Seek and you will find...

The Book of Jeremiah

2011-07-28T23:49:00.000+10:00

Luke’s account of Paul in Acts covered Paul's dramatic conversation from a Christian persecutor to a disciple, followed by his many missionary journeys each resembling a walk through a mine field, evangelising to not only the Jews but Gentiles also that took him across many countries from Jerusalem to Rome. It's a story you can't make up.

Who’d have thought that some 600+ years before Paul, there lived another suffering servant, who like Paul faced all sorts of oppositions and sufferings you can possibly imagine, and was God’s mouthpiece – albeit a reluctant one – to advance His Kingdom. That person was Jeremiah.

If you consider the circumstances in which Jeremiah was called to prophetic services, there’s striking similarities between him and the Servant of the Lord as mentioned in Isa 49 (widely accepted to be the Messiah himself), but no more than Jesus who suffered the ultimate death for us all sinners. Some of the notable similarities observed are briefly outlined below:

1. Jer. 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”. Isa. 49:1, “Before I was born, the Lord called me”. He was set apart for Gods duties before his birth, when he was still in the womb. In the hours of darkest opposition and brutal treatment, that reality doubtless proved immensely stabilizing to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was called to duty at a young age too (v7, I am only a child). Scholars believe he was no older than 25years of age. But again, we might also feel overwhelmed by God’s call, but he has promised to give us the strength to do whatever he asks.

2. He meets opposition that drives him to despair, though he faithfully perseveres (Isa. 49:4; Jer. 4:19–22, etc.).

3. God has made his mouth “like a sharpened sword” (Isa. 49:2), which rather suggests prophetic ministry much like the case for Jeremiah, "I have put my words in our mouth" (Jer. 1:9). God is perfectly capable of equipping anyone he chooses. God himself would put words in Jeremiah’s mouth and make him a prophetic voice, not only over Judah but over the surrounding nations (Jer. 1:7–10).

There are aspects of Jeremiah that make him unique. He knew he’d be called to face the wrath of kings, priests, false prophets and wicked, idolatrous people as a whole. At the back of James Reapsome's book on Jeremiah, it reads,

“It’s been said that Jeremiah was a successful failure. He failed to turn the people of Judah back to God, yet he succeeded in remaining faithful to God’s call against tremendous odds."

Likewise for us, there’s bound to be times when we face struggles in our Christian life. Perhaps not understanding why God allows us to experience a particularly difficult situation. We might even question whether God has called us at all.

But we can take heart in Jeremiah who can help grow our understanding of God’s call to salvation and why service is so important.

A succinct description of Christians and its implication

2011-05-29T12:16:00.003+10:00

Extracted from Don Carson's May 15, 2011 For the Love of God daily devotional series.

(a) Christians are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,” their very existence designed to declare the praise of the One who called them “out of darkness and into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9). The transformation of Christians’ conduct is the attestation that they really do belong to God (1 Pet. 2:10, 25).

(b) This also means that we no longer belong to the world. Here we live “as aliens and strangers” (1 Pet. 2:11). If we do not think in those terms, but are frankly comfortable with the world and its ways, we ought to question whether or not we really belong to the “people belonging to God.” This is the assumption Peter makes when he writes, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Pet. 2:12).

(c) If any of this involves hardship or suffering—as it especially did in the case of slaves who belonged to cruel and unjust masters—we can never forget that we follow a Master who himself suffered most unjustly. No moral value attaches to suffering what we deserve; we show ourselves to be followers of Jesus Christ when we suffer unjustly and endure it faithfully. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).

A Venture Perspective on Cloud Computing

2011-05-06T09:51:00.006+10:00

An article by R. Vasan of Mayfield Fund, and reposted from Google Cache.

As a result of the impact of the Web, cloud computing, and mobility, technology companies must radically rethink how they build, package, deploy, market, and sell their solutions.

The rise of open source software along with the proliferation of new languages and frameworks provides developers with an ever growing catalog of components to leverage, making it faster and cheaper to build solutions. The operational elements of software have been similarly impacted as cloud computing platforms offer drastically cheaper means of deploying and managing solutions that can serve users globally.

Simultaneously, the Web has fundamentally changed the relationship between vendors and customers. Google has trained us to search for what we want, find it, and get educated. Therefore, vendors must employ sophisticated techniques to attract, nurture, and service prospective customers. Meanwhile, customers are adopting a broad array of devices such as computers, tablets, and smartphones and will increasingly expect to access all their applications, services, and data from these different devices anywhere and at any time.

Developers Cope with Platform Shifts

Until recently, programmers were required to build most of an application's capabilities in a single programming language (C or C++) and one integrated stack, with the Windows PC as the primary platform. Then, in the early to mid-2000s, the target platform started shifting to the browser. Java and LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) emerged as the preferred language and architecture for Web applications, with large developer communities coalescing around these key open source layers.

Open source has continued to flourish, and today SourceForge hosts more than 250,000 projects, the top 50 of which have been downloaded in excess of 10 million times. Consequently, there are now strong open source offerings for almost every element in the software stack, ranging from antivirus software (ClamWin) to content management (Alfresco and Drupal) to search (Lucene and Solr) to virtualization (Xen). In fact, the combination of the Linux operating system and the Xen hypervisor are the key open source technologies that provide the foundation for cloud computing.

Initially, companies achieved significant cost savings by using open source technologies, but they still had to make substantial up-front investments for servers, storage, and networking infrastructure. However, in August 2008, after two years in beta, Amazon officially released its Web services platform. The range of services began with raw computing, storage, security, and networking, but they've quickly expanded to include additional infrastructure services, such as database, content management, authentication, messaging, logging, and monitoring. Today, in addition to Amazon, various other providers, including Microsoft, Google, Rackspace, and Salesforce, offer compelling cloud platform capabilities with attractive and variable pricing. For example, Amazon recently added a free tier of service that includes one continuous month (750 hours) of compute with load balancing and a generous amount of storage and bandwidth—10 Gbytes and 15 Gbytes, respectively.

Virtualization, open source, and cloud computing have made it vastly cheaper to build and deploy new software solutions, thus the cloud is where developers and new companies start out.

Marketing Matters Even More

Historically, technology companies were forced to engage in expensive and inefficient direct marketing and selling processes. In enterprise technology, key analyst firms like Gartner and Forrester Research acted as trusted advisors and even gatekeepers to senior IT professionals. Companies consumed substantial funds in deploying large marketing and field sales efforts, but the difficulty of managing complex decision and budget processes led to wildly unpredictable results. Further, the high costs of product development and deployment as well as sales and marketing often forced vendors to target only large enterprises that could spend millions of dollars.

After the dot-com bubble and subsequent global recession, companies altered how they acquired, deployed, and managed technology. At the same time, consumers embraced new Web and mobile technologies that began to influence the solutions used within corporations. However, as the market has continued to grow and evolve, customers of all sizes have grown tired of the constant influx of new technology, and many don't see the value in having to install, configure, and manage multiple solutions. Instead, they expect vendors to provide them with an always-on option that's easily accessible from any device and is packaged and priced based on usage. Salesforce's "no software" motto captures this sentiment best. The new pricing and delivery model of software as a service has also greatly expanded the addressable market for vendors, since small- and medium-size companies can now be served in addition to large enterprises.

But merely addressing the software production and deployment model is no longer enough. It's also necessary to change how companies drive awareness, nurture interest, and ultimately acquire customers. As a result of the fundamental change in the relationship between buyers and vendors, prospects want to learn and convince themselves to buy instead of being sold. Therefore, vendors must provide compelling content in the form of demos, case studies, testimonials, detailed documentation, or even free trials. Patience is required, since the process of nurturing interest and converting prospective buyers to paying customers may take weeks, months, or even years. Vendors must also continue to build out their extended communities of customers and partners as influencer and support mechanisms.

Much can be learned from successful consumer Web companies like Amazon, eBay, and, more recently, Zynga. Both consumer Web and mobile businesses have demonstrated how to be efficient at running campaigns to attract and convert customers. Search is still the key starting point for most purchase decisions, but social media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and so on are an increasingly important means of communicating and sharing information. A variety of new companies like Radian6, Gigya, SEOmoz, and Trada have emerged to specifically help marketers execute social media and search strategies.

Basic Web traffic analysis including Omniture or Google Analytics has been around for a while, and eventually all the sales-related account information ends up in a system like Salesforce. But it's now critical to track and integrate online activity with both marketing and sales interactions, and to keep detailed historical information for analytical purposes, specifically to drive increased efficiencies in acquiring, retaining, and servicing customers.

E-mail blasts were an early form of online marketing, but now companies must also instrument their campaigns to include social media and online webinars and events (WebEx or GoToMeeting). Companies like Marketo and Eloqua have pioneered new solutions for automating marketing programs and providing detailed marketing analyses. While Web analytics, marketing automation, and customer relationship management are key building blocks, no single solution can manage the entire online marketing and selling process. Instead, marketing and sales organizations must be more tightly integrated, and all these new applications must be connected and instrumented to produce actionable business metrics.

Developers as Customers

It's also important to broaden the concept of the prospective customer beyond the end user. In many situations, the customer might be another software developer. Much of the early success in open source and cloud computing was the result of generating large communities of developers around popular software components or frameworks. Companies like JBoss, SpringSource, and Heroku were acquired as much for the communities or ecosystems they attracted as for their technology. Even in crowded markets like e-mail providers or the e-commerce infrastructure, companies like MailChimp and Magento emerged due to their focus on attracting developers with cleanly defined architectures and APIs.

Today, it's somewhat surprising but also exciting to see developers experimenting with a broad range of new programming languages like Ruby, Erlang, Clojure, and Go. Many of these languages were designed specifically to address some of the key advantages associated with cloud computing. In addition to exploring these languages, developers are increasingly taking the opportunity to rethink the entire application architecture. It might not make sense anymore to assume the traditional n-tier architecture of database, application, and Web presentation as distinct layers. Instead, developers are investigating newer frameworks like Hadoop, Memcached/Membase, CouchDB, Nginx, and Node.js. These approaches are gaining interest not only because of their simplicity and scalability, but also because they're built to take advantage of cloud economics and scalability.

Another element contributing to the reexamination of the software architecture is the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets based on iOS and Android. While Apple may garner most of the attention, Android's open nature has proven to be a compelling platform for carriers and device manufacturers. These mobile platforms and the current poor quality of wireless coverage introduce another set of problems and constraints that the next-generation application architectures must address. Start-up companies are developing intriguing new frameworks like SproutCore, Sencha, and Titanium to enable emerging standards such as HTML5 that help applications span both mobile and Web environments.

Cloud and mobile computing appear to represent yet another software architecture change. These platform shifts have happened almost every decade and take some time to standardize. Recognizing the changes in how customers and developers evaluate and adopt solutions, many start-ups are building new software services that can leverage cost advantages of massive scale while also taking advantage of online marketing to drive highly efficient customer adoption and retention. We're at the very beginning of these platform shifts that will lead to significant opportunities across the entire software landscape.

Mr. Vasan is the managing director of the Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm in Menlo Park, California.

Best Practices for Large WebSphere Topologies

2011-05-04T14:38:00.002+10:00

This article examines large topologies and the best practices involved in configuring and managing them, from several perspectives. Different limiting criteria for cell size are explored and the considerations for each criteria is documented. The goal is to provide the most accurate information about WebSphere Application Server behaviour and scaling constraints so that you can develop the plans for your large topology based on the functional and operational priorities that are the most relevant to your organization.

Obtain the latest PDF from this link.(Currently version 2.0, dated March 31, 2011)

This is a living document maintained by the WebSphere Large Topology Task Force. A real gem!

The Bishop of London's Sermon at the Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T23:38:00.001+10:00

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.

Many are full of fear for the future of the prospects of our world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one – this is a joyful day! It is good that people in every continent are able to share in these celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.

A spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centredness. And people can dream of doing such a thing but the hope should be fulfilled it is necessary a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love.

You have both made your decision today – “I will” – and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life is spiritually evolving, and which will lead to a creative future for the human race.

We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely a power that has been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.

Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art. It is possible to transform as long as we do not harbour ambitions to reform our partner. There must be no coercion if the Spirit is to flow; each must give the other space and freedom. Chaucer, the London poet, sums it up in a pithy phrase:

“Whan maistrie [mastery] comth, the God of Love anon,

Beteth his wynges, and farewell, he is gon.”

As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, we need mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I pray that all of us present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today, will do everything in our power to support and uphold you in your new life. And I pray that God will bless you in the way of life that you have chosen, that way which is expressed in the prayer that you have composed together in preparation for this day:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A brief history of WebSphere

2011-04-29T11:59:00.002+10:00

In 1997, most companies were just beginning to understand how fundamental the web would become to the way businesses operated. Meanwhile, one of the key components of web operations - software to build, run and manage web-based applications - was just beginning to take shape. The way the web would work, and how people could work through it, was about to change profoundly.

A small team of IBM developers, working as fast as possible in just a few months, built what they would call - at the last minute, before a developer conference - IBM WebSphere.

The rise of the WebSphere brand- beginning with the WebSphere Application Server in 1998- parallels the evolution of the web itself from static pages, sites and content to today’s landscape of dynamic services, programs and real-time processing of all kinds of data and media. Application servers, with WebSphere Application Server as a leading example, are how the web has been transformed into a platform for actual computing.

From Wall Street to Main Street, application servers paved the way for virtually all commerce to become electronic, and for every dimension of business operations, including customer relations, accounting, and HR, to become web-enabled.

In the late 1990s, IBM called this big shift “e-business,” and started remaking itself around the idea to better help its clients make the transition as well. The WebSphere brand was one of the key catalysts for IBM’s evolution from a hardware-centric company to one focused on software and services.

Over the next dozen years, the WebSphere brand of products evolved far beyond its start as an application server. It became IBM’s foundation for the layer of software known as middleware that enables web applications and computer operating systems to interoperate. And it would become a cornerstone for a new enterprise computing paradigm known as service-oriented architecture, or SOA.

Today, the WebSphere line encompasses almost all areas of business: application integration, business process management and e-commerce, just to name a few.

As Steve Mills, senior vice president of IBM Software Group and the executive who oversaw WebSphere product development notes, “It’s far more than just a product. The mechanism is so fundamental to the way in which commercial applications work that you’d be very hard pressed today to think about IBM strategies without WebSphere.”

In late 1997, Mills—then general manager of IBM Software Solutions—brought his senior leaders together to consider the new application server business taking shape.

At the time, the first wave of dot-com startups were igniting interest in the disruptive power of the web, but existing businesses and industries were not yet certain how such new technologies and IT infrastructure would flow into the mainstream.

One of those unconventional technologies was the open-source Apache Web Server. In 1997, it had become the leading choice for web developers. Meanwhile IBM had embraced the open-source Linux ® operating system and the broader open-source movement. Those trends and tailwinds led the team to make an unconventional decision: to build the WebSphere Application Server on top of the collaboratively developed, non-proprietary Apache software. The radical idea underlying that choice was that customers would pay for open-source software if valuable functionality was added to it.

As Mills told CRN magazine in 2005, “We wanted to leverage [Apache] as a standard and move beyond it by adding value through open- and non-open-source code to deliver a more complete application server. It is a model we have repeated over and over.”

Within IBM, the choice to anchor WebSphere Application Server on Apache was somewhat controversial because of work by IBMers to develop a commercial web server.

Another surprising strategic decision was for the WebSphere Application Server to support the Java ® programming language, which had been developed by a competitor, Sun Microsystems. But the ability for Java applications to be written once and then run on different operating systems was another sign of how open standards and open-source software were changing the IT landscape and IBM strategies. In fact, IBM would not only build the WebSphere products to work with the Java language, it would eventually develop a sophisticated reference specification for the language, Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE™).

The WebSphere Application Server began taking shape in early 1998 with a team of a few dozen IBM developers in Raleigh, NC, led by Chris Wicher and Sue Wallenborn. IBM Research also began work on a key component, the “servlet” engine. They made remarkably fast progress, building the first version in just four months. And they turned around a second version only three months later.

As Mills recalls, after the team delivered the first version of WebSphere Application Server, “we decided to incorporate both sophisticated transaction processing and message brokering functions into the product.” Over the next decade, the WebSphere line would evolve from its application server roots to become a broader brand for handling the most complex integration challenges.

That array of tools and technologies helps companies manage the rules and logic built into their business processes, as well as the messaging and communications systems to coordinate increasingly complex IT infrastructure. These capabilities are providing the backbone of many Smarter Planet projects today and helping businesses embrace cloud computing.

By 2006, the WebSphere brand helped IBM become the leader in the US$18 billion middleware business. And it led IBM’s march to become the world’s second largest software company today.

For the WebSphere brand’s tenth anniversary in 2008, Craig Hayman, then vice president of WebSphere in the Application and Integration Middleware Software Division, told E-Week: “In the early days we took WebSphere from an idea to a product, then from a product to a platform, and then from a platform to an SOA [service-oriented architecture] portfolio.”

Today, middleware is essential for integrating new capabilities into existing business systems, or linking different applications together for better performance or cost savings. And it’s why more than 100,000 companies worldwide use WebSphere products and more than 10,000 companies build applications that work with WebSphere products.

As the WebSphere line has expanded into a global ecosystem of users and developers, the way in which it continues to be revised and extended has also evolved. Today WebSphere is a product portfolio that is enabled by global integration, with more than 6000 IBM developers in 80 locations collaborating on new capabilities in business analytics and optimization.

“In terms of technology,” said Steve Mills, “it truly has turned out to be one of the more important ideas that we ever had as a company.”

The above is re-posted from http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/icons/websphere/

Belief in an age of scepticism (1)

2011-03-26T23:22:00.008+11:00

"I find your lack of faith - disturbing. " - Darth Vader

Tim Keller's 2008 book seeks to answer some of the questions that have baffled thinkers, philosophers and seekers throughout the modern ages.

Why does God allow suffering in the world?

How could a loving God send people to hell?

Why isn't Christianity more inclusive?

How can one religion be 'right' and the others 'wrong'?

Why have so many wars been fought in the name of God?

---------------

Here's the first in a series of excerpts extracted from the book as I journey through it.

Introduction - A Second Look at Doubt

Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts - not only their own but their friends' and neighbours'. It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them. Only if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to sceptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive. And, just as important for our current situation, such a process will lead you, even after you come to a position of strong faith, to respect and understand those who doubt.

1 Peter 3: 15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

But even as believers should learn to look for reasons behind their faith, sceptics must learn to look for a type of faith hidden within their reasoning. All doubts, however sceptical and cynical they may seen, are really a set of alternate beliefs. You cannot doubt Belief A except from a position of faith in Belief B. For example, if you doubt Christianity because ' There can't be just one true religion', you must recognise that this statement is itself an act of faith. No one can prove it empirically, and it is not a universal truth that everyone accepts... Every doubt is based on a leap of faith.

Some people say, 'I don't believe in Christianity because I can't accept the existence of moral absolutes. Everyone should determine moral truth for him/herself.' Is that a statement they can prove to someone who doesn't share it? No, it is a leap of faith, a deep belief that individual rights operate not only in the political sphere but also in the moral. There is no empirical proof for such a position. So the doubt (of moral absolute) is a leap.

Some will respond to all this, “My doubts are not based on a leap of faith. I have no beliefs about God one way or another. I simply feel no need for God and I am not interested in thinking about it.” But hidden beneath this feeling is the very modern American belief that the existence of God is a matter of indifference unless it intersects with my emotional needs. The speaker is betting his or her life that no God exists who would hold you accountable for your beliefs and behaviour if you didn’t feel the need for him. That may be true or it may not be true, but, again, it is quite a leap of faith.

The only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly is to discern the alternate belief under each of your doubts and then to ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it. How do you know your belief is true? It would be inconsistent to require more justification for Christian belief than you do for your own, but that is frequently what happens. In fairness you must doubt your doubts. My thesis is that if you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs—you will discover that your doubts are not as solid as they first appeared.

IBM WebSphere, SOA and XML Certification 2011 Assess and Save Promotion

2011-03-05T14:04:00.000+11:00

It's not too late to take advantage of this 50% discount off certification fees for this year!

Spencer Wells builds a family tree for humanity | Video on TED.com

2011-02-27T23:55:00.000+11:00

Spencer Wells builds a family tree for humanity | Video on TED.com

Setting up domain name aliases on Google Apps

2011-01-23T14:00:00.006+11:00

Google Apps support the use of domain name aliases, a feature which saved me hours of otherwise painstaking work of having to migrate my users from one domain to another. It does have a number of limitations, which are documented in detail here.

A number of things to keep in mind:

1. You cannot set different policies or configuration settings for different domains.
Think of the domain alias (or non-primary domain name) as a secondary route to Google Apps. It is essentially bound up with the primary name and pretty much inherits all features of the primary.

2. Custom URLs for accessing Google Apps are available only for the primary domain.
What this means is if you have a domain alias called myDomainAlias.org and a custom start page called start.myPrimaryDomain.org, then start.myDomainAlias.org is not going to work.

This extends to the Google Aps Control Panel whereby you must use your primary domain name in order to access it, as follows:

http://www.google.com/a/myPrimaryDomain.org

3. If you are getting a "Activate Domain Alias" state despite having had the new name verified, go to "Domain Settings -> General -> New Services and Pre-release Features".
where it says "Next generation (US English only)", change it to "Current version".

4. Once the MX records are in place for your domain alias and activiated on Google Apps, the new domain alias will automatically show up an additional email "Nickname" for all your users. However, for them to able to send (receival is already taken care of) messages using the new email nickname would require custom changes to your Gmail account setting, as detailed here.

At the time of this writing, Google Apps does not allow changing of primary domain name. The use of domain alias should address the majority of day-to-day requirements and there is no serious downside to having a non-primary domain name aka domain alias functioning as a primary one. If you must migrate to a new domain, consider using GAM which can help to automate part of your process.

Theistic Evolution or Biologos

2011-01-08T08:06:00.008+11:00

Francis Collins in his book, The Language of God, sets out the following 6 major premises that underlie the concept of Theistic Evolution (or to use his preferred coined term, Biologos):

(page 200)
1. The universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 billion years ago

2. Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life.

3. While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time.

4. Once evolution got under way, no special supernatural intervention was required.

5. Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes.

6. But humans are also unique in ways that deft evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.

And here's his response to some of the common criticisms of Biologos. This is garnered from the same book as well as highlights from his presentation at the Veritas Forum at Caltech in 2009 - including relevant thoughts from CS Lewis whom Collins heavily quoted in his speech and book:

1. If evolution is random, how could God really be in charge?

The solution is actually readily at hand, once one ceases to apply human limitations to God. If God is outside of nature, then he is outside of space and time. In that context, God could in the moment of creation of the universe also know every detail of the future. That could include the formation of the stars, planets, and galaxies... and the evolution of humans... In that context, evolution could appear to us to be driven by chance, but from God's perspective the outcome would be entirely specified. Thus, God could be completely and intimately involved in the creation of all species, while from our perspective, limited as it is by the tyranny of linear time, this would appear a random and undirected process.

2. Isn't evolution a purely random process? Doesn't that take God out of it?

Again, it might seem random to us, but if God is outside of time, randomness doesn't make sense anymore. God could have complete knowledge of the outcome in a process that seems random to us. I suppose in that way we could say God is inhabiting the process all the way along. It's not a fundamental problem, despite the way it is often portrayed as such.

3. Is it possible to rectify evolution with Genesis 1-2?

Down through the ages most theologians did not conclude that a literal reading is required. Genesis 1 and 2 portray two stories of creation, and they don't quite agree in terms of the order of appearance of plants and humans. So they can't both be literally correct. Maybe that's a suggestion to us as we read these two accounts that this is not intended to be a scientific treatise.

St. Augustine wrote no less than 4 books on the question of Genesis. Here's his exhortation:

"In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it."

4. Is free will in conflict with a deterministic world - at least according to physics?

The principle of uncertainty is a reality in quantum mechanics. It's something we have to deal with and it's a legitimate argument.

CS Lewis wrote,

"If you choose to say 'God can give a creature freewill and at the same time withhold freewill from it,' you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words 'God can.' Nonsense remains nonsense, even when we talk it about God."

5. Why would a loving God allow suffering in the world?

Consider this, if the most important decision we are to make on this earth is a decision about belief, and if the most important relationship we are to develop on this earth is a relationship with God, and if our existence as spiritual creatures is not limited to what we an know and observe during our earthly lifetime, then human sufferings take on a wholly new context. We may never fully understand the reasons for these painful experiences, but we can begin to accept the idea that there may be such reasons.

There's no immunization from evil, only the reassurance that the suffering would not be in vain. This notion that God can work through adversity is not an easy concept, and can find anchor only in a worldview that embraces a spiritual perspective. The principle of growth through suffering is, in fact, nearly universal in the world's great faiths.

Lewis wrote, "We want, in fact, not so much a father in Heaven as a grandfather in Heaven - a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'likes to see young people enjoying themselves,' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, 'a good time was had by all.' The reality is life is more a vale of tears than a garden of delight. This may seem like a paradox but it can be reconciled if we consider this, 'His Plan is not the same as ours'."

