andi's perspective

VISUAL MAIL THREADS

ThreadVis is a remarkable Thunderbird Add-on which i highly recommend if your email inbox like mine is an infinite pool of complexly interrelated conversation threads. By including "sent emails" it goes far beyond the standard "cluster by theme" option without messing up the inbox.

The grafic shows the flow of an email conversation i am having with two colleagues: red starting, green answering, me replying to green, red replying, both replying to red, and finally red answering my reply. Each of the dots comes with By, Date, and About info in a mouse-over pop-up and hyperlinks to the corresponding email. Coolest of all: the time distance between two replies is given in minutes, hours or days and displays in correct proportions!
Now, this does not only give me  a better handle on the multitude of parallel threads, but it might have the potential to increase email response time as it so obviously shows the delays ;-)
I love it! How ever could we have emailed without it?

Web 2.0 News (DE)

Hier ist ein exzellenter fast täglich aktualisierter News-Blog, der mit Web 2.0  Neuerscheinungen schrittzuhalten versucht: www.zweinull.cc. Gegenwärtig werden dort 10 Thesen zur digitalen Zukunft diskutiert.

Volle Empfehlung! Danke Johannes für diesen heißen Tip!

STARK IS STRONG

Acclaimed sociologist of religion Rodney Stark is best known for "The Rise of Christianity". I
am currently devouring his newest and pretty monumental work "Discovering God" and can already tell that this will be more than fundamental for my re-construction of faith in every respect. I am just struck with awe by this scholarly combination of sociological methodology and religious sensitivity.
If you have anyting of scientific interest in the basis of your faith, this is the one book for you! I will surely report on what i learn here.

GOOD TEACHER

Here is another great resource i came across while in the States:

For the price of getting up at 5 am and creeping downtown in high-traffic Atlanta, i had the opportunity of sitting through a "Wednesday Morning Men's Fellowship" with Ken Boa, a well-read scholar, prolific author, and truly gifted teacher who'd probably be completely unknown where it not for some of his friends who help a bit in marketing him.

I was amazed at this fellowship of about 80 mostly tie & suit dressed business men attentively listening and honestly interacting with Ken. This bible study has been running since 18 years by now and has birthed many good friendships i've been told. Easy to believe.

Very impressive. Very rabbinical. Very heart-warming.

I heard him on the subject of "power" and learnt a good deal from it in a rather brief time. Very recommended!

You can follow all his weekly talks here (and use vlc for asx files).

US - FR CONNECTION

Here is a great resource for those with a burning heart for the kingdom in France:  CCFOF is a global network and resource focus point for France.

They mobilize and connect prayer for France and bring the spiritual needs of the country to the attention of US donors.

Channelling kingdom resources strategically - i am all for it.

Bless u, Dave!

QUOTING THE 8th HABIT

While preparing to train a bunch of international postgrads in management skills i came across Stephen Covey's book and really love some of his quotes:

"Recognize and develop your true nature. Express your voice through vision, discipline, passion and conscience. Inspire others to find their own voice. Live and set an example of what you have learned."

Develop your four Intelligences:

• Physical Intelligence (PQ): Assume that you have a heart attack; now live accordingly.  (Live)
• Mental Intelligence (IQ): Assume that the half-life of your profession is two years; now prepare accordingly. (Learn)
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ): Assume that everything you say about another can be overheard; now speak accordingly. (Love)
• Spiritual Intelligence (SQ): Assume that you have to attend a one-on-one meeting with God every quarter; now live accordingly. (Live a Legacy)

The Leadership Challenge:

• Leadership is defined as communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. A leader inspires others to develop their potential and be the best that they can be.
• Leaders empower people. Managers, on the other hand, run corporations. Managers organize. Both are important, but distinct. You manage things while you lead people.

EVERYTHING PREVIEW

As a regular surfer i do enjoy preview facilities offered by blogs and pages, like the Snap Preview tool that you encounter when you mouse over a link on this blog.
The same principle now turned over into the hands of the reader (instead of the page owner), is Cooliris. It allows to quickly preview any link on any page that you come by. Definitely faster and more convenient than opening each promising link in a new tab and waiting for it to load! I honestly have to say that i just love this tool, i definitely do!
If you use Firefox, get the brandnew release of a new version of Cooliris here. If you still don't use Firefox i guess there is no help for you anyway ;)

BAGHDAD BELIEVER

A new book is out. Strong, bold and timely. A must-read for those concerned about the one place no one wants to be these days: in war-torn Baghdad.

Baghdad Believer tells the true story of an Iraqi's struggle with his new found faith in an Isa that is after all not so alien to his home culture.

The book wants us to

• experience how Iraqi Muslims are uniquely prepared to experience Jesus through the Biblical values embedded in their culture
• realize that Muslims can follow Jesus while honoring family and friends.
• understand why Christians can be good friends with Muslims.

Or, as Reinhold has said: We were told to make disciples, not necessarily Christians. But how can that look like? Here finally is a book that shows the inside story - how Muslims feel when they learn to follow Isa.

The author is offering free copies for blog reviews. (That btw. is not the reason i mention it :>)

ONLINE MAPPING

Paul, Marc and i were looking into some web-based mapping tools today. Purpose would be to

• display research information available on various geographic levels
• visualize a and interact as a social network

Visit the playground Marc started for Connect on frappr (works with google.earth), check out our (yet not very advanced) favourite amMap (works with flash and we liked talking to its Lithuanian programmer), maybe compare to the unaffordable high-end tools or to an application used for boiler rooms and let us know what you think.

FREE TELEPHONE

This is a real find! Last week a business friend pointed me to www.internetcalls.com, the next generation of free Voice Over IP. Internetcalls allows you to make free national and international calls PC/Headset to Landline phone (equivalent to "Skype out").
If you prefer using your fixed phone over PC/Headset,  you can buy a 10€ credit and phone for 5 EuroCents per call no matter where to or how long (establish a conference call between your own landline and the target number via Directcall for this).
This is what a would call a great resource! Donate your saved phone money to some good kingdom activity ;)