I've used Paypal for payment processing in the past - they charge just over 3% as a transaction fee - this covers the cost for their services and the credit card transaction fees. They've got tons of features, and its easy to add buttons to your website and start selling things, including memberships, subscriptions, and download-able or shippable goods.

Google payments has these things in it's favor:

• No fees through the end of the year
• No fees for non profits until 2009 (they just started working with non-profits)
  
• Automatic direct-deposit of funds within 48 hours
• They won't work with porn sites.
  

They don't do re-curring payments, and selling subscriptions with Google is right out of the question, but especially for rendered services and donations for non-profits, it's a great new option.

(Say that title ten times fast)

"Lying is sin."

I challenged for the sake of clarification, "But what's the definition of a lie?"

It started as "saying something that isn't true is a lie, and that is always wrong"

and ended as "saying something that isn't true, or withholding any part of the whole truth is a lie, and it's always wrong unless you're not comfortable revealing all of the truth (if someone asks you too personal of questions) or you think that lying will lead to a greater good (protecting someone from harm)."

I don't think anyone was happy with the beginning or the ending definition. What surprised me is how a very straightforward and harsh moral guard dog became a soft, comforting little kitten.


I see the problem in two ways that are a pattern from Eden.

1. We re-define God's laws. Eve told the serpent God did say the couldn't eat from this tree, or even touch it. (She added the part about touching it.) In our case, I'm convinced that God is far more concerned about deception than lying.
2. We justify breaking God's laws. Eve saw that the fruit was "useful for obtaining wisdom" - how can obtaining wisdom be wrong? And when is wanting to be like God bad? Isn't that what we're called to do? In our case, we justified lying and deception, though mostly in reaction to our poor defintion of what part of lying/deception is wrong.
   

I Just got my new Blackberry cellphone, and I'm writing this blog post
from said phone. It's taking me a little long, not because of the
small keyboard but because my wife found out I'm doing this and is
beating me for being such a nerd.

I'm glad I didn't check the stove when I heard the weird noise.

A few minutes earlier I had turned on a burner to boil some water for tea, then went upstairs to get ready for my commute to work. I heard some popping from the stove downstairs and though about checking, but figured something probably just spilled on the burner and was popping as it heated up.

A then I heard the glass shattering.



I had turned on the wrong burner.



On this other burner was a large glass dish, which had heated up and exploded, shooting glass shrapnel across to all corners of the kitchen. If I had gone down to check when I heard the popping noises, I would have gotten shot with red-hot splinters of glass.