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Like many, I don't blog much anymore. From time to time a particular thought will run too long for twitter and facebook, but it's particularly rare. If you're looking for fresh content, you'd be much better off following me on Twitter and Facebook, or even checking out http://twillia.ms

The Best of My Favorite iPhone Apps -

2011 April 21
tags: ,
by Tollie Williams

Alright, here you go. Here’s some of the best…

*Reading Apps*

Bible (free) – the best multi-translation and free Bible app by a long shot. It lets you save a lot of them to your phone so you can use them anytime, but if you’ve got a 3G data connection or better, virtually every translation is available and quick enough to use.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bible/id282935706?mt=8

OliveTree Bible+ (free, kinda)* – the app is free, but you have to pay to download most Bibles. What makes it stand out is its dual panes that sync up, so you can read the Bible on the top, and your study notes are right there in sync at the bottom. It goes full screen (without any menus) so its actually not as cramped as that sounds. I use it for my ESV Study Bible, the Strong’s dictionary, and the Thompson Chain reference and study notes.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bible/id332615624?mt=8

ESV Study Bible ($15) – just the ESV Study Bible, and not as handy as the OliveTree version, but it’s more affordable and a great study Bible.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/esv-study-bible/id383313652?mt=8

Morning and Evening ($1) – quick access to Spurgeon’s daily devotional.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/morning-and-evening/id324035916?mt=8

Kindle (free) – Lets you read Kindle books from Amazon.com. There are a ton of great free old books and writings, as well as pretty much every book out there, usually for cheaper than in stores.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle/id302584613?mt=8

Amazon Price Check (free) – not really a reading app, but lets you scan barcodes or take pictures of covers and tells you how much it is on Amazon. Works for more than just books, but really helpful to let you know what a book would cost you on Amazon.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/price-check-by-amazon/id398434750?mt=8

*Camera Apps*

Pic Bounce (free) – an easy app that helps you upload photos to Facebook and Twitter, but it also can remind you to take a photo each day.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picbounce/id378022697?mt=8

Camera+ ($1) – lots of cool camera options, some which are just fun effects, others are very useful tools. I still use the regular camera app for most photos (because it has HDR and none of the others do)

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id329670577?mt=8

Instagram (free) – an easy way to upload photos that’s very popular for its retro filters. Don’t go crazy on filters though, and make sure you always save the original. I think a lot of people will one day regret it if they didn’t save the originals.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instagram/id389801252?mt=8

Toon Camera ($1) – more filters, but this one can do video too, on the fly! Lets you turn whatever you film into a cartoon drawing.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tooncamera/id392538848?mt=8

360 Panorama ($2) – lets you take a full 360 photograph by just pointing your phone. It does everything on the fly, painting the photos together and showing you as you go. You don’t have to worry about lining up the edges and taking multiple photos.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8

Here’s some example 360 photos I took: http://occip.it/pt44sqzg and http://occip.it/pt3ouv2w and

Ustream Broadcaster (free) – broadcast live video to the internet. You can use it for journalism, just fun with friends, or for someone away from home, it can also be used to share a link with multiple family members to watch what’s going on.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ustream-live-broadcaster/id319362690?mt=8

Skype (free) – But if you want to just video chat, this is the absolute best. Of course, it lets you talk for free if you’re on WiFi (don’t have to use minutes) too. But really stands out for its video chat. Anyone can install Skype for free (Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android) and there ya go.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skype/id304878510?mt=8

* Games *
Words with Friends (free) – play scrabble with friends online at your own pace. really fun.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-with-friends-free/id321916506?mt=8

Chess with Friends (free) – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chess-with-friends-free/id295436227?mt=8

Guitar Rock Tour 2 (free) – Pretty much as close as you get to Guitar Hero / Rock Band on the iPhone.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/guitar-rock-tour-2-free/id327457439?mt=8

Bloons TD (free) – A tower defense style game. You’ve probably played games like it online.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bloons-td-lite/id351127574?mt=8

Bloons TD4 (free) – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bloons-td4-lite/id414468016?mt=8

Shift (free) – Another simple game where the goal is to reach a destination on the screen with some logical reasoning.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shift-lite/id313404793?mt=8

Parachute Panic (free) – A simple game where you try to land your people on moving ships.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parachute-panic-hd-lite/id324846152?mt=8

Blocks Classic ($1) – a breakout game.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blocksclassic/id286136632?mt=8

Skee Ball – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skee-ball-free/id406383608?mt=8

* Everything else*
Google Search (free) – searches Google, but also has a voice search that you can use without typing. Great for looking up phone numbers quickly, because you can open the app, say the name of the business, and then click on the phone number in the results and it calls it.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-search/id284815942?mt=8

Wunder Radio ($7) – lets you listen to a TON of radio stations online, including terrestrial radio, internet radio. It also has a directory of police scanners.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wunder-radio/id292233889?mt=8

Pandora (Free) – The Pandora music website on your iPhone.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pandora-radio/id284035177?mt=8

Weather Channel (free) – basic weather alerts, but the interface (and radar) are pretty clunky.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-weather-channel/id295646461?mt=8

