Very excited – new phone in the post. SHould be here Weds.
I have to say that ever since I strayed from the One True Way (Sony Ericsson) I’ve been a bit disappointed with my phones. I got a Samsung P300 (weird calculator phone) several years ago, which was very cool in terms of size, battery life, and features – but a pig to use because the UI was horrendous. Right up the day I retired it, I often pressed the wrong button in response to a UI prompt.
I then jumped ship to 3 (largely because of free ‘unlimited’ Internet) and got an INQ1 (the Facebook phone), which in many ways I like a lot. The Facebook/Skype/Messenger/Phonebook integration is very nice – but it is also very irritating. Firstly it’s S…L….O……W. I mean really slow. It’s not unusual for the whole phone to freeze up for 10 or 15 seconds, sometimes in the middle of a text message. You can never be fully confident about whether you’ve pressed a button or not – and then of course it suddenly catches up with itself and you end up phoning Barack Obama, or something.
Then there’s the Facebook integration, which is good in many ways, but then you actually try to do something that seems obvious – and you can’t! For instance, look at the Facebook homepage. “James has been tagged in an album”. Try and click on it to see the album – no can do. Have to either try and find it via the “Photos” tab, or via the contact’s profile who posted it.
I like that it’s an MP3 player, and the music reproduction is fine. But the playlist management is awful. Got all my toons in one ma-husive playlist. It takes literally 2 minutes to go from selecting it to being ready to play the first track. And the shuffle is appalling – it’s not unusual to hear the same song 2 or 3 times in a few hours, and then not hear others on the list for weeks (and we’re talking several Gb of music here).
So anyway, I’m in the “upgrade” zone, and I’ve decided to return to the nest, and plumped for an SE W995 (one the “walkman” phones). I’ve had my eye on a walkman phone for a while, and this one ticks all the boxes I currently want to tick in a phone:
Quad band, 3G
Camera
Wifi
GPS
FM Radio
Java (goes without saying really)
E-mail & browser
MP3, with 3.5mm jack
I came very very close to going for an HTC Hero, but it doesn’t have FM radio. Plus I just “get on” with the SE interface. I’ve yet to have a Sony Ericsson I haven’t liked.
I think my next phone will finally replace my aging Palm Tungsten – I don’t think the W995 is quite up to that task yet, maybe the Hero would have been?
Oh dear. The Church does get itself in a stew, doesn’t it?
I’ll be honest – I struggled with the ordination of women. My understanding of the Bible was that women should not be in a position of leadership over men. However having met women who seem genuinely called and gifted for the Ministry, and who are annointed leaders, plus a re-examining of the scripture, I have to say I’ve changed my tune.
I believe it is quite possible to make a coherent case for not ordaining women. It’s also possible to make a coherent case for ordaining women, and it is this latter position that I’ve come to believe holds more weight. That combined with the fact that I’m not sure it’s actually a core issue. Did Jesus die and rise again? Was/is He the Son of God. These are core issues. The other stuff is important, yes, but secondary.
What I can’t see is tenable is to say you can ordain women to be deacons and priests, but not bishops. Or indeed, that you can ordain them to be bishops, but not “real” bishops.
The Church of England has decided that women can be ordained. Therefore they should be ordained to every office (including ABC) as led by the Spirit.
The problem is that there are those within the CofE who conscientiously dissent from this view. Most pressingly are those who have given up their livelihoods to serve the church, i.e. the stipendary clergy. These are people who passionately believe women should not be in leadership above men, and who entered a life of ministry and service on that understanding.
Equally, there are women who pressingly feel called in ministry, whose way is being barred by said dissenters.
So who wins? The men who don’t want women, or the women who do?
My 2p is to take a long term view, and accept that in many ways we are just a cog in history. Pass a 40th Article that states all ordinands must support the ordination of women, and be willing to submit to their authority, before they can be ordained.
