GraceBase

Moscow 2010 Fire - news and links

2010-08-04T21:17:00.005+04:00

Summer 2010 has been an awful natural disaster for Russia. Many acres (hectares) burned, hundreds now homeless, entire villages destroyed... Here are a few links I found interesting:

links from August 4:

Accuweather blog

Moscow night photos

Government response
Nice graphic at the end of this story
Yandex Moscow region fire map
A few of my photos
Russia Today news channel video
CNN.com story
Risking their lives to drive through the fire

links from August 10:
Moscow photos from Twitter users
Fighting fires around military and nuclear sites
Moscow businesses temporarily closing
Wildfires spread due to neglect
Dismantling of Russia National Fire Service in 2007
Yandex map of forest fires
New York Times blog

August 11 fun article with Russian language lessons:
Moscow Times article by Michele Berdy

August 12 article about Russia's top firefighter:
Moscow Times article by von Twickel
Lots of Youtube videos here: RussiaToday news channel

A Google approach to Facebook?

2010-07-16T11:49:00.000+04:00

One of the nice things about social media is that you can connect with a lot of people. People want to connect and need to connect with each other. And there are varying degrees of HOW we connect. One of the problems is that has arisen is: how to manage all your connections? A Google employee has put together quite a slideshow addressing this issue. He has compiled a good collection of facts, figures, and state of the art such that Google itself can tackle the issues of today's social media networks. This is great from a technologist's perspective. (Google Me is the rumored, forthcoming Googly answer to Facebook. It seems to be named that as in, "want to know more about me, then just Google Me.)

But what about those of us trying to address the spiritual, commercial, family and friend connection issues? How we do engage people socially and yet maintain our unique and natural pre-existing boundaries? I think this slideshow presents a lot more than "how to build a website." It really tries to tackle the sociological issues of building networks. And it does so with some humor and real-life examples. I found it to be a fascinating read and there are many principles to takeaway from this.

(Tips: read it full-screen if you can, because it is easier on the eyes and gets rid of ads in the margins. However, you may need to scroll up and down to see all the text on each slide.)

Happy Reading!

Construction delays seriously affect Moscow airport traffic

2010-07-05T11:24:00.003+04:00

Looks like you can now expect some traffic delays going to or from Moscow's Sheremetovo airport (code SVO). There was some much needed emergency bridge repair work which was just started. It has reduced one of Moscow's busiest highways down to just two lanes. (It's the one that goes Moscow to St. Petersburg named Leningradskoye Shosse.) This biggest problem has been the delay of air passengers to the airport affecting flights for Aeroflot, Delta, Malev, Alitalia, as well as many other airlines. SVO recommends that people take the Aeroexpress commuter train from Belorussky vokzal metro station to the airport. It is not known how long the construction project should take.

Update: looks like some lanes got widened but it remains to be seen how long the bridge "remont" project will take: Link to updated Moscow Times article

Update 2: construction is supposed to last until October 1: Link to yet another Moscow Times article

A good (long) story on why you should NOT fall for the Nigerian email scam

2010-06-25T16:44:00.000+04:00

The Nigerian 419 email scam has been around in various forms for quite some time. When the internet boom took off in the 90s and free email accounts become widely available, this type of scam just shot through the roof. I think this article pretty much sums it up. As always, consider the source.

Happy Reading!

Test post for Google Buzz

2010-02-11T23:16:00.002+03:00

This is a test posting to see if Google Buzz will pick it up.

Please ignore this message. Effective immediately. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Finding old newspaper columns online

2010-02-03T16:28:00.000+03:00

I like to read interesting news columns. One that really enjoyed was Lydel Sims, a columnist with the Memphis Commercial Appeal daily newspaper. Recently, I discovered a trick using Google News, to search for archives of such older columns. (Google has been scanning the microfilm/microfiche of some older newspaper archives and applying text recognition to the resulting scans. The results are really good.)

Go to news.google.com
(You may need to choose the USA version of Google if you are doing this from outside the USA.)
Click on "Advanced News Search" to the right of the Google News search buttons
Click on "Archive Search" for articles more than 30 days old
Enter a search term, such as "Lydel Sims" and let Google return the results

You should get a lot of results, some of which are free and some of which are pay to view. Clicking on one of the search results loads a full-page scan of the newspaper itself! You can then navigate the "newspaper" and read the article of interest. For example, here is a search result from May 25, 1986 from the Deseret News. If you go to the advanced settings for the archive search, you can narrow down the search to certain "sources" (such as the name of the newspaper itself).

What makes this a bit more interesting is the nice timeline view which can narrow down your search by decade and even by month. This makes searching for specific references a lot easier. Gone are the days when you need to search volumes of indexes of newspapers and then hunt down the microfilm for those pages. This makes it much faster and easier. (Although there is something very bookwormish about getting lost in the research section of a library...)

Happy reading!

