Power confuses and concerns me.

Here is the paradox:

• It is hard to do good without it.
• The more power a man attains, the more evil he commits.

In politics we often think: “If only we could get more power we could do more good.” But is this the case?

Three Stories -> One Questions

Can you fix a broken system by taking power from bad men and giving it to good men?

Here are three stories to explore this question.

Lelouch Vi Britannia

Lelouch saw his mother killed and his sister blinded and crippled. He dedicated his life to making the world a just and kind place. He denied himself earthly pleasures and refused to drink the perks of leadership. He received the power to bend others to his will. He went out to destroy evil.

But evil is not a person you can kill. It is an infection that infects even its attackers. Despite his selfless motives, his desire to do good brought a harvest of evil.

The more Lelush fought evil the more evil he became. His goal of justice allowed him to justify unjust acts. The more power he attained the more destruction came to those around him. He is redeemed only through his death.

What can save such a man?

Boromir son of Denethor

Boromir grew up fighting evil. He could see it out his window. He could hear it in his sleep. He was a powerful man, but not strong enough to save his people. He knew they would die unless someone acted.

If not him then who?
If not now then when?

Then he had the opportunity for true power. The One Ring was within his grasp.

The ring used his good intentions to do evil. He lost his relationships with those close to him. As he reached for ultimate power, it destroyed him.

His redemption came only through death.

Absalom son of David

Absalom had everything it took to be a good leader. He had favor, good looks and brilliance. When someone tried to bow to him he would pick them up and give them a hug. But unlike his father, he did not know God.

His father David walked a path of brokenness and suffering that instilled godly character. Absalom walked the easy path of a wealthy prince. He lacked the character needed to temper his ambition.

His lust for power destroyed his relationships and everyone around him. Ultimately he lost his life unredeemed.

The fruit of ambition.

In each of these three stories ambition led to betrayal.

Here is the progression:

1. Longing to do good for others leads to ambition.
2. Ambition leads to a lust for power.
3. Lust for power leads to a love of power.
4. Love for power grows to surpass love for others.
5. Others are betrayed to gain more power.
6. Betrayal breaks relationships.
7. Death

Ambition hurts those closest to you. Can you name a powerful man who’s family is healthy? The difficulty of finding such a man breaks my heart.

The cost of avoiding power.

So should we forsake ambition? What happens when just men avoid power? According to Socrates, they are punished. They are ruled by men lest just than themselves.

Or put another way, evil flourishes when good men avoid power.

The villains of history wanted to make the world a better place.

• Oliver Cromwell wanted to make the world more peaceful & holy by removing Catholicism from Ireland.
  • Millions died through starvation and war.
• Margarete Sanger wanted to create a world where every child was healthy and wanted.
  • Millions died through abortion.
• Adolph Hitler wanted to remove war and disease by eliminating “imperfect” races.
  • Millions died through holocaust and war.
• Joseph Stalin wanted a Utopian paradise by eliminating the class and wealth.
  • Millions died frozen to death in Siberia.
• Pol Pot wanted to create an agrarian paradise where everyone worked the collective land in peace.
  • Millions died from starvation and murder.

A Paradox

• Peace is the justification for war.
• Saving life is the justification to take life.
• Pleasure is the justification for rape.
• Safety is the justification of slavery.
• Equality is the justification of theft.

America has killed perhaps more foreign civilians than any other nation. Our excuse? Saving lives. Why is it right when we do it but wrong when Japan does it?

Does good justify evil before God? Does He judge our actions or our intentions?

Power does not corrupt.

In the book Whist by David Umstattd, Whist asks his mentor Skylock if power corrupts. “Heavens no” Skylock responds “Power only reveals your inner corruption.”

Perhaps Skylock has it right. What if power only magnifies corruption. One of the oldest sayings in the world says, “From evil people come evil deeds.”

Power x Corruption = Evil Committed

An evil man with no power often does less evil than a good man with power.

The only cure for evil.

When God rebooted the world after the flood he only changed one thing: how long people lived. God limited man’s life to 120 years to limit the amount of wickedness man could perform. This heavenly term limit kept the world from going bad as quickly the second time.

