's saying that the Spirit wouldn't allow them to go to Bithynia.  But they were going there to preach.  They were trying to win souls for Christ.  They were trying to follow the great command of Christ.  Why wouldn't the Spirit let them do it?

The simple explanation is this:  it wasn't His will.  Yes, God wanted them to preach.  Yes, God wanted them to witness.  Yes, God wanted them to win souls.  He wasn't forbidding their preaching; He was forbidding their direction.  Paul and his gang were trying to head further into Asia, but God had other plans, and those plans involved a man back in Macedonia, several hundred miles in the opposite direction.

Has God ever slammed a door in your face?  It smarts, doesn't it?  We don't like to be told "no."  We pout when we don't get our own way.  After all, we have plans, goals and dreams, right?  But aren't God's plans, goals and dreams for us more important?  Yes, it's disappointing when God closes a door just when we thought things were looking up, but we know it's for our good.  The real question is, how do we respond?  I know how Paul responded.

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them - Acts 16:9-10

As soon as Paul got direction from the Lord, he set out.  Notice he didn't argue with the Lord.  He didn't ask for an explanation.  He didn't try to persuade the Lord to change His mind.  He obeyed.  He gathered his things and went in the direction of Macedonia.

Did you notice what else he didn't do?  He didn't stand there staring at the closed door.  Have you ever wondered how much time we waste pursuing things that can never be?  We know God has closed the door, but we can't seem to move away from it.  We just stand there, thinking of other ways to "make it happen."  Or maybe we think if we stand there long enough, God will feel sorry for us and open the door.  Who knows?

Unfortunately, as long as we're standing there staring at the closed door, we're not doing anything else.  If God has closed the door, it's because He has something else for us to do.  So why aren't we doing it?  It's impossible for us to stand at one door and walk through another one at the same time.  We have to make a choice.

Paul did.  He obeyed, and the Lord worked mightily through Him.  Don't we want the Lord to work that way in us?  He can, but it's going to require something on our part.  It will require obedience.  It will mean turning away from the closed door and walking toward the open one.  And if there isn't an open one, we're told to keep doing the last thing the Lord told us to do.  When the time is right, He'll open the proper doors.  And we'll be amazed at what's awaiting us on the other side!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Everything Is Going To Be Okay

Tippy, my 13-year-old beagle, is getting whiny in her old age.  She's never liked to be alone.  Wherever the people are, that's where she wants to be.  No matter if that's the kitchen, the bedroom or yes, even the bathroom.  She's not really all that sociable; she just doesn't like to be left alone.

As she's aged, however, she's become less mobile.  Her joints have stiffened.  Her muscles have weakened.  Overall, she just doesn't move as well as she used to.  This has made it particularly difficult for her to get up and down from the couch, and she's never been able to get on the bed by herself.  So when we leave a room, heaven help us all if we don't pick her up (or at least get her down) to go with us.

Within a few minutes of leaving the room, we'll hear the first whimper.  This is quickly followed by another, a little louder and with a good bit more vehemence.  If that summons doesn't bring us to action soon enough, she'll break out the big guns.  You've never heard whines like the ones that can come from that little dog.  Passersby probably think she's being tortured.  It's downright pitiful.

As soon as one of us comes back to her or simply pokes a head in the room so that she knows we're there, she quiets down.  But as soon as we leave, she starts all over again.  This becomes most trying when I'm fixing dinner.  I prefer her to not be in the kitchen when I'm cooking because she doesn't understand how to stay out of the way, and most of the time, I end up stepping on her at least once during the process (which creates a totally new whine).  But the alternative is to listen to her cry from the living room because she can't see me, and she doesn't want to be alone.

I've found the best solution is to leave her on the couch and then to take breaks from my time in the kitchen.  I'll stop occasionally, go out and sit beside her on the couch.  As I stroke her fur, I try to soothe her with comforting words, usually something along the lines of "It's okay.  I'm right here.  You're not alone.  Everything's gonna be just fine."  After a few minutes, I go back to the kitchen, and when the whining becomes too incessant, I return to her side and offer my soothing words.  It's not the perfect solution, but it generally allows me to finish dinner without too much drama.

As I sat calming her a few days ago, my soothing words echoed in my ears and bounced around my brain.  At that particular moment, I felt like I needed calming more than Tippy did.  I was frustrated, overwhelmed, discouraged and downright frazzled.  But worse than that, I felt alone.  Did you know it's possible to feel alone even when you're surrounded by others?  You may not be alone, but you can certainly feel alone.  And I did.

I had spent the past week of trials and turmoil wondering where God had gone.  He was there, and then suddenly, it seemed that He was gone.  I couldn't see Him.  I couldn't hear Him.  I couldn't feel His presence.  And in His absence, I felt so alone.

But as I soothed Tippy, I knew the words were not my own.  I knew they weren't coming from me but rather that they were meant for me.  There and then, God spoke to my heart in His still, small voice,  "It's okay.  I'm right here.  You're not alone.  Everything's gonna be just fine."  And you know what?  He was right.  Did all my trials go away?  No, they're still here.  Did He work a miracle in my life?  Well, sort of.  What He did was remind me that I wasn't alone.  And His presence reinforced what my heart already knew--that He would never leave me.  Not even for a moment.

No matter what you're facing today, Jesus will face it with you.  You're not alone.  You have a Friend.  And He will never, ever leave you.  That's a fact!

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. - Isaiah 41:10

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Lead, Guide and Direct

I often hear others pray that the Lord will lead, guide and direct us, and I must admit, I'm a bit baffled by their request.  At least, I was until recently.  In my mind, the words lead, guide and direct all meant the same thing, and, to a degree, they do.  But there are distinct differences, and it is in these differences that we see the various ways God cares for us.

The word "direct" carries with it the thought of someone giving directions, which means that, more than likely, that person will not be accompanying you on the journey.  You are given directions to follow, and it depends on how well you follow those directions (or how well the person was at giving directions) as to whether or not you'll arrive at your destination.

The word "guide" carries with it the thought of a companion who knows the territory and can help you find the path for which you are looking.

While it is true that God does direct and guide us, my favorite part is that He also leads us.  The word "lead" carries with it the idea that someone is walking ahead of you, clearing the path, removing the obstacles and keeping a lookout for impending danger.  When someone "takes the lead", he/she becomes the navigator and the one to test the trail ahead.

I prefer for Jason to take the lead when we go hiking.  For starters, he knows where he's going.  But also, he clears the path for me.  He watches for snakes and other creepy-crawlers that might give me a fright.  He also walks through all the spider webs so that I don't have to.  Yes, I like it when he takes the lead.

But how much more is it a comfort to know that God leads me!  He doesn't just direct me by telling me which way to go.  He doesn't just guide me by walking alongside me.  But he leads me.  He goes before me.  He clears the way.  He prepares the path for my arrival while simultaneously preparing me for the path.  I have no reason to fear the trail ahead because I know that He's already been there.

David understood this truth when he wrote the 23rd Psalm.  "He leadeth me beside the still waters.  He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness."  And because David knew he was being led, he could say with confidence, "I will fear no evil."

I'm so thankful that the Lord directs and guides me as I travel down life's road, but I cannot tell you the joy that I feel from knowing that He leads me as well.  I know I'm in good hands.  Even if I am a bit navigationally-challenged.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Pick and Choose

I was recently reading about the power of asking in faith. The author of the book conveyed the thought that if we ask for something and believe with all our hearts that God will give it to us, we will receive it. Want healing? Just ask and believe, and you'll have it. Need more money? Just ask and believe, and you'll receive it. The author's Biblical proof can be found in the gospels:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. - Matthew 7:7-8

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. - Matthew 17:20

I'll be the first to admit that I've struggled with these verses. You see, I have asked for things in faith, but God chose not to give me what I asked for. Why? I'm not sure, but I know He had a reason. So, is God a liar? Is the Bible inconsistent? No, not at all.

While the Bible does point out the importance of having faith, it also tells us that God does not always give us what we want. Look at these verses for example:

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. - James 4:3

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. - II Corinthians 12:7-10

It's so easy to pick and choose a couple of verses and then claim we know what the Bible says about a certain topic, but we must be very careful. Sometimes we know just enough of the Scriptures to get ourselves into trouble. That's why it's so important to know God's Word inside and out and to compare Scripture with Scripture.

