Train Wreck Vista

I was wondering around checking on the net when I came across a little article that I found interesting. The article written by Mart compares the user experience (minus the eye-candy) of Windows 98 & Vista with a bit of OS X comparison thrown in just to make the point. I found it informative and you know I think he’s right about more than a few things. Having spent a bit of time with the Vista interface and although I do like the eye-candy better than XP, I found the visual complexity of some of the boxes especially IE quite annoying. There are too many bars at the top and it wasn’t all that customizable. I could not get some of the icons to simply go away like I wanted to. Its no wonder that Microsoft delayed the release until 2007. I do hope that they trim down a few things and make it less complex for the average user to find their stuff. BTW I still don’t like that rounded start button or whatever they call it now. Its not totally round but cuts off at the bottom especially if you move the task-bar to the top like it is on a Mac. Anyway that’s it for me have to get out of here and go be social for a while :-).

[posted with ecto]

Pass me some Reeds Please!

I don’t drink soda usually except for my occasional Reed’s extra ginger brew so when I saw this article about programmable beverage containers, I was kinda going yikes. Apparently, the technology employs buttons on the container’s surface that release additives (flavors, colors, fragrances) into the liquid. Additive buttons allow for the consumer to choose variations of the liquid in the container at the point of consumption. For example, a programmable cola bottle with buttons for lemon, lime, vanilla, and cherry flavors as well as a caffeine button allows for thirty-two potential choices of soda. A programmable paint container with twenty pigment additive buttons allows the consumer to choose from one million colors. That just sounds like way too much stuff in my soda thank you very much now I know why I don’t drink sodas in general. BTW Reed’s ginger brew has 25 grams of fresh ginger root, lemon juice, lime juice, honey, pineapple, herbs and spices. Good for your stomach, good for you. I just found out that they make ginger ice-cream too Yummy!

Bread w/out yeast and food from heaven:Exodus 13-20

This past week I managed to glean a bit of questions and comments from the Bible Reading Plan which at this point I’m so far behind in I’ve resorted to making up my own catchup schedule. This is hopefully entry 1 of 3 depending on if my hands don’t get too worn out at the keyboard. At any rate I’ll try to keep things shorter than my previous post on this topic. I found myself reading through Exodus 13-20 this week. I read it a few weeks ago but didn’t compile anything for a blog at the time but thought it was worth another read because there is so much there. In my previous post on this topic, Pharaoh sent the Israelites packing out of Egypt. There were about 600,000 men on foot not including the children and I’m thinking not including the women either. There were a lot of folks to put it mildly the County that I live in don’t even have a 1/6 th of that population of folks. So this large amount of people set off the the promised land they didn’t particularly know exactly where they were going, the first thing the Lord tells them is to consecrate to him every first born male, the next thing is to commemorate the day and to eat no bread containing yeast in it. Basically all reminders of what the Lord had done for them how he brought them out of Egypt and was brining them into the promised land. Keep in mind that this land was preoccupied by Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites and other “ites.” I found it interesting that he ask them to remember the day on the day they set out. Then give them instructions on how to conduct themselves after they come into the promised lands. The next place in the reading that stood out to me was verse 20 of chapter 13:2-22 “The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” I just think this must have been cool to see this pillar of smoke and pillar of fire. I wonder how the Israelites felt about this whole display of power?
Parting that Red Sea & Singing in the Desert
In Exodus 14 Pharaoh changed his mind again or should I say that God changed it for him? There is that odd line again about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart that I don’t understand. Understand it or not Pharaoh made a decision to pursue the Israelites with all his horses, chariots (the tanks of the day), and troops. They overtook the Israelites as they camped by the sea. The Israelites were terrified when they say the Egyptians and cried out to the Lord. They had a few words with Moses as well and God instructed Moses to raise his staff, stretch out his hand and divide the water so that the Israelite can go through the sea on dry ground. In verse 19 something pooped off the page at me as I read it, it said that the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. Yikes no wonder the Egyptians said , “let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord s fighting for them against Egypt. My point being that the Egyptians themselves recognized that god was at work. Unfortunately for them it was too late and they all drowned after the Israelites had crossed over and Moses stretched out his hand and the waters went back to normal. This whole thing is just mind blowing. Hollywood can only capture so much. I just wonder what it must have been like to see these great wondrous acts of the Lord. Then again as we’ll see in the next few chapters the people saw all that and still grumbled and complained against Moses. The whole parting of the sea was really cool and imagine seeing the waters of of the sea piled up on either side? Fishes swimming around in suspended water how cool is that? we are told in verse 31 that ” When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses. I like how the NIV renders the last part of that it reads “the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” The song in chapter 15 says it all. The scripture says that Moses and the Israelites sang the song to the Lord. I can’t help but wonder if anyone else heard this song? Remember these were 600,000 men not counting the children or the women so this must have caused quite a stir in the desert. I wouldn’t be surprised if the nations around them heard all this commotion.