Carson's books on daily devotional

2010-12-31T15:48:00.006+11:00

Don Carson is a regular contributor on the Gospel Coalition website and being a big Carson fan that's the first place where I thought I should begin my own research for ideas/guidelines on systematic bible study for the small group.

I wasn't disappointed and found this:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2010/12/28/carson%E2%80%99s-for-the-love-of-god-blog/

It's basically two books (or volumes) comprising comments and expositions from Carson married to a daily bible reading scheme devised by Robert M’Cheyne (born 1813).

Each volume covers the entire calendar year and the two are complementary - the first volume is focused mainly on what is the termed the "Family" columns (2x) and the second for the "Private" columns (2x) - altogether 4 columns. The readings labelled as "Family" can be read in family/small group devotions, and those marked "Private" are perhaps more appropriate for personal devotions.

I thought both Carson and M’Cheyne are absolutely right to suggest as Christian we should cultivate the daily habit of reading the bible in a systematic way. If we follow the reading chart diligently, it would take us through the New Testament and Psalms twice each year, and through the rest of the Bible once! In fact Carson went so far as to suggest that if we must skip something, then skip the book and read the Bible instead.

In a small group setting, Carson's edifying comments as found in either volumes would be beneficial for a leader/facilitator during discussion. Both volumes are freely available for download and use so there's no upfront cost.

The legitimate download links for these books are as follows:

Volume 1:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1998_for_the_love_of_God.pdf

Volume 2:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1999_for_the_love_of_God.pdf

Is Evolution At Odds with God?

2010-11-25T23:22:00.012+11:00

Theodosius Dobzhansky, a leading biologist once said, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."

And Arthur Peacocke, the distinguished British molecular biologist wrote a book titled, "Evolution: The Disguised Friend of Faith?"

Francis Collins, in his book, "The Language of God", where he laid out a convincing case - from a scientist's perspective - that evolution does not disprove the idea that God worked out His creative plan by means of evolution, and compelling evidence in genomic research (and he spoke with authority here as former director of the Human Genome Project) would relieve God of the responsibility for multiple acts of specific creation for each species on the planet. He also argued whilst evolution may account for biological complexities (through Darwin's theory of natural selection) and the origin of humankind, DNA sequence alone, will never explain certain special human attributes, such as the knowledge of the Moral Law and the universal desire in search of a creator. He wrote, "Freeing God from the burden of special acts of creation does not remove Him as the source of the things that make humanity special, and of the universe itself. It merely shows us something of how He operates."

Writing in Scientific American, Stephen Jay Gould, an eminent biologist and scientist outlined his position:

"To say it for all my colleagues and for the umpteenth million time: Science simply cannot by its legitimate methods adjudicate the issue of God's possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm nor deny it; we simply can't comment on it as scientists. If some of our crowd have made untoward statements claiming that Darwinism disproves God, then I will find Mrs. McInerney [Gould's third grade teacher] and have their knuckles rapped for it... Science can work only with naturalistic explanations; it can neither affirm nor deny other types of actors (like God) in other spheres (the moral realm, for example).

Forget philosophy for a moment; the simple empirics of the past hundred years should suffice. Darwin himself was agnostic (having lost his religious beliefs upon the tragic death of his favorite daughter), but the great American botanist Asa Gray, who favored natural selection and wrote a book entitled Darwiniana, was a devout Christian. Move forward 50 years: Charles D. Walcott, discoverer of the Burgess Shale fossils, was a convinced Darwinian and an equally firm Christian, who believed that God had ordained natural selection to construct a history of life according to His plans and purposes. Move on another 50 years to the two greatest evolutionists of our generation: G. G. Simpson was a humanist agnostic. Theodosius Dobzhansky a believing Russian Orthodox. Either half my colleagues are enormously stupid, or else the science of Darwinism is fully compatible with conventional religious beliefs—and equally compatible with atheism."

Is evolution at odds with God?

The great missed opportunity

2010-11-13T22:31:00.026+11:00

America's greatest failing, in the run-up to the Cold War period, is that the US seemed in fact to have no foreign policy at all. In his Boston speech delivered to the Massachusetts Legislature on July 25, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur asked, "Is there wonder that men who seek an objective understanding of American policy thinking become completely frustrated and bewildered? Is there wonder that Soviet propaganda so completely dominates American foreign policy? And, indeed, what is our foreign policy? ...

He added, "Expediences as variable and shifting as the exigencies of the moment seem to be the only guide. Yesterday we disarmed, today we arm - and what of tomorrow? We have been told of the war in Korea, that it is the wrong war, at the wrong time and in the wrong place. Does this mean that they intend and indeed plan what they would call a right war, at a right time and in a right place? ... Do we intend to resist by force Red aggression in South-east Asia if it develops? These are the questions that disturb us, because there is no answer forthcoming."

The outcome of the Korean War could have been a complete triumph for the UN forces if it weren't for a lack of sound US military policy at that critical juncture. On October 17. 1951, in an address before the annual convention of the American Legion in Florida, MacArthur said,

"There is no slightest doubt in my mind that the Soviet has been engaging in the greatest bulldozing diplomacy history has ever recorded. Without committing a single soldier to battle, he has assumed direct or indirect control over a large part of the population of the world. His intrigue has found its success not so much in his own military strength, nor indeed in any overt threat of intent to commit it to battle, but in the moral weakness of the free world.

It is a weakness which has caused many free nations to succumb to and embrace the false tenets of Communist propaganda. It is a weakness which has caused our own policymakers, after committing American troops to battle, to leave them to the continuous slaughter of an indecisive campaign by imposing arbitrary restraints upon the support we might otherwise provide them through maximum employment of our scientific superiority, which alone offers hope of early victory. It is a weakness which now causes those in authority to strongly hint at a settlement of the Korean conflict under conditions short of the objectives our soldiers were led to believe were theirs to attain and for which so many yielded their lives."

History has shown that during the early stage of the Korean conflict in 1950, the UN forces, under the command of MacArthur, had achieved tremendous military success despite the seemingly impossible odds (see Inchon landing) and more importantly, created a crucial opportunity for the reunification of the two Koreas. That opportunity, sadly, was squandered. The prolonged war cost both parties dearly in material and lives and did not cease till July 1953 (although the two are technically still at war, with the conflict far from being resolved).

In the same speech in Florida, MarArthur spelt out this major blunder and prophetically foreseen a long drawn out bigger war between the West and Communism, epitomised in the longest cold war in history (1947-1991) between the US and Soviet Union.

"Military victory had been achieved for our cause, and men turned their thoughts from the task of mass killing to the higher duty of international restoration, from destroying to rebuilding, from destruction to construction (note: he's referring to post war Japan where he assumed the role of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers between 1945-1951). Everywhere in the free world they lifted up their heads and hearts in thanksgiving for the advent of peace in which ethics and morality based upon truth and justice might thereafter fashion the universal code. Then more than ever in history of the modern world a materially strong and spiritually vibrant leadership was needed to consolidate the victory into a truly enduring peace for all of the human race. America, at the very apex of her military power, was the logical nation to which the world turned for leadership. It was a crucial moment - one of the greatest opportunities ever known.

But our political and military leaders failed to comprehend it. Sensitive only to the expediences of the hour, they dissipated with reckless haste that predominant military power which was the key to the situation (note: I can think of no place where this is truer than in Korea). Our forces were rapidly and completely demobilized... The world was thus left exposed and vulnerable to an international Communism whose long publicized plan had been to await just such a favourable opportunity to establish dominion over the free nations.

The stage had, perhaps unwittingly, been set in secret and most unfortunate war conferences. The events which followed will cast their shadow upon history for all time. Peoples with long traditions of human freedom progressively fell victims to a type of international brigandage and blackmail, and the so-called Iron Curtain descended rapidly upon large parts of Europe and Asia (note: just 4 years after his speech, the Vietnam war broke out). As events have unfolded, the truth has become clear. Our great military victory has been offset, largely because of military unpreparedness, by the political successes of the Kremlin."

Further, MacArthur's view on American's foreign policy regarding the Asia Pacific (especially Far East) is outlined in a speech in Seattle on November 13, 1951, he said, "To the early pioneer the Pacific Coast marked the end of his courageous westerly advance. To us it should mark but the beginning. To him it delineated our western frontier. To us that frontier has been moved across the Pacific horizon. ...

Our economic frontier now embraces the trade potentialities of Asia itself; for with the gradual rotation of the epicenter of world trade back to the Far East whence it started many centuries ago, the next thousand years will find the main problem the raising of the sub-normal standards of life of its more than a billion people...

Such possibility seem, however, beyond the comprehension of some high in our government circles, who still feel that the Pacific Coast marks the pratical terminus of our advance and westerly boundary of our immedite national interests - that any opportunity for the expansion of our foreign trade must be found mainly in the area of Europe and the Middle East...

There should be no rivalry between our East and our West - no pitting of Atlantic interests against those of the Pacific. The problem is global, not sectional. The living standards of the people of the Oriental East must and will be raised by a closer relativity with that of the Occidental West."

Rendezvous with history

2010-11-09T00:17:00.017+11:00

Whilst a notable event, the recent visit of Hilary Clinton to Melbourne is not what I have in mind when I used the title "Rendezvous with history" for this particular post.

It was in fact Douglas MacArthur (1880 -1964), the war time US Army general whose name sprang to mind, and specifically his biography by Courtney Whitney bearing the same title. Whitney did a sterling job with the book, which I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone serious in knowing about the historical events leading up to the surrender of Japan to the Allied forces during WWII, and the subsequent Korean war, brought on by the threat of communism. More importantly, you get a truthful account of MacArthur, as a person, from Whitney who was a firsthand witness during those momentous years.

As John Ruskin points out in his Stones of Venice, "The only history worth reading, is that written at the time of which it treats the history of what was done and seen, heard out of the mouths of the men who did and saw."

During the joint conference with Clinton in Melbourne, Kevin Rudd, the Australian Foreign Minister (and former Prime Minister) began his speech with the reminder of the nation's strong war time connection with the United States forged during MacArthur's stint in the country in the early 1940s when he not only defended Australia against potential hostile Japanese invasion, but also launched a series of offensive attacks in New Guinea which eventually led to the liberation of Philippines.

In his 1962 address to the US Military Academy at West Point, MacArthur, aged 82, delivered what would become one of the greatest speeches by a military leader. He spoke without notes for over 30 minutes based on the enduring theme of 'duty, honour, country', which remains the motto of West Point.

"To build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn...

The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong." - MacArthur

Listen to his calm, measured yet powerfully spoken words first before reading the transcripts.

Unbeknownst to many, he played a prominent role in sowing the seeds of positive change in East Asia, South East Asia and Australia those many years ago, and remains a towering figure of hope, integrity and honour for many.

A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

2010-10-12T20:48:00.006+11:00

http://vimeo.com/8897865 - An engaging talk from the Veritas Forum by Dr. Francis Collins, ex-director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (formerly the Human Genome Project, which he saw to fruition in 2003).

Dr. Collins presents a case for harmony between faith in science and faith in God. He also shares about his personal intellectual and spiritual journey from agnosticism, to atheism, and to Christianity.

He is the author of the best seller The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

In 2006, Dr. Collins engaged in a 90-minute debate with Richard Dawkins. Excerpts of their exchanges can still be found in the article God vs. Science on the Time Magazine website.

How to let your little ones browse the net with your blessing?

2010-10-10T14:58:00.011+11:00

Parents often moan about how unsafe the Internet is for their children to surf and browse about if left unsupervised.

Although there's no panacea, there's an increasing number of tools designed to help parents protect their little ones from inappropriate content. Here's a few tips (thanks to BBC Click):

1. The latest version of major browsers/OSes all come with basic parental control features. For example the Content Advisor on IE8, Kid-Safe LinkExtend for Chrome & Firefox and built-in parental control on Mac OS and Windows 7.

2. Install a kid-friendly, features-rich browser such as Kid Rocket where children can surf safely behind a walled garden. Or try out Zoodles. Built using Adobe AIR, it promotes learning through interactive games and videos. The browser works off a whitelist so children stay on sites that are pre-approved by Zoodles. The application runs in full screen mode, and cleverly designed to make it difficult for children to break out from. The Zoodles interfaces is age-appropriate and adapts accordingly. Here's a few alternatives offering similar child friendly browsing capabilities:

Since we are on the subject on learning and education, I thought I might as well mention these websites:

Mrthornedoesphonics.com - If you are looking for a useful resource for learning about English phonics then look no further than the website that belongs to a Year-1 teacher from North London, one Mr Thorne.

The Khan Academy - Known as "Bill Gates' favorite teacher", Sal Khan's innovative collection of tutorials have been watched by millions world-wide. His gift, like that of many effective teachers, is being able to reduce the complex. "Part of the beauty of what he does is his consistency," says Gates.

Live and Become

2010-09-22T23:59:00.006+10:00

A poignant and uplifting journey of human spirit, Live and Become (2005, directed by Radu Mihaileanu) tells the story of Schlomo, a 9-year old boy from war-torn and poverty stricken Ethiopia, who was forced by his mother to pretend he is a Jewish orphan so that he has a chance at being adopted by an upper class Jewish family in Israel.

"A mother who loves her son so desperately, she's willing to send him away, and never see him again, ready to lose him... to save him."

The drama unfolds slowly over two-hours during which Schlomo grew up to be a young man. His role had to be played by three different actors to reflect the change of time. Peppered with wisdom, this film is unmissable!!

They had been forgotten on their mountaintops, near Gondar. Yet, since the dawn of time, the Ethiopian Jews, known as the "Falashas", dreamed of returning to their homeland, the Holy Land, Jerusalem. With Israeli and U.S. Aid, a vast program was undertaken from November to January 1985 to transport the Ethiopian Jews to Israel. The Falashas were returned and finally recognized as descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Israeli secret service carried out the operation on the sly, keeping it from the Mengitsu pro-Soviet regime who had prohibited their emigration. The Falashas walked from Ethiopia to Sudan, a Muslim country under Charia law. There, they had to hide their Jewish identity under pain of death In Sudan, planes awaited to take them to Israel. On the road, hundreds died of sickness, famine, exhaustion. Others were killed by bandits. In the 1980s, the Sudanese camps welcomed thousands of Africans from 26 countries who were prey to famine: Christians, Muslims, and clandestine Jews. The first secret airlift operation, known as "Operation Moses", saved 8,000 Ethiopian Jews. 4,000 died on the road between Ethiopia and Sudan, murdered, tortured or suffering from famine, thirst and exhaustion. Many children reached the Holy Land alone or as orphans.

Ridley Melbourne and Don Carson's visit

2010-08-22T22:45:00.023+10:00

This year Ridley Melbourne is celebrating its 100th year of equipping students for gospel ministry. The college is celebrating with a number of events, but particularly through the visit of Don Carson. Along with a 4-day conference for preachers, Don Carson is the keynote speaker at the Ridley Dinner, the guest preacher at the joint St Hillary's - St James - St Mark's Sunday service at the Ivanhoe Town Hall (took place today), and the guest speaker for a 5-night "Christ-expo" mission at Storey Hall.

The photo shown here was taken this morning after the combined special service at Ivanhoe where Professor Carson preached from Luke 16:19-31 with a sermon titled "The Rich Man and Lazarus". You may find his speech from the St Hilary's website.

He kicked off his sermon with this,

"How shall we understand this parable? Is Jesus simply saying there's a simple and universal reversal that takes place between one's status in this life and one's status in the life to come? Live well, end in hell, suffer pain, and enjoy great gain? That's all that is. Clearly there's some sort of reversal going on here. But to universalize is to stand against a great deal of scriptural evidence. On the one hand there are some God blessed and Godly rich people in this world, what shall we make of these people?"

He concluded with the following pastoral reflections (edited transcript):

1. The things in which we take so much pride, the things where our self-identity is attached - wealth, ethnicity, religious privilege, power, beauty, strength, influence - may actually blind us to our need of grace; they become ways by which we justify ourselves, rate and rank ourselves in the society. They lead to pride and arrogance to division in churches and in the broader world. Reject false formula! Aren't signs of wealth simply proof of blessing from God? In one sense these are demonstration of the blessings of God but not the ultimate blessing. Who is justified? Lazarus is! The one whom God justified is finally the one who cries, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'

Note: What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.

2. We must listen to the witness of scripture or we are doomed. God in His great mercy has disclosed Himself in great events across the ages, like the Exodus, like a burning bush, through prophets who came and spoke God's word to both rebuke and comfort us, like the return of people from Exile and finally in the coming of His son. And these things He hasn’t left us naked events that have come down in legends and tradition but in words that we can study and know the mind of God so that we can think God's thoughts after Him. Finally in the Word incarnate the word made flesh. The Word who actually lived for a while and dwelled amongst us so that we see as it were God’s words in flesh, the Word made flesh. He came to bear our sins in his own body. We must listen to the witness of scripture regarding God and His provision for us.

3. There's a sphere of rejoicing to pursue, there’s a place of torment to flee. Biblical Christianity is not just about having a better life here, being morally disciplined, bringing up your kids to be decent Christian, having certain integrity at work – although it touches all of those things. Biblical Christianity is also getting people ready to die well, to stand before God to hear his well done. Or alternately hear, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.” What does Biblical Christianity stake everyday of our lives? It’s not only the array of choices before us in our lives, our homes our works our families, but heaven and hell with God, or be abandoned by Him.

Which justification will you pursue? You are wrong, I’m good enough? Or the justification that comes from God alone, by repentance and faith.

Note:
Those who are confident of their self righteousness are those who justify themselves but are they justified before God?

We are all African!

2010-06-13T07:58:00.008+10:00

So said Desmond Tutu, former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel laureate, at the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg.

He paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, without whom a world cup held on African soil would not have become a reality today.

He extended the warmest welcome to everyone present in the stadium. He welcomed them home to Africa, the cradle of humankind.

He is right. We think how are we are different except that we are not. I come from East Africa. We all do.

The 5-year Genographic project led by National Geographic will soon come to an end this year. The journey of humankind continues unabated, if anything the pace of world migration is increasing which means the research output from the project will help fill the gaps in our understanding of our ancestors' movement over the millennia. This will ensure knowledge of our deep ancestry is preserved for future generations.

Where will our journey lead us to? Will there ever be an end to the human journey? Is there an end? To answer that we need all the knowledge that we can muster in this world, and most importantly we need to read the word that is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path.

Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization

2010-06-10T22:00:00.004+10:00

A new book bearing the above title is out. The author is none other than Spencer Wells, the guy who spearheads the Genographic Project.

I found out about the new book quite by chance when I saw Spencer being interviewed on the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (which I don't normally watch).

A brief overview of the book (pinched from National Geograhic, where Spencer is now an Explorer-in-Residence)

Terrorism, pandemic disease, and global warming—what do these have in common? To find the answer we need to go back ten millennia, to the wheat fields of the Fertile Crescent and the rice paddies of southern China. It was then that our species made a radical shift in its way of life, progressing from a largely hunter-gatherer society, eking out a living within the constraints of the world around us, to controlling our food supply by domesticating animals and plants. Journey with Dr. Wells on a 10,000-year tour of human history as he charts the rise to power of Homo agriculturis and the effects this radical shift in lifestyle has had on our species, and speculates on where we might be headed in the future.

Tears on Toast

2010-06-08T18:15:00.005+10:00

The daily ABC morning broadcast of Classic Breakfast's Tears on Toast is absolutely divine. The show's popularity is to no small extent due to the attractive qualities of its current presenter Emma Ayres. Originally from Shropshire, Emma has a low silky voice (reminds me of BBC Desert Island's Kirsty Young) and a great sense of humour. Some listeners might be put off by her English accent at first but I'm sure they will warm to her almost casual and comforting style of delivery every morning.

"Tears On Toast" features some of opera's greatest tragedies & triumph. Although my knowledge of opera and classical music is acutely limited, I nonetheless enjoy the interesting narratives and ensuing musical drama.

There’s no better way to start your day - as ABC would like to keep reminding me.

Blog update

2010-05-15T21:45:00.008+10:00

Not sure if this is of interest to anyone except the few stalwarts (if any) who are still following this blog. Sorry for having neglected this for a fair while. The excuse? Well I just moved 10,496 miles from the Known Land to the Antipodes (I will leave you to work out from which city and to which).

Having lived here since March, we are pretty much settled in but that wouldn't be technically correct because we are still without furniture and our personal effect, which is languishing in a quarantine facility somewhere in Victoria (here you go, another hint for you). Living off suitcases does have one upside, it makes you realise just how amazingly little you can get by with without owning very much.

Besides trying to get to grips with the local systems - that's playgroups, tax, transport, banking, telcos, healthcare, employment, pension and legal for you parents - there's many other cultural elements that need to be absorbed. Making friends has never been quite this fun in the familiar social and work circles we are in thanks to the many things we already share in common. Even befriending a stranger in a lift or someone walking the dog in a park had come easily enough it made me think this is not a bad part of the world to be in.

2010 Medal of Honor Winner: Andrew J. Viterbi

2010-05-15T21:43:00.001+10:00

”After you see this approach, you wonder why nobody thought of it before,” says Robert G. Gallager, an MIT professor emeritus and an eminent scholar in communications theory. ”But that’s what the best inventions are. After you see them, they are obvious.”

This quiet engineer enabled 3G cellphones, Wi-Fi, and a host of other technologies.

Click here for the full article published on IEEE Spectrum.

God or Allah: which term to use? - What is at stake?

2010-05-12T18:59:00.003+10:00

Reproduced from the barnabasaid. First published on April 30, 2010.

Introduction

Many Christians in the West are concerned about the right and appropriate use of the words “God” and Allah in various contexts and with various meanings. At the same time, in Malaysia the authorities are attempting to prevent Christians from using the term Allah in their publications and worship, despite that fact that this is the word for “God” in the Malaysian national language.

To confuse matters still further, some Muslims in the West are trying to prevent Muslims from using the English term “God” instead of Allah in their sermons and writings, while others are recommending that they replace Allah with the English “God” when speaking or writing in English, presumably to improve receptivity for the message of Islam amongst English-speaking peoples.[1]

The origins of the term Allah

The Arabic word for a god, ilah, is derived from a Semitic root and is similar to the Biblical Hebrew words el, eloha and elohim. In Aramaic (Syriac) the equivalent word is alaha. Even some early Muslim scholars held that the word was of Hebrew or Aramaic origin.[2]The Arabic term for God, Allah, is derived from al-ilah and means “the god”.[3] Pre-Islamic Christian Arab poets used al-ilah as a term for God.[4]

The Arabic term Allah, used for the one God, pre-dates Muhammad, and Arabic-speaking Christians have always used this word to denote the God of the Bible. They have used it in Arabic Scriptures, hymns, poems, writings and worship, long before the religion of Islam was founded. The first extant mention of Allah in Christian Arabic is in a tri-lingual Greek, Syriac and Arabic inscription in Zabad (near Aleppo, Syria), dated 512.[5]

For pagan Arabs, Allah referred to a pagan creator highgod who stood above the multitude of lesser gods worshipped in North Arabia and specifically in Mecca in pre-Islamic times. He was called simply “the god”, al-ilah, a term that later developed into Allah. Allah was the creator and supreme provider, and alone of all the gods in Mecca he was not represented by an idol. However, the pagans focused their devotion and cult on the host of lesser deities that served as intermediaries between humans and the high god and that interceded with him on their behalf.[6] Allah was relegated to the background.[7]

Muhammad used the existing Arabic term Allah in his proclamation of the one God of Islam, most likely based on concepts borrowed from Judaism, Christianity and paganism. Muslim theologians later came to regard the term Allah as the personal name of the one God.

Christian arguments against the use of Allah for God

Most Christians hold that Christians and Muslims do not believe in the same God. They argue that since the understandings of God in the two religions are so different, they cannot be worshipping the same God.

Others go further and claim that the god of the Muslims, Allah, is a pagan deity (usually identified with the moon god) who is still being worshipped in Islam. Still others claim that the term Allah is not simply the Arabic word for God, but the Muslim deity’s personal name; they claim that it is equivalent to “Jehovah” (or “Yahweh”) for the God of the Bible. Therefore, they argue, Christians must not use it in any context or language, as it does not generically signify God, but only the false, pagan god of the Muslims.[8] Finally, some go further and assert that the Allah of Islam “is not God, but a demonic misleading spirit” that holds the whole Muslim world in bondage.[9]

In one sense, the use of the name Allah in Arabic should trouble Muslims more than Arabic-speaking Christians. For Christians it has always referred to the one God of the Bible. For Muslims it has precedents in both pagan idolatry and the Christian Arabic term for the one God, both of which are very different from the Islamic concept of Allah.

The debate (mainly outside the Arabic-speaking world) about whether Arab Christians should use the word Allah for God seems strange to some. The English word “God” is derived from a Germanic word used by pagan Germanic tribes for their gods in pre-Christian times. When these tribes accepted Christianity, the term they knew and used was applied to the one true God of Christianity. The capital “G” is used to signify “the God” so as to distinguish Him from all other, false gods. Something similar is true of the Greek word for God used in the original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Old Testament (ho theos).

