TECHNOLOGY - LibreOffice

If you use or need an office suite, it's worth considering LibreOffice. There are a number of reasons for this and some of them may surprise you.

Microsoft Office (MS Office) undoubtedly remains the most widely used office suite today. I say 'most widely used' rather than 'most popular' because so many people have criticisms of it. The most unpopular feature is probably 'The Ribbon' that provides access to the multitude of commands and features.

Other major criticisms are the sheer bulk of the program code, the considerable purchase cost, slow loading and performance, cost of upgrading to newer versions, and the licencing terms.



What are the alternatives? There are some other commercial offerings but these still have some of the same issues and do cost money, albeit it often less than the price of MS Office.

But you may not realise there are two free alternatives with a comprehensive range of features. OpenOffice and LibreOffice are both freely downloadable, you can give copies away to friends, families and colleagues (this is legal and encouraged), there are versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux (LibreOffice comes as standard with Ubuntu and many other versions of Linux).

OpenOffice and LibreOffice have a common history but LibreOffice is beginning to look like the front runner. Check out Google's list of review articles on LibreOffice.

I strongly urge you to give LibreOffice a try. It's free, so what have you got to lose? It contains everything you need - word processor, spreadsheet, business presentation, graphics, maths editor, and database. All are built to professional standards, can load and save in a range of file types (including MS Office formats), can save PDFs, are regularly updated and upgrades are, of course, free. If you need more information, take a peek at the manuals and user guides (you might like to start with the introduction).

TECHNOLOGY - Reusable rockets

SpaceX is an innovative space launch company with a number of impressive 'firsts' to their name and a large order book of reservations for satellite launches on their Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 vehicles.

The company was founded by Elon Musk using capital earned by his earlier IT businesses, particularly PayPal which was sold in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Musk's share was more than 10% enabling him to start SpaceX as well as the electric car company, Tesla.

In September 2008 Falcon 1 achieved earth orbit, the first time a privately owned company had orbited a liquid fuelled rocket. All previous successes were by the government programs of a variety of nations.

In June 2010 Falcon 9, a much larger vehicle, also flew successfully to orbit. And in December 2010 Falcon 9 flew again, this time carrying a Dragon capsule which completed two orbits, successfully re-entered, splashed down and was recovered. This was another first for a private company.



A heavy rocket is planned (Falcon 9 Heavy) and a demonstration flight to dock Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) is due in 2012.

But now, SpaceX has announced plans for full reusability. If they can pull this off it will be an utter game-changer, reducing the cost to orbit by perhaps 100 times.

Elon's recent presentation to the US National Press Club explains the reason for the attempt to operate a reusable rocket. His long term goal is nothing less than to colonise Mars. This might sound crazy, but he has a track record of doing things that were thought to be impossible. So maybe he will succeed. If anyone can, Elon and SpaceX can!

IMAGE - Balloon over St Neots

(Click the photo for a larger view)

Balloon near the end of a flight - Photo taken 30th September 2011

We spotted this Virgin hot air balloon looking for a suitable landing site almost passing over our house in Eaton Ford, St Neots. The evening sunlight illuminates the western side of the envelope and the pilot is burning gas to gain height.

Click the 'image' label below to see other image posts.

RESPONSE - Invisibility coat

'How do you become invisible? Just try wearing a 'Big Issue' seller's jacket.' This is one of the provocative thoughts in Chris Duffett's presentation, 'A Gospel for the City Centre'.

Listening to what Chris had to say in the video I was struck by how uncomplicated his message is. Why do we make church so difficult and messy? It's really not a big deal, or perhaps I should say that it IS a very big deal in one way, but not in another.

The creator of the universe has come to town and plans to make his home in me - and in you. Now that's a big deal!

But he wants us to respond in very simple ways, by making our home amongst anyone and everyone round about. We're not supposed to turn this into a programme or create an organisation, we're just to be there for people. Love them, be open and welcoming, listen, care about their problems, help them find their own solutions. It's often not our solutions and fixes that people want, it's our time. They don't need my opinion, but they crave my ear, my heart, and my attention.

Just read the Bible accounts of what Jesus did and said as he travelled from town to town. See how he interacted with people. See how present he was in their anxieties and woes, triumphs and joys. See how he brought peace and comfort and life to them. 'Come to me if you're struggling and heavily crushed; I'll give you rest.' (Matthew 11:28)

The 'ichthus' symbol

You may be wondering about the symbol you'll see on JHM websites - this pizza thing - what is it and why is it here?

(JHM websites include Cruising the gospel and Journeys of heart and mind.)

The clue is the Greek word 'Ichthus' which means 'fish' and was used by Jesus' early followers as a symbol on a house or a door. The same idea is still used today, you'll sometimes notice a car with a stylised fish sticker - it just means 'we follow Jesus'.

The ichthus icon

The round symbol is what you get if you write out the Greek letters for Ichthus but instead of side by side you write them all on top of one another. Here's a list of the letters, can you see each one in the 'pizza' shape?

• Ι - Iota - the vertical bar
• χ - Chi - the 'X' bars
• θ - Theta - the outer circle and horizontal bar
• Υ- Upsilon - three half bars
• Σ - Sigma - two circle arcs and two half bars

What's more, these are the first letters of the Greek words 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour' - Ἰησοῦς Χριστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ (Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter).

Neat, isn't it! Were those ancient Greeks clever, or were they clever?

The logo image and the Greek characters in the Journeys of heart and mind banner are taken from a real example nearly 2000 years old from the city of Ephesus. The orange lines are chalk markings added to the incised pattern on the stone to make the shapes more visible.

Here's a link to an additional image, showing the stone in situ.

See also:

• The Wikipedia article on Ichthus.

A new look for 'All about Jesus'

It's good to refresh things now and again, whether it's church, the decor, lifestyle or just a website.

The appearance of 'All about Jesus' has been fixed for a very long time. So welcome to the new look! Under the bonnet (as we say in the UK) nothing has changed. The content is the same but it's been poured into a fresh container.

A word about the banner and the little icon that appears on your browser's tab - this pizza thing - what is it and why is it here?

The clue is the Greek word 'Ichthus' which you can see in the banner. 'Ichthus' means 'fish' and it was used by Jesus' early followers as a symbol on a house or a door. The same idea is still used today, you'll sometimes notice a car with a stylised fish sticker - it just means 'we follow Jesus'.

The round symbol is what you get if you write out the Greek letters for Ichthus but instead of side by side you write them all on top of one another. Here's a list of the letters, can you see each one in the 'pizza' shape?

For fuller details read the 'ichthus' article.

See also: Changing the website, Enjoy the view