Just to make sure we're all clear on this, I believe that God wants us to live our lives in faith and that He will reward us for that faith. I also believe that God can do anything. Whether He will do something or not is completely up to Him. He is in control, and I have faith that He will do what is best. God will provide for me in His way and in His time. I can't ask for any more than that!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Lord, Help Me Remember

When the way is dark and cold and I feel so lost and alone,
Lord, help me remember.

When I feel like no one cares and that my burdens are too heavy to bear,
Lord, help me remember.

When the skies are pouring rain and all I want to do is complain,
Lord, help me remember.

When the steps are hard to take and I think my heart might break,
Lord, help me remember.

When the mountains seem so steep and my faith is growing weak,
Lord, help me remember.

When I feel I can't go on and my strength is almost gone,
Lord, help me remember.

Lord, help me remember what you've done in the past,
How mighty You are, the First and the Last;
The water's You've parted, the needs You have met,
The promises made and the promises kept.

Lord, help me remember the strength of Your love
And how You're always watching from Your throne up above,
Remind me of the blessings You've bestowed in my life
When I was so wrong and You were so right.

Lord, help me remember that night brings a song
Even when the darkness seems to last far too long.
Remind me of Your presence day after day
And of Your constant Light that faithfully guides my way.

Lord, help me remember to give thanks to you
Whether the skies be gray or whether they be blue.
Let me always be mindful that You're in control.
I love you, dear Lord, will all my heart and my soul!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: - Psalm 103:2

Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; - Psalm 105:4-5

Friday, May 10, 2013

I'm Late, I'm Late for a Very Important Date!

One of my favorite Southern Gospel groups is going to be at a church in Greenville tonight.  That, in itself, is legendary.  Not many groups get to this area.  But add to that the fact that Jason doesn't have to work and we have no other obligations, it's downright astounding.  We knew the event was coming.  We've had it on the calendar for months.  We've talked about it and made plans.  The only thing left to do was to get information on ticket prices.

Last week, I attempted to do that very thing.  I pulled up the church's website to find out the information we required.  But something was wrong with the website, and each time I clicked on a tab, I was taken to an error page.  "Oh well," I proclaimed after several attempts.  "I guess I'll just call them tomorrow."

As usual, tomorrow came and went, and in the busyness of my schedule, I forgot to call until earlier this week.  I looked up the number, placed the call and spoke to a very kind lady who informed me that the tickets were free.  I was ecstatic. . . temporarily.  On the heels of her exciting announcement, she informed me that, because of safety codes, the Fire Marshal had set a limit on how many tickets they could give away.  Unfortunately, they reached that limit over a week ago.

"Is there any way to get it?" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry," she replied.  "Not without a ticket."

I was nearly in tears as I hung up the phone.  How was I going to tell Jason?  He was really looking forward to this concert.  After the past few weeks we've had, we NEEDED this concert.  I was disappointed beyond belief.  Everything had been set.  Everything had seemed to be falling into place.  Yet, because we waited too long to contact the church, we'll be spending our evening in an entirely different way.  One week too late!  Just one measly week!

As I mourned and moped about our "bad luck" this morning, an important thought struck me.  A lot of people are going to miss out on an event much more important than tonight's concert, and they're going to miss it for the same reason--they're going to wait too long to make the call.

We know we're living in the last days.  The signs are all around us.  It won't be long before Jesus comes back to take His children home.  But how many will be left behind?  How many will remain because they put off salvation until it's too late?  One hour too late?  One day too late?  One week too late?  It doesn't matter.  Too late is too late!

Unlike the church that is hosting the concert tonight, Heaven has no spacing limits.  There are no safety protocols or Fire Marshal mandates.  There is, however, a timeline.  God's timeline.  And no man can change it.  Not only that, but no man is privy to it.  It is a mystery to all but God.  But when He says it's time, there will be no delay.  Jesus will come, and we'll rise up to meet Him in the air.  By "we", I mean those of us who have made the decision to accept Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and make Him Lord of our lives.

If you haven't made that decision, if you're still living your life by your rules and according to your standards, I beg of you to stop putting off the decision that will determine your eternity.  Don't wait another minute to make Jesus your Lord.  He has paid the price for your sin.  All you have to do is accept that payment and surrender your life to His will.  Don't wait.  I assure you, you don't want to hear the words, "Too late."

There's room for you.  There's a ticket waiting, but you can't get in without it.  Won't you make your reservation today?

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Change Is Inevitable, Right?

When I left the house this morning, it was warm and sunny.  Now it's cool, breezy and looks as if the sky is about to burst open and drench the earth once again.

A few weeks ago, Jason had so much work that I hardly got to see him.  For the past couple of weeks, however, he's averaged two small jobs per day.

It wasn't that long ago that I was singing.  Currently, I'm fighting to keep myself from sobbing.

In just a few hours, my computer went from working perfectly to not working at all.

The weather changes.

The work load changes.

Circumstances change.

Technology changes.

So, yes, I guess change is inevitable. . . with one vital exception--GOD NEVER CHANGES!  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  His grace that was sufficient last week will be sufficient this week as well.  The mercy that He showed in the Bible days He still showers on His children today.  His love never fails.  His provision never falters.  His grace account is never overdrawn.  We can trust Him for tomorrow because He was faithful yesterday.

What a blessing to know that in this ever-changing world, we have a constant source of strength and guidance!  We have a God who is not swayed by the winds of uncertainty or tossed about by the waves of discouragement.  Like the lighthouse standing securely on the coast leading ships to a safe harbor, our Father remains unmovable and steadfast.  Always available.  Always attentive to our needs.  Always working for our best.

When it comes to the things in this life, we can be assured that change will occur.  When it comes to God, however, we can be confident that He never will!

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. - Hebrews 13:8

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

You Are What?

 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. - Exodus 3:13-14

Poor Moses!  God called him out of his comfort zone. . .way out!  Moses was a shepherd, far more at home with animals than people (a bit like myself, actually).  Sheep were easy.  Sure, they weren't the smartest of animals, but at least they did what they were told and didn't complain in the process.  Moses could handle sheep.  He wasn't so sure about people.  So he did what we all do when God tries to coax us out of our comfort zones--he made excuses.

But I'm not qualified.

But I don't have the right credentials.

But that's not really my talent.

But I don't think that's the best use of my time.

But I can't communicate well.

But I had something else in mind.

But I don't see where that would be very profitable for me.

When will we learn that our excuses aren't going to change God's mind or His will for our lives?  Moses learned right there on the spot.  So when the excuses didn't work, he tried to stall.  "Well, the people are going to want to know Who sent me.  They'll know I didn't come on my own.  They'll know there's Someone greater behind this plan.  They'll want to know who the real Mastermind is.  What shall I tell them?"

Surely such a vast question would require a vast answer, right?  Nope!  God simply replied, "I AM."

I can see the look of confusion on Moses' face.  You are what?  The word "am" is a state of being.  When it is used, it is followed by another word, the state of being.  I am happy.  I am tired.  I am hungry.  I am frustrated.  I am crazy.  That state of being explains how we're feeling and sometimes even who we are.  I am Dana.  I am a writer.  I am a worrier.  I am a dog owner.

But God didn't give a state of being.  To Moses, it may have seemed that God stopped mid-sentence or maybe that God paused to think of the proper way to finish the sentence.  But such was not the case.  God had said all that He was going to say.  "I AM.  That's all you need to know."

Perhaps God could have even answered the question as the wizard, Merlin, did in the BBC show, The Adventures of Merlin.  The eccentric old wizard was outraged when two guards questioned his identity.  "Who am I?" he inquired.  "What kind of stupid question is that?  I am who I am, and I am who I was, and I am who I always will be."

Sounds like God, doesn't it?  He is Who He is, and He is Who He was, and He is Who He always will be.  He's God.  There is none like Him.  He has always been God.  He will always be God.  He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.  He is the Three in One.  He is the Creator.  He is the Redeemer.  He is our Counselor.  He is our Shepherd.  He is loving.  He is kind.  He is just.  He is merciful.

By the time God listed all of His names and characteristics to Moses, the shepherd would have died of old age.  Besides, God doesn't waste words.  He says what needs to be said and leaves it at that.  With those two simple words, "I AM", God bespoke a fathomless message:  "Whatever you need. . . I AM!"

Even the sheep understand that.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Over Easy?

My husband is always amazed by the fact that a high school and college valedictorian could fail her driving test.  In my defense, however, I have always hated tests.  Tests make me panic.  They make me forget everything I've studied and even everything I know.  Even the very first line asking for my name causes me to pause.  Not only that, but I am an over-analytical person.  I tend to over-think, which gets me in a lot of trouble.