God’s Provision: What is it? Quail from Heaven, Water from the Rock
At the end of 15 we are told that after crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites went into the Desert of Shur. For 3 days they travelled in the desert without finding drinkable water (the body of water they had finally found was bitter and not fit for drinking). They starting doing what any group of people who have been traveling in a desert without finding water would have done (remember there were lots of them and they had livestock with them) they started complaining to the “head honcho in charge” (Moses). Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a piece of wood which he threw into the water and the water became sweet and drinkable. Later on they came into the Desert of Sin and again began to grumble against Moses and even Aaron. They were apparently hungry this time and got historical on Moses about life in Egypt. I’ve always thought that this was so ungrateful of the Israelites, I mean here they are free on their way to a promised and and all they can do is quarrel with Moses. These folks have seen so many miracles yet they still complain about not having food. I’m not saying that they would not have bee hungry and that God shouldn’t provide some food for them but did they have to “go there” with poor Moses. Anyway, God being gracious and merciful he causes Manna and quail to fall from the sky on their behalf. The quail covering the camp doesn’t bother me as much somehow I can see birds being re-routed but this manna thing is a whole other matter. so much so that manna literally means what is it? Obviously it was tasty and life sustaining coz the Israelites lived on it for 40 years. Having a lot of friends in the nutrition field I can’t help but wonder what was in that manna? What was the nutritional value? They were told to take only the manna they needed for a day and not to save any of it until morning (except for on the sabbath day) but like any other group of folks some people didn’t listen and he manna became full of maggots and began to smell. I would say serve them right but knowing me I would have been in this group. some people have to learn things the hard way I suppose. In chapter 17 we have more water shortage, more grumbling against Moses and God providing water this time from a rock. At the end of 17 the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites (so their journey didn’t go unnoticed after all). Here we have the familiar story of Moses standing at the top of a Hill with his staff raised and when his hands were raised the israelites were winning the battle but when his hands were tired and not raise the Amalekites were winning. Aaron and Hur did took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and the both of them held up his hands so that his hands remained steady until sunset thus winning them the battle with the Amalekites. God instructed Moses to write down that “I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Apparently Moses wrote it down
Some good Advice from the Priest of Midian
In chapter 18 Moses is joined by his fater-in-law Jethro, his wife Zipporah and 2 sons. while Jethro was there Moses told him all the good things that God had done for Israel. Jethro’s response was to praise God and he brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Jethro in the presence of God. This is significant in that Jethro was not a full fledged Israelites he was the descendant of Midian who was a son of Abraham and his concubine Keturah (Gen 25:1-6) remember he was from Midian. Anyway, Jethro noticed the next day that Moses served as sole judge for the people and they stood around him from morning until evening. Jethro asked him why he was allowing this to happen? “Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. “When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.” Jethro tells him that what he is doing is not good that he will only wear himself out, that the work is too heavy for him and he can’t handle it alone. He gives him a solution to the problem as well: ” Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. “Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. “Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. “If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” The scripture go on to say that “Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.” I’ve always found this bit of scripture interesting. Here is Moses who God used to lead the people out of Egypt, God has used him to do all these miracles and all that. It could have gone to his head but it did not Moses wasn’t too proud to listen to good council even though he was the apparent leader he was willing to teach others and let them share in the work of leading. I know I can learn a thing or two about leadership from Moses how about you?

