In the World

For some odd reason, I get the impression that Sony is getting a bit desperate with the Playstation 3.

Many, many moons ago I was quite a gamer. Now, not so much. But I still have a PS3, a Wii, and a GBA. I also have a PSP, but I managed to brick it while trying to get FFVII to run (in the days before its availability in the Playstation Store…read what you will into that).

These days I buy maybe one or two games each year. I just don’t have the time for that kind of solo time commitment.

Yet, somehow in spite of my lack of gaming expenditures, I still get invited to PS3 betas. Not that I’m complaining. I just find it funny that I get invited to test videogames when the chances of me actually purchasing them when they come out is just about zero.

Maybe once the NDA is lifted I’ll post about the latest PS3 beta I’m involved in. Assuming I’ve figured out what kind of game it is.

Some advice to Sony: The PS3 is a pretty spectacular piece of equipment. Release a public dev kit and open it up for development. Oh, and PLEASE get around to supporting Netflix sometime in the next year. If I have to get a 360 for this I might just have to pass on FFXIII.

There is a disturbing trend taking shape: In an age where information is at our fingertips, literacy is at an all-time high, knowledge is everywhere, and the expertise of untold millions is freely available, the peoples of the developed world seem to be thinking even less and less.

Knowledge has replaced critical thinking. Page 1 of Google’s search results has replaced true research. Sound bites and pithy quotes have replaced original thought.

What does this mean?

It means that we aren’t quite as smart as we like to think we are.

We have been conditioned to trust the written word. It doesn’t change, it’s meaning is fixed. School textbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries. These tools of education have ingrained within us the idea that what we read is the untarnished, unadulterated, truth. This is one of the very first things we learn in school: Trust the written word.

So we are preprogrammed to believe what we read. And by human nature, we are more likely to read (and believe) something that agrees with our views. We don’t take challenge well.

What happens, then, when we couple bad information, deep-rooted beliefs, and an inability to think critically?

We get people who are always right, can’t listen to an opposing argument, and who only know how to repeat sound bites and talking points. We’ve made the mistake of believing that literacy equals knowledge; that information equals wisdom.

Where are the true debaters? The real thinkers? Those individuals who, without resorting to name-calling and vitriol, can make their argument heard and believed, and can be trusted to make a well thought-out decision? The ones who truly have their hearts in the spirit, and who can actually answer the question: What Would Jesus Do?

According to the powers-that-be (whom I apparently made the exceptionally bad judgment call of putting in charge) have informed me that I must vacate the premises.

At least on this server.

Fear not, I shall continue to post, although you will likely need to update your bookmarks sometime soon.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a technology freak.

I love programming. I love gadgets. I love discussing what technology means, what it holds for the future, and most importantly, awesomely cool things I can do with technology at work.

Sometime last year I started playing with a little program called VirtualBox, which allows you to run multiple operating systems within a single environment on your computer. I saw it as a great way to maximize the computer infrastructure of Destiny Image, and to have some fun in the process.

I seem to have inspired Tyler, as he jumped into playing with VirtualBox with both feet. CORRECTION: Tyler introduced me to VirtualBox, and since then we’ve both been playing with it pretty heavily. I used it to simply solve some annoying logistical problems, like easily running Windows on my MacBook, or running a tested for operating systems without needing another computer to muck about with. I also played around with trying to move existing operating system installs into a virtualized environment, but without much luck. Tyler thought this was an excellent idea, and like me, was interested in the possibility of taking some of our older, rarely-used (but important and highly-specialized) application servers and reducing their processor footprint.

This past week, while I was in Canada (which is something I might write about in the near future), Tyler really got into virtualization through the new VMware ESXi Hypervisor package from VMware. It is awesome.

In less than a week, and without any training whatsoever, Tyler managed to create fully virtual, runnable, active instances of several of the mission-critical application servers at Destiny Image. I even used one of them today (along with most of Destiny Image), and there was no performance reduction.

There is still a bit more testing to be done, but the application potential of this is nearly unlimited. And WAY fun.

Anyone have an extra 64-bit Opteron or Xeon box sitting around? Preferably a laptop with this kind of processor horsepower? I could really use a machine to play with.

I was just reminded tonight of my love for sarcasm and condescension as I read through some of the old comics archive here.

I especially love the little circular stories that, time after time, weave their through your heart and build a tapestry of places, people, and events that you simply can’t help but be fascinated by.

Oh, and then there’s this, which I hadn’t read in so long I forgot about it.

I must once again embrace the power present in these words. Maybe I’ll use it the next time somebody asks me a question using those obscenely ridiculous religious terms.

In a previous column I wrote about how I’ve been lately inspired—okay, pushed—into looking at just what my dreams and aspirations are.

I’ve taken this seriously.

I have read books; made lists; written a journal; and spent many, many hours just thinking about what this means to me. And I think I’m finally starting to get a picture.

Yesterday I flew to Red Deer, Canada, to teach a seminar on Spirit-led writing with my father. The week before, I had borrowed John Maxwell’s Put Your Dream to the Test from Nathan. A day of flights and airports seemed to me a perfect opportunity to sit down read it.