The truth is that I did fail my driving test the first time I took it.  Yes, I flunked by one question.  The embarrassing part is that one of those questions was, "What does this sign mean?"  The question was accompanied by a picture of a yield sign and four answers to choose from.  One of the answers was, "Yield to oncoming traffic," but I was certain that couldn't be the correct answer because it was too easy.  I just knew it had to be a trick question.  So, logically, I chose a different answer. . . and I failed.

Unfortunately, to this very day, I still struggle with yield signs.  Not the ones on the road.  But rather the ones in my life.  While yielding my life to the Spirit may sound easy, it isn't.  I know what it means to yield, but I have an awful time pulling it off.  I feel like Princess Mia in the movie Princess Diaries:  "The concept is grasped.  The execution is a little elusive."

More than anything, I want to surrender my life in its entirety to God.  I want to give Him my body, my possessions, my money (what little there is), my thoughts, my attitudes, my emotions, and so on.  I want everything I do and say to come from Him.  I want to be completely under His control.  Yet somehow, I always find myself getting in the way.  It's like Paul said,  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. (Romans 7:15)

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I was finally getting the hang of it.  I had weathered a few storms without worry or fear.  Things, while far from perfect, seemed to be rolling smoothly.  I felt joy and peace, even when things didn't work out as I had wanted.  But then, one disaster after another hit.  My computer crashed.  Jason's work encountered competition which led to reduced work and, in turn, a reduced paycheck.  The refund check I received unexpectedly from the new mortgage company turned out to be a mistake, and they wanted their money back.  The Lord gave, and the Lord took away.  And as is my tendency during tests, I panicked.  The peace and joy fled and were instantly replaced by worry and fear.  It seems my "absolute surrender" was short-lived.

I spent yesterday in a state of despair.  I was overwhelmed by my doubts.  I was frustrated with myself for my lack of faith and failure to yield to the Lord once again.  In short, I was miserable.  It seemed nothing could snap me out of my depression.  Thankfully, this morning, the Lord reminded me of some powerful truths:

(1) God is still in control of all things and always will be.
(2) When I fall, He is always present to pick me up and set me back on the right path.
(3) Even though I have failed Him, He declares that I am an overcomer.
(4) God is a God of second chances.  (Just look at Jonah.)
(5) He loves me no matter what!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, that list above is not multiple choice. The powerful truths are all of the above!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Just the Facts, Ma'am

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. - John 2:1-11

I love the example Mary sets forth in this familiar story.  When she heard the servants whispering about running out of wine, Mary could have responded in so many different ways.  She could have worried.  She could have tried to solve the problem herself.  She could have planned and schemed.  But she didn't do any of those things.  Instead, she did the only right thing.  She took the problem to Jesus.

Notice the simplicity of her statement.  "They have no wine."  That's it!  She didn't whine (get it, whine about the wine, sorry). She didn't complain.  She didn't tell Jesus to do something or even ask Him to do something.  Furthermore, she didn't demand that Jesus explain to her how He was planning to solve the problem.   In other words, she didn't do all the things we're prone to do when we take our burdens to Jesus.

Come now, admit it.  I know you're not that much different than I am.  We take our cares to Jesus and do far more than simply state the problem.  We beg and plead.  We instruct Jesus on the proper way to solve our current dilemma.  We ask to see His blueprints to ensure they meet our approval.  Then we walk away and try to solve the problem ourselves, afraid that if we leave it in Jesus' hands either it won't be solved or it won't be solved the way we want it to be.  Am I right?

Mary left out all the fluff.  She displayed complete trust.  She took the problem to Jesus and waited for His response.  Only after He had responded did she act, and that act was not the solution to the problem but the preparation for the solution.  Mary expected a miracle.  She expected the situation to be remedied.  And in her great faith, she made ready for that event by instructing the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do.

It reminds me of the story of two farmers who prayed fervently for rain.  Both prayed, but only one of the farmers went out and prepared his fields in anticipation of that rain.  Which one truly had faith that God would answer his prayers and meet his need?

Life is full of problems.  There's nothing we can do about that.  What we can do, however, is determine to deal with life's problems by following Mary's four-step formula:

1. Take it to Jesus.
2, State the facts.
3. Wait for the Master's response.
4. Prepare to receive the blessing.


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Happy Saturday from Tintin

This picture, just snapped in the boys’ room, makes me ridiculously happy. Nevermind the awesome Tintin hair, nevermind Jeffrey’s cheek being sucked into the vacuum… LOOK at that genuine, natural, joyful smile on Bean *teary eyes* Happy Saturday my friends- we’re off to hunt for the Great Pumpkin.

5 thoughts on “Happy Saturday from Tintin

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text:
well here it is…

the final day of August, 2009

it’s been a relatively cool August here in TX.  definitely not the “dog days” we are used to around here.

it’s been a wild couple of months at our church.  we’ve actually seen attendance go up this summer.  our new Senior Pastor is amazing.  in addition to new SP, we’re also going through some more “staff” change.

as the summer has worn on, i’ve had time to reflect on some things.

that God will not share His glory with another.  something i’ve known for many years, but have come to know it very powerfully in the last few weeks.

that i can’t possibly know the answers. again, something that i already knew, but just the gravity of it hit me even more in these days.  i love the mystery that surrounds God.  i want to know Him more, but yet am overwhelmed by all that i don’t know about Him.

that He is in control, and i am not.  again, i know this, it’s just been made very clear to me.

so in reflection, i have to quote this passage of scripture.

Jude 24-25

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

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text:
The long, slow death of the Communications Industries: It is not just print music journalism. People cannot see past their own selfies.

There is a cultural shift in North America that bodes ill for many industries that hinge on progress, and you see it in countless little meme posters that have a very passive and static belief system that is best described by this one:

Never improve your lot because you should be grateful. Never look at the negative or what is missing or you will never be happy. Never change yourself because you are perfect just the way you are.

Welcome to the selfish mindset of the Fairy Princess whose very symbol is One with social media: the selfie. It’s all about you, and anyone who veers off your personal heroic narrative is to be dismissed as a villain out to make trouble.

The problem is the one who does not make personal changes in any narrative is not the hero. It is the damsel-in-distress, who needn’t lift a finger for an outside force to get her out of the scrapes of her own making — and since she is rewarded despite her numerous mistakes, her dysfunctional ways are rewarded with safety and even romance, and she doesn’t need to alter herself in any way. The hero does all the work, and yet she is right up there with the hero at the end, all smiles and mugging for the audience.

That narrative has leeched into to modern Western ideology. You can never improve on things because you see curses as blessings. You never have to question your own selfish and toxic ways because people you hurt are the villains for not drooling all over your arrogance. Things are good enough just the way they are.

And so, when you crash, be grateful for it and don’t change the circumstances or yourself.

Never take a risk. Never be an innovator. Never question yourself. Never push your limits. Just dream, be happy, and accept fate because karma will take care of the rest.

It explains a lot about what happened to journalism.

It bought that garbage for the last couple of decades, always seeing the positive side to everything, inside of looking realistically and seeking improvement.

Because you are perfect just as you, you can make all sorts of unreasonable demands on the public:

Why would we make her famous? Why does she deserve it? Who owes it to her?

No one.

If the meme gives their best argument, they missed it. These are me-focussed things. Einstein changed the world with his work and contributions to the world. He wasn’t famous until he did something of value to earn it.

This has been the unfortunate byproduct of the socially engineered cultural shift brought about by social media.

You plaster your social media feed with your selfies, and then think you are on the cover of some magazine, and deserve things.

No one owes you fame.

Once upon a time, the American Dream was if you worked hard and made the world better for others, they would reward you with fame as a token of their gratitude for your contribution to the evolution of humanity.

Now, it has completely foregone the hard work and altruism, and just wants to grab the fame just because the person is stupid enough to believe they are special.

Journalism has had this mindset entrenched in them, and their hubris began to infect the information stream.

You have Torstar demanding that the government fund their newspaper just because they are the Toronto Star. There is huffy indignant bluster at the suggestion that they ought to be questioning themselves, seeing their flaws, and then trying something fundamentally different to be more in tune with the present landscape.

But because social media has completely taken away the currency of fame and broadcasting, the value of notoriety has almost completely vanished. Part of the power journalism once had was to reward fame to people, and then designate them as a Titan of Industry, a Visionary, and even a Great Man.

