Fingertoe.com

I have been recently playing around with OpenDNS... A pretty slick and easy way to limit the websites that the computers on your network are able to visit...

My kids really like to play on the computer.. Mostly they play flash games online that Mom says are okay.. They play with Webkinz and beanie baby websites, PBS kids and the like.. They don't seem to get into much trouble, but on the internet trouble is often just a mistyped URL away... Typing is not the kid's strong suit yet.

Open DNS is handy. I just go into my router and insert Open DNS's address as the DNS server.. From then on any machines getting their network assignments from that router will send their requests through openDNS. Once you setup an account and give OpenDNS instructions on what kind of domains you want to allow or deny, you are done.

I set mine on the Low Setting... This blogs Porn and Phishing, but not the British Tabloids. You can crank it all the way up to the point where it blocks social networkings sites and the like.

It isn't foolproof, but it is far better than nothing.. Sites like Youtube.com are either on or off. It would be nice to have a some where in the middle setting..

Anyway, I don't think this is a replacement for adult supervision, but it does reduce the risk of ugly images passing before the children's eyes accidentally. I suspect it will also do a pretty nice job of preventing spyware from taking over your PC's. (Macs Rock)

If you would like to try it out here is the link!

Posted by Josh Reighley at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I think for us younger generation Americans, the greatest Idol is entertainment.

We spend far too much time "watching" and far too little time "doing"

In Genesis 2:15 God put's Adam into the Garden, to work it and to keep it. Cultivation is what man was built do do.. Many of the most satisfying experiences in life come from cultivating God's creation. Making and raising children. gardening, hunting and fishing, ministering to those in need.. When we take the resources we have around us and use them to strengthen and enable others, we get a huge reward...

I see our entertainment industry as being a real threat to our ability to enjoy life in this way.. Most of the time, if we do what we naturally do, we sit... In front of the TV, the Computer, and get ourselves entertained.

Instead of being a conduit that feeds blessings to others, we become a basin that just soaks life up for ourselves.

I really like John Piper's advice here about thinking about your death:

(HT: Seth McBee

Entertainment is by and large morally neutral.. But if you let your life orbit around morally neutral stuff, you just won't ever get around to the morally good life that God is calling you to.

What are some examples of morally neutral activities that you see smothering lives?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Installed the Disqus Commenting system. Hopefully that will help make it easier to interact with Fingertoe.com.

I know, it is probably more important that I post stuff up here that is worth talking about... I will work on that...

Comment away, any testing you can do will be helpful!

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have encouraged quite a few friends to join twitter, but many of them have trouble getting going.. If you don't have a community of people to interact with, it is kinda lame. If you do have a community of people to interact with, it is revolutionary.

So, here is the trick to getting going...

Go to search.twitter.com

Enter something that you are interested in. This is easy for me... I like preachers.. I enter something like Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll or Matt Chandler. If you have different interests, it may be harder.

Once you hit enter, you see everybody who is talking about what you are interested it. There are some folks that may be worth following. Click through to their profile and see if any of their other tweets interest you.. If so, follow them. Don't stop there... Try to dialog with them. I rarely follow people who follow me.. 300 or so is more than I care to keep track of. I almost always follow people that dialog with me. So find a recent tweet that you find interesting and send the an @reply about it.. Many will follow you back..

As you go, remember that Twitter works best when there is some dialog. Go out of your way to interact with the people you are following. Retweet stuff you think your followers might like. It isn't a microblog, it is a party. You can build real relationships with real people, and ask them questions like they are in the next cubical.

Hope that helps.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

No, he is not in prison... ;-)

ChristianAudio.com is giving away his "Crazy Love" audio book. http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php Use coupon code JUL2009 to get it for free...

If you don't know Francis Chan, here is a good sample of his preaching... It is light, fun, and brutal, all at the same time...

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments ()