Social Networking

(cartoon from www.computerweekly.com)

Are you on MySpace, Facebook or another 'social networking' site?
Which side do you stand on - just a bit of fun and self promotion or big brother and cyber crims stealing your identity? Here's a few of my thoughts on the whole 'social networking' thingo - and I stress, my own opinion at the moment. If you have an opinion - I'd be interested to hear it also.

As an introduction, I -am - on Facebook and use it a fair bit mainly to catch up with friends and 'friends' and a lot of mindless fun. I'm also on MySpace - which actually totally horrified a girl I knew. She wasn't aware that, even though I am "mature", I use it to get to know other guitar players and musicians which is a hobby.

I'm currently playing around with Linkedin as a professional tool, but it's early days yet. And for those of you who know that I hang out on the computer a bit - I want you to know for perspective sake, that I still mow lawns, do dishes, vacuum the house, go to a paid job and work and get exercise and (personally) am not an online gamer. I don't play WOW, Call of Duty, or even Hello Kitty's Island Adventures; I'll leave that to other pure pwnage fans.

OK here's my main point: I think in essence social networking is a fantastic way of "networking" with people, getting a bit of perspective into the views and beliefs of others, learning a bit of tolerance, developing social skills and having a bit of fun. However - there are dangers - and it pays to learn about them and to consider all warnings thoughtfully.

First the bad news...and I'm going to only talk about Facebook here...but similar will apply to other networks

Not all people are good - does that surprise you? There are crims out there. Read this article about Facebook cybercrime and viruses
(See also www.fbhive.com for both the good and the bad.)
They can be invisible too. Like most crims who don't break in during the daylight - they may find ways into your site through a back door. A personal example of this is a friend of mine had his account hacked. I personally had this'friend' pop up in Chat (real time writing to each other) and he asked "how I was" and after a few preliminaries, this "friend" said that they were "stuck in London and could I send over $800 straight away" because they had "lost a ticket".

I smelled a rat.
A really smelly rat.

I asked my supposive 'friend' (who was using my poor real-friend's hacked legitimate chat and profile photo) a few questions...and then I asked him if he remembered HOW we first met? After being greeted with silence, I explained to this scammer - in words he could clearly understand, and not be mistaken about - what I thought of his little scamming game; and instantly deleted his account. So, yes - it does actually happen. There will always be a percentage of any large group of people, online or offline who have not-so-good intentions about you. So be careful.

You probably already know that you are best to screen what you say and what pictures you allow on your site (if you can help it). I'm told that many employers and human resource companies are getting quite good at roaming the internet for details about you and your online 'private' life to suss you out if you apply for a job.
So, as far as it's up to you - refrain from posting last Fridays drunken binge pix on your site. Also, updates like "my work colleagues are $%#@$%^'s" can get you in an uncomfortable situation or even fired from your part time job.

Finally - assume anything put on the net is public - no matter what you are told.
We all make mistakes - and let me tell, the older we get - the larger the catalogue :(

Facebook has had criticism that it declares that it 'owns' all information on it's site - which the CEO denies (see article in the age ). There is however, encouraging news that Facebook is being pressured in being more open about information it is giving away See Australian IT 28 Aug 09

Here are a few hints if you are concerned about your privacy settings on Facebook: Sophos recommended privacy settings



Back in the old days (I mean about ten years ago) we used to have mainly segmented lives but in the social networking world you can have 'friends' who you wouldn't usually mix with in the real world, so boundaries can get a little blurred sometimes. For example, I have 'friends' who are real long term friends, 'friends' who live overseas and I've never actually met, 'friends' who others would call "clients" from work, 'friends' who are work colleagues, 'friends' who I know from church, 'friends' who I hardly know but somehow we got connected and so on.

For me - and this is what i think is GOOD about online social networking:

It is an unnatural community - yet it is community. I often enjoy the online conversation and remarks people make. I like the interaction. Yes, it's technology, but behind each computer is a human being with all the glory and failings of humanity that we share. It's about people.

As far as it being public - at this stage - besides common sense online precautions (like locking your car in Hindley street), I'm not too worried about the public-ness. If you have nothing to hide, then it's not going to be a big problem. If you stuff up, like we all do - then apologise.

There are many Biblical principles, particularly of love and respect of others that will serve you well online as they do in our normal communities.

Rock n Roll! Mid Year Retreat

Mid Year Retreat!