Now, it means very little.

You see it in the decline of craftsmanship in music, writing, dance, storytelling, and acting because everything is now good enough. Hollywood now recycles old television shows the way the recycle old movies for remakes. We are supposed to be impressed that a movie that once had an all-male cast has been redone with an all-female cast. It is meaningless and a cheap stunt.

True progress would have women making their own studio and original content done in original ways that differed from the old guard.

But the brand is good enough, and those new faces are squatting in broken down structures that no longer had the power to hold up to modern sensibilities.

It goes deeper than that. When Vice Media got in trouble for their structural and brazen misogyny, the company decided to replace on make co-founder with a woman. The shallow window-dressing is just good enough. There is no hint at improvements because everything is good enough as it is — bring in someone from A+E even though that’s the network that’s brought nothing original that has a shred of utility, let alone dignity, and let’s hope no one notices that nothing actually changes.

It’s a mere cosmetic airbrushing, the way people airbrush their selfies.

But it is not just journalism that is suffering from the strategic self-absorbed passivity. Communications in general is a victim to its own hubris coupled with the ennui of an audience who no longer desire to make other people famous when they are comparing the Instagram likes to celebrities.

A recent column laments the demise of print music journalism (as Frank Zappa once quipped, “Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read”), and yet it should be no surprise. Any garbage band can had a Twitter feed and their own web page promoting their own music. Anyone can live out their fantasy, and any attention is good enough, and is a blessing. You may never make any money from it, but it is enough to boast and admire as you look at your selfies on the screen at the tattoo parlour as you get your band’s latest logo seared on your chest.

It will all be good enough. It will all work out in the end…the propaganda meme says so.

Social media built a stubborn fortress that has cult-like properties of pushing away the evidence of reality to find truth.

Journalists created that fortress first, however. They led by example. They never sought to improve their methods, and when social media came along, people used a template, and what they had was a single one: the one that never saw past its own notoriety and never admitted to a single flaw.

Journalism preferred fame over facts, and narrative over logic. People forgot why we had journalism in the first place because journalists forgot first.

We are now living in times where no one needs to admit they were ever wrong. They can airbrush their selfies and admired them as they stare at their smartphones. They can pretend having a hundred likes or a thousand followers means people actually looked at what they presented on their walls.

The apathy can only go so far for social media — journalists embraced passive positivity and selfishness to their own destruction, and the disconnectedness of social media is beginning to show. People buy fake followers, for instance, to prop up and cover the truth about their notoriety.

Sooner or later, there comes the revolt against that disconnect and lack of progress — because when you are not progressing, you are not merely stagnating, but regressing — and will be forced to look at why. The finger-pointing begins — but as no one thinks they are doing anything wrong (calling their blunders heroic and amazing), they will villainize those who see their deficits, and then the clashes explode.

Humanity goes through these cycles. The question is whether there will be a new form of communications that can pick up the torch from the one that lost its clout and credibility, and will come soon enough before clashes turn to war because no one had the courage to see where they were going wrong, and what they could change about themselves to improve the world around them without expecting applause or fame for it.

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text:
So lucky

I feel so lucky to have such an amazing husband. I could not ask for a better dad for the girls.

26 weeks

How far along? 26  weeks

Total weight gain: -19 lbs

Maternity clothes? I bought some maternity jeans, but they are still a little big.

Sleep: Becoming more restless. My hips are starting to hurt a lot.

Best moment this week: Felling all the movement and being able to make all my dr appointments through the end of the pregnancy.

Gender: Another beautiful baby girl

Labor Signs: Not at all

Belly Button in or out? In, but starting to push out a little

What I miss:  My family! I was in Alaska for two weeks and it was so fun!!

What I am looking forward to: My mom getting here in 10 days!

Weekly Wisdom: It is a lot harder to keep this blog up with a 2 year old running around!! I can see why the 2nd baby is less documented:)

Milestones:  13-14 weeks to go!!!

20 Weeks

How far along? 20  weeks

Total weight gain: -17 lbs

Maternity clothes? Nope, although I am noticing a little bit of a bump

Sleep: Normally pretty good, camping on a leaky air mattress this weekend did not help.

Best moment this week: Our doctor appointment

Gender: Another beautiful baby girl

Labor Signs: Not at all

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: I have to say wine again:)

What I am looking forward to: Another ultrasound in two weeks

Weekly Wisdom: Make sure your air mattress is not leaky before you go camping!

Milestones:  Half way done!

Happy birthday papa

Today would have been my grandpa’s 92nd birthday. He died in 2005 after suffering from Alzheimer’s. I miss him a ton, even more now that I have a baby. I wish he could have met Brie, and all the other new babies in our family; natalie, Jameson, juliette, and abagail.

If I ever have a son his middle name will be Calvin after the wonderful man that was my papa.

9-Month Check-up

Brielle is 9 months old today. She weighs 21lbs, 1oz and is 29.75 inches long. Her head and height are above the 95th percentile, but she is proportional and is following the appropriate growth curve! I am washing all of her 12 month clothes as I write this.

New Years Resolutions

I hope everyone is having a happy New Years Eve! I was looking back at pictures from last New years Eve when I was just starting to get a little baby bump! Dan and I had a fancy dinner out and I was asleep by 10:30 pm (hey, I was pregnant)!

NYE 2009

Tonight we made dinner with Brielle playing in the living room with her cousins. I cannot believe how different our life is only 365 days later!

Is anyone making any interesting New Years resolutions?

Here are mine. Maybe writing them down will keep me more accountable 🙂

1. Get on a better daily schedule: Since I am not working (aside from trying to grow my marketing business), it is very easy for me to let the day get away from me. If Brielle is sleeping in a little it is hard not to just sleep in as well. I would like to get myself into the habit of getting up the same time every day and getting things done.

2. Keep in touch with people: I have so many amazing friends who I am terrible at keeping in touch with. I want to make sure to be better about calling, emailing, etc.

3. The Usual: Lose weight! I actually lost almost 55 lbs while I was pregnant due to a restricted diet and very careful lifestyle choices. After Brielle was born (and I became so stressed with her colic, sleeplessness, general difficulties), I completely got off track and I have gained some back. I would like to be back to the weight I was after I had Brielle + 30 more lbs. SO I am joining the masses of people resolving to lose weight:)

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new years!

She will speak french someday!

I took 2 years of french in high school and all I really remember how to say is Hello, My name is….. So, last night I was playing with Brielle and saying (forgive my spelling) Bonjour, J’mapelle Mommy and she was laughing her head off. It was adorable! I also found that the city of Kirkland has language courses starting at 1 year old. So we might have to look into that. I would love for her to be fluent in another language!

Brielle’s First Trip

Tomorrow we are taking our little Brielle on her first plane ride. We are flying to Chicago and driving to Wisconsin for a wedding then back to Chicago for a week. Dan will be working and I will be seeing friends and hanging out.

I am a little nervous about the flight. I hope Brielle is comfortable and can nurse and sleep on the flight. We will see how it goes:)

First pediatrician appointment

Brielle is 1/2 oz away from her birth weight. So she is gaining weight at a perfect rate and now we can start letting her sleep more than 3 hours at a time.

I think we are getting the hang of things, although it is exhausting. I am still feeling a bit emotional, but I think it is getting better. I am feeling pretty good from the c-section, but I am suppose to take it easy for the next few weeks.

So, we are doing pretty well. I am going to be better about taking pictures and posting them!

11 Days

11 days until my due date and no baby! I am HOPING that after my appointment on Tuesday they will want to start an induction ASAP.

On the plus side it seems that the baby is dropping into place. Hopefully getting ready to be born!

We are having a pretty laid back weekend. I think we are going to head up to the Tulip Festival again.

Hope everyone has a great Easter!


text:
God Loves Me

God is good, God is great and God loves me. A fun video song track designed for your early readers.  Come celebrate God’s good and great love for us in this high energy, hand clappin’ toe tappin’ song.

Here’s what we do…

SPT - Cover Array 3.01 white BG 445_rounded

About Dan Lueders

A Chicago based songwriter, producer and musician, Dan Lueders has a career that spans 28 years. In the beginning, Dan worked with several Chicago based groups such as XTC, Drive, Kelly and the Playmakers, The Stay Tuned Orchestra and Willow Creek Community Church. Dan has been a regular musical contributor for the the Daily Giz Wiz Podcast with Dick DeBartollo and Leo Laporte and This Week in Fun Podcast with Sarah Lane and Martin Sargent on the twit.tv network. Dan's work includes playing bass with Darlene Czech, Laura Hall, Tommy Walker, John Carlson and Kirk Whalum, among others. As a songwriter/producer Dan is currently on staff as music director for Promiseland Children’s Ministry at Willow Creek Community Church. Also, Dan is a musical contributer for the Annual Willow Creek Association’s Children’s Ministry Conference each spring.

