Streaming Audio is Here!

Yes, we finally have streaming audio on our site. What does this mean? It means you can listen to services (ALL of the service, not just the sermon) right in your browser!

To find these, please visit the 2010 Sunday Services Archive and Audio, under the Worship tab. There you will see a list of services from 2010. Services with an asterisk (*) have audio. Click to open that service, and read the description of the service as it appeared on the website. Below the description is a player icon which you can use to play the service.

The example below is the choir singing "On Holy Ground" from Rev. Millie's Installation service. Click on the "play" button to play. After it loads, you can "drag" the slider to the right to advance (or to the left to rewind), or click on the pause button. There is no volume control here—you have to use the volume that's in your computer system.

{audio}2009/2009-11-01_Installation-6_OnHolyGround.mp3{/audio}

If you have any questions or comments about this new feature of our website, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

~ Karin

Web News March 20, 2010

 Hi everybody!

Update on Podcast vs. Streaming Web Poll

Well, I guess the website poll was a bit of a bust. Thanks to the one person who participated (you know who you are). ;0) I think I will take the audio streaming route for now, if only for the reasons that:

1. streaming is slightly more intuitive and accessible to those who aren't super techno-savvy, and might not understand how to do podcasting;
2. streaming doesn't require such a "hit" on a person's computer or time, in that it downloads slowly, a little bit at a time, rather than all at once like a podcast; and
3. streaming is a little faster for me to upload to the site, which over time will mean that there's simply more content, and uploaded closer in time to the actual service.

Sunday Services Page Images

A few additions to the site this week, including Canvass, er, I mean Stewardship, pages (which are a bit bare right now but will surely be fleshed out soon), and some different images in the rotating gallery of pics.

The Sunday Services area has a slightly more colorful look since I've been adding images to each service "blurb." Take a look here.

That's all for this week. Keep in touch, and happy surfing!

~ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website Update for the week of March 8th 2010

Registration Policy Update

Some of you are probably aware of the policy in place on the website where I approve every person who registers, so that only members and friends can have access to our potentially sensitive information. When someone registers for a password, I check to see if they are in the directory, and if not, send them a quick email asking them to introduce themselves to me. When I know who they are I activate their account, otherwise they are deleted from the system.

Recently there has been a huge increase of people registering for the site who have suspicious names/usernames/email addresses. I am just deleting these immediately because it would take too long to contact them, and they are most likely not church members or friends.

What makes the account details suspicious to me are three things: 1) when someone uses an obviously made-up "name" like " amaCuamitle " and "AnywogyApon"; 2) when the name and username are one word and/or identical; 3) when the email address is for a domain (website) that's in another country or is shady.

If you have registered, have tried logging in unsuccessfully, and have not heard back from me, chances are I've deleted your account.

Please register again and use your real name in the name fields, and if you know you are not in the directory, just send me a quick email telling me who you are.

Podcasting or Streaming?

I have two choices for posting recordings of church services, and I'm polling the church community to find out which is more useful.

One is podcasting, which has the advantage of being portable and subscribe-able, and the second is streaming which is probably a little less "techno" to use for most people (and if I provide a link to download the files also, it can also be portable).

I've posted an example of streaming here. I've created a poll on the website (it will appear in the left margin at the bottom of every page after you log in) to gather opinion about this (or just This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your preference and thoughts).

Thanks for reading! Happy surfing!

~ Karin Carlson

Seven Things You Can Do to Avoid Becoming a Scam Victim

Here is part of an article from Scambusters, one of my favorite websites. I hope you will take a moment and read it - it might save you a ton of money and hassle. You'll notice that the first point they make is to stop using Internet Explorer (I mentioned this in a previous blog post). Check out the Scambusters website here.

(from Scambusters issue #375 “Scam Tricks and Spam: 20 Shockers to Keep You on Guard”)

Here’s our quick-and-easy list of 7 important things you can do to cut the risk of becoming a scam victim:

1. Surf safely: Follow the recent lead from France and Germany and stop using Internet Explorer as your browser. Firefox is much safer. Install Internet security software and keep it up to date. [Note from Karin: click here to visit Mozilla's website, where you can download and install Firefox.]
2. Be wary about downloading software from unfamiliar websites or using peer-to-peer ("torrent") sites that swap and share files. These might install malware on your PC. Same goes for pop-up windows that offer to scan your computer or claim it is infected by a virus. Again, they will load malware to steal information.
3. Use a different password for every site and change them frequently. See this Scambusters issue for guidance.
4. Never reply to spaham, click on links or attachments from people you don’t know or respond to emails offering you money as a prize, an advance payment or an inheritance.
5. Always check and confirm the identity of individuals and websites you are dealing with, both online and offline. Don’t give them any personal or confidential information until you have both done that and confirmed that they do need it and will protect it.
6. Be wary of dealing with companies, websites and charitable organizations you’ve never heard of. See our recent warning about Haiti earthquake scams.
7. Finally, be a skeptic about anything and everything that might cost you money and report any suspicions you have or scams you’ve experienced to the police and the Federal Trade Commission.

Spirituality of Jazz

Steve Kirby, Brian Klowak

1. {audio}2010-03_SpiritualElementsOfJazz_SteveKirby.mp3{/audio}
2. {audio}2010_SpiritualityOfJazz-04.mp3{/audio}

Streaming Test

Hey there. I'm testing out some new audio streaming software for the website. Enjoy!

Global Warming Oct. 18, 2009

Streaming Audio part 1: {audio}2009-10-18_GlobalWarmingandOurMoralImperative_RevRochester-1.mp3{/audio}

Streaming Audio part 2: {audio}2009-10-18_GlobalWarmingandOurMoralImperative_RevRochester-2.mp3{/audio}

MP3 Downloads

To download the files, right-click on the following links and choose "Save link as..." or "Save target as..."

 Global Warming and our Moral Imperative - 1

Global Warming and our Moral Imperative - 2