Finding and fixing bugs in software is tedious. One of my old co-workers put it well with the pseudo-math formula that “mental state is proportional to amount of new code written”. (hmm, I was tempted to include the correct symbol for is proportional to there but I’m