Just a test:

Beyond Church Walls

Posted by Rodney & Jolanda Blevins at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

David Berlind over at ZDNet has posted an article on trackpads vs pointing sticks of the kind that you find on thinkpads.

One MacBook with a Thinkpad keyboard please (or OS X running on Windows, when hell freezes over) by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Just because almost everybody is doing it, does that mean it’s a good idea? Or does that mean that we’ve somehow been hoodwinked into thinking this makes sense. I’m talking about touchpads. Somehow, users have been convinced that these kissin-cousins to the digitizing tablets that graphics artists use (where the technology benefits productivity) make [...]

Is this guy on crack or something?  Sure, I agree with him about trackpads.  Who really uses the trackpad on their mac laptops anyway?  I'm a macfreak but I avoid using the trackpad on my powerbook as much as possible.  I'm also a productivity freak so I use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible.  But pointing sticks?  Please, that's so 90's.

My only brief experience with a  pointing stick was when I had to help a friend with his Toshiba back in the 90's.  My only hope was that I could get the job done as soon as possible so I wouldn't have to use that stupid, little pointing stick anymore.

Sure, it was fast.  Too fast.  Speed went up and accuracy plummeted.  The fact that it may be harder for manufacturers to make or maintain is not the real reason why it has never caught on.  People don't like them.

Want speed and accuracy?  Use a mouse.  Want productivity?  Keep your fingers on the keyboard as much as possible and use shortcuts.  That is unless you get paid by the hour, of course.  In that case, feel free to use whatever outdated, outmoded technology you wish to use.

Technorati Tags: productivity, trackpads, pointing-sticks

Posted by Rodney & Jolanda Blevins at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is a link post for any fellow podcasters out there.  As you may well know, if you are trying to make a podcast, it's nice to have some background music/intro music/bumper music.  However, you can't just use any old music because of copyright laws.

This actually goes for anyone who is trying to make a presentation or a video of some kind which will be displayed in front of a larger audience like a church or even distributed via the internet.  It's my understanding that if you're just showing the video/presentation to a small audience in your own home then you're safe to use whatever kind of music you want, however, if at some point you decide to post it on your blog or show it to your church on Sunday morning, then you're going to have either redo your presentation using copyright-free music or obtain a costly license to use the music.

Well, here are some links to places that offer free music that you can use for just about anything except for commercial purposes (some of them can even be used for that).  Please refer to the license information provided with each song or on the website itself.  Some artists do ask to be notified if it is going to be used publicly, and some of them ask you not to remix the music in anyway (using excerpts notwithstanding), but others place absolutely no restrictions at all on their music.  Two of them are secualr websites where you might find some Christian music and the last one is specifically worship:

Podsafe Music Network
macjams.com
freeworshipmusic.com

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Posted by Rodney & Jolanda Blevins at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I wake up this morning and I've got a bright and shiny Pownce invitation in my inbox.  Cool.  Now what?

Pownce is kind of like twitter, right?  I also have a twitter account, but I never use it.  Apparently twitter is one of those extremely useless, highly addictive things.

Anyway, I have 6 invites.  Who wants a pownce invite?  I'll warn ya' though, it's gonna cost ya'!  Ha ha.  How about a link exchange?  You provide a link on your cool, hip blog read by thousands of actual people to my uncool blog read by, well, actually I think even the spambots have stopped dropping by.

People hate comment spam, but I actually kind of liked it, because they were just about the only comments I was getting.  It made me feel a little less lonely.

Anyway, if you want an invite, leave a comment with the link to your blog. Maybe I'll be in touch.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, I guess I left out this part - pownce.com/thedonkey is my address.

Posted by The Donkey at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Download Episode #2 (5:13 mins., 25MB)

Or watch it right here:

Show notes:
Stupid Danish Robbery Caught on Tape!

Danish baby laughing. [EDIT: The film starts with some language I assume to be Danish, so the baby must be Danish. My logic is IMPECCABLE!]

Atkins Diet Recipes Mock Danish

Shocking Turn of Events: The accordion is the city of San Francisco's official musical instrument.

According to Accordionists Tom Torriglia and Gary Sredzienski, it was the Beatles that ruined the accordion's popularity.

Don't forget to get your National Accordion Awareness Month Animated Greeting Cards.

Posted by The Donkey at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to the first episode of this weekly news podcast. The show will be airing every Friday, so check back here regularly.

Download Episode #1

National Accordion Awareness Month
Facts one and two: Mr. Smarty Pants Accordion Facts
Fact three: Accordion
and four: Accordion cut
Squeezebox field guide - Squeezebox - a Wikia wiki

Happy Birthday to:
Kentucky
and
Tennessee

Posted by The Donkey at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Guys, here's a new podcast for ya'. 1001 Podcast Tips Podcast. A tongue-in-cheek look at making a podcast, with a cameo appearance from Dimitry, ex-KGB, presenting a new gadget to you. Enjoy. Click on the image below to start the video.

You can also visit the podcast's new blog.

Posted by The Donkey at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)