Then wait for 40 years until every current deacon, priest, or bishop has retired. Lo and behold, no further opposition or need for Episcopal Oversight or any of that nonsense.
Men who feel called to the ministry, but dissent from the official position of the CofE on women need to find a new home (it’s called submitting to the leadership). But equally, no one who has given their life to the ministry on the ‘old’ position is forced (unfairly) to either change their views or leave the church.
The Big Problem with this, is that we effectively “write off” a generation of women leaders from the ministry, and you could say that a generation of male leaders “get their way”. I suppose I would say that the CofE has not had ordained women for 500 years (longer before that as the Catholic church) – for the sake of unity and moving forward together could we give it another 40? But I don’t know that can we really ask a generation of women to lead by example and make this sacrifice?
I’m sure it wouldn’t take as long as 40 years. I’d be surprised if any candidate for ordination today can be against the ordination of women, given the reality of women priests and the no-doubt imminent reality of women bishops. Plus I think it’s increasingly rare for ordinands to be much under 25 or 30 (although I don’t have stats to back that up).
I’m not so self-unaware to not realise that I’m writing this as a man. I’m happy inviting an entire generation of would-be women leaders to make a sacrifice that I don’t have to. I suppose all I can say is that Christianity, and leadership, is fundmentally rooted in service and sacrifice. In some ways while “sides” exist at all, let alone trying to get their own way, we are failing as the body of Christ…
When I was on a stag weekend last year, conversation turned to music (as so often it does), and for some reason we started talking about bass breaks.
A bass break is where all the other instruments stop for a bit while the bass does it’s funky stuff.
For some reason this discussion really captured my imagination, and I have been pondering it ever since. Of course, as soon as I think of a song I forget it again – so here’s my attempt to draw up a list. I imagine this will be a kind of rolling edit job.
Oh yes, and the domain is pop songs (i.e. songs which have been in the charts).
Call me Al – Paul Simon
Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
Breakthru – Queen [Thanks to Steve]
And my close, but no cigar list
Higher and higher – Jackie Wilson (starts with just the bass – doesn’t count as a break)
I’m a believer – Monkees (does have a funky bass bit, but the percussion is still going)
Oh dear, 2 songs. That’s rubbish. I know I’ve thought of about 5 more, but they escape me.
First edit already. On the way to work I’m sure there’s tracks by these guys which I can’t quite remember: Queen, Beach Boys, Blondie.
I’m really enjoying the recent revival of the Doctor Who series. David Tenant was, IMO, the best Doctor by a country mile, and several of his episodes instantly stood out as classics.
Admittedly I only came on board with the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker, who is my second fave).
One of the things that stood out for me with the Ninth and Tenth Doctor was the quality of the writing and acting. Stephen Moffat episodes in particular stand out (The Empty Child / Doctor Dances, Girl in the fireplace, and the frankly matchless Blink), so I was quite excited when he took on the mantle of executive producer.
My favourite episodes are the clever ones which either mess with your head, or actually use the fact they are all time travellers (which is why I like Blink quite so much).
To say I’ve been disappointed so far with series 5 and Matt Smith would be overstating, but with series 1-4 there were things I liked, and things I loved, whereas so far with Series 5 there are things I like, and things I don’t like..
So in true nerdy spirit, here’s what I like / don’t like!
Things I like about the Eleventh Doctor
The new Tardis – lovely set, and I love the underneath/glass floor thing.
Amy Pond – Karen Gillen is simply beautiful and adorable, and seems to be almost as clever as the Doctor. But see also “don’t like”
Rory Williams, who after some initial promise currently seems a bit pointless as a character.
The fact it’s on at all!
Amy’s Choice was a great episode.
Things I don’t like
The Eleventh Doctor. While I like Matt Smith, his character doesn’t really inspire confidence.
In your face CGI. Frankly unnecessary and unwanted.
