Author: bill

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Landmark ruling on gay marriage. Massachusetts high court rules that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories]

I guess I am picky but I wish they would say, “homosexual civil union”. I am disappointed that I have lost the use of the word “gay”. Since the word was co-opted to describe homosexuality its other definitions have been lost to everyone except comedians. If we are not careful we will sacrifice the word “marriage” and our traditional understanding of it so the judicial system can be politically correct. Marriage is tough enough in this society without the assault on it by the courts. I guess this attack was inevitable. The moral structure of our legal system has been under attack for sometime. Gradually the judicial system has strayed from its roots, re-invented itself, and has become morally bankrupt. From my viewpoint the judicial system has adopted the Atheist agenda because it is more politically correct, alienates everyone equally, and is the easy way out. The judges who are “leaning on your own understanding” and playing God are showing a lack of character that is quite disturbing. I am afraid that although they maybe “legally correct”, his or her negligence is condemning the rest of us to a path of justice for no one.

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InfoWorld: What's holding software back?: November 14, 2003: By Jon Udell: Applications

Backward compatibility hinders the evolution of software's primitive core

This is a nice article which reminds us that a lot of current problems can be traced back to backward compatibility with the software's primitive core(aka “lizard brain”). It also questions the progress we have made in twenty five years by comparing the features of Visicalc with Excel 2003.

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Bengals Hand Chiefs First Loss. Cincinnati's Peter Warrick eclipsed Kansas City's celebrated playmakers with a 68-yard punt return and a 77-yard touchdown catch. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

This was a great win for a team that hasn't had a great win in over a decade. For a sports crazy city like Cincinnati this shows that the roller coaster does go back up eventually. For the owner, Mike Brown, it shows that the most important decision is knowing when to let go and trust your people.

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Today our pastor challenged us to explain to the person seated next to you how God has made a difference in our lives. I told my wife that I had received great comfort from God in dealing with the animosity between my wife, her sister, and her mother. This was a stretch for me since it is volatile subject. She laughed. We are celebrating my sister-in-laws birthday today and my wife has already tried to figure out how to weasel her way out of it. Feeling a little gutsy I told her I was sure that it was not God's plan that the three of them should continue hating each other. The animosity between the women is a very difficult subject to discuss because it quickly becomes emotional and negative. It is kind of like taking a stroll through a minefield. I don't want to push my wife too much because I am afraid it will blow up in my face. Unfortunately the problems my wife has with her mother and sister are very similar to the problems we have with each other but much more serious. Each woman shares a self centered, perfectionist personality that desires to be in control. Since all three women fail to meet their expectations for each other, they end up blaming each other for the failures, and become withdrawn. For a man being remade by Christ it is difficult to watch. As I try to become more outward focused, they have become judgemental and withdrawn. They are doing everything the Bible has told me to avoid. I cannot sympathize with their problems. Although I despise their problems, I do love all three women. They can be wonderful. I just wish they would pay more attention to God's plan for their lives rather than their own plans. Please, God, grant me more patience and wisdom to deal with their pettiness. Please, God, help them forgive each others sins in the past, present, and future. Let them start over with a clean slate. Please, God, open their hearts to each other and help let those women live the lives that You planned for them. God, do something soon!

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Behaving Wisely?

Abba Eban. “History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” [Quotes of the Day]

I wonder what this says about the war in Iraq as part of the continually increasing threat of worldwide terrorism. France and Germany felt more alternatives should be investigated. The US and Britain felt that the war in Iraq was just a speed bump on the way to the inevitable worldwide confrontation. Considering the recent trend of terrorists to pick on peaceful targets, France and Germany should be worried.

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Yahoo tests pop-up blocking toolbar [CNET News.com – Front Door]

I have been testing the Yahoo! Pop-up blocker for about two weeks. It works pretty good but has problems with some sites. The problems go away for the most part if you allow that particular site through or click a second time. The biggest problem site was media.yahoo.com site. I had a very difficult time getting through despite allowing it to go through.

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Habitat for Humanity Peachtree to QuickBooks Conversion

I spent a couple of hours yesterday reading and researching a pending project to convert from Peachtree to QuickBooks Pro. The Habitat for Humanity affiliate I have been volunteering for has been using Peachtree for many years but really doesn't have much accumulated knowlege on using it. I have been recommeding that they convert because:

  1. They do not have much accumulated knowlege in Peachtree so they aren't losing much if they convert.
  2. QuickBooks Pro is the accounting package HFHI recommends and has published several documents to help affiliates use it correctly and efficiently.
  3. I have been using QuickBooks Pro for about five years and am very familar with it. I believe I can convert their files with a minimum of fuss.

After reviewing the present chart of accounts and the recommended HFHI financial policies, I suspect that this affiliate is not using Peachtree effectively to collect the information needed for the annual tax return(Form 990) and the various managerial reports. I suspect they use Excel and hand calculations to work around this problem. They will probably get a lot of administrative and some managerial relief by moving to the recommended chart of accounts and letting QuickBooks extract and organize the information.