according to jeff

For draconian blackout policies, the MLB.tv subscription service earns an undesirable spot on the naughty list.

MLB.tv is a service that allows baseball games to be watched live over the internet, as long as you interpret “live” as “within 90 minutes of the game ending” if you happen to live in a blackout zone for an MLB team. Here in Eastern Iowa, this includes all games played by:

• the Chicago White Sox
• the Milwaukee Brewers
• the Chicago Cubs
• the St. Louis Cardinals
• the Kansas City Royals
• the Minnesota Twins

On a typical day, this means that about a third of all games are blacked out from live broadcast.

Click here for more the disappointing details.

Skype for Mac makes the Nice List for adding group video calling in version 5.0. (I don’t use the Windows version, so I don’t know if it includes this feature or not.) Group video calling means that you can make a conference call with both audio and video. Previously, only audio conference calls were available.

We use Skype regularly to talk to Matt and Dani in Duluth and to Bethany in Oberlin. We usually talk to one or the other at a time in order to use the video feature. We’ve tried other solutions, and even hybrid solutions of using Skype for audio and another service for video, but nothing has extremely well. Skype may have just solved all of our problems (related to video conferencing, that is).

Learn more here.

I’ve been bald for about a month now.

While there are some advantages, such as not needing to pack a razor or comb when I travel, I’d have to say that I miss my hair.

…

Click here for the full article.

An article from the Saturday, February 19, 2011, edition of the St. Louis Post Dispatch tries to tackle the biblical implications of Albert Pujols’ contract negotiations. It does a fine job introducing differing opinions and providing food for thought.

As contract talks broke down between Albert Pujols and the Cardinals this week, St. Louis baseball fans began nervously asking themselves a host of questions.

He’s a Cardinal for life, right? He would never pull a LeBron, would he?

Wrigley? He likes winning too much, doesn’t he?

But a particular group of Cardinals fans — made up of those who share Pujols’ faith — was asking a different kind of question. What does holding out for the largest contract in the history of baseball say about Albert’s Christian testimony?

For the entire article, click here.

Already on the road to the dark side…

Last night before bed, I was reading from Psalm 139 (the text of next Sunday’s sermon) and from Romans 12. The closing part of Romans 12 really stood out to me.

  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
  Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly.
  Do not be wise in your own estimation.
  Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.
  Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
  If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
  Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”
  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
— Romans 12:14-21 (NASB)

After reading this passage several times, I was once again (this isn’t a new thought) struck with how much easier it is to read the Bible than to actually consistently follow its teachings.

Amidst all of these instructions, one particularly jumped out at me. How wonderful that the Holy Spirit helps as we read to understand and apply (and convict)! In this case, He helped me see that I need God’s help to better fulfill one of these instructions.