iPhone Hacking

So when Nullriver released their '1 step' Installer.app I had to give it a try. As I had hoped it went off without a hitch. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Nullriver released a script that does all the hacking for you (breaking the phone 'out of jail' to unlock it) and then installs their Installer.app. It only takes about 10-15 minutes and once that is complete you have a Package installer on your phone much like you would find in Linux. It points to a few different development sites where applications and customizations are being rolled out.

So far I've been able to install a Terminal, Finder, OpenSSH, LightsOut! (a nicely ported logic game), Launcher (an app that gives you a nice menu of all your installed applications), RSS, and rSBT (an app that allows me to move the icons around on the iPhones SpringBoard). A few of the new applications can be seen in the picture.

The phone still works like a charm and I've seen no 'side-effects' of these customizations. Obviously there is one application that's still missing. The phone needs an IM client. I've heard that Apple will be developing something for the phone along the lines of iChat but we're still waiting on that one and odds are that it won't allow you to connect to MS Messenger, ICQ, or Yahoo!. So I'm still looking for something akin to Adium. One developer is working on a solution but they're not there yet.

Museum fight bites bureau

The stir over the Creation Museum is causing some trouble for the Northern Kentucky Convention & Visitors Bureau. The description posted on their site describes the pseudo-museum as,

"This 'walk through history' museum will counter evolutionary natural history museums that turn countless minds against Christ and Scripture."

Daniel Phelps, paleontology society president, has a bit a problem with this statement.

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Mother Teresa's Crisis

So the woman who is on the fast track to sainthood spent most of her life in misery doubting that god cared about her or that he even existed. In a new book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, letters and confessions from the Missionary of Charity over her 66 year life's work show a tormented woman.

Alone ... Where is my Faith — even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness — My God — how painful is this unknown pain — I have no Faith — I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart — & make me suffer untold agony.

The Vatican sent confessors to 'help' her with this crisis and only encouraged her to continue the work. It was their belief (or maybe their wish) that she was 'blessed' to be able to suffer like Jesus did and that it is a beautiful message that a woman having such a crisis of faith would continue to do this holy work. I'm not sure being in total misery for 66 years counts as a crisis of faith. Here is a woman believed to be extremely holy and blessed and you're saying that god rewarded her by making her suffer for most of her life?

The article in Time is lengthy but worth a read to see what the woman was like behind the mask she wore.

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U.S. Headed For Fiscal Crisis?

David Walker, US Comptroller General paints a pretty bleak picture on his 'Fiscal Wakeup Tour'. "We suffer from a fiscal cancer. It is growing within us," says Walker. Big surprise that he mentions how the President and Republican Congress made things much worse with their expanded Medicare plan to include prescription drugs.

This is just sad.

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