We are born innocent, with only the seeds of evil in our hearts. As we grow older these seeds bring forth greater wickedness. Our knowledge, experience and reputation give us power to do evil which makes us evil.

Few ever see this process reverse. Old age may take away our ability to do bad, but who becomes more just? History shows us that even Christian leaders fail to finish well. Is the same is true for us? Do we just lack the spotlight of power to reveal our inner corruption? There will come a day when the light will shine on the strong and weak alike.

I am convinced that this is why people die. Only death can purge us from sin.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

One Last Story

In the movie Blind Side, Leigh Anne Tuohy has power to bend people to her will. But something is different about her, instead of doing evil, she does good.

The difference?

• Motivation: Her motivation is love.
• Safe Power: Her power is inferential. Instead of forcing people to comply she convinces them to choose themselves. I think this is an important difference.

Instead of trying to get more power she does what she can with what she has.

What do you think?

• Do you agree with my analysis?
• Do you think that power corrupts or reveals corruption?
• What should our response be to the problem of power?

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As you may know, I teach on technology a lot. Several of you have asked when my next classes are. So here you go here is a list of some of my upcoming talks. I would love to see you there!

How Everything Has Changed & Nothing is New

What the changes in Social Media mean for your business.

• Date: March 2 (8-9:30am)
• Cost: Free (registration required)
• City: Austin, TX
• Register Now
  

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Someone recently asked me what the point was to all these pro-life marches. We have marched a lot in recent weeks so the question is valid. I would like to submit the following 5 reasons why we should march and rumble for life.

Marching Encourages our Leaders

One of the challenges of leadership is that the higher you rise the more out of touch you become. Leaders rely on the media to clue them in on what the people think. The media makes it look like no one cares about life but a handful of cooks.

When we march we remind our leaders we stand behind them when they stand for life. We give them the courage to push for change.

Marching Changes Hearts

You should have seen the faces of those who watch pro-life marches and rumbles. 40 Days for Life has seen hearts changed and lives saved all over the world through marches and vigils.

Marching Inspires Prayer

There is something powerful that happens to your heart when you put life tape on. Somehow it makes prayer easier and it breaks your heart. I am a big advocate for praying out loud but sometimes silent prayer is powerful too.

The more we march, the more we will pray.

Marching Inspires Action

Inviting friends to a march is a great way to move them from apathy to action. From doing nothing to to doing something. Without a march it would be harder to get people to care enough about life to do something other than harden their hearts.

Marching Earns Attention

The media loves to cover events like marches and rumbles. The more we focus the attention of the nation on this atrocity the more they will be forced to take action. Martin Luther King Jr. knew this.

We must march if we want to see a change. You can’t change the world from your couch.

What do you think?

• Do you come to Pro-life marches? Why or why not?
• What would need to happen to get you to show up?
• Are you afraid to take a stand for life?
• What have the pro-life events that you have attended been like? Would they encourage you to come again?

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Last year I made 9 predictions about 2009. My score for 2009 was 4 out of 9 predictions correct. Here are the predictions I made last year.

9 Predictions for 2009

Prediction 1

“Obama will pass the Fairness act but it will only apply to political talk. It will be the best thing to happen to the conservative movement. Conservative talk radio needs to die.”

Outcome: Fail! Obama chose to take over our health instead of our talk.

Prediction 2

“5 of my current blog readers will start their own Podcasts. One will hit the big time with his or her podcast.”

Outcome: Fail! the only person to start a Podcast this year was Raz Shafer.and his podcast has podfaded.

Prediction 3

“There will be continued violence in the middle east.”

Outcome: Half fail. Israel has been very peaceful this year although Iraq has been hotter than normal.

Prediction 4

“Texas will experience a major natural disaster of some kind.”

Outcome: Fail! And thank God for that.

Prediction 5

“The economy will end 2009 at about the same strength it began 2009. Win! The Dow is up about 1000 points but is about where it was a year ago.”

Outcome: Win! Who would have believed we would have been about the same after a year. We went down and we came back up.

Prediction 6

“Apple will buy Adobe.”

Outcome: Fail!

