History of Software Applications

There’s a really cool new way to visualize the creation of software. It’s called code_swarm. Developed by Michael Ogawa as a way to do just that, visualize the creation of software. He’s a sort of software anthropologist. Not so much interested in the software, but how people interact to create it.

Here’s an example using the programming language Python (something I want to learn one of these days).

I think this is a great way to visualize history as well. I can imagine this being used with another idea I had a while back. Instead of tracking files and creators, track people and their movements. This would be great for looking at a family history. It would be cool to have a GEDCOM file of thousands of ancestors, plug it into this application, then watch as your family members come alive on a map, move around, and fade into history. I have ancestors from Sweden, Germany, England, and many places in the United States. It would be awesome to see their history plotted out this way.

It could even work on a smaller scale. How bout your own life’s travels plotted out.

Keeping on track with my readings course with Dan Cohen about history and new media (which I need to post about), how does this type of new media affect the study of history? If we plug in the details about an ancestors decision to move from, say, Sweden to Utah, can we better understand how individuals affect many generations afterwards? Will seeing the large number of ancestors in one place affect how we view ourselves in life? My thinking here is that we’ll see on one screen a large number of people living and moving, and eventually making you. If there were other important events plotted during the same timeline (perhaps a better term is a moveline), would that help us better understand the context of our ancestors history?

Lots of stuff to think about. And a large project to implement. Fortunately the source code for code_swarm is open source and freely available.

God is the God of all people

Paul is a powerful preacher and prophet. I finished Acts and have started Romans, and I’m astounded by the works of Paul. Despite constant tribulation he keeps the faith.

In Romans chapter 3, he speaks to the believers and non believers in Rome. He testifies of Jesus Christ. He tells the people that it doesn’t matter if they are Jew or Gentile (non-Jew), because “is he not also [God] of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also” (Romans 3: 29). So God is the God of all people, not just the Jews. The acts and teachings of Jesus were for every human being, not just the Jews.

Why then the special situation of the Jews? Paul explains that it had been the “advantage” for the Jewish population to have “committed” unto them the oracles of God. It was to this people that God gave the prophets, the seers, the revelators. To these people were given the “advantage” to be have the mouth piece of the Lord.

Does this mean salvation is only for the Jews. Of course not. Salvation is available for all human beings. How does it come? Through strict obedience to the Mosaic laws? No! But through faith on Jesus Christ.

Romans 2: 27-28

27 Where is aboasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is ajustified by bfaith cwithout the deeds of the law.

Does this mean we only need to have faith to be saved? Yes, that’s what it means. Salvation does not depend on how well we follow the laws of Moses. Salvation depends upon how we have faith in Jesus.

So what does it mean to have faith in Jesus? I’ll be looking at that through out this week.

He will save the day

Today was Fast Sunday for us, since Stake Conference is next Sunday. Jonas was sitting next to me, and when there was a lull in people bearing testimony I asked Jonas if he wanted to go. He got quiet and solemn. I could tell he wanted to, but was a bit afraid. When the next lull came, I gave him a nudge. He jumped up and walked up to the podium (we sit on the third row back, so it wasn’t that far away). He stood there for a second or two, trying to think about what to say. He then looked out at the congregation and got real sacred. He looked at me with the beginning of tears in his eyes and motioned for me to come help. I went up there and told him to say he loves his family and Jesus. He did so in a quiet and somewhat shaky voice. Before he could run off, I told him to close in the name of Jesus Christ. He did so, and then came to get a big hug and comfort. Another boy bore his testimony, and then I bore mine as well.

As I did so I realized that the experience Jonas and I just had was an allegory of our relationship with God. I bore this as my testimony:

I had prompted Jonas to do something important. Then at the proper time, I gave him a little nudge in reminder. He immediately went to do it. While trying to do what he was supposed to, he found that he did not have the ability to do it himself. He asked his father for help. His father rushed to his aid and helped him complete his task.

God is always preparing us for important things to do, to help His kingdom roll forward. At the proper time He gives us a nudge. We can choose to be like Jonas and immediately go and do what we know we should. He showed me the scripture in real life, that we should all become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” [Mosiah 3: 19] Jonas was submissive and humble and willing to submit to the thing I wanted him to do (bear his testimony). We must be submissive and humbe and willing to submit to the Lord. When we do so, we may find ourselves in a situation that we can’t finish or complete by ourselves. We can give up, be discouraged or frustrated, or, like Jonas, we can look earnestly to our Father and plead for help. And He will come rushing in to save the day.

I love Jonas. He is a wonder boy, full of love and a great desire to do what is right. He teaches me often through such great examples.