Sex. This is easily the most sexualised session (even allowing for Jack Harkness) – Amy wears a belt, I mean skirt, than doesn’t cover anything, and the Doctors previous ‘encounters’ come up every 5 minutes. If I want aliens and sex, I’ll watch Torchwood.
Continuity issues – always contentious, but:
How come the Angels can look at one another now?
How do people pre the 80s know the Timelords are ‘extinct’ when it hasn’t happened yet?
Unsubtle story arcs – these were generally done beautifully in series 1-4.. you almost didn’t realise they were happening. So far the crack in time has been shoved in like a half-brick in a sock. The “Bad Wolf” thing was in your face, but it was the first time it had been done, so we didn’t know what it was about.
There have also been some very thought-provoking quotes (for me as a Christian) by/about the Doctor. I paraphrase a little ‘cos I can’t remember them exactly.
Doctor: If I always told you the truth, you wouldn’t have to trust me
Doctor: The only person who hates me as much as you in the entire universe is me.
Rory: You’re so dangerous because you make people want to impress you.
For the last 7 or 8 years, I’ve been on a half-hearted weight loss programme.
My nominal target is 70kg, which is the weight I was when I got married, but since 2002 (when I started keeping track) it has dithered around the 80kg mark. For my height, a healthy range is 63.4kg – 78.9kg, so I’ve been technically overweight.
Anyway in the last few months it’s suddenly taken hold, and I seem to be shedding pounds.
This morning’s score was 76kg, which is the lowest it’s been since I started records (the highest being 82.5, not far off January’s 81). The previous low was 77, back in May 2005 – interestingly at the same time of year.
I think starting climbing again regularly has been the spur. I’m aware of how much extra weight I’m having to haul around, compared with when I was climbing regularly 16 years ago. Of course, climbing itself is not an insigificant expenditure of energy, and once a week is probably enough to have an impact. Finally, I’ve stopped having milk in coffee (initially for Lent, but now I’m just in the habit) – which doesn’t feel like it should make a difference, but maybe does?
To be honest I’m not really trying. I’m generally avoiding snacks, trying to control portion size, and having puddings infrequently – but more as a general approach to healthy eating, rather than dieting particularly. I also don’t really have a target at which point I’m going to change my eating habits.. although I suppose I may relax the rules a little?
Incidentally my records are rubbish. I have data on average once every 6 weeks, but frequently with gaps of a year or more. 🙂
I haven’t really got anything to say, but it’s something like 6 weeks since I last posted anything up, which feels like a bit of a poor show.
I guess the exciting topic around at the moment is British politics. Extraordinary (and very encouraging IMO) developments in the political world. I have to say I was disheartended by the Tory majority. I am a significant distance away from Conservative policies, and I thought another Tory government would be disasterous for the country as a whole.
At present, I’m eating my words. I’m stunned that David Cameron has so effectively and decisively formed a collalition government. I’m surprised at the compromises he has made to form it, and his willingness to enter a new era of politics. Any any leader who can stand in front of the press and say:
And if it means swallowing some humble pie, and if it means eating some of your words, I cannot think of a more excellent diet.
makes me sit up and take notice.
On the subject of food, the proof of the pudding is in the eating – but I’m genuinely optimistic that politics is changing (for the better), and that in Cameron and Clegg we may have a safe pair of hands…
With the announcement that Ordnance Survey have released OS Open Data (basically, most of their map data for free (as in speech and beer), I decided to see if I could supercharge my Magellan Explorist 210 with street level mapping.
Turns out to be non-trivial, especially on 64 bit Windows 7!
That said, I have managed it, and what I had to do was as follows:
Obtain MobileMapper Office. You can download v3.40 from ftp.promagellangps.com, or version 2.70 if you search the net hard enough. The chief difference is apparently that 3.40 requires the GPS device to be plugged in.
Install it, then tweak MMOffice.ini to add the line
Byte_Order=1 in the [DEVICE_DEFAULTS] if you have an explorist.(refer to msh tools for more info).
Pop across to OS Open Data, and download Meridian 2 in ShapeFile format.