Prediction 7

“Obama will maintain ridiculously high support ratings while failing to get anything done other than the fairness act.”

Outcome: Half Win! Obama does not have ridiculously high ratings but he hasn’t gotten anything done either.

Prediction 8

Another Patriot Academy alum will declare intentions to run for something. Got this one right.

Outcome: Win! David Bellow declared that he is running for County Commissioner.

Prediction 9

“Half of you will start using Twitter.”

Outcome: Win! I think this was almost true. Many of you didn’t even know what Twitter was a year ago. Many of you started using Twitter but perhaps not half.

Ok so I don’t have a crystal ball and my predictions were lame. That is if you count predicting that violence in the middle east as a legitimate prediction. And now… Ten predictions for 2010.

10 Predictions for 2010

1. Republicans will gain control of the house of representatives.
2. Democrats will hold on to the Senate.
3. Rick Perry will be reelected Governor
4. Debra Medina will get over 15% of the vote.
5. Old fashioned publishers will start to get gobbled by trendier conglomerates. And for an extra point I am predicting that Thomas Nelson will by Harvest House.
6. The Apple Tablet will actually ship. It will be amazing and I will buy one
7. The Google Andriod platform will gain 20% market share.
8. The big product for 2010 will be the Kindle and the price will drop to $99 and sales of digital books will soar to over 70% of Amazon’s book sales.
9. Google Chrome will gain 25% market shake but the mac version will still be in Beta.
10. The Tea party will start to emerge as an actual party but will not put any candidates on the 2010 ballot. Look for tea party candidates in 2012.

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It’s that time of year again. Time to look back and see if we learned anything.

Here is a summary of what I have been up to during the past year.

2008 Was a Hard Year

In 2008 my business failed, my dad had a heart attack, my grandfather died and Grace and I called off our courtship. I began 2009 with an expectation that things would start looking up.

Spring 2009 – New Beginnings

In January we got a new president. I got a new job. And in February I went to Russia for a month and Scotland for a week. I learned a lot in Russia including the love of tea.

In April I started AuthorTechTips.com to help authors with technology and to help promote my new business Umstattd Media.

Summer 2009- From Belton to Austin

I moved to Austin in May. I love this town. At first I didn’t know many people and I lived and worked alone.  I would spend days without interacting with anyone aside from emails and phone calls from clients.  God found me in that solitude and began a work on my heart.

God brought healing and freedom and knit me into one of the most amazing communities I have ever been apart of. He has surrounded me with prayer ninjas and I am very thankful.

Fall 2009- New Roommates & New Projects

In August I moved in some guys from our prayer group. Namely  E.J. Rathburn, Caleb Ingles and Caleb Hobart. These guys have been such an encouragement to me.  They have also taught me everything I know about how to be a good wingman.

Our house is on Harmon Ave and we decided in a 3 to 1 vote to name our house eHarmony. The looks on people’s faces when I invite them to eHarmony always gives me a good chuckle and sometimes even a belly laugh.

In September I started PracticalCourtship.com which has been a fun project. I really enjoy reading all the comments of which there are many.

Winter 2009 – Fighting For Life

A few months Jana Robertson encouraged me to get involved in the pro-life movement. Or at up my involvement from talk to actions too. We started holding Insight Meetings at my house which are prayer gatherings where we learn about what is going on in the political arena so we can pray with insight.

We also did a big push to fight tax funded abortions in Austin. We failed to gain ground this time around but we will be back next year and the year after that and every year until life is protected and destroying life is not subsidized.

Right before the hearing my mom got sick. Very sick. She was in the hospital for  a time and incapacitated. She is still unable stand for any period of time but she is doing better.

10 Most Popular Articles of 2009

Here is a list of my most popular articles of 2009. I have included articles I wrote for Author Tech Tips and Practical Courtship since that is where most of my writing has gone.