Very good showcase of web design in Russia

2009-11-30T16:10:00.001+03:00

Areseny Vesnin has a very good (and long) list of web companies and designers from Russia and Ukraine. I am quite impressed with the listing! The variety and creativity of the web sites is very good. You can see his complete blog entry here:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/17/global-web-design-russia/

This is a first in a series of articles on "Global Web Design" which could turn into a very extensive and valuable resource for companies looking to outsource to local design firms.

Happy reading!

Should I upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7?

2009-10-27T16:39:00.000+03:00

I don't think so. As for why or why not? I think Robert X. Cringely may have said it better than me in his column below. Don't get me wrong, I have heard good things about Windows 7 but I don't think it is a necessary upgrade for me personally at this time. I am OK with Vista on a one year old laptop. Although he has often ventured into the conspiratorial at times, I think I agree with him regarding Win 7.

http://www.cringely.com/2009/10/why-windows-7-costs-so-much/

Happy reading!

Comscore: Russia has World’s Most Engaged Social Networking Audience

2009-10-27T11:49:00.001+03:00

According to a July press release from comScore, Russia has the most "engaged" social networking audience. Globally, the average number of hours a visitor spends online is 3.7; the Russian internet audience spends 6.6 hours online per day!

The leading social networking site within Russia is Vkontake.ru, a cousin to Facebook. In May 2009 59% of online visitors visited a social networking site; a very high percentage!

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/7/Russia_has_World_s_Most_Engaged_Social_Networking_Audience

Happy Reading!

(Corrected: 6.6 hours per month, not per day. Thanks TH!)

What's inside a cup of coffee? Chemically speaking...

2009-10-26T16:25:00.001+03:00

What's inside a cup of coffee? More than just hot water, brown goodness, and a little sugar? Why, much more than that. So much more. Much more than you ever wanted to know, in fact....

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the chemical components of coffee, via Wired Magazine:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-10/st_coffee

Happy reading!

Using Skype for job interviews (Time.com article)

2009-10-21T11:49:00.001+04:00

Skype and video camera technology has matured quickly such that more and more people are using it everyday. This Time.com article talks about some of the practical benefits for companies to save money while doing pre-interviews for job applicants. There are also some basic "tv tips" for setting up the right frame of mind as well as the physical setup of video conferencing. A good read for any small business or group which is trying to work as a virtual team, as well as save travel costs.

Happy reading!

Amazing sand animation from the TV show, Ukraine's Got Talent

2009-09-24T00:00:00.000+04:00

This girl has an amazing talent. A great, storyteller as well! Meet, Kseniya Simonova, an animator in sand

Email: file it or label it?

2009-09-10T17:09:00.000+04:00

Email overload. I struggle with both philosophies of email management.

First, my Outlook inbox for my work email account has over 2000 messages. I have replied to 99.99% of those messages; I just got lazy in my filing. (Outlook uses the old, familiar folder system for sorting and storing emails.) In other words, I do not succeed at "inbox zero." Therefore I should consider filing "email bankruptcy."

Second, my Gmail account has THOUSANDS of messages. One of the things I love about Gmail is forget about filing messages, just search for them. Using Gmail's Search and Labels seem to be a much better way for me to manage thousands of emails, especially emails from mailing lists. After learning some of the search tips, I can search for messages which are unread, read, labeled, etc. It makes for overall better management for me: less time filing, more time finding.

My colleague, Keith Seabourn, just pointed out two very good blogs on email management, written by the CEO of Thomas Nelson. Links below for your email managing pleasure:

Staying on top of all your emails:
http://michaelhyatt.com/2008/06/yes-you-can-stay-on-top-of-email.html

Filing "email bankruptcy:"
http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/09/is-it-time-to-declare-email-bankruptcy.html

Happy reading!

Yandex vs. Google: the battle for the Russian search market

2009-09-09T15:51:00.002+04:00

An excellent article on the success of Yandex in Russia. Yandex has been steadily gaining the lead on Google in the past year or so. Read more at: http://searchenginewatch.com/3634912

No plans to block Skype in Russia

2009-09-07T16:44:00.001+04:00

The Moscow Times reports that Russia has no plans to block Skype or other IP-telephony services in Russia. Read the complete article here: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/382214/

Tough times in Moscow for internet search engines

2009-08-27T13:19:00.002+04:00

With the economy in its current state and increased competition, Rambler is facing tougher times this year. This seems to be due to several factors: "poor performance to increased competition, the emergence of social networks and growing Internet penetration."

Read more about it at this Moscow Times article.

Happy reading!

Design changes to Worldwide Challenge

2009-08-27T11:52:00.003+04:00

"Worldwide Challenge" magazine is undergoing some graphic design changes. You can read more about their changes at their blog: http://worldwidechallenge.wordpress.com/

This magazine has won numerous awards over the years. Here is an excerpt from their site:

The mission of Worldwide Challenge is to show how God is directing the hearts and hands of Campus Crusade for Christ staff members around the world and to challenge our readers to join with us in making Christ known.