It would thus seem unnecessary to prevent Arab Christians from using the same methodology in Arabic that their critics employ in their own language. This is true even if we accept that for Muslims Allah is their God’s personal name, the name for his essence, not an adjective like other terms used for God. Western Christians do not normally use Hebrew or Greek terms for God in their languages; they use words from their own language. The equivalent for Arab (and some other) Christians is to use Allah rather than a term that is foreign to their language and culture.

The Allah controversy in Malaysia

According to the constitution, Bahasa Malaysia (the language of the ethnic Malays) is the official language of the state of Malaysia. It was decreed to be the single official language of Malaysia through the National Language Act, originally passed in 1963, amended in 1967 and reviewed in 1987. It was viewed as a unifying national symbol, and its acceptance by the non-Malay ethnic groups in preference to their own indigenous languages or to English was seen as a test of their loyalty to the state. It has also become a tool for maintaining and strengthening the dominance of the (Muslim) Malay ethnic group in the state, who are almost all Muslim[10]. Indeed, part of the official Malaysian definition of a Malay is that he or she is a Muslim. As the pressure for an Islamic state has intensified, the use of the Malay language by the non-Malays was also seen as part of their submission to the political rule of Islam.

The Malaysian federal government as well as some state governments have, since the 1980s, banned non-Muslims from using certain Arabic Islamic terms, which have been reserved for Muslim use only. The argument is that these are exclusively Islamic terms and that their use by non-Muslims would confuse Muslims, tempt them to become Christians, and threaten harmony, security and public order.[11] Originally 16 terms were banned, and then the government agreed to let Christian publications use twelve of these words on condition that the books or pamphlets had the word “Christian” printed on their front covers. The remaining banned terms include the term Allah for God, which must not be used in Christian publications, including Bibles.

Proponents of this view claim that the use of Allah by Christians in Bahasa Malaysia and other indigenous languages is part of an effort to convert Malay Muslims to Christianity. The ban is also seen by some as part of the ruling party’s (UMNO) efforts at further Islamising Malaysia as it seeks to restore its weakening support among Muslim voters.[12]

The ban completely ignores the fact that Christians in a variety of majority-Muslim countries, including in the Arab world and Indonesia, have for centuries used the word Allah for the God of the Bible. Prominent Muslims in various countries have ridiculed the ban, some pointing to the following Qur’anic verse as a clear Islamic basis for the Christian use of the term:

And dispute ye not with the People of the Book except with means better (than mere disputation) unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury): but say “We believe in the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam).” (Q 29:46)

Even the Islamist “Islamic Party of Malaysia” (PAS) stated that there is no reason to bar Christians and Jews from using the word Allah.[13]

Some Malaysian Christians have also argued that Christians should not use the term Allah, even though it is the most accurate term, because it identifies the Christian God too closely with the Muslim one. However, others have asserted that they have always usedAllah for God in their various languages (many Christians are indigenous tribal people of Sabah and Sarawak with their own languages, such as Iban). They also point out that Allah as the term for deity predated Islam among the pagans and Christians of the Arabian Peninsula.[14]

Government officials have repeatedly defended the ban, which has existed for two decades. It was never fully enforced until recently, although thousands of Bibles, books and CDs in Malay and other indigenous languages were confiscated by the authorities. But in December 2007 Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit, ordered the Catholic weekly The Herald to drop the use of the word Allah in its Malaylanguage section as a condition of having its publishing permit renewed. The official claimed that the term Allah referred only to the Muslim God. He claimed that:

Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people.[15]

The Herald filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming that the ban was unconstitutional and violated freedom of religion. On 31 December 2009 the Malaysia High Court overturned the ban on the use of Allah in the Malay language, ruling that the Catholic Church had a constitutional right to publish the word Allah in the Malay language edition of its weekly newspaper. In the wake of the court decision there were arson attacks on nine Christian churches, a convent and a Sikh temple (Allah is used in the Sikh scriptures too). The government has appealed against the court’s decision, and the final verdict on this issue has not yet been given. Nor is it clear how far the precedent set would affect other Christian publications and literature.

Malaysia is often seen in the West as a model of a successful and “moderate” Muslim state. The rise of Islamic extremism in the highest levels of its government is very worrying and threatens the future of its non-Muslim communities. There is also a danger that this intolerance will spread to neighbouring Muslim states, especially Indonesia, causing a further deterioration in the status of non-Muslim communities there.

What is at stake?

It is important to realise that there are vital theological truths at stake in these arguments. Christians believe in the one true God who rules over the entire universe, including all human beings, whether those human beings believe in Him or not. There is only one God, exalted, majestic and sovereign. The God Christians believe in as revealed in the Bible is not a local God; not a mere “Christian God” or “Muslim God”; not God of the Jews only, or of the Christians only, but God of all and over all. As Paul says:

Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. (Romans 3:29)

The important question is not whether Muslims and Christians use the same term for God or even whether they believe in the same God or in different gods, but what they each believe about God and His character. Christians understand the nature of God by looking into the face of Christ, who revealed God to humanity. They believe that God’s primary attribute is love and call him “Father”. They base their concept of God on the whole Bible.

The Muslim understanding of the character of their God is very different from the God revealed in the Bible. Islam stresses God’s unity, greatness, transcendence, otherness and might. God is so “other” that he cannot be adequately described in human language; neither can he enter into the experiences of humanity; so he cannot suffer. In Christianity, God is personal and relational, and in Christ – and supremely in His cross – God has entered into His people’s experience of suffering. Islam denies Christ’s deity, incarnation and crucifixion, and thus His atoning sacrifice and resurrection. Muslims also deny the Trinity, which they understand in carnal terms as God’s having sexual relations with Mary, who then bore Jesus. They state categorically that God can have no son, and they view the Trinity as blasphemy, a pagan belief in three gods. Muslims claim someone else was crucified in Jesus’ place. Islam thus denies the very heart of the Christian faith. Jesus said:

I am the way, the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me”. (John 14:6)

As Muslims do not accept Christ as the only way to God the Father, they can have no valid access to the one and only true God they claim to worship.

Conclusion

So the important theological argument over this issue concerns the character and attributes of the deity who is worshipped. For Christians in Muslim-majority contexts, the debate over the terms that are used to refer to God is a more practical one.

Arab Christians have faithfully used the word Allah for nearly two millennia, and they object to its being seized by Muslims for their exclusive use. Other Christians in the Muslim world want to be true to their own language, culture and history and do not wish to be denigrated as second-class citizens or foreigners in their own land by being obliged to use a different term for God. All these Christians desire the freedom to use the words that most accurately express their beliefs. It is this freedom, not the Western theological debate over the meaning of Allah, that is of primary concern to our persecuted brothers and sisters.

[1] "To Use 'God' or 'Allah'?", editorial, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Volume 26, Number 4, Fall 2009.
[2] Arthur Jeffrey, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'an. Leiden: Brill, 2007 (originally published 1938).
[3] D.B. MacDonald, "Ilah", The Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0, © 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
[4] D.B. MacDonald, "Ilah".
[5] The dating of the Zabad inscription and its Christian origin are confirmed in "'Arabiyya: Arabic language and literature", The Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition.
[6] F.E. Peters, Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994, pp105-118.
[7] F.E. Peters, "Allah" in John L. Esposito (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, Vol. 1, pp76-79; Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs. London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press, 10th edition, 1970, pp96-104; Joseph Henninger, "Pre-Islamic Bedouin Religion", in F.E. Peters (ed.), The Arabs and Arabia on the Eve of Islam. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 1999, pp109-128.
[8] David Pawson, The Challenge of Islam to Christians. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2003, pp103-104.
[9] Abd-Al-Masih, Who is Allah in Islam? Villach, Austria: Light of Life, n.d., p78.
[10] William G. Davey, "The Legislation for Bahasa Malaysia in the Official Language of Malaysia" in Karen L Adams and Daniel T. Brink, eds., Perspectives on Official English, The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter, 1990, pp.95-106.
[11] See Debra Chong, "Malaysia's decades-old Christian 'Allah' issue", The Malaysian Insider, 11 March 2010, and ""When 'Allah' was not the only word banned", Malaysian Insider, 11 March 2010. Other banned terms were al-Kitab for the Bible, Injil for the New Testament, Rasul for Messenger and Nabi for Prophet.
[12] "A Declaration to the Churches in Malaysia", http://www.necf.org.my/newsmaster.cfm?&action=view&menuid=154&retrieveid=976, September 1989 (viewed 25 February 2010); "Catholics Sue Malaysia Over 'Allah' Ban", IslamOnline, 28 December 2007.
[13] "Malaysia's Youngest Mufti: Get Rid of Banned Words for Non-Muslims", IslamToday, http://en.islamtoday.net/artshow-232-3514.htm, 15 February 2010 (viewed 25 February 2010).
[14] Eu Hong Seng, "Why I Use 'Allah'", http://hartalmsm.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/why-i-use-Allah-a-laymans-perspective/, 27 January 2010 (viewed 25 February 2010).
[15] "Allah" is only for Muslims, Malaysian official says", The Catholic News Agency, http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/allah_is_only_for_muslims_malaysian_official_says/, 24 December 2007 (viewed 25 February 2010).

Australia in a nutshell

2010-02-27T19:09:00.002+11:00

In the run-up to this year 70th anniversary of U.S.-Australia relations, Nick Bryant from the BBC has written a blog titled "Australia in a nutshell"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/2010/02/australia_in_a_nutshell.html

Traceroute

2010-02-01T19:26:00.000+11:00

Traceroute gives you the path a packet took to reach its destination. It uses a clever combination of TTL values and ICMP replies to map out the route packets take to reach its destination, usually through many hops.

Unix/Linux uses UDP for Traceroute while Windows uses ICMP (Echo Request).

One can't send an IP header by itself, you need to send an entire packet which means you need an an embedded protocol; you have a choice of either UDP, TCP or ICMP where the default size of each is as below:

UDP (L4 of the OSI) = 8 bytes
TCP (L4) = 20 bytes
ICMP* (L3) = 4 bytes

*ICMP operates on top of IP but do not transport data like UDP or TCP

The designer of Windows decided to go with ICMP, which has the smallest overhead but it suffers from a big disadvantage in that most routers are configured to drop ICMP messages which means Windows traceroute would fail whereas UDP traffic (used by Unix for traceroute) is typically allowed.

Not to mention traceroute traffic is going to be dropped at Layer 3 anyway!

Finally always troubleshoot with IP addresses, not hostname because it helps to eliminate potential DNS issue.

Can we believe in love?

2010-01-24T10:23:00.006+11:00

A transcript from the 2001 Australian film Lantana:

We don't know what to feel anymore. We don't know what's right or wrong anymore. The confused cry of the modern age...

We ask, "What can we believe in? What should we believe in?"

Our politicians? Hardly. Our priests? You'd be amazed at how many clients come to see me because they once believed in a priest.

It's not supposed to be that way. But it is.

What then? Our parents?

"Home is a sanctuary." For the privileged few. For most, it's a battleground.

It's not meant to be like that. But it is.

Love? Can we believe in love? Feel safe in it?

Loving someone means we have to relinquish power. It's mutual surrender.

But how can this take place?

Trust.

Trust is as vital to human relationships as breath is to life...

On TCP, ephemeral ports and ISN

2010-01-23T02:03:00.008+11:00

The TCP source and destination ports are identical to their UDP counterparts (that means UDP 123 is not the same as TCP 123 on the same server!). The source port indicates the port on which the sender is listening, and the destination port indicates the port to which the packet should be delivered on the receiving side.

In the past, well-known server ports generally fell below port 1024. These ports should remain constant on the host on which they are offered. It would be impossible to assign a distinct number in this range to every well-known service now that there are so many.

Client ports, often known as ephemeral ports, are normally session source ports that are selected only for a particular connection and are then made available to be reused after the connection is freed. Ephemeral ports are usually numbered 1024 or higher; the largest possible ephemeral port is 65535. When a client initiates a connection to a server, it selects an unused ephemeral port. For most services, the client and server continue to exchange data between the ephemeral port and the server port for the session's entirety. This pair of ports if known as a socket, and it is unique to the particular exchange. That is, there is only one connection on the Internet at any given time that has this combination of source IP and source port connected to this destination IP and destination port.

Sure, another user can connect from another source IP to this same destination IP and destination port, but that user has a different source IP and most likely a different source port. There might even be someone from the same source IP connected to the same destination IP and port; however, this user is given a different ephemeral port, thereby distinguishing it from the other connection to the same server and destination port. As an example, two users on the same host might be connection go the same web server. Although these two users have the same source IP, the same destination IP, and port (80), the Web server can maintain which data goes to which user because the ephemeral source ports differed.

TCP uses sequence numbers to track packets and provide reliable delivery of information. The host that is sending the data uses sequence numbers; the receiving host uses acknowledgment numbers to acknowledge the receipt of data.

TCP numbers every byte of data it sends with a unique sequence number. This allows either side of the connection to refer to specific bytes by number (that is "the 103rd byte you sent me"). A connection's Initial Sequence Number (ISN) is the first sequence number used in that connection. TCP initializes the ISN to a random or semi-random value (for security reasons the more random the value, the better). Sequence numbers for the rest of the bytes in the connection are then derived from the ISN by incrementing it by 1 for each byte sent. The sequence number of the first byte sent always equals the ISN +1. Therefore, if the ISN was 3003873, the 103rd byte would be sequence number (3003873 + 103) or 3003976.

Older TCP implementations used to start ISNs at 1 and increment them by a fixed number (usually 64000) for each new connection made. More modern stacks start with a random value and increment by different random values for each connection, to keep anyone from guessing what the next valid ISN might be. The best stacks do not increment at all, and return a different pseudo-random ISN for each connection. A given connection could therefore have a lower ISN than the one before it, making it virtually impossible to guess.

The sequence does not start over again with each new packet. It continues until the connection is closed. As we just saw, if a certain packet has a sequence number of 3003873 and contains 103 bytes, the sequence number of the last byte in the packet is 3003976. The sequence number of the first byte in the next packet will be 3003977. If the connection should ever transmit enough data that this 32-bit filed would be too small to contain the actual next sequence number, the count rolls over to 0 and continues.

Acknowledgement numbers are closely tied to sequence numbers. TCP is required to acknowledge every byte of data that it receives. To acknowledge receipt of all data up to a certain byte, the receive puts that byte's sequence number into this field, increments it by 1, sets the ACK flag and sends a packet back to the sender. That is, the acknowledgement number does not specify the last byte received. Rather, it specified the sequence number of the next byte that the receiver expects. Therefore, to acknowledge byte 100, the acknowledgement number would be (ISN + 101), which is the number of the next byte in the sequence.

By sending an acknowledgement, the receiver acknowledges receipt of every byte leading up to that acknowledged byte. For example, it is not possible to indicate that you received bytes 90 through 100, but that you did not receive 85 through 90. If the receiver acknowledges byte 100, it is implicitly acknowledging all preceding bytes. If some packets arrive out of order, the higher sequence numbers are put "on hold" until all the other lower sequence number bytes arrive, and are then reassembled into a coherent stream. If the missing bytes never arrive, the sender times out waiting for them to be acknowledged and eventually sends them again, starting just after the last byte for which it received an acknowledgement.

The SYN, or synchronization bit, is used when establishing a connection and is only used in the first two exchanges of the TCP three-way handshake. The ACK, or acknowledgement bit, is used when a system is acknowledging the receipt of information. In the 3-way handshake, the second the third exchanges are acknowledged.

The above is a snippet from copyrighted material obtained from the SANS.

Come to Him - it's never too late

2010-01-16T19:26:00.004+11:00

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20 has struck a cord with a friend whom I haven't seen for over a year. We met up last night and over supper he said he was moved by the story and has not been able to forget it. Would this do it for you as well?

1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place doing nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

7 'Because no-one has hired us,' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'

9 The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

13 But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Seoul Travel Log

2009-12-30T08:50:00.021+11:00

"Today is Dec 30, the 364th day of 2009. There is 1 day left in the year." Thus reads the opening paragraph of Today In History in the Editorials section of the Korea Herald.

It's been nearly 4 years since I've last been in Seoul. And a visit this time is no less refreshing than the last. What's changed? A few things sprung to mind. Incheon is now serviced by Asiana, a major international carrier in addition to the national one, Korean Air. The increased capacity and introduction of new routes have already turned Incheon into a regional air hub. Quite a few travellers on my 747 flight from Heathrow were bound for destinations in Australasia and North America via the Seoul capital.

And 3G just works! I consistently get full reception wherever I go in Seoul. Compared to 3G coverage in London, which is patchy at best, it's no mean feat.

Although I wouldn't go as far as saying Seoul is foreigner-friendly, I am able to get by without speaking any Korean. The convenience of Homeplus (a joint venture between Samsung and British-based Tesco) means that I can do my grocery shopping, enjoy simmering Odeng (fishcake skewer) or Topokki, and pick up some freshly brewed caffe latte in a single trip.

As for transportation, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is bigger than Madrid's and Paris'. The integrated transport uses a cashless payment system called T-money (a less sophisticated version of London's Oyster) and the fare is cheap.

The city is clearly efficiently run with many previous on-going developments from what I remember 4 years ago - mostly high rise housing and infrastructure projects - now replaced by finished constructions. Travelling across the city you get a feel of the metropolitan buzz. It would be interesting to see what the Koreans would do to further transform Seoul to a cultural and media hub as well. However this vision can only happen if the perceived notion that South Korean is inhospitable to foreigners is dispelled.

S.K Kim, a columnist with the Kore Herald, advocated a drive to build a foreigner-friendly society. In his article (titled "Let's build foreigner-friendly society in the Dec 30th issue of the Korea Herald), he highlighted a remark from a South African, who observed during his stint in South Korea, on the subject of whether the Korean industrialisation model can be replicated in South Africa.:

"I would argue that the decisive determinant in (Korea's) economic performance has been the homogeneity of its people. This homogeneity fostered a deep sense of sameness that could be harnessed to realize national economic and other social goal."

"This sense of sameness takes on an almost primordial character... Consequently we have until recently seen the exclusion of and/or suspicion of foreigners."

With its deep Confucius and widespread Christians roots, the Korean society is largely conservative but generally tolerant. Cultural differences apart, I think the biggest barrier to opening up the Korean society to the globe trotters is possibly the language.

Useful websites:

Lecture at London's National Geographic Store

2009-12-10T08:03:00.002+11:00

Population geneticist and director of the Genographic project, Dr. Spencer Wells will be delivering a special talk at the London's National Geographic Store.

It is free and open to the public but seating is limited. The Genographic Project Public Participation Kits are available for purchase at the National Geographic Store.

For more information visit www.nglondonstore.co.uk/future.html

Sunday, December 13, 3:30-5 p.m.

National Geographic Store 83-97 Regent Street, London W1B 4EW

The Copenhagen summit

2009-12-06T01:00:00.001+11:00

Nick Bryant, who is BBC's Sydney correspondent, interviewed Kevin Rudd, the Australian PM in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit. An excerpt of the interview is as follows:

NB: We've heard many differing assessments of what will come out of the Copenhagen climate change conference, some optimistic, most pessimistic. We're in the final countdown to Copenhagen. I wonder what's your judgement on what will come from it?

PM: Well, we're working towards a Copenhagen agreement. This is a very tough process. You know the number of negotiating countries as well as I do, and forging an agreement across so many different countries is a very difficult process. But having discussed this at length with Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark, President of the United States and some discussion's with the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, was have a capacity to land an agreement, a Copenhagen agreement, one which deals with the core policy challenges for the future - namely, what temperature increase are we prepared to sustain for the future, 2 degrees Centigrade; what targets to we need from the major developed economies around the world; what commitments to action to we need from the major emerging economies like China and India; as well as how do we fund this agreement, what climate change finance arrangement do we put in place for the developing economies.

If we can land an outcome in those principle areas of policy disagreement, then we will have made a very large step forward.

Then, of course, translating that into legalese will take a little longer.

NB: So we're talking here about a non-binding, political agreement. There's no possibility of a legally binding treaty?

PM: I believe what we're talking about with the Copenhagen agreement is what I would describe as an operational framework agreement; if you listen carefully to what President Obama said the other day, one which would take immediate effect. However, there is a separation between what is said in a policy agreement on the one hand and, let me say, the difficulty and the complexity of translating that into a 4,000-page binding legal document, but you cannot get to the second stage unless you've done the first.

Heads of policy agreement are essential in order to allow the legal drafters to go to work.

NB: Can you give us a sense of a timeframe on how long it will take to codify this political agreement into a legally binding treaty?

PM: I can only speak for myself, as Prime Minister of Australia. I would expect that if we could get the heads of a policy agreement in the key areas I was referring to just before then in the course of 2010 I believe we can deliver a legally binding treaty document. One inevitable flows from the other.

Unless you've got a core agreement on the policy matters which are still on the table, you can't set the legal drafters to work. In part, that's what's presented itself as a difficulty so far. The legal drafters can't actually invent agreement where there is none. Therefore, it comes back to heads of government to craft the content of a policy agreement.

Further reading:

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/2009/11/rudd_upbeat_on_copenhagen.html?page=10

To Infinities and Beyond...

2009-11-14T11:26:00.004+11:00

Found this interesting interview of Professor John Barrow by Mandy Garner in the Cambridge Alumni Magazine (Issue 58 Michaelmas 2009):

JOHN BARROW IS THAT RARE THING: a true polymath. In an era when everyone is a specialist, he appears to be able to turn his hand to almost anything.

He is a populariser of science, leads Cambridge’s unique maths outreach programme, the Millennium Mathematics Project, has written an award-winning play and is an expert not only in maths but also astrophysics. He was Vice-President of Clare Hall. Oh, and on the side, he is also a bit of an athlete, having beaten Steve Ovett in the 800 metres in his youth.

Yet, despite all his accomplishments, Barrow appears very modest. His office in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, a futuristic and appropriately geometrically shaped building, is compact and lined with books, including those he read as a teenager, such as The Stars by Roger Tayler. His passion for maths and astronomy is palpable.

However, Barrow’s first qualifications were in the humanities. At school, sat his English A Level at 15 and two other arts A Levels at the end of the first year of sixth form. Indeed, it was not until his final year at school that he finally sat four science A levels.

He says his parents “were not science people”. However, when Barrow started at Ealing Grammar School in 1964, his brother-in-law gave him a chemistry set and science books which he used to construct a big chemistry lab. “I was creating appalling smells and colours which would no doubt be forbidden today,” he says. At 15, he got hooked on astronomy after figuring out that by using simple maths and physics he could “understand how the stars worked”.

He admits he was a “slightly unusual” teenager, but says the school gave its pupils a lot of freedom. It was the kind of school that no longer exists, he says – a boys’ grammar school with some highly skilled and motivated teachers. His chemistry teacher had a PhD, another was a part-time university lecturer and two of the maths teachers had firsts from Cambridge. “It was before PCs were invented which brought the possibility of highly paid jobs for the kind of people who would have become maths teachers,” he says.

After taking a first class degree in maths at the University of Durham, Barrow went on to do a PhD in astrophysics at Oxford and from there to the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley, returning in 1981 to the University of Sussex where he became Director of the Astronomy Centre.

While he was at Sussex he turned his hand to writing the popular science books which have brought him to the attention of a huge readership around the world and have led to his giving lectures in the Vatican, at Number 10 Downing Street and at Windsor Castle.

His popular research includes drawing parallels between science and art, how science images have influenced the artistic imagination, for instance, the geometrical shapes of the London Underground map, and the parallels between actual scientific images, such as the first images from the Hubble telescope, and artistic depictions of the discovery of the western frontiers of the United States. He has explored the beginnings of probability and has looked at how maths has been used in race fixing.

Yet he has also done ‘serious’ research into themes like nothingness. He spoke at the World Science Festival last year about aspects of nothing. He says modern quantum physics shows that there is never an absence of substance. “A vacuum is not nothing, it is just the lowest energy level and things can be created from ‘nothing’,” he says. “Just as in music silence can speak volumes.”

Barrow’s interest in the philosophy of science runs alongside his scientific research. His main research interests are in cosmology, the possible changes in the constants of nature, dark matter candidates and theories of gravity.

Much of Barrow’s work touches on questions of the mystery of the universe. Barrow himself is a member of the Emmanuel United Reformed Church and in 2006 he won the prestigious Templeton Prize for “progress toward research or discoveries about spiritual realities”. He says physicists tend to study the laws of nature. “The laws are highly mathematical but very mysterious. You cannot see or touch them. There are mysterious symmetries in the universe. It is no coincidence that biologists like [Richard] Dawkins feel very uncomfortable with religion and unanswered questions because they are dealing with the messy complexities of nature. Physicists are very used to laws of nature that have no explanation of the same sort. They are used to dealing with uncertainty and being undogmatic. There is a real cultural difference between biologists and physicists.”

