New Podcast (more to come!)

Greetings,

There's a new podcast that will have media from around the Carolinas division! The Divisional Media Podcast is available from iTunes or other readers at the following link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=250030236

If you use something other than iTunes to get your feeds (like the great democracy player, for example), you can point that at this address:

http://www.salarmy.org/podcasts/nscPodcast.xml

Enjoy. I'll be posting all sorts of different content here. We've got our Music Festival/Main Streen Ministries Conference in about a week, so there will definitely be some stuff from there going up.

For now, I've been posting the sermons from Youth Councils to get us started as well as a highlight video.

Blessings,

Des

Kristy's Make Up Artist Debut

This weekend at Youth Councils, Kristy was asked to turn one of the officers into a caveman for a Geico.com spoof (hopefully you've seen the commercials). She did an AMAZING job. Check out her blog for her story.

Here's a couple of shots!

Boy Scout Found Alive after 3 Days Lost in the Wilderness

A boy scout with ADHD. who went missing 3 days ago has been found alive and well. From the story: "There are many things about Michael's personality that may be connected with the ADHD that are really wonderful, that are really positive: his imagination, his creativity," Auberry said.



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A Friend Reminder

There have been a lot of happenings lately reminding me of the importance and the impact of my friends.

One of those things has been FaceBook. Yes, I'm well aware that there is a much cooler social networking service now called VIRB (http://www.virb.com) but I'm a recent facebook convert and I'm not quite ready to move!

(EDIT: I've got plenty of invites to virb - but I think it's open now, so you can sign up without an invite . . .if you need one or want one, just post a comment.)

In any case, it's been neat and encouraging for me (who has never thought of himself as having an abundance of friends . . . notice I'm not quite saying "loser" here, more that I have few, but very significant friends . . . . you may say loser if you wish) to see the connections that have been made over the years, even just in terms of acquaintances.

The other is that I just had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with some of those very significant friends that Kristy and I love dearly and simply have not gotten to see much of in the past 14 months or so. In spite of the distance, the significance has not faded; it's grown stronger. That's amazing to me.

I've never thought of myself as needing my friends to be present. If you know me, you probably know that I have an awful tendency to want to do things myself my way and to transform into a hermit in the face of stress - retreating to various locations of solitude.

This weekend I realized that for one of the only times in recent memory that I had a joy that has been missing for a long time . . . I wonder how long this fix will sustain me.

Don't know if it's the lack of sleep or the (2 month old) lack of caffeine talking, but . . . I think there's something in my eye.

Grace,

Des

Growing Up

I never thought I would grow up. I've been a big kid at heart for a long time - ever since I was a little kid, I guess. But I thin, at 27, that I've finally gone and done it. I think I am officially an adult.

My thoughts are much more adult now. The way that I deal with the world is much more adult now. I know now, though I often do not want to admit it, that I am in fact not invincible. That's a weird thought to finally have to accept.

You see, I've never had to deal with mortality. I've been blessed in that my family, all the way up to all four of my grandparents have all had long lives are still with me. So the number of times that I have had people that were at all close to me that I've lost I can count on one hand without using all of the fingers on it.

I don't mean this to bring any one down of course. I know that I'm blessed to be in this situation.

Recently, I've been thinking about death and what it means for me as a Christian. There have been some people loosely connected with me that have been called home earlier than expected and through those experiences God has been dealing with me in some interesting ways. Primarily, in addition to realizing that I've only got a set number of years (maybe 60, maybe 70, maybe 80, who knows?), God has been teaching me to use the time that I have because we never know how much time that is. He's been helping me see that even though I've wasted great deals of time that I could have used to help people, to meet their needs, to serve with the love of Christ on pointless pursuits, I've still got plenty of time to do whatever I can to serve in his name.

I can't say that I'm afraid of my own death . . . I'm just so unfamiliar with it that I don't know what's involved. Kristy and I were talking and many people have this questions dealt with as teenagers - she's in a very different situation than I in that she has had to deal with these questions already a number of times.

I also don't want to eventually come to the end of my life and fear that I have wasted my time. Everything I do should have purpose. Everything I do should be about bringing heaven to earth, defeating hell, building relationships that honor God. Is my day to day life going to be one of those things that I regret someday? Am I doing what I love?

As you can see, I've been dealing with some heavy thoughts lately that have REALLY made me thing and physically (literally) forced me to process them. I continue to deal with them.

Thanks for listening.

Grace,

Des

splicr: the open source video project

I've been working a little more on a concept for a project that is coming along nicely. I'm hoping to really be able to knock some stuff out soon and hopefully promo it at one of the big events coming up soon that I'm involved with.

More (obviously) to come. Enjoy the artwork.

Grace,

Des

Brody's New Shirt

Brody loves his new shirt.

Amazing French Beat Boxer

This is incredible. Found this today when just browsing around. I'm not sure that he actually breathes . . .

(disclaimer: I'm sure he breathes)

But, even with the breathing, it's pretty incredible to hear - he's got so much going on.

Oh . . . it's also in french.

Sorry 'bout that.

Des

SASF Flashback -Word Association

I was browsing around YouTube.com tonight and came across this video. Those of you that were in the SASF during the years 1997-2001 may indeed remember a series of sketches that myself and my good friend Trevor Rodgers would "perform" (read: slaughter) at various events.

Her name is Antonia.

Grace,

Des

Sally Ann and her Strange Friends

I need some help.

I'm trying to get a list of old (or new) Salvation Army terminology (we don't make much terminiology up any more . . . .do we?). No, I'm not trying to compile it into a book or develop a sermon series or make money at the army's expense (yet . . . . no, no, I kid, I kid). Rather, I'm simply looking for some inspiration.