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text:
She lays her head down,
just there on his knee,
and all her hair is
ink spilling into
the crush of
his hands.

Breathing out, their lungs spew silver
into a dawn as cold as virgin eyes.
She goes, a wind over the hills,
and he sits alone in towers
rooted where they stand.
All is as it was, before.

Quasimodo in his prison of gargoyles and grace,
he writes a thousand letters, but none to her.
There has never been a man more literate
with less inclination to pen his feelings.
His friends do not deign to suggest
that things could be different.

And across the miles a woman sighs,
‘plaiting a dark red love-knot into
her long black hair.’ Wonder,
that wicked game, leaves
the wind whispering
inside her bones.

In her ears, the angels sing.
She, who stood holding
fast, frees the doves
and watches them
scatter up into
the clouds.

© Deanna Scutt, 2017

Note: This poem is my original work, but was inspired by, and contains a quote from, Alfred Noyes’ ‘The Highwayman’. You can find the full version of his masterpiece at Poetry Foundation here.


text:
Postmortem: Ironfell by David Colquhoun

10th April 2015 2:05pm - add a comment!

Ironfell was an indie hex-tile MMORTS where conflict happens massive persistent universe spanning all of time and space. With Ironfell I hoped to build a game that captured the same feeling as early Civilization and Ultima and be profitable enough to become my full time job. Ironfell was creatively a huge success, fun to play, people loved it. But financially it failed and was closed down in December 2014.

What went right

With any massive multiplayer game and the quality of the the community is critical. Early advertising targeted at role playing gamers (from stumbleupon) worked incredibly well for Ironfell. This meant that the core players were older and able to communicate well. Having a sociable and supportive community was the best thing about Ironfell. They made it fun for me to hang out in the game and talk to people. Months after the game was shut down players still send me emails like this:

“i miss ironfell soo much, especially the community :(“

The server’s behind Ironfell were four MacMini’s (quad-core i7, 16GB Ram, SSD) hosted at MacMiniColo. This was an unusual choice for servers, usually I’d use Amazon Cloud servers. Ironfell’s servers had high CPU and memory requirements, so being able to buy the server hardware up front and the fact that the servers were needed long term made the MacMini’s half as much as the Amazon cloud equivalent. Also developing on OSX and using OSX for the server operating system greatly simplified testing and deployment.

Ironfell’s lack of balance was a huge experiment (and risk). Ironfell did not have instanced or tiered battles, you always had all your resources available to fight with. So players who had been playing for a long time and players who payed for resources had an unfair advantage. Safe newbie areas and realms that only advanced players can use helped control the divide between the rich and poor. But most effective was having an end game plateau. Players reached a point where they had so much of every resource that resources stopped being important. Then allies, strategy and and skill became what mattered most.

Player quote: “I think I have enough resources to completely cover the islands in wood walls so nobody could move”

I’m a terrible illustrator, so getting Damon Keen to draw the character artwork worked incredibly well. What he came up with was absolutely perfect. It was retro cute and of such a high standard it made me proud to show people Ironfell.

What went wrong

About one in a thousand players were complete assholes. Those few players were able to ruin the game for everyone else. One psychopath intentionally forced most of the long term players to quit Ironfell. When his account was deleted, he kept coming back with aliases and spent 14 hours a day 7 days a week trying to destroy Ironfell. I wasted almost 400 hours on this one person – that’s 10% of the total time spent on Ironfell! That time could definitely have been better spent improving Ironfell. I underestimated the amount of damage a single person could do to a community. Next time I would make dealing with the worst people a core part of the game design.

Marketing a game is a huge effort and it takes an enormous amount of time. Easily a third of the time I spent on Ironfell was marketing. And I don’t think I spent enough time on this. The most effective piece of press was on Rock Paper Shotgun from simply sending out a press release.

Financially Ironfell was a failure. It had $13,648 in income from selling in game resources but subtracting artwork, servers and advertising… Ironfell made a loss of about $8000. And that does not include my time.

During the 3 years I worked on Ironfell, I spent over 4000 hours on it. The dollar value of that time is absolutely horrifying. Unless I win the lottery I will never be able to spend that much time on a non-paying project ever again.

Ironfell was incredibly ambitious and I’m happy so much of it worked as well as it did. Financial reality means that Ironfell has been closed down, but hopefully I can take what I’ve learnt from Ironfell and make an even better game one day.

Name Ironfell
Description Time travel themed hex-tile MMORTS
Platform Browser, Mac, Windows, Android and iOS
Developer Blog
Development Started December 2011
Open Beta May 2012
Live January 2013
Closed December 2014

1 full time developer.
1 contract artist.
1 contract copywriter.
Over 30,000 players.
4.7 million Ponies.

add a comment

So long and thanks for all the fish.

4th December 2014 4:47pm - 46 comments

I started Ironfell in December 2011… 3 years ago… that is a long time.

Over 30,000 people have tried Ironfell and lots of those have become addicted to it.  It’s a fun game, I still like playing it.

The Alliance update has been live for 5 months now, and I think it’s helped Ironfell a lot.  People cooperate and in general the community is better because of it. Just over a thousand people have tried the Ironfell on iOS, which is pretty good.

Financially, Ironfell has not done very well.  It’s about $8,000 in the red.  The 4000+ hours I’ve spent on Ironfell is a hideous amount of unprofitable time. Creatively, I think Ironfell has been a success.  I can now say I’ve made a MMO :)  But it stopped being fun to work on a few months ago.

I can’t justify spending more time on a project I don’t enjoy, that doesn’t make a profit.

So…. on Monday the 15th of December, 10am New Zealand time, Ironfell will be shutdown.

david,  :(

p.s. Here is a little thank you poster for the people currently playing… names in no particular order :)

Ironfell for iPad and iPhones is now live!

18th November 2014 7:47am - add a comment!

Ironfell is now live on the Apple app store.  Download it right now, for FREE!  :)

Previously I said I would make a native version for iOS,  but both Adobe Air and iOS devices have become significantly faster in the past year.  Its performance is not as good as it would be as a native app.  On old devices it will be slow, but a one year old iPhone 5c is fast enough to play it.   So… it works… its free… and you can have it right now :)

I’ve tweaked the controls and made a few things fit better on small screens.  You can pinch-zoom at anytime to scale the interface to fit.

Enjoy :)

add a comment

Vampire Maid – Cleans up Blood Splatters!

11th September 2014 1:48pm - add a comment!

Just added the Vampire Maid.  She has auto-clean, to clean up those messy bloody splatters.  Useful for hiding the evidence of your treacherous attacks. Vampire Maids are made by upgrading a Queen next to a Tombstone.  She costs 2 million knowledge. So they are not cheap.

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Ironfell reset link bug

5th September 2014 2:35pm - one comment

There was a bug in Ironfell where players could re-use the same account reset link many times. This let people reset alt accounts many times without triggering the systems that are supposed to limit the number of times you reset. The bug is now fixed.

A handful of people used that bug to repeatedly reset alt accounts and transfer resources to their main account. The worst offender did that 187 times. These people have had their accounts disabled for 14 days.

If you find bugs, especially ones that can be used to get free resources, please let me know. I give generous rewards for finding bugs like this one. The person who told me about it just received 250k of Oil.

On a more cheerful note… here’s a sneak peak at that new unit I’ve been teasing you about…

david, :)

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Lets learn about Phishing

20th August 2014 5:51pm - add a comment!

Phishing is when someone tricks you into giving up sensitive information such as usernames or passwords usually by creating a website to impersonate a trusted website.

Phishing is pronounced the same as fishing.

A typical example of Phishing would be… you receive an email that appears to be from your bank, asking  you to sign into your online banking.  The links in the email all go to a website masquerading as your bank’s website.  You follow the link, and enter your banking details… and you’ve now given your online banking login details to the thieves. The thieves then sign into your real online bank, and transfer out your money.

Wikipedia link:

Here is an example of a phishing webpage made by James Ratcliff (aka falazar)…

I’ve blacked out the the URL for this page, because people will still be silly enough to use it.

