Geekons.com

Geekons Episode 18

18, December 2006

• Pop-up: Google Sketch-up 5.0 Free
  • Download Sketch-up 5.0 for Free!
  • Free for Personal Use
  • Less than $500 for professional use
  • Easy to use interface with a simple push and pull technique to make 3d objects
  • Realistic shadow casting based on time of year and day
  • Ability to apply colors and textures
  • Ability to place your objects on Google Earth
  • Sketchy-styled rendering
  • Great animated tutorials and a global database of free components (models)
  • Great for volunteers to create 3d, scale models with dimensions of future enhancements to church buildings
  • Can also (to a lesser extent) be used to map out table and equipment layout for big events
  • I've even seen one church that used it to create a 3d model of their sanctuary to get easier measurements between various points in space (for fine-tuning their speakers)
  • Professional version allows ou to export to CAD software, print high-resolution pictures of your models and floor plans, save walk-throughs as movie files, and it also entitles you to email-based tech support.
  • 4 out of 5 stars! (but only because it isn't open source and it is sometimes difficult to grab and manipulate a specific point in the specific way you want)
• Geek-Tweak: Waiter, there's a PDF in my soup!
  • Podcast feeds are simply XML files that various software aplications use to automatically download files for you. These are usually .mp3 files, but can also be other file types as well.
  • To add a PDF file to your podcast, just add a new item to your feed, but instead of linking to an mp3 file with a mime-type of audio/mpeg in your enclosure tag, link to a .pdf file with a mime-type of "application/pdf"
  • You can basically add any type of file you'd like as long as you add the correct mime-type.
  • Only podcasting software that supports various file types will download the new file (some only download .mp3, or only audio files)
  • iTunes will download PDF files and Video files
  • You can also use the link tag to establish a link to a website for that particular episode. (As of Januar 1 of 2007 we will be using this to link to our show-notes for each episode.)
  • You can even include only the link, title, and description to make a news feed. Media (such as .mp3 or .pdf files) are optional and primarily used only for podcasts.
  • A list of all acceptable tags are available on the official RSS specification site: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
• View-Source: 1 Samuel 13
  • v. 3-4 Saul takes credit forJohnathan's victory while recognizing that the Philistines are now hating them even more.
  • v. 5-7 The Philistines gathered a much larger army and the Isralites hid and ran away, forgetting that God was in control.
  • v. 8-9 Saul's impatience lead him to take matters into his own hands, performing rituals that were reserved for the priests. This showed his belief in the rituals, but a lack of faith and understanding in what they represented and what was behind them.
  • We can often get caught up in the motions of being Christians without focusing on what it really means to be a Christian.
  • We cannot trick God into doing what we want by carrying out religious rituals.
  • We can do things to bring honor and glory to God as we offer up our appreciation and love for Him, but if we let rituals get in the way of that, forgetting what the rituals are for, then they become meaningless and even harmful to our relationship with God.
  • v. 13-14 Saul's actions and the heart it reveals led God to dethrone him.
  • Despite God knowing Saul would not be King in the future, He still used Saul to bless Israel.

Download Episode 18 in MP3

Download Episode 18 in OGG Vorbis