Happy reading!

Jim Masterfield: 1994 Mr. America Bodybuilding Champ

2008-10-13T11:15:00.003+04:00

Sunday at Moscow Bible Church Jim Masterfield spoke. He was 1994 Mr. America Champion bodybuilder. He has a brain tumor and is dying of cancer. He made the journey all the way to Russia to visit some church friends and long-time missionaries here. You can listen to his powerful testimony here: http://biblechurch.ru/audio/?ID=288 (Note that the actual translation of his sermon starts at 3:45 into the podcast. The translator is overdubbing a short bodybuilding video which you can see below on Youtube.)

Also is a blog about his other visits to other churches here in Moscow. It also contains a Youtube link with an early 1994 interview: http://www.jimandlynetta.blogspot.com/

Update: added the Youtube link for Jim Masterfield: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVRYHM6GUd8

Microsoft Word 2007 vs. Word 97-2003

2008-10-03T10:41:00.002+04:00

When Office 2007 came out, Microsoft introduced their XML file format for documents. Generally, these end in an X, such as .docx, .xlsx, etc. Here are some useful links to know be aware of when mixing older and newer versions of Office:

users of older versions of Word (97-2003 .DOC) can download a free Microsoft import utility that can read and convert the newer Word 2007 files:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
users of Word 2007 can download a free export program to save DOCX files in PDF format so almost anyone can read it (PC, Mac, Linux, etc.). This inserts into the File > Save As menu:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F1FC413C-6D89-4F15-991B-63B07BA5F2E5&displaylang=en

Happy file importing and exporting!

Export Hotmail Messages to Gmail

2008-01-10T16:06:00.000+03:00

This link describes how to import Hotmail messages into Gmail.
(Export Hotmail messages into Gmail?)

The main principle is that you are using one email client on your computer to manage two email accounts. For Windows users that means using something like Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail to manage Hotmail and Gmail. After reading the post above here are my suggestions:

If you already have Outlook Express installed on your system, there is no need to install Windows Live Mail. (To install Windows Live Mail you need Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista.)
Either way, using Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail, you can then setup your Gmail account using IMAP and just copy and paste messages from one email account to the other.
There are some good comments, suggestions, questions in the comments section of the post above. Some good ones to consider are:

setting up auto-reply on Hotmail to let people know about your new Gmail address
using Thunderbird instead of Outlook Express (good for Mac OSX users; you may need to search for Thunderbird Extensions for this)
more helpful hints from Mozilla Thunderbird here

Outlook 2003 to Gmail

2007-09-17T13:52:00.000+04:00

There are several steps: Outlook 2003 to Outlook Express to Thunderbird 2.0 to Gmail. I used Mark Lyon's Gmail loader on the final step. The steps below are only for Windows (XP is what I used).

Things to be aware of before you start:

Try and use Gmail to grab your new messages using POP3. This is a good way of getting new mail and gets you familiar with Gmail. You may want to set up Gmail so that it labels incoming messages with a key word from your old account (ATT or Earthlink) and then Archives the messages out of the Inbox.
Spam - When uploading your mail into Gmail sometimes it gets marked as spam so you need to clear out your spam filter beforehand. As Gmail Loader is uploading messages you can see on your Gmail account which ones are marked as spam. About every 50 uploaded messages or so I would mark my mail--the unread spams--as Not Spam and they would be moved into the Inbox on Gmail.
Size - I uploaded about 100-200 messages at time with Gmail Loader. I did not want to have to do all at once and have it mess up and need to do it all over again. I thought it was better to do a few steps at a time.
Make sure that your ISP allows you to login and use Gmail's SMTP servers. Some ISP's will block SMTP services preventing spam and forcing you to use their SMTP server. I could not connect to Google's SMTP servers at first (was getting timeout errors from Google) and so I needed to VPN to my company's ISP and upload the messages that way.
Overall, Gmail did a great job of handling message threads ("conversations"). I was impressed with its organization of this. Also, even though old messages are timestamped with the date of upload, you can still use Gmail to search the message body for older dates with something like "label:ATT 2001".

