AllensOnThe.Net

I was never really in to certifications until recently. And now I have two within a year. :o)

Yesterday I passed the CCNA Exam! My goal was to pass the test before Christmas, so I just did make it.

And now that that's done, I can move on to studying for my GCIH, which is the next class for my masters I want to pursue.

Last week I listed several of my favorite geek websites for technology and church/para-church ministries. Today, I thought I'd put together a list of Bible Study sites I've bookmarked over at del.icio.us.

There are probably hundreds of Bible/Bible Study websites out there, but these are just a few of the ones I've found helpful. I've grouped them into a few categories.

Online Bibles

• BibleGateway.com - A great site to go see what a verse says quickly. This is probably the de-facto website for most Internet Bible users. BibleGateway has close to every version of Scripture I've ever heard of. This is a very impressive site.
• ESV Bible Online - Those of you who know me, know I really like the ESV Bible, and this is the official site. More than that, they offer numerous reading plans in several formats. You can subscribe to your Bible reading plan as an RSS Feed, or have it added to your calendar (iCal format). Or you can have Scripture read to you. I've found it's nice to hear Scripture from time to time instead of reading silently.

Bible + Resources

• The Bible Tool - The Bible Tool is a nice site that allows you to set and keep preferences (much like many other sites). But I really like the interface and the way the site is arranged. It's simple and I've always been fond of simple.
• New Testament Hyper-concordance - how to describe this site? Just like the name suggests, this is like a concordance that's completely linked and ready for the web! You really have to try this. The Semantic Bible site (the creators of the Hyper-concordance) describes it like this: "Each content word is hyperlinked to a page displaying all the verses for that word, preserving context and tightly connecting the content." It's actually a lot harder to describe than to use. Go try it and you'll very quickly figure out how it works.
• StudyLight - This site is a bit of an attempt to create a "portal" for Scripture and Bible studies/commentaries. There are also quite a few weekly columns and cartoons and even a forum section for discussion. When I was teaching Sunday School, I found lots of good ideas at StudyLight to enhance the lessons.

Software

• e-Sword - There are a number of programs I've seen that are great Bible applications, but you can't beat e-Sword for the price: free. e-Sword has hundreds of versions available for download, and most of them are free. (The ones that aren't are due to licensing restrictions of the publishers, i.e. NIV or The Message.) They also have a lot of good commentaries and dictionaries available, and even some older books, like Pilgrim's Progress. Note they also have a version for your PocketPC.
• podBible - Perfect for putting the Bible on your iPod. 'Nuff said.

There's a lot more out there than just the above, but those are good places to start.

What online (or software) Bible's or Bible Study resources do you use?

I often find myself talking to church/ministry leaders and recommending various free tech resources to help them in their ministry. Hence I've compiled a list of those apps that I end up using and recommending the most:

• Google for Domains (aka Google Apps). Standard Edition is free for everyone, but the Premier Edition is free for 501(c)3 groups. Apps include:
  • Email (10G Premier - 2G Standard)
  • Calendar
  • Docs and Spreadsheets
  • Chat
• Picasa2 - for working with pictures.
• Picasa Web Albums - for posting those pictures :-)
• Audacity - for recording sermons and prepping for podcasts
• DreamHost Business Plan - for website storage. Again, Free for 501(c)3 groups.
• Drupal - for Website Content Management and blogs
• Google Analytics - for web statistics
• Feedburner - for RSS/podcasting (and even email notification)
• Google Groups - for creating email mailing lists/discussion groups.

And just to help keep up with all that's going on

• Jott - This should really be way up at the top of the list. somehow. This is an amazing service. Think: "personal transcription" converted to email note.
• Google Reader - RSS reader.

And I'm starting to get into

• Backpackit - for organizing lists/tasks

And naturally, everyone should be using Firefox!

Most of these resources are free for anyone, but the DreamHost and Google Apps Premier are only free for 501(c)3 groups.

I have a feeling I'm missing a few, but that's a good start. :-)

Well it appears I can't seem to make up my mind whether to run this site with WordPress or Drupal. I'd say given the sparsity with which I post blog entries, this site is really more suited for Drupal - that and the serious concerns I continue to have about WordPress. Anywho, we're back to drupal and it looks like I managed to keep all the links the same. If you come across anything that's broken, please let me know. :-)

It's never a good thing when you find out your blog software's been hacked -- even worse when your first notice of the fact is from slashdot! But I don't feel too bad about it, since it just happened yesterday. So far as I can tell (since I don't have direct access to the logs) neither of them were targeted via the compromised code.

I just received an excellent, basic computer/security glossary from the SANS Ouch! Mailing List. Ouch! is a security awareness newsletter, perfect for those who aren't geeks, but want to stay safe online. The edition reprinted below has its permanent online home in the Ouch! Archives as Issue #1 for 2007

***********************************************************************
OUCH!
SANS Institute Security Newsletter for Computer Users
Volume 4, Number 1 January 2007
***********************************************************************
Special Holiday Edition: OUCH Glossary
In This Issue
1. The Internet and the World Wide Web 2. Getting Connected
3. Your Computer 4. Malware 5. Bad Guys
***********************************************************************

556E63636C20 35677520 4E616176697265666E656C2C 4F726766767220 59626876667220 4E797972612E
5620 7962697220 6C62682E00

The time has come to say good bye to our wireless access point at home.

I believe Isaac killed the power to our computer power strips one too many times today.

It's gone. Nothin'

And there was great weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So sad.

For her birthday, all the siblings and Dad got together and bought Mom and iPod Nano this year.  She was quite surprised! :-)

While we were there, we setup her iTunes library and since I (naturally) had my linux box there, too, I wanted to see how well Amarok worked with the iPod.

Wow.

It's awesome to see how far Linux has progressed with multimedia lately.  Amarok picked up the Nano automatically.  No editing of text files.  No fiddling with settings.  It just worked.

Sweet.

Sometime back, [I mentioned a great little program for Windows called KeePass](http://www.allensonthe.net/2005/09/30/too-many-passwords/). If you don't use it now, you would if you had to follow [these rules](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en;276304)!

>Your password must be at least 18770 characters and cannot repeat any of your previous 30689 passwords.
Please type a different password. Type a password that meets these requirements in both text boxes.

(via [SecGuru](http://www.secguru.com/node/622))