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Jun 15
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Tags: Alaska, vacation
Here is a video I’ve complied of our recent Alaska Vacation. It’s over 13 minutes in length, so give yourself time to view it.
We took many more pictures and videos than what is seen here, so consider this a trailer. Enjoy.
Tracy Henness
Jun 03
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Tags: Alaska, cruise, vacation
I just returned from an Alaskan cruise and wanted to share this video with friends. It’s a shot of three orcas that surfaced near the ship and then swam away. Hope you enjoy it.
Apr 16
Posted: under Faith, Morality.
Tags: forgiveness, parachute, sin
I was just thinking about kids and their perception of right and wrong. I’m specifically referring to times when their parents tell them not to do something. It would be quite rare for a child to think, “Mom and/or Dad said not to do that, so I just won’t do it.” Instead they’ll ask, “Aw, Why not?” They’re not really wanting a logical and reasonable explanation or rationale. They instead hope to wear Mom and Dad down so they will give in, or to give Mom and Dad the opportunity to realize that they don’t have a good reason, and so change their mind. Then when the parents stick to their guns, the kids will often show some sign of disappointment. In their immaturity, they can’t seem to comprehend the dangers of certain activities. Johnny can’t understand why Mom thinks it’s too dangerous to jump off the roof with a sheet for a parachute.
In the grand scheme of eternity, our lives here on earth are our childhood. Some of us never grow up. And given the opportunity some of us would still jump off a roof with a sheet as a parachute just to find out what we missed out on during our childhood. But at some point in the process of growing up we should begin to understand that there are things we just shouldn’t do because someone might get hurt; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. We go ahead and do them anyway. We come up with excuses for why we should do them.
God, our Father, tells us that there are certain things that we should not do, and that there are thing we should do. Yet we think we can get away with doing what we want to do. We presume He’s not watching anyway. Or we assume He’ll just let it slide unless someone actually does get hurt. And when someone does get hurt our response so often is, “Oops. I goofed.” Our response should be, “Father forgive me for I have sinned.” And not only when someone gets hurt, but we should seek forgiveness for sins when we realize we have done something contrary to God’s will.
Different people have their own definition of sin. Some limit sin to only those actions that cause harm to someone unless done in retaliation for harm someone has done them. Then it is justified. Others will have a mile-long list of do’s and don’ts for their definition of sin. To some, sin is anything from which we derive pleasure. Romans 14:23 says “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin”. And as clear as that sounds, I’ve heard contradictory perspectives on that phrase, without much regard to its context. My simple take on that is this: If you think it might be sin, you’d better not do it. For you cannot do it in faith if you believe it might be sin. We are justified by faith, and doing acts of faith is much better than doing sinful acts to prove your faith in God’s grace and mercy. Instead, It’s His kindness that leads us to repentance. (Romans 2:4)
Tracy Henness
Apr 07
Posted: under Business, Economy.
Tags: compliance, regulatory, small business
There has been much buzz about government mandated regulatory compliance over the last few years resulting in volumes of overly confusing and ominously threatening regulations. Businesses are told they must control access to data, specifying and providing justification for who may access what types of information. There must also be testing and documented proof that data cannot be accessed by unauthorized personnel. Yet to my knowledge there are no official documents specifying or recommending how this is to be done. It seems to be up to the Information Systems Administrators of each company or organization to figure out how. But then an audit or a court order could determine whether their procedures were adequate or worthy of fines or penalties.
There are also ambiguous data retention requirements that seem to automatically put many small businesses at risk simply for not having the resources in place to bear the burden of long-term data retention. In addition to retention, there also must be a means of rapid data discovery. This becomes extremely problematic when business management system software is developed by third party vendors. Periodically, new versions of the software are released that are unable to directly access the data retained by earlier versions of the software. You would think then that it would be up to those software vendors to provide a means for data discovery, but they might be inclined to charge outrageous fees for doing so. Or there may be a conversion process that could call into question the integrity and authenticity or historical purity of the data.
Another issue that affects data retention is the technological changes and advancements in the materials and methodologies of data retention. For example, data may have been stored consistently on tape for years, but then the tape drives fail and have to be replaced with newer, technologically different drives that are unable to read the old tapes. Of course a full backup of existing data is performed on the new media and everything is fine until there is a request for the data as it existed on a date well prior to the conversion, or involving files that had been erased before that date and can be found only on tape backups that can not be read by the existing equipment.