Radar scope ($10) – the best weather radar app, but it’s pricey for an iPhone app.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/radarscope/id288419283?mt=8

iWant (free) – tells you whats around you and helps you get to the nearest gas station, movie theatre (with showtimes), bank, etc.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iwant/id284945674?mt=8

RedLaser (free) – lets you scan barcodes in stores and searches for the lowest price on Google, Ebay, and a few other places.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/redlaser/id312720263?mt=8

RunPee (free) – tells you when to go to the bathroom during movies, how long you have, and what you missed. :) You can see how it works at runpee.com

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/runpee-by-rock-software/id320589326?mt=8

Sleep Cycle ($1) – A kinda neat app that monitors your movements as you sleep to try and figure out what your stage of sleep you’re in, and then wakes you up within a 30 minute window, by a certain alarm time, based on when it thinks you’ll be easiest to wake up.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm-clock/id320606217?mt=8

Groceries ($1) – a grocery list app. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/groceries/id307711028?mt=8

QuickMark4 ($1) – reads those QR codes that you see some places.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quickmark-qr-code-reader-4/id384883554?mt=8

Evernote (free) – lets you store pretty much anything you want “in the cloud” on www.evernote.com so you can get to it from any internet connection. It’s great for archiving stuff and sharing stuff.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote/id281796108?mt=8

Instapaper ($5) – lets you save webpages for reading later. It only saves the text, but it also bookmarks them. This app integrates with basically every twitter app, and you can use it in Safari too, so if you do a lot of reading articles online, it’s the best by far. Instapaper is a free service if you just want to use the Safari bookmark and website. www.instapaper.com

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8

Boxcar (free) – lets you know when you get anything on any social network site. Lets you know when people tweet you, facebook message you, email you, etc.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/boxcar/id321493542?mt=8

Soundhound (free) – tells you what the music you’re listening to is. You can put it up to a speaker, hum, or sing and it will identify the song. Amazingly, it couldn’t recognize my rapping of “Don’t Waste Your Life” – so disappointing. But when I played it on iTunes, it only took it 3 seconds to identify it.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soundhound/id355554941?mt=8

My take on twitter removing the … Quick.Bar.

2011 March 31
tags:
by Tollie Williams

So twitter responded to the users, huh? Here’s my take on their annoucement.

“Rather than continue to make changes to the QuickBar as it exists, we removed the bar from the update appearing in the App Store today.”

Please, please stop the 1-star ratings on iTunes.

“We believe there are still significant benefits to increasing awareness of what’s happening outside the home timeline.”

But we still refuse to honor our word to give you more control and fix replies. We want you to “discover” Twitter in the ways that we think you should. We’re completely ignorant of that whole managed-serendipity of finding interesting people through hearing half-conversations.

“Evidence of the incredibly high usage metrics for the QuickBar support this.”

At least, that’s what we tell ourselves when we see the data. We refuse to believe everyone was just demonstrating how bad the update was.

“For now, we’re going back to the drawing board to explore the best possible experience for in-app notification and discovery.”

But whatever we do, we’re going to make money through intrusive marketing.

438 Blocked Applications

2010 October 25
by Tollie Williams

In general, I hate Facebook Applications. 99.9% of them are stupid, spammy, time-wasters that just clutter up your news feed. As such, I block one every time they appear. Currently blocked? 438. Which ones? I’m glad you asked. Here they are:

# Of Days You Will Survive In The Zombie Invasion — (fluff)Friends — (Lil) Green Patch — 101 Treasures (formerly 101 Eggs) — 2010 Bracket Challenge — 21 questions — 6 Impossible Questions — @Hearts — @Hugs — @Kisses — @Smiles — Addicted to Gilmore Girls — Addicted to Grey’s Anatomy — Alabama Football Fans — Alabama Gifts — All About Me — American Flag — Are you a good catch? — Are you a true Southerner? — Are You Attractive? — Armies — Badges — Bar Society — Barbie Holiday — Baseball Tycoon — Bathroom Stall — BattleSolitaire
Being Conservative – 9/11 Flag — Bejeweled Blitz — Bingo World — Birthday Cards — Blackjack Blitz — Blasts from the Past — Bloodlines — Brwll Applications — BuildAGadget.com Sidebar Gadget — Bullseye Gives — Bumper Sticker — Bumper Sticker (New) — Café World – the Restaurant Game — Carry Your Cross — Castle Age — Causes — CBSSports.com Brackets — Circle of Friends — Circle of Moms — City Life — City of Wonder — Collect Harry Potter Characters — Collect Smiles — Compare People — Country Life — CourseFeed — Daily Horoscope — Daily Horoscope — Death´s Time — Digsby Achievements — Dirty Dancing — Discover Your Birth Number — Discover your military callsign — Do YOU know your Harry Potter Spells? — Do your friends really know you? — Docs — Does somebody like you? — Dr. Phil’s Personality Test — Dragon Wars — Easter Egg Hunt — Egg Buddies — emotions — Entourage — ESPNU College Town — Eventbrite — Evony — Family Feud — Family Tree — Famous Guitars — Farm Town — FARMTOWN* Must haves :) — FarmVille — Fifth Grade Test — Find Your Exact Age — Find your perfect job in the Empire! — Fish World — FishVille — Flip flops! — Flowers for Friends — Fly the American Flag — Food Fight! — Fortune Cookie — Fortune Products — Free Gifts — Friend is… — Friend Statistics — friend.ly — Friendly Flowers — Friends For Sale! — Friendship Roses — FrontierVille — Funnest Person Contest — Fuse Rock Madness — Games — Get Revealed — Get To Know Me — Gifts Gallery — Give Southern Stuff — Glamour Age — God wants You to Know — Growing Hearts — Hallmark Social Calendar — Halloween Gifts — Hammerfall RPG — Happy Aquarium — Happy Island — Happy Pets — Hatchlings™ — Hearts for friends — High School Trivia Test — Honesty Box — Horoscopes — Horoscopes — Hot Potato — Hotel City — How Alabama are you? — How Evil are you? — How High Maintenance Are You? — How long would you survive in a horror film? — How many kids will you have? — How many times willl you get married?? — How marriageable are you? — How naughty are you? — how OCD are you? — How old is your body? — How Reformed Are You? — How smart are you in Math? — How Southern are you? — How Southern are you?? — How Tall are you going to be? — How Well Do You Know Me? — How well do you know your friends? — Hug Me — I Love Jesus — I love my friends — iHeart — In your circle of friends, what is your label? — IQ test — Is the one you are with “THE ONE” — Island Paradise — iSmile — Japanese Symbols — Jetman — Kickmania! — Kidnap! — Kingdoms of Camelot — Knighthood — Knock Me Out Drinks — Know-It-All Trivia — Likeness — LineUp — LivingSocial — Mafia Wars Game — Make A Baby — Marketplace — Middle Kingdom — MindJolt Games — Miso — Mob Wars — Movies — Music — My Band: Profile Pages for Bands and Musicians — My Best Friends — My Christmas Tree — My Girls — My Heart — My Heroes Ability — My Polls — My Questions — My Town — My Twilight — My Year In Status — My Zoo — MyCalendar — MyCalendar — NC Stuff — NCAA Football Helmets — Netflix Updates — NetworkedBlogs — News — Nicknames — Northwest Trail — Owned! — PackRat — Pandora — Parking Wars — PathWords — PCWorld IQ Quiz — Pet Shop — PetVille — Pieces of Flair — Pillow Fight — Pirates: Rule the Caribbean! — Playing With Your Names — PlayStation®Network — Pokemon Adventure — Police Gifts — Polls — Premier Football — Profile Stickers — Quiz Creator — Quiz Monster — Quiz Planet — QuizBone — Quizopolis Quizzes — Quizzes — Restaurant City — Restaurant Life (BETA) — Right Brain vs. Left Brain Creativity Test — RockYou Live — Rorschach Test — Scavenger Hunt — School of Wizardry — Scriptures & Uplifting Messages! — Send “Willow Tree” Angels — Send Flowers — Show Some Love! — Sketch Me — Slayers — Slide FunSpace — Smartest Friend — Snowman — So, you think you know American History? — Social Interview — Social Statistics — Sorority Life — Space Fight! — Speed Racing — Spelling Bee! — Spore Islands — star wars quiz — Status Shuffle — Super Snake — Superheroes — Superlatives — SuperPoke! — SuperPoke! Pets — Tattoo Gallery — Tattoo Gifts — Tetris Battle — Tetris Friends — Texas HoldEm Poker — The Bible — THE INNER NATIONALITY QUIZ: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY? — The Political Idealogy Quiz — The Price Is Right Game — The True Age Test — The Ultimate Grammar Quiz — The Valentine’s Day Quiz for Girlfriends — Tiki Farm — Top Fans — Top Friends — Treasure Isle — Truths About You — Typing Maniac — UNO™ — Vampires — Viking Clan — We’re Related — Wedding Buzz (formerly Weddingbook) — weRead ( Books iRead ) — WereWolves — What 70′s t.v. show character are you? — What accent should you have? — What BADASS career will you go into? — What Bible verse fits you best — What breed of dog are you? — What Car fits you the best? — What Celebrity do you look like,x — what COLLEGE MAJOR should you have? — What color are you? — What color crayon are you? — What Color is your Personality??? :) — What Country Song are You? — What date will you get married? — What Decade Fits Your Personality Best? — What Disney Prince do you belong to? — What Disney Princess are you? — What do guys like YOU for? (girls only) — what do people first notice about you? — What does your day of birth say about you? — What does your mind look like? — What does your siqn say about you.. ? (: — What embarrassing illness do you have? ;) — What Era Should You Time Travel To? — What ethnicity should you DATE? — What font are you — What Harry Potter Character are You?? — What Hogwarts House are you? (Realistic) — What Hogwarts House Should You Be In? — What Hogwarts professor are you? — what horror character are you? — What Ice Cream are You?? — What instrument are you? — What is the name of the man you’ll marry? — What is the picture of your mind? — What is the theme song of your life??? — What is your best Hogwarts subject? — What is your Euro-persona? — What is Your Inner Self? — What is your patronus? — What Jimmy Buffet Song Are You? — What kind of Bacon Are You? — What kind of elementary teacher are you? — What kind of ethnicity should you date? — What kind of illegal substance are you? — What Kind of Music Are You? — What Kind Of Music Are You??? — What kind of shoe are you? — What kind of temper are you?!!?!? — What legendary Pokemon are you? — What Marching Band section do you belong in? — What military position are you? — What Month Were You Born? — What musical do you belong in? — What musical interval are you? — What My Friends Think Of Me? — What Office character are you? — What old school WWF wrestler are you? — What Personality Trait Stands Out Most In You? — What Plastic Army Man Are You? — What position in “The Office” would you have? — What Princess Bride character are you? — What princesses are you? — What Recent Dead Guy Are You? — What romantic movie are you? — What Rose Color Are You? — What season are you? — What SEC football team best suits you? — What should your name really be? — What should your parents have named you? — What State should i live in? — What stereotype do you fit the best in? — What Taylor Swift song are you? — What that 70′s show character are you? — What twilight couple are you? — What type of gf/bf are you? — What type of person are you? — What Type of Personality Do You Have? — What tyrranical dictator are you? — What U.S. State Do You Belong To? — What will you name you first daugher? — What Woman Celeb are you? — What’s going to happen to you this year? — What’s Your Bible IQ? — What’s your geek level? — What’s your personality type? — When will you get Knocked Up? — Where are you meant to live?? — Where should you be living…5 years from now? — Where will you be 10 years from now? — Which 80′s Toy Are You? — Which 80s movie defines you? — Which 90′s TV Icon Are You? — Which alignment are you? — Which Andy Griffith Show Character Are You? — Which Beatle are you most like? — Which Beatles song are you? — Which Bill Murray Character Are You? — Which Bluth are you? — Which book character are you? — Which celebrity should you marry? — Which celebrity would play you in a movie of your life? (women only) — Which character from the Godfather are you? — Which color best suits your personality? — Which Crazy Writer Are You? — Which decade are you? — Which Disney Girl Are You? — Which Disney Princess are you? — Which Disney Villain Are You? — Which Disney/Pixar Character are you? — Which Drum Corps do you belong in? — Which ENGLISH WORD are you? — Which Famous Historical Couple Are You? — Which famous theologian are you? — Which Firefly Character Are You? — Which flower are you? — Which grade/subject should you teach? — Which Greek Goddess are you? — Which Harry Potter Character are you? — which harry potter character are you? — Which Jon and Kate plus 8 character are you? — Which Keyblade do you Wield? — Which Labyrinth Character are You? — Which Liquor Are You? — Which M*A*S*H Character Are You? — Which mathematical function are you? — Which mighty woman of the Bible are you most like? — Which Movie Musical Leading Lady Are You? — Which Muppet are you? — Which of the 7 Dwarfs are you? — Which President are you? — Which Rockstar Are You? — Which Sex Position Best Suits You? — Which Shakespearean Character Would You Be? — Which side of your brain is dominant? — Which Spaceship Captain Are You? — Which Star Wars Character Are You? — Which Star Wars person are you? — Which state should you live in? — Which Steel Magnolias Character Are You? — Which stroke are you built to swim + sprint or distance — Which Super-Villain Are You? — Which superhero are you? — Which TOTALLY AWESOME 80′s female cartoon character are you? — Which Transformer are you? — Which Twilight Boy is for you? — Which type of woman are you? — Which type of woman are you? — Which US city do you belong in? — Which Zodiac Sign Are You Most Compatible With? — Who Has The Biggest Brain? — Who is your “perfect match”? — Who Is Your Disney Prince? — Who is Your Twilight Guy? — Who is Your Twilight Guy? — Who Were You In A Past Life? — Who were you in high school? — Who would be your celebrity boyfriend? — Who’s Your Hollywood Hunk? — Willy’s Sweet Shop — Wrestler — XS Energy Drink — Yearbook — Yelp — Your American Accent — YoVille — Zombies — Zoo Paradise — Zoo World — Zoosk