Here are the steps I took:

Outlook 2003 to Outlook Express - this converts the proprietary Microsoft Outlook .ost file format into the proprietary Microsoft Outlook Express .mbx format. This is a necessary step. When you start Outlook Express (OE), go to File > Import > Messages > Microsoft Outlook. OE will look at the current profile in Outlook and give a choice to import all or "Selected" folders. It does not seem to offer the capability to import .pst files so you must have your folders in your current Outlook profile. Next, OE will import the Outlook mail folder you selected into your OE mail account.
Outlook Express to Thunderbird 2.x - this converts the proprietart OE .mbx format into mbox format needed by Gmail loader. Download and install the free program Mozilla Thunderbird; you can choose different languages or systems (Windows, Mac OSX). In Thunderbird go to Tools > Import > Mail and select Outlook Express. This will import ALL your email from OE into Thunderbird into a folder called Outlook Express. (You can delete any unneccesary folders such as Drafts, Junk, etc.)
Thunderbird to Gmail - download and install Mark Lyon's Gmail Loader. Follow the instructions carefully. You will need to choose an updated SMTP server for Gmail, type in your Gmail account and password for the SMTP server authorization, choose the Thunderbird folder you want to upload (this could be in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profile\XXXYYYZZZ\Local Folders or some location like that). Next choose if you want this to go into your Inbox or your Sent mail folder, depending on if it is your incoming or outgoing mail from your old account. Finally, enter your gmail account. This will then begin to upload your email to Gmail. You can monitor the process by refreshing Gmail. You can periodically move messages out of t the Inbox by "Labeling and Archiving" and also marking messages as "Not Spam" moving them into the Inbox.
I did not try the option yet of uploading messages to the Sent items folder. This would be a nice way to upload all my Sent messages but there is not a pressing need for that now.

Observations: As far as I know, you can use this procedure to upload old Hotmail mail into Gmail. You would need to setup Outlook Express to access your Hotmail account. Next, you would import your messages into Thunderbird and then upload them into Gmail as in steps 2 and 3 above. You may also want to configure Gmail to send messages as a Hotmail user.

Good luck trying to run Outlook and Outlook Express in WINE on Linux! And I have no idea if this is possible with Entourage to Thunderbird on the Mac...

Secure access to Gmail

2007-09-13T16:13:00.000+04:00

You can always be certain that you are reading Gmail securely when on the road or at an internet cafe if you always access Gmail using the following link:

https://mail.google.com/mail

Notice the s in https: that means a secure connection! It is "end-to-end" secure meaning there is a secure connection between the computer which is being used to access Google's mail servers.

So, if you are on a public WIFI system using your notebook, login ONLY at the https site because that means your username and password are not visible to hackers. Also, all of your email is encrypted and hackers can not read your email traffic. On the other hand, if you are at an internet cafe using their machine, then there is the chance that they have a keylogger installed and are capturing all of your physical keystrokes on their keyboard. Beware of public machines where you are not certain of the security!

How to use Google Talk

2007-09-13T15:33:00.000+04:00

1. Use Google Talk inside Gmail - at the bottom center of Gmail you can choose your view: standard with chat, standard without chat, basic HTML, etc.

http://mail.google.com/mail/

2. Download and install Google Talk program - file transfers, voicemail, voice calls, Gmail notifications

http://www.google.com/talk/

3. Launch the Google Talk "gadget" - needs Adobe Flash 8 or higher, use from any browser in the world, group chat, more emoticons (smileys)

http://www.google.com/talk/

My friends Rhett and Link

2007-02-14T23:26:00.000+03:00

Rhett and Link are co-workers of mine. They won a local radio station contest to go the Grammy's and what follows is their result.

Enjoy!

New Year's Day Tragedy

2007-01-01T23:53:00.000+03:00

It is with great sadness that the New Year starts off in a tragic way for my colleague, Haley. She lost her father, mother, and 2 brothers in a plane crash on New Year's Eve. Please pray for her and for her family during this very difficult time. Contact me at my email address if you would like to know some more details about the memorial and funeral services. gmail dot com atsign mclipsco

Kyle and Irina's wedding pictures

2006-12-10T17:11:00.000+03:00

Saturday I attended my friends' wedding. 430pm ceremony in downtown Moscow "Central Baptist Church." The preacher performing the ceremony was Oleg Shevkun, who was translator at Moscow Bible Church for Ronnie Stevens in the early to mid 90s. Kyle the Texan married Irina the Volgogradan. (Volgograd was previously named Stalingrad in Soviet times and was the center of action in the recent sniper-vs-sniper movie, "Enemy At The Gates" with Jude Law and Ed Harris. Volgograd features this famous Soviet statue, The Motherland Calls. )

It was a lovely ceremony and I got a high perch so I could look down on all the action. There were already several ground level paparazzi so I ventured up top for the bird's eye view. Enjoy the slideshow!

Scary 'Mary Poppins' Trailer

2006-12-07T19:19:00.001+03:00

this is what YouTube has come to! hosting Scary Poppins! too funny!

Campus Mission 2007 -- summer in Korea

2006-12-05T17:46:00.000+03:00

Korea CCC is sponsoring Campus Mission 2007 this summer 30 June - 5 July. 20,000 college students are expected from 100 countries around the world. Read more about it here:

http://www.cm2007.net/

In case you want to know where it will be held, it will be here at the BEXCO Convention Center:

http://busancvb.org/eng/02_fac/01_bexco_01.asp/

Why I didn't vote this year...

