Monday, March 2, 2009
Protect Your Child on the Internet
Friday, February 27, 2009
Fighting Spam
“Studies show unsolicited or “junk” e-mail, known as spam, accounts for roughly half of all e-mail messages received. Although once regarded as little more than a nuisance, the prevalence of spam has increased to the point where many users have begun to express a general lack of confidence in the effectiveness of e-mail transmissions, and increased concern over the spread of computer viruses via unsolicited messages.”In December of 2003, President Bush signed the “Can Spam” bill, in which is the first national standards around bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail. The bill, approved by the Senate by a vote of 97 to 0, prohibits senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail from using false return addresses to disguise their identity (spoofing) and the use of dictionaries to generate such mailers. In addition, it prohibits the use of misleading subject lines and requires that emails include an opt-out mechanism. The legislation also prohibits senders from harvesting addresses off of websites. Violations constitute a misdemeanor crime subject to up to one year in jail. One major point that needs to be discussed about this is that spam is now coming from other countries in ever-greater numbers. These emails are harder to fight, because they come from outside our country’s laws and regulations. Because the Internet crosses borders and thinks globally, these laws are fine and good, but do not stop the problem. So what do you do about this? Here are the top 5 Rules to protect from spam. Number 1: Do what you can to avoid having your email address out on the net.
There are products called “spam spiders” that search the Internet for email addresses to send email to. If you are interested, do a search on “spam spider” and you will be amazed at what you get back. Interestingly, there is a site, WebPoison.org, which is an open source project geared to fight Internet "spambots" and "spam spiders", by giving them bogus HTML web pages, which contain bogus email addresses. A couple suggestions for you: a) use form emails, which can hide addresses or also b) use addresses like sales@company.com instead of your full address to help battle the problem. c) There are also programs that encode your email, like jsGuard, which encodes your email address on web pages so that spam spiders find it difficult or impossible to read your email address.Number 2: Get spam blocking software.
There are many programs out there for this. (go to http://www.cloudmark.com/ or http://www.mailwasher.net/ for example). You may also buy a professional version. Whatever you do, get the software. It will save you time. The software is not foolproof, but they really do help. You usually have to do some manual set up to block certain types of email.Number 3: Use the multiple email address approach.
There are a lot of free email addresses to be had. If you must subscribe to newsletters, then have a “back-up” email address. It would be like giving your cell phone number to your best friends and the business number to everyone else.Number 4: Attachments from people you don’t know are BAD, BAD, BAD.
A common problem with spam is that they have attachments and attachments can have viruses. Corporations often have filters that don’t let such things pass to you. Personal email is far more “open country” for spammers. General rule of thumb: if you do not know who is sending you something, DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. Secondly, look for services that offer filtering. Firewall vendors offer this type of service as well.Number 5: Use your E-mail service's “bulk-mail” baskets.
If what you use currently does not support this, think about moving to a new vendor. The concept is simple. If you know someone, they can send you emails. If you don’t know them, put them in the bulk email pile and then “choose” to allow them into your circle. Spam Blocking software has this concept as well, but having extra layers seems critical these days, so it is worth looking into.Put as many of these safeguards into practice as you possibly can, and your spam problems wll be greatly diminished.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Mind Mapping Software
Friday, December 26, 2008
ESV Study Bible
- 2,752 pages of teaching, explanations, maps, articles, and Bible text
- 2 million words with 20,000 notes and other resources
- 200 full-color maps printed alongside the ESV text and notes throughout the Bible
- 40 all-new illustrations including full-color renderings and architectural diagrams
- 200-plus charts providing concise summaries and key insights
- Over 50 articles on essential topics of theology, ethics, and biblical teaching
- 80,000 cross-references and an extensive concordance
- Free ESV Online Study Bible
The online study bible has little to offer in the way of anything new for online study. In fact, it is quite limited. However, for those who prefer to do all their reading from a screen, the complete text with notes and cross-references is duplicated on the computer. One can also add personal notes.But other tools associated with online study are glaringly absent. There is no interlinear or words keyed to Strong's Concordance, or any other form of word study tool. It is simply the ESV Study Bible produced and accessed online.
Only those who purchase a physical copy of the ESV Study Bible have access to the online version.
I have found one great benefit of the online version. All charts and graphs that are in the ESV Study Bible are easily copied and loaded onto a PowerPoint slide. This can be an invaluable resource for Bible teachers.
The following quote is taken from Crossway's feature page for the ESV Study Bible:
For this article, I am reviewing the hard-bound edition.The ESV Study Bible is available in print form and online—and the online edition is available free to all who purchase a copy of the print edition. The ESV Online Study Bible provides additional unique features, including the ability to create personal online notes; to search and follow interactive links between notes, maps, articles, charts, timelines, illustrations, and cross-references; to listen to audio recordings of the ESV; and to access additional resources not available in the print edition—all available for free.
It is a weighty volume at 4.8 pounds, because of the sheer amount of material within. It is not too heavy, though, as this photo will show. Its physical dimensions are 2 1/4 inches thick, 9 1/2 inches long, and 6 3/4 inches wide.
Some of the features I find especially useful are:
- Each book of the Bible begins with an introduction that is started on a new page. That leaves many blank pages for adding my own notes and materials.
- The outline that is presented in the introduction is followed within the notes section.
- Maps necessary to gaining an understanding of the locale of an event are presented right on the page--eliminating the need to turn to the back of the Bible.
- Controversial topics are presented in an acceptable manner without condescension nor
It is printed on fine bible paper and I’ve found no bleed through from highlighting nor notes. More than 95 evangelical conservative scholars contributed to the notes and articles contained within the ESV Study Bible. After only a week of use, I am becoming quite comfortable with the ESV translation. It is readable, and I've found no conflict with previously understood passages the way I have with other modern translations. I would make one recommendation to the publication of this study Bible. The numerous articles could be published as a separately bound volume. The two could still be sold as a unit, which may add to the cost; but it would make the book somewhat thinner. The articles, as good as they are, are not something that many people will reference continually during their study. I'm not sure that I will be comfortable carrying the hard-bound edition with me to church or into the pulpit. Since I cannot afford a leather-bound edition at this time, I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do. However, it seems fairly certain that the ESV translation and the study edition will be my Bible of choice for a while.