While you’re waiting for the e-mail from the OS, download and install FW Tools – you’ll need it for a data transform later.
That’s the easy bit. You now have all the data and software required. The next bit is to transform the data to WGS84, import into MMO, export as a detailed map, convert to Explorist, and chuck onto the device.
I decided I wanted the entire set of roads in my GPS – you may decide otherwise.
Extract the Meridian 2, and take a copy of
a_road_polyline
b_road_polyline
minor_rd_polyline
motorway_polyline
In each case, you need all 5 files with the same base name.
Fire up an FWTools command window, and run the following command for each of the 4 files you just copied:
ogr2ogr -t_srs WGS84 wgs84 a_road_polyline.shp
This says transform the source file (a_road_polyline) into WGS84, and save the new file into a folder call wgs84.
This step is required because MMO doesn’t seem to handle British National Grid properly – I was getting errors of around 50 to 100m in my street locations when I did a straight import from the OS supply.
Fire up MMO.
Tools / Background maps
Vector Maps
Map Editor
Layer / Add
Choose one of the 4 road files.
Double click on new layer to bring up the properties, and change the Display Attribute to be ROAD_NAME
Fiddle with the scale if you want. I found that for minor roads an appropriate setting was 1:25k. On my device the colour, width, etc, don’t seem to make any difference, but it’s nice to do for display in MMO.
OK
Repeat from step (iv) for the other 3 files
Save if you want to
Operations / Create Map (and go and make a cuppa)
Close the Map Editor window.
Highlight the new map, and Attach Map
OK
You should now be able to see the full street set (you may have to zoom a long way in if you set a large scale).
The whole road network is too large for my GPS, so I had select a region to export.
Tools / Create Region
Draw the rectangle of the subset of roads you wish to upload.
Right click to make it stick
File / Upload to GPS / Background Map
Store on Hard Drive
Finish (and make a cuppa)
Now fire up MMOconverter.exe
Input/output file on my machine is C:\Program Files (x86)\MobileMapper Office\Export\Images\NewMap.imi
Plug in your Explorist, select USB transfer, and copy the file NewMap.imi into the “Detailed Maps” folder.
Unplug the Explorist, go to Menu / Active Map / Detail Maps / Select Map and choose “NewMap”
Enjoy!
All due credit to the OS for giving away their data, and also to msh-tools, without whom I wouldn’t have been able to even get started.
Ash Wednesday rolls around once more. I’m sure it’s quicker each year!
Each Lent I try and be a bit creative about giving something up. Without intending to be pompous, I think that self-denial is an important discipline, and Lent gives us a little opportunity each year to practise. I generally fail miserably in my Lenten disciplines, but usually because I forget I’m not meant to be eating chocolate (or whatever), rather than lack of willpower per se.
This year my wife challenged me to give up “escapism”. Interesting idea, but for me not really specific enough. What would this include, or not include? I suppose an ideal Lent would be giving up something that had a specific intention behind it – so I eat chocolate to make me feel good when I’m down, so I’m giving up that “crutch”. On that grounds it fits, but too hard to work out in practice, I feel.
So instead I’ve decided to give up Science Fiction! I’m a bit of a sci-fi nut, and am always glued to Dr Who etc. It puts Avatar out of the frame, for example (really should have seen it by now anyway).
The other point of giving something up is Bigger Picture stuff. If you deny yourself something you quite like, not only does it strengthen your resolve, but it also reminds you of why you’re doing it every time you don’t have it. So on a less esoteric note, I’m also going to give up milk in tea and coffee. I really like milky coffee, so each time I have a bitter black one, it will remind me that it’s Lent, and all that Jesus gave up when he was around.
The other movement I think is fab is taking something up for Lent. Like smiling to 3 people a day, or talking to a neighbour once a week, or picking up litter everytime you see it. This is a far more positive approach, and in one sense you are giving up some habit or pattern you’d got into.
