Southern Bread Blog

Another hour, another new version of FrequentZ. It turns out that there was another nasty bug in the second version. When you mul on an x86 the result gets put into eax and overflows to edx if it’s too big – not the other way around. DOH! I’m not sure why the opcode manual I have lists it as edx:eax. I guess it has something to do with big/little-endian but hey, I should know better. It’s only about the billionth time I’ve used that instruction. As usual, E-mail me with bugs, crashes, suggestions or complaints.

I also took the occasion to add a new feature and that’s why the version number jumped. There is now a checkbox in the left corner that toggles a looping mode. A friend of mine who plays the banjo suggested this the other day. When clicked, the buttons behave like toggles that turn the looped note on. It loops every 2 seconds to make it easier to tune to. When your done tuning just click the button again to turn off the loop. Here is the new interface:

Screenshot:

• Get the source and binary here

New version of FrequentZ already?! I had to fix it quickly since the first build was evidently horribly broken on all machines except my own. The lesson is: You can’t assume that declared memory locations will be sequential at run time. I know you x86 programmers are probably laughing at me right now but come on and fess up. You know you’ve done it too. This one seems to be working ok for now. E-mail me with bugs, crashes, suggestions or complaints.

• Get the source and binary here

Ok. Time for a little Christmas show and tell. My wonderful wife and kids gave me a new meerschaum pipe this year for Christmas. I was thrilled since I had been wanting one for a long time. According to my beloved, while looking around, my little boy (3 yrs.) zeroed in on one carved like a claw holding the bowl. She said he just wasn’t going to have it any other way. I had to have that one. So she bought it and I couldn’t be happier. I have yet to smoke it but I will give an update later after I do. She also got me some G.L. Pease Odyssey tobacco. I’ll review it later as well.

You can buy this pipe here.

I was looking on IMDB last week to try and find out what year the movie Explorers came out and I was subsequently blown away with the number of memorable movies that came out in 1985. Granted, they weren’t all blockbusters (or even good) but they were definitely more than a blip on most people’s radar. Just get a load of all of these:

Wow! How can so many movies like that come out in the same year. Now days we are lucky to get 2 or 3 decent ones in a single year. You can check out for yourself and see that 1986 and 1987 weren’t too shabby either.

By the way, ExtremeTech has a review of Ubuntu Linux – Christian Edition up on their site. It’s the Christian-centric linux distro I mentioned a while back.

Merry Christmas to all! I haven’t posted in the last few days because of all the Christmas family activitiy going on. But it’s Christmas morning and my kids haven’t woken up yet so I thought I’d post a quickie before the gift-giving action begins. Once my little boy gets up… it’s on. This is my favorite part of the Christmas season. The time when you wake up at the crack of dawn and make some coffee and wait for the kids to rise. When it comes to Christmas, having kids just changes everything. It just makes you so happy to give to them. We’ve always been of the opinion that you can’t make your kids be grateful. It has to come from the heart, and young kids just don’t seem to have much of it. But as they grow and see your cheerful attitude of giving, they will come to love giving as much as getting.

As Christmas day draws near, I often say, and hear people say that it just doesn’t “feel” like Christmas yet. A friend and I were discussing that the other day and I think it just comes with getting older. The “feeling” we are looking for is that feeling we had as children, that as the 25th got closer, we became more and more racked with anitcipation. We are looking for the magic. But getting older means the dynamic shifts. The magic diminishes and the respect grows. As adults we begin to respect Christmas as the true symbol it is. Even if you are not a Christian, Christmas is a most unique holiday. A uniquely Christian holiday. The charity and love of giving that we are all expected to show in late December is a testimony every year to how God’s gift of Christ to us changed this world forever.

Christians have two holidays per year. Celebrate Christmas with respect, but don’t lose the mirth that brought the wise men to a young Jesus to shower him with gifts. Easter is for the quiet reflection and contemplation of Christ’s sacrifice. I think Christmas should be respected for the gift the father gave and celebrated as Christ’s birthday. Isn’t that what we tell our kids it is anyway? Anyway, have a merry Christmas, and don’t forget to read the first few chapters of Luke sometime today. Christian or not, it’s at least appropriate to know what you’re celebrating and teach it to your kids.

*Part I

Here’s one that I heard John Macarthur quote after a sermon a few years ago. I have no idea what the music sounds like, but the lyrics should be a prayer in all of our hearts.

• Download Notation

We decided last year that we wouldn’t do the Santa Claus thing with our kids. That doesn’t mean that we just say “santa isn’t real”. No, we just decided to handle it a little bit differently. We tell our kids the true history of St. Nicholas and that he used to be a real person and we commemorate his kind acts of Christian charity today as a Christmas tradition. We are very careful to tell them that some people like to have fun with the idea of Santa Claus and act like the presents come from him, so they shouldn’t spoil it for other kids. But what’s our motivation for this in the first place? Well, there are several.

First, it’s the truth. I’ve heard all the arguments for and against pretending that Santa Claus is real. I’m just not compelled by them enough to trick my kids. I want them to have total faith in what I tell them; that it’s the truth, as fully and complete as I know it to be. When kids finally do find out that Santa isn’t real, it is usually from other kids. I remember when I found out that Santa wasn’t real in the lunchroom at school back in the 3rd grade. I was so embarrassed. I remember a couple of bullies, Anthony and Brian making fun of me for “still believing in Santa Claus” and the other kids at the table laughing at me. A child’s self-esteem is so fragile and I don’t want them to feel like I tricked them, and that’s what got them embarrassed in front of their friends.

