Heal Your Church WebSite

Month: July 2002

  • GospelCom.Net Responds to my Open Letter

    In response to my Open Letter to Christian Media Outlets of July 24, 2002, I received the following response (note, the hyperlinks within the article are mine):

    Date: 7/25/2002
    From: JR Whitby
    To: Dean Peters
    Subject: BG [gospelcom.net #53868]
    Thanks for taking the time to write to us about the Bible Gateway. Dean, With the hundreds of messages we receive for the Bible Gateway each week, it’s nice to get encouraging messages about cool feature requests like this once in a while. ;-)The Bible Gateway does not currently offer the type of interface you’re suggesting, but it is something we’ve been researching for a while. We have been involved with a couple of the initial meetings for the Open Scriptural Information Standard (OSIS) [http://www.bibletechnologies.net/], and are continuing to follow the development of the schema [http://www.bibletechnologies.net/schemadoc.cfm]. We are honored to be working with organizations such as ABS and IBS that are helping lead the way for these standards. This type of work is consistent with the philosophy that’s driven the open source projects we’ve published in the past [http://oss.gospelcom.net/].

    Providing an XML interface is in our plans for the future, and is something we want to provide. We are working to make this type of syndication easier for site owners like yourself, while ensuring we meet the requirements and copyrights of the versions that have been provided to us from the various publishers. As resources become available, we will continue our development along these lines.

    Thanks again for the suggestions!

    Cordially,

    J.R. Whitby
    Vice President, Gospel Communications International
    Director, www.gospelcom.net
    The most popular Christian site on the Internet

    Well, it’s not the answer I wanted, but it sure was the nicest response I could have hoped for. And while I’m glad to see XML in discussion, I’m hoping they’ll realize that XML-based API need not be contingent on the rendering of their systems in XML. In other words, I’m hoping they shoot for an API in the short term, while working on documenting Christendom in XML in the long term.

    Still, a very nice response from a good ways up the food chain.
    Believe me, it IS appreciated!

  • Essential Unix FAQ

    Its Friday, so one thing useful and two things fun – I’ll leave it to you figure out which is which:

    I talk alot about Linux here, not because I’m some Bill Gate’s hating, anti-Microsoft Zealot, there are enough of those around already. Fact is, I’ve made a nice living writing code for my day job on various DOS and Windows-based systems. Though I still refuse to install XP I just don’t like the idea of having to “report in …” But I digress.

    I mention Linux muchly because it is the platform many of us use and abuse for our web sites. That and it is at least 35% geekier than any other operating system Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
    out there. Which makes knowing it an essential skill if you really want to take control of your web site. Problem is that as I get older, I sometimes forget the command-line syntax. I’m fortunate to have a unix-chix wife who fills in most of the blanks, but there are times I’m embarassed to ask or admit I’m lost. Instead I’d rather drive around and find it the hard way. It’s a guy thing.

    So late the other night while the spousal unit was asleep, I got stuck and didn’t want to wake anyone by going upstairs to rattle through the umpteem million computer books holding up a corner of our house. What I really needed was a cheat sheet – I found one – courtesy of the good folks at the Montana State University – Bozeman. What they’re doing with UNIX up in Montana only our Lord knows. I’m just grateful to have it handy.

    Now where did I put that pocket protector ………….?

  • Addicted to Medicority

    The Washington Time has some must reading for Christians in an article entitled “Poll finds religion lost esteem over past year.” Basically it proves
    Franky Schaeffer was right when he asserted that Christians are no longer influencing society through various forms of media, but are instead influenced BY it. A neat trick when you think Francis Shaeffer’s son warned us about this as far back as 1981!

    A point shaved even finer back in 1994 by Os Guinness in
    Fit Bodies Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don’t Think and What to Do About It. Is it wonder why so many church web sites need healing? Until we Love (our) God With All Your Mind we’re going to continue to see the leprosy of modernism infect everything we do.

    WHOOOOSH – flame off!

  • Blog Netiquette

    When Virginia Shea penned the original “core rules of netiquette” there the concept of the blog was yet to be a gleam in David Winer’s eye.

    Well, it looks like blogs are here to stay, and with them, a set of rules and manners that though currently unspoken, should be written down and made part of Blogger.com’s terms of service. Until then, might i suggest a growing list over at Fred Peatross’ Grace Awakening>?

    BTW, what’s your pet peeve regarding badly behaved blogs? Let us hear from you.

  • Ernie the Attorney

    It’s not often geeks like me think about things legal until we’re hip deep in a bowl of flaming orange habanero kimchee. But it is a reality we have to deal with.

    That said, I was half joking when I e-mailed Ernest ‘Ernie the Attorney’ Svenson when I suggested there should be a law about hackers hijacking the WayBackMachine. Email being what it is, he responded as I often do when someone pin-pricks one of my passion spots – and goes deep!

    It was more than I could have ever hoped for in a response – it was GOOD reading and is a GOOD point. So much so that I insisted he blog it on his site. We have so many laws, yet criminals still manage abound … abundantly … about the only thing I might add is a link to the Flummery Digest.

    But I digress – first, the link to Ernies excellent article entitled: Toward a Theory of Justice.. But don’t stop there! I have found myself visiting Ernie’s site on a daily basis as he banters about issues legal – many of which are internet related – with the same ease I discuss sed and xarg.

    Once I get my permalinks thing added, I’m adding this one.