Flock....?

So, a short while ago, Cate was asking me a question about how to do something on the net.  It had to with a picture from e-bay or somesuch.  You can see it here:

german jungle: i want to ride my....

Anyways, she was having trouble in Safari, so I told her to use Firefox.  Instead, she cheerfully tells me, she was able to do it successfully with Flock.  "In Flock?", I asked.  "It's Firefox in a Christian name", she said.  Confused, I decided to look it up.  (I had never heard of 'Flock' before, but you can find it here: Flock Browser - The Social Web Browser)  Turns out, while I saw nothing about the Christian part of it (not saying it's not the case...just didn't notice it), I did finally figure out why somebody felt the need to rebrand Firefox as "Flock".  It's all about the "Social Networking".  Basically, Flock runs an older version of Firefox (I think it's currently based on 3.0), and integrates a "sidebar" on the left hand side that allows you to seamlessly access Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Gmail, Flicker, Yahoo! mail, Blogger, and then some.  I decided to test it out, and I'm actually writing this post IN Flock's blog posting screen as part of that test.  What do I think though?

Well, I like the integration.  I like the look of the browser, too.  It's nice.  I'm a little hesitant about the security being that the browser is based on an older version of Firefox though.  Also, it's significantly slower than Chrome, Safari 4, and Firefox 3.5.  It might even be slower than IE8 (although, that would be pretty tough to do).  The integration though is pretty A+ from what I've seen so far.  So, if you are a Facebook / Twitter / Flicker / Gmail / Blogger, etc. etc. etc. junkie, you might find it worth checking out.  (I like the blog entry creator a lot...wish I could access and edit my old blogger posts from it though)

Kelly out.

* Edited to add a link to Flock *

Blogged with the Flock Browser

A New Revolution in Iran?

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For the past several days, something unusual has been happening in Iran. It's something that has really not happened since 1979. After an election where the majority of the citizens have doubted the results, a massive upheaval in the form of many many protests has occurred. Things have been getting progressively out of hand for Iran's religious dictatorship there. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, ordered the protests to stop, and that order hasn't really changed much. Now, some of the protesters are apparently shouting "Death to Khamenei!", and now, in spite of Iran's attempts to lock down all journalism, cellphone, and internet access to the outside world, the protests continue. But, they are becoming increasingly violent.


Even Time.com is talking about this video: here

Yesterday, June 20th, a young woman, named , was shot in killed while reportedly standing nearby and watching (just watching) the protests. Graphic amateur video made it onto YouTube and spread like wildfire throughout the Twittersphere and Facebook network. This video broke my heart.

One of the most remarkable things about Twitter is its ability to allow everyone to write or receive live updates to major news stories. If you have Twitter, you can click on #iranelection and see what is currently happening. When I was watching it yesterday, it seemed to be jumping at the rate of over 200+ a minute. That's with the government of Iran trying as best it can to prevent any of its citizens from using Twitter at all!!

Twitter, it seems, is no friend of the oppressive government. Facebook and YouTube are not much better in that regard, of course. Between the three of them, information has been getting out in spite of Iran's best attempts to thwart it. I remember reading a couple of days ago on Twitter and elsewhere how lonely the Iranian people felt. They kept saying, "Where're the Americans now?" Kind of surprising actually. However, while American citizens are not so easily able to provide the support they were looking for, people from around the world (and America, too, of course!) have been providing other support by electronically masking their identities as best they can to confuse the Iranian government into thinking that they (and help prevent the tracking down of those who are posting on Twitter, Facebook, and the like.

So, what are you going to do?

Well, here's an idea. To show their support, Twitter users (and now Facebook users, too!) have been altering their profile images to be tinted green. Green being the color of the candidate who "supposedly" lost the election, it has become the rallying color of the protesters throughout the country and their friends around the world. It may not be much, but it's easy to do. I used a free open source image editing program called The Gimp to modify mine. It's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and easy to install on all three. Just modify the color balance, and re-upload your profile pic.

Meanwhile, I want to leave you with some scripture to think about:

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed—
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
and they have no comforter.

And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.

But better than both
is he who has not yet been,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Luke 4:17-21

Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,

the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,

the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.

Psalm 146

Highland Baptist Night of Worship

This Saturday night, between 6-8 PM, our church, Highland Baptist Church, is having an awesome contemporary Night of Worship. We've been working really hard on this (Personally speaking, I'm playing bass, and Lilly is sharing her testimony!), so we'd love it for you to come!

Highland Baptist is located at:
8202 Boedeker
Dallas, TX

We're within spitting distance of Northpark Mall.

A Memorial Day Prayer

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Lord, thank you for bringing us out of that war
Thank you for bringing our sons and daughters home
Thank you for the freedom we celebrate each year
Paid for by the blood of those we've held dear
Thank you for the grace that let's us come near
Your throne and rejoice without the fear
Of everlasting death.

And so we know
That our brothers,
Our fathers,
Our husbands,
Our wives,
And sisters, too,
Our sons and our daughters and all who followed you
Whom we have lost...
Have the hope and promise of everlasting life
With you, our Father,
without the pain and strife of this world.
As do we
For that, we rejoice, we come before you, and sing
Great praises of your love, mercy, and wisdom.
Today, we remember them,
And how they fought valiantly for us.
And for our freedom
That we have the availability in this land
To come before you now.

Father, we still have soldiers, family and friends,
fighting to preserve this freedom
In a world that hates you
In a time that despises your name
We pray for their safety like we did before
And that, if their time has come, you will take them safely home
And comfort us in our sorrow,
Help us to know and see
That victory over death has already been won.
Thanks to Jesus!
And if and when you being them back to us instead
Let us rejoice again
for the grace which you freely give
and the love that you show to your people.
We rejoice like that now, too, and sing
Hallelujah!!
We will rise again!

No matter the pain we endure
The illness that puts us down
The conflict that sends us to the grave

No matter the sins we have committed
For we have surrendered all to you
No matter the punishment we deserve

Our condemnation is not coming!
Eternal life with you is waiting!
We will rise again

Like our king already has.

Praise be to you, Lord! Hallelujah!

Countdown: Sean Hannity Offers to be Waterboarded "For the Troops"

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Ladies and gentleman, Keith Olbermann on Sean Hannity's latest brilliant idea (clip of Hannity included):

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Charles Grodin: "Would you consent to be waterboarded so we could get the truth out of you?"

Sean Hannity: "Yes. Yeah, sure."

Charles Grodin: "If we can waterboard you, are you busy on Sunday?"

Sean Hannity: *laughs* "I'll do it for charity. I'll let you do it."

Charles Grodin: "I wouldn't do it"

Sean Hannity: "I'll do it for the troop's families."

- Sean Hannity and Charles Grodin discussing waterboarding