You are very welcome to come to the the LSF Mid Year retreat - Here are the details:

Theme: Rock N Roll - inside and outside of the church

When: August 21-23rd 2009

Where: Mylor Youth Hostel

Speakers:

Robin Mann - 'the man' behind sooooo many community songs

Matthias Prenzler - master of liturgical stuff and where music fits in

Stephen Morel - Pentecostal strong influence on community music


Cost:

First trip as a student = $40 only

Average student= $45

Worker (not student) = $50

Interested? Bring a friend?

***Contact: Mike Pietsch 0409 725 573 for further details***

Do it now

geek stuff

I know you are poor because you are a student, so those who are more geeky and freaky might find these links to free software useful. Now, as a disclaimer, I haven't tried most of these and to my knowledge they are not naughty and bad people's warez. Most of them are for Windows. If you know of other software that others could use -please let me know and I'll promote it.


Educational

http://www.schoolforge.net/education-software

http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/

http://os.cqu.edu.au/oswinsdvd/doc/README.html



Other download software links

http://www.digitaldarknet.net/thelist/

http://www.opensourcewindows.org/

http://downloadpedia.org/Open_Source_Windows

http://filezilla-project.org/

http://www.virtualbox.org/

http://www.7-zip.org/

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/12/01/30-essential-pieces-of-free-and-open-software-for-windows/

http://osswin.sourceforge.net/

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/infoworld/20090805/tc_infoworld/84903


*enjoy*

moon landing

Moon landing faked......


....so, some people say. Actually, it wasn’t really a fake, but it’s amazing that conspiracy theories still abound. If you look at any YouTube footage of the moon landing, someone often comments that it was staged in a studio or made up. I know many of them are being tongue in cheek, but there are still those who seriously think it was an American propaganda job. If you are one of those, write ‘moon landing hoax myths’ into Google and have a good read (Brief overview here at national geographic). I’d also recommend the YouTube video entitled “moon flaggin” by LunarTuner.

I sometimes find intelligent people writing off Jesus Christ as some sort of hoax or fairy tale as well, without first having looked at the amount of legitimate research around. Ultimately after reading the facts, each person needs to take the leap of faith to be a believer; but it is not based on thin air, there is a large body of work about Christ.

In the book of Acts, this sort of ‘checking the facts to help faith’ attitude is endorsed: “the people in Berea … gladly accepted the message. Day after day they studied the Scriptures to see if these things were true.” (Acts 17 verse 11).

We all have our doubts - but make sure you use your head. You may actually find it supporting your faith.

Lan Party

LutherLan: 1-2 August at District Office the prizes are set (22" Monitor) and the tickets are printed($10 only)Your seat is only safe once you have a ticket. Tickets are available from all admin so just organize with them.

Any further information is available at

www.lutherlan.lca.org.au

spooks

Hmmm ???
This is a topic which is preceeded by many question marks. It can scare some people, make others scoff and look down their noses, with a 'pity the poor fool' frowns and stares over highly educated half -glasses.

Then there are the rest who just shrug their shoulders and get on with more imporant things like World of Warcraft or the latest online gossip chat.

Spooks, yes...I'm talking about...ghosts.
I'm going out on a limb here a bit - and will give you my opinion - with the subtext that I am allowed to change this very opinion later. But I'm bringing it up for discussion sake.
So before I go on - I will tell you where I stand and then you can either read on, or go back to whatever you were doing.

Do I believe that ghosts exist? Answer: for the majority of stories and accounts - no. Most, I personally believe, are fuelled by strong emotion, hearsay, or more likely fuelled by alcohol, forest-picked mushrooms, or other laboratory made and nightclub ingested substances. However, I do believe that at some point in a number of people's lives, some do come across unexplained encounters that could be catergorised under "ghost" in the library filing cabinet.

One of the reasons I have no problem believing in God and the spiritual realm is because the house I grew up in had some 'strange goings on' every now and then, that can't be explained in an everyday way. As a child, quite frankly, it used to scare the living daylights out of me.

Everyone in my family (except for one of us) had experiences with it. And after our house was sold to someone else, I'm told they also had similar experiences. (spook warning: for those who don't like ghost stories, turn away now...)

Every now and then we would hear soft footsteps walking back and forth down our hallway, up and down, up and down. I used to hide under my bed covers. Of course, a few times we would get brave enough to turn on the light but it stopped and there was no one there. Sometimes (even in daylight) one of the door handles would turn by itself and then suddenly the door would swing open (no wind blowing, it happened on calm days). This was experienced by a few of us in our house. I didn't like that at all. No I didn't.