I killed an ant.

2010 June 23
by Tollie Williams

I just killed an ant. It was guilty of intruding. However, I slightly missed, and instead of immediately killing him, I wounded him to the point of immobility. In pity, I observed this for a moment. He tossed back and forth, unable to move.

This ant, a tiny creature, run by chemicals with a brain too simple to have cognition in any meaningful way – I felt a hint of compassion for it. I regretted its circumstance, yet I caused it. In some, very faint way, I looked at it and saw a tiny hint of humanity, though there was none. In justice, I completed the act of killing the ant – after all, it was against me and in my very own house.

Reflecting on this, I must wonder if this is somewhat like how God looks upon us:

We were enemies against him, not just in his creation, but part of his creation.

Although God’s law is good, our God-hating flesh is set against it, causing us to miss the mark and be wounded fatally.

God, having created mankind in his image, looks upon us with compassion, even as his holy justice commands our destruction.

Finally, in his choosing, God will deliver the death blow against humanity, victoriously finishing the “war” that we waged against him. (As if such a war could even be fought. The ant had more chance of defeating me.)

Yet, thankfully, God shows some mercy. In holy passion that we most closely understand as love (although our understanding is tainted and incomplete), God not only spared some of us “ants,” he healed us with the most intimate of precision. He healed us in such a way that we look up towards him and in faith marvel at his very nature.

Of course, there my analogy breaks down. For it wasn’t merely that God healed us. I had two choices: maintain the integrity of my dwelling place and kill the ant, or sully the nature of my dwelling place with the infestation of insects.