Mount Sinai & the 10 Commandments
So much for this blog entry not being long. Almost done though. In Chapter 19 Moses went up to God at Mount Sinai and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you [a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the LORD has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD. The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said.”Several days later there was thundering and lightening with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. The scripture say that everyone in the camp trembled. The trumpet there is not the brass trumpet that we think of in modern times its more like a shofar or ram’s horn. If you have ever been in the presence of a good shofar blower as I have its quite a sound. It does make you tremble a bit especially if there is more than one being blown at once. No wonder the Israelites were afraid and did not want Gos to speak to them. In chapter 20 you have the 10 Commandments. The thing to note here is that the Israelites heard God speaking all these commands to them. They had also promised to do all that God said. Chapter 20 ends with God giving instructions concerning idols and building altars. I found this section a bit peculiar especially the instruction about not going up to the altar on steps.

That’s it for now my fingers are tired and I’m getting a cramp from sitting in this chair too long.

The Blockbuster Gospel Mark Chapters 1-10

I like the way that Mark starts off, its like an action packed blockbuster movie. No long introductions, no lengthy genealogies, it just starts off with the main hero, who he is, what he is doing, how people are reacting to what he is doing and he pummels you with story after story of his deeds. Its like a roller coaster ride in a way. It starts off with a quote from the Book of Isaiah which is basically about John the Baptist (”the messenger”) and Jesus (”you”). We aren’t told much about John’s background here just that he was baptizing and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. We are also told that he wore clothing made with camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist (not the best dresser in those parts), and he ate locusts and wild honey. Lets just say if I were to meet John today I would think that he was a bit of a “nut job.” Yet there was something special about John, the passage says in verse 5 of the first chapter that the whole Judaean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. To say that he could draw a crowd here would be an understatement. Not only did they go out to him though but they confessed their sins and were baptized by him. Why were they so attracted to John? He wasn’t the best dressed? He didn’t eat at the best restaurants in town. They went after him because he spoke about the one who was coming. His message was about Jesus as he puts it “one more powerful than he the thongs of whose sandals he is not worthy to stoop down and untie. He said that ” I baptize you with water , but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Not sure if the people understood all this but they responded to the message. In verse 9 Jesus shows up and he’s baptized by John. As he’s coming out of the water, “he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert… So Jesus is coming out of the water after being baptized, he sees heaven torn open, a voice comes out of heaven and he disappears before a crowd of people. I wonder what the crowd was thinking at this point? I wonder if their eyes were wide open and jaws were dropping at this point. Wow Mark really gets the story going doesn’t he? Not a moment of rest from all the drama being plaid out in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and those who witnessed it.
Compassion & Faith
In chapter 1:40-42 a man with leprosy. Back in those days leprosy was taken seriously and people who had this disease was considered cursed by God and were usually isolated to leper colonies and such. Jesus did something here that nobody else at that time would have done. He reached out his hand and touched the man. Then he said be clean and the man was instantly healed. He didn’t have to take any antibiotic treatments he was healed on the spot. The thing that got me though was that Jesus not only healed the man physically but he did something else he touched him. the man probably hadn’t been touched by anyone in a long time. Jesus could have just said be clean and not touch him but he touched him. He basically broke all tradition, or way people treated folks suffering from this condition and touched him he gave him a bit more than just physical healing he gave him the warmth of a human touch. so many people need to be touched physically not just healed by a drug or even a miracle but they need a human touch on their hand, a hug, to know that they are valued, the matter that they are alive and someone sees them and cares about them. Our modern medicine is quick to dispense drugs to cure ills how much time do they really spend with someone though/ when was the last time they actually took the time out to touch that sick person hand with glove or no. The last time I was in the convenient care center the doctor was in and out of there in 5 minutes I barely have time to say what was wrong before he was writing me a prescription all I had was a sinus infection imagine if it was worse? In Mark 2 Jesus heals a paralytic; the cool thing about this story to me is the actions that the men took to bring the paralytic to Jesus. “Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” This man got healed because some of his friends went through great lengths to bring him to the healer. They weren’t going to let the crowd stop them from getting their friends to Jesus. I wonder whose roof they destroyed though and if they had to pay for repairs afterwards.