The text specifically ask for your Ironfell details: “You must signup with your Ironfell name / details”.  If he wanted to identify people he could have asked for their Ironfell name,  but there is no valid reason to ask for your Ironfell password.  The only thing falazar would need your password for is to sign into Ironfell using your account.

This is an extremely obvious example of someone Phishing for account details.

Several Ironfell players have fallen for this trap and he has used their account details to sign into Ironfell.

Here is a excerpt from the Ironfell chat log files where he tries to convince someone to use that page.

02:05:22 falazar: :(
02:05:38 falazar: http://###############################
02:05:40 falazar: our map
02:05:42 falazar: is better :P
02:05:55 falazar: will get pics in later
02:06:02 falazar: But it shows a lot of info and is editable
02:06:13 falazar: this is what I could use help with
02:06:20 falazar: and what we will use to attack all others.
02:06:43 falazar: the links are editable, change name, desc, color, and the kill isnt active yet
02:06:49 falazar: color codes are listed

If you are curious about what his special map looks like, below is a screenshot that a user sent me:

A bit of common sense will keep you safe from phishing.  Be aware of where links are actually taking you. Use a different password for everything.  And think carefully before you enter a password into a new site.

And don’t trust anything James “falazar” Ratcliff tells you :)

UPDATE: James Ratcliff (aka falazar) response:

And here is James’s reply to the above posting, which he posted on his chatroom.

James Ratcliff Falazar

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Mute annoying players

6th August 2014 10:23am - add a comment!

If you just want to play the game, and don’t want to trash talk, you will love this feature.

I’ve just added a Mute Someone button to the top left menu.   You can add as many people as you like to the Mute List,  and you simply won’t see what they say in any of the chat windows.

Also made the Alliance Info panel taller and made the enter key submit some text fields.

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The much bigger picture

5th August 2014 5:22pm - add a comment!

When you are running a MMO Its easy to get bogged down in day to day maintenance.  The other day Lothar100 snapped my head around and reminded me about the big picture.

His full email is below, the key point for me was:

“The problems lately stemmed from an imbalance between players who are active and players who are inactive.  The reason it isn’t balanced is because the game does not have enough depth, I’m not talking about size, I mean depth.”

He is absolutely right.  Things are out of whack with newbies vs experienced players.  Flagships and Rexes are the pinnacle of the game, and they are far too close to new players.  Experienced players need something else to do.

Pretty much everything currently in the game, earth, keeps, castles, prehistoric realms… is what I want to be the playground for new players.

Experienced players should be in Space, the Moon, Mars and eventually other planets.  They should be fighting and building space stations not farming wood in the prehistoric.  Grass will be pretty rare in space, so you won’t be able to use Stone Circles to instantly get there.  Uranium will only be found in game, you won’t be able to buy it.  Experienced players should be fighting over Uranium refineries on Mars.  That’s why things feel out of whack at the moment, Ironfell isn’t finished yet!

There are currently 140 units in the game, I just checked my notes for Space… I’ve mapped out 162 ! units for Space.

Remember when you see the Astronaut on the loading screen, that Ironfell isn’t finished yet.

Hey David,

I’m just writing you because I never write you, but I want to be heard around here. I’ve run out of things to exploit, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have suggestions.

My biggest suggestion has to do with player activity and balancing that in the game. I don’t feel that it is a very balanced aspect of the game right now. The problems lately stemmed from an imbalance between players who are active and players who are inactive. The reason it isn’t balanced is because the game does not have enough depth, I’m not talking about size, I mean depth. The way I see it is, there are only two primary objectives in this Ironfell universe. Hold onto and take other islands (for iron and oil). And build, protect, and attack wood farms (for wood). Food, know, and electricity come later, those are a dead giveaway and not complicated to achieve. Both of the main two goals in ironfell revolve around PvP to achieve, so when you’re put against player’s like Falazar (“players like”, others may come along) it’s very hard to compete against someone with that kind of activity on the game. You cannot be online for every attack and it’s not likely you will win in live battle with a very strong player. Doubly so when they have active members to help out. I can only imagine what that is like for smaller players. In my opinion Ironfell needs something else to either occupy more attention from the stronger players or build more mechanics that safeguard the smaller players.

I can only think of two ideas that I can give you that I would expect to balance out the game.

1. Bring back tunnels or some kind of non-permanent resource that can be gathered more safely (aka privacy or seclusion) or in non PvP areas of the game. This allows players who don’t have a lot of time to hold onto resources without needing to defend themselves from bigger players who want to take their lands. They can just hide away or play casually until the bigger players have wasted enough resources fighting each other that it gives them an opportunity to fight back and also not be crushed for giving it a try. I’ve played this tactic in Universe 1.

2. Add higher reward objectives for bigger players. Idk what, but something. Mega mines or something.. mega oil. Some place or thing that bigger players can fight over and compete for to get a high reward. If you can add something worth while enough where the larger players will stay occupied then they will have no choice but to compete for the large player goals and leave the smaller guys alone. Flagships do not do this. Although bigger players do compete to gain them. There is no guarantee it wont be used to slaughter all the noobs. (I think its horribly powerful and should be removed, but that’s not as important) And these ships are just used to complete more of the main objectives I mentioned before, its not creating a new objective.

2 continued. I really don’t know what you could throw in to balance it this way, #1 is a better way. Maybe do really expensive tunnels that cost more than castles, but they would have to have very high resources inside. Players would have to save up A LOT MORE to get to this objective. Instead of dumping everything into getting more land and making more farms. I ‘thought’ this was the point of dino realms, but it only became the new mainstream way of getting wood. And any player could get there… I thought the point would be to give the bigger players space to compete for more important goals, but that’s not the direction the game went. I think you missed your chance for that. So maybe you can do something else. Idk.

You are probably already aware of the other mechanics of the game that Ironfell desperately needs such as Kicking from Alliances, Alliance Ranks, etc. So I’m not going to go into that.

Let me know what you think. I know you’re under a lot of stress with this Falazar buggery, but I just wanted to put my two cents in and make some suggestions. I feel like whatever I say in-game doesn’t ever amount to anything, so here I am sending you an e-mail.

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Speedy Sundays!

10:33am - add a comment!

Speedy Sundays are now a thing. :)

Every Sunday, all day long, from 00:00 to 24:00,  midnight to midnight…  your units move at double speed!

Like everything in Ironfell, its based on New Zealand time.

Here is a neat timezone converter to help you figure out what time that converts to in your timezone:

And yes, this will happen every Sunday! :)

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Ironfell is back online.

4th August 2014 4:51pm - add a comment!

Ironfell is back online.

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text:
Problems opening theme page: Episode 2.

I am still not able to open WordPress pages without adding (https) in front of every page: a real pain when I wish to view others sites.
My provider has not been much help as it is only WordPress  that has the problem ??!! – very strange: the only consolation is that I am not alone with this issue,  others here in Oman have the same problem and it started on the same day.  Now the worm in the back of my mind says “WordPress new edit page was started about this time ??”
The WordPress ‘Happiness Engineer “rachelmcr” has been a great help – found things in Firefox programme I didn’t know existed  🙂

Quote from: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe – Douglas Adams.

Replace the word Universe with computer…………

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Normality will resume I hope.

Cannon detail from Al hazm fort.

8 thoughts on “Problems opening theme page: Episode 2.

  1. I came to this blog from a post in a forum discussing the WordPress websites is not working properly with Omantel.

    ISP should whitelist because all of the blog assets such as the javascript and css files and loaded from a remote url.

    1. Thanks – I agree But….. getting them to do it is another thing as they are paranoid about censorship.
      It all happened suddenly but only on Omantel as Nawras Telecom which is the other provider works ok.

  2. Strange things have been happening lately with WP, but this one I hadn’t heard of before, so unfortunately, I’m not much help. I do hope this is resolved soon though!
    Have a great weekend, David! 🙂

  3. I have had a curious problem for the last few days that I haven’t reported yet because I’m not sure it’s a WordPress problem. Much of the time all I can see of my blog is the blue background. I can still go in through My Stats and Dashboard and edit a post but I can’t preview it or see posts. And then mysteriously everything comes back. For the meanwhile I can still function.

    It happens simultaneously on several browsers and I have a very powerful PC and fast connection.

