23 June 2008

Greener, better, more convenient

Green PlugWe all know the current system is crazy. We all have a cupboard full of power adapters, leads tangled together, we all know how easy it is to mislay that essential adaptor for the mobile phone, the camera, or the laptop. Aarrggghhhh! But we accept it because there has been no alternative; but now there is.

Green Plug have a good solution whereby devices can communicate with a standard, 'intelligent' power supply. The device sends data on the voltage it requires and lets the supply know when it is fully charged (so the charger can stop sending power). Every compliant device can use the standard charger.

Simpler, more efficient in use, less clutter in the cupboard, less unnecessary manufacturing. It's better in so many ways.

18 June 2008

One-wheeled motorcycle

A what?!!

Yes - a one-wheeled motorcycle. It's electrically powered and strictly speaking it does have two wheels, but they're side-by-side. This machine is really a sort of souped-up Segway, but don't take my word for it. Read the original article and for much more information, an article in Motorcycle Mojo.

Riding this around the streets could be quite dangerous. Not because of losing control or falling off but simply because other road users would be so distracted they might simply drive into one another.

I'd love to see this in action, and I'd really enjoy trying it out myself. Surprisingly, the idea of a one-wheeled vehicle goes back at least to the 1950s when Frank Hampson imagined the world of Dan Dare. One-wheeled, gyroscopically balancing cars featured in his illustrations.

I wonder if these will be coming to a showroom near me any time soon?

07 June 2008

Musical advert - amazing!

This advert by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra is amazing. The musical staves become a... No! I'm not telling you what they become, you'll have to view the video for yourself. I emailed the link to a bunch of friends and some of the comments so far are, 'Raise a pint of beer to creativity! Incredible!', 'I felt quite sick by the end but agree it is fun.', and 'Thanks, Chris - made me quite giddy!'

06 June 2008

Posting to a blog from email

It's great to see that this is now a standard part of Blogger. I can just send an email to my blog address and it pops into the right place in seconds. It's a very easy way to update your blog, highly recommended.

Back to blogging

I'm getting back to this blog after a long, long absence. Blogger's management and editing systems have all changed so this is just a check to see how (if) it all works.

20 March 2008

Eaton Ford - Leaf and plough

< 14th March 2008 | Index | 29th June 2008 >

This evening we were led to a song and some thoughts about growing. We listened to the rain on the roof and thought about ploughing. The main thrust of the meeting was spiritual growth.

We listened to Chris de Burgh's song from 1988, 'Just a Word Away'. Although it's not a Christian song it gives an insight into the way Father feels when a person first believes and is 'born again'. The words are appropriate and the music is quiet, peaceful, and exquisitely gentle.

Green leaves on a treeDonna pointed out that our growth as believers is like a child's growth, it happens daily although we can't detect it, but when we look back over a longer period we can see that we have been changed. However, we can't usually identify particular times when we 'suddenly grew'.

Chris said that we grow like a leaf. A leaf develops from a small bud, then spreads out and stretches and grows and becomes a more definite shade of green. The mature leaf provides the tree with nourishment. Sometimes we might think we do nothing useful, but without any leaves the tree couldn't grow and would eventually die. Our contribution to the church is just like that, it may seem insignificant, but if there were no believers the church itself would no longer exist.

Rachael added that there are two sides to spiritual life. There is growth in good things (like the leaf), but there's also a stripping away of what's not worthy in his sight. Those unworthy aspects of our lives will not survive, they will be destroyed. Chris drew our attention to the wind and rain that we could hear so clearly outside. He said that if he made a leaf out of paper or plastic it wouldn't survive very long outside in the wind and rain. A real leaf is different, remarkably resilient because it's alive. We can cope with the difficulties and challenges of life only because we're alive with his life. Rachael mentioned the process of birth in which a baby is brought from darkness into the light. It takes a long time for the process to be completed so the baby is adapted to the new environment. Maybe it takes us much longer then we expect before we are fully ready for the new life that's ours in Christ. It's a process.

Ploughing the soilRachael also shared a picture of an old-fashioned plough making furrows. The soil needs to be churned up and overturned before something new can be grown. There is a necessary process of breaking before the land can be used. It seemed to Chris that the breaking process is extremely important. It turns hard ground into soft, workable soil. It releases great richness too, so much that the birds follow along behind the plough and there are rich pickings for them! And the weeds that would choke the new crop are destroyed. Breaking is important. We need to be broken just as much as we need to grow. This made Rachael think of the expression 'breaking the mould' which she thought might come from the idea of getting a finished article out of the mould it was made in. In turn this reminded Chris of Michelangelo who once said that a beautiful sculpture was already inside the block of stone, and carving it was just a matter of releasing it for all to see.

The Lord gave Rachael a prophecy. 'Every step someone takes towards me cannot be lost again. That in itself is worth rejoicing over. You make one small step here and another step there, and before you know it you find you have walked 100 yards!' We were reminded of the way a baby learns to walk, at first there's just a single step, before long several steps in a row, and soon the young child is running and jumping.

We'd been talking about a sunrise meeting that some friends are planning. People use the phrase 'something dawned on me' to mean that the thing was illuminated in their mind. During dawn, the light becomes visible. Dawn is a new beginning, a new day, a new start, a new life. The Lord said, 'Let there be light' and there ''was'' light.

Chris read Genesis 1:1-4 and John 1:1-5. Both these famous texts mention the separation of light from the darkness. Darkness cannot comprehend the light, the enemy cannot win and doesn't even understand what is going on.

< 14th March 2008 | Index | 29th June 2008 >

Copyright

Creative Commons Licence

© 2002-2022, Chris J Jefferies

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. A link to the relevant article on this site is sufficient attribution. If you print the material please include the URL. Thanks! Click through photos for larger versions. Images from Wikimedia Commons will then display the original copyright information.
Real Time Web Analytics