I've also been playing with some Photoshop toys that I found a few days ago.

As you can see.

In any case, I'm in need of lots of good ol' army terminology. It doesn't matter how obscure . . . in fact, the more obscure, the better.

Thanks.

Grace,

Des

Got Joost?

Follow this link and you may be able to get a shiny Joost invite . . .

http://www.webandflowdesign.com

Grace,

Des

the open source video project - coming soon

There is a new project coming. The open source video project is a collaborative effort to build a worship experience. You'll be hearing more about how you can participate in it soon.

Get thinking about how you can portray worship through a multimedia presentation.

Grace,

Des

the CORE

So, I've started in on a new project:

http://www.thecorevideos.com.

It's army specific - but I think it's going to be hot.

Des

Bandwidth Test II

You may remember that I posted about a new bandwidth testing service some time ago. They're redesigned now but still very cool.

Calling all Salvationists to an Open-Source Army

Attention Salvationists:

Your help is desperately needed.

For a couple of years now, some of us (in the USA South at least) have been crying out the mantra, "I am the Salvation Army," or "WE ARE the Salvation Army" in response to the thought that us soldiers are members of an organization that has become short-sighted at its upper levels. Whatever you believe about that statement, it is true that the Salvation Army will ultimately live or die by its soldiers, it's ground troops that either are or are not doing the leg work. We all have a role.

Those roles have the potential to cause reverberations that could shake the foundation of the army. Our actions, our thoughts, our passions have the potential to set of a nervous system response that will flow all the way the head of our army.

Your input is important - even when it seems as though it has not.

The concept of "Open-Source" has been around in software development for years. Essentially, it represents a community of people with different backgrounds contributing to a joint project resulting in a product that benefits the entirety of the community and the world at large. I know you want input into our army. We have griped and complained long enough. But that's the wrong approach.

You, no matter who you are, represent some of the most valuable assets the Army has. You are on the ground. You have a feel for the lay of the land. You know what some of the real needs are. If you're like me, you don't need the army or anyone to tell you what needs to be done because you can see it first hand. That requires you to act.

But you want to bring the Army to these new places too. You don't want to see the army die from stagnation.

There are lots of ways to contribute. Find a need and meet it - it may be simple or it may be crazy - ask God and your friends for help and then do it. Talk. Don't just argue or gripe or complain. Talk to inspire others (corps officers, soldiers, atheists, goths, skaters, etc). Defeat hell on earth by spreading the riches of heaven.

There's another project that involves thinking (a secret op that I'm letting you in on): for now, I'm calling it The Salvation Army Core. Read this and tell me what it means:

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.

Dont' just tell me what it literally means . . . but what does it mean in terms of action? What do we do with this? Because we believe that to be true, how does it manifest itself in our lives from day to day? We have known (or should have an idea) what this literally means for a long time. Have you thought about how it translates into action? What's faith without action?

Claim it. Foot soldiers, you have the power to win or lose the battle. Leadership can do some things to reposition the troops, but who is fighting the battles?

Grace,

Desmond

Harper, Gates announce AIDS vaccine initiative

Even to a hard-core Mac fan-boy Canadian living in America, this is very cool:

Canada will be the site of a new facility to manufacture and test vaccines to fight HIV/AIDS, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates announced Tuesday in Ottawa.

Ottawa will contribute $111 million toward the new Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, while the Microsoft founder, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will donate $28 million.

Harper and Gates signed the multimillion-dollar agreement during a news conference on Parliament Hill.

The new initiative will accelerate the pace of finding a vaccine to fight the virus that causes AIDS, and move possible vaccines to the clinical trial stage more quickly, said Harper.

"HIV/AIDS is one of the most heartwrenching health crises the world has ever seen," said Harper. "It is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time."

Gates said: "AIDS is a very tough problem. The long-term solution is a vaccine."

Gates sidestepped a question on whether he believed Harper, who didn't attend the 2006 Internatlonal AIDS Conference in Toronto, was making the announcement in a bid for support ahead of an expected spring election.

"I'm glad to hear that putting research money into AIDS makes people politically more popular," said Gates, drawing laughter from those at the news conference.

Efforts aim to prevent AIDS

Worth about $50 billion US, Gates is the world's richest man. He has endowed the foundation, named after himself and his wife, with $24 billion US to support global health, library and education initiatives around the world.

Through their foundation, Gates and his wife Melinda have donated more than $500 million US to AIDS, as well as tuberculosis and malaria.

Speaking to the CBC's Peter Mansbridge last week, Gates said he expects a vaccine will be developed in his lifetime.

Gates will address the Canadian Chamber of Commerce later Tuesday.

Roughly 65 million people around the world have been diagnosed with AIDS since it was first identified in 1981. The United Nations estimates close to three million people died from the disease in 2006.

Original Story at: CBC.ca.

Grace,

Des

Spirit of the Revolution

New thoughts: Here -> http://spiritoftherevolution.blogspot.com

Grace,

des

Brody

Another shot of Brody and Des.

Brody being sweet

This is a great shot of Brody. Excuse his cleaning practices - but he is pretty funny. He made me laugh.

Des

Overview of Google Browser Sync, a Firefox Add-on

Linux Tech Daily provides an overview (with screenshots) of Google Browser Sync for Firefox. It synchronizes not only your bookmarks, but also your settings. A perfect fit for people who run Firefox from multiple computers. This overview covers installation, use and privacy.If you use Google and you use Firefox (like all of us really should) and you use it on multiple computers, then you really need to have a look at this tool.Des



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