WordPress + iPhone = Fun

Posted on July 23, 2008
Filed Under Blogging, Mac | 2 Comments

$\"iPhone WordPress Button\"$
Finally, WordPress comes out with a solid application for the iPhone.

I am writing this post on my iPhone right now.

Highlighted Features:
1. Embed photos taken from your iPhone (and it let’s you take one right from the app) or from your library.
2. “Write” screen works with ease in adding a title, tags, and synced categories.
3. Options to save a post to a local draft, publish, or even change the date, and preview your work.

Downside:
1. Adding links without showing the URL (can’t we have it all ).
2. Using editing features and items like the Bold fonts.

Overall, a very sweet app. They say you need WP version 2.5.1 or newer to run app, but I’m running it on WP 2.5 with no problems so far.

Also, the app will work on WordPress.com supported blogs (non-self-hosted), though I haven’t tested it yet.

Anyone using this app yet?

(Note: added link and picture from WordPress on my laptop).

C.Harv

ESPY’s 2008: Justin Timberlake Skit

Posted on July 22, 2008
Filed Under TV, Videos | 2 Comments

I missed the 2008 ESPY’s this past weekend, but I have been watching a few clips online to catch up. Justin Timberlake was the host and he seemed to do a great job. Here is a funny interview skit playing off of events that happened in the sports world.

Timberlake
Uploaded by bsap11

(Via Sports Business Radio)

C.Harv

Proof John Piper Is a Gangster

Posted on July 17, 2008
Filed Under Conferences | 1 Comment

$\"John Pipers\' A Gangsta\"$

Apparently the story is that this girl wanted Piper to throw up a “West side” sign to go along with the theme of the conference he was speaking at (”Word of God”).

Even if he didn’t know that the sign he was throwing up is a gang sign, John Piper is still a gangster of the gospel, throwing Word bombs every time he speaks.

(via Joshua Harris)

C.Harv

Home Run Derby, Josh Hamilton

Posted on July 15, 2008
Filed Under Sports | 1 Comment

If you are like me and missed the home run derby last night at Yankee Stadium because you don’t have cable or you didn’t know it was on, then check out the highlight of the night.

Josh Hamilton, a former #1 Draft pick, turned down the wrong path of drug addiction, and was out of baseball for four years before his recent comeback a few years ago.

This guy is the talk of baseball right now because he has some serious skills:

(via Sports Business Radio Blog)

Yao Ming Foundation

Posted on July 14, 2008
Filed Under Outreach, Sports, World News | 2 Comments

Want to help children affected by the 8.0 earthquake in China? And also be the personal guest of Yao Ming at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing?

$\"Yao Ming Foundation\"$
The Yao Ming Foundation is offering this very opportunity.

Yao’s Foundation is selling raffle tickets ($2.00/ ticket, minimum purchase of 5 tickets) that will go toward rebuilding schools and providing assistance to the children devasted by the earthquake in China.

Not only will you be supporting a great cause, the raffle ticket winner and guest will get hooked up as well.

Grand Prize:
* Winner and Guest will receive 6 nights 7 day hotel accommodations in Beijing China (Single Room, Double Occupancy, From August 7, 2008 to August 13, 2008)
* Winner and Guest will receive roundtrip airfare from any international airport worldwide to Beijing
* Winner will receive a $1,500 cash stipend for meals and expenses
* Winner and Guest will enjoy a Team China vs. Team USA Olympic Basketball Game
* Winner and Guest will each receive an autographed Official Yao Ming NBA Jersey
* Winner and Guest will enjoy a meet and greet with Yao Ming in the United States after attending a Houston Rockets NBA game (at a mutually agreed upon time)
* Winner and Guest will enjoy a Guided Tour of the Great Wall of China
* Winner will also receive a cash prize in the amount of $3,995.00 to mitigate the Winner’s tax liability that results from winning the raffle. This prize is withheld and paid, on behalf of the Winner, directly to the IRS ($3,300.00) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ($695.00)

Drawing Date: Monday, July 21, 2008.
Entry Deadline: 9:00 AM EDT July 21, 2008.

Note: Winner and guest must have a valid U.S. passport (expiration date no earlier than March 1, 2009) and a visa. Winner and Guest will receive assistance from a professional visa expediting firm as part of the prize.
Must be 18 years of age, or older, to purchase a ticket. However, the rules allow an Entrant to “Gift” their tickets to another person, which may or not be a minor (must confirm this when signing up for the raffle ticket).

I am excited about the cause and the grand prize, and have already bought a few tickets of my own.
I even had to expedite my passport this weekend (over looked expiration last month) to be eligible for the trip. Hey, one can dream, right?

Can’t win unless you play!

C.Harv

Hoops of Hope

Posted on July 10, 2008
Filed Under Outreach, Sports | 4 Comments

Austin Gutwein, a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, saw a video by World Vision about children in need who had lost their parents to HIV/AIDS and passionately decided that he needed to do something to help.

What he decided to do was create Hoops of Hope, a non-profit that organizes free-throw shooting marathons to raise money for children in Zambia.

The kicker is that Austin is 14 years old; 9 years old when he began this quest in 2004.