God, praise his holy plan!, willed a third option in our human parallel. The atoning death of Christ Jesus. For those whom he demonstrates his mercy towards, God neither destroys the sinner nor sullies his dwelling place. Instead, he carried out holy justice against the only human who could withstand it – God in human flesh, Y’shua, Jesus the Messiah. Sin is punished satisfying justice, Christ is crucified demonstrating compassion, and the elect are saved, demonstrating mercy!

What an awesome God, indeed!

Has God demonstrated himself to you in such a way that you realize you’re an ant, deserving to be squashed by his hand of justice? Praise God that he has revealed this to you. Repent of your inequality and beg for mercy, for he is willing and he is able to save.

How to automate tivodecode on Mac OSX, so you can convert your TiVo files to save space, add them to iTunes, etc.

2010 March 15
by Tollie Williams

For the impatient, there’s a summary at the bottom…

TiVo is great for being able to transfer the shows you record to your computer so you can save them. However, as always, the problem is with the restrictive wrappers put on by the TiVo, which prohibits you from doing things like transcoding the files to save space and watching them in the player of your choice.

Thankfully, there’s a way to strip the shackles from the TiVo files and leave yourself with a standard MPEG2 file, that you can then convert to the encoding of your choice. It’s a no-brainer: 4 GB/hour for an HD TiVo file that only plays in proprietary software, versus a H.264 file that looks great and plays in any player, at less than 500MB/hour.

If you don’t have the TiVo Transfer software, you can use http://tdm.sourceforge.net/, which takes care of connecting to the TiVo, downloading the files, de-shackling the files, and transcoding – however, it feels buggy, and I prefer to use the standard TiVo Transfer program that’s included with Roxio’s Toast.

Once you have your TiVo shackled files on OSX, the next step is running them through a program called TiVoDecode. It’s open source, and you can compile it yourself from http://sourceforge.net/projects/tivodecode/ or if you don’t have the Developer tools installed, you can download the above mentioned TiVo Decode Manager, and pull the binary out of it. (Right Click TiVoDecode Manager › Show Package Contents › Contents › Resources › copy the ‘tivodecode’ file elsewhere, I recommend ~/Applications/.)

Once you have tivodecode as a binary file you can use terminal (just execute the command to get the syntax) or – what sparked this post – you can use my very simple Automator workflow to automate the process.

Just open the workflow in Automator, insert you MAK (Media Access Key) into the shell script (you can get this from your TiVoTransfer preferences), run the workflow, and select your TiVo files.

As you can tell from the shell script, the workflow assumes your tivodecode binary is in ~/Applications – that’s not your standard Applications folder, it’s inside your Home user folder. If you don’t have one, just open your home folder and create it.

(If you’re the type that prefers to mv tivodecode to /usr/bin/, then I’m sure you’ll be able to modify the shell script accordingly.)

After running the workflow, your TiVo files will be run through the tivodecode binary and .mpg added. The original .tivo files will be moved to your trash, but not emptied. Then you can transcode into your preferred encoding. I recommend using Handbrake and the iPhone preset.

The more skilled among you may wish to transcode the files automatically in the workflow using ffmpeg or mencoder, however, that’s a bit beyond me for the moment, and I like using Handbrake for its intelligent cropping on a file by file basis. Any suggestions on how I can accomplish this automatically are welcome in the comments.

Summary:

  • This only applies if you use TiVo Transfer or some other means to get the .tivo files onto your Mac, and you don’t want to use TDM. (TDM is a little buggy, and I think the quality isn’t as good as what I get from Handbrake.)
     
  • Get the tivodecode binary.
    • The easiest place to get the binary is to download TDM, right click the application file › Show Package Contents › Contents › Resources › ‘tivodecode’ binary is there.
  • Create an Applications folder inside your home folder, and copy the ‘tivodecode’ binary there.
  • Download the workflow.
  • Open the workflow in Automator and insert your MAK key in the shell script.
    • Find your MAK key in the preferences of the ‘Tivo Transfer’ application, or in your TiVo settings.
  • Run the workflow, or save it as an application and run the application.
  • Select the TiVo files you wish to destrangle.
  • The .tivo files will be moved to your trash, leaving MPEG2 files.
    • The MPEG2 files will be the same quality and same file size as the originals.
  • I prefer to queue up the MPEG2 files with Handbrake, converting them to the iPhone preset, allowing it to intelligently crop and resize the files.
    • The iPhone preset will use less than 500MB for an hour of HD video, 1/8th the filesize of the original TiVo files at a comparable quality. Also, you’ll be able to play them on the device and/or player of your choice.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please post them in the comments.

How to fix Daylight Savings

2010 March 13
by Tollie Williams

I love Daylight Savings Time, but like everyone, I hate losing the hour of sleep. Well, I’ve solved that problem. Someone call President Obama and Congress. See, it’s about the economy and the children. Because the sun would go down too soon in the Summer for businesses, we have DST. However, because DST would cause kids to wait for the bus before the sun comes once Winter hits, we “Fall back” before the days get short.

SOLUTION: Instead of the insanity that is “Fall back” and “Spring forward,” why don’t we change the time school starts. Instead of falling back, school starts an hour later. Instead of springing forward, school starts an hour earlier. Problem solved. I’ll take my Nobel prize in economics now, and remember, it’s for the children.