Second, I want them to know that there presents came from us. Maybe it’s a little selfish, but I want them to know right now that we care about the things they like and that it’s we who love them and know just what to get for them. I don’t want that love and care to be laid at the feet of some made up character who doesn’t exist. Kids get lots of gifts during the holidays and if you’re not careful, Christmas will be over and they have gotten lots of gifts from lots of people, but the gifts they get should be getting from their parents are instead coming from Santa Claus.

Thirdly and most importantly, to a child, Santa Claus and other fictional holiday characters are just too similar to the secular view of God for my taste. On one hand you have Santa Claus whom you never see but he evidently knows everything about you and keeps up with whether you are being good or bad. He gives you good presents if you’re good and bad presents if you’re bad. He loves you and brings you toys (which God doesn’t even do). And Mommy and Daddy tell you all these stories about him and how he is real even though you never see him. My question is what in a child’s mind makes that any different than God? If Mommy and Daddy lied to me about this person who I can’t see but who loves me nonetheless, why should I believe them when they tell me that we can’t see God but he sure does love me?

If you think that’s far fetched then just read this article about some teachers in the UK who told their students that Santa Claus was not real, and then read the very first reader comment in the feedback section:

The fact that Peter from Houston associates Santa Claus as being the same as Heaven and Hell proves my point. The secular world today lumps Christ in right alongside Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. I see no reason to give them extra ammo with my kids.

Now for the disclaimers: I Dave Jones, being of semi-sound mind and unsound body do willingly acknowledge the following:

• Millions of people believed in Santa Claus as kids and were not made fun of when they found out.
• Millions of people believed in Santa Claus as kids and did not lose their belief in God.
• Millions of people believed in Santa Claus as kids and still knew their parents loved them.

That is why we don’t get all preachy about it with other parents. As far as I’m concerned, issues like this should be decided by each parent based on what they think is best for their children. It doesn’t bother me one bit when a parent tells their kid that Santa Claus does exist. But my conscience won’t let me tell that to my own kids, because my mind tells me they might not handle it as well as other kids. If you want to say that I’m an insane, overprotective, right-wing, puritan worshipper as a dad, then you would probably be right. As a dad, it’s my job to be overprotective and to worry. That’s what dads do. But I also think my points make good sense, and reason should always accompany concern as a parent’s guide.

I laughed myself silly at Old Truth’s post today about Benny Hinn’s “need” for a new $30,000,000 dollar Gulfstream jet that God told Benny he would provide (through your healthy donations of course). If you ever needed some proof that god-told-me-too language is ridiculously out of control then there it is. I love this comment in the response section though:

Actually instead of a new jet, I think Benny needs a space shuttle for reaching people naive enough not to see right through his white majesty. But who am I to question God. For those of you too lazy to link over then here is what Benny’s website said:

You see, number one on God’s priority list right now is Benny Hinn’s “safety”, so the Lord provided Benny with this new jet. He doesn’t say but we can only surmise that he provided it the same way he provided Benny with his two $80,000 Mercedes Benz and his $10,000,000 dollar oceanside mansion. He was also gracious enough to provide Benny with a $3000 per night luxury hotel to stay in during layovers between crusades. Of course there wouldn’t have been any layovers if he had, had “Dove One” to begin with. Why didn’t God just give him that one in the first place. God works in mysterious ways, right?

It looks like the FCC is finally dropping the morse code requirement for shortwave operator licenses. I got my ham radio license back in 1990. I didn’t use it all that much, but I remember having to pass the morse code test. It was one of those things that you learn for the test and then 5 minutes later you forgot every dot and dash you ever crammed into your mind. In spite of that, I can’t say that I agree with dropping the requirement. It’s always easier to get a clear morse signal rather than voice or packet.

Sure, an overwhelming majority of shortwave hobbyists use voice these days instead of morse. That doesn’t mean it isn’t important though. I can envision scenarios in which your microphone is not working but you still need to get in touch with someone in an emergency. Just take those two mic leads and start shorting them together and your in business. Lots of people have ham equipment for just that reason: Emergencies. And in an emergency its always better to have more communications options rather than less.

There was a little blurb in the back of Touchstone about an article by Timothy Shah and Monica Toft in Foreign Policy journal recently about the global trend of rising interest in religion and discussion of non-secular issues. Here’s what they are saying about religion in the global marketplace:

You can tell that in the author’s opinions the rise in religious fervor amongst the world’s population is disturbing to them. They constantly refer to the violence in the muslim world (I can only assume they are talking about the muslim world since I haven’t heard of any crusades lately) as an example of what this rising trend will bring. In some sections of the world that probably will happen, but not as a result of “religion”. It’s a result of believing something that isn’t true. Blaming muslim violence on religion is like blaming the Jim Jones massacre on kool-aid.

The other trend they note is the general rise in traditional religious beliefs amongst the world’s general populous. This led them to this conclusion:

That 1966 Time magazine cover of “Is God Dead?” is looking a bit premature right now. As a highly religious person I’m of course encouraged by the upswing in Christian belief and dialogue going on. The groups such as the ACLU should take note that they are bucking democratic opinion when they attempt to wipe religion from the public square. That brings me to one of my concerns though. Many people are becoming aware of this global trend, and I sense a move toward socialism/communism as a reaction to it amongst liberal groups. The only way to combat what democracy produces is through brute force to suppress it. And when it comes to that, you only have a few options: hard socialism, communism or dictatorship.