1. 7 People Every Author Must Follow on Twitter – The popularity of this post was a fluke. The list was the left over scraps of a different post about how to get started on Twitter. Everyone wanted the list. No one wanted the guide. Go figure.
2. How to Get Twitter on Your Phone – The reason this is number one is because of google. Lots of views.
3. 7 Differences Between Published and Unpublished Authors – This is one of my most controversial posts of 2009. No one read the part at the beginning where I say that the rules are not universal.
4. 6 Things Readers Want Fro Your Author Website – This is one of the oldest articles on Author Tech Tips.
5. 7 Reasons Men Wait to Get Married - This was one of the first posts on Practical Courtship to get attention outside my circle of friends.
6. Courtship & Predestination – This is one of the most discussed posts I have ever written.
7. How to get Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status – Great time saving tips.
8. Where to Find Free and Legal Photos Online – I’m surprised this was not more popular since it is one of the most frequent questions we get.
9. 5 Things Readers Don’t Want from Your Author Blog – Every blogger needs to read this article. Not just authors.
10. The Thin Line Between Creepy and Charming – This was a fun post to write. The comments are fun to read too.
11. How to Sync Your Address Book With Facebook – Newer post but one that has helped a lot of people.

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After over 10 years of doing choir in school I swore I would never sing in choir again. I put aside my musical side for  occasional beat boxing and perhaps singing with my family. No more the answers “no” thank you.

But this was not to be.

After my dad asked me for the seventh time to join the Hope Chapel Christmas choir I relented. I had a great time! Despite my expectations I might add. This is a great example of what my dad calls “forced fun.”

Below are some recordings of the songs we sang. Our camera was not so good but Bill Ledbetter, the camera guy, did a great job with our camera such as it was.

Rise & Shine by Deb Dorman

This is a newer song from Deb Dorman. This may have been the first performance. In earlier practices it seemed like she may have still been tweaking it. It was fun to sing. Deb is one of my favorite worship music writers. She is also a fun choir director.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch Rise and Shine on YouTube

Cradled in a Manger Meanly by George Rowe

This is one of my all time favorite Christmas songs and one you have probably now heard. Legend has it that this song helped inspire the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Or at least the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  I don’t know if that is true but I do know I like this song.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch Cradled in a Manger Meanly on YouTube

Celebrate the Child by Michael Card

Geno the pastor had us sing this song a second time and told us to put “more soul in it.” Everyone seemed to like it a lot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch Celebrate the Child on YouTube

Infant Holy Infant Lowly by Spiewni­czek Ko­sciel­ne

Infant Holy is a traditional Polish Christmas Carol. Traditional in Poland I guess. I had never heard it before but it’s catchy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch Infant Holy on YouTube.

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On December 10th 2009 the Texas Health District Board had a hearing on whether to approve funding to pay for abortions for poor Austin Women. Austin is the only town in Texas to use tax dollars to pay for abortions. About 1000 per year.

My Sister and friends praying after the vote. Photo by Austin American Statesman.

We felt and still feel that this was a battle we could win. Harris County recently stopped funding abortions and we are sure Travis County will follow suit.

What Happened

About a dozen folks from ARC and half a dozen from my Monday Night Prayer group came to speak and pray for life. Of the 18 of us who registered to speak only Minda got the chance.  Of the 49 who registered to speak they council only let 12 speak.

Of the people who testified many of the Pro-Lifers shared stories of how abortion had devastated their lives. Minda shared how Abortion is very much like slavery because of the depersonification of human persons that is used to justify it.

Most of the Pro-Choice speakers were middle aged women many of whom would receive a cut of the $450,000 that the counsel was about to dull out. Generation Y, my generation, is fed up with getting killed off by greedy, self centered Baby Boomers.

In the end the vote was unanimous to approve the abortion funding for one more year.

Why I’m Encouraged

The people on the left are pro-choice. The people on the right are in line to speak for life.

We will be back. If the enemy thinks he can discourage us into inaction he has grossly underestimated the power of the Holy Spirit and the persistence of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

The left is used to us going away when we loose (or win for that matter). This trend is over. We are not going anywhere.  We are already starting to organize for next year and we will get so many more people involved that they can’t help but hear us.

Also, we are going to start engaging in the small local elections that impact this board. So few people vote for City Council and County Commissioners Court that it will not be hard to impact the vote.

