July 2009

On Saturday (August 1st) International Clown Week begins. In joyful recognition of these apocalyptic people - “Blessed are the bozos!” - here is William Stringfellow on his “sojourn with the circus”:
“It is only since putting aside childish things that it has come to my mind so forcefully - and so gladly - that [...]

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I heard it from Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion. And he read it on World Net Daily.
Let’s face it. It must be true.

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Fijian blogs are reporting that the Methodist Church in Fiji has decided not to go ahead with its Conference.
Coup Four and a Half
There is uncertainty and confusion tonight regarding the status of the Methodist Church conference planned for Lomanikoro in Rewa, in a month’s time.
In their major news bulletin late this afternoon, the pro-regime station [...]

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While I was ‘on the road’ yesterday, I listened several times to the report from the Food Standards Agency whose research reckons to show that organic food offers no health benefits.
I think they’re wrong.
The research was essentially a review of previous studies done over the last 50 years. It’s a respectable methodology, but in my [...]

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Anna Drew is ashamed to be an Anglican. maggi dawn is “bothered” for the same reason. I’ll let Anna explain why:
Blackburn Cathedral is offering two types of Holy Communion wafer to worshippers - one blessed by a woman, and another blessed by a man (for those who simply “can’t” in “good conscience” accept a woman’s [...]

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After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, a man from BT came to fix my phone line. The wire from the pole to the house was at least 30 years old, probably more like 40, and needed to be renewed hence the second man in the cherrypicker.
Anyway, ’tis done. Phones. Broadband. I’ll never take it [...]

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Real Live Preacher :: What I like about the Mac. This happy Mac user isn’t arguing.
Microsoft are still placing catch-up with Google. Serves them right for refusing to take the internet seriously.
Ian’s Messy Desk offers tips for choosing a good password.

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The White House may or may not like Twitter but it appears that the flavour of the month microblogging service is now officially endorsed by the UK government.
New government guidance has been published urging civil servants to use the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Launched on the Cabinet Office website, the 20-page document is calling on departments to [...]

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When I was growing up, jet cars were supposed to have become everyday transport by now. Now it seems that this come a step closer to reality, after a fashion. Bizarrely, it comes as part of the search for greener road transport.
Motortrend report that Israeli engineers have rebuilt a Toyota Prius, replacing its piston engine [...]

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An atheist summer camp is to be held near Bath, offering 24 children a summer break “free of religious dogma”.
The camp, supported by scientist Richard Dawkins, plans to expand after receiving hundreds of inquiries.
The event has been set up by Samantha Stein, a postgraduate psychology student from London.
She said: “It is not about changing [...]

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There’s a bit of buzz around the blogosphere heralding the publication of Influence of the Southern Oscillation on tropospheric temperature in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Why? Because this paper claims to demonstrate that climate change has nothing to do with CO2 and is caused entirely by natural processes. For example, Watts Up With That [...]

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Until yesterday, this was a tree that was too tall for my front garden.

Until yesterday, these dangling copper wires came into my house to provide telephone and internet services.
The two photos are not unconnected.
Unlike my phone.

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In view of his divided soccer loyalties, David Beckham is booed in Los Angeles. In the wake of the expenses scandal, MPs are held in public contempt. And the Royal Family, Her Majesty excepted, has long been the object of lampoon. There is only one place to go for heroes: the soldiers.
But [...]

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THY faithfulness, Lord, Each moment we find,
So true to thy word, So loving and kind!
Thy mercy so tender To all the lost race,
The foulest offender May turn and find grace.
The mercy I feel To others I show,
I set to my seal That Jesus is true:
Ye all may find favour Who come at his call,
O come [...]

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Prayers requested as Fijian church leaders arrested
The British Methodist Church is calling on Christians to pray for the Methodist Church in Fiji following the arrests of seven Church leaders by Fiji’s military government.

Earlier this week the church leaders, including the general secretary and two former presidents, were arrested and held for questioning in relation [...]

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I’ve just received an invitation to beta-test Wetoku, a clever webapp that enables the recording of video interviews via the web. I’d like to test it out, but it’s not so easy on my own.
Anyone with a webcam that would like to give it a go, leave a comment!

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From the Methodist Church News Service
A Methodist minister will be offering visitors to Trafalgar Square a touch of midweek spirituality as he leads a worship service from the fourth plinth, alongside Nelson’s Column and the imposing facade of the National Gallery.
From 9-10am on Tuesday 28 July, Revd Ken Chalmers, from Castle Cary in Somerset, [...]

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Bene Diction rails against a Canadian citizen being used in the US political row over healthcare
To hear the Canadian tell it, if it hadn’t been for the Mayo Clinic, she’d be dead.
She’s lying and getting paid to do it, and she is also doing the talk show circuit in the US for PatientsUntiedNow.
She [...]

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Israeli telecoms company Cellcom has created a bit of fuss with this advert:

I understand the offense and irritation it has caused, but it is the sort of message that mobile phone companies are wont to use: “We’re better connected”, that sort of thing.
But look what happens when a group of Palestinians try to recreate the [...]

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