~ General William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army

Entropy can be defined as “a gradual decline into disorder.”² It’s a term typically associated with thermodynamics, but it has application in other areas, as well. It means that things naturally tend to deteriorate unless someone or something intervenes. If you don’t believe it, take a look at the house you live in, the car you drive, the roads you drive on, your manly physique… They’re all in a mad rush to return to the dust. You step in from time-to-time to do a little maintenance, but you’re only slowing the downward progress.

“Spiritual entropy,” then, describes how our spiritual walls tend to deteriorate without upkeep. You can’t coast in your Christian walk. It’s not a Christian “ride.” You have to put more work into it than that. If you stop building your walls, they start to erode. In other words, if you’re not growing spiritually, you’re dying. There is no status quo. That means that you have to develop your spiritual disciplines into habits.

I love the above quote by General William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army. He’s saying that if you want to stay on fire for God, you’re going to have to keep feeding the fire. Keep stirring it up. You do that with spiritual markers and spiritual disciplines. He also says that you have to get rid of the ashes – the impurities that are left over after God has put you through the fire. Remember, after the Valley Gate comes the Dung Gate.

*****

Hit the fast-forward button. We’re going to pick up the speed as we look at the next four chapters and a blueprint for getting back on track after we’ve sinned.

]]> http://kbooks.wordpress.com/B000Q9ENTE Mon, 26 May 2008 18:04:29 +0000 kbooks http://kbooks.wordpress.com/B000Q9ENTE
-Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.-

Faith Gilmore watched as the coffin was lowered into the dark earth. A part of her still could not believe what she was seeing. She glanced over at the two other women standing beside her. Monique Hardings and Shannon Carmichael were in the same daze of disbelief as she was. It was like they were all stuck in some sort of weird dream.

Order What a Woman Wants from Amazon for $9.99

Don't have Amazon Kindle? You can always purchase it from here
Or if you prefer to read the Print editions instead, you can get it from here

Other Kindle Books of Interest
Seduction, Westmoreland Style
Risky Pleasures
In Another Man's Bed
In Bed With Her Boss
Stranded With the Tempting Stranger

Comenzaron en 1994, llevan ya unos añines, pero se empezaron a hacer más famosos a partir de su disco Dust to Dust en el 2004.

Yo los conocí poco antes a través de algún programa de radio, y me fueron gustando. Son un grupo que se lo trabaja en el duro, repetitivo y masificado mundo del Power Metal.

Sin duda el disco que les hizo famosos es merecedor de ser escuchado unas cuantas veces.

Miembros actuales

• Benjamin Sotto - Vocalista
• Charley Corbiaux - Guitarista
• Matthie Plana - Bajista
• Olivier Lapauze - Guitarista
• Thomas Das Neves - Batería

Miembros anteriores

• Anthony Parker
• Chris Savourey
• Laurent Jean
• Frédéric Leclercq
• P.E. Pelisson
• Max Pilo

Discografía

• Coming from the Sky (2000)
• Sing of the Winner (2001)
• Dust to Dust (2004)
• Virus (2006)

Videos

Heavenly - "Spill blood on fire"

Heavenly - "Dust to dust"

Webs

Web oficial

MySpace

Wikipedia

Click on the image to visit their MySpace page...

To state it here - I got all of their albums finally; with my recent adding of their newest one to my collection. If you like energetic Power-Metal with clear and high voices, fast drums and melodic arrangements - then you are definitely well advised here. A remarkable french Band, which first and foremost characterizes itself with the high and clear voice of leadsinger Benjamin "Ben" Soto; and of course the nice and innovative sound samples and melodies. They have already released 4 albums so far, which I would like to present to you here (certainly in a condensed way)...

All of their albums that have been released so-far...