As an epilogue, later in the meeting I commented to Jonas how great it was that he could get up there to bear his testimony, and how scary it can be. He replied almost in a huff and slightly under his breath, “they weren’t all supposed to be looking at me.” Well, my son, they always will be. You will be a strong and upright example for many many people. Point them to Christ and you need not fear.

The Offspring of God

Paul proclaims a lost truth. God is a physical personage, he is known (or can be known) to us. In Acts 17: 23, Paul proclaims to the people of Athens (who worshiped idols and an Unknown God) “him declare I unto you.” God is not impersonal, he is not invisible, insofar as we seek him. He wants us to know him, the same way that Moses did, face to face.

God is also a personage of physical proportions. He has a tangible body. Paul declares in Acts 17: 28-29, that we are the offspring of God. He is the creator of our spiritual beings, our earthly parents are the creators of the physical bodies that house our spirits.

Lego History and the Rosetta Stone of the future?

LEGOS

The lego minifig (the little human figure) is celebrating its 30 year birthday today. Yeah Lego! Gizmodo is running a contest for best picture or short film using the minifig. The first and second prizes are the best Lego sets of all time! My brothers and I got these sets as kids. So many memories

Yellow Castle Set
Galaxy Explorer Set

So many, many meomories come flooding back when I see these pictures. Most of the pieces of these sets are still at my parents’ house.  Check out the videos on Gizmodo for a quick history of the world, told by Legos.

ROSETTA STONE

I heard through Slashdot about a project to create the ultimate Rosetta Stone of the future.

Rosetta Front

The disk will contain text inscribed in nickel, making it impervious to water and all but physical destruction. Written in eight languages, the disk contains over 15,000 documents. The only technology needed to view and decode this disk is a magnifying glass… with a magnification of at least 1000x. From the website…

The Disk surface shown here, meant to be a guide to the contents, is etched with a central image of the earth and a message written in eight major world languages: “Languages of the World: This is an archive of over 1,000 human languages assembled in the year 02002 C.E. Magnify 1,000 times to find over 15,000 pages of language documentation.” The text begins at eye-readable scale and spirals down to nano-scale. This tapered ring of languages is intended to maximize the number of people that will be able to read something immediately upon picking up the Disk, as well as implying the directions for using it—‘get a magnifier and there is more.’

Rosetta Top
Rosetta Top

On the reverse side of the disk from the globe graphic are 15,000 microetched pages of language documentation. Since each page is a physical rather than digital image, there is no platform or format dependency. Reading the Disk requires only optical magnification. Each page is .019 inches, or half a millimeter, across. This is about equal in width to 5 human hairs, and can be read with a 500X microscope (individual pages are clearly visible with 100X magnification).

The idea is to replicate this disk as many times as possible and distribute it to as many places as possible to ensure survival of knowledge if modern civilization were to be destroyed. You can put yourself on the waiting list to own one of these disks, for the relatively low price of $25,000.

I like to imagine if the civilization of today were to disapear and the people of the future were to grab hold of this disk, they would be able to learn how the world was at this time. I wonder, though, if the prevalence of information makes such a disk necessary. It’s hard for me to imagine that all of the data in the plethora of different formats (print, digital, textile, etc) will be destroyed. I do, however, wonder how digital media (text, image, video, etc) will be available in the future. We can already see the trouble of getting data from older media formats like laser disk and 5-inch floppy disks. If the data is properly brought forward with technology (ie. nowadays the best storage media is hard drives, particularly external drives attachable via USB or FireWire) it should always be accessible.

Sunday lessons

I’m just going to comment on a few things I learned yesterday at Church.

1. In Sunday School, our teacher started in on the war chapters of Alma. One thing she mentioned (well, actually reiterated again and again) is that the main purpose of the Book of Mormon is to teach us about Christ, the Fall, Atonement and Resurrection. Everything in the Book of Mormon is there to teach us about those three things, mainly about Christ. So Moroni’s story, of strengthening the weakest cities, of raising the title of liberty, of fighting the Lamanites, is all about how we can gain a testimony about Christ. I’d like to take this thought as a scripture study idea. Look at each chapter in the Book of Mormon and see how it tells about the Fall, Atonement, Resurrection, or some other aspect of Jesus Christ or his Gospel.

2. I need to do much better at getting to know the Elders in the Quorum, to interview them often and find out how they are doing, their families are doing, and how their home teaching families are doing. That should be my main concern.

3. A High Council man spoke in our Sacrament meeting. He used several stories to show how we need to look after the individual members of the Ward. There was one in particular that spoke to me, but I can’t remember it now… I’ll need to contact the Brother and get a copy of the talk or something.