Barrow’s passion for his subject has translated into his books, which include those that draw on his interest in the arts, such as Cosmic Imagery, a book which shows the importance of images for illuminating the meaning of the universe. But they have also spilled over – perhaps unexpectedly – into drama.

After taking part in a panel discussion in Italy about science’s portrayal in the theatre, Barrow was asked to write a science play. Michael Frayn’s play Copenhagen was touring Europe at the time; Barrow felt that on the rare occasions science appeared on the stage it was usually in relation to scientists as people, rather than to the science itself.

“We are used to the idea that there is musical appreciation and people can go to concerts without having to be musicians,” he says. “Why can’t people appreciate maths and science in the same way as drama and music?”

The outcome was Infinities, written in English and then translated into Italian. “[Infinities] is an abstract topic but one which would appeal to the general public more than something about complex numbers,” he says. Directed by Piccolo Teatro’s Luca Ronconi, the play, which is divided into five parts that are then performed in repeating sequence on five separate stages, explores scenarios ranging from an infinite hotel, an old people’s home where people live for ever, to parallel events and time travel. Despite its inherent complexity, the play was a staggering success, winning the prestigious Premi Ubu award. All from a first-time playwright.

Theatre might seem a departure, but really it is all part of the same thing: an overwhelming enthusiasm for getting people interested in science and maths. It’s that enthusiasm that makes John Barrow the perfect choice to head Cambridge’s Millennium Mathematics Project, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Under Barrow’s leadership, what began as two outreach programmes – an online maths programme (NRICH) and a mathematical sciences magazine, Plus – has grown to include maths video conferencing for schools, roadshows, and the Fast Forward Maths Programme, for children from deprived areas and their teachers.

Barrow takes me through the NRICH website in his office, showing off its new maths challenges. They are tagged by difficulty and by stage and aimed at giving primary and secondary school pupils and their teachers the kind of material that will stretch and interest pupils. He is clearly enormously proud of Millennium Maths, perhaps because it can go some way to meet a need created by what is widely believed to be a crisis in maths in schools.

It is hard to quantify the project’s impact, but Barrow says Cambridge maths students have mentioned to him that they accessed the site while at school - and the audience statistics themselves are impressive. NRICH gets 8.8 million page views a year. Plus got 2.8 million page views last year. “No print publication in science gets that many readers,” he says proudly. Despite the project’s success and the fact that Millennium Maths won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2006, fundraising for the programme is still a constant worry. He thinks the programme may enlarge its focus in the years ahead to do more with teachers as they influence more people. With typical emphasis on enthusing the largest possible audience, he says “that’s the way to make big changes that will last”.

Barrow’s workload shows no signs of diminishing. He is currently Professor of Geometry at Gresham College in London, giving lunchtime lectures to the public. Previously Gresham Professor of Astronomy, he is the only lecturer to have held two separate Gresham chairs since 1657. He receives invitations to speak almost daily and has had to learn to say ‘no’ to ensure he has time for writing his books.

It is fortunate, then, that Barrow appears to be able to write anywhere, including on planes, citing his three children – all now grown up – as a good training in the ability to focus. And, appropriately enough, he describes his writing work in mathematical terms. He reckons an average book to be about 75,000 words, and so will dedicate his evenings for a couple of weeks to the writing of a daily 1000 words.

He says matter-of-factly: “If I can do that for a couple of weeks, I get a substantial portion of the book done and in any case, once I have done one evening’s work I know there are only 74 more to do.” It is clearly a winning formula.

Everyone needs compassion

2009-11-08T07:25:00.004+11:00

EVERYONE NEEDS COMPASSION
Love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The Hope of nations

Chorus:
Saviour
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
--

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Shine your light and
Let the whole world see
We're singing
For the glory of the risen King

Reuben Morgan and Ben Fielding
© 2006 Reuben Morgan and Ben Fielding/Hillsong

The Big Idea

2009-11-01T08:31:00.006+11:00

Humans are amongst the most physically varied species on this planet. However looks can be deceiving. Because we are basically identical at a genetic level - up to 99.9% for the average person.

We think how we are different but we are not.

Our ancestors lineages have been diverging and going off on different paths around the globe and they are now coming back together in places like London, New York, Sydney, Vancouver and Singapore, but we started off together.

For the past four years the IBM’s Genographic Project working in conjunction with National Geographic have been traveling the globe, collecting DNA in cheek swabs and blood samples from hundreds of indigenous groups. By poring through the 0.1 percent that is different through tiny changes in our DNA that have accumulated in the genetic codes over time, scientists have been retracing the ancient history of human migrations since our species originated in Africa some 200,000 years ago.

A new TV documentary "The Human Family Tree" was premiered on the US National Geographic channel on Aug 30. Watch the trailer here.

From Africa to Astoria (New York) by Way of Everywhere (see also Human Migration Diagram, above)
New York Times' review of the TV program 'The Human Family Tree'
Explore the haplogroups from participants in the National Geographic Channel show The Human Family Tree
Ancient Hominids

Stephen Hawking's successor as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics: Michael Green

2009-10-31T22:45:00.001+11:00

Reproduced from QM Alumni e-Newsletter Issue 22, October 2009:

Professor Michael B Green FRS will take over from Stephen Hawking as the new Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Michael Green was a member of staff in the Department of Physics at Queen Mary, University of London for 14 years from 1978 to 1992 and he is currently Visiting Professor in the Department of Physics. Michael’s pioneering work in String Theory was carried out at Queen Mary.

Former Lucasian Professors included Sir Isaac Newton a Nobel Prize winner in Physics (1933) and Paul Dirac who both held the chair for more than 30 years; Charles Babbage and Sir James Lighthill, Former Provost of UCL. Professor Green is the 18th Lucasian Professor. For more information about the Lucasian Professorships, follow this link: http://www.lucasianchair.org/

WebSphere Application Server Administration Using Jython

2009-10-28T22:53:00.003+11:00

Fresh off the IBM press:

http://www.ibmpressbooks.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0137009526

The intro speaks for itself:

For years we have been enthusiastically pounding the table, so to speak, saying that scripting is “where it’s at!” for WebSphere administrators. All the while, we (along with our students) have wished for a book that would enable more people to use Jython for their scripting needs. Wefinally got together and set out to write one, and we hope this book addresses not only our own desires and demands but yours as well.

Websphere’s robust and versatile scripting facility differentiates the IBM® WebSphere Application Server product from competitors in the Java™ EE server marketplace. As convenient and friendly as the Integrated Console can be, the true power for administrators is in scripting.This is probably evident to anyone who has had to configure something on multiple machines or perform the same configuration numerous times.

IBM’s support for scripting that is built into the WebSphere platform is staggering. As you delve into it, you discover all sorts of hidden capabilities and ease-of-use features and quickly develop a greater understanding of how WebSphere fits together. Were we to deliver a book containing but a single page on each aspect of the available script objects, you’d need a forklift totake it home. Instead, we’ve hopefully provided you with a book that helps prepare you for a journey of discovery. We have documented and explained the scripting concepts, the core objects, and many of our favourite techniques, while demonstrating some new ones of our own.

If you will, think of WebSphere as a healthy, bio-diverse, coral reef, rich in wildlife. In this book, we teach you to master the core concepts necessary to explore the reef and introduce you to many of our favorite reef denizens. Afterward you will be prepared to explore more of the reef on your own, discovering for yourself more of the richness that IBM has built into WebSphere. Once you’ve mastered the core concepts, self-discovery becomes important; each new product layered on WebSphere (for example, WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus and WebSphere Process Server) and each new version adds more and more scripting capabilities. So in the way of the ancient parable, we will not only give you some fish, but also teach you to fish.We hope that you enjoy the book... and the journey.

Pro IBM WebSphere: Application Server 7 Internals

2009-09-18T18:37:00.007+10:00

A book bearing the above title by Colin Renouf is a must-have on the bookshelf of WAS administrators and architects, especially if you are planning a migration roadmap to the latest WAS v7. Unlike other similar books on the market, this one doesn't just gloss over the details. The writing is succinct and clear. It provides "under-the-hood" information on the internals of WAS, including quite a few things that you do not know you do not know (speaking for myself). :)

Colin is vice chairman of the WebSphere User Group U.K. (one of the largest in the world) and he chairs the POWERAIX usergroup as well. With a career that spans 22 years in the financial services industry, it's hard to find a better person to write about the subject of WebSphere.

He's also a co-author of the excellent IBM Redbook "Running IBM WebSphere Application Server on System p and AIX: Optimization and Best Practices".

A partial self-intro from the book, "Colin is married to Kathryn and has two smart and energetic children, Michael and Olivia. His hobbies include computing (everything techie), church, reading, and being beaten at everything by his children."

Hurt

2009-09-09T09:26:00.005+10:00

Everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes
So hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts
You are not alone
- Bill Berry (R.E.M)

Like the above, the main theme of Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nail)'s song, "Hurt" is, hurt itself. I like Johnny Cash's cover of the same song, which is accompanied by a powerfully poignant video. The lyrics are as follows:

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

Child Well-Being

2009-09-08T07:53:00.010+10:00

Ben-Arieh and Frones defined child well-being as, "Encompasses quality of life in a broad sense. It refers to a child’s economic conditions, peer relations, political rights, and opportunities for development. Most studies focus on certain aspects of children’s well-being, often emphasising social and cultural variations. Thus, any attempts to grasp well-being in its entirety must use indicators on a variety of aspects of well-being."

A recent study carried out by the Paris-based international Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) examined the public spending of OECD countries on children and whether this contributed to their well-being. Some interesting findings:

1. High public spending on child welfare and education does not necessarily guarantee good results, as evidenced in the case of the United States, who spends an average of $140k per child, well above the OECD average of 126k, yet delivers some of the worst outcomes. Australia by comparison spends less, with better results (see table below):

2. Nordic countries like Norway, Finland and Denmark score well overall, thanks to higher level of spending as well as its generally admired social model, with its high degree of gender equality and a markedly egalitarian culture.

3 (from the Economist). Subtler factors may be at work. Elizabeth Docteur, a health economist, points to evidence in the report suggesting that America (like Britain and Italy) has a high degree of "persistence of earnings" across generations. On both sides of the Atlantic, rich children tend to stay rich, but the poorest American children are considerably more likely than are their European peers to stay poor. The report does show up some unflattering things about America, but its critique is even-handed and empirical. Continental Europeans will hardly welcome its suggestion that they are spending too much money on cherished social-welfare projects, including lavish prenatal care.

4 (also from the Economist). There is also huge variance in total spending per child, with just the middle half of the group ranging between $75,000 and $175,000. This was not directly linked to the overall wealth of the country. You may guess that rich Sweden is kind to its children, but poorish Hungary is generous, too. Up-and-coming South Korea might be expected to be a bit mean, but the stinginess of Switzerland is unexpected.

On the Human Genes - Intelligence, Stress, Sex and Freewill

2009-09-04T06:57:00.019+10:00

Just finished reading the book "Genome - The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters" by Matt Ridley.

It's an engaging read, written in an easy to understand style which is no mean feat given the complexities of the subject in hand. With his witty analogies and metaphors, Matt has managed to weave me through the labyrinth of generic science in 23 fun chapters, where each tells the story of a relevant gene from each of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes.

Some highlights:

Chapter 6 (pp84-85) on Intelligence - The conclusion that all these studies converge upon is that about half of your IQ was inherited, and less than a fifth was due to the environment you shared with your siblings/family. The rest came from the womb, the school and outside influences such as peer groups. But even this is misleading. Not only does your IQ change with age, but so does it heritability. As you grow up and accumulate experiences, the influence of your genes increases. What? Surely, if falls off? No: the heritability of childhood IQ is about 45%, whereas in late adolescence it rises to 75%. As you grow up, you gradually express your own innate intelligence and leave behind the influences stamped on you by others. You select the environments that suit your innate tendencies, rather than adjusting your innate tendencies to the environments you find yourself in. This proves two vital things: that genetic influences are not frozen at conception and that environmental influences are not inexorably cumulative. Heritability does not mean immutability.

Chapter 10 (pp148-157) on Stress - Cholesterol is an essential ingredient of the body. It lies at the centre of an intricate system of biochemistry and genetics that integrates the whole body... From cholesterol at least 5 crucial hormones are made, each with a very different task: progesterone, aldosterone, cortisol, testosterone and oestradiol. Collectively they are known as the steroids.... Cortisol and stress are virtually synonymous. One of cortisol's most surprising effects is that it suppresses the working of the immune system. It is a remarkable fact that people who have been preparing for an important exam, and have shown the symptoms of stress, are more likely to catch colds and other infections, because one of the effects of cortisol is to reduce the activity, number and lifetime of lymphocytes - white blood cells. Cortisol does this by switching genes on, often in response to a more or less cerebral, or even conscious, reaction to external events. You can raise your cortisol levels just by thinking about stressful eventualities - even fictional ones... Far from behaviour being at the mercy of our biology, our biology is often at the mercy of our behaviour... The psychological precedes the physical. The mind drives the body, which drives the genome.

Chapter 15 (pp208-209) on Sex - Paternal genes, inherited from the father, are responsible for making the placenta; maternal genes, inherited from the mother, are responsible for making the greater part of the embryo, especially its head and brain.... To turn briefly anthropomorphic, the father's genes do not trust the mother's genes to make a sufficiently invasive placenta; so they do the job themselves. Hence the paternal imprinting of placental genes.

Chapter 22 (pp309, 311-313) on Free Will - Full responsibility for one's actions is a necessary fiction without which the law would flounder, but it is a fiction all the same. To the extent that you act in character you are responsible for your actions; yet acting in character is merely expressing the many determinisms that caused your character. David Hume found himself impaled on this dilemma, subsequently named Hume's fork. Either our actions are determined, in which case we are not responsible for them, or they are random, in which case we are not responsible for them... If genes can affect behaviour and behaviour can affect genes, then the causality is circular. And in a system of circular feedback, hugely unpredictable results can follow from simple deterministic processes. This kind of notion goes under the name of chaos theory... To act randomly is not the same thing as to act freely - in fact, quite the reverse... Chaotic systems, as defined by mathematicians, are determined, not random. But the theory holds that even if you know all the determining factors in a system, you may not be able to predict the course it will take, because of the way different causes can interact with each other. Even simply determined systems can behave chaotically.... Human behaviour shares these characteristics... This interaction of genetic and external influences makes my behavior unpredictable, but not undetermined. In the gap between those words lies freedom. We can never escape from determinism, but we can make a distinction between good determinisms and bad ones - free ones and unfree ones… Freedom lies in expressing your own determinism, not somebody else's. It is not the determinism that makes a difference, but the ownership. If freedom is what we prefer, then it is preferable to be determined by forces that originate in ourselves and not in others.

Tom Alcott: Everything you always wanted to know about WebSphere Application Server but were afraid to ask

2009-09-02T18:50:00.005+10:00

The title says is all! Tom Alcott is an IBM consulting IT specialist who's written extensively on Websphere and I personally found his advice invaluable on many occasions. So this blog entry is more a reference for myself (and saves me the hassle of having to google for his articles when I needed to) than for anything else.

Part 1
Q: What's the minimum and maximum number of CPUs I need to run my applications?
Q: Why does WebSphere Application Server require "Act as part of the operating system" privileges when using Local OS as the security registry on Windows™?
Q: Should I use a database or memory-to-memory replication for session failover?

Part 2
Q: How does EJB client workload management (WLM) behave?
Q: Can I run a WebSphere Application Server cell over multiple data centers?
Q: Can I share sessions across WebSphere Application Server cells?

Part 3
Q: What's new in WebSphere Application Server V6.1?
Q: Should I migrate to version "x" of WebSphere Application Server?
Q: Why does WebSphere Application Server require that I use an IBM JDK?
Q: Can I run a WebSphere Application Server cell over multiple data centers?

Part 4
Q: Does WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment (and WebSphere Extended Deployment) support running mixed version cells (cell nodes running different versions)?
Q: Should I use WebSphere Application Server (and WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment) to manage my HTTP servers?
Q: What version of is shipped with WebSphere Application Server?
Q: Should I use blade servers with WebSphere Application Server?
Q: Should I move from 32-bit WebSphere Application Server to 64-bit WebSphere Application Server?

Part 5
Q: I want to run multiple data centers. How should I deploy WebSphere Application Server across these data centers for high availability?
Q: In the unlikely event of a true disaster, what is most important? The preferred option?
Q: If you are in a disaster recovery state, what percentage of normal operating capacity do you need to stay in business?

Additionally, a number of articles that are not part of the series:

1. Know your WebSphere Application Server options for a large cache implementation
Q: Is a 64-bit JVM for you?
Q: Is ObjectGrid for you?
Q: It's not just for cache
Q: What about DynaCache and Distributed Map?

2. Using Spring and Hibernate with WebSphere Application Server - Get the most out of your open source environment using WebSphere Application Server V6 through V7

3. What's new in WebSphere Application Server V7

Security certifications and job title conundrum

2009-09-01T20:33:00.005+10:00

Reposted from http://www.sans.org/newsletters/newsbites/newsbites.php?vol=11&issue=68&rss=Y#sID203

Pay for Cyber Security Certifications Exceed All Others; Certain Skills In High Demand (July 26, 2009)

While pay for all certifications fell by more than four percent in the second quarter of 2009, pay for security certifications rose two percent, according to the Foote Partners Quarterly IT Pay Update, which aggregates information provided by 84,000 IT professionals at 2,000 employers. The difference is even greater over the past six months. Because employers use compensation strategically and tactically to attract and retain critical talent, this variance shows the increasing importance employers are placing on cyber security skills. In fact, the Foote Partners updated Hot List of the certifications most in demand showed six of the top ten certifications were security certifications including the number one rated CERT: GIAC Certified Incident Handler. A surprising finding is that neither CISSP nor CISM showed up on the Hot List that included 24 certifications in all. Instead the Hot Certifications were the very technical security certs from GIAC and Checkpoint and Cisco. Moreover, although CISSP certification is still ranked number three on the list of highest paid certifications, GIAC Security Leadership and GIAC Security Engineer certifications passed CISSP for the first time. In an interview with Bank Information Security, David Foote reports a surge in demand for security people with strong technical skills including incident analysis and handling, IDS, firewalls, forensics, and vulnerability analysis.-http://www.footepartners.com/FooteNewsRelease_July2009ITlabortrends_072609V2.pdf

The Foote's survey has also been covered in the recent IEEE Computer's Career Watch newsletter.

Here's an interesting excerpt, titled 'Job Title Conundrum', from the survey:

Employers have become comfortable using skills pay as a work-around solution for differentiating pay in IT workers who, though they may share job titles, do not necessarily share job content. That’s become a big problem for employers because salary surveys are traditionally benchmarked to job titles and re-titling IT workers is harder than it sounds. Anything that can be used to bring IT professionals to true market pay levels for their specialized skills will help recruitment efforts and, at least for a little while, keep the predators at bay.

One area that the recession cannot be credited with worsening is the confusion that exists in getting IT professionals properly titled for the work they perform. But that's only because this situation has been chaotic for many years. The fact is that it's now common to find people with identical job titles performing work that is significantly different from one another. Making matters worse, IT managers have been conjuring up job titles for years as a recruiting inducement. For example, putting the word 'architect' or 'SAP' in a job title can have a very powerful effect on workers who see those words as powerful code words in the marketplace. The problem gets worse when these managers inform their HR departments that they've just hired a person and promised him or her a job title that doesn't yet exist in the company. It makes compensations managers apoplectic. But that's why the Foote's IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index and IT Professional Salary Survey exist: to give these compensation managers a tool for bringing workers' pay to what it would be if the title existed.

SANS London 2009

2009-08-30T06:19:00.014+10:00

SANS is coming to London! This year's event is going to take place at ExCEL in Docklands between 28 November - 7 December 2009.

A whole range of security courses including the popular Security 401 that leads to the GSEC (GIAC Security Essentials Certification), Security 503 (Intrusion Detection In-Depth) leading to the GCIA certification and Security 504 (Hacker Techniques, Exploits & Incident Handling) for the GCIH certification are on offer. Security 503 and 504 meet the requirement of the DoD 8570 IAT Level III. Check out the Event-at-a-Glance.

The 6-day 401 bootcamp style course will be delivered by Dr. Eric Cole, a seasoned and well known expert in the field. Discounts will be given to early birds and those who pay the tuition fees by September 15th, 2009 will receive a 16GB iPod Touch absolutely free.

Although the GSEC is perhaps not as well known as the CISSP, which is generally considered the gold standard in the security realm, it must be noted that we shouldn't consider one as being better or inferior than the other because both address largely the same issues that are close the heart of security practitioners. If anything, the two are in fact complementary. The only notable difference is that the GSEC is more hands-on while the CISSP is targeted at audience with perhaps more managerial responsibilities. What is true of both is they are endorsed by the Department of Defense in accordance with its Baseline IA Certifications.

Even though an approved certification would enable you to engage in security work, there is no substitute for good ethics. Surely it's not possible to verify a person high moral principles through a series of tests, no matter how rigorous? I have worked with so-called "certified" security professionals who left a lot to be desired. The only plausible way I think for good ethics to be upheld is through constant peer assessment and professional body such as the SANS.

Exodus

2009-07-21T07:19:00.010+10:00

The story of humanity is written in our genes, and thanks to modern science and technology, we are finally able to read it. In our latest cover story, J.M. Ledgard reports from where it—and we—all began ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Summer 2009

1. OLORGESAILIE
An hour’s drive and a 600-metre drop in altitude from Nairobi is Olorgesailie, a Lower Palaeolithic archaeological site on the floor of the Rift Valley in Kenya. It is blisteringly hot. Nothing moves in the heat of the day except dust, gathering into twisters. There are puff adders in the grass, scorpions under the rocks. The lions are thin, the giraffes few, the elephants killed. It might be the closest we have to the Garden of Eden.

From the campsite it is possible to make out the outline of the prehistoric lake which once flooded the plain in soapy water. According to potassium-argon dating, hominids lived here for 900,000 years. They made handaxes which they used to butcher the hippos, zebras and baboons they hunted and scavenged. Olorgesailie stands for the gaping history of our species, a blurry, half-formed and dreamlike time from which archaeology can pull out only pieces. The Kenyan anthropologist Louis Leakey uncovered a Homo erectus skull here in the 1940s; the brain cavity was disappointingly small. There must have been grunts, gestures with stones, blood, the sky blotted with vultures, ape children kept back in the darkness. The sense of space here is immense. So too is the sense of known time, hominid time, known at first in the way a beast knows time, in light and darkness, but conscious all the same. The night sky is black lacquered. Satellites pass across it like trams. There are shooting stars. Sometimes there is the sound of hyenas.

“To the extent we are hardwired, it is probably as small bands of hunter-gatherers,” says Spencer Wells, the American geneticist who heads the Genographic Project. Its aim is to take 100,000 DNA samples from indigenous peoples around the world and write the songline of mankind’s journey out of Africa from a place like Olorgesailie, obliterating any literal interpretation of the Garden of Eden and replacing it with a new evidence-based creed.

2. THE GENOGRAPHIC CREED
The creed holds that every single non-African on the planet is descended from one or possibly two small bands of humans who made it on rafts and skins across the Red Sea at the narrows of the Bab el-Mandeb, or Gate of Tears, about 50,000 years ago. We are a more maritime species than we ever supposed, even if we keep close to the shore. These early humans, this Mayflower on foot, scavenged shellfish along the tideline and in the rock pools, increasing their range by a few kilometres a year. Within 5,000-10,000 years, without much need for adaptation, they had worked their way around India and across the land bridges that then linked Asia with a short sea crossing to Australia.

Some 99% of the human genome is shuffled from one birth to the next. The Genographic Project traces the 1% of the genome which is not shuffled—mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) through the maternal line and the Y-chromosome through the paternal. These jokers in the pack allow geneticists to work back to our common ancestors. Our mtDNA appears to coalesce in a single woman, who lived on the African savannah 150,000 years ago. Our Y-chromosome survives from a single man, who lived in the Rift Valley of Kenya or Tanzania 59,000 years ago. So Adam and Eve did exist—90,000 years apart. The discrepancy is because, unlike the biblical Adam and Eve, this couple only represent the last common Ancestors we can trace genetically.

About 60,000 years ago, our species had crashed to 2,000 individuals, then recovered with the help of language and conceptual thinking. The speed of our spreading is alarming set against evolutionary time, as if we’re bacteria. The journey of each individual is arranged by haplogroup, a branch of migration marked by a genetic mutation. Since the 1848 revolutions, the spread of mechanised transport and the rise of “isms” culminating in globalism, couples have been shuffling their distinct genetic families, or haplogroups, some representing tiny indigenous peoples, others much of western Europe. In many respects the Genographic Project is a race against time. Indigenous peoples amount to just 350m of the 6.8 billion people on the planet. The number of languages has gone from 15,000 in 1492 to 5,900 today. The ancient bloodlines are almost gone. Soon only the vampires will be left.

