The Chronicle of Anthony K. Valley

Bible Pathway #152 - May 31 - II Chronicles 34-36

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 34-36

Highlights: Josiah’s reign — Book of the Law found — Fall of Jerusalem — Captivity of Judah — Decree of Cyrus to rebuild the Temple

Bible Pathway #151 - May 30 - II Chronicles 31-33

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 31-33

Highlights: Hezekiah destroys idols — Firstfruits and tithes — Assyria invades Judah — Hezekiah’s death — Manasseh’s reign — Amon’s reign

Bible Pathway #150 - May 29 - II Chronicles 28-30

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 28-30

Highlights: Ahaz reigns in Judah — Syria (Aram) and Israel defeat Judah — Death of Ahaz — Hezekiah’s reign — Worship restored in the Temple

Bible Pathway #149 - May 28 - II Chronicles 25-27

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 25-27

Highlights: Amaziah reigns in Judah — War against Edom — Israel defeats Judah — Uzziah reigns in Jerusalem — Uzziah stricken with leprosy

Fantasia Barrino Crowned America's Idol

And the winner is Fantasia Barrino…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Feisty soul singer Fantasia Barrino was voted the newest “American Idol” on Wednesday after a nationwide television search for the nation’s next pop star.

Barrino, 19, edged out rival Diana DeGarmo at the end of the hit reality TV show that saw 70,000 wannabes audition in a bid to win a recording contract and instant stardom.

Victory was sweet for Barrino, a black single mom from North Carolina who had twice narrowly escaped being booted off by viewers earlier in the season in favor of cuter but weaker singers.

Producers said a total of 65 million votes were called in by telephone or text message on Tuesday after lines were kept open an extra two hours and extra numbers added to counter logjams and busy signals that have called voting procedures into question.

“Idol” host Ryan Seacrest told Access Hollywood that the two finalists were separated by a margin of just over 1 percent.

[ Full Story @ Reuters Limited ]

Source: Reuters Limited © 2004 Reuters Limited

Gas tops $5 a gallon in rural Alaska villages

Thanks to my Alaskan brother for this article….

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - So you think your gasoline is expensive? Some rural Alaskans are paying as much as $5 per gallon, with $6 a gallon on the horizon.

“We don’t even want to talk about that,” said Joyce John, a clerk at Midnight Sun Native Store in Arctic Village, in far northeastern Alaska. “Might as well raise a dog team.”

The high prices in isolated villages stem from the cost of delivering fuel by airplane.

One of the major fuel carriers, Fairbanks-based Everts Air Fuel, uses cargo planes to transport as much as 4,500 gallons at a time, corporate administrator Karen Wing said. Other companies deliver fuel in 55-gallon drums, landing on airstrips too short for bigger planes.

The cost may force subsistence hunters and fishermen to pare back their trips. Electric bills will rise because most power comes from diesel generators. And some villages may struggle to buy a year’s worth of heating oil, because of the high price and because state financial aid has expired.

[ Full Story @ billingsgazette.com ]

Source: billingsgazette.com © 2004 The Billings Gazette

Bible Pathway #147 - May 26 - II Chronicles 18-20

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 18-20

Highlights: Jehoshaphat allied himself with Ahab — Death of Ahab — Jehoshaphat’s national reformation — Death of Jehoshaphat

Bible Pathway #146 - May 25 - II Chronicles 14-17

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 14-17

Highlights: King Asa’s reforms — His covenant with God — His treaty with Syria (Aram) — Asa rebuked by Hanani — Asa’s death — Jehoshaphat succeeds Asa

Bible Pathway #145 - May 24 - II Chronicles 10-13

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 10-13

Highlights: Rehoboam succeeds Solomon — Jeroboam leads revolt of the 10 tribes — Rehoboam forsakes the Law of God — Shishak invades Judah

Bible Pathway #144 - May 23 - II Chronicles 7-9

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 7-9

Highlights: Solomon’s sacrifices — Glory of the Lord — God appears to Solomon — Queen of Sheba visits Solomon — His riches and fame — His death

Bible Pathway #143 - May 22 - II Chronicles 4-6

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 4-6

Highlights: The Temple’s furnishings — The Ark brought into the Temple — The cloud of the Lord fills the Temple — Solomon’s prayer of dedication

Bible Pathway #142 - May 21 - II Chronicles 1-3

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Chronicles 1-3

Highlights: Solomon’s sacrifices — His dream — His accumulation of chariots and horsemen — Solomon builds the Temple

Bible Pathway #141 - May 20 - I Chronicles 27-29

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 27-29

Highlights: Solomon encouraged to build the Temple — David’s gifts for the Temple — His thanks and prayer — Solomon made king — David’s death

Bible Pathway #140 - May 19 - I Chronicles 24-26

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 24-26

Highlights: Duties assigned to priests — Musicians and singers — Divisions of the porters (gatekeepers) — Treasurers and other officials

Bible Pathway #139 - May 18 - I Chronicles 21-23

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 21-23

Highlights: David’s sin in taking a military census — His preparation for building the Temple and instructions to Solomon — Duties of the Levites

Upgrading Wordpress from 1.0.2 to 1.2 epsilon RC1

Just to see if I could do it really quickly, I upgraded my WordPress install from 1.0.2 to 1.2 Epsilon RC1.