  4. Beautiful quote aptly used 😉
    Unfortunate though. 🙂

    Hope you fix this issue. I am a WordPress user myself, but have never used the .com flavor. I use a self-hosted WordPress installation… I would have loved to help you but this https problem has never occurred in my almost 10 years of blogging on WP.

    Wish you nothing but the best, David.

    1. Good evening Momekh,
      Thanks and as for the WordPress problems – my fault really as I have not spent enough time exploring the possibility of changing to somewhere like Smugmug.
      Started down that route when W/P changed their image editing several months ago – got a lot of bad press from us mere mortals 🙂 but like everything computer wise, it got put on the back burner.

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text:
Interview with Chris Thornton, Managing Director – Auto Windscreens, United Kingdom

It’s always an interesting exercise looking at automotive aftermarket retailers that excel in the industry they compete to understand reasons for their success. It doesn’t matter where in the world a company operates; be it in the United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the world. Those companies that do standout and outclass rivals, take on market leaders in the industry they compete and are recognized for the high levels of service they provide to customers, deserve our admiration, respect and emulation. One such company is based in the United Kingdom. Auto Windscreens is headquartered in Derbyshire, in a town named Chesterfield 150 miles north of London. Originally formed in 1971 Auto Windscreens has gone through a number of evolutions to get the company to where they are today. Auto Windscreens is the United Kingdom’s fastest growing and most dynamic provider of (auto) glass repair and replacement services (AGRR). Suffice it to say that the company has a lot of things going for it right now.

AW_logo with strapline

Auto Windscreens has won several prestigious awards over the past several years. Among them:

  1. At this year’s 2014 British Insurance Awards Winner Auto Windscreens won top honors for two award categories:
    1. Customer Care Award
    2. Service Supplier of the Year
  2. Both in 2014 and 2013 they were recognized by The Sunday Times being selected as one of the “Best 100 Companies to Work For”.
  3. Auto Windscreens was ranked second in the United Kingdom and when the received recognition as a “Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service” in 2011. At the same time they were also named the “Best Newcomer” and the “Best Service Provider”.

These are very impressive awards for any company. George Bernard Shaw said, “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the sincerest form of learning.” I think that there is a lot automotive retailers can learn from Auto Windscreens.

Chris Thornton is the Managing Director (the U.K.’s version of Chief Executive Officer) of Auto Windscreens and I thought hearing from him on a number of topics would be interesting to readers of this blog. Chris took over as Auto Windscreens’ Managing Director earlier this year.

Chris Thornton

DR: Thank you for taking the time to talk Chris.

CT: My pleasure David. I like nothing better than talking about Auto Windscreens

DR: Auto Windscreens has certainly seen some great successes of late. What do you believe are key the reasons for the company’s successes?

CT: It’s all about being the best at everything we do in delivering the finest service possible to our customers. And in order to do so every member of the team has to play their part. As we offer a Customer Satisfaction Survey to every customer, we can see exactly where and when we are delivering this outstanding service and where we may have some improvements to make

DR: What were some of the issues (positive and/or negatives) you and your management team faced in moving the company forward after you joined Auto Windscreens in 2013?

CT: The atmosphere and approach within Auto Windscreens is outstanding. Everyone knows what we are looking to achieve and how to get there. I am a firm believer in clear and regular communications within the business.

Our biggest challenge is maintaining this as we expand. Many of the UKs biggest insurers and fleets are in discussion with us at the moment as we are clearly THE automotive glass company to be dealing with.

That expansion impacts across our business and one critical area is recruiting and developing technicians to work at the same high standards as we do now. At the end of the day we are a people business.

DR: Of the issues you’ve mentioned which one do you feel made the biggest difference in getting everyone focused on providing customer excellence?

CT: Communication and training is essential.

From the moment we take the customer call, the focus is on finding the right appointment to fit the customer needs. Our automated system generates a selection of appointments for the customer to choose from and once selected the appointment is guaranteed. We spend a lot of time training our contact centre agents in both call handling and technical skills.

Auto Windscreens has the only accredited training centre in the UK. Our facility not only provides an excellent workshop environment for new starters but on-going training, development and advancement to higher qualification.

All our technicians are kept fully up to date with the latest information. All work is processed on Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) which have a detailed Technical and Training programme on them to support the technician. In addition our Training department supports the technicians with a team of field based trainers and a 24 hour support line.

DR: How have the partnerships Auto Windscreens has made with insurance and fleet customers improved your customer service?

CT: Both insurers and fleets have recognized the quality Auto Windscreens have brought to the industry. We demonstrate this through leading Management Information and more critically through Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Net Promoter Score.

Our surveys are both offered by Auto Windscreens and through an independent survey analyst which creates total transparency for our clients. In turn they have total confidence in Auto Windscreens in our service delivery.

DR: Can you provide an understanding how your value proposition is resonating with your customers? How does your relationship with your customers differ from what other competitors offer?

CT: In 2011 we noticed that customers were regularly getting in touch with us to thank us for the quality of the work they had received. This told us we were doing something right.

From this we created the Praise Log, an internal document sent to everyone in the business each month showing where customers had called to say “Thank You”. And our people love to see their names on there.

This has expanded as customers write about their experiences on review sites such as This is totally independent and Auto Windscreens have a 96% recommendation rate. It is the consumer trust in our brand that is making the difference.

DR: Your company focuses a great deal on providing management information systems to customers to help them find ways to reduce costs and operate more efficiently; how do you feel that helping them understand their windscreen losses is a winning strategy for Auto Windscreens?

CT: Management Information is critical in every business and we support our clients by providing them with the information they need to enhance customer experience and in doing so boosting customer retention.

The information also helps reduce wastage and controls cost but our clients are now being driven by quality rather than cost alone.

DR: How does Auto Windscreens use social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, etc.) to interact with its customers? Do you feel it is time well spent for anyone operating in the retail automotive after-market?

CT: The world of communications has changed significantly in the last decade and like many businesses we have had to adapt. Our marketing department manages our social media accounts not only promoting our business but monitoring and responding to any questions.

It is very worthwhile as it brings us closer to our customers and helps identify trends before our competitors

DR: How many fitting centres, mobile service units and employees does the company currently have?

CT: We have over 40 branches covering the UK (it’s a lot smaller than the USA) more than 350 mobile service units and over 500 staff in total

DR: Do you see further growth for Auto Windscreens in the United Kingdom? With the success you’re enjoying, are there any thoughts of growth outside of the United Kingdom?

CT: Our focus in firmly on the UK for the foreseeable future. It offers great opportunities for us as we expand. We will not get distracted by expansion alone, the key is to continue delivering the best service in the industry.

DR: With the great success Auto Windscreens has found in recent years while facing a large competitor, can you offer some advice to those who also find themselves competing against companies bigger than they are in a market or country?

CT: I believe you need to set your stall out and get your team on board in delivering this. Our message has been Total Customer Satisfaction from our beginnings which meant everybody has to play their part.

DR: Do you use radio or television to reach customers?

CT: We have in the past but not currently.

DR: What is the most effect way to reach targeted customers?

CT: If you win the corporate accounts then the volume will come. If those clients will support you as the only option for replacement glass and repairs then the business is as good as guaranteed.

DR: Auto Windscreens was a winner in the 2006 Commercial Fleet World Honours – The Environment Award. I know that you and your company have a strong commitment to green initiatives by recycling 100% of the windscreens that you replace. When did this initiative begin and what has been the response from Auto Windscreens’ customers?

CT: 2006! That was a few years back but we are as proud of our environmental credentials now as we were then. We are in a world where recycling is promoted greatly and we have always led in our industry with green policies. Our customers have always been supportive of this approach which started more than 20 years ago. Our resources are finite so we must use them wisely

DR: I read on your web site that 40 replaced windscreens that you recycle fit on a skid, while the materials required for 40 repairs can fit in the palm of a hand. By your commitment to repairing windscreens Auto Windscreens is providing great value to its customers while also fulfilling your green initiative strategy to help reduce the effect replacements have to the environment. That is a strong endorsement for repairing over replacing. How do your customers view your commitment to repair? Can you give us a range of repair rates you see in the United Kingdom?

CT: The repair rates vary by customer type but can be up to 50% of our work. Our customer base encourages repair over replacement and so wherever we can safely make a repair we will.