Parables &Possessions & A Prophet without Honor
In Mark 4 Jesus speaks to the crowd in parables. These parables were very farm oriented and being an agricultural based vulture at the time the people would have understood Jesus through his illustrations. However, this was not exactly the case and we find in one instance the disciples themselves were asking him to explain what he meant . He explains it to them and moves on to a few others. In Mark 5 we have the story of the demon-possessed man. Mark picks up on something a bit different here than Matthew here: Mark ends the section with the man who was healed wanting to follow Jesus and Jesus telling him to go home to his family and tell them how much the Lord had done for him, and how he had mercy on him. so the man went and away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. I hadn’t noticed that before in the reading of this story and thought that it was a nice aside. The man didn’t just get healed but he went and told his story to not only his family but to others as well. The scripture says that “an all the people were amazed” wouldn’t you be? I’ve always wondered why the story of the prophet without honor was stuck in Mark? why did he decide to tell this story? Basically Jesus went back to his hometown and taught in the Synagogue. Many who heard him were amazed but some folks took offense and began asking where did he get these things? Isn’t this the carpenter? Basically we know this fellow when he was this high isn’t he the carpenter? Mary’s son? who does he think he is? Have you had the experience of this kind of thing happening to you before? Perhaps you are someone famous yet to the people who know you back home, when you were a little one running around bare-footed you are still the kid who lived in the purple house at the end of the block or whatever color house you lived in. Don’t feel bad even Jesus had to deal with this kind of thing. Unfortunately for them, he could not do any miracles there and was amazed at their lack of faith.

Jesus Loves the Little Children
I like how Mark included he story of the little children and Jesus and I’ll end with this here. The thing that strikes me about this hero is that he wasn’t too busy to spend some time with the kids. He became indignant when his disciples were hindering those who was bringing them to him and he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Jesus gives us an example here as to how we ought to relate to children. I see so many people neglecting kids nowadays, they don’t even want to be around them, they treat children as if they are a curse or nuisance instead of the gift from God that they are. It was shameful then and its shameful now and like Christ we should be indignant about this.

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

That’s it the hands are getting tired…

More XP on Macs

I can’t believe that one of the biggest news on my favorite mac blog these days is the whole installing XP on Macs craze. the folks at Joy of Tech even have a whole cartoon strip about the topic. Its all kinda interesting coz for the past two days I’ve been trying to get a Dell laptop at home to work for me so that I could get some learning of a particular piece of Windows only software going. anyway, this laptop running the latest version of XP keeps restarting on it own. The battery is 60%, I have the power cord plugged in but when I try to go to the Start button on the task-bar no cooperation the machine simply freezes. I can’t get the internet connection to work either coz I can’t get there, more freezing then it just randomly shuts down and start up again. This same laptop worked all day on the net connection at work but at home the computer refuses to work and the net connection is nil. Its like don’t touch me with your Mac infested hands… I’ve given up and its not coming home with me again anytime soon. I finally turned the dreaded thing off and booted up my Mac so that I could do something productive for the night, didn’t get much far there but I have to say that I honestly felt relieved when my Mac booted up without a hitch. I thought…so nice… this is the way things should be. Then I came across all this broo-ha-ha about folks putting XP on their Macs. I guess that’s nice for them but I don’t play games and the thought of a Windows bloated registry on my Mac just makes me want to cringe. Not to mention I would have to go back to investing in anti-spyware and antivirus and all the other wares that I used to have to get with my old XP box. Nasty business. The laptop is going back to work where it belongs since it seems to work just fine there. The end of the matter is this “Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial…” I Corinthians 6:12.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Its St. Patrick’s Day today! I was reminded because most people in the office had something green on. One lady made us Irish soda bread (very tasty). Anyway, before you go off and revel in beer and all the other intoxicating stuff that is not about St. Patrick’s really here is a bit of a reminder as to who St. Patrick was and what he stood for. Its OK to have a beer like any other day I suppose but don’t have too much and whatever you do hand your friend the car keys if you’ve had one too many. BTW in the above article there is a word used in the fourth paragraph (”primitive”) that I don’t agree with but thought the article was pretty decent for the most part.

Windows XP on Mac Oh Why!

OK so some very lucky dudes named narf and blanka got paid a whopping $13,854 for being the first to get Win XP to work on an Intel Mac. I do have to say nice job guys glad that you have done the deed and got paid to boot but really why would I want XP on my Mac? I have enough annoyances with XP at work… just today I was trying to clean up my registry and fix a lot of little things that simply stop working for no apparent reason. Anyway if you are interested in this for some strange reason go grab the solution which includes a boot loader and have at it (at your own risk). Check out the mirrors at Engadget. If you have a MacBook Pro here is how to dual boot OSX & XP on it. I for one will pass, besides I would be more interested in getting Vista to load than XP in the future not to mention I don’t have an Intel Mac having just bought a Mini in October. The major benefit that I can see personally is to be able to take work home from time to time. Only thing is I wouldn’t be interested in doing that…