We are going to find pro-life candidates, fund those candidates and elect those candidates.

10 Ways You Can Fight Tax Funded Abortions in Austin

There is a lot we can do to fight this.

1. Sign up for the Texas Alliance for Life newsletter.This will keep you up to date.
2. Get your friends registered to vote. I was able to get 10 people in my prayer group registered to vote. Just got by the library and get some voters registration cards and get your friends to register where they live.
3. Become a fan of TAL on Facebook. This will keep you in the loop.
4. Pray & Fast. The battle is a spiritual one as much as anything else.
5. Suggest the TAL page to your friends. Important! Texas Alliance for Life is the organization that helps get the word out. When you sign up you will get location specific instructions and updates.
6. Read the Strategy for the abolition of abortion. It will give you more details for how you can get involved.
7. Vote in Pro-Life county commissioners and city council members. These elections have tiny turnouts and it wont be hard for us to sway the numbers.
8. Move to Austin. One challenge is the pro-life people have moved out of the town to be around people like them. This has given the land to the pro-aborts. I live in Austin for a reason.
9. Donate to Texas Alliance for Life. They need money to fight for the unborn. The City gives Abortion Providers more $ than TALs entire budget. Where you money is your heart will be also. If each of my blog readers gave $50 we could raise $50,000.
10. Find pro-life videos on YouTube and share them on Facebook. Get the word out. Don’t let people ignore the problem.

We will be back!

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Today I turn 24.

Please permit me to change pace a bit for a post and do some self reflection.

Here I am in an ancient Russian church tower

Looking Old

It seems surprise people when they learn I’m only 24. There are two ways to take this. Either that I look old or that I seem seem old for my age. Is this caused by sorrow, weight or wisdom? I don’t know. Probably a mixture.

Looking forward to my future I wonder if this will continue or if I will linger at an age.

Thanks to Frank Ball for sending me this cartoon for my birthday

Knowing Less

I know now less than I thought I knew at 14. For instance, I thought I knew apologetics until yesterday when I preached on the UT campus. Most of the audience was hardened atheists with pre-prepared questions.

While on campus I saw an apologetisist presenting to probably 200 students who sat raptured by the eloquence of his words. He took anyone’s objection and gave a reasoned and winsome answer. He inspired me to know more than I do and helped me realize I know less than I think.

Enjoying Life

My cousin Tim asked me one Christmas if I had “destination fever.” Am I so focused on the goal that I forget to enjoy the journey?

A strong goal focus may help my leadership ability but it can also make me a miserable person to be around, especially when I am in a focused state.

My clients have taught me that the best authors enjoy brainstorming, outlining, drafting, writing, editing and promotion. Every stage of the writing process has its own joy.

The authors who just want to “be published” are miserable and often never get published.

I want to be someone who enjoys each stage of life’s journey. I am optimistic about the future but I want to also be content with where I am now.

Embracing Freedom

As a self employed single man I have a great degree of freedom. This is a season to embrace! Not a season to squander  on worry or speculation.

Blogging

Some of you have asked me why I don’t blog much anymore. I actually blog more than ever just not as much this site.

I write once a roughly week for the following sites:

• Practical Courtship
• Author Tech Tips

You can get updates to these sites by, RSS, email, or Facebook. Perhaps one of the best birthday gifts you could give me would be to subscribe and or comment on one of those sites. PracticalChourtship.com has received an amazing number of comments and I love reading them.

Repenting from Apathy

Last Sunday we had a meeting at eHarmony where we repented of apathy. I realized that I had been apathetic about finishing my book. Other folks were repenting from political apathy. Kristine, my editor, and I have committed to finish editing Digital Cancer by the end of the year.

Please pray for us as we do this because it is a lot of discouraging work.

Thanking God

I am thankful for:

• My family. The older I get the more I come to understand what a precious gift each family member is.
  • A father who speaks identity.
  • A mother who loves unconditionally.
  • A sister who can dance, laugh and sing.
  • A brother with worlds in his head that can only been seen through visualizing his words.
  • A brother with a heart for people.
  • A brother with a heart for the Kingdom.
• A job that allows me to make enough to live on.
• A community of believers who have a passion for Jesus. I get to storm the gates of hell every Monday with prayer ninjas.
• My roomates: all three of them. They are each so different and so awesome. We have funny one liners every day. Any house named eHarmony has got to be a lot of fun

My grandfather, who passed away last year.