2006-11-30T19:02:00.000+03:00

It would have been nice to vote in my country's election this year. I did not abstain from voting or stay home because I did not want to make a choice. I think that's for sissies who don't want to make a difference for the future of my country. It was yet something else. I did not receive my absentee ballot in time. It was post-marked September 19. It arrived to Russia on October 9. It hit my post box on November 13, a full-week after the election! Oh well, I don't think my vote would have mattered considering the margin of difference was about 10 million...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_election,_2006

Google world takeover conspiracies

2006-11-18T17:42:00.000+03:00

Google just introduced the ability to connect you to local businesses on the phone. To do this, you look for a business using Google Maps and then you find the one nearest you and click the call button. After entering your phone number, they call you and connect you to the business. Sounds great especially since they are the ones paying for the long distance charges.

But this is where I think it could go: pre-call advertising. Google exists to sell ads and having a person on the phone before a phone call is a whole new audience! Before being connected to the local "Google map-dialed florist" in your area, you could hear ads from other florists. And they will already know your Google maps search history so they can target their pre-call audio ads even better.

Sound interesting? They have already been buying blocks of print ads in newspapers, selling space in those blocks to the highest bidder.They are doing the same thing with radio ads. They also are working on technology to recognize a song or a movie based on a partial audio clip of that piece. Imagine recording audio clips of your voice, analyzing them for content, and using that to target ads on the abovementioned Google map phone calls ads. Combining their ad-generating genius with old media (news, radio) and new media (web), who knows where it will end? They sky's the limit for them!

Disclaimer: I am a Google fanboy. I love their innovation and that they keep other businesses on their toes. They have the capital to pull it off and are making the industry think better and faster about how things are done. They think outside the box and it is paying off for them. Now I only wish I had bought some of their stock when it went public...

Granny was 102!

2006-09-24T05:50:00.000+04:00

On September 1, my 102 year old Grandmother went home to be with the Lord. Here is her obiturary as given in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger newspaper on September 4, 2006:

Daisy C. Thompson

Jackson

Daisy Conerly Thompson, 102, passed away in Memphis, Tenn. at the home of her daughter on Friday, September 1, 2006. The funeral will be held on Tuesday, September 5, at 11:00 a.m., at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 621 Duling Avenue, Jackson, with visitation at the church beginning at 10:00 a.m. Burial will follow at Lakewood Memorial Park.

Mrs. Thompson was born on April 16, 1904, in Knoxo, Mississippi, the youngest of three children of Herbert and Aletha Conerly. She was a graduate of what is now known as Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Mississippi, where she perfected her skills in English and was a member of the basketball team. She moved to Jackson as a young woman and attended business school in preparation for her career. She was a secretary for the GM&O Railroad and served as a member of the Know Mississippi Better train tour in the western United States She met the love of her life, Herman 0. Thompson, at Capitol Street Methodist Church where they both sang in the choir, and they were married there on Sunday, June 30, 1935, in time to attend Sunday School and church that morning.

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson had four children, and after giving them her loving care and attention at home until they were all in school, she returned to the work force, serving first as business secretary for St. Luke's United Methodist Church, then as personal secretary to Mr. E.P. Rawson and the Mississippi State Department of Education, and finally as Executive Secretary/Receptionist/Dietician at the Mississippi Hospital School for Cerebral Palsy until her retirement which necessitated the hiring of three people to replace her.

She was a long-tine member of the Ladies' Bible Class at St. Luke's, and shared with her friends her love of flowers and gardening as a member of garden clubs She also enjoyed membership in the Opti-Mrs. Club. She offered active parental support to the schools her children attended: Duling Elementary, Bailey Junior High, Central High, and Murrah High School. As an avid sports fan, she always kept her television tuned to the best contest of the day, particularly in baseball and football. One of her best-loved activities was rooting for her children and grandchildren in their athletic endeavors, particularly Little League Baseball. She was very accomplished in sewing and needlework, and often took her knitting along with her to sporting events to "help keep her occupied". She won numerous blue ribbons through the years for her submissions to the Mississippi State Fair in crochet and knitting. She was known for her hospitality, good cooking, and her inimitable gift for making pecan pies and shrimp gumbo.

Mrs. Thompson was the consummate wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, great-aunt, cousin, and friend to many. She lived her faith everyday and was indeed "the wife and mother of noble character (Proverbs 31:10-31).

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Herman 0. Thompson, her parents, her brother and sister, and her daughters-in-law, Betty Davis Thompson and Onnie Guarnieri Thompson, and her son-in-law, John L. Lipscomb. Her survivors include her son, Herman 0. Thompson, Jr., and his daughters Sheila Thompson Weaver, Isabelle Thompson Brisendine, and Heather Thompson Orozco and their families; her daughter, Colleen Thompson Lipscomb and her children Pam Lipscomb Holler. John Lipscomb, Michael Lipscomb, and Daisy Lipscomb Hamm and their families; her son Richard C. (Dick) Thompson and his sons, Scot Thompson and Brett Thompson; and her son Clifford C. Thompson and his wife Cheryl, and their children Ted Thompson, Jim Thompson, Ben Thompson, and Nan Thompson Katsaboulas. In addition to her thirteen grandchildren, she is survived by fourteen great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. She also leaves behind two dearly loved sisters-in-law, Mrs. Norine (Nena) Thames of Jackson and Mrs. Isabelle Parker of Natchez.