• Their first album "Coming From The Sky" was released in 2000. Check out "Time Machine" with an additional performance by Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray) and Piet Sielk (Iron Saviour) - an epical and timeless masterpiece. (l)
  

• Their second album "Sign Of The Winner" followed shortly after that, it was released in 2001. Check out "Still Believe" - a fast and very melodic song with nice singing, nice lyrics, nice arrangements. (l)

• "Dust To Dust" has been released in 2003. Definitely try to check out "Illusion Part II" - this one is just amazing. A lot of fast-drumming here, but that is ok for me. Considering this musical genre only, I would definitely call it a musical anthem... (l)

• Finally; we have "Virus", their newest album - which was released in 2007. Check out "The Power And Fury" - another fast one with absolutely clear lyrics, an outstanding refrain and some nice instrumental passages. (l)

You might have noticed that I have mainly drawn my focus on the faster songs. But as I said, it is mostly hard to make clear decisions in this case. Concerning "Heavenly", one could nearly say: if you like one of the songs, you tend to like their whole work. It is not like all songs are sounding alike, do not get me wrong here - they just have their own personal and non-comparable style which is drawn throghout all of their albums and songs. However, and to state another personal opinion here at least: I think that the album "Dust To Dust" is the most outstanding one. Great variety in the songs, great songtexts, and furthermore; by referring to a rather small detail: it is my favourite one concerning the cover-artwork. If you are a fan of this musical genre, do not hesitate to buy this album, maybe the 3 others also - I think that you would not regret it at all. No ratings this time - I think that the total package is very enjoyable.

They have published one offical music video so far. I certainly like the song, even though I would have picked another one - or at least made another video after this one... but we all know it is not that easy. I think this band deserves much more international attention, even though it definitely has it's fanbase already - totally deserved, in my opinion.

Click to watch their official music video.

If you would like, you can also visit their official site (opens in a new window). There you can also find the music video for a direct download - in a way better quality than on Youtube or similar providers.

I can't find, nor verify, that 70% and it isn't clear whether they are talking about the entire history of the Defender and its predecessors (wiki), or the post 1983 or 1990 rebrandings. But, nevertheless, a number even around 70% is seriously impressive. I wonder what is the equivalent for computing?

Here's a sample of one: computers I have used (not counting anything I used only briefly or have forgotten).

1984 Casio PB100, still exists in a drawer somewhere

1987 Amiga 500, last used for Mum's thesis 1991

1988 University geography and botany Vax terminals.

1991 Otago Regional Council Vax. Was still in use in 1997, is now in the roof at work after I used it for teaching operating systems in 1999. (When I had a 10MB satellite image to process we had to seek permission to take the rates database offline, we were allowed 19MB - no, not enough to process the image - for 5 hours).

1990 OU Geography 486. Referred to as the "grunty" the 486 did the processing for a set of networked 386's. Wasn't there in 1994.

1993 IBM PC in northern Canada for BOREAS project. Landfill in Thompson after GPS aerial lightning strike.

1994 Otago Regional Council PC. Replaced in about 1998.

1995 Digital HiNote. Wrote spatial modelling software for my PhD on this. Last used as mother-in-law's first computer in 2001. Taken apart by Oliver and Henry in 2006, pieces are in Henry's toybox.

1997 Macintosh IIci from about 1990. Wrote my Phd thesis on this. It gave up completely the day after I completed.

1995 Sun station in SIRC GIS lab. Was replaced in late 1997.

1998 Desktop Otago Polytechnic. Was a leased machine, out of service by 2001.

1999 Toshiba laptop. Eventually used for student project, powering a control system.

1999 i-mac. Usefully lasted at home until about 2004. Used a bit for teaching, is one of three of same era stored at work somewhere.

2002 Acer laptop. Died.

2003 Toshiba laptop. Still in student pool (actually just went to look for it, found remnants which seem to have been mined for parts)

2005 Toshiba laptop, in use by SimPa project. Replaced just last week. Not sure of fate now.

2006 Toshiba tablet. Was second hand from senior management (it, annoyingly, doesn't have a CD drive).

So, 16 computers over 20 years, two still working. Percentage in use: 6.25% That's not very much. Gas-guzzling extravagance anyone?