The Genographic Project, which is underwritten by National Geographic, IBM and the Waitt Foundation, revolves around the dazzling countenance of Spencer Wells (pictured below). With his blond hair, blue eyes and Nebraska roots, he is the ideal high priest to explain to white Americans that they are blacks gone curdy. His biography carefully notes that he was a “child prodigy with a love for both history and science” who entered the University of Texas at 16. He took his PhD at Harvard under the noted evolutionary geneticist Richard Lewontin, then worked for the founding father of population genetics, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, at Stanford. After a stint running a lab in Oxford and a couple of television shows, he became an explorer-in-residence at National Geographic, which he regards as "the world’s coolest job".

For publicity’s sake, the project will help solve popular history questions. Did the Vikings leave a genetic imprint on America? How far did the Incas spread? But at its core is the hard science of population genetics.

Cavalli-Sforza’s “The History and Geography of Human Genes”, written with Paolo Menozzi and Alberto Piazza (Princeton University Press, 1994), is still considered the best overview of genetic diversity in humans. Cavalli-Sforza demolished the idea of there being different species of human being. No more Homo afer, asiaticus, europaeus, americanus and monstrous. Race, says Cavalli-Sforza, has hardly any useful biological meaning at all. It is about adaptation. Grain-eaters between the Baltic and Black Sea got pale skin, pale eyes and pale hair because they were under selective pressure to process more Vitamin D from limited sunlight. Lewontin, Wells’s other mentor, posited that if a nuclear war struck and only the Kenyan Kikuyu survived, they would still have 85% of the genetic variation of mankind; with a similar history and conditions, they too would turn blond and blue-eyed under the northern sun.

Cavalli-Sforza was the first to propose a global sample of genetic diversity, but his Human Genome Diversity Project foundered on insensitivity to indigenous peoples and a murky position on whether the DNA samples could be sold. The Genographic Project has learned from those mistakes. Instead of covering its costs with industrial sponsorship, it sells kits to interested members of the public, which in turn support a small legacy fund for indigenous peoples that sweetens their participation. The project has so far gathered 50,000 DNA samples from indigenous peoples. It has sold 300,000 kits at $100 a pop to the public in 130 countries. The major findings will be made public in 2011. “The biggest challenges have been bureaucratic and financial,” says Wells. The few remaining ethnolinguistic hotspots are in remote bits of rainforest, marsh, desert and steppe: National Geographic country.

3. IBM
The sequencing of nucleotides—the Lego bricks which build our DNA and RNA—within each gene segment is only possible with the power of computing, particularly the algorithms that allow for swifter and more detailed analysis of the data. The work on the Genographic Project is being done by the computational biology team at IBM’s vast research division in the Watson labs outside New York. The genome has a digital structure played out over long strands. It may be significant that we live in an age where the digital is more understandable to us.

The head of the IBM team is an Indian, Ajay Royyuru. IBM has used the Genographic Project as a way of sharpening its understanding of genetics. The goal was to build a statistical model for human variation and migration, he says, but the first lessons were ethical. IBM extended its non-discrimination policy to include genetic markers and helped make it law in the United States; it is now illegal to get rid of an employee because their genes indicate, say, a likelihood of multiple sclerosis.

The biggest advance Royyuru’s team has made is on new algorithms that could allow population geneticists to work with the 99% of the genome that is shuffled. Since the number of our ancestors grows by “two to the power for each generation removed”, the Genographic Project is only looking at a small part of any given person’s genetic inheritance, a few branches on a tree. So far, says Royyuru, the problem remains “NP-hard” (nondeterministic polynomial-time hard), meaning that it cannot be proven with the present computing power. But by applying parsimony, the logic of the simplest evident solution, the IBM algorithm could allow geneticists to say something about complex traits within given populations. Royyuru expects it could be applied to the growing field of personalised testing for genetic markers within the next decade, constituting a significant medical advance.

4. MY MIGRATION
If you are not an indigenous person, you can buy a DNA kit. You “vigorously” scrape off cells from the inside of your cheek, insert the sample in a clear plastic vial and send it off to Washington, DC. For Europeans, the results are generally bland. About 80% of Europeans are descended from paleolithic hunter-gatherers, with the rest coming up the Danube with the first farming culture, or in smaller groups, such as Ottomans and attendant gypsies.

Genetically speaking, my genes are the unsalted of the bland. I was born in the Shetland Islands, of Yorkshire Norman stock. Predictably, comfortingly, my Y-chromosome haplogroup is identified as I1a. “Because of its high frequency in western Scandinavia,” my results read, “it is likely many Vikings descended from this line. The Viking raids on the British Isles might explain the dispersal of this lineage as well.” The I1a Northmen migrated from Africa, through the Middle East to the Balkans and on to western Europe.

About 28,000-23,000 years ago they helped found the sensual "Gravettian" culture, weaving cloth from natural fibres and carving voluptuous figurines, fertile in their swollen breasts, belly and hips. They then took refuge from the last glacial maximum in Iberia. When the ice retreated, they made their way up the French coast to populate parts of Britain and Norway.

At least I am not a Neanderthal. One of the Holy Grail questions of anthropology, which persisted until recently, was whether Europeans had some Neanderthal blood. The groundbreaking research by Svante Paabo at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, examining DNA extracted from Neanderthal bones, shows that is not the case.

The lead researcher for the European part of the Genographic Project is Lluis Quintana-Murci of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He spends some of his time in the Central African Republic studying the links between Bantu and pygmies. In Europe, he hopes to help solve the mystery of the Basques. Are they relic hunter-gatherers, as some Basque nationalists claim? An extensive study of the Basque lands in Spain and France together with control groups from non-Basque Asturias and Aragon may settle the question and shed light on the Basque language, which "doesn’t belong to any known linguistic family".

My partner is Czech, and her mtDNA is haplogroup K. At first glance this is a quirky group associated with Ashkenazi Jews, but it is in fact also a common Slav maternal line. Our youngest son, Hamish, has lived all his life in the Rift Valley. He speaks a little Swahili, but also inherits from his Mum the M17 marker which indicates Kurgan descent. These pre-Scythian nomads glittered on horseback, leaving burial mounds—kurgans—filled with gold across the Eurasian steppe. The Ashkenazi marker is interesting, no question, but the Kurgan brings me back to one of the definitive films of my childhood, “Highlander”, in which two (almost) immortals, a Scottish Highlander played by Christopher Lambert and a Kurgan played by Clancy Brown, engage in mortal swordplay.

What does it mean to be a couple of thousand generations removed from Adam when, say, Donne and his sonnets are already a cosmos away after only eight generations? On the level of modern history the genographers are no big deal. A haplogroup is so vague as to be useless to genealogists. I could stand on a street in Edinburgh and find more people who shared my I1a haplogroup than my green politics, much less my star sign. But on the level of deep ancestry the Genographic Project is a very big deal. Matt Ridley, author of “Genome” and a former science correspondent for The Economist, believes the genome revolution “is the biggest development in human history, bar none”. Within that, “out of Africa is a huge story”.

Most of genetics looks forward—to the elimination of disease, cloning, perhaps even the creation of a new species. But if we as a species are but nature’s brief experiment with self-awareness, the Genographic creed is a moment of Copernican consequence, when we truly awake to our origins and journey.

5. ALL AFRICANS
We are all Africans. We originated in Africa. That is proved by the continent’s rich genetic inheritance. Africans are more diverse than the rest of humanity put together, because they are drawn from the pool of humans who did not leave. As Wells points out, two Africans from the same village could be more divergent from each other than either is from a non-African. The question is whether this new understanding will reinforce prejudices against Africans, or help end them.

As Africa’s population rises and parts of the continent collapse under economic and environmental pressures, eugenics may reappear. This would be revised eugenics, conceding the physical superiority of Africans in everything from penis size to sprinting, but holding that they are not selected for problem solving, having never benefited from the training ground of the Eurasian steppe (with its need for microliths, clothing and portable shelters). “To give them equality is to sink to their level, to protect and cherish them is to be swamped in their fecundity,” wrote the novelist H.G. Wells, a proponent of eugenics.

Rubbish, says Spencer Wells. There are no nasty genetic secrets out there about Africans, “certainly no differences in general intelligence”. Whites’ superior attitudes towards blacks, he reckons, is based on a “general correlation between latitudes and economic development”. Even if National Geographic is suffocated by political correctness and an obsessive need for a tidy narrative, he is right. If Africa is stunted, it is through circumstance, not genetics. Just look at the Nile-Saharan Genetic markers on President Obama’s Y-chromosome.

Besides, evolutionary biologists point out that cold rewarded as much as it punished. With plentiful reindeer, fish in the rivers, nutritious roots and berries, more water, more wood and fewer diseases, the living may have been easier in the north.

In any case, the genetic questions for Africa come rolling in. Who are the most ancient Africans? Why did some Africans select for milk digestion and others remain intolerant? Did the slave trade weaken natural selection in west Africa or strengthen it? What is the genetic legacy of Arabs and Europeans in east Africa?

There is agreement that Y-chromosome Adam would have looked much like a San Bushman of the Kalahari, with an epicanthic fold over the eyes, a hairless cocoa body, and a loose graceful gait. East and southern Africa would have been scattered with hunter-gatherer groups. They probably spoke click languages similar to the San. In modern times they were replaced by farming Bantu from western Africa. Now only the San and a few other groups like the Hadza in Tanzania keep alive the ancient hunter-gatherer traditions.

6. THE MORMON QUESTION
All this is provocative. Success for the Genographic Project undermines traditional beliefs. When I asked Spencer Wells about it, he took the Genographic Fifth Amendment: genetics tells us where we come from, not why we are here, or where we are heading. “We try to present it as one aspect of their history. We tell them it does not replace their mythos. It just means they are connected to people all over the world.”

Ajay Royyuru of IBM admits that he is “not used to using the part of my brain that deals with religious questions”. But he had a revelation, a year in. “The bulb went off in my head. All the differences we see in each other, colour of skin and the rest, I realised they were all so minor.” Religions, he says, have appeared and disappeared since Y-chromosome Adam. Royyuru acknowledges that the research means the end of any literal understanding of large parts of Hinduism. “I came to see these like clothes you wear. The human population has existed through all this.”

Try telling a Hindu nationalist or a Mormon, whose Book is confounded by genetics. “American-Indians are not the lost tribe of Israel,” says Wells evenly. “They are from Central Asia.” As science advances, so too will creationism. The clash of cultures will deepen between those who recognise genetic markers and their implications, and those for whom the price of acceptance is too high: ditching their creed. Right now, creationism is winning. The only major religion in Africa to uphold Darwin is the Roman Catholic church. Hominid finds in Kenya are stored in a vault in the National Museum to stop them being destroyed by religious fundamentalists. The persistence of creationism “is something we as evolutionary biologists cry about,” says Wells. “Literally.”

Yet the Exodus story as told by geneticists may prove more vivid than any religious tradition. There is poetry in the way the Lord parted the Red Sea for Moses, congealing the waters, then “dasheth in pieces” the pharaoh and his chariots. But the physical arc of the story is puny. Writing this, I’ve been listening to “Exodus” by Bob Marley.

Exodus: movement of jah people! So we’re going to walk—alright!—through da ropes of creation: We the generation (tell me why!) trod through great tribulation.

It is not the Rastafarian return to the Rift Valley that comes to mind as I listen, genetically elegant though it now seems, but the first hunter-gatherers making it through the Gate of Tears and heading for every point in our world.

FURTHER READING:

"The Human Career" by Richard Klein, 1989. The authority on human evolution.
"The History and Geography of Human Genes" by Luca Cavalli-Sforza, 1994. The authority on evolutionary genetics.
"The Journey of Man" by Spencer Wells, 2002. Zippy if self-promotional.
"Genome" by Matt Ridley, 2000. The best overview of the genome.
"Self-Made Man and His Undoing" by Jonathan Kingdon, 1993. Rare insights and African knowledge.
"Of mitochondria and men" by Geoffrey Carr, science editor of the Economist
IBM and the Future of Our Past - Genetic journeys (interview transcript and podcast)

Romans 2:12-16

2009-07-18T01:14:00.002+10:00

Romans 2:12-16 reads:

12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

Here's a good critical explanation on the above (from http://www.sourcelight.net):

Verse 12 describes two groups of people. There are those who have sinned “without the law” and those who have sinned “under the law.” In context, the former group includes the Gentiles and the latter group includes the Jews. The common denominator between the two groups is the word “sinned,” hmarton. This is the exact form that also occurs in 3:23 where Paul draws the argument of this entire portion of Romans together. In Romans 2:12 the Gentiles sinned and the Jews sinned. In Romans 3:23 “all have sinned.” The exact same form of the word “sinned” is repeated again in Romans 5:12. The simple assertion is that all people, regardless of heritage, have sinned. Because they have sinned, they will “perish” or be “judged.” It seems that in this context Paul uses the word translated “judged” in the sense of “condemned.” The message is simply that all who sin stand condemned. This is true because it is not the hearers of the law that are "just” or “righteous” before God, but the doers of the law which are justified (Romans 2:13). Paul is, in this overall context, denying that one can really be a “doer of the law” because no person can keep the law perfectly. Just having the law, whatever law that may be, is not sufficient for salvation. Only perfectly keeping it would be sufficient, and no person except Christ has accomplished that. In context, this passage has nothing in common with the discussion about being a “doer of the word” in James and should not be artificially coupled with it. The passage in Romans is not about the necessity of obedience, but concerns the insufficiency of law as a means of justification. Correct exegetical method requires that we stay with the context of Romans!

Verses 14-16 demonstrate the futility of justification by law, specifically for the Gentiles. The passage which immediately follows, Romans 2:17 through Romans 3:20, demonstrates that this is also true for the Jews. Consider the thought of Romans 2:14-16. Though the Gentiles do not have the law of Moses, they do have law. It is a law that comes from their nature or their long-standing customs. It is out of this conscience-borne “work of the law written in their hearts” that these people’s lives are evaluated. Paul says their conscience bears witness with them and their own thoughts are either “accusing or else excusing them,” (Romans 2:13). Notice when this accusing or excusing takes place. It is “in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men,” (Romans 2:16). On the judgment day, the Gentile will not be held accountable to the Mosaic law. He will, however, be held accountable to the law of his own conscience. God deals with people based on what they know. How will the Gentile fare under such an arrangement? Will his conscience, in fact, “accuse him” or “excuse him” on that day? Verse 12 along with Romans 3:23 shows that his conscience will be his accuser because he has violated it by sinning. In the verses immediately following, Paul shows that the same will be true for the Jew. On judgment day, the law under which God dealt with the Jews will not “excuse” them. Instead, it will “accuse” them, because it will point out their sins (2:17ff, 3:20). Law of any kind cannot justify. It can only accuse and condemn because all people are sinners!

What Paul is trying to do in the context of our passage, Romans 2:12-16, is to show that no person really wants to be judged strictly by law. It matters nothing whether this is the law of Moses or the law of one’s conscience. Without Christ, the only system under which God can deal with man is a system of justification by law. Under such a system, all must be lost, because all have sinned. In contrast, through the gospel of Christ, God can deal with us under a system of justification by grace through faith. This is what Paul means in Romans 6:14 when he says, “you are not under law but under grace.” He does not mean that we have no responsibility to obey God’s commands to the best of our ability (Romans 6:16-18). He simply means that the work of Christ on the cross is the basis of our justification, not the perfection of our own keeping of God’s commands. In Romans 7:14-25, Paul shows that even as a Christian he cannot manage to perfectly do the will of God. As frustrating as this is, there is victory “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Romans 7:25). The point of our passage in the context of Romans is to convince us that no matter how good we might think we are, we cannot do without the saving power of Christ which comes to us only through the gospel.

500th Anniversary of John Calvin's Birth

2009-07-14T07:25:00.008+10:00

Last Friday marked the 500th anniversary of John Calvin (also Jean Cauvin), who is one of the principal figures in the 16th century protestant reformation that saw Europe transformed from a tyrannical society to one that is characterised by civil liberty.

His teaching and writings have been influenced by Martin Luther, who a quarter of a century before had publicly challenged the authority of the Catholic establishment by disputing the sale of indulgences, and was best known for nailing the 95 Theses on the front door of a church in Wittenberg.

If Luther was credited with sparking the Protestant Reformation then it is Calvin who was instrumental in much of the reforms and missionary works carried out in Europe during the later stage of the Renainnace (14-17th century). In fact many would agree that his theology is still alive today and continues to shape the thoughts and actions of many who share in the belief that God is supreme in everything.

Recommended reading:
1. John Calvin - A Pilgrim's Life by Herman J. Selderhuis
2. Truth for All Time: A Brief Outline of the Christian Faith by John Calvin, translated by Stuart Olyott
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin

Related individuals:
1. John Knox, Scottish reformer and founder of the Presbyterian movement
2. William Farel, French evangelist who together with John Calvin turned 16th century Geneva into a centre of Protestant activity (Below is a photo of the Reformation Wall in Geneva)

On Carbon Footprint and Linux

2009-06-29T23:16:00.000+10:00

Here's a letter and response on the above subject from the June 2009 edition of Linux Journal:

Mike in his letter titled, "My Carbon Footprint Is Doing Just Fine, Thank You", wrote:

In James Gray's "Go Green, Save Green with Linux" article in the April 2008 issue, and again in a response to that article in the April 2009 Letters section titled "Ouch!", we continue to be misled into believing that carbon dioxide is a deadly poison. This is irresponsible journalism, or journalism without research to back up the statements. Carbon dioxide is, in fact, an essential ingredient to life on this planet. It produces oxygen that we breathe through a process called photosynthesis, and without carbon dioxide, we would suffocate. Additionally, the whole "carbon footprint" scam is simply a fraud designed by fear-mongers whose aim is to introduce a "carbon tax" against your "carbon footprint"; it's all the same scam as the global warming myth, and it's simply political fear mongering. If you research it, the carbon dioxide output from humans is miniscule compared to the carbon dioxide output from the earth itself. For us to believe that we are having an impact on global temperatures via our carbon dioxide output is absolutely absurd. Please, LJ, let's all stop perpetuating these myths. Don't get me wrong; I'm all for conservation of energy and all the benefits from that, but let's get our facts straight. Thanks.

To which James Gray replied:

Thanks for writing. You are completely correct that carbon dioxide is essential to life on Earth. For the record, nowhere did I say that it is a deadly poison. However, I do contend that an imbalance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere appears to have an effect on our global climate patterns. On one level, it is simple physics. Carbon dioxide is one of many greenhouse gases that trap heat in the lower atmosphere, enabling life to exist. Logically, if more carbon dioxide exists in the atmosphere—and we are filling it with around 30 gigatons of a gas every year—more heat will be trapped. However, this is not something I pulled out of a hat. It is called the Theory of Global Climate Change. To learn about the theory, I have read documents, such as the "Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report" from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC, which recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work, summarizes the scientific findings of climatologists around the world. This report states: "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow, ice and rising average sea level." Regarding causes, the report says: "Global GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions due to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between 1970 and 2004....Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic [that is, human-caused] GHG concentrations." Read the full document at www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf. I'm curious how you've determined that a scientific theory—one supported by huge amounts of empirical data and having near unanimous consensus among climatologists—is a "myth". Are you a climatologist who has collected his own data? Do you reject other scientific theories, such as plate tectonics, the Big Bang or relativity? Or do you just reject those that are inconvenient to you? I periodically write about the Theory of Global Climate Change because I care about the planet I will leave to my descendants, and I am fascinated by the wonders of nature. I also will stridently advocate for a carbon tax, because such tools are the only effective way to change human behavior. I think that if you do your homework, you will find yourself on the same team—the one that is informed by today's best science and advocates for prevention today in order to avoid a future climate catastrophe.

Theological Famine Relief for the Global Church

2009-06-29T07:42:00.006+10:00

We had the privilege of having Dr. Alistair Wilson, Principal of Dumisani Theological Institute in South Africa to preach at the tab today. Alaistair, originally from Scotland, answered the calling to serve some 4 years ago when the Free Church of Scotland rang to offer him the opportunity to take up his current position in Dumisani.

He shared with us his ministry in that part of the world and how it relates to John Piper's Desiring God, International Outreach's vision of relieving the cross-cultural and linguistic theological hunger for God.

"Global Christianity is radically changing. Africa, Asia, and South America are experiencing explosive church growth: 77,000 new believers worldwide everyday. Yet, thousands of Christians in these regions are deprived of sound biblical teaching. Leaders and congregations lack sound theology, leaving them malnourished and vulnerable."

On a trivial note, I believe he speaks Xhosa, one of the official languages (of which there's 11!) of South Africa, judging from his fluent click pronunciation, which is a distinctive feature of Khoisan languages.

Further reading:

http://johnstuartross.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/theological-famine-relief/

A Prayer of Martin Luther

2009-06-07T19:52:00.002+10:00

Behold, Lord,
An empty vessel that needs to be filled.
My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in the faith;
Strengthen me.
I am cold in love;
Warm me and make me fervent,
That my love may go out to my neighbour...
O Lord, help me.
Strengthen my faith and trust in You...
With me, there is an abundance of sin;
In You is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore I will remain with You:
Of Whom I can receive,
But to Whom I may not give. Amen.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Chinese Calvinism flourishes

2009-05-29T18:37:00.004+10:00

Andrew Brown of the Guardian wrote, 'The churches that follow Calvin are the third largest Christian grouping in the world. In China they hope to become the religion of the elite.'

John Calvin was a Frenchman, but he is being remembered in Geneva this week because it was here that he built Calvinism. Invited to reform the city in 1541, almost as what would now be called a management consultant, he formed an alliance with the city fathers. Over the next 20 years of preaching and pastoring they turned this tiny city, with a population then of only 10,000, into a model of church government and theology which has changed the world.
His followers now form the third-largest Christian grouping in the world. The world alliance of reformed churches claims 75 million members, and while this is a lower headline figure than the Anglican Communion's 80 million, it is not inflated by 25 million nominal Anglicans in Britain.

Although Calvinism is shrinking in western Europe and North America, it is experiencing an extraordinary success in China. I spent some time on Monday talking to the Rev May Tan, from Singapore, where the overseas Chinese community has close links with mainland China. The story she told of the spread of Calvinist religion as an elite religion in China was quite extraordinary. There may be some parallels with the growth of Calvinism in South Korea, where the biggest presbyterian churches in the world are to be found, but it's absolutely unlike the pattern in Africa and Latin America. There, the fastest growing forms of Christianity are pentecostal, and they are spreading among the poor.

But in China neither of those things are to be true.

Calvinists despise pentecostalists. They shudder at unbridled emotion. If they are slain in the spirit, it is with a single, decorous thump: there's to be no rolling afterwards. And in China, the place where Calvinism is spreading fastest is the elite universities, fuelled by prodigies of learning and translation. Wang Xiaochao, a philosopher at one of the Beijing universities, has translated the two major works of St Augustine, the Confessions and the City of God, into Chinese directly from Latin. Gradually all the major works of the first centuries of the Christian tradition are being translated directly from the original languages into Chinese.

All of this is happening outside the control of the official body which is supposed to monitor and supervise the churches in China. Instead, it is the philosophy departments at the universities, or the language departments and the departments of literature and western civilisation that are the channel.

"The [officially recognised] churches are not happy with universities, because it is not within their control. And their seminaries are not at the intellectual level of the universities," says Dr Tan. "Chinese Christianity using Chinese to do Christian thinking has become a very interesting movement."

Many of the missionaries who tried to bring Christianity to China before the communists took over where presbyterians, and other sorts of Calvinist. But that does not explain why Calvinism should be the preferred theology of the house churches and the intellectuals now. Dr Tan suggests that this is because it is Protestant: that is to say it can be made much more convincingly native than Roman Catholicism, since presbyterian congregations choose their own pastors. This is, I suspect, enormously important at a time when China is recovering from a century and a half of being the victim of western powers; the pope's insistence on appointing Catholic bishops is unacceptable to the government and perhaps to the people too.

If she goes to preach at an official church, she says, "There will be perhaps 1000 people and 95% of them are over 65. So it's a sunset church. But if I went to house church – there would be 1000 people; perhaps 20 of them in their 50s, and all the rest are youngsters. The older ones will all be professors at the universities. So these are the future of the churches. They have registered pastors, and no access to seminaries: But they have youth, and future, and money."
Calvinism isn't a religion of subservience to any government. The great national myths of Calvinist cultures are all of wars against imperialist oppressors: the Dutch against the Spanish, the Scots against the English; the Americans against the British. So when the Chinese house churches first emerged from the rubble of the Cultural Revolution in the 80s and 90s "They began to search what theology will support and inform [them]. They read Luther and said, 'not him'. So they read Calvin, and they said 'him, because he has a theology of resistance.' Luther can't teach them or inform them how to deal with a government that is opposition."

And, though the communists stigmatised Christianity as a foreign religion, they also and still more thoroughly smashed up the traditional religions of China: "The communist, socialist critique of traditional religion, and of Confucianism has been effective", she says: "The youngsters think it is very cool to be Christian. Communism has removed all the obstacles for them to come to Christianity."