(If you get satire, you may ignore my next statement. The overflowing praise of myself, the phrase “it’s for the children,” allusion to “it’s the economy, stupid,” and expectations of a Nobel Prize — are all sarcastic.)

True Church Conference 2010 – Friday Thoughts and Notes

2010 February 19
by Tollie Williams

As soon as I can, I’ll be updating these for better completeness, but for the moment here are my rough notes and some thoughts from the Friday messages at the True Church Conference. If you missed it, my first TCC2010 blog explains the title of the conference a little better, and includes the notes from David Miller’s opening message.

A note on my frequent failure to prefix names with “Brother” – although this is a colloquial title for ministers, never have I been particularly fond its use that way, so I avoid it entirely. It by no means implies any disrespect, and out of consideration for others when I am speaking personally (and unable to give this disclaimer), I will use the de facto title regardless.

Also today, some brothers from a partner church shared of how they first started meeting, and their sermons were YouTube videos of Jeff Noblit and Paul Washer preaching. As I mentioned in my earlier entry, if you were looking at this from a worldly perspective, your concerns of cultish behavior would be reasonable. However, without any reservation I can say – neither man would want anyone to think that they are some figurehead of some movement, not ever. Instead, it is a work of God, using men who have committed themselves to constantly reforming their preaching to be glory of God focused, Christ centered, and Bible saturated. (I am borrowing this wording from the Grace Life Distinctives.) I’ll digress, but I still know many people look at Grace Life (and likely, other churches at the TCC) as somewhat of a cult, so I want to try and be honest about the uniqueness and help clarify as best that I can.

Lastly, I should say there are others blogging and tweeting from the conference. To find others on twitter, search #TCC10, and this blog is sharing their sermon notes.

Now to my notes: there are three sermon’s notes here: Urging ALL to Repent & Believe by Jon’o Sims, The Use of Alter Calls by Jeff Noblit, and Loving Sinners by Conrad Mbewe.


Defining Hyper-Calvinsim by Dr. Michael Haykin
I missed this one. I’ll have to wait until I hear it via CD.


Urging ALL to Repent & Believe by Jonathan (Jon’o) Sims

Why we preach the gospel: Ephesians 2:19-21

I learned this, although I don’t recall how he connected it to the message: dispute (Greek) -> dialogue (English)

Main text: Acts 17:30-34

Why do we urge all to repent and believe? (5 points)

1) Urge all to repent and believe because all men are ignorant. (Acts 17:30)

Spurgeon was in trouble from the Arminians for preaching the gospel. He was in trouble with the hyper-calvinists for preaching the gospel to everybody.

2) Because God himself calls every man to repent. (Acts 17:30)

Acts 2:39-40, Romans 2:4

“The great gospel duty.” – Matthew Henry

“Command” means to charge with urgency.

3) Because all men will one day face the judgment of God. (Acts 17:31-32)

There is both assurance of this judgment and of Jesus’s ability to save.

“America is a wicked pagan nation.” – Jon’o. I asked him about this quote later, because I had forgotten the context. He recalled that he was talking about how, absent of gospel preaching, America or any nation, finds itself making idols out of the things that men are easily given to. (That is my wording, not his.)

4) because thanks be to God, some will repent and believe. (Acts 17:34)

“God’s sovereign plan is to save some by preaching to all.” – Jon’o

5) because this is our calling.
Acts 9:15-16. Acts 26:19. Romans 1:18


The use of alter calls. by Jeff Noblit

“Alter Call” in this context – implying or outright stating that coming forward is a part of one’s salvation.

1) “old time religion” or new fad?

Charles Finney – considered the pioneer of modern evangelistic methods (“the invitation system”).

Modern methods? How can such a thing even exist when the gospel is 2000 years old? (This is a rough approximate summary of what was said.)

Spurgeon said if you use a come to the front method, at least change it so that people don’t think it’s part of their salvation.

Certainly, the pre-invitation system conversions seem to be genuine.

Billy Graham was so respected because of the “results.”

“Billy Graham is one of my heroes. [He] is a great man .. Yet I am convinced [that] any honest, knowledgeable person should find his invitation system troubling.” – Jeff Noblit

Curtis Mitchell says a typical Graham invitation: “I’m going to ask you to come forward … Come now and come quickly. Don’t let distance keep you from Christ … Certainly you can come these few steps and come to him.”

(This is from later in the sermon, but in my notes, it better fits here.) Jeff quotes Joel O’steen without naming him: “We’ll never leave before we give you a chance to be saved.”

Response to O’steen: “Are you the gate keeper to the kingdom of God? You’re not a priest! There’s only one priest! [and his name is Jesus]”

2) consequences

* perfectionism
– I missed what this means in this context.

* carnal Christians
– no such idea exists in scriptures as Christians who never behave like Christians.

* redundant baptisms
– an emphasis where the bible has no emphasis – on a system that “causes” people to respond.

* church discipline is difficult in a church where the easy believism labels so many as Christians. Your whole church needs discipline? Your problem isn’t with discipline, it’s with evangelism.

* church splits unnecessarily
– because of false believers voting

* diminished glory of God
– this is what it’s about. When things are wrong, His glory is diminished on earth.