Data encryption presents another dilemma in terms of data discovery. The encryption algorithms and keys are not always managed by the Information Technologies staff. Individuals can password protect their own documents and encrypt their own e-mails, making attempts at data discovery extremely difficult.
Small businesses will have a hard time complying with the regulations, and may be forced out of business rather than spending the resources and effort to implement them. So at a time when the economy is suffering, jobs are few, unemployment is high, and both large and small businesses are struggling, along comes government regulations to close more small businesses and put more people out of work.
On the other side of that coin, though, new businesses have arisen offering to help other businesses sift through the regulatory compliance issues. And that’s fine for some large to mid-sized companies and even a few small companies. But there are still a lot of small and struggling businesses that just cannot justify the expense of something they might never really need. Of course you could say that about insurance, too. And this could be viewed as a type of insurance. But at some point you have to draw the line on some business expenses just so you can stay viable.
There’s a big difference between encouraging responsible data governance with recommendations for successful implementation, and imposing regulations and requirements with severe penalties for non-compliance. I’ve been informed that there are such regulations, but I’ve been hard pressed to find a basic do-it-yourself kit for small businesses to bring themselves into compliance, or at least get a better feel for what should be done.
I sometimes wonder whether those writing and defining the regulations actually want the businesses to fail compliance audits so that the regulators can profit from the fines they impose.
Tracy Henness
Mar 22
Posted: under Computer Tips.
Tags: scam, tweet, twitter
I’ve never used Twitter. I don’t know how to “tweet” (say something in 140 characters or less). But a scam warning has been issued that I feel compelled to pass along. It is currently posted at this site: http://itmanagerdaily.com/warn-users-about-twitter-hijacking/.
This is an excerpt from that page:
“The link takes the targeted user to a Web site that looks like a Twitter sign-in page. It’s not. Check the URL and you’ll see that it’s hosted elsewhere. If a user enters credentials, they’re stolen.”
Tracy Henness
Mar 11
Posted: under Computer Tips.
Tags: bundle, CD tray, CD/DVD drive, clear disc, DVD tray
You may have bought bundles of writable CDs or DVDs that have at either end of the stack of actual optical discs a clear plastic disc, and wondered what you could use these things for. I have collected about 20 to 25 of them trying to come up with some idea for something decorative or useful. Well an idea came to me the other day while I was repairing a computer.
I’ve worked on many computers over the years in which the CD/DVD drive had a mechanical flaw. The tray had trouble sliding out when the user hits the eject button, or when they choose Eject from the menu. In most cases this was not a problem when there was already a disc in the drive, but if they wanted to insert a disc, the tray would stick. Of course you could use the paper clip in the emergency eject hole method, but that too had its inconveniences.
I don’t know why I never thought of this before, or why I’ve never come across this idea elsewhere. It’s so simple.
Leave one of these clear plastic discs in the tray all the time except when you want to use an actual CD or DVD. When you turn on the computer it won’t try to boot from the clear disc. It also doesn’t slow down the system as much as a blank CD or DVD would. And with most of those sticky problem drives, the clear disc allows the tray to slide out effortlessly.
So if your CD/DVD drive is giving you a similar problem, and you have some of those blank discs just begging to become useful, give this idea a try. It works for me. And if you’ve never bought bundled discs just ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. if they have any. I can’t be the only one who doesn’t just throw them away.
Tracy Henness
Feb 09
Posted: under Faith.
Tags: church music, contemporary Christian music, hymns, spiritual songs
Ephesians 5:19 (New American Standard Bible)
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
I often hear debates over the music in many churches today. There will always be people who love the music they grew up in church with. And when they hear something new they may complain that the church is getting away from the pure form of worship that hymns posess. The problem arises in what they define as hymns. On the other end of the spectrum, some want to move away from hymns because they don’t want the music to drive away the younger visitors in the hopes of keeping them coming so that they can hear the messages and become converts. Again there is a problem with not appealing to the ways in which different people enter into true worship.