The most conservative estimates of the new converts to Christianity is 500,000; there is a new church built every month. Calvinist Christianity has a culture of phenomenal industry. Calvin himself, in his time in Geneva, preached every day and twice on Sundays: shorthand writers at the foot of his pulpit took down 108 volumes of his sermons, though most of these have been lost and his reputation rests on the books and pamphlets that he wrote himself. In China now, this kind of Christianity is seen as forward-looking, rational, intellectually serious, and favourable to making money.

"Very soon", said Dr Tan, "Christians will become the majority of university students … that could happen."

It would be astonishing if China were to become a great power in the Christian world, as well as in the economic one. But things just as strange have happened in the past. Who could have foreseen, when Augustine was writing those huge books now translated into Chinese, that barbarous Europe would become the centre of Christian civilisation, and his homeland in North Africa would become entirely Muslim?

Insufficient resources to satisfy configured failover level for ha

2009-05-13T07:51:00.009+10:00

The above is a common error for those using ESX clusters with HA enabled. It's basically saying that ESX is unable to power on a VM due to violation of the availability constraints (in other words causing the current failover level to become less than the configured failover level).

When strict admission control is used (i.e. the checkbox that says Do not power on virtual machines if they violate availability constraints is ticked) you must ensure the following requirements are satisfied (from vi3_35_25_resource_mgmt.pdf):

HA calculates the maximum memory and CPU reservations needed for any currently powered on virtual machine and calls this a slot. A slot is the amount of CPU and memory resources that will be sufficient for any currently powered on virtual machine (powered off or suspended virtual machines are not considered when calculating the current failover level).
HA determines how many slots can “fit” into each host based on the host’s CPU and memory capacity.
HA then determines how many hosts could fail with the cluster still having at least as many slots as powered on virtual machines. This number is the current failover level.

As an example, you have a cluster of 2 servers, each with 2x2Ghz quod core CPUs (16GHz in total) and 32GB RAM. The two heaviest VMs are configured as follows:

VM1 - 2GHz CPU reservation and 1GB memory reservation
VM2 - 1GHz CPU reservation and 2GB memory reservation

ESX would define your slot as 2GHz reservation for CPU and 2GB for memory. So each ESX host in the cluster is able to support 16/2=8 CPU slots and 32/2=16 memory slots. (Note: apparently if you use virtual SMP, ESX would multiply the number of vCPU say 4 with the highest CPU reservation found on the cluster!)

With the failover capacity set to "1" (default) the host with the largest number of possible slots is dropped from the calculation, and you're left with the total number of slots available (sum of slots available on each node). In our example because the nodes have identical hardware the result remains unchanged (8 for CPU & 16 for memory), which is not a lot and turning on strict admission control would result in significant resource wastage if reservation is used incorrectly.

Some tips I picked up from work:

Use Resource Pool and set reservation to 0, effectively letting ESX worry about allocation of memory and cpu, which it does pretty well dynamically. It's a bad idea micro-managing VM by defining reservation individually as this gets tedious with large number of VMs.
For strict admission control to work properly and to avoid the common error mentioned in the subject line the reservation value for each VM must be correctly assigned. In most cases opting instead for Resource Pool is the easiest and often more effective solution.
Don't use virtual SMP CPU (i.e. more than 1 vCPU) unless you have to!

Susan Boyle

2009-04-25T07:20:00.005+10:00

Until recently, Susan Boyle, an unassuming 47 year old and a volunteer at a local church, was just an ordinary person living in West Lothian near Edinburgh, Scotland. Google her name and you will soon realise that she is currently a global phenomenon because of her performance at Britain's Got Talent 2009 reality tv program. As if by magic, she captured the world's imagination.

She was recently interviewed by Larry King from CNN and even made it to the animated sitcom South Park! It took Obama and Tony Blair many years in politics to be given the same privilege.

If she had been a young and good-looking person the outcome would have been very different.

When interviewed by a national newspaper, she was asked how her 10-year old cat, Pebbles had reacted to her new found fame, Boyle said: "In the usual cat way. She's not bothered."

On a serious note, I agree with Alastair Campbell who reckoned Ms Boyle has a lot to teach the politicians. "If there is a lesson from her success for politicians, it is authenticity. It is the only communication that works."

Below you will find the transcript from yesterday's BBC Radio 4 Thought of the Day broadcast by Angela Tilby, on the same subject, obviously:

Good morning. Looked at from the neck down the tabloid photo shows a plumpish woman in a leather jacket, chunky necklace and smart new dress. Then you see her face and see Susan Boyle, the unlikely star of a recent Britain's Got Talent. When she came on stage to sing, the judges and audience laughed at her awkward, dumpy appearance, and buried their faces in their hands. But when she opened her mouth the mood changed. You could see a wave of first confusion, then guilt, then wild applause. The clip of her singing I dreamed a dream has now been watched by 116 million people round the world. Many have confessed that they were deeply moved. Some even wept. And I've wondered for a week, not whether the talent business would survive her arrival but whether she would survive her exposure to fame. Yesterday she was reported as saying that when she watched herself she found herself a bit fat and frumpy and that now she just wanted to look nice and smart. Well, good luck to her.

The odd thing though, is that what was so moving about her performance was the sheer dissonance between face and voice. People assumed that because she was not glamorous she couldn't have talent. Yet in the midst of the catcalls she simply said, 'I'm going to make this audience rock'. And she did. She had real authority. Authority is a strange word to use in this context, but that is what I saw when I watched her on YouTube. Her voice was lovely, but not perfect, and it didn't magically transform her into a princess. What made you want to cry was that she knew before her audience caught on the gift that was within her. It was as though she had been laughed at for so long for her ambition to be a singer that she no long cared. She simply sang from the core of her being, an authority in performance which more beautiful people might well envy.

The millions who have watched her tapped into something that we don't quite understand.

But it has reminded me bizzarely of the way the Gospels speak of Jesus. On the one hand they claim he had an authority which was utterly convincing. Yet at the same time he is identified with the broken figure from the book of Isaiah. One with no beauty that we should desire, despised and rejected of men, one from whom men hide their faces.

So what is Susan's triumph going to bring? Will she be 'made over', meaning made acceptable, so that what evoked unbidden tears turns into a more comfortable sentimentality? Or will she keep her oddness, serene with her inner gift? We have these treasures, says, St Paul, in earthen vessels. Either way I hope that if she is changed by fame, she also changes us.

Websphere password recovery

2009-04-24T19:07:00.002+10:00

Forgotten password is a problem for many people including and especially system administrators because they tend to carry so many.

In Websphere you can recover encoded password in soap.client.props or security.xml using the following method:

$PATH_TO_WAS/java/bin/java -cp securityimpl.jar:iwsorb.jar:ras.jar:wsexception.jar:bootstrap.jar:emf.jar:ffdc.jar com.ibm.ws.security.util.PasswordDecoder

USAGE: java PasswordDecoder "encoded_password"

This is old hat so it's really just for my future reference :)

I have a shelter

2009-04-12T23:43:00.001+10:00

Lyrics

I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows

I have a shelter in the storm
When all my sins accuse me
Though justice charges me with guilt
Your grace will not refuse me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
Who bore my condemnation
I find my refuge in Your wounds
For there I find salvation

I have a shelter in the storm
When constant winds would break me
For in my weakness, I have learned
Your strength will not forsake me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
The One who bears my burdens
With faithful hands that cannot fail
You’ll bring me home to heaven

© 2008 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (ASCAP)/Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP) (Admin. By Integrity’s Hosanna! Music) Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)(Admin. By Integrity’s Praise! Music)

Free download from Sovereign Grace Music
Watch from Youtube

Surviving the credit crunch (Updated)

2009-04-12T06:09:00.000+10:00

A CHRISTIAN VIEW ON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

Sunday 5 April - 5.00pm at ELT Baptist Church, Burdett Road, E3 4TU (Google Street View)

A talk given by Jeremy Marshall, CEO designate of C. Hoare & Co

Download and listen to the MP3

About C. Hoare & Co

From Wikipedia: C. Hoare & Co is England's oldest privately owned bank.

Founded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare, C. Hoare & Co. remains a family owned and managed bank providing private banking, financial planning and investment management services to wealthy individuals in the UK.

The Bank employs 250 staff and has a balance sheet in excess of £1billion.

A Rescue Story

2009-04-06T07:49:00.006+10:00

How to rescue a beached whale?

Forty pilot whales lie stranded on Darlington beach, Tasmania. Andrew Irvine, a marine conservation officer, knows that he must act fast.

Scientists are not sure what causes a whale to beach itself. Some have suggested that it is the result of a disease that upsets the mammal’s internal navigation system. What we do know is that — without intervention — being beached is invariably fatal.

On Darlington beach the huge grey slabs of whale blow and gasp. As people arrive on the scene, eager to help, Irvine co-ordinates the rescue attempt. Someone sets up a hose pump and begins to spray the whales with seawater. Others spread heavy hessian mats over the bodies of the whales and wet them down.

Once the mat is in place, the team begins to drag the whale back towards the sea. On the count of three they lift him for a few metres at a time, then drag and lift and drag until they are waist-deep in water. They push on and soon the whale is floating. But he is very still. Five of the team stay with him to keep him stable. After nearly an hour, he gently flicks his tail and swims off into the ocean. He is back where he belongs.

Stranded men and women

The Bible teaches that, as the whale was made for the ocean, men and women were made for God. He created us to enjoy his love and to reflect his ways on earth. Our relationship with him is, as it were, the environment in which we are free to be fully human. But, as the whale has crashed out of the ocean, humankind has walked out on God. We thought that it would set us free. But it has left us stranded on the beach.

During the past few days, I have sat by the fire and laughed with friends. I have wandered round an art gallery. I have eaten lamb tagine and lemon syllabub. I have danced around the kitchen table. I have sat spellbound with my children in the theatre and gone with my family for a long and happy walk in the Mendips. Life is beautiful. And yet that beauty is shot through with sadness. During the same few days I have wept at the funeral of a friend who committed suicide. Someone else has told me that his marriage is breaking up.

The beauty in our world is easy. We don’t think twice about what we are to do with it — we just enjoy it. But what are we to do with the sadness?

What to do with sadness?

We have been brought up to believe that the story of humankind is a story of progress. In some ways that is true. The world is healthier and wealthier than it has ever been. But under the surface, do you think there is less sadness in the 21st century than in the first? Do you think we shed fewer tears?

The cheery optimism that says that humankind is on the up and up is a bit like a whale trying to persuade itself that, despite all the evidence, it was made for the beach and that suffocating under its own body weight is as good as it gets. The whale has to tell itself that there is in fact no ocean. We have to try to tell ourselves that there is no God.

If there is no ocean, then the whale’s experience of the beach is not a problem. It is just how things are. Similarly, if there is no God, then our experience of sadness is not a problem. It is just how things are. If life is just the result of a cosmic roll of the dice, then laughter and tears are neither good nor bad. They are just the numbers that came up.

But it seems to me that there is a tension between the story we have told ourselves about what it means to be human and our everyday experience of being human. We say that we are no more than ‘naked apes’, yet when someone behaves ‘like an animal’, we are quick to identify what they did as being somehow less than human. In other words, we say that we are no more than animals and yet we expect people to behave as though they were a whole lot more.

The logical conclusion to draw from the story of the universe that we tell ourselves is that our thoughts and actions are no more than a series of chemical reactions over which we have no control. And yet we go on talking about what people should do or ought not to have done as though there is such a thing as an ability to make moral and meaningful choices. But the fact is that the story we have told ourselves about what it means to be human gives us no foundation for our sense of being moral creatures. From where have we smuggled in this sense of morality and meaning?

I am not saying that this proves that there is a God. I am just saying that we find it hard to live in a way that is consistent with our atheism. The story we tell to make sense of what it means to be human doesn’t seem to be big enough. So there is a tension at the heart of the human experience. Face down in the sand, all we can see is beach. It is only logical for us to conclude that the beach is all there is. And yet the longing for the ocean won’t go away. We’re not able just to shrug our shoulders in the face of the sadness and the suffering. We campaign against injustice because we think it is wrong, and we weep at the loss of those whom we love. And every time we dream of a better world, we are admitting that human beings are made for something bigger than the beach on which we find ourselves stranded. We are admitting that something has indeed gone wrong.

Making sense of the tension

One of the reasons I take the Bible seriously is because it makes sense of the tension that we feel. The story it tells starts with Genesis. Of course, there is scope for debate on how exactly we are to read the first few chapters. But the author wants us to know that the story of the universe begins with God. It is God who charges the whole universe with meaning. And we are not just an accidental assortment of atoms. The Bible says that God made us in his image. In other words, the Bible has a noble view of humanity and says that we have been created for a noble purpose. As those made in the image of God, our purpose is to enjoy his love and reflect his ways in the world. And life with the Creator, who made the stars and the dragonflies, is never dull.

So, on the one hand, the Bible makes sense of the beauty of life. It says God created this world for us to enjoy. On the other hand, it also makes sense of the sadness.

The Bible says we are right to dream of a better world. As things stand, this world of ours is not as good as it gets. In the beginning it was good. Very good. But something has gone wrong. We have gone wrong because we have turned our backs on the God who made us.

Our culture is deeply suspicious of any suggestion that we might be in any way to blame for the mess our world is in. To our ears, it sounds like a sure-fire route to low self-esteem.

Jesus the restorer

The Bible’s diagnosis of the human condition may take some chewing on. But you need to know that it does not lead to low self-esteem. Just the opposite. The very fact that we are held responsible underlines the fact that we are not meaningless animals. We are noble creatures, but we have used our nobility badly. Instead of using it to enjoy the God who made us, we have used it to crash out of the ocean. That is why our beauty is shot through with sadness. Stranded on the beach, we thrash about, fighting to eke out some kind of existence. But it’s not the life that we were made for.

Towards the end of his account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, John tells us why he has taken the trouble to write it all up.

‘But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ (John 20.31).

In fact, Jesus himself says: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’ (10.10).

I think that this comes as something of a shock to us. We have picked up the idea that Jesus came to tie us up in ‘thou shalt’ knots that are going to restrict our freedom. The word on the street is that he is going to tell us to sit up straight and stop enjoying ourselves: stop thinking, stop feeling, stop laughing. Stop going to the cinema, or making music, or asking questions. We think that following Jesus will mean missing out on life.

But John says: when you think about what Jesus has come to do, don’t think of rules and regulations and rituals. Think of a beached whale being restored to the ocean. Think of it swimming free again.

Jesus goes on to define the ‘life’ that he has come to bring. On one occasion, when he is praying for his disciples, he says, ‘Now this is eternal life: that they [the disciples] may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent’ (17.3). He says that the life he has come to bring is about knowing ‘the only true God’. In other words, Jesus has come to restore us to the environment for which we were created, because he has come to give us a relationship with the God who made us.

Jumpy?

There might be a bit of you that is jumpy about the whole idea of knowing God. We are not sure that we want God looking over our shoulder and breathing down our neck the whole time. It sounds so oppressive. But the ocean doesn’t oppress the whale. The deeper it goes into the water, the freer it is to enjoy all that it means to be a whale. God doesn’t compromise our humanity. The deeper our relationship with him, the freer we are to enjoy all that it means to be human.

The above is an extract from the book Real Life Jesus by Mike Cain (published by IVP Books). A very good read, highly recommended.

Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves

2009-03-16T10:11:00.003+11:00

As Christians our job is to preach the gospel of His kingdom and His grace. However we require a lot of wisdom to deal with the different situations we find ourselves in.

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. 
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes 
and as innocent as doves. 
– Matt 10:16

Ken was preaching from the above and he said,

“Mission is dangerous. Satan is active and he wants to destroy gospel ministry. Disguising himself he uses different devices and different means to attack the preaching of the message of the kingdom. He doesn't want people to hear it he will do things to frustrate that. So we need to be as shrewd as snake, Jesus said. We need to be sensible, prudent, discerning and not to be gullible idiots but rather people who are wise in the ways of the world.

Yet at the same time we must be "as innocent as doves". That is there must be a simplicity and purity of character about us. We are not to be devious or manipulative, but rather to be straight forward and honest people of integrity. And such prudence and such innocence must be kept together. For prudence without innocence becomes mere cunning. And innocence without prudence becomes mere naivety. But kept together, prudence and innocence becomes wisdom. We need to be wise and as innocent as dove in the way we deal with the world.”

颜氏源考

2009-03-04T02:09:00.009+11:00

颜氏的发祥地在山东滕县. 颜氏起源于郳（小邾）国，发祥地山东滕州市，今有“颜氏图腾”传世，原载《百家大姓丛书》，专家学者誉之为传递古代信息文明的活化石。郳（小邾）国后称古滕，今名滕州；鲁国世称东鲁，后名曲阜(Qu1fu3)，曲阜、滕州均在山东境内。文献、庙碑记载“孔门八颜，皆郳出也”，源头在今滕州市小邾城街。

山东省 > 枣庄市 > 滕州市> 小邾城街

曲阜 - 中国历史上出圣人最多的地方
中国历史上被皇帝正式追封为圣人的有6人，其中有3个是曲阜人，即至圣孔子，复圣颜子，述圣于思．其余3个还与曲阜有一定关系：元圣周公旦，曾封于鲁，至今曲阜还有祭把他的庙宇。亚圣孟子就出生在曲阜的凫村，后迁居邹县，至今凫村还保存着他的故宅。著名的盂母林就在村东的马鞍山下。宗圣曾子既是孔子的学生，又是孔子孙子----子思的老师，他在曲阜也学习生活过多年。颜、曾、思、孟在孔庙大成殿里被列为"四配"。

《陋巷志》是以春秋时期鲁人颜回所居“陋巷”地名命名的志书，它与孔氏家族志《阙里志》一样，在中国地方志中是以圣贤家族历史为对象的专门志书。

http://baike.baidu.com/view/933307.html

http://www.yanshi.org/LXZ/default.ASP

http://www.yszqw.org/news.asp?id=86

复圣颜子

http://www.dfg.cn/gb/chtwh/srgs/8-fusheng.htm

More info:

http://www.tengzhou.gov.cn/lswh/lswh/200805/t20080515_298711.htm

天下无二颜

http://www.yszqw.org/

http://www.yanshi.org/

http://www.qfsq.com/

Evangelism of Hope

2009-02-26T09:28:00.008+11:00

As Christians we are called to do good not just to Christians but to people outside the church. Jesus said (Luke 6:33),

"If you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
For even sinners do the same."

Jesus went further and said (Matthew 5:44)

"But I tell you:
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Love your enemies? Well that's tall order for most of us.

Going hand in hand with the spirit of doing good is the eagerness to evangelise we find in Christians. That's because there's no greater good a Christian can do to another preson than to share with him/her the good news of Jesus Christ. Emil Brunner is often quoted:

"The church exists for mission, as fire exists for burning."

The same is true of Christians. We exist for evangelism. Many have problems with evangelism. It is hard to do evangelism in Europe today. One can't help but feel discouraged and demoralised. However Ken Brownell in his sermon on Evangelism of Hope (based on 1 Peter 3), pointed out that rediscovering the evangelism of hope, which is a way of evangelism that is woven into our lives, can help us overcome some of the difficulties faced. Evangelism of hope should come instintively. It's not just during difficult times when this type of evangelism can take place. It is appropriate even during the best of times.

Hope evangelism is about confidence which gives us boldness in our evangelism; but where do we find confidence in evangelism? The answer lies in the Lordship of Jesus Christ - "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." (1 Peter 3:13; also Isaiah 8)

Thankfully we can also look for confidence in many witnesses, who founded the early churches. Just refer to Paul's imprisonment and trial by King Agrippa as recorded in Paul 26 . Read for yourself but my favourite bit is this:

King Agrippa said to Paul,
"Do you think that in such a short time
you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

To which Paul replied,

"Short time or long -
I pray God that not only you
but all who are listening to me today may become what I am,
except for these chains."

Hope evangelism is also about preparation. Without preparation evangelism won't be effective. We need hopeful defence, that is, always be prepared to give an answer or apology. The word apology here does not mean "saying sorry", in this context the word means defence or apologetic. The great mathematician Blaise Pascal, like many others before and after him (Aquinas, Francis Schaeffer, CS Lewis, to name a few) are able apologists who defend their faith by engaging with the idea and challenges of Christian faith. However, Ken explained that Peter is concerned primarily not with apologists like Pascal and others like him, but with ordinary Christians.

Ken said, "Each of us is to be prepared with an answer or defence for our hope as Christians. That is each of us should have sufficient understanding of the bible and of the doctrine of the faith so that we can give an intelligent answer to people when they question us. In particular we should be able to explain our hope as Christians - why are we so hopeful when other people despair. It is because of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Can you explain the significance of Jesus' resurrection to an inquiring colleague or friend? Can you give a relation a defence of your hope?"

More importantly, does our hope as Christians really make a difference to our lives? Unless a hopeful defence is backed by a hopeful lifestyle then the hope is in vain. People is unlikely to turn to you for answer just because you have a defence, but they might do if they can see a difference in you and your lifestyle. 1 Peter 2:12 reads,

"Live such good lives among the pagans that,
though they accuse you of doing wrong,
they may see your good deeds and
glorify God on the day he visits us."

Evangelism requires opportunities that can either be active or passive-ly created. The key is to be prepared i.e. by having a hopeful defence and lifestyle, and to build strong relationship with individuals with whom you share you faith.

I end this with a reading from 1 Peter 3:15-17:

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone
who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect,
keeping a clear conscience,
so that those who speak maliciously against your
good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
It is better, if it is God's will,
to suffer for doing good than for doing evil."

Walk the walk, all the way

2009-02-25T05:23:00.013+11:00

"A farmer went out to sow his seed.
As he was scattering the seed,
some fell along the path,
and the birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky places,
where it did not have much soil.
It sprang up quickly,
because the soil was shallow.
But when the sun came up,
the plants were scorched,
and they withered because they had no root.
Other seed fell among thorns,
which grew up and choked the plants.
Still other seed fell on good soil,
where it produced a crop—a hundred,
sixty or thirty times what was sown."

The parable (Matt 13) above reminded me of a friend who recently announced that he is now an atheist - on Facebook. I wasn't so much shocked by his denouncement of Christianity (he was a Christian until recently) as I was puzzled by the expeditiousness and public way with which he did it. Like many failed Christians I know, there seems to be a sense of anger in them that stems from disappoinment with God.

Many people have the misconception that proclaiming to be a Christian is about ticking the boxes based on the Christian handbook and in doing so we are guaranteed a ticket to heaven; life will be hunky dory, period. When bad things happen to us, that is considered as an invalidation of God's omnipotence.

David Whitehead, from Grace NYC said, "The question is not why bad things happen, it's really why good things happen at all! We know that there are things that are good and beautiful, but many times that beauty isn't realized until it's taken away."

He added that Job, the oldest book in the Bible, is all about suffering and it's purpose. Job wrestles with why bad things happen to good people, but one of the things that keeps his focus intact is the understanding that all of life is a gift from God (see Job 1:21).

The first parable provides a good explaination of why some people turn away from Christianity, whilst others grow in trust in Jesus. Walking with Jesus down a path wrought with challenges is one all Christians must bravely accept. But if we are honest about our intentions and seek Him with a pure heart and above all, put our hope and trust in Him, we will surely reap the reward in due time. Jesus said,

"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom
and does not understand it,
the evil one comes and snatches away
what was sown in his heart.
This is the seed sown along the path.
The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places
is the man who hears the word
and at once receives it with joy.
But since he has no root,
he lasts only a short time.
When trouble or persecution comes because of the word,
he quickly falls away.
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns
is the man who hears the word,
but the worries of this life
and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it,
making it unfruitful.
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil
is the man who hears the word and understands it.
He produces a crop, yielding a hundred,
sixty or thirty times what was sown."

If you receive the seed do take care to plant it on good soil, otherwise the crop will simply wither away. Our safety is guaranteed, but only if we see, hear and understand the Word with an open heart. Jesus said,

"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing,
they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn,
and I would heal them.'"

Are you prepared to follow Jesus, and more importantly, walk with Him all the way?

Linux Tech Tips - Treating Compressed and Uncompressed Data Sources the Same

2009-02-19T01:36:00.006+11:00

Linux Journal's Tech Tips (from Dec 2008) and a letter response (March 2009):

Occasionally, you need to process a number of files—some of which have been compressed and some which have not (think log files). Rather than running two variations, one compressed and one not, wrap it in a bash function:

function data_source ()
{
  local F=$1

  # strip the gz if it's there
  F=$(echo $F | perl -pe 's/.gz$//')

  if [[ -f $F ]] ; then
      cat $F
  elif [[ -f $F.gz ]] ; then
      nice gunzip -c $F
  fi
}

which nicely allows:

for file in * ; do
      data_source $file | ...
done

Whether you’re dealing with gzip’d files or uncompressed, you no longer have to treat them differently mentally. With a little more effort, bzip files also could be detected and handled.

