Create and use favicon icon

I used the procedure described in
http://awebfactory.com.ar/node/106 and
http://www.webdevelopersjournal.com/articles/favicon.html
to create a favicon. Namely:
Create a 16x16 pixel graphic in xpm format with GIMP
Use tool xpm2wico to create favicon.
Name it favicon.ico and upload to the website home directory.

contrast between New Testament and Old Testament

There are fundamental differences between the ideas of the New Testament and the Old. For example:
Ecclesiasticus 12:4-7

[4] Give to the godly man, but do not help the sinner.
[5] Do good to the humble, but do not give to the ungodly;
hold back his bread, and do not give it to him,
lest by means of it he subdue you;
for you will receive twice as much evil
for all the good which you do to him.
[6] For the Most High also hates sinners
and will inflict punishment on the ungodly.
[7] Give to the good man, but do not help the sinner.

compared to Mt 5:38-48
[38]

"You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

[39] But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;
[40] and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well;
[41] and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
[42] Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.
[43]

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

[44] But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
[45] so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
[46] For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
[47] And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
[48] You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Another comparison is:
Ecclesiasticus 13: 9:13

[8] Take care not to be led astray,
and not to be humiliated in your feasting.
[9] When a powerful man invites you, be reserved;
and he will invite you the more often.
[10] Do not push forward, lest you be repulsed;
and do not remain at a distance, lest you be forgotten.

The footnote in the Jerusalem Bible says: The words of Jesus in Lk 14:8-10, at first sight similar, are actually in marked contrast to this example of worldly wisdom" :

[7]

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,

[8] "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him;
[9] and he who invited you both will come and say to you, `Give place to this man,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
[10] But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, `Friend, go up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.
[11] For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Deuterocanonical books and Christmas reference

I have just finished reading the book of Wisdom and am reading Ecclesiasticus. These are not part of the Hebrew Scriptures and I think Ecclesiasticus was originally written in Greek. I believe both are quoted fairly frequently in the liturgy, and I find both very inspiring reading. For example:

Ws 7:22-30 is a poetic praise of wisdom
Ws 18:14-16 the Word of God is personified as the executant of divine judgement. The Christmas liturgy applies this text to the incarnation of the Word.
Si 1:11-25 describes the fruits of the fear of God (fear in the sense of reverence and devoted obedience)

video mashes and DirectX

I saw episode #376 of Call for Help TV, and there were some interesting items:
- GameMaker.nl is a way of using a web tool to make video games.
- test the version of DirectX installed using dxdiag.exe
- create mashes of video, photos and audio using a web tool at Eyespot.com

Modify Thunderbird to work with Internode mail server

Some time ago I was told by tech support at Internode of a modification to the configuration of Thunderbird mail client that is needed to work reliably with their mail server. It is.....

Edit/Account Settings/Outgoing Server (SMTP)/Edit then untick "Use name and password"
Also, "use secure connection?" should be NO

Partitioning for openSUSE / Ubuntu / WinME

I got disks of the latest releases of Ubuntu (6.10) and openSUSE (10.2) and installed them on my Dell PC (along with the Windows ME that came with this PC - why not?) The installation order was Windows, openSUSE and Ubuntu.

When installing openSUSE, I used the included partitioning tool to shrink the Windows partition from 10GB to 4GB, leaving the allocated space for openSUSE the same. This left space for the subsequent installation of Ubuntu.

