January 2009 Archives

At the end of 2008, Microsoft abandoned their old search API. While older applications continue to work, new AppID’s only work with the new V2.0 API. If you’ve created a new AppID, and wonder why none of the code samples you find on the Web work with it, now you know. It’s not hard to update code to use the newer (still in beta) V2.0 API, and we’ll do exactly that by updating our previous API search code. If you’ve used the old code, it’s quite simple to update to the new code. Just copy the file, and change one line in your PHP page — the new code requires PHP5, so be sure your server has PHP5 installed.

OK, trivia question time. Why did God judge Sodom? The answer we usually think of is actually fifth on the list.

In our previous article on PHP, XHTML and MIME type, we focused on using XHTML and sending the correct MIME type as application/xhtml+xml, as it was the future of the web. Additionally, we forced PHP to send the correct 304 Not Modified header for pages not modified to reduce bandwidth and increase your users’ experience.

Using PHP for your XHTML web site is great, but if you’re not considering possible effects you could be violating Internet standards and reducing the usability for your users. You might not know your validated and tested XHTML is treated as “tag soup” by browsers, or that without sending the proper headers your pages caching ability is severely reduced, or perhaps some browsers (due to bugs) won’t cache your page at all. When using PHP with XHTML, several issues need to be considered.

In another article we discussed the MSN Search API, presenting a PHP class to allow easy use of MSN Search. But what if you want to use the Google API instead of MSN? One advantage of object-oriented programming is the class functions as a “black-box”; the user of the code unaware of how it does it’s job so MSN’s API can be swapped with Google’s, Yahoo’s, or any other. All you have to do is modify the search() function for Google, and then the previous code works for Google’s API.

If you’re interested in having a site search on your web site, you can create one yourself, use one of the free services, or better yet use one of the existing search engines. The big three (Google, MSN, Yahoo) each released API’s so you can query them, and then present the results any way you wish. This article presents a PHP class which queries MSN Search, and returns the result as an array.

One of the arguments skeptics like to disprove is C.S. Lewis’ logical conclusion from the claims of Jesus. Commonly called “The Trilemma” or “Lord liar or lunatic” (although Lewis didn’t use exactly those words), although one wonders why it becomes so important to discredit a philosophical argument having little bearing on the facts involving the diety of Jesus.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1:2-3 NKJV)

I’ve come to the conclusion James is a nutcase. His ship is not firmly tied to the pier. His bread is not cooked in the middle. His six-pack is missing the little plastic thingy. Joy in trials? Ha! What a psycho. This one verse is enough to write off this Jesus thing and Christians in general. They must be a crazy mixed-up group of people to believe this junk.

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:8-11 NKJV)

We know from this passage (and others) that each Christian has at least one spiritual gift. But sadly today many people don’t use the gift God has given them. For example, prophecy is a gift, but what if the prophet doesn’t want to prophecy? What then? A case exists in the Old Testament where the prophet who didn’t want to speak God’s word attended remedial prophet school — God wants us to use what He’s given us. Jonah was a stubborn, stiff-necked prophet who provides many lessons for us.

A strange figure stands in the middle of the river up to his waist, the muddy brown water swirling around his legs. He’s got long, wild hair - and is that a grasshopper you see sticking out of his mouth? No matter — this guy’s not going to get voted most Mr. congeniality. His simple tunic is bound with a broad leather belt. This guy doesn’t look like he’s ever seen the inside of a house, much less a tailor. His eyes are like fire, and so are his words.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

After the events of September 11th everyone eagerly awaited the President’s state of the union address. Everyone knew the main topic; most knew the points he would bring up. However, early in his speech he made the following statement:

We’ve come to know truths that we will never question: Evil is real, and it must be opposed.

Many issues divide the Body of Christ today. Baptism, communion, pre-tribulation rapture verses post-tribulation and more all cause division in the Church as satan loves to divide and conquer; it’s sad we fight among ourselves instead of the real enemy.

One of satan’s strategies from early in Genesis becomes casting doubt on God’s word. Recall in the garden satan’s words “Has God really said?” confusing Eve and causing her to sin. Satan realizes casting doubt on what God actually says can be a winning strategy for him — what could cause more confusion than casting doubt the Bible in your lap isn’t the exact Word of God?

What’s this all about? About AD 1900 scientists thought everything had been figured out, that there was little else to do. Sure, some details had to be filled in, but for the most part, we understood the world around us. Then along comes this Einstein guy and messes up the whole thing! Einstein is famous for two basic things - Relativity and Quantum Physics - plunging scientists into a world of doubt and uncertainty. Let’s look at one of these two (Relativity) and see why it troubles people so. The other (Quantum Physics) is extremely interesting in it’s own right, but is a subject for another time (no pun intended!).

Chevrolet. Nascar. No.3. The Intimidator. The Man in black. In the word association game, any racing fan knows what comes next - Dale Earnhardt. The finest stock car driver the world has ever seen was tragically killed in a crash at Daytona speedway. Many questions remain: were rule changes too much? Did they violate safety? What if Earnhardt had used some of the newer safety equipment? Would he have lived to race again? No one knows.

Perhaps one of the oldest questions is Why is there evil in the world? Or to put it a different way, why do bad things happen to good people? Where do we go for answers; what’s our authority? The Bible. But what exactly does the Bible say about such things? Certainly the most common answer we here is from the book of Job. There is much to learn there, but from a practical standpoint, but how do we use this information? Let’s look at two people of the bible, and what they had to say.