Thoughts

So long, Contenture

According to their website and blog, Contenture is going out of business. That’s unfortunate. I signed up with them back in June of 2008, endorsed their services here on my site, and while I didn’t make a lot of money with them, I knew the idea of micropayments for web content was something that would eventually catch on, if only given enough time to take root. It’s sad to see them go, and I’m sorry they couldn’t hang on until they saw some profits.

I only know of one other company that offers similar monetization services, and it’s called CancelAds. Here’s hoping they stay in business, and the idea of micropayments/subscriptions for web content continues to gain momentum.

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Lists

Condensed Knowledge – December 27, 2009

This is a summary of articles I read and found interesting during this past week. The list is shared from among my feed subscriptions. I only share a certain number of articles in each of these posts, so if you'd like to see more, visit my full Google Shared Items list.

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Events

Merry Christmas!

Ligia and I wish all of you a Wonderful and Merry Christmas! Should you happen to celebrate something else, then Happy Holidays to you and yours!

These are photos I’ve taken in the province of Transilvania, during the past several days, after a beautiful early winter snowfall blanketed most of Romania.

If you’d like to see Christmas photos from past years, here are my posts from 2007 and 2006.

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Events

Charity Christmas concert at Sala Traube, Medias

Yesterday, the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Medias gave a charity Christmas concert at Sala Traube. The entry was free, but a call for donations was made halfway through the concert. All proceeds went to U.A.M.S. (Unitatea de Asistenta Medico-Sociala), a charitable institution run by City Hall, which provides medical and living assistance to the poor and the needy.

A large, 54-person choir, in which my wife participated, sang Christmas carols accompanied by piano and violin. The repertoire was as follows:

  • O, ce veste minunata
  • Crestini din toata zarea
  • Noaptea de vis
  • Spre Betleem treceau pastori
  • O, Betleem din tinutul Iuda
  • Intr-o iesle colo jos
  • Dinspre stele
  • Niste soapte
  • Pentru noi veni
  • O, Betleem
  • Musical Bells
  • Azi avem Mantuitor
  • S-a nascut azi Domnul Sfant
  • Cantati-I popoarelor
  • Tatal nostru

I am happy to announce that over 200 people were in attendance, and over 5,000 RON were raised for UAMS. (That’s about $1,700 USD at the current exchange rate.) That’s a really good sum considering it was raised in a small city, and in Romania.

You can watch the entire concert below, on blip.tv, or on YouTube in five parts (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5). Merry Christmas!

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Events

Christmas program at church

There was a nice little Christmas program at our church this past Saturday, December 19, 2009, and you can watch a video of the three groups which sang in it below. My wife planned the program, in-between planning her own art show, directing our church’s choir, and taking part in two separate choirs that each gave Christmas concerts this past week. Can you tell she’s had a busy agenda lately?

A children’s choir sang first, followed by the church choir. Then she read a short story, which she wrote the night before, and handed out Christmas sweets, prepared from her own recipe following raw food methods, with the aid of a friend. After that, it was a mix of carols from the church choir and a women’s group, plus a musical bells group (which I didn’t record, but which you can watch in action here).

http://blip.tv/file/2997419
Watch this video on blip.tv

You can also see me singing in the video, as part of the church choir. Given how different the photo on my about page is from the way I look now, I wonder how many people can spot me. Should be fun to know that.

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