Those who grew up with the old hymns will still enjoy the hymns. Those who grew up with a more contemporary sound will have a preference for the contemporary worship music. But neither should be exclusive. There are also many churches that use a “country” style to hymns or more contemporary spiritual songs. I personally would find that hard to worship to, but I can’t say it’s wrong. It just doesn’t appeal to me.
But my real issue is that people, in trying to justify their taste in music will give some pretty lame arguments. Some years ago a dear lady complained during the Saturday night service that it seems we only do contemporary music anymore. Then she argued that the new stuff doesn’t talk about the blood and the hymns do. Well the music for Sunday morning had already been selected and that wasn’t going to change, but of the 5 songs chosen four were contemporary, and one was a hymn (Defined as: it’s in the Hymnal. Conversely: not in Hymnal = not hymn.) Three of the four “not-hymns” mentioned the blood of Jesus. The “hymn” did not. She quit coming I regret to say. But this was not a deliberate attempt to prove her wrong nor to justify future selections. She found another church where she was more comfortable. And although we would welcome her back to worship and fellowship with us, she has a new pastor, and we are not in the business of stealing another shepherd’s sheep.
Some of the things people don’t take into consideration in their pro-hymn inclinations is that at one time those hymns were contemporary music, and in some cases were considered inappropriate for true worship. Also, not every song found in a hymnal meets every individual’s definition of a hymn. Then there is the “test of time” criterion. That is, that we should only be singing those songs that have endured the “test of time”. What I deduce from that is that a song must be sung and loved in the church for a period of several years before it qualifies as a hymn, but until it does it should not be sung in the church because it hasn’t stood the “test of time”. I’m glad that criterion was not enforced back before we had such beautiful hymns as “A Mighty Fortress”, “Amazing Grace”, “How Great Thou Art”, “He Lives”, “The Old Rugged Cross”, and many, many more. I must add too that there are many hymns found in many hymnals that I’ve never heard sung in the church in my more than fifty years of faithful attendance. So I would say that those have not endured the “test of time”. I’m sure at one time they were well loved, and probably were significant to someone, or to a time period, but they seem to have lost significance.
Now, let’s look at the other end of the spectrum. There are those who love the more modern, upbeat songs and think the old hymns are boring or irrelevant. I’m sorry they think that, but I can understand that perception to some extent. When I first started playing piano back in the ’70s I found hymns difficult to play, not because thay they were complicated, but because they seemed too simple. The chords didn’t change often enough. The standard 4-part harmonies were predictable and simplistic. But over the years I’ve learned to add passion to the music. I realized that passion had gotten lost in the formality and simplicity.
That has happened not only with the music, but with the rites and rituals, the formulaic order of service, the pre-written prayers, and many other aspects of the church services. It’s okay to have order and consistency as long as there is passion, passion for relationship with our Savior, passion for living the Gospel in our lives, our homes, our work-places, the market-places, passion for worship and praise to God Almighty, a passion for righteousness. Sometimes the desire for the driving force of upbeat, exciting, loud music becomes a substitute mistaken for true passion. But the message of the songs need to inspire true passion for worship, praise, adoration, thankfulness toward the Almighty Merciful God who gave us His own Son as a sacrifice on our behalf, so that we could become the righteousness of God.
There are many songs sung in the church today that don’t inspire a passion in me. Some of those songs are contemporary, some of them are hymns. But thank God there are many of both that are inspired by the Holy Spirit that breathe into me and others the passion for the things of God. It’s not about the music. It’s about the life-giving force evidenced in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It’s about Singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. It’s about pleasing God with the joyful noise and the contrite heart. And it is certainly not about criticising someone else’s preference in music (even if it is “Country”).
Tracy Henness
Dec 11
Posted: under Faith.
Tags: Christmas
Christ was, and still is LOVE
Yes, this is a re-run from last year. But time is getting short and I wanted to get something posted. I hope you all have a wonderful and happy Christmas, and a prosperous and joyous New Year.
Tracy Henness
Dec 08
Posted: under Anecdotes.