Memorials may be made to Campus Crusade for Christ and mailed to Campus Crusade for Christ International, 100 Lake Hart Drive, Orlando, FL 32832, in the name of her grandson, Michael Conerly Lipscomb, staff account number: 6209551, who is in the Lord's service in Russia.

Facebook me!

2006-07-12T21:44:00.000+04:00

The Facebook. A Facebook? I'm not quite sure what all the hubbub is over this site. It's seems like a nice, polite Myspace.com. It connects people. Well, the group I am in already socially connects many different people all the time. In person! Just what I need. Another site to waste time on. I already waste enough time as it is with Flickr. If there was a button that added all the friends of my friends, the machine would overload. Not because I have a lot of friends but because my friends do! And what if you add some people but not others? Do they feel slighted because they are not a facebook friend? Does Facebook have a blog so I can just blog there from now on? And a Flickr site? What I want is a Flick-Blog-Book that does it all. So I don't have to keep goofing around on all these different sites.

Here's the Whoops of the year award: at one point, some major company [whom I have forgotten] was in the market to buy facebook but balked. Now it's probably worth up to 2 billion. Supposedly, now Google is in the market to buy Facebook. Hmmm, getting juicier. All this to compete with Myspace. Egads, what a horrible site THAT is.

I just can't wait until Eric R. joins up! Once he starts networking, it'll connect me to like 4500 other people. And that's a conservative, 6-degrees of Kevin Bacon estimate.

Oh well.... Facebook me!

Snakes on a Plane

2006-06-27T10:47:00.000+04:00

Without a doubt, this has to be the best movie title I have heard in a long time. I do not fear snakes nor planes. But combining the two, I think I could be frightened. Of laughing to death, that is.

http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=snakesonaplane

When I was growing up, I had to encounters with the reptiles. My first snakey time which I remember involved some old dude who must have lived/worked nearby our house. I think he worked for the local cement factory which ground up rocks excavated from a nearby mountaintop. He had caught some rattlesnakes and put them in a 55 gallon drum. My Dad and he did a little show and tell. That was about all my 5 year old brain needed.

My second snakey situation involved the TV. I think I was sick with the flu or something I remember watching some movie on TV. I think it involved a Charles Bronson prsion break or the EMT show Emergency. Anyhoo, this helicopter pilot was flying around and this giant snake was onboard and got him. I don't remember if Sir Hiss crashed or flew the helicopter after that. Maybe it was just a delirious dream. I do remember being scared though and I think the chopper pilot was sweating up a storm.

Just to make fun of it all, the 21st century welcomes our new blog buddy:

http://www.snakesonablog.com/

I hope you waste as much time as I did enjoying the trailers and collection of celluloid, reptilian drivel that I do.

Funny international food story

2006-06-16T11:12:00.000+04:00

Yesterday I ate my friend's house. Keith and Lori are very hospitable and are always serving up something fun. Well, a buddy of ours from Scotland had made them some haggis. They heated it up and served it on crackers last night. (It was OK.) There were some unwitting victims at the dinner table who did not know what it was. So I thought I would send an SMS to my Scottish friend, Elaine about what was being served. When I typed in the SMS, here is exactly what came through on the T9 (the SMS typing software on my cell phone):

Just had gaggis tonight. Thought you would like to know.

That about sums it up.

Fortunately it was not served in the "bladder" or "stomach" and looked like a rather nice holiday cheese ball.

Visit to Ekaterinburg, Russia

2006-06-12T23:49:00.000+04:00

Last week I visited Ekaterinburg, Russia. It is in the heart of the Urals area of Russia. It is quite a fun city. I saw some friends there and also made some new friends. One of my highlights was to go to the Russian circus, always a moment for the child in me. Another was to see a ballet. Well, that wasn't really a highlight but it became one after the fact. It was Romeo and Juliet with music by Prokofiev. Good times! I especially liked the sharks with laser helmets near the end. Oh wait, that must have been the part where I started to nap...

I took lots of photos which you can see here: my visit to Ekat

I am also in the process of uploading some short movie clips to Google Video. You can see the first one here: mclipsco's Google Videos

Finally, here are some fun facts from Wikipedia about Ekaterinburg.

More Flickr photos

2006-05-12T12:14:00.000+04:00

hey Everyone - I got back a few days ago from my back to back retreats outside of Moscow. They were fun and full of good weather! I just posted a bunch of new photos to my Flickr sites. They are in different "sets" which you can view:

check 'em out!

