We’ve all heard the cries of hypocrisy: You can’t be Christian and against gun control; you can’t be pro-life and pro-gun ownership; vengeance is God’s, so why do you need a gun?, etc.
Let us examine, in particular, the charge that being prepared for self-defense is vengeance.
Continue reading Christians, the Bible, and Guns: is Self-Defense Vengeance?
Most micro-ISVs use a serial number/registration code system to allow end users to unlock or activate their purchase. The problem most of us have run into is that a few days or weeks after our software is released, someone has developed a keygen, a crack, or has leaked a serial number across the internet.
There are several possible solutions to this problem. You could license a system like Armadillo/Software Passport or ASProtect, or you could distribute a separate full version as a download for your paying customers. Each option has advantages and disadvantages. What I am going to show you is a way to keep “rolling your own” license key system while making working cracks harder for crackers to produce, and working keygens a thing of the past.
Continue reading Implementing a Partial Serial Number Verification System in Delphi
As you may know, the entire Intenet has crashed…
Was that guy really listening to NPR? I think that’s what caused it.
There seems to be no end to the clamouring for “hidden evidence” of the varacity of the Bible. So-called Bible Codes are one manifestation of the human interest in the “hidden” and “secret.” There is an endless supply of modern-day, self-proclaimed prophets who claim to have unlocked secrets in the Bible with the application of mathematical and statistical analysis of Scripture text. All you have to do is buy their books, and suddenly, God’s secrets are yours.
The real question for a Christian believer is whether or not there is any Scriptural support for hidden messages in the Bible that can only be discovered with computers, but I’ll get to that in a moment. First let’s examine what these Bible codes are, how subjective they are, and whether or not they actually produce accurate predictions of future events.
Continue reading Bible Codes: Are Scripture-based word find puzzles real?
I’m a firm believer that usually, it’s good when politicians in Washington are so divided that they can’t pass new legislation. When they’re gridlocked they can’t raise our taxes, pass ridiculous political speech laws like the Campaign Finance Reform, and the like. There are exceptions, of course: we need swift consensus votes on important matters like lowering our tax burden and prosecuting important military campaigns.
But while gridlock is good, it can also be tedious. Take, for example, today’s news that Senator Russ Feingold wants Congress too “censure” President Bush for his management of the Iraq war. In fact, Feingold has a whole litany of political spankings he would like to see handed out, which he listed on Meet the Press today.
Gridlock is Good
Feingold proves gridlock is good, because without it, this guy might actually be able to cause some serious damage to the country. The only reason this won’t get traction is because Senate Majority Leader Reid knows that it wouldn’t get passed in the current very divided Congress.
Gridlock is Tedious
Feingold also proves that gridlock is tedious, because here we have a US Senator proposing that Congress pass utterly meaningless “censures,” which would do absolutely nothing except waste time and more tax money. Even if Feingold could corral up enough of his peers to pass these censures, they mean nothing. Bush would still be the Commander in Cheif, Gonzales would still be Attorney General, and Halliburton would still be the only company capable of coordinating civil logistics in occupied territories of the Middle East.
Feingold can’t actually think he will get anywhere with these absurd censure votes, and most certainly knows that they would accomplish absolutely nothing. Bush has proved on many occasions that his policies aren’t poll-based, and a “poll” of Congress’ opinion of Bush is just as irrelevant to him.
Feingold is just trying to score points with his liberal base at home. With gridlock, that’s really all he can accomplish. And that’s a good thing.