To this day, I don't have a rational explanation. Over the years I've thought about what it was - is it a deceased person's spirit caught in a house? Is it something demonic playing tricks on poor little wide-eyed and over-imaginative children? Is it a cross over of worlds? I still don't know. Maybe you have your theories?

Well, I'm one for the bottom line and so my question is this - what do we do about it?

Firstly, unlike your favourite TV shows and possibly medium friends tell you - it is not wise to try and communicate with spirit beings.

I know that a number of you will poo-poo this as conservative, blinkered, wowserish and even slightly boring -but from a Christian point of view - we are told only to communicate with God and not any other spirits. Way back when Moses was teaching his people how to live, he told them of God's command "...don't try to use any kind of magic or witchcraft to tell fortunes, or to cast spells or to talk with spirits of the dead. The LORD is disgusted with anyone who does these things..."(Deuteronomy 18:10-11) and this is a reoccuring theme in the Bible.

Secondly, if you find yourself in a situation where you are being invited to deal with the spiritual world and you don't know who it is that you are dealing with - why are you doing it? At least with God, you know that He cares for you and wants the best for you (see Romans 8, John 3 :16 and so on).

I'm no expert - so you need to make up your own mind on this - but other spirits may just be playing around with you at best or actually are looking for your downfall. Use your head. Just as you wouldn't trust people (with skin on) if they haven't proven themselves first - why would you put yourselves into the hands of spirits who you don't know? The Bible tells us that "for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14) and also "... for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6: 10 -12 ).


So, what DO you do?

As mysterious and exciting as it may be - for my opinion - stay away from the darkness and draw near to God's light instead.

There is one spirit that we are commanded to let into our lives: The Holy Spirit.
Our God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always spoken of in terms of Light and Love. We know that God's Spirit loves us and cares for us and wants what is in our best interest. Here are just a few examples:

Titus 3:5 "...he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit..."

Ephesians 5:18-20 (from "The Message" version of The Bible) "Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ".

Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness..."

If you've been involved with the 'dark side' in anyway - bring in the light - always invite the Holy Spirit to fill you everyday and to guide and lead you in his love and truth.

Remember Jesus died on the cross for evey sin and foolish action - there is no sin too great for him to forgive. Come into the light and invite God's Holy Spirit into you. In the old days they used to call him The Holy Ghost. That's the only ghost I'm interested in today.

(For further reading, I found this short article interesting on the subject: http://www.spotlightministries.org.uk/hauntings.htm)

Who do you think you are ?

From my experience, I've found that the best Career you can get into - is one where you are using your natural God-given gifts and abilities in an area that makes you feel energised, rather than drained. Of course, study, work experience and life experience also play a major role -otherwise you wouldn't be studying.


I started my Career making shock-absorbers for cars on an assembly line for a year. The money was good but I have a very active mind that I have to keep busy - so you can guess how much I loved that job. My work in Universities and a Primary School are a lot more enjoyable and 'down my line' so to speak.

So what's my point? Well - some of you may wonder whether you are doing the right study for the right job and others of you have no doubt. Of course there are shades of gray.

So for you who are wondering and for you who are a little interested, I'm giving you links to free online 'personality tests' as a tool to define or refine "who you think you are" on the assumption that if you are a square block you will be best to fit in a square hole, not a circle.

Have fun with these. A couple ask for an email address; just use your UniSA address.

Remember that these tests will only output what you put in. I tried them and found them fairly accurate. So be honest - who you really are, not what you wish you were!


Personality Test at Team Technology


The results will come up in a myers-briggs format with an explaination. I'm an ENFJ (which I already knew through other tests I'd done years ago) and it came up accurate. Here are what the results look like:

HumanMetrics Jung Test

The next one I found fairly accurate is the HumanMetrics Jung test - the bonus is that after the test there is a link which gives you a few brief suggestions of suitable careers - I also found that fairly accurate considering the briefness of the test.
ColorQuiz.com

This one 'freaked me out' a little because it is based on choosing colours. Interestingly, I still found the results fairly accurate. So, if you like something different, give it a try:

Have you found this interesting or helpful?

This next round of tests are for Spiritual Gifts that is, God given gifts that work best in a Christian community for the building up of each other. I'll leave you the links for this round but if you are not sure where you stand with spiritual gifts - give these a try ( I personally haven't tried them - but I have done similar ones which were helpful):

Online tests:
http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/

http://www.churchgrowth.org/analysis/index.html

Download Word Document:

www.agapeco-op.org/downloads/SpiritualGiftsAssessmentTool.doc

and finally the best test of all is what God thinks of you. Make sure you have a look at this site before you go:

http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm

cheers

Tim