After uploading the new install file to the server, the upgrade was a snap. Just browsing to the upgrade script and let it work for about 90 seconds, in my case.

Ding! done…

Bible Pathway #138 - May 17 - I Chronicles 17-20

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 17-20

Highlights: David forbidden to build the Temple — God makes a Covenant with David — His prayer — God extends David’s kingdom

Bible Pathway #137 - May 16 - I Chronicles 14-16

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 14-16

Highlights: King Hiram’s kindness to David — Philistines defeated — Ark brought to Jerusalem — David’s psalm of thanksgiving

A test install of WordPress

It took me 4 minutes to install a working WordPress system at In The Valley

Add another 2 minutes to configure the permanlinks to use Clear URIs. The default entry became http://www.inthevalley.net/word/archives/2004/05/15/afraid/ when it was previously http://www.inthevalley.net/word/index.php?p=1

That’s not a bad system. Of course per wordpress.org, you can also try WordPress out live on OpenSourceCMS.com

Textpattern took about the same amount of time to install, offers more flexibility on templates, but is still in development. In my opinion, if Dean does licensing right, TXP will gain a lot of territory on MovableType and WordPress.

One thing that Textpattern and Wordpress have in common is that they are both PHP/MySQL publishing systems that use live data. No static pages are created by the system.

More About WordPress

From WordPress > About

WordPress was born out of a desire for an elegant, well-architectured personal publishing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPL. It is the official successor of b2/cafelog.
WordPress is fresh software, but its roots and development go back to
2001. It is a mature and stable product. We hope by focusing on web standards and user experience we can create a tool different from anything else out there.

OK, I am interested in moving the near dormant photoblog from MovableType 2.661 to WordPress.

Is WordPress the new home for Movable Type Refugees?

The web is buzzing with information, rants, and raves concerning the release of pricing and licensing for MovableType 3.0.

Mena Trott, co-founder of Six Apart,the company behind the Movable Type and TypePad weblogging systems/services, has addressed some of these concerns today.

In The Valley has yet to determine what course of action it will take concerning its 3 active MovableType Weblogs: In The Faith, Anthony K. Valley — Chronicle, and Anthony’s Rank Amateur Photography. These decisions do not need to be made in record time as we have not planned to upgrade from version 2.661 to 3.0 upon release.

MT’s new restrictions on the number of active authors and blogs will force some bloggers to retool, the first name spoken in the wind has been WordPress, the second is TextPattern.

Textpattern currently powers two additional sites of mine, however, WordPress with its GPL license is looking mighty fine.

None the less, I have no need to flee from MovableType at this time.

Bible Pathway #136 - May 15 - I Chronicles 11-13

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 11-13

Highlights: David made king over Judah — All of Israel anoints David king — He reigns in Jebus (Jerusalem)

Bible Pathway #135 - May 14 - I Chronicles 8-10

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 8-10

Highlights: Descendants of Benjamin — Priests and Levites in Jerusalem and their responsibilities — Genealogy of Saul — Tragic deaths of Saul and his sons

Bible Pathway #134 - May 13 - I Chronicles 6-7

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 6-7

Highlights: Descendants of Levi — Temple singers and keepers appointed — Descendants of Aaron — Cities of the Levites — Numerous genealogies

Bible Pathway #133 - May 12 - I Chronicles 3-5

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 3-5

Highlights: Descendants of David, Solomon, Judah, Simeon, Reuben, Gad and Manasseh

Bible Pathway #132 - May 11 - I Chronicles 1-2

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — I Chronicles 1-2

Highlights: Jesus’ lineage through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel (Jacob), and Judah

Bible Pathway #131 - May 10 - II Kings 23:21-25

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 23:21-25

Highlights: Passover restored — Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple foretold — Death of Josiah — Fall of Jerusalem — Captivity of Judah

Bible Pathway #130 - May 9 - II Kings 21-23:20

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 21-23:20
Highlights: Evil reigns of Manasseh and Amon — Josiah’s good reign — Book of the Law discovered — True worship restored — Idolatry destroyed

Microsoft, Reward-Seekers Help Nab Sasser Creator

Creator of “Sasser” worm arrested. Microsoft’s reward a major factor.

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - A tip from reward-seekers and information from Microsoft led to the arrest of an 18-year-old suspected of creating the “Sasser” computer worm, German police and the software giant said on Saturday.

Spokesman Frank Federau for Lower Saxony police said police were certain they had the man behind one of the Internet’s most costly outbreaks of sabotage.