DR: During my career I spent a fair amount of time in the United Kingdom and I greatly value all that I learned from those I worked with while in country. There is one service component that is offered by your company (and other windscreen companies in the United Kingdom) that hasn’t caught on in the North America and that is 24/7/365 service* with mobile units. Your web site touts that, “Our fitting centres are open from 8:30am till 5:30pm Monday to Friday and on Saturdays from 8:30am to 12:30pm. Outside these hours, work is carried out by our team of mobile technicians who are on call 24 hours a day every day of the year.” Can you provide the reason why this type of service is offered in the United Kingdom and what percentage of work is done outside of the normal fitting centre operating hours?

* Since 1981 windscreens in the U.K. have been laminated. Prior to that date tempered glass was used for some windscreens.

CT: It has been customer led and is for “emergency” work such as broken rear and side glass. We cannot allow customers to be left stranded in a vehicle that cannot be driven or is insecure. Such urgent requests may be low in volume but very high in importance.

DR: What do you feel are the strengths and weaknesses of Auto Windscreens and what are you doing to take advantage or fix them?

CT: Some of our IT infrastructure was getting old so we have created a data centre, 24 hour IT monitoring team and issued new PDAs to all technicians. This significant investment will cover our requirements for the next 10 years.

Our strengths are many. Our independence allows us to develop the business as we need without interference from head offices, shareholders or partners. Our clear leadership in high quality service provision is proving very difficult for our competitors to get close to and as we further develop this, the gap will increase.

And as technology becomes more prevalent in windscreens, companies who cannot demonstrate and prove that they have the proper training processes in place will fall away.

DR: I know that you focus a great deal of time and effort on training Technicians. You obviously feel that you’re reaping dividends on these initiatives. Can you give us a brief overview of your company’s approach to training?

CT: By having highly skilled technicians we have created a team that is prepared to go that extra mile and takes pride in its work. The training starts from the moment a technician, either skilled or a new recruit, joins the business and that training never ends.

It may take place at our Technical Training Centre or through field accompaniments. All technicians are assessed annually to ensure they continue to work to the standards expected of them whether a repair technician , replacement technician  or a master technician.

AW technician 1

DR: You have an amazing Net Promoter Score (NPS) that is off the charts in the mid 90’s. That is the highest number I’ve ever seen in our industry. As a company how have you been able to achieve that result?

CT: We are very proud of Net Promoter Score and Customer Satisfaction results. It has not been easy but by creating a customer centric culture as mentioned previously we have all staff aligned in delivering an outstanding service

DR: With that high level of NPS you’ve been earning a great deal of new business and contracts with fleets and insurers alike. How was Auto Windscreens able to garner this new business from the incumbents?

CT: That’s a question our customers would have to answer but I would say it’s down to the breadth of service we can offer at a rate which works for everyone. As a progressive business with a clear vision we will attract like minded businesses.

DR: I have been very impressed with what you and your team(s) have accomplished at Auto Windscreens. I firmly believe that that some of the strategies and tactics that Auto Windscreens has been employing can be exported to other countries and used by those who are interested in growing and/or making a difference with their company. I appreciate your taking the time to talk with me. I wish you and Auto Windscreens continued great success.

CT: It’s been a pleasure David.

Auto Windscreens is a great case study in how to turn a company around and make it into a world class service provider. It takes great leaderships and dedicated teams throughout the business, but I believe that Auto Windscreens has shown how to take on competition (big or small) and consistently win against them by focusing on the needs of each and every customer. I applaud Chris and all at Auto Windscreens for all they’ve accomplished.

Just sayin’.

Auto Windscreen Training

GQA Qualifications Limited

(Auto Windscreens only offers GQA qualifications to their employees)

GQA Level 2 NVQ Certificate in Windscreen Repair (QCF) (GQA Qualifications Limited)

GQA Level 2 NVQ Certificate in the Principle of Windscreen Repair (QCF) (GQA Qualifications Limited)

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  1. #1 by David McKay on July 29, 2014 - 5:03 pm

    Thanks, David. I was one of the originators of Autowindscreens (Scotland) Ltd nearly 40 years ago…seems like yesterday!

    • #2 by "Just Sayin'..." on July 29, 2014 - 5:45 pm

      I was aware about your association with the company. There are a number of great people such as yourself that are or have been a part of the Auto Windscreens story. It is a great company.

      You were one of the people that I feel honored to have been able to work with over the years. I learned a lot from you my friend.

      Thanks for your comment.

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Posts Tagged ‘Homophobia’

Okay, it has come to my attention that some people are un-teachable and some just don’t really give a shit. Now, I am not saying that I don’t believe in having your own opinion but when you express that opinion and in a way where it affects a lot of other people; then we have a problem. I mean, why only care when something affects you or a loved one? Why not try to make a difference for everyone, so that other people and their loved ones has a better chance in this world. I mean seriously people; this is 2013 and we still have Racist, Sexist, homophobic, etc….. Really; this is just sad and down right degrading. Yet when it comes to you it’s like “Oh the hell you say”! Hmm….. No wonder we have so much hate and sex crimes in the world today. Not to mention the selling of humans, torturing, murders, kidnappings, bullying, etc… Nobody wants this, and everyone runs to complain about it and to get something done about it but when it comes down to you doing it; there is alway an excuse not to help isn’t there? Well, what goes around comes around I guess but I don’t think that is good enough for some people. All we can hope for is a better life and that people will start caring and trying more; or that everyone gets back what they dish out.


text:
Songs from Underemployed S01E07 The Focus Group

Giles Palmer – Rise Up Again
Previously On Underemployed

Dallas – Bring The Light
Scene: The gang compares their jobs

Haroula Rose – Already Yours
Scene: Miles watches Daphne Sleep. She wakes up)

Still Flyin – Take These Streets
Scene: Miles asks Llou for medical suggestions

You Say France, & I Whistle – OMG
Scene: Daphne and Lou talk about work and co-workers

Das Tapes – Black Ferrari
Scene: Miles tells Maggie his problem

Victory – Photo Girl
Scene: Sophia asks about another focus group. Raviva talks about Lou

LA Font – Lipsmack
Scene: Bekah pulls Lou into his dad’s office and they kiss

Action Toolbelt – Used To Be
Scene: Miles leaves a long message for his doctor

The Pow Pow – Payback
Scene: The receptionist answers Miles call

Royal Teeth – Wild
Scene: Daphne apologizes as Todd Exits

Cathy Heller – Gonna Make A Change
Scene: Raviva & Sophia have lunch

Dinosaur Feathers – Young Bucks
Scene: Miles crashes the doctors office

Canon Blue – Honeysuckle
Scene: Daphne goes to see Todd. He asks her out

Brendan Losch – Just Be You
Scene: Lou and Raviva talk some stuff out

California Wives – Light Year
Scene: Lou and Raviva show Sophia her new room

NEXT ON Underemployed

Hawke/Loxley – Don’t Do It

Apple Horse – Summon God

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Yesterday, the largest U.S. telecom company-AT&T- announced that  hackers have targeted the company to access personal data of the company’s customers.  The company has also announced that hackers used so called auto-script technology to gain illegitimate access over customers’ phone numbers.

However, AT&T has tried to play down the incident by sending an email to customers to ensure their data privacy. The email said “We do not believe that the perpetrators of this attack obtained access to your online account or any of the information contained in that account.” Though, this is also being consider an attempt by AT&T to know whether their customers data has been gone for toss or not.

The company officially stated that there are 100 million subscribers in the region and less than one percent among them was targeted by the hackers. The company also stated that the incident was a systematic attempt by the hacker to obtain the customers database and information.

The company’s spokesperson—Mark Siegel—said “The company is currently investigating the incident to determine the source or intent of the attempt to gather this information. In the meantime, out of an abundance of caution, we are advising the account holder involved.”

Yesterday, early in the morning, AT & T customers in the North-Eastern U.S. faced the problem of service outage but after three-four hours, the problems were retrieved by the company.

This is not the first time when the company’s customers’ database has been tried to hacked. Last year, hackers stole personal data from about 120,000 accounts and U.S prosecutors had alleged two people in the illegal data hacking activity. Daniel Spliter and Andrew Auernheimer had penalized in the case of fraud and access of the computer without authorization. However, both confessed that their intentions were clear; they wanted to demonstrate the security weakness of the company so that the company would improve its security.

The U.S. president—Barrack Obama—forced the congress to frame a rigor law to improve the network security in order to maintain the National and economic security.

Globally, network security is a prime concern and a rigor legal action should be taken to insure the personal and confidential database. The repeated hacking attempt isn’t only a concern for AT&T but also for the global networking companies who really need to improve their security to avoid any similar attempts in future.