3) what say the scriptures?

* nothing on the invitation system. Nothing to help those get saved, or even to identify new believers. Jesus did say come follow me, but it’s a stretch to say that “come follow the incarnate Christ” is similar or related to “come forward to the steps.”

* make disciples. Matthew 28:18-20.

“Every pastor should have to pastor for 30 years and live with his fruit. [But most just move away to elsewhere.]”

5 minutes of counseling [usually] isn’t enough. But – Edwards says sometimes you can with the confidence of grace know that someone is genuine.

2 Timothy 4:3-5

He who rejects sound doctrine rejects those who teach sound doctrine.

* what are biblical invitations?

John 4:14 – drink of this water.
Mark 1:15 – repent and believe in the gospel.
Mark 8:34 – deny yourself and take up your cross and follow.
Acts 2:38: repent and be baptized.
Acts 10:43-44: believes in Him.
John 3:7 – must be born again. Didn’t tell him how to do it. [No 'ABC']

Paul talks about begging men to come to Christ. Jesus commanded them. The eunuch was persuaded. It’s all of the above.

No system. No structured system of things to do at the end. That’s why roman Catholicism is so popular. It melds with what men [wrongly] want [a works based system].

Spurgeon: “an old stag likes to die alone.”

It is a call to a total lifestyle.

4) final considerations

* the gospel IS the invitation
- if you’re not giving an invitation, you’re not preaching the gospel. In reality, the Spirit gives the invitation. John 6:44, John 16:8.
- “Some say ‘Brother Jeff doesn’t give an invitation anymore.’ I give the longest invitations!” [The whole sermon.]

God doesn’t necessarily save during the preaching, but through the preaching.

* don’t throw everything out. Scripturally you do not need to abandon everything about the modern invitation system. An appeal at the close of the service is not unscriptural. It’s not essential, but it itself is not unscriptural. (What you say might make it unscriptural.)

* avoid any notion of works salvation (sacramentalism) in any appeal given.

* never believe that one who doesn’t given an immedate appeal is less evangelistic.

* shepherd the brethren to sound practice: ‘those of us who believe in grace ought to have some’ Acts 18:24-27.

* you can not eliminate all the tares from the wheat.

* let the spiritual maturity of your church be the proof of your doctrine. 2 Cor 3:2.


Loving Sinners by Conrad Mbewe

Luke 19:41-44, Context: Luke 19:28-40

Hyper-Calvinism is: “for someone to think that you’re an Arminian for wanting pastors to preach the gospel to lost sinners.”

“The apostles went everywhere preaching reptenence of sin and faith in Jesus Christ, and we must do the same.”

Jesus spent every one of his last days teaching: (Luke 19:47).

Don’t lose sight of lost sinners, and don’t lose your passion for them to hear the gospel.

Jesus was moved with compassion for the city that (he knew) was to crucify them. There is no excuse for us [not to have compassion for lost sinners] in that light.

“Unless He draws us, unless He speaks life into us, we must go the other way. However, it did not stop Jesus from weeping.”

Compare to Paul: Romans 9:1-5. But Paul does not begin this section with a cold herated, matter of fact statement of the facts, as if he was dissecting his chicken. (It would be really interesting to find out if this is a Zambia thing, or his picturing of a dispassionate American.) Instead, Paul starts with “my heart is broken.”

“Romans 10:1. That’s my heart’s desire. That’s my prayer.”

The rails on which God’s salvation runs: God’s sovereignty on one hand, our responsibility on the other.

“Don’t tell me that your church is evangelistic if your prayer meeting is half dead. Don’t tell me you’re an evangelic preacher if your [prayer] closet is empty.”

If you truly love sinners as God expects you to, it ought to move you to zealously pray for them, because unless they are saved they must perish forever. Consider the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man.

Is Hell real? Do we believe what the Bible says?

my thought here: If God is immutable and beyond time: does he eternally mourn for the damned sinner? And what is his purpose for there being a “too late?”

God weeps. Do you?

True Church Conference 2010 – Thoughts and 1st Message

2010 February 18
by Tollie Williams

Well, I barely made it home without crashing from crashing. Not a lot of sleep + long day + driving at night = difficult. Now it’s time to crash in the bed, but here are my notes from the first night and message of the Grace Life Shoals True Church Conference 2010.

Some observations and anecdotes: I can only imagine what one might think if they were to be visiting the church for the first time. With its title of “True Church Conference” combined with a story of a family moving from another state to attend Grace Life (shared as part of a God glorifying testimony of regeneration), and testimonies of other “young” churches seeking Grace Life for guidance – I can see how some might get the wrong idea, but to the true Church (believing, repenting sinners) it becomes evident that these are stories of God’s providence, for His glory and fame.

For those who might ask, the conference is not about trying to declare some church and its members the “one true” church. The conference is about discerning the truth of God from scripture, to equip the true Church (believers) to make disciples of Christ. This year’s theme is “The Quagmire of Hyper-Calvinism,” and this first message was preached by David Miller, entitled “The Wonder of Unconditional Love.”

These are my rough notes. I’ll probably come back later after having the chance to re-listen to the sermons.

David Miller. Mal 1:1-5.

“Bible teaching is not where you read the text and depart from it and never return.”