Deliver Us from Egypt: Exodus 1-12

Catching Up on the Exodus
To say that I’m behind in my reading plan is a gross understatement, somehow I got off track and since the last month has been a blur I won’t attempt an explanation. Somewhere in the last few weeks I started reading Exodus. Exodus tells the story of Moses, the Israelites being delivered out of Egypt from the hands and Pharaoh, the parting of the red sea, wandering in the desert and other such fun stories. If you’ve seen the movie Prince of Egypt, then you are somewhat familiar with the some of the stories in Exodus. The origin of Passover is also in this story.

Too many Israelites in Pharaoh’s opinion & how he dealt with it
In the First chapter of Exodus we are told that a king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. we are also told that this king decided to enslave the people of Israel so that they would not join with their enemies and fight against them. He was basically scared because the Israelites were more numerous than the Egyptians at this point. Interestingly, the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and spread out and the Egyptians became even more fearful. Things got so bad that the King ordered the midwives to kill all the male children born to the Hebrews. The midwives however feared God and did not do such a thing but the king commanded the people to cast all sons born to them into the nile. Bottom line is that things went from bad to worse for the Israelites who kept multiplying. In chapter 2 we have the famous story of Moses being born, his mother placing him into a basket and putting him in the Nile, his sister watching him as he went down the nile and Pharaoh’s daughter finding the basket, opening it and taking the child for her own. His own mother ended up nursing him. How convenient. Not much to say here except I’ve always wondered how that basket kept afloat. having just read a story some months ago about a little baby being found in a plastic bag in a river somewhere in Brazil, this has always fascinated me. I throw in something here about God’s providence and protection. In the rest of Exodus 2 we are told how Moses grew up, saw and Egyptian beating one of his friends and killed the Egyptian, later he saw two hebrews fighting with one another and when he tried to break things up they asked him if he would kill them as he did the Egyptian.
Word reached Pharaoh who tried to kill Moses but Moses fled to Midian.

Moses rescues the seven sisters, met the Priest of Midian & Got married all in one day
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came to draw water so they could water their father’s flock, some shepherds came and drove them away but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their fathers flock. When they came to their father he asked them how come they were back so early and they told their father how Moses helped them. next thing we know Moses is invited to eat with them and he gets married to Zipporah one of the seven presumably the eldest. Zipporah bore Moses a son and the next thing we are told is that the King of Egypt died. We are told at the end of that chapter that the sons of Israel cried out to God so much so that God took notice of them.

The Burning Bush
In chapter 3 we have the story of the burning bush. The end result of which God sends Moses to Pharaoh to deliver the people of Israel. I find the little excuses that Moses makes about him not being eloquent of speech in chapter 4 pretty interesting. God realizes this though and sends his brother Aaron with him. It is also interesting that God gives him a staff with which he could perform miracles here. Moses obeys the Lord and took his wife and children back to Egypt with him. In verse 24 of Chapter 4 24 we are told that at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met Moses and sought to put him to death. I was puzzled about this passage until I realized that it had something to do with circumcision, apparently he hadn’t circumcised his firstborn son according to the Law. Apparently, his wife realized this and saved him by taking a flint and cutting off her son’s foreskin and throwing it at Moses’ feet. This is still puzzling here is God about to use Moses to deliver his people yet he was about to kill him for his apparent memory loss. I wonder if Moses even knew about the law having grown up in the house of Pharaoh. Thank goodness his wife did.

Going back to Egypt
In chapters 5-6 Moses goes to Pharaoh and inform him that the God of Israel said to let his people go so that they may celebrate a feast to him in the wilderness the King of course declined and made their labors even more arduous commanding them to gather their own straw to make bricks but meet the same daily quota, they of course could not and thus they were mistreated even more severely than before. In Chapter 6 God promises to take action and the chapter ends with a genealogy of the heads of Israel.