-Mike-

Emma's day at the office

2006-05-11T23:11:00.000+04:00

Everyone's friend, Anya, came to visit the office on Wednesday. She must have thought it was "take your daughter to work day" and so she brought Emma.

Back in town

2006-05-10T00:18:00.000+04:00

I just got back in town from 10 days outside of Moscow. I was at two back to back conferences--busy times but fun. I can't write much now but here is some of what May 9 looked like in Moscow (clicky on linky to Wikipedia article):

Victory Day in Europe

Happy reading!

April spring retreat

2006-04-21T00:24:00.000+04:00

To celebrate my new Flickr Pro account, I uploaded some photos from last weekend's spring retreat. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did taking them. I shot over 160 photos in 48 hours. That's an average of, umm, carry the one, add a niner, times sine(pi), divided by the remainder of the quotient...

See the complete set

First photo of Little Emma!

2006-04-13T20:50:00.000+04:00

A few days ago I blogged about little Emma-chka being born. Here's a cute baby photo of her! Again, congratulations to Anya and Andre!

Steve the Photog

2006-04-09T19:57:00.000+04:00

More Moscow photos uploaded to my Flickr site, including this pro at work:

My complete Moscow photo set

Benny Moscow Videos

2006-04-09T19:52:00.000+04:00

Steve decided to shoot a few webcam videos of Benny while he was sleeping. You can see them on Youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/results?related=sjxmang

Day 3 and 4 photos

2006-04-07T01:16:00.000+04:00

I added some more photos of the Boys trip to Moscow. Check 'em out over at my Flickr site. Including this jewel:

The Boys Are In Moscow!

2006-04-04T00:33:00.000+04:00

Steve and Bennett arrived to Moscow today. I am going to try and post daily photos to my Flickr site. I will also add commentary there. So surf on over and try to keep up with us as we paint the town RED! Moscow Fun

Congratulations to Anya and Andre

2006-04-04T00:18:00.000+04:00

Anya and Andre rejoice today. They had a new baby girl: Emma Panagushina is here! She was born today, April 3rd and weighs 3,5 kg - 52 cm.

Both Anya and Emma are feeling wonderful and right now are spending their first hours together! ;-) They are scheduled to arrive home in 3 days.

Sunset at Sharm El Sheikh

2006-04-02T22:14:00.000+04:00

Last January some friends of mine and I visited Egypt. We saw Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh. This is one of my favorite photos: sunset at Sharm El Sheikh. Enjoy!

My Friend Flickr!

2006-04-01T19:51:00.000+04:00

Flickr is a way to post your photos on the web. It is not a way to misspell the name of a horse in a movie [http://imdb.com/title/tt0036182/]. You upload your photos and "tag" them (give them a few descriptive key words so others can search for them) and enjoy! It's like a visual blog for those of us who like pretty shiny things.

Light and Darkness

2005-02-17T12:01:00.000+03:00

I saw another dead guy on the Metro yesterday. Pretty shocking intro huh? This is the second time I have seen someone dead in the subway system here. The first time was pretty gruesome. This time was a difficult beginning of the evening rush hour after a fun afternoon of ministry. Let me tell you more about yesterday.

In the afternoon some of us from the office went on campus to the main university to help out the local one-year team. We meet at a campus coffee shop (complete with food, internet, and cigarette smoke), we pair up, and then we go hit the campus. Sometimes we pass out advertisements for our weekly meeting, sometimes we do a prayer walk. All the time, we try to start casual conversations with English speaking college students. It was just a great and encouraging time to meet a lot of new faces and to get into their world.

After we had finished up, I had to make my way to a nearby travel agency to pay for an airplane ticket. I say nearby because its within the city limits, cartographically speaking. But it takes some time to get there. I had to subway there, exit the subway, locate it on a map, and then trudge through some slush and rain (it rained here yesterday!). I finally found the place and bought my ticket no problem. (I also found the Moscow American Express travel services office in case you ever want to go there.)

As I made my way back home I had to transfer from the red line to the brown line; no big deal. Except for the fact that the brown line was closed and I had to turn all the way around and find a new route! This lady next to me asked how come it was closed? and how could they do this? It was fun to hear her griping as I quickly left the transfer point and did a subway version of a u-turn.

Most of the time in Russia, you literally never know what is right around the corner. Life, tragedy, humor, whatever, something ALWAYS sneaks up on you. Every walk down the street is some form of adventure with unknown results. You can turn a corner and be delayed for several minutes. You can see some wild and unknown event taking place that never in a million years would you have dreamed it would happen. One time, I saw a lady dashing down the street in the snow with a towel on her head and the beauty salon cloak flowing behind her. She hopped into a money exchange place. Apparently, she did not have enough money to finish out her haircut so she had to go exchange some more in the middle of the styling! You just can't make this stuff up.

