The Scottish Reformation: A Work of God

The Scottish Reformation: A Work of God. A free MP3 available on KnightswoodChurch.org

The Scottish Reformation: Its Relevance for Today

The Scottish Reformation: Its Relevance for Today, free MP3 on KnightswoodChurch.org.

This is a test of a plugin, trying to post to this blog from it.

What is Euthanasia? What are its implications?

A talk on Euthanasia by Dr Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics. In the first few minutes he quite clearly defines all the different medical options and the legality of them all.

Is Euthanasia a Death in Dignity from Ian Bannerman on Vimeo.

Blatant Propagandizing by the BBC?

I enjoyed the BBC’s Inside the Perfect Predator for two-thirds of the program. We were treated to a feast of visual effects, stunning film and an informative voiceover; a cheetah’s back arches in both directions so it has a 7m stride – that means it’s in the air more time than on the ground while sprinting.

We were led through each animal’s preparation for their attack, the attack, and then even the digestion afterwards – the Nile crocodile can have 25kg of meat in its stomach at once. We got some nice statistics; the peregrine falcon has a 20% strike rate.

Unfortunately, the program decided to bring climate change into everything. The examples provided gave a subtle implication to this being the fault of man, as each example provided was our direct influence.

• The shark is suffering because of climate change, the clip shown is of one tangled in a fishing net!
• Cheetahs too are suffering because of climate change; farming is encroaching on their land and they’re being shot!
• The Nile croc has survived since the dinosaurs, and through ice ages, so they suggest that he’s alright despite *cough* the raging droughts and evils associated with climate change *cough*.
• The urban Peregrine Falcon, however, is thriving.

The climate was mentioned for each, but the real causes hinted at were all man’s influence. It made me wonder, do we know of any kind of animal in the last 500 years which has gone extinct for any reason other than hunting or man’s direct influence?

The unanswered question they were resolving, “Who is the Perfect Predator?”, they judged to be the one that best adapts to man’s presence.
What do you think, is that really the correct characteristic to be measuring?
Some may not consider it “propagandizing”, but I did think the tone of the program suddenly switched from “check out these cool animals” to “oh dear, the climate and man are bad for these beasts and their babies”.

A funny story

Shlemiel gets a job as a street painter, painting the dotted lines down the middle of the road. On the first day he takes a can of paint out to the road and finishes 300 yards of the road. “That’s pretty good!” says his boss, “you’re a fast worker!” and pays him a kopeck. The next day Shlemiel only gets 150 yards done.

“Well, that’s not nearly as good as yesterday, but you’re still a fast worker. 150 yards is respectable,” and pays him a kopeck.

The next day Shlemiel paints 30 yards of the road. “Only 30!” shouts his boss. “That’s unacceptable! On the first day you did ten times that much work! What’s going on?” “I can’t help it,” says Shlemiel. “Every day I get farther and farther away from the paint can!”

From JoelOnSoftware
On a side note, the link explains how really malloc works (linked lists of memory available actually), for the C programmers present
I’d like to do more than repost stuff, but my other commitments are piling high at present

Edit: there’s a really long page where a bunch of people tried to figure the maths of this.

What can we learn from a 3-year-old about eloquent communication?

Star Wars, by a 3-year-old, in 90 seconds

A good measure of conciseness, use of examples, some interesting asides (“the shiny guy always worries”), and a good flow to it. I loved it

I’ve no idea how it took me two years to find this

How do we waste time?

Here a little, there a little, here a little, there a little.

Facebook, you open, and you see a new comment, a link, a new message. We want to check them all out. You also know they don’t take much time, but suddenly we’ve spent an hour on it! Haven’t you had that? Each quick link leads to something else.

So minute by minute, we wile away our time darting from one thing to the next. The solution, perhaps, is to learn to concentrate on one thing, considering it, meditating on it. Many advocate removing all distractions, like turning off the internet when working. It is sensible as we should flee temptation, but I think it is necessary to see value in what we do, and also to see the value in time, that we set it apart to and for the Lord. What a cost it is to waste it unnecessarily, when it could be better spent.

---

Does anyone know how to spell that word while/wile in the sense of [while/wile] away the time?

---

Cost here is used in the sense of Opportunity Cost, an economic concept. It does not mean the price in time or money, but rather that doing one thing means you can’t do another.
For example. If I spent tomorrow watching films, I am passing up the opportunity to do a great deal of work. A fair trade you may say, though that is not the point of the example. The cost of one is the expense of not doing the other. And there is a cost, whatever you do. There is always a cost.

---

1 minute, even 30 seconds turned around from your computer screen, considering right now how to spend the next 20 minutes, could be very profitable.

Profit? Yes, by not spending foolishly.

Something’s up

Something’s up, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

Please, leave some feedback

Photo: on a dark night

Traveling north on a dark night, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

I’ve a liking for some kinds of grain. The kind where it forms a legitimate part of the photo. View Big & On Black
This snap was actually through a car window, but I don’t think that’s really made any difference/degradation.

I have post ratings

and comment ratings, please, use them