The Plagues
In chapters 7-10 of Exodus things started to heat up in front of Pharaoh. each time Pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel go another plague came. First Aaron throws down his rod in front of him and it became a snake. We are told that the magicians of Egypt did the same. Aaron’s staff however ate up their staff. Next the water of the Nile turned to blood first thing I thought was that must have been an awful smell. The fishes died and it was indeed foul. We are again told that the Egyptian magicians did the same with their secret arts and Pharaoh did not listen or let the people go. Next came the frogs, the magicians did the same as well to prove to Pharaoh that this wasn’t a big deal, next came flies interestingly the magicians could not reproduce this particular plague, then came the pestilence on the livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians dies, the livestock of the israelites did not die, next came boils, by this time the magicians ad given up hope coz they had boils all over them to contend with, next came hail, then locust, then darkness. You would have thought that Pharaoh would have given up by now but there is a passage in the text which have puzzled me to no end “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.” what does this mean was Pharaoh’s heart ever soft in the first place? Was there a point where he had a choice in the matter or did God not intend to show these wonders before Moses & Aaron showed up in the palace the first time? In chapter 11 you have the last plague; the killing of the first born. In chapter 11 God tells Moses what he will do. I have one other comment about the story of the plagues. We saw in some of the earlier plagues how the magicians on egypt were able to re-produce them by their secret arts. This means that there are secret arts that can be used to mimic what God can do. There are more than a few examples of this in the Bible but often time we forget these things and is wowed when someone comes along that can do something supernatural. This passage remind us that not all things that are supernatural is from God or is good. Pharaoh should have let those people go instead his magicians were distracting him with their own sign and wonders thus helping Pharaoh not to trust what God was doing or listening to his requests.

The Passover & the Exodus Begins
In chapter 12, God we get a background on the story behind the Passover

“Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste–it is the LORD’S Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments–I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.

You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes And the people bowed low and worshiped.”

We are told in the passage that the sons of Israel did just as the Lord instructed and that at midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn of the Egyptians and that Pharaoh called Moses and told him to take the Israelites and go. At the end of Chapter 12 we have the start of the Exodus and the observance requirements for Passover.

Bypass the E-go laptops please

A company called Tulip has just expanded it’s line of E-go laptops to include a series with prices more accessible to normal folks. Oh I probably shouldn’t use the word normal coz which normal person would pay $4,000 for a laptop shaped like a first generation iBook with standard specs. actually I think it looks like a make-up carrying case. The only thing I like about it that it has an handle and the skins are nice. Although If I paid this much for a laptop I would want it in a laptop bag of some kind. The main selling point of the laptop is that it is customizable with dozens of skins. Again I like the skins but is the 4K worth all that? I rather get a regular laptop and have one of my artist friends do their magic on it if I was that desperate. E-go’s motto, displayed on the company’s web site with no apparent irony: “It’s all about the inside.” If you really believe that, I suspect like me you won’t wasting your $4,000 on a zebra-fur, toilet-seat-shaped laptop (though it does also come in basic black if you really can’t resist). Gosh with 4K you can get yourself a nice new MacBook Pro Duo and a Mac Mini Duo for Mom or grandma plus still have enough left over for software. Rotten rich or not who the heck pays this kind of money for form without all that much function?

Waiting for Vista

I’m a Windows Users by day and a Mac user by night. Although I look forward to what’s coming up in Cupertino at the next Keynote, I’m also anxious to see the next upgrade to Windows XP. I’ve been using that dreadful OS for over 4 years now and have been bored to tears of the look and feel. Security has not been that much of an issue for me but I used to Administer Windows machines at my previous job and I had to reformat many a machines due to nasty viruses, malware and spyware. That registry would also get so bloated on some machines that the computer would just slow down to a screech and the only thing was to reformat and start over. Anyway, when I saw the new Vista GUI via screenshots and such, one thing that bothered me was the black taskbar and the first thing that I wondered was if there was a built in option to change it to a lighter color. No offense with the black but I just don’t like the dark side on my computer. Well, it looks like I’ll be able to change this when the time comes thanks to the built in personalization section in Vista that allows you to change the color and glassiness, the start menu and the taskbar. I’m particularly interested in the frost color scheme. I’m just glad that I don’t have to be stuck with the default black. For screenshots of the latest build see Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows. I more than likely won’t get Vista on my computer until I upgrade to a new one at work sometime next year. The Windows Vista offerings will include more versions than we are used to seeing in the past. I’m wondering what the equivalent of the Pro edition is exactly, Business? or Ultimate? For a guide on the various editions check here. Scary! I’m really glad Apple just makes 1 OS for consumers.