$\"Founder Hoops of Hope\"$ (photo via The Rebelution)

Year 1: Austin shot 2057 free throws, one for each child orphaned that school day. $3000 were raised by sponsors in the community for each shot taken.

Year 2: Austin recruited 1000 of friends, from local churches and schools in the community, to shoot with him.

Year 3: Specific projects in Zambia were targeted and enough money was raised to build a school and a medical testing center.

This Year, 2008: The goal is to raise $290,000 for a second medical center, 1000 caregiver kits (testing and treatment), and 1000 bicycles for the caregivers (World Bicycle Relief partner).

You can watch some video footage of the organization here.

When I first saw this story, I lost it. First, because I want to do similar things and second, because Austin was so young and already doing great things. What is holding me back?

Here is a taste of the humility that I was served:

“What I’ve learned from doing Hoops of Hope is that it can take just one kid to make a difference. One kid just has to have a passion. And also, I’ve learned that God can use anybody. You don’t have to be out-of-the-ordinary, you can just be a normal kid. You don’t have to wait to be an adult to make a difference. You can make a difference in the lives of anybody, just by wanting to do something.”

There is a burning inside of me that is looking for an outlet. However, I have been wondering about tomorrow’s dreams for too long and need to start living more today.

I have been seeking and wrestling and praying to confirm a holy ambition for my life. A holy ambition is a balance between something you really, really want to do and something God wants you to do.

Opportunities are endless, needs of compassion in this world are all around us, but all it takes is one person wanting to impact the world and taking action with all their being.

It’s time for me to stop talking about it and start being about it.

C.Harv

Total Truth

Posted on July 8, 2008
Filed Under Books | 1 Comment

$\"Total Truth Book\"$ Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from It’s Cultural Captivity, is a great book that I am reading again, that is very helpful and practical in fully developing a worldview.

Nancy Pearcey affirms that Christianity has a legitimate role to play in every area of our culture and not just regulated to the private realm of faith and feelings.

She makes a compelling claim that Christianity is not just religious truth but truth about total reality.

In explaining where to begin to develop a Christian worldview, Pearcey writes:

In Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job description: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” The first phrase, “be fruitful and multiply,” means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phrase, “subdue the earth,” means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music.

This means that our vocation or professional work is not a second-class activity, something we do just to put food on the table. It is a high calling for which we originally created. The way we serve a Creator God is by being creative with the talents and gifts He has given us.

Additionally, Pearcey offers a balanced response when engaging culture:

When they only form of cultural commentary Christians offer is moral condemnation, no wonder we come across to non-believers as angry and scolding. Our first response to the great works of human culture, whether in art or technology or economic productivity, should be to celebrate them as reflections of God’s own creativity. And even when we analyze where they go wrong, it should be in a spirit of love.

Today, Christian activists are quick to organize a boycott or pressure a politician to de-fund some artistic group, and these strategies have their place. But how many reach out to the artists with compassion? How many do the hard work of crafting real answers to the questions they are raising? How many cry out to God on behalf of people struggling in the coils of false worldviews?

The best way to drive out a bad worldview is by offering a good one, and Christians need to move beyond criticizing culture to creating culture.

This was just a snippet of the many insightful points that are helping me respond to alternative worldviews and to also give a reasonable response for the hope that I embrace.

C.Harv

Scouting Report (7/4)

Posted on July 4, 2008
Filed Under Scouting Report | 1 Comment

Marty McFly Inspired Sneakers
Nike is releasing the McFly Hyperdunk, inspired by the shoes worn by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in the movie Back to the Future. Remember those kicks? They still haven’t produced the automated shoe laces that the originals had in the movie!

Unseen Footage Of Michael Jordan Dunking
They claim that this is the best unseen dunk by Michael Jordan. Video footage is at a Magic Johnson charity game years ago.

Amazing Catch By The Ball Girl
Sweet catch, if only it were true. Can’t believe everything you see on video these days! Nice special effects, though.

Have a great 4th everyone!

C.Harv

Essay Contest: “Make History Now”

Posted on July 3, 2008
Filed Under Life Direction, World News | Leave a Comment

$\"essay contest\"$ Here is a heads up for anyone interested in an essay contest. Go here for the full details on the contest.

The deadline is July 31, so I have some work to do, if I am going to enter my essay.

There are three questions that must be answered:

1. What does “make history now” mean to you, and what are you doing next to make history now?

2. What do you have to start doing, or stop doing, in order to accomplish this?

3. In what way is basketball history related to your observations or instructive as you make plans and take actions?

I can’t make any comments right now (essay contest rules), but I can say that I like the subject and that I am currently researching and outlining the direction I would like to take.

If anything is accomplished from this contest, I hope to further improvement my thinking and life direction strategy, and also my writing skills.

Anyone interested?

C.Harv

Road Trip Dance, Crank That

Posted on June 30, 2008
Filed Under Music, Travel, Videos | 2 Comments

As I was driving around town in Georgia, the van started to shake. What happened was that Crank That by Soulja Boy came on the radio. Check out the second row in the van compared to the first and last row. They were so not feeling it!