------Response--------

I like to read the Tech Tips, as I did with David S. Sinck’s tip "Treating Compressed and Uncompressed Data Sources the Same" (LJ, December 2008, page 56). Here are some remarks and suggestions. I strongly recommend using double quotes. The presented solution silently misses all files with one or more whitespaces in its name.

The only purpose of the line:


F=$(echo $1 | perl -pe 's/.gz$//')

is to remove the last file extension from the filename. This is done with Perl, an interpreter for a language much more powerful than Bash, a subshell and a pipe. There’s too much effort to remove a few characters (in every loop cycle!). The first two lines of the function could be replaced by a parameter substitution, which costs nearly nothing. So, with quoting, we get the following:

function data_source ()
{
  local F=${1%.gz} # remove file extension

  if [[ -f $F ]] ; then
      cat "${F}"
  elif [[ -f $F.gz ]] ; then
      gunzip --stdout "${F}.gz"
  fi
} # ------- end of function data_source -------

for file in * ; do
      data_source "$file" | ...
done

Broken Britain, Anything Goes?

2009-02-15T07:17:00.008+11:00

The recent birth of a baby to a 13-year old boy has sparked outrage in Britain.

Former Conservative party leader Ian Duncan Smith said the birth highlighted another case of "broken Britain" where "anything goes."

"It's not being accusative, it's about pointing out the complete collapse in some parts of society of any sense of what's right and wrong.

"There is no opprobrium any more about behavior and quite often children witness behavior that's aggressive, violent, rude and sexual. It's as if no one is saying this is wrong."

On the other hand, why are we surprised that our teenagers are having babies?

Alasdair Palmer from The Telegraph wrote:

"Britain now provides children who have children with an array of benefits, from cash to council flats. There is no social stigma attached to having a baby as a teenager and teenage mothers are not shunned. They are usually given as much help as possible by friends and family, and failing that by the state's agents: doctors, social services, housing and benefits advisers."

If anything, the above means that the incentives to get pregnant and have babies have never been greater!

Britain's under-educated, over-sexualised society is a fact. It is also a fact that children born to parents who are themselves children are much more likely to be of low achievement in school and become unemployed, followed by dependency on social welfare. A girl born to a teenage mother is statistically likely to imitate her mother and get pregnant in her teens, repeating the depressing cycle of deprivation.

The burden on reversing this unhealthy trend does not lie squarely on the government's shoulder. The people of this country has a important, if not greater responsibility to make sure the incentives for teenage pregnancy is drastically reduced - through better education, discouragement of sexualisation of teenagers in the media and the courage to uphold traditional values that underpin society.

Persepolis

2009-02-11T09:31:00.007+11:00

The world media is increasingly focused on Iran, not least because of her nuclear ambition, homegrown satellite and (still) testy relationship with the US. And if you throw Islamic fundamentalism into the mix we have in our hands a very interesting situation indeed. However I thought I would stay away from the headlines and blog on a small news article concerning the award winning film Persepolis (named after an ancient Persian city) that I came across in the Spring 2009 issue of the Quad Magazine - an excellent, twice yearly publication for Queen Mary alumni - which mentions Jodi Tommerddahl, a QM alumnus, who along with her husband translated the film adaption of the autobiographical and political comic by Marjane Satrapi from French into English. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

A plot summary (from IMDB):
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs.

Joke for New Parents

2009-01-18T08:43:00.007+11:00

Stumbled upon this funny piece on GrayMonk's blog, which I first came to know when researching on the Genographic project. It's a humorous take on the story of Adam and Even and as a new parent, it struck a cord in me. Here it is, reposted as follows:

Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God's omnipotence did not extend to His own children.

After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve.

And the first thing he said was ' DON'T !'

'Don't what ? Adam replied.

'Don't eat the forbidden fruit.' God said.

'Forbidden fruit ? We have forbidden fruit ? Hey Eve..we have forbidden fruit ! '

'No Way ! '

'Yes way ! '

'Do NOT eat the fruit ! ' said God.

‘Why ? '

'Because I am your Father and I said so ! ' God replied, wondering why He hadn't stopped creation after making the elephants

A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked !

'Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit ? ' God asked.

'Uh huh,' Adam replied.

'Then why did you ? ' said the Father.

'I don't know,' said Eve.

'She started it! ' Adam said.

'Did not ! '

'Did too ! '

'DID NOT ! '

Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven't taken it, don't be hard on yourself.

If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you ?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your own children.

3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.

5. The main purpose of holding children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own

6. We childproofed our homes, but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY:

Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home one day!

AND FINALLY: IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TENSION AND YOU GET A HEADACHE, DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE:

'TAKE TWO ASPIRIN' AND 'KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN'!!!!!

Through suffering there is victory

2009-01-13T06:38:00.005+11:00

1 Peter 3:15-16
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Here's a commentary on the above verse by Dave Whitehead of Grace NYC:

Have you ever met a Christian who was prepared to correct everyone around them but didn't have gentleness or respect for those who disagree? In an age of reality TV we have lost the art of respectfully disagreeing. One of the things that I have come to realize is that it's my job to answer those around me who ask about Christ, but it's the Holy Spirit's job to win their hearts. This keeps me from taking on the pressure to be right or win the argument. We can win the battle but lose the war for someone's soul. Sometimes the greatest statement is how we endure ridicule or slander. Remember Jesus, who when He was slandered didn't retaliate. Sometimes it's our suffering that becomes our greatest witness.

Malaysia - racial supremacy no more?

2009-01-10T08:53:00.004+11:00

Re-posted from the website of BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents:

For nearly four decades, ethnic Malays have benefited from positive discrimination and special rights over the nearly 40% of Malaysians from the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

But in 2008, the country's unique racial compact began to be strongly challenged from within.

For Crossing Continents, Mukul Devichand reports from this remarkable multi-ethnic nation and asks if this is a defining moment?

He meets Malay, Indian and Chinese young people on the front lines of the struggle between ingrained racism and the possibility of a more equal future.

Download Podcast (14MB mp3 file)

Further reading: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7816455.stm

Newborn Essentials

2008-12-31T05:17:00.025+11:00

As new parents we recently discovered a bunch of stuff (other than your usual supply of nappies and bottles etc.) that we think are absolutely essential if we are to keep a demanding newborn (as well as the parents!) as happy as possible! The brief descriptions and photos (linked to vendors who stock them) should speak for themselves.

1. SoundSleep for Babies - This is not your typical lullaby tunes. It is a soundtrack based on actual and digitally enhanced womb recording, which the babies instantly recognize! You've got to try it to believe it. This soundtrack works a wonder for us and it's the best 25bucks we've ever spent!!

2. Medisana Personal Humidifier - Lightweight, German-made, simple design and very effective!

3. Delonghi's Rapido oil-filled radiator - Comes with a thermostat so room temperature can be kept at a constant. Perfect for the long cold winter.

4. SureSound® Ultimate Monitor baby monitors from Tommee Tippee - Includes a movement sensor pad (it triggers an alarm if no movement is sensed within 20 seconds), room temperature display, nightlight, sound monitor, mains and/or battery operated units. This gadget gives you a peace of mind when you have to nip downstair to make a cup of tea!

5. BABYBJORN Baby Carrier Active - For those favouring an active lifestyle, this is an absolute essential. Provides excellent back support and 3 configurations (nursing, forward-facing or parent-facing)

6. Push chair Urban-Detour-Quantum - A cleverly designed contraption ideal for smooth as well as rugged surfaces.

7. Ergonomic bath - Keeps the slippery newborn securely seated, leaving the mom's hands free.

8. Electronic scale -Helps you keep tabs on the baby's growth. It's amazing how fast they put on the pounds!

9. Digital thermometer - Gives accurate underarm temperature reading and a useful fever alert instrument.

10. My Best Friend Nursing Pillow - If you are suffering from back pain due to the constant strain of breastfeeding then look no further than this excellent support cushion. It's a tad pricey but we think it's worth every penny.

11. Bamboozle Reusable Nappies from Tots Bots - Made from the finest Asian bamboo, this eco-friendly reusable nappy system works a treat and great for the baby's skin.

Age of Austerity

2008-12-16T20:22:00.013+11:00

Taking reusable bags to supermarket, eschewing fresh food in the chill section for frozen equivalent, paying by cash rather than credit card, bringing home-packed sandwiches to work, downsizing to cars with higher MPG and lower carbon footage - these and many frugal practices are now coming into vogue in this economically battered country.

A supermarket boss recently said, "We are moving into an era of the frivolous being unacceptable, and the frugal being cool." Is this the dawning of the age of austerity? I hope so because I think the past decade has been characterized by excess consumerism and it's time we take stock of what's happened and focus on the future.

In the run-up to Christmas the melancholy mood still hangs heavy in the air but merriment is probably less elusive now than during the good times - released from the urge to get and spend, one starts to appreciate what is available and learn to enjoy the surrounding more. Just because the country is now poorer does not mean that we can no longer enjoy a rich and productive life. If anything Christmas is a good time for crisis!

David Kynaston's book "Austerity Britain" examined the impact of the war and its aftermath on Britain. Perhaps we can take comfort in knowing that the country has been there before and survived! No doubt a new book on this new period of frugality will find its way to the bookshelves before long.

Internet Anonymity

2008-12-16T20:04:00.006+11:00

In a recent interview with Internet Evolution, Internet entrepreneur and philanthropist Esther Dyson shared her view on the subject of Internet anonymity. This is an excerpt from the interview:

Internet Evolution: You’ve had a front-row seat for the commercialization, regulation, and funding of the Internet. What’s been the biggest surprise for you about how the Internet has evolved? And what’s been your biggest disappointment?

Esther Dyson: Well, surprise and disappointment are the same… There are two big things: First, I was a much bigger fan of anonymity then than I am now. I thought it was cool. And it is, but it turns out anonymity really encourages bad behavior. I’m not in favor of the government tracking everybody and so forth, [but] at least persistent pseudonyms and communities and stuff like that makes everything a nicer place.

It’s like a lot of things. I’m pro choice, but I think abortion is an unfortunate thing. I think the same thing about anonymity: Everybody should have the right to it, but it’s not something one wants to encourage. And that’s not weasel words, that’s the reality of it.

[Anonymity] should be allowed. People should be able to make that choice, and there are many reasons to make that choice. If you live in an oppressive regime, you may well want people to be able to remain anonymous or have secret communications. But at the same time, it should not be encouraged, and it should be acknowledged that it’s a response to a bad situation.

The Schedulers versus the Huggers

2008-12-15T08:10:00.002+11:00

Reposted from the Guardian: Family Features Dec 13, 2008

When a baby is small, particularly if it's the first one, parents tend to verge on the doctrinaire regarding the best parenting approach, falling into two camps: strict routine (the schedulers) or infant-led (the huggers).

Holidaying friends with conflicting methods risk lifelong schism, yet hardly anyone bases their view on science. So what do the studies show?

The most definitive was done recently by British and Danish psychologists. They identified a sample of pregnant London mothers who intended to follow a parent-led, scheduled routine. For example, many hoped to get the baby into a cot as soon as possible, feeding and sleeping to a timetable, and planning to delay responses to crying, to teach self-soothing.

By contrast, another sample was also studied, who adopted the hugger approach. They would be keeping the baby in the bed rather than a cot, and feeding on demand. There was also a sample of Copenhagen mothers who fell between these two nurturing plans. The samples were followed until three months of age. Compared with the hugger mothers, the schedulers spent half as much time holding their babies and were four times less likely to make contact with it when fussing or crying. Twice as many schedulers had given up breastfeeding when the baby reached three months of age (85% v 37%). The results for the Copenhagen mothers generally fell between the two, though veering towards the huggers.

The consequences of this differing care were considerable. At all three ages when studied (10 days, five weeks and three months), the babies with scheduler mothers spent 50% more time fussing or crying. For example, at five weeks, the scheduler babies fussed/cried for 121 minutes of the 24 hours, compared with 82 minutes for the hugger babies.

If you take the view that persistent fussing and crying are undesirable for a baby - because they are signs of distress - then this is evidence that the scheduler regime is bad for a baby's wellbeing. If the method really does cause a 50% greater prevalence of fussing and crying in three-month-olds, innumerable other studies suggest that such distress often presages emotional insecurity, hyperactivity and conduct disorders in later childhood.

However, if scheduling was bad news for the babies, it was not all bad for their mothers. At three months (although not before that age), scheduler babies were more likely to sleep for five or more hours a night without waking or crying - significantly longer than among the huggers. However, this scheduling benefit may have been illusory. If the scheduler babies were sleeping in cots in another room, how confident could their mothers be that their babies had not woken up? Nearly all the hugger babies (84%) were in bed with their mothers and waking or crying would rarely be missed. The researchers concluded that the scheduled babies were probably waking more than their mothers realised, casting doubt on the finding.

It is pathetic that this is the only serious study of the question. We also need to know what the consequences of different regimes are in later life. For there is good evidence that as the child gets older, scheduling is increasingly effective for creating good sleep. So it may be helpful to encourage such "self-regulation" when the child is one or two, not at all good to do so at three months. But it is also possible that children who keep getting into the parental bed until middle childhood are ultimately more secure and creative. Why is this issue not at the top of the psychology profession's research agenda?

After Rome: Holy War and Conquest

2008-11-30T09:11:00.005+11:00

The above was broadcast on BBC Two earlier this evening. Before he took up the position as Mayor of London Boris Johnson found time to investigate the roots of the antagonism between Christianity and Islam.

Review from Sky.com:

Whether you agree with his politics or not, there's little doubt that Boris Johnson is TV gold.

In this two-part documentary, Boris investigates the early beginnings of the long-running conflict between Christianity and Islam.

Those who think of Boris as a bumbling Tory twit might be immediately put off by the thought of him attempting to provide genuine insight into the clash between two ancient civilisations. And they'd be right. Given this sensitive topic there is certainly potential for Boris to cause outcry with one of his famous gaffe's. But Boris shouldn't be underestimated.

Some might be surprised to find out that London's Mayor - or the BBC research team at the very least - has half a brain hidden underneath his unkempt 'do. After all, one doesn't graduate from Oxford and become appointed Shadow Minister for Higher Education if one has nothing between the ears.

After Rome: Holy War And Conquest, filmed before he was elected Mayor of London, sees Boris travel from Europe to the Middle East, uncovering the flashpoints in relations between Christianity and Islam, and also revealing little-known moments of harmony and interchange between the faiths.

It has often been said that Christianity and Islam are locked in a never-ending cycle of mutual antipathy, distrust and violence. But the true historical picture reveals a far more complex relationship.

Boris examines the early history of Islam and the extraordinary chain of conquests in which it swept across the territories of Rome.

He also documents the rich and sophisticated civilisation Islam produced; the relationships between Muslims, Jews and Christians; and the background to the Crusades – a conflict, according to some commentators in the Muslim world, that is still being played out today.

For once, it's nice to see Boris go back to his journalistic roots rather than simply playing the fool. The result is an interesting and intriguing insight into a century-old conflict of which contemporary society is sadly largely ignorant.

Intro from the Times online:

In a two-part series filmed before he became Mayor of London, Boris Johnson makes an eccentric progress around the Mediterranean and the Middle East, tracing the origins of the conflict between Christianity and Islam. In the 7th and 8th centuries, the Arabs conquered half of what used to be the Roman Empire, advancing from Spain through the south of France as far north as Poitiers.

Arabic replaced Greek and Latin as the language of the ruling class and Arab coin became the currency of choice. Yet despite the richness of Arab culture and a large measure of religious tolerance, many Spaniards remain in denial about their Arab heritage, celebrating the Crusades and dismissing the Moors as “just one more civilisation”.

Let's move to... Eltham

2008-11-23T01:46:00.009+11:00

The following article appears in the Saturday's Guardian Magazine's weekly column of Lets move to...

© Copyright 2008 Guardian UK

What's going for it? It's a mighty long way from Eltham to Hollywood, but one local made it. Bob Hope. Yep, Bob Hope. As in Road To Morocco, charity golf tournaments and plaid trousers. He was born on Craigton Road, just up from the post office. He didn't stay long. I wonder what the Bobster made of the place? Did he long for the wild ancient woods up at Oxleas? Did he pine for the views from the top of Shooter's Hill and Eltham Hill? Was Royal Blackheath golf club (England's oldest, triv fans) where the plaid began? Nah, probably not. But he thought enough of the place to help save the theatre (renamed in his honour) in the 80s. In fact, the burb's seen more than its fair share of celebrity: Frankie Howerd, Boy George, Denis Healey, Jude Law, Louise Redknapp and Kate Bush have all passed through. It's practically London's Beverly Hills.

The case against The shadow of Stephen Lawrence's murder still hangs heavy. Don't come here expecting cosmopolitan London. Watch for chronic rat runs.

Well connected? No tube, but roadwise it's good, with the A2 and A20 - though it's usually gridlock at rush hour - and the south circular. Rail: between four and eight trains an hour to Charing Cross, Cannon Street or Victoria from Eltham, and from Mottingham (both 30-ish minutes).

Schools Eltham CofE, St Mary's Catholic, Gordon, St Thomas More Catholic and Henwick all soar above the national average for English, maths and science. Secondaries more troubled: St Thomas More RC comprehensive is the star, scoring well above average at GCSE, though independents Eltham College and Colfe's are most popular.

Hang out at... Locals Lynne and Steve Lane recommend "the Tudor Barn, built early 1600, opposite the Co-op. Inside there's a little gem of a Cajun-music-and-dance venue." For eating, the Park Tavern and Electriq Cafe get the nod from residents.

Where to buy Excellent, affordable property, very commutable to central London. Eltham was once a village, famous for its mansions and Eltham Palace. You'll still find the village's older property - pricey - on North Park and Court Roads. Prized suburban gems are the Eltham Park estate or "Corbett" estate. Best is the Progress estate for cottagey, Arts and Craftsy houses.

From the streets of Eltham:
Angela Horn "Eltham will never be cool, but it's a great place to bring up children. Shopkeepers chat to you, people are polite and friendly. It's a small town that happens to be in Greater London."

Nick Joyner "There are better-looking high streets, but it has most of what we need, including Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's, and is moving upmarket in terms of pubs and the new sports centre. There are strong residents' associations. Downsides? A feeling that Eltham is relatively neglected by Greenwich council compared with nearby Woolwich."

Val Spargo "We have lots of green space. There's Eltham Parks (south, north); Avery Hill with parkland and huge exotic hothouse; Oxleas Woods with ancient woodland and formal gardens. The high street is dismal."

The story of a well-mannered cat

2008-11-17T09:16:00.017+11:00

A member from ELT told us an interesting story today. When he was small the family used to like to have BBQs in the garden. And there was this cat in the neighbourhood which always uncannily showed up whenever a BBQ was held. However like a well-mannered gentleman the cat never turned up empty handed. The cat brought with it a dead animal, usually on the order of a dead bird, or a dead mouse.

He then moved on to a different story. Once he travelled by train to a country town and got lost when he missed a connection. He knew a friend who lived in that area and happened to have his telephone number. He knew this person could help him. He phoned him up, and the response was, "You need to catch this train to X, then change at Y and Z...". Wouldn't it have been nice if the friend had said, "Stay where you are, I'm coming to get you."

The moral of the first story is we can never measure up to God's standard of goodness. There is nothing we can bring to God that is any better than the dead mice the neighbourhood cat brought to the party. But before we despair, here comes the moral of the second story. God knows that we are helpless, sometimes we simply can't help ourselves. So God embarked on the greatest rescue mission known to mankind - a mission to rescue mankind itself - by coming to get us, through Christ Jesus. He has come to meet us where we are.

All God asks is for us to give Him thanks.

There's more to the above statement than meet the eyes. John 12:24 reads, " I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." Essentially what Jesus is saying is that only those who are prepared to loose their life will find it. To many the logic seems counter intuitive. The more you give away the more you have. The old self must die in order to be reborn. The more your focus in life is outside of yourself, the more your own soul will flourish. However if the logic is indeed counter intuitive it must be frustrating for many militant atheists that Christianity continues to engage women and men of the highest intelligence. Nick Jowett wrote, "If the grounds for faith are so easy to demolish, how is it that all the most brilliant minds have not recognised this long ago? That they haven't is attested by the continuing recruitment of fine intellects into the ministry of all mainstream denominations."

Dawn of a new era

2008-11-10T09:11:00.014+11:00

It's refreshing to see that it was the Democratic candidate Obama, not McCain the Republican, who has been talking about his faith. Outside the US people always thought of American religion as a largely conservative force, yet the great historical moments have always been acts of faith. Faith is what created America, and it's what gave American their freedom.

Here's an excerpt from the recently concluded BBC documentary series' website, The American Future,

"Faith helped create America - it was the search for religious freedom that led thousands to make the dangerous journey to the colonies in the 1600s. After independence was won, that religious freedom was enshrined in the constitution; America was the first country in the world to do so. Simon also looks at the remarkable role the black church has played, first in the liberation of the slaves in the 1800s, and again in the civil rights movement of the 1960s; neither would have happened without its religious activists. It is this very church that has been the inspiration for Barak Obama, who traces the roots of his political inspiration to his faith."

Most headlines on the US election were all inevitably about Obama's skin colour and the historic milestone of the first non-white presidency. However as Jonathan Raban wrote in today's Guardian, "For the United States and the rest of the world, that is a fact of huge symbolic importance, but it is the least of Obama's true credentials. What America has succeeded in doing, against all the odds is to elect the most intelligent, canny and imaginative candidate to the presidential office in modern times - someone who'll bring to the White House an extraordinary clarity of thought and temperate judgment."

He added, "Every White House has had its intellectuals, but very few presidents have been intellectuals themselves - Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Woodrow Wilson, the list more or less stops there. Much of the nightmare of the last eight years has arisen from the fact that one of the least intellectually curious or gifted presidents in history was in thrall to a group of passionate, but second-rate, neoconservative intellectuals, all associated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), whose imperial agenda for the US was lost on the man they guided and advised. Since September 11 2001, the damage inflicted by intellectuals on America and its constitution and justice system, as well as on the outside world, has been so great that we ought to be wary of the election of an intellectual to the presidency, and, though he tried his best to veil his proclivities while on the stump, Obama is an intellectual."

The individual featured in the picture shown on the top left of this blog is that of Martin Luther King, the civil rights activist who devoted his life to end racial discrimination in that country. One element of King's historical speech, "I have a dream" (Listen to Audio MP3; or read the transcript) at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 struck me as particularly poignant in the light of recent events in US:

"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Has his dream come to pass? Well the public endorsement of Barack Obama to the 44th presidency indicates that things are moving in the right direction. Given the tragic aspect of US history especially the shame of slavery, who would have thought that this was even remotely possible 45 years ago? But lets make no mistake, the battle against discrimination has not been won. What matters is that Obama has proved that however improbable an event may be, we can never write it off as impossible.

I think Simon Scharma is right to say that "the two great themes of America's religious history are the passion of belief and the zeal for freedom." And these forces still shape the American political history today.

Of Bankers and Magicians

2008-11-03T07:43:00.004+11:00

At first glance, it may seem like bankers and magicians may not have much in common (well, apart from the fact that there may be more magicians still holding onto their jobs than the bankers in the current environment).

However, looking at the recent release of trading update on the fortunes of Deutsche Bank - Germany ’s premier Investment & Commercial bank, the differences don’t seem that great after all.

This is because both sets of professionals – magicians with the help of their assistants and bankers with their faithful accountants are experts at creating illusions – albeit the big difference being the disappearance acts performed by magicians may leave you in awe, but that of the banks are likely to leave us with a little more to be spooked about this Halloween.

What Deutsche Bank has done is not "wrong". It has been approved by the International Accounting Standard Board and endorsed by the European Union. So by waiving a little DB magic wand, it has made EUR800m plus of likely loss on "hard-to-value" assets simply disappear off the face of its financial statements.

The technical reason for this is that previously, banks held assets which were required to be marked-to-market at current prevailing prices on the balance sheet date, and under the current economic environment of depressed asset values this would have left them holding a big unrealised-loss reported on certain class of assets. However, following a rule change from Oct 13th by the IASB, DB were allowed to stop marking down the value of the assets under question, leaving their valuation under the "held-to-maturity" methodology rather than marking to market.

Of course, the CEO of DB Josef Ackerman was one of the leading proponents who called for the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standard) to be relaxed earlier this year, following a major spate of bank write-downs and subsequent losses on the Profit & Loss statement. And in an extremely fortunate timing for DB he’s been handed his victory by the IASB and the politicians who are desperate to make the markets appear stable if not quite stabilised in reality.

The investment analyst community on the whole are less happy about the turn of events however, according to the recent CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute survey. See "Fair Value Supporters Urge SEC Not to Suspend Mark-to-Market Accounting Rule". Their job is made more difficult now due to the opacity of the reporting standard which tries to dress-up the wound rather than treating its cause.

Most governments are likely to endorse the changed accounting rule too - as the more "profitable" their banks are, the less help they need from their governments in terms of capital injection.