Darkness Dispelled is a Call to Action

I read the First Presidency message, May We So Live,  for this month in preparation for Home Teaching tonight. President Monson talks about death, resurrection, and the fragility of life. All of these things are reminders and should the impetus that moves us to doing good.

First we realize that death is a reality (the one thing everybody, regardless of anything, is assured to pass through). Death happens, it can be tragic, sudden and unexpected. Because it is such, it is often dreaded. Because those who are dead are out of communication with the living, it could be terrifying. Not knowing what will come next, or if anything does.

Second we realize and have hope and faith that the resurrection is a reality. Jesus, the first and only one with power, overcame death. That means he had the knowledge and spiritual and physical power to undo the affects of death. Physical death is a separation of body and spirit. The body we know well, the physical matter from which it is made, the physical properties it contains. The spirit is less known, scientifically unquantifiable. It is the dark matter of our selves. Yet the spirit is real, and connected with our bodies. It is the substance of us. It gives us our character, our wills, it is where our knowledge is stored. Death is the separation of spirit and body. With out the spirit to animate it, the body is useless, a lump of clay. Jesus had the knowledge and power to decide when this separation would happen, and to put them back together. He was the first of the resurrection. We will all be resurrected. This means our spirits and bodies will reunite, but this time they will never again separate. Our bodies will be of finer and greater make this next time. They will never tire, get sick, endure pain, age, and never be separated from our spirit again. I digress….

With that knowledge of the surety of death, the temporariness of life, we should endeavor to fill our life with good works. To do good things for others, to fill our hearts and minds with service. As President Monson says: “Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved.”

So, what can I do today to help someone else? How can I be of service?

What, Why, and How of the Gospel

Our Elders Quorum lesson this last Sunday was about faith, hope and charity. The instructor had some great thoughts about these three attributes and related them to a scripture.

Faith = What

Hope = Why

Charity = How

See Ether 12: 4

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with asurety bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which chope cometh of dfaith, maketh an eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in fgood works, being led to gglorify God.

We see that faith is what we are hoping for, what we believe will happen if we do good works. Faith is an action, we put forth effort. (See Bible Dictionary: Faith) Hope is why we believe, and charity is how we believe. We do good, we love our neighbors, we do things that glorify God.

Prayers

I’m trying to improve my prayers. I want to move away from the rote and repetitive one-sided speech I have now, and have a conversation with Heavenly Father. I read in John 11, today, where Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead. As he stood before the open tomb, Jesus said aloud to his Father that he was thankful he had heard him (v 41-42). This presupposes that Jesus had a conversation with his Father before hand. He obviously had the best relationship with Heavenly Father out of all people who have ever lived on the earth. His example is to be emulated. So how can I improve my prayers and my relationship with God?

I’ve decided to do a study of prayer in the scriptures. I’m going to note all instances of people praying and conversing with God, and then study and analyze the results in an effort to improve my own relationship with God. My favorite words about prayer come from the Bible Dictionary.

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7: 7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings. [Prayer, Bible Dictionary]

It is this type of relationship that I want to have, my will being brought into correspondence with the Father’s.

Other Sheep

I read today in John chapter 10, perhaps the most convincing evidence of the Book of Mormon. John 10: 16 is where Jesus speaks about other sheep he has which are not of the fold of the Jews. Very clearly Jesus states that there are other groups of people that believe on him. Very clearly he states that he will visit these people personally. Very clearly he states that one day all people will be united under him.

There is much I could say, but have not the time. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Written by inspired prophets and followers of Jesus Christ. How can it be denied for other people throughout the whole history of the world what was given to the Jews. If a people believe so strongly on Jesus Christ, would he not lead and guide them with prophets? He gave the people of Israel Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, and many, many others.

There were other groups of people who believed in Jesus Christ. They were given prophets to testify, lead, and officiate. One of these groups of people were decendants of Jews from Jerusalem. A prophet at Jerusalem, around 600 B.C., was commanded to take his family and others and leave Jerusalem. They were guided to America. Their decendants were part of a great nation that at times believed and other times fell away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After Christ’s resurrection, he visited these people, called twelve apostles and healed and blessed them, as he had at Jerusalem.

Why is it so hard to believe that Jesus would visit other people, set up his church among them and instruct them to write? Why is it so hard to believe that the writings of these people are scriptures, when they clearly and directly testify and clarify the word of God? They explain in greater detail and with more spirit the truth about Jesus Christ. Are you like the Pharisees who could not believe Jesus was the Son of God, even though they personally witnessed the miracles?