Author Archive for bcg
My uncle reminded me of a rather nifty site called Wordle. If you enter any text, it creates an image based on the frequency of each word. It has various options for colours, etc.
Here is my dissertation, which recently passed (click on it to see it full-size)!
Some verses that I think were not in the minds of those who initially set up and name New Wine!
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine,
which take away the understanding.Hosea 4.11 (ESV)
2 Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail them.Hosea 9.2 (ESV)
39 [Jesus said,] "And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.' "
Luke 5.39 (ESV)
I have a problem with my MacBook Pro - its metal case weakens the signal of my wireless network, meaning that I can't access the internet in my lounge. That is rather annoying, because that's where the comfy sofa is!
A recent firmware update meant that my trusty DG834G v3 had Wireless Distribution System added as a feature - both bridging and repeating. So I decided to buy a second DG834G (this time v4), to repeat the network downstairs and to be a backup wireless router in case my old one dies.
Sound easy? Anything but. There are absolutely no instructions on the Netgear site about repeating with two DG834Gs. I found instructions on repeating with other hardware, but the options were not quite the same, and it just would not work. I tried repeating, bridging, all kinds of variations, WEP, WPA, and nothing was working.
I was beginning to wonder if the repeating 'feature' was added to make the DG834G look better than it really is.
And so after several hours of frustration I emailed Netgear support, and they sorted me out. If you are having this problem, follow the instructions below to the letter and you will get wireless repeating working. The key part is the security encryption.
- Make sure both routers have the latest firmware. The best way to do this is by plugging your computer into the ethernet port, rather than doing it over the wireless, in case there are any problems. Make sure you download the correct firmware for your router version (I think WDS only works on v3 upwards).
- On the 'internet' DG834G, go to the 'Advanced Wireless Settings' page and ensure 'Enable Wireless Bridging and Repeating' is checked.
- Select 'Repeater with Wireless Client Association' and enter the MAC address of the 'repeating' DG834G in the boxes for 'Remote MAC Address 1′.
- Click 'Apply'.
- Now go to the 'Wireless Settings' page and enable WEP security. Do NOT enable WPA, or it won't work.
- Choose '64-bit'. Again, if you choose 128-bit, it won't work.
- Enter a phrase, and the DG834G will generate your hexadecimal passphrase automatically for you.
- Click 'Apply'.
- Now click on 'Setup Access List' in the middle of the page.
- Ensure 'Turn Access Control on' is enabled.
- Add the MAC addresses of all the devices you want to be able to access your wireless network.
- Click 'Apply'.
- Now go to the 'LAN IP Setup' page, and change 'Ending IP Address' to 192.168.0.99.
- Click 'Apply'.
- Now unplug your computer from the 'internet' DG834G, and plug it into the 'repeating' DG834G.
- Repeat steps 2-12, making sure you duplicate all MAC addresses you entered into the 'internet' DG834G.
- Once you have performed step 12, go to 'LAN IP Setup', and change 'IP Address' to 192.168.0.100.
- Now make sure that 'Use Router As DHCP Server' is unchecked. [Edit: if you leave this checked, usually the 'internet' router assigns the IP address to your computer, but sometimes the 'repeating' router does - and then you can't access the internet. Better to leave it unchecked.]
- Click 'Apply'.
- Now unplug both DG834Gs. Put each in their proper locations.
- Plug the 'internet' DG834G back in. Wait until all the status lights (especially the wireless light) are green.
- Now plug in the 'repeating' DG834G. The status lights will come on, including the wireless one.
- If you now plug your computer into the 'repeating' DG834G you should have an IP address where the final number is less than 100, and you should be able to access the internet (as long as the 'internet' DG834G is accessing the internet!).
- Congratulations, your wireless network is now be extended!
The reason why you enable 'Access Control' is that WEP 64-bit security is barely worth having. It is better than nothing, but is easily cracked by a determined hacker. So by limiting the devices that can connect to the computer, you hugely reduce the risk of someone hijacking your network.
Did you know most people have a higher than average number of feet?
So according to this report two weeks ago, all the people who live in the North should move to the South, because regeneration efforts are failing. To avoid become 'trapped' in poverty, people should move to Oxford, or Cambridge, say.
Of course, all the major parties rubbished it, and the councils of various Northern cities did as well. David Cameron said it was 'insane'.
Imagine my delight when I read another story today, this time about 'mapping' Britain's 'happiest places'. It seems Edinburgh comes out bottom - but, in a delicious irony given the story a couple of weeks ago - EIGHT of the top TEN happiest places in Britain are in the North of England or Scotland.
Now, what does that tell you? It tells me that stupid middle-class think-tanks assume that all that matters is financial well-being.
So, my call to the South is: come up here, it's a much happier place to live!
In Jeremiah, there's a lot of judgement, of Israel and the surrounding nations. The final few chapters basically comprise a long series of judgements on the surrounding nations.
So I was surprised when I noticed that God promises to restore some of them. For example, in 49.6 God says, 'But afterwards I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites.' And in 49.39 he says, 'I will restore the fortunes of Elam.' And so on.
While the language of judgement is common to all nations (not just Israel), normally the language of restoration is reserved only for Israel. They are God's chosen people; the surrounding nations are not. Therefore, although they are judged, they are never completely destroyed.
So what is going on here?
I wonder if we have here a prefiguring of the mission to the Gentiles that comes in the New Testament. The fact that God doesn't simply punish, but also restores the Gentile nations suggests that his salvation is not limited to (although he may primarily be for) Israel.
Of course, the verses only have this significance once the mission to the Gentiles is made explicit. But they are maybe one of the reasons why the early disciples accepted Peter's vision and Paul's mission. For I hope that they used the Scriptures to test the words of prophecy and visions, as Paul tells us to do. If they did, they would have found verses like these (and of course many others, even more explicit) to support the visions.
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