Free Software Licenses

July 8, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
8 Comments

Ever hear about an offer that sounds too good to be true? Well here’s one that I’m assured is for real.

For the month of July, an initiative has been developed by BA Software with the support of their partners, friends and members to give away licenses for three software titles.

You can choose between:

Microsoft® Windows Vista UltimateMicrosoft® Windows Vista Ultimate (UPGRADE with SP1)

Adobe Photoshop CS3Adobe Photoshop CS3 (including optional plug-ins, sample files, textures, web swatches and stock photography)

VMware Workstation 6VMware Workstation 6 for Windows

So how do you get yours?

For website owners or bloggers:

If you don’t blog or have your own website:

  • Write at least five quality reviews (or comments) for five distinct software titles listed on the BA Software website.
  • Subscribe to the BA Software website for updates via email.
  • Stumble and review the BA Software article.

Once you’ve finished, send an email to admin@bastillwork.net from the same email you used to subscribe to their email updates.

In that email you should include:

  • Where you’ve posted about the offer on your site.
  • Your StumbleUpon nick name.
  • Which one of the three software titles you’d like.

The license for the software will be emailed to you after 48 hours.

I’ll be giving this one a go and I’ll let you know when I get my software.



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Tour de France 2008

July 5, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
15 Comments

tour_de_france_logo.jpgThe wait is over. The Tour de France 2008 begins today.

For the next few weeks I’ll be glued to the SBS Television coverage of the event and the official Tour de France website.

The Tour de France has been described as the toughest sporting challenge in the world. The elite athletes who take part face 21 grueling stages with many involving cycling up incredibly steep mountain roads. Some have compared it to marathon running saying that it’s like running a full marathon every day for three weeks.

This year’s favourite to wear the yellow winner’s jersey into Paris is Australian, Cadel Evans. If Evans wins it’ll be the first time an Aussie has won the event. Evans stood on the podium at the end of the event last year in second place, the highest ever finish for an Australian.

So what does the world’s greatest sporting event hold for us this year?

Running from Saturday July 5th to Sunday July 27th 2008, the 95th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres.

These 21 stages have the following profiles:

* 10 flat stages,
* 5 mountain stages,
* 4 medium mountain stages,
* 2 individual time-trial stages.

Distinctive aspects of the race

* 4 mountain finishes,
* 2 rest days,
* 82 kilometres of individual time-trials,
* 17 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed.

You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little sleepy over the next few weeks. The stages are run each day in France which is late at night here in Perth.

C’mon Cadel.



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That’s Encouraging

July 5, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
5 Comments

encouragement.jpgDo you know anyone who doesn’t enjoy hearing an encouraging word or two? Sure, there are people who don’t know how to accept compliments and encouragement well but most of us still enjoy a pat on the back now and then.

If we all enjoy being encouraged and knowing that we’re valued, why is it that we encourage others so rarely?

I know that some people are really good at encouraging others and if you’ve got someone like that in your life you would know how good it can be. I’m not talking about vain flattery but real encouragement that lifts and builds us up.

Life Skills Trainer, Jill Bonanno, joined me yesterday on 98.5 Sonshine FM for our weekly radio segment, Simply Living. We looked at how easy it can be to encourage others and what a difference it can make.

A simple word, a note, a touch on the arm can all be very simple ways to encourage others. During the programme we even had a caller tell us that she uses text messaging to send people an encouraging note now and then and she’s been amazed at the positive result. She’s had several friends phone her right after receiving a text message to say that the message came just at the right time.

Do you make encouragement a habit? How about instead of just nodding in agreement you decide to send a couple of text messages right now or phone someone who might need a kind word or even jot down a note for a friend? What about visiting a couple of blogs and leaving a couple of comments to let the blogger know you appreciate them? And here’s a twist – how about encouraging someone you don’t even know? Make a mental note to encourage the checkout operator next time you’re shopping or perhaps your bus driver or someone else you encounter in the next couple of days.

If you regularly encourage others I’d love to hear how you do that. If you’ve got a story about how you’ve been encouraged please tell me about it. Just click the comments link of this post and share your story.

If you’d like to hear Jill and me talking about encouragement (as well as all kinds of other stuff) just click play on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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Back to School

July 3, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
1 Comment

DR.jpgI went back to school yesterday.

Thankfully I wasn’t going back as a student but I was there to talk about the wonderful work of Compassion Australia.

I was invited to speak to the students at Beechboro Christian School about the trip I took to Haiti and Dominican Republic in April this year. While we had Compassion Day at 98.5 Sonshine FM back in May, they’ve got their very own Compassion Day tomorrow.

The staff and students will be doing all sorts of fun things to raise money for Yessica, the school’s sponsored child, as well as contributing to other Compassion projects.

It was such an honour to be able to tell them about how much their contribution will mean to boys and girls in other parts of the world who have so little. They all listened very well and hopefully they understand just a little bit more about the responsibility we all have to care for those in poverty.



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All I need is a miracle

July 2, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
11 Comments

If we’re to believe the hype, we live in an increasingly secular society that is losing its religion. Atheism is on the rise and less and less people have a belief in God. But is that really what’s going on?

From the Washington Post comes an article titled Most Americans Believe in Higher Power, Poll Finds.

It’s a fascinating look at the beliefs of Americans. I would guess that an Australian survey would yield similar results.

The poll took its results from interviews with 36 000 adults. While it shows that around 80% of people believe in miracles the percentage was even higher for those believing in God.

The study detailed Americans’ deep and broad religiosity, finding that 92 per cent believes in God or a universal spirit — including one in five of those who call themselves atheists. More than half of Americans polled pray at least once a day.

It’s interesting that 20% of people who claim some kind of belief in God or some kind of universal spirit call themselves atheists. I’m assuming that they aren’t rejecting the idea of God, rather they’re rejecting society’s understanding of who God is. This highlights the fact that the belief in God quoted in the survey isn’t necessarily a belief in the God of the Bible.

A belief in God or a higher spirit is pervasive. Even Americans who describe themselves as atheist or agnostic have a robust sense of a higher power: Twenty-one percent of those who describe themselves as atheists expressed a belief in God or a universal spirit, and more than half of those who call themselves agnostic expressed a similar conviction.

Smith said some people may identify with the term atheist or agnostic without fully understanding the definition, or they have a negative view of organized religion, even though they believe in God.

Many of the people surveyed believed in the power of prayer with many claiming to have experienced its power.

“I can’t remember any prayer that I have prayed that has not been answered,” said Helen Catchings, 62, of Vienna. God cured her of stuttering and gave her the resources for her home-care business, she said. And she said she has seen members of her church cured of cancer, brain tumours and other illnesses through prayer, baffling doctors. “I give Him all the credit,” Catchings said.

My regular Wednesday morning guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Ross Clifford who is the Principal of Morling College in New South Wales and current President of the Baptist Union of Australia. Each week we chat about a range of issues relating to spirituality and belief.

Today we discussed the survey and its implications. We also took a look at whether it really matters who we believe God to be. Is it good enough to believe in the God of our own understanding? Does it make a difference which path we take to God? You can listen to what Ross had to say by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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