The resulting partitions are:
hda1 vfat 4GB Windows ME
hda2 extended 18.8GB
hda3 ext3 6GB Ubuntu
hda5 initrdswap 780MB (swap off)
hda6 ext3 7.6GB openSUSE
hda7 ext3 11GB openSUSE (used for /home)
hda8 swap 300MB (use swap)

Install NETGEAR WG311v3 on openSUSE 10.2

Followed
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showproduct.php?product=624&cat=149
23 Feb 2006 post:

" How I got mine working.
Install NDISWRAPPER using YAST

Copy WG311v3XP.sys, WG311v3.sys, WG311v3.cat, WG311v3.INF, TRANS.TBL,off the driver cd onto HardDisk

Open root shell

Install Driver
ndiswrapper -i WG311v3.INF
ndiswrapper -m
modprobe ndiswrapper

Disable improper Suse configuration in Yast
Network Devices
Delete Netgear entry

Configure the new hardware with Yast
Network Devices
Network Card
Add
Device Type: Wireless
Module Name: ndiswrapper
On next several pages enter your networks information

Reboot"

and 5 March 2006 post:

More info on the WG311 v3 From http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List#N " # Netgear WG311 v3 (Marvell 88w8335 Libertas) * Chipset: Marvell 88w8335 Libertas 54Mbps Wireless Interface * pciid: 11ab:1faa * Driver: Copied WG311v3.INF and WG311v3XP.sys from Netgear CD to local ad hoc directory and ran ndiswrapper 1.2 there. Please see hint at http://linuxcompatible.org/Netgear_WG311v3_WLAN_PCI_Card_with_Debian_Linux_Testing_t33271.html * Other: Running SuSE 10.0 - needed some tweeking in YaST - threw out old card from Network Devices / Network Card configuration and installed new card with Module Name as "ndiswrapper" in Manual Network Card Configuration. Runs 128 bit WEP at 54Mbps.

"

Install NETGEAR WG311v3 on Ubuntu 6.10

Followed
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Ubuntu
and
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Installation
using the Windows drivers on the installation disk.
After configuring the driver using the Ubuntu networking tool, and rebooting, the wireless connection works, with WEP

Verses from Wisdom

Wisdom 3: 1-11
The destiny in eternity for good and bad men
(would be suitable for a requiem Mass)

Wisdom 5
Virtuous men and godless at the judgement

More verses from Proverbs

Some verses from the book of Proverbs which mean much to me are:

Pr 25 11,12
Pr 26 4,5
Pr 26 11
Pr 27 6
Pr 28 23
Pr 29 11
Pr 29 15
Pr 30 7-9

Christmas carols

I don't understand Christmas carols. First of all, it seems to me that a lot of them don't have anything to do with Christmas (eg jingle bells, drummer boy, 12 days of Christmas)

I found a web site which describes the popular English carols:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A832420

and another site which has the words of hundreds of carols:
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/The_hymns_and_carols_.htm

There is also a Wikipedia entry for Christmas at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

According to this, Christmas was banned in England in the 1647 but then became more popular in the 1800's:
"By the 1820s, sectarian tension had eased and British writers began to worry that Christmas was dying out. They imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday. The book A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens played a major role in reinventing Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion (as opposed to communal celebration and hedonistic excess)."

According to Wikipedia, similar things happened in America:
"The Puritans of New England disapproved of Christmas and celebration was outlawed in Boston (1659-81). Meanwhile, Virginia and New York celebrated freely. Christmas fell out of favor in the U.S. after the American Revolution, when it was considered an "English custom"."

Maybe this explains why so many English Christmas carols seem to be written in the 1800's, because celebration of Christmas was becoming more popular in England and America at that time.

Personally, my favourite Christmas carol is "Mary's Boy Child", which was sung by Harry Belafonte:
http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis/Christmas/boychild.html

Verses from Proverbs

Chapters 8 and 9 of Proverbs are the height of Proverbial teaching on wisdom. A very interesting stand alone biblical quote.

A couple of other quotes from Proverbs:

A golden ring in the snout of a pig
is a lovely woman who lacks discretion
(Pr 11:22)

In the eyes of a fool the way he goes is right,
the wise man listens to advice.

The fool shows his displeasure straight away,
the discreet man overlooks the insult.

To tell the truth is to further justice,
a false witness is nothing but deceit.
(Pr 12:15-17)