Tags: Christmas, party
Last night my wife, Kathy, and I hosted the women’s Bible study Christmas party. Not being a woman, and by inference not invited, my options included:
1) drop in on Darrell (taking him up in an invite)
2) go Christmas shopping
3) act as a waiter
4) disappear to the bedroom to finish up some grading before the next day’s final exam
I hesitated to take option 1 since I had a sore throat and he has two kids, and I didn’t want to risk infecting them. This of course turned out to be a lame excuse since one of the ladies brought her 11 year old daughter, and another brought her month old daughter, so it was two kids at Darrell’s house or two kids at my house.
As for the second option I didn’t want to waste gas so I did the Christmas shopping on the way home from Rock Valley College. Since my wife does the vast majority of our Christmas shopping there’s not much left for me to do. So this quick stop delayed me just enough for my wife to call me and ask me to stop by the bank and then swing over to pick up one of the ladies coming to the party. If I hadn’t stopped to shop I’d have already been home before she called.
The first two options were also out of the question after guests started to arrive. Both cars got blocked in so I had to stay home.
I explained to the ladies later in the evening that I had the option of acting as a waiter, but chose not to on the grounds that I would probably spill something and ruin the evening. They seemed to buy that excuse.
I included option 4 in my actual participation. I helped move furniture, managed coats, directed parking, made myself generally helpful while trying to maintain my relative invisibility, finished my grading, directed traffic out of our driveway, and helped cleanup the house afterwards.
Overall it seemed the ladies had a delightful time. It was good to hear all the laughter in the house (although it seemed loudest while I was alone in the bedroom grading assignments). And Kathy, my wife, seemed please about the outcome of the evening (which was all I was really concerned about). Kathy thanked me for sticking around and being helpful.
Tracy Henness
Aug 13
Posted: under Economy, Going Green.
Tags: ideas, photovoltaic, solar, wind energy
I’ve heard a lot of people arguing against photovoltaic (solar) power, wind generated electricity, alternative automotive fuels, etc. They all have the right to have and voice their own opinions. And they may well be right in their perceptions. It is undeniable that many of these new technologies are inefficient, costly, and possibly potentially hazardous.
But we live in an age where, aside from the idea that we may run out of the resources we currently so readily consume, we have such a high rate of unemployment and a downwardly sliding economy. These technologies have the potential for decreasing unemployment and improving our economy. If you are against decreasing unemployment and/or against improving our nation’s economy, you don’t need to waste your time reading further.
Many of these technologies attempt to harness immaterial or intangible natural forces such as solar energy, wind, and magnetism in ways that supplement the ways we currently generate electricity and mechanical motion. The problem is that we have not found ways to make these technologies truly economical and efficient. But to draw a parallel here, think back to the 1980’s when desktop computers were just coming on the scene. Most people, and some major corporations such as IBM, scoffed at the idea of having computers in the homes and occupying valuable desk space in the offices. They couldn’t possibly be really all that useful, and one certainly couldn’t justify the cost factor. This was something for the hobbyist and for those who had money to burn on expensive toys. But as technological advances improved speed, made better use of current flow, reduced the gaps between components, reduced the size of components, streamlined instruction sets, improved multimedia capabilities, improved storage capacities and portability, the price of hardware was drastically reduced. Additionally, software applications and operating systems became more user friendly, more efficient, more interesting, more flexible. And the overall general acceptance of the personal computer became overwhelming. Very few homes are completely without desktop or laptop computers or other portable computing devices of some sort. The same goes for mobile or cellular phones, and many other recent technological wonders.
Each of these technologies saw surges in research and development and in production during periods when many people were still skeptical of the devices. Unfortunately, in order to meet demand for these devices at prices the masses were willing to pay, the developers and producers outsourced production to foreign soil. Can I get an AMEN when I say we should have kept American jobs in America as much as possible?
Well the sun shines here and the wind blows here just as much as the rest of the world. Lets put people to work finding new and better ways to harness these resources not just because we “might someday” run out of oil, coal, and natural gas, but because we can’t imagine right now what breakthroughs we could develop in the near future. Yes, it takes an investment that may or may not see an immediate return, but in the long run we will be better off with people employed rather than seeking handouts. God put so much potential in the brains of so many people who are currently being discouraged by the scoffers. Shame on us for holding them back. And shame on us for letting ourselves be held back.
Tracy Henness