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Yesterday I tweeted “The only difference between creepy and charming is permission.”

Some explanation is in order. No, I did not go on a date last night. No, I did not have yet another awkward encounter with a woman. But there is a story here and an interesting conclusion.

The tweet was the result of three completely unrelated things blending in my mind.

Thing 1: Barrack Obama

There has been a lot of chatter online about this photo of Obama at the G8 summit.

In light of the chatter, I have been thinking about how men ought to look at women. And, how they ought not look at women. The base forces of nature seem to war with the moral law. The specific social rules seem to vary by community. What is appropriate?

Thing 2: Girl in Parking Garage

As I left the apple store yesterday, I walked to my car in the parking garage. A young woman drove past me and as we made eye contact she unconsciously whisked her hair behind her ear. I wondered why she would do that, at that moment.

Thing 3: James Bond

Yesterday my family watched Quantum of Solice. So, as I walked through the parking garage, the movie swam through my mind.

In the movie, James Bond’s credit card gets denied at an airport. He looks deeply into the eyes of the lady at the counter who denied him the charge… and she melts. He asks “in a few moments you will get a call. Tell them I’m going to Cairo.” She smiles at him and he walks away.

Why would she melt? Why is this scene believable? Why can’t I do that?

I started adding up all the differences between me and James Bond. It was a depressing 30 minutes. Then I started eliminating the things James didn’t have to help him at the counter.

He had no gadgets, no money and no bad guys to beat up. But he still had one thing: His striking good looks and crystal blue eyes. If he had been ugly and peered into her eyes she would have looked away disgusted. I know. But James didn’t get disgust. He got permission. The woman gave him permission to look into her eyes because she wanted to look back into his.

The only difference between Bozo and Bond is permission.

So What?

You girls who are probably saying. “I could have told you that!” I know. Several of you already have on Twitter and Facebook. But to me this is a profound truth and I feel it applies to much more than just guy/girl relationships.

Gospel Permission

There is a Gospel application here. Before we can talk to someone about their soul we need their permission. Otherwise they won’t listen. Permission does not need to take long. Permission just takes tact. I find that tracts and humor can help break the ice.

But how did Jesus get permission? He healed people, raised the dead and offered hope. But, he had also something more. He could look into a man’s eyes, say “follow me” and the man would. Permission is power. Jesus’ power is supernatural. If we want permission that goes beyond gimmicks like tracts and treasure lists we need supernatural power too.

Business Permission

I have given Amazon permission to email me book recommendations. The emails are relevant because Amazon knows about the books I buy. If Barns & Noble were to send me an email recommending the same books I would spam it. Why? Because, Barns & Noble doesn’t have my permission to talk to me. They haven’t earned it.

If you want to grow your business you need to stop thinking of ways to spam people and start thinking of ways to earn their permission. Twitter is a good way to learn this skill. It doesn’t take much permission to send 140 characters once every other day.

Political Permission

The more I get around the more a realize that most people actually do care about politics. They just don’t care to hear about my politics. This is an important distinction. It is easy to write people off as complacent when I really just lack permission. Are people apathetic or do they just distrust both parties? A political party needs permission before it can have discourse. It must have discourse before it can sway opinion. It must sway opinion before it can win elections.

How do you get permission to influence someone’s political views?

I’m not sure. Striking good looks don’t hurt. Why else would Hollywood celebrates and Ann Coulter get such power? Humor seems to work too. I’m not sure what the answers are here. I know I often get into a political conversations on Facebook after sharing a link to a political YouTube video. What do you think?

Take Aways

• Permission is more valuable than money.
• Money can’t buy love, but permission is an ingredient to love.
• Money can buy spam, but spam can’t build a relationship between you and your customer.
• Money can’t buy votes, but permission can get attention and attention can change minds.

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Recent Tech Tips:

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If you help get the word out about the site I would appreciate it.

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