AMD A8-3870K APU: The Unboxing

During the San Diego Comic-Con, I was following AMD Gaming on Twitter when I saw the following tweet:

So, one quick retweet and 24 hours later, I got a direct message that I'd be receiving an AMD A8-3870K Black Edition APU to review.  For those who haven't heard, AMD Advanced Processing Units, or APU's, bring together an AMD CPU and a Radeon Graphics Core onto the same die, and the A8-3870K is the top of the line, unlocked version designed for the PC enthusiast.  Over the next month or so, I'll be blogging my build around this APU and then running it through its paces!

Check out my unboxing pictures after the break!

Returning and Resting: An Observation on Isaiah 30:15-18

The following is a observation I made/revelation God showed me while studying my devotional passage for today.  It can also be found on my Facebook, under Notes:  Returning & Resting.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One of my new favorite songs lately is Casting Crowns' "Come to the Well," the title track of their latest album. If you have not heard this song, then all I can tell you is to go buy it and listen.  Regardless, there's a line from the verse after the first chorus that always catches my attention every time:

"Just rest in my arms a while, you'll feel the change, my child
When you come to the well"

As I was reading my devotional today, entitled "Waiting for Humility,"  I nearly did a spit take when I read the following verse:  "For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:  'You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence.  But you are not willing.'" - Isaiah 30:15 (HCSB).  While I suppose I shouldn't be surprised how God moves in mysterious ways, I can't help but be amazed in the ways God can take the disparate threads of our existence and weave them together to show us He's there for us.

Was that a Tubmleweed? or Why I Haven't Posted Much

This is the part where I'm supposed to give an apology and obligatory explanation of why I have failed to regularly update this blog.  I'm also supposed to beg you to continue reading, or at least make a witty reference on how the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.  (Self-referential humor double-take in 3...2...1...).

I'm not going to do any of those things.  Instead, I'm going to look to the future!  I have several projects I want to post up here in various states of completion, so be on the lookout for those.  I have several meditations on Scripture I want to post, and more opinions on tech, politics and ...well, anything else that catches my attention.

I can hear all of you saying, "If you've got all that great stuff, why haven't you posted it?"  To which, I'll give you the same response Blizzard gives gamers who ask about Diablo III:  "It's done when it's done.  Not before."

16 Ways the Holy Spirit Ministers to Believers

Recently, I had the privilege to teach a Sunday School  lesson on the Holy Spirit and how He minsiters to believers.  While I was only able to spend an hour on these 16 ways, I could see a powerful devotion or even a weekly bible study coming from this, so I wanted to post it up here.  In the interest of full disclosure, some  of the information presented here is adapted from the "Victors Every Day: Summer 2011 Teacher's Guide," a resource from the Accent Bible Curriculum published by David C. Cook.

I Less Than 3 Political Math

I found this little gem over on Matthias Shapiro's excellent blog, Political Math*.  As a former Mathematics major and current Mathematics teacher between positions, Political Math represents a breath of fresh air from all the ways I see math (particularly statistics & data visualizations, like charts & graphs) misused on a near daily basis.

His latest post is based on an email I've seen floating around entitled "Three Charts to E-Mail Your Right Wing Brother-In-Law."  The email purports to show how right-wingers are all idiots for believing Obama has any culpability in our current economic problems, and that, of course, it is all Bush's fault.  What Mr. Shapiro does so well, though, is to peel back the curtain on these particular charts, showing the numerous errors and inconsistencies in the hackneyed way the data is visualized and presented.  "But, Nathan, any two-bit pundit could point to a chart and say it's wrong!"  True, but Mr. Shapiro takes the time to show how the data is misrepresented, describe how to fix the chart, and then actually demonstrates what the chart would look like if presented correctly.  

Which is why I <3 Political Math.

*Disclaimer:  Political Math sometimes uses strong language, math and logic to communicate ideas.  If you are uncomfortable with any of these, please do not click the link.

Welcome!

After years of putting it off, I have finally decided to take the plunge into blogging.  I'll be using this space to record my random thoughts on the Bible, books, video games, etc., my opinions on issues of the day, and will also post work from my various computer case modding projects as I complete work on them.  So please, feel free to comment, critique and kibbutz as you see fit, but please, no profanity or obscenities.  Also, please keep incendiary commentary to , a minimum, because  incendiary comments are like Molotov cocktails:  once you start throwing them, everything goes up in flame (wars).

Other than that, again, welcome to my blog, and stay tuned for the first of my modding projects here!