“We are absolutely certain that this really is the creator of the Internet worm because Microsoft experts were involved in the inquiry and confirmed our suspicions and because the suspect admitted to it,” he said in an interview with Reuters Television.

It was the lure of cash that proved the man’s undoing. A group of individuals from Lower Saxony approached Microsoft MSFT.O on Wednesday inquiring about reward money should they turn in the man.

The U.S. software giant in the past has put bounties of up to $250,000 on the heads of other notorious virus writers.

[ Full Story @ Reuters ]

Source: Reuters © 2004 Reuters

Bible Pathway #129 - May 8 - II Kings 18-20

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 18-20
Highlights: Hezekiah’s reign — Assyria invades Judah — Hezekiah and Isaiah pray — Hezekiah’s miraculous healing

'Friends' Finale DVD to Be Released Right Away

Just in case you missed the “Friends” finale, just order the DVD.

LOS ANGELES — No need to tape that final episode of “Friends” for posterity — Warner Bros. plans to release a DVD of the finale just five days after its Thursday broadcast.

The series finale, which wraps up the NBC sitcom about six young adults living in Manhattan, is available by pre-order from the Warner Home Video Web site ($9.95).

The disc includes the original pilot episode that introduced the characters of Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel and Phoebe nearly 10 years ago, along with exclusive behind-the-scenes material.

The show’s hour-long conclusion airs Thursday on NBC at 9 p.m. EDT, preceded by an hour-long retrospective.

[ Full Story @ Fox News ]

Source: FoxNews © 2004 FoxNews

Ross Ends Up With Rachel on 'Friends' Finale

“Friends” finale not a shocker.

Television’s most popular comedy went for the crowd-pleasing finale on Thursday night, with Rachel getting off a plane to stay with Ross just as she was about to leave for a new job in Paris.

The hour-long episode marked the end of 10 years for the sitcom, which followed six New York coffee shop regulars as they moved from post-adolescence to something approaching adulthood. NBC privately predicted some 45 million viewers.

Monica and Chandler were surprised by twins and prepared for their move to the suburbs. Phoebe was already married, and Joey headed west to get serious about his acting career (and star in an NBC spinoff starting in the fall).

[ Full Story @ Fox News ]

Source: Fox News © 2004 Fox News

Bible Pathway #128 - May 7 - II Kings 16-17

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 16-17
Highlights: Ahaz reigns in Judah, defiles the Temple — Hoshea reigns in Israel — Fall of Samaria — Captivity and deportations of Israel

Bush pauses to comfort teen

A heartwarming story picturing President Bush, the leader of the free world, showing his compassion for a hurting child.

In a moment largely unnoticed by the throngs of people in Lebanon waiting for autographs from the president of the United States, George W. Bush stopped to hold a teenager’s head close to his heart

Lynn Faulkner, his daughter, Ashley, and their neighbor, Linda Prince, eagerly waited to shake the president’s hand Tuesday at the Golden Lamb Inn. He worked the line at a steady campaign pace, smiling, nodding and signing autographs until Prince spoke:

“This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11.”

Bush stopped and turned back.

“He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and a man,” Faulkner said. “He looked right at her and said, ‘How are you doing?’ He reached out with his hand and pulled her into his chest.”

[ Full Story @ Enquirer ]

Source: Enquirer.com © 2004 The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper.

Bible Pathway #127 - May 6 - II Kings 14-15

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 14-15
Highlights: Reigns of Amaziah, Azariah (Uzziah), and Jotham over Judah — Reigns of five of last six kings over Israel

Bible Pathway #126 - May 5 - II Kings 11-13

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 11-13
Highlights: Athaliah reigns — David’s descendants murdered — Joash crowned king — He repairs the Temple — Worship restored — Evil reign of Jehoahaz

Bible Pathway #125 - May 4 - II Kings 9-10

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 9-10
Highlights: Jehu anointed king of Israel — Jehu kills Joram and Ahaziah — Jezebel killed — Ahab’s family killed — Baal worshipers executed

Bible Pathway #124 - May 3 - II Kings 6-8

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 6-8
Highlights: The ax head made to float — Syrians (Arameans) attack Israel — Famine in Samaria — Elisha’s prophecy fulfilled

Bible Pathway #123 - May 2 - II Kings 4-5

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 4-5
Highlights: Widow’s oil — Elisha and the Shunammite woman — Elisha’s miracles — Elisha feeds 100 men — Naaman cured of leprosy — Gehazi’s leprosy

Bible Pathway #122 - May 1 - II Kings 1-3

Reading the Bible in a Year with Bible Pathway. Today’s Reading — II Kings 1-3
Highlights: Death of Ahaziah, king of Israel — Elijah taken up by a whirlwind — Elisha takes Elijah’s place — He purifies Jericho’s water, then is mocked by children