I’m not sure I can recommend this book highly enough. For me, it ranks right up with 9 Lies That Are Holding Your Business Back, The Storehouse Principle, and Who Moved My Cheese?.

Now, I read the book in a way it’s not supposed to be read: I read the first half of the book in one sitting. You really should read this book one chapter at a time, and stew on each chapter, and take action on it, and really let it sink in,

At first, I had trouble just making it through the Introduction. Not because it was boring, mind you, but because it was so inspiring. I had to hold myself back from just putting the book down and jumping into my dreams and visions of what I wanted to accomplish. But discipline is one of my many foibles, so I resisted the urge to jump and kept on reading.

And again, I can’t recommend this book enough. If you have a dream, or you want a dream, or you think you have a dream, or you think you want to have a dream, or if at some point in your life you think you might want to accomplish more than what you have become, you owe it to yourself to read Put Your Dream to the Test.

Throughout this book, there is a common thread that can best be summed up by James Earl Jones’ Mufasa in The Lion King, speaking to his son, Simba: “You are more than you have become.”

It took me until the end of chapter 3 to realize why I was having so much trouble putting a finger on what I want to accomplish. And it wasn’t so much something that was in the book, but a realization that my entire method of discovery was part of my problem.

And that is where I’m going to stop for now.

I know, I know. By now you want me to talk about my dreams. That’s for another column. I have to sort some things out first. But I’ve gotten it now, and I know what I need to do, if not necessarily how to do it. The how can come later. I’m just thrilled to have the what.

Okay, so the headline was really just to get your attention. And it was a cute play on the “Half-Blood Prince” title.

Last week my wife and I went to opening night of HPatHBP. We’re both fans of the books, and the movies do a passable job. But that’s not what this column is about.

No, this column is about why like Harry Potter.

You see, I’m not afraid of Harry. Well, not just Harry, but Ron and Hermione and Draco Malfoy and Dumbledore and Voldemort. They don’t scare me. They don’t threaten my faith any more than Ariel or Ursula, Aurora and Maleficent, Jack, Lili, and Darkness, or Charles Xavier. My faith is secure. It may not be exactly the same faith as yours, but my faith in the forgiving power of Jesus and the existence of Heaven and Hell (again, though, maybe not in the same way you believe in them) is not going to be brought to its knees by a modern-day fairy tale about a boy and his wand.

Words have power, but only as much power as you give them. I often feel that the people who are the most threatened by Harry are threatened not because he’s “bad for the kids” or because he breaks the Biblical warning against witchcraft, but because they don’t walk in the supernatural themselves.

There is a massive world beyond what we can see. Humans intrinsically know this. We have a deep, inborn desire to know and experience a realm where the laws of physics as we know them don’t apply. I think the real reason Christians hate on Harry Potter so much is because he reminds us of the awesome supernatural powers that we choose not to wield through our safe Christian lives. This doesn’t mean Harry Potter is for everyone, just that it doesn’t threaten my faith or belief in divinely supernatural power of God.

I had a great conversation with someone last week where I got to explain this in-depth. I wasn’t recommending they see the movies or read the books, nor did I need to defend my own enjoyment of the story. Instead, it was a refreshingly adult conversation about how different people walk in different ways, and how we have all sinned, but not necessarily in the same ways.

As Christians, each of us has a journey to make. The destination for us all is the same, but the path is different. We are all focused on the Son, but we all started in different places and follow different roads.

There will plenty for me to be judged by when I meet the Almighty. I’m fairly certain that Harry Potter will be pretty far down the list.

Every once in a while I end up answering an incoming sales call at Destiny Image. It’s not that I can’t, or that I don’t like to, it’s just not normally part of what I do anymore. (I say anymore, because my first “desk job” was learning customer service and answering front desk phone calls when I was very young, at least when I wasn’t working in the warehouse shipping books. I got so good at it that callers thought I was a voice mail greeting, and I had to learn to engage them in conversation before they hung up.)

So to set the scene: I had gone ot the office suite down the hall to check on the details of a particularly complex order for a customer. I ended up waiting, because one of the people I needed to talk to was going over some procedures or whatnot with another member of the sales team. So I sat down in their chair to wait for them to get finished.

While waiting, the sales line rang. Then it rang again. At the third ring, I checked the call queue and realized that all the incoming call reps were already on calls. So, I picked up the phone.

“Destiny Image, Jesus loves you!.” You always answer the phone with a smile on your face, because your facial expression can translate through your tone, and has an effect on the caller on the other end.

Instead of someone looking to place an order, what I encountered was something far more interesting: I heard a small voice on the other end of the line ask “Do you mean what you say in your catalog? That if there’s anything I need, I can just call and ask?”

How do you respond to something like that? A call from someone who is obviously looking for more than just a life-changing book? You talk to them, of course!

I won’t relate the entire story here, but this was the kind of phone call that makes my day. It was a call from someone who needed help and guidance, and who truly did not know where else to turn. I didn’t sell her a book, but I may have just changed her life.

Charmaine, if you ever read this, I hope you were able to find a strong, spirit-led Church. I’m still praying for you.