=== Jacob have I loved ===

“Was not Jacob Esau’s brother?”

By an act of His will, God singled Jacob out and set him up to be an object of the divine affections. Even though Jacob was a cheat and a liar — depraved. Therefor, if God loved Jacob he did so with selectivity and favoritism.

=== Esau have I hated ===

Esau enjoyed an awesome heritage. He had many blessings: born in answer to prayer and received as a gift from God to the family chosen by God. From a worldly perspective, we would probably like Esau as “every man’s man.” But God “hated.”

Read the verse in context and choose the interpretation that best fits:

Interpretation 1) Relative comparison- meaning in comparison to his love for Jacob he simply loved Esau less. Doesn’t fit.

Interpretation 2) Preferred and passed over- doesn’t fit context either.

Interpretation 3) He loved Esau but hated the sin: Bro. David keeps this one pretty cut and dry, saying it’s not the case, but my reflection on the verse reminds me a couple of things: primarily that the connotation here is more of predestined for salvation than that of emotional hatred. Although, conversely, it is true that God’s wrath is stored up against the unbelieving sinner.

Interpretation 4) A valid one- settled opposition toward, and a holy disdain for.

Why the disdain?
a) Esau lived for the present.
b) Esau lived for the flesh instead of the Spirit.
c) Esau lived for the praises of men, rather than of God.
d) Esau counted worthless what God highly valued.
But wait: so did Jacob! so do we!

God has as much right and reason to ‘hate’ (have a settled opposition and holy disdain for) you, me, and Jacob as he did to hate Esau.

Upcoming Resumption

2010 February 18
by Tollie Williams

It is my intention to resume regularly blogging. Immediately, that means I’ll be posting my sermon notes from the True Church Conference. (By the way, this blog uses RefTagger to automatically link scripture references and show their text on mouse-over. eg: Jn 1:1) And because I’m a geek, I just want to add that I’ll probably be taking my notes using a tiny Apple Bluetooth Keyboard paired with my jailbroken iPhone. Who needs an iPad?

After that, I believe the next series of posts will be a series of answers to frequently asked questions I get, including how to troubleshoot/fix a slow computer, the best applications for making the most of your computer, and the most helpful iPhone Apps (and some fun ones too).

I also intend to revisit my Facebook post, where I name areas in which I believe Facebook is really in need of improving.

Meanwhile, please follow me on twitter: @tollie and stay tuned for further info about two podcasts that myself and a few others are considering (re-)starting.

Soundly sleeping – seems scientific

2009 December 9
by Tollie Williams

I’m having difficulty unifying these into a narrative, so I’ll just leave it at bullet points.

Caution: Some science ahead. But perhaps it’s interesting, and maybe even insightful.

* I’ve grown accustomed to going to sleep while listening to something. TV, music, podcast, or audiobook.

* Yes, it’s possibly causing permanent hearing damage from long-term exposure.

* Who knows what effect it has on how the brain processes sound ordinarily? Maybe this is why I have a hard time distinguishing words from background noise and music. Perhaps that process is controlled by chemicals that the brain normally stores up during down-time, and I’m getting none. I simply don’t know.

* I usually listen to podcasts to fall asleep. It helps me catch up, and the content is such that I rarely feel like I should take notes, nor that I am greatly missing out if I never go back and pick up from where I fell asleep at.

* Occasionally I’ll listen to audiobooks, however, they have to have a unique quality about them. They have to be engaging enough not be frustrating or grating, but yet, they can’t be so engaging that I simply must stay awake to listen to them.

* Other times, it’s music. Usually orchestrated film score. However, this can be too ‘non-stimulating’ – leaving my brain free to run around in circles with whatever non-sense has clouded it. On the other hand, for this reason, sometimes music is helpful in reaching the “sweet spot:”

* There is a sweet spot between regular thought and sleepily drunken stupor – and in that sweet spot, wonderful ideas occur. That’s why I keep a pen and paper nearby at all times.

* I’m listening to “The Ring Goes South” as I write this bullet point. It’s from The Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

* Listening to nothing, I can fall asleep, but depending on my level of exhaustion, it may take a great deal longer. It’s not that the sound wears me out. Therefor, I wonder how unique vs. universal this “lulling” effect is, and to what degree it’s social.

* In fact, if suffciently tired, I am more easily made to fall asleep listening to a half-dozen people talking, than to nothing or some generated “noise” such as a fan.

* Another trapping of classical music: the sameness. The process of appreciating the musical quality is, for me, an almost active one. Appreciate it, and the mind is too engaged. Reducing it to mere background melody tends to make for monotony, and the mind is bored.

* I’ve said nothing of TV yet. TV is perhaps the most dangerous. First: good luck finding a channel worth listening to. If you do, who knows what junk will be on in 2 hours, invading your sub-conscious? Then there’s commercials and this awful trend of turning up their volume. The FCC should fine networks for doing this – decibel neutrality. (That’s sarcastic.)

* What about a movie? This usually works as far as stimulation levels go, as long as it’s one I’ve seen before. However, inevitably, the change from dialogue to theme music for the credits will wake me up in 2 hours.

* I’d be interested in your thoughts. What applies to you? What doesn’t? Am I factually right or wrong anywhere?

- Sound sleep to you,
Tollie