Author: bill

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A Politically Correct Judas

I watched Judas last night with my son. I heard somewhere that it had gotten “good” reviews. I could not help but notice:

  1. Much of the movie was made up. I got curious and looked up Judas in the concordance to see how often his name was mentioned. His only part in the Gospels was in the betrayal of Jesus. There are very few documents from this time other than the Bible so I assume most of the movie was made up.
  2. This movie is the politically correct movie that the Passion critics wanted. Caiphas is nicer, Pilate and his wife are meaner and more conniving, and the crucifixion is the result of Pilate's fear over a Jewish uprising during Passover. Having recently read the Ad Hoc Scholars Committee Report on The Passion, I couldn't help but notice that this movie follows all of their suggestions. It is a movie that liberal Catholics and Jews might like if it wasn't so darn boring. You would think Hollywood could dream up a better script and make the characters more interesting.
  3. I couldn't help but notice how “buff” Jesus was during his crucifixion. In stark contrast to the Passion, this Jesus looks like he is ready to compete on the Bachelorette show. How is this crucifixion supposed to intimidate the rebellious Jews and the budding Jesus movement?
  4. I don't mind that there isn't a message but I really think the movie and characters should have been more entertaining. I mean you are in the same time slot as Everwood.
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Passion of the Christ

The violence of redemption and the redemption of violence. The unifying themes of The Passion of the Christ, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List More people in America are talking about Jesus Christ and what he did and what he means than at any time in American history. They don’t all agree on the answer [One Hand Clapping]

I have been trying to put together an email to my parents explaining why I feel the Passion of the Christ is one of the most powerful and spiritual movies of all time. They had written me an email saying they were not going to see the movie because it was too violent, their pastor said the movie did not tell the whole story and their opinions “were in a printout at the front door”, and the movie had bad reviews. Wow! That got me to dig really deep inside of me and to scour the Internet to figure out what does this all mean? Donald Sensing’s weblog, One Hand Clapping, has been wonderful resource for links and opinions. His discussion of the violence in the Passion was really superb and particulary helpful to me.

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Patent Central to Microsoft Case Invalidated. Thanks, Sodajerk. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated a claim to Web browser technology central to a case against Microsoft Corp., a move that could spare the software giant from paying more than half a billion dollars in damages, according to documents obtained on Friday. Last year, an Illinois jury delivered a $521 million verdict against Microsoft for infringing on technology developed by a privately held firm, Eolas Technologies Inc., and the University of California. [ActiveWin.com Headlines]

I have written about the Eolas patent before so I was glad to see the patent invalidated. I believe the previous art in the area was very substantial and should not be ignored. The major contribution of Eolas to the world remains in forcing the patent office to try and do a better job.

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Unix and 2003 Active Directory

Building Security and Directory Solutions for UNIX Using the Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Kerberos and LDAP Services. This guide provides prescriptive guidance to enable Microsoft™ Windows Server® 2003 to be used for authentication and as an identity and authorization data store within heterogeneous Microsoft Windows® and UNIX environments. The guidance covers evaluating, planning, building, and deploying a security and directory infrastructure based on Windows Server 2003. The guidance will be valuable for business and technical decision makers, IT architects, and systems administrators participating in infrastructure consolidation or integration projects. [ActiveWin.com Headlines]

This is a long document so I printed out Part 2 Build which is approximately 170 pages long. I had started work on this earlier but stopped when I upgraded to 2003. I would like to use my 2003 Active Directory to authenticate userids on my linux box. I think other folks with heterogeneous sites would like to do the same.

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Phpwebsite

I installed phpwebsite yesterday and played with the themes and modules. Phpwebsite is a good low cost cms with a lot of functionality. I think it is particularly appealing to nonprofits and clubs. I will do a little more testing to determine if it is a good match for our Habitat affiliate. I believe the biggest problem is keeping the website up to date. A low cost cms might be the right solution.

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Moving Sharepoint to a new drive

I moved Sharepoint to the “data” drive yesterday. I found the instructions in a mailing list. I fumbled through the instructions but got it done. You gotta do what they tell you to do not what you think they meant. Oops!

The basic instructions are:

  1. Stop the sharepoint website.
  2. Go into OSQL and run a procedure to detach the database and config.
  3. Copy the two databases and correspponding log files to the new location. Fix the NTFS permissions on the new directories.
  4. Re-attach the databases and log files.
  5. Start the website and test.

While I was in the SQL Server Enterprise manager I went ahead and ran the Database maintenance plan. I am not sure how you can promote Sharepoint without a Database maintenance plan. Hmm!

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Why Mel owes one to the Jews

“Why Mel owes one to the Jews Jews are upset with the utter ineptness and ridiculousness of Jewish groups claiming to represent them. And Mel Gibson is the squabble's benefactor.“

This article on Jewsweek.com helps explain the interest in anti-semitism. I got to this site from a link at http://donaldsensing.com. I found the furror over the movie and anti-semitism to border on comical. When we were discussing the movie in a small group we may have spent one second on the anti-semitism claim before moving on to more serious and interesting discussions. I guess this has always been an internal jewish problem. I am worried that if they keep on talking about anti-semitism as if it is an issue, they will get their wish.

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Is the Passion an evangelistic movie?

I saw the Passion tonight with a group of twelve people on Saturday night. After the movie Cathy asked the question, “Do you think the movie is an evangelistic movie?” Another version of this question is, “Do you think this will inspire people to be Christians?” or “Would you recommend this movie as a way for a newbie to start out in Christianity?” The consensus answer was, “No”.

It was a tough movie to watch. I didn't react the way I expected. It numbed me. I think it forces all Christians to seriously evaluate their lives. Are we worth it? Through our painful re-evaluation of ourselves we might be able to help those who wandered into the movie and are now powerfully moved. If this movie is to be evangelistic to many people it is because God has humbled us and used our weakness to help others.

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McLaughlin Group on Gay Marriages

I just don't think McLaughlin gets it. He seemed to be the most avid supporter of gay marriages in the group. His “righteous” support was almost comical. Is this a sweeps week? From what I have read and seen it appears that all sides seem willing to allow civil union laws work there way through the legislature. Yet this is not enough! Some people want inflame the issue. Civil unions can defuse the issue if a majority can agree. Separating marriage from its religious roots will cause backlash by people who would not normally care. I am sorry but I have been married for over twenty years so I have earned the right to take this personally. As much as the media wants me to believe in Rosie or Will and Grace as role models, it does not work for me. A homosexual relationship is abnormal. It always has been abnormal and the continuation of our species depends on it being abnormal. Maybe in a hundred years when we replace sex as the primary method of creating life and schools have replaced families can we rethink the marriage question. Until then I think we should stick to the truth. I do not respect your right for a homosexual marriage anymore than I respect your right to jump off a cliff and kill yourself. Some things are wrong.