Well, no sooner than I rounded the corner to wait on the platform, I saw him lying there on the ground. He had not been dead long because I had just exited that platform 5 minutes before. But he looked like he had been dead for some time already. He was probably homeless, judging by his appearance. Who will miss him? Who knows his whereabouts? Did he know Jesus Christ as Savior because he certainly saw Him as Judge of the Living and the Dead. It made my afternoon time on campus more real than ever. Seeing that dead man gave me new reason and resolve about the importance of telling others about the Lord. Time is running out. Life with Him and death without Him are intertwined by a fine line. Sheep or Goats. Right hand or left hand. With or without.

But I don't know what is more tragic: seeing a dead man whose life is now over or seeing people's reaction when they too come upon his body. Some turned away in disgust. Some turned away in shock. Others were numb, expressionless. Where is the moral outrage that someone could die during rush hour in one of the busiest subways in the world? Where is the weeping for those without the Lord? You could almost imagine some people saying, "How dare he interrupt my commute?" Oh, the self-centered sin.

This is why I serve the Lord.

Harry Potterski's Wild Ride

2004-09-20T17:45:00.000+04:00

This morning I woke up around 6am. You see, I had to be at the train station to pick up some baggage. You see, I asked some friends to ship me my bags overnight on the train. You see, I stored two rolling bags in a city south of here since about late July. You see, I packed three bags basically for the year and used the first one this summer. Long story, I know.

Anyway, shipping two bags overnight for about $40 was not too shabby. Considering UPS would not even touch it in the states for less than $100 each! But I had to go to the train station to pick them up. When the train arrives, I join the wave of people who are headed to meet loved ones, arriving from the south. Fortuantely, the Baggage wagon is just behind the engine so I don't have that far to walk. The workers who apparently slept in the Baggage car cranked open the door and I poked my head in. There are my bags...and nothing else but a few other things. I was expecting a huge shipment of stuff. Nada, just my bags. So I pick up my bags with a photo copy of my passport (a "spravka" - I'm saving this story for another blog). Wheeling them out of the train station I headed towards the main road.

I flag down a taxi guy and ask him how much to take me and my newly reaquainted bags to my "flat" (British English for "crib"). He says something like, "Well, I dunno, how much do you think it would be?" (I have never understood the system of negotiating with a taxi driver how much you should be paying. Isn't that why meters were created?). I said something like, "Well, I have no idea." I don't bluff in his game of chicken. We both know that the first one to mention a price is the loser. It's all about the price negotiation after that. He throws out a "value" for his "service"; for me, there was not much negotiation since I was tired and ready to get home with my long-lost babies.

Little did I realize that my taxi was going to be magically transformed into a ride on Harry Potter's chitty chitty bang bang. This guy must have been doing about 60 easy on some hairpin turns. And that's not easy to do. You have to know your vehicle and all its delicate sensibilities. How finely tuned is your car? Only flooring it through town at 7:30am approaching blind curves will tell you. Also, you have to be kinda asleep. And you also have to be kinda hungover. That's how he operates and that's how he roams. Once, he slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a crowd of people who were getting onto a trolley which travels down the middle of the road. Not one or two people but a CROWD. How do you miss seeing a crowd!? Oh, did I mention that he did this TWICE? Now you see what I am dealing with. I think that sufficiently rattled him enough to slow him down a bit. That's when we heard a car honking madly behind us. The trunk had popped open. Fortunately, my stuff did not fall out. And more fortunately, I don't know enough Russian cuss words to understand what he just said.

After that, it was all downhill. I made it home safe and sound. And began to unpack what was once packed on June 11. ...Developing...

Lord of the Rings Symphony

2004-09-14T11:24:00.000+04:00

Yesterday, I saw the most amazing billboard yet. Coming to Moscow November 17-18 is the symphony version of the Lord of the Rings! I can't believe it. I am so there. Hopefully, I can get a group of folks together and we can go.

This will definitely be a highlight of the fall. It is such good music and, Sissel, some German singing chick, will be performing there. She's linked above. I have really enjoyed Howard Shore's music. I would buy the CD and hear it first before ever having watched the film. I always thought, "there's no way that this will fit the film." And yet every time, he came through. Just amazing stuff. I'm pretty pumped about going....

Welcome to GraceBase!

2004-09-13T16:58:00.000+04:00

This was the name of an old computer dialup BBS started sometime in the late eighties, early nineties. It was originally called "Grace+Base" with the plus sign substituting for a cross. I removed the plus sign to make it one word and Google-friendly.

Grace+Base was created by my Dad who really knew a good trend when he saw it. People sending messages back and forth and exchanging ideas and dialog. Wouldn't he love to see how things have progressed today? Maybe someday, I'll try and resurrect all that old BBS software and make some screenshots or something. Those were some fun times back then. Too bad it all happened at 2400 bps dialup speed... Geh.