How about us the ordinary folks? Well, that depends on how you want to view the situation. Those counting on the property market rebound may like to believe these assets will deliver these "held-to-maturity" values, whilst those with more sanguine view of the future of the market value of their homes have no choice but to see the current reluctance of banks in writing-off these losses now as living in denial.

Hence, we may not know it but even the most uninvolved amongst us may have cast our view on this matter.

Blessed Be Your Name

2008-11-03T02:17:00.003+11:00

1. Blessèd be Your name
In the land that is plentiful,
Where Your streams of abundance flow,
Blessèd be Your name.
And blessèd be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place,
Though I walk through the wilderness,
Blessèd be Your name.

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise.
And when the darkness closes in, Lord,
Still I will say:
Blessèd be the name of the Lord,
Blessèd be Your name.
Blessèd be the name of the Lord,
Blessèd be Your glorious name.

2. Blessèd be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me,
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’,
Blessèd be Your name.
And blessèd be Your name
On the road marked with suffering,
Though there’s pain in the offering,
Blessèd be Your name.

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise.
And when the darkness closes in, Lord,
Still I will say:
Blessèd be the name of the Lord,
Blessèd be Your name.
Blessèd be the name of the Lord,
Blessèd be Your glorious name.

You give and take away,
You give and take away.
My heart will choose to say:
Lord, blessèd be Your name.
(Repeat)

Blessèd be the name of the Lord,
Blessèd be Your name.
Blessèd be the name of the Lord,
Blessèd be Your glorious name.

The secret of the church

2008-10-28T04:36:00.012+11:00

Over the last 2000 years many forces have tried to destroy the Church.

Early Christians suffered under the Roman empire. The Apostles Paul and Peter, amongst others, were executed by Nero, the Roman emperor during 64-68AD. In less than 300 years, Constantine I became the first Christian Roman Emperor and soon Christianity emerged as the official religion of the whole of the Roman empire.

In the centuries that followed, the Roman Catholic church turned into a corrupt establishment that was abused as a political and money-raising instrument. Then came Martin Luther and the ensuing reformation movement resulted in the Protestant church today.

Dr Bruce Milne, in his morning sermon on Acts 4:1-22 at the ELT yesterday, shared with the congregation secret of the enduring nature of the church. The scene was set in Jerusalem where Peter and John had been brought to trial in front of the 71-men court of Sanhedrin (the supreme council in ancient Israel; the same council who sentenced Jesus to the cross just weeks earlier)

"Very interesting what they don't do is to challenge the central claim that Peter and John were making which was, Jesus was risen from the dead. If any there was a company in the whole of history who had a greater vested interest in disproving the resurrection, it was this company. They could have produced that evidence that Jesus wasn't risen from dead, immediately their wishes would be fulfilled and this whole Christian thing would die, would die overnight. People would go home, it's all finished. Jesus dead, dead, dead and gone. They needed to have that. Because already people were believing this and the Christian missions were on the move, and there's a great crowd of people and their authority was being undermined. They had every reason in the world to stop this thing. If only they could produce that evidence. They don't. They don't produce this because the evidence wasn't there. And this group, lets be very clear, were in a much stronger position than ANY group in the whole of the last 2000 years to disprove the resurrection. They had all the handles of power and all the authority, if that evidence was out there they could have produced it. Far better position than any of your skeptics today, your Dawkins and all these others. But they don't produced it. Why? Because there wasn't any evidence contradicting the resurrection anywhere."

What the Sanhedrin did next was just as interesting. Acts 4:13-20 speak for themselves:

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus... 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Peter and John refused to obey their instruction despite the real possibility of being imprisoned and even crucified! In the end the Sanhedrin had no choice but to let the two go. Perhaps more important was the fact that their deviance is a practical and powerful act of their faith, echoed in Acts 4:12: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

How on earth did ordinary and ignorant people like Peter and John manage to defeat the Sanhedrin in the court? The odds were 71 against 2, surely that's impossible? But wait, Christ is with them! And there's been the secret of the church all through the ages. Not because we are wonderful but because we have the most wonderful Saviour, who is alive and has promised to be with us.

Bruce ended his sermon with this:

"He makes ordinary people do extraordinary things. He sends his gospel forth. He enters human hearts. All around the world today the church is alive because Jesus is alive. That's our faith and that is the faith that you are I are called upon, to carry with us, and to take out into the world, as we serve him as his witnesses."

The implication of this amazing truth is this: mission is the necessity of witness. A mission worker can be persecuted and even killed but not the Scripture. The seed of the Gospel, once sown, will eventually bear fruit. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote in 40:8, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

Just in case we forget, God doesn't need us. We need Him.

Further reading:

Bruce said, "I'm not as bad as I might have been; but I'm a whole lot worse than I should be. I've sinned and I know that."
Bruce's morning sermon at the ELT on 26/10/2008 (MP3)

Extracting private key from Java keystore and CMS/KDB database

2008-10-25T01:34:00.038+11:00

JKS (Java Keystore) is the default implementation for certificates and key management in Java applications like WebSphere and Tomcat. A common problem faced is the extraction of private key from JKS for use in an Apache web server which makes use of base64-encoded DER (aka PEM) standard or in the case of IBM HTTP Server, KDB.

If you use openssl to create your CSR then you wouldn't have a problem because the private key will be in hand. However this doesn't apply to CSR created using ikeyman (IHS) because the key management tool doesn't offer a private key export functionality for security reason. Unfortunately the same restriction applies to java-based Keytool so for reason I will soon explain you might run into difficulty updating a Java keystore.

Without the private key you won't be able to convert a signed DER (.crt/cer/der) certificate received from a CA to PKCS12 (.p12), which is the format understood by ikeyman for "import" into a KDB/CMS database. However, if you use ikeyman to generate the original CSR then you should be able to "receive" the signed certificate from a CA directly into CMS. There is an important distinction between "Receiving" as opposed to "Importing" a certificate: ikeyman will happily receive a certificate file in binary DER or base-64 encoded format, but will only import from one of the following formats: CMS, JKS, JCEKS or PKCS12.

In order to export the private key from JKS you'd require a java tool that probably needs to be compiled from source (see ExportPriv.java, available from M. Foster or its variant ExportPrivateKey.java, whose source code is published in Read more... of this page).

It is worth noting that although IBM HTTP Server uses CMS/KDB for certificate & key management, the ikeyman tool that comes with IHS provides a functionality to save a CMS database as JKS. So apart from this additional step of KDB to JKS conversion, private key extraction using the java tool is exactly the same for IHS as it is for applications that rely on native JKS.

Finally PEM keys and certificates can be exported easily to DER format and vice versa. The DER format is understood by Apache and used by the CAs for certificate distribution. Binary encoded DER file can also be opened in a text viewer although it would appear as random texts so to examine its content use openssl ("openssl x509 -noout -text -in CRT.der" for a certificate received from CA or "openssl rsa -noout -text -in rsa.key" for a RSA private key) or just execute the file in Windows.

Further reading:

X.509 from Wikipedia
Source code for ExportPrivateKey.java

Compile the source code including Base64Coder.java if necessary. Then execute it as follows:

$Path_to_java/java ExportPrivateKey mykeystore.jks JKS mysecretpassword "my alias" myprivate.key

If you receive a NullPointer exception chances are the alias specified is incorrect. Make sure you enclose the alias in double quotes.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.security.Key;
import java.security.KeyPair;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.security.KeyStoreException;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.security.PrivateKey;
import java.security.PublicKey;
import java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException;
import java.security.cert.Certificate;

import sun.misc.BASE64Encoder;

public class ExportPrivateKey {
       private File keystoreFile;
       private String keyStoreType;
       private char[] password;
       private String alias;
       private File exportedFile;

       public static KeyPair getPrivateKey(KeyStore keystore, String alias, char[] password) {
               try {
                       Key key=keystore.getKey(alias,password);
                       if(key instanceof PrivateKey) {
                               Certificate cert=keystore.getCertificate(alias);
                               PublicKey publicKey=cert.getPublicKey();
                               return new KeyPair(publicKey,(PrivateKey)key);
                       }
               } catch (UnrecoverableKeyException e) {
       } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
       } catch (KeyStoreException e) {
       }
       return null;
       }

       public void export() throws Exception{
               KeyStore keystore=KeyStore.getInstance(keyStoreType);
               BASE64Encoder encoder=new BASE64Encoder();
               keystore.load(new FileInputStream(keystoreFile),password);
               KeyPair keyPair=getPrivateKey(keystore,alias,password);
               PrivateKey privateKey=keyPair.getPrivate();
               String encoded=encoder.encode(privateKey.getEncoded());
               FileWriter fw=new FileWriter(exportedFile);
               fw.write("---BEGIN PRIVATE KEY---\n");
               fw.write(encoded);
               fw.write("\n");
               fw.write("---END PRIVATE KEY---");
               fw.close();
       }

       public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception{
               ExportPrivateKey export=new ExportPrivateKey();
               export.keystoreFile=new File(args[0]);
               export.keyStoreType=args[1];
               export.password=args[2].toCharArray();
               export.alias=args[3];
               export.exportedFile=new File(args[4]);
               export.export();
       }
}

Is ambition necessarily bad?

2008-10-16T19:21:00.001+11:00

BBC Thought for the Day, 16 October 2008 by Rosemary Lain-Priestley

This time last week on the Today programme we'd just heard an interview with the Booker Prize nominee Philip Hensher, at that stage tipped by some as the favourite to win. Asked 'Would you like to win?' Hensher responded 'Don't ask me that'. The interviewer tried again: 'What do you think your chances of winning are?' Again, a modest refusal to comment.

The overreaching desire of some for the glittering prizes of the financial world has been suggested as partly to blame for the credit crunch. But is ambition necessarily bad? As a priest in the Church of England I've noticed that it's often considered to be deeply suspect. The roots of this suspicion lie in the idea that humility and selflessness are core Christian principles.

We might wonder whether historically this has shaped our national character - that understated Britishness that doesn't advertise its own achievements. Yet across the Atlantic is a culture equally influenced by a Christian ethos where some preachers strive to become celebrities and ambition is part of the national DNA.

So perhaps even from a Christian perspective ambition isn't necessarily a bad thing. Surely we can be appropriately ambitious in our desire to use fully our God-given aptitudes and gifts? Even competitive ambition can have wider benefits, as each of us strives to be all that we can be.

Perhaps the most notorious example of ambition in the gospels is provided by the mother of James and John, who asks Jesus, 'Can my sons sit at your right and left hand in the Kingdom?' Jesus, as ever, cuts to the chase and asks James and John 'Can you walk the walk?' They reply confidently that they can, and Jesus tells them that they will, but he warns them that the prize isn't for him to grant. The glittering spoils are secondary to what they'll achieve along the way.

The eventual winner of the Man Booker prize impressed the judges with his novel offering an alternative perspective on modern India, expressed in a surprising way. The judges speak of the book's originality and the new territory it covers. We don't know what this author's answer would have been to the question 'Do you want to win?' But in being ambitious enough to attempt something new he has caught the attention of the literary world and landed his book in the spotlight. Many will read it quite simply because it won the competition - and will be enriched by the experience.

Ambition is not a dirty word. We may need to keep a close eye on our motives, but the fulfilment of our potential is a deeply enriching human goal.

The chickens are coming home to roost

2008-10-13T08:11:00.004+11:00

The financial crisis that is plagueing economies around the world is perhaps not as shocking to some as it is to most people. The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Britain (that's the equivalent of chief Finance Minister in most other countries), Alisdair Darling, was reproached by the media when he told the Guardian newspaper on Aug 30 that, "Britain is facing arguably the worst economic downturn in 60 years which will be more profound and long-lasting than people had expected". In hindsight this admission by Darling pales in comparison to the shocking reality that is now unfolding not just in Britain but across the globe, with unsettling repercussions.

Ex-financial guru and author of Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, appeared on BBC Newsnight on Friday where he hammered home a message he's been saying for many years, that we live in a world we do not understand and black swan events (ie unexpected rare events) are inevitable. However many people choose to ignore "black swans" because we are more comfortable seeing the world as something structured and comprehensible therefore think we are "in control".

The first tell-tale sign of a financial turmoil in Britain was that of a bank run on Northern Rock. This was followed by Halifax, the Abbey and then Bradford and Bingley. These are major Building Societies but with one thing in common - they were all demutulised. The societies took advantage of the Conservative law (under Margaret Thatcher) in the 1980s that allow them to transform into banks that could raise money on the stock market rather than relying solely on small investors. Once demutulised they had to answer not just to their savers but to their shareholders. This made them less averse to risk taking and many have resorted to wholesale funding to grow their revenue. Northern Rock's wholesale figure was 75% before it collapsed, B&B was about 50%. It has taken nearly fifteen years to see the effect of Margaret Thatcher's policy change and the chickens are now coming home to roost.

Anyway it will take many experts to debate the root causes of the meltdown that we are seeing across the global financial institutions but if there's a lesson to be learned from the 2008 Black Swan is that one of the major causes is greed.

Brune Milne, author of Dynamic Diversity

2008-10-04T00:30:00.005+10:00

Bruce Milne, author of the book Dynamic Diversity, is going to speak at a one-day conference at my home church ELT London on October 25, 2008 (Saturday). The conference fess is £10 (payable on the day). Visit the ELT website to sign up and find out more about the program.

Dr. Bruce Milne was Pastor of First Baptist Church in Vancouver, Canada for many years. Today he travels the globe, preaching, teaching and encouraging pastoral leaders. It's a great privileage to have Bruce speak at ELT where he will talk about building multi-cultural churches that embrace different ages, races, classes and cultures.

From the publisher IVP:

From the footpaths of our cities to the chat rooms of the Internet, people are connecting today as never before. As the planet shrinks through the multiple forces of immigration, travel, electronic communication and more fluid employment patterns, we will find ourselves increasingly forced into contact with those who are significantly different from ourselves. Sadly however, the stranger is often a threat to be resisted rather than a friend to be embraced.

In this context of in-your-face diversity, it is time to revisit the heart of the New Testament, with its claim that in Jesus Christ a new quality of human relationship is possible. In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul claims that Christians are a new kind of people, part of a new community: a ‘new humanity’ in Christ (Ephesians 2:15). We exist not in isolation, but in relationship.

Dynamic Diversity contends that all Christian congregations everywhere are called to be bridging places, centres of reconciliation, where the major diversities separating human beings are overcome through the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

Bruce Milne presents a biblical model for today and tomorrow where the diversities of gender, generation, ethnicity, colour and socio-economic status present exciting and challenging opportunities to demonstrate practical oneness. When this happens, churches become wonderfully alive. In Christ we can be one people, one new humanity, one life.

There is a hope

2008-09-22T03:55:00.005+10:00

1. There is a hope that burns within my heart,
That gives me strength for ev’ry passing day;
A glimpse of glory now revealed in meagre part,
Yet drives all doubt away:
I stand in Christ with sins forgiv’n;
And Christ in me, the hope of heav’n!
My highest calling and my deepest joy,
To make His will my home.

2. There is a hope that lifts my weary head,
A consolation strong against despair,
That when the world has plunged me in its deepest pit,
I find the Saviour there!
Through present sufferings, future’s fear,
He whispers ‘courage’ in my ear.
For I am safe in everlasting arms,
And they will lead me home.

3. There is a hope that stands the test of time,
That lifts my eyes beyond the beckoning grave,
To see the matchless beauty of a day divine
When I behold His face!

When sufferings cease and sorrows die,
And every longing satisfied.
Then joy unspeakable will flood my soul,
For I am truly home.
(Repeat)

Further reading:

Psalm 91

Age of the Dead

2008-09-20T17:48:00.007+10:00

BBC Thought for the Day, 19 September 2008

By Rhidian Brook

Whether it's a pickled calf in formaldehyde at Sotheby's or a snorting bronze statue outside the investment bank, Merrill Lynch - it's been a big week for bulls. With potent timing the biggest art sale by a single artist in history has coincided with the biggest bank collapse in one hundred years. And it's hard to work out if it's exquisitely apt or crassly coincidental that the centre-piece of the Damien Hirst auction was a dead bull with 18 carat hooves and horns entitled The Golden Calf.

This piece - which fetched a record 10.2 million pounds -may have sent Hirst laughing all the way to a bank somewhere that isn't collapsing, but his works - and the money paid for them - have provoked real ire from the High Priests of the art world - most notably Robert Hughes who has, like some latter day Moses, come down from the mountain where the true god's of art are worshipped, to pulverise the false idol and make its worshippers eat its meaningless dust.

On the money thing, I'm with Hirst who in his defence recites the world's first immutable commandment: 'thou shalt determine the worth of a thing by what a man is willing to pay.' On the art thing, it's surely a matter of taste. Personally, I think his work is a perfect document for years of bull markets, sharks in financial institutions, butterfly schemes and dotty spending. Although my idolatory will forever be checked by my son who, upon being taken to see the famous shark, asked me if the artist had caught it himself.

More seriously, Hirst's work reminds us of our collective ability to go for something quick, easy and accessible over something difficult, that perhaps requires a lifetime's blood, sweat and patience. And the artist seems smart enough to know this. He even included a note with the drawings of the Golden Calf warning its purchaser 'not to go worshipping false idols'.

Some might say it's too late for that, but I think we all have our golden calves; things that are not worthy of our worship but that we bow down to anyway. Like the Israelites who got bored of waiting for Moses to finish talking to the invisible God, we all have a tendency to go for gods we can feel, touch and see rather than one who expects people to wait and trust him for something better.

The prophet Isaiah actually has God putting it this way: 'To whom will you compare me? Some pour out gold; hire a goldsmith and make a god. They set it in its place and there it stands; but when someone cries out to it, it doesn't answer.' Perhaps, when the loud, shiny gods of this world have been found wanting it's time to look beyond the obvious and re-consider the true value of the invisible.

2008 IT industry competitiveness index

2008-09-17T01:10:00.000+10:00

Released on the website of Economist Intelligence Unit today:

Technology spending may be softening in many parts of the world as the credit crunch bites, but the longer term fundamentals of IT industry competitiveness remain constant. An innovation-friendly culture, a steady flow of talent, advanced technology infrastructure, a robust legal regime, well-balanced government support and an open business environment are all vital factors that enable a country's IT producers to thrive. These form the basis of the Economist Intelligence Unit's "IT industry competitiveness index", in which the United States ranks as first in the world in 2008, maintaining its top position from the previous year.

As an incubator of high-tech start-ups and technology innovation and as a developer of talent, the US remains second to none. However, there is no room for complacency, as three new countries—Taiwan, Sweden and Denmark—move into the top five this year, displacing others such as Japan and South Korea. IT industry environments elsewhere in Europe and Asia, including in emerging markets, are also becoming more competitive.

Read the full EIU report here [PDF].

Has the Malaysian government lost the plot?

2008-09-14T02:31:00.010+10:00

The recent arrest of an opposition lawmaker, a prominent blogger (Raja Kamarudin), and two journalists under the controversial Internal Security Act in Malaysia has sparked concern and fear that the ruling administration under Abdullah Badawi might have lost the plot.

At a time when Malaysia's resurgent opposition - under the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim - has promised to bring down Abdullah Badawi in Kuala Lumpur, this recent development created a dangerous precedent and simply confirmed that the government, who has been in power since independence in 1957, is unwilling to cede power and looks prepared to go to great length to cling on to power, even if it means it had to resort to draconian means to silence the cry of democracy.

I share Raja Kamarudin's fear, when he said during an interview by the BBC that, "I think the Pandora's box has opened..."

In an interview with Reuters, Anwar Ibrahim was quoted as saying, "This is Malaysia not Zimbabwe. They should not resort to desperate measures to stay to power." Rightly so!

Keep creationism out of the science class

2008-09-13T07:05:00.005+10:00

The said title appeared on New Scientist online today. Read the full article here.

As a Christian I actually agree with the view of the writer because the danger here is many creationists adopt a literal interpretation of the Biblical creation narratives. This approach IMHO is wrong and would only result in further alienation and disengagement of the society from the Good News of the Gospel. Extreme forms of religious teaching should be kept out of the classrooms.

There is a prevalent view that modern scientific understanding about biology and the creation history according to the Bible is incompatible or mutually exclusive. Well I think we have to be careful in accusing the scripture of clashing with science. It does not. The theologian and philosopher Thomas Jay Oord summed up the relationship between theology and biology quite cleverly when he said, "The Bible tells us how to find abundant life, not the details of how life became abundant."

Further reading:

Theistic evolution

The hunt for the God particle

2008-09-11T06:04:00.005+10:00

Today marked an important milestone for CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Built and designed over 14 years, the LHC was finally switched on this morning at 8:30BST - beginning its search for the elusive Higgs Boson or popularly known as the "God Particle".

Peter Higgs, the retired scientist who gave its name to the Higgs Boson, still lives in Edinburgh. I know that because my manager at work (who also lives in Edinburgh but commute to London weekly) has sometimes seen Mr. Higgs lounging in the garden in the same neighbourhood!

It would be years before the presence of the Higgs is confirmed but many, including Higgs himself, believe it is "pretty likely" that it would be found.

In the meanwhile a quick search on Google News revealed headlines like "The LHC will help scientists to unlock the secrets of our Universe" (Evening Standard), "Discovery or doom? Collider stirs debate" (MSNBC), "LHC Actually Worked" (National Geography) & "Five Facts about CERN's LHC" (Reuters).

The LHC has caught the imagination of the world media but are we missing the big picture here?

Here is a transcript from today's Thought of the Day from BBC Radio 4:

Revd Dr David Wilkinson

Knowing that I was a scientist and a Christian theologian, someone asked me last week whether the imminent discovery of the 'god particle' would cause a problem to my faith. While gently reminding this person that the term is a misnomer for the elusive Higgs boson, I said "absolutely not." As an astrophysicist who worked with high energy particles in the cosmic radiation, I am thrilled by the construction of the Large Hadron Collider and excited by the opportunity to study in detail some of the crucial questions of the composition and early evolution of our Universe. As a Christian I am equally thrilled by the gift of science which makes this possible, and excited by the prospect of knowing a little more about how God did it.

Kepler once said that "Science is thinking God's thoughts after him" - although a penny for God's thoughts has taken a lot of euros and 10 years of building! People of faith have nothing to fear by new scientific discoveries. The God of Christian theology is not a god of the gaps, an intelligent designer who can be proved in the places of our scientific ignorance. God is the One who holds the whole scientific story in existence by maintaining the laws of physics.

I hope the collider is successful in filling in some more of the story such the origin of mass, the nature of dark matter or the interactions in a quark-gluon plasma. If our current standard model is confirmed or even superseded by something more elegant and surprising, then we are still faced by the origin, the beauty, the universality and intelligibility of the laws of physics themselves. Many of us are struck by the question of why the Universe is so ordered in this extraordinary way. I am drawn to a phrase in one of the letters of the apostle Paul who wrote that "in Christ all things hold together or cohere". Behind the myriad of particles and the laws, the universe has a coherent story because it is creation.

In 1947 in a lab in the Pyrenees, George Rochester and Clifford Butler, with a relatively cheap but ingenious experiment, discovered in the cosmic radiation the tracks of the kaon, the first known 'strange' particle. This was a crucial step to the building of large accelerating machines to study energetic nuclear interactions - a journey that leads today to the Large Hadron Collider. When I was a physics student, the then retired Professor Rochester became a friend and we would sit together in our local church. I asked him once why he thought God had made a Universe with so many strange and exotic particles, to which he replied "Of course all particles are God's particles. The really amazing thing is that he gives us the gift of science to discover them."

Further reading:

Tuning Linux systems - WebSphere Application Server

2008-09-09T23:24:00.006+10:00

IBM provides a detailed guideline on operating system optimization for WebSphere Application Server (WAS).

For Linux, one of the recommendations is to increase the maximum number of permittable open file from the default 1024 to 8000.

The ulimit command is a privileged system command which means that only the root user is able to execute it. In production environment WAS is typically run as a non-root user (e.g. appAdmin). That means when executing ulimit as appAdmin you are likely to encounter the following error:

 cannot modify limit: Operation not permitted

The solution is as follows:

1. Open /etc/pam.d/su in your favourite editor and add the line

session  required       pam_limits.so

2. Add the following lines to /etc/security/limits.conf

appAdmin soft    nofile          8000
appAdmin hard    nofile          8000

3. Switch to user appAdmin and verify that the limit has been set correctly:

appAdmin@myServer:~> ulimit -a
core file size        (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size         (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size             (blocks, -f) unlimited
max locked memory     (kbytes, -l) unlimited
max memory size       (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                    (-n) 8000
pipe size          (512 bytes, -p) 8
stack size            (kbytes, -s) unlimited
cpu time             (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes            (-u) 38912
virtual memory        (kbytes, -v) unlimited

This change should persist after a server reboot.

You may also wish to check that the value for /proc/sys/fs/file-max has been defined appropriately. Remember that the file-max parameter is the maximum number of open files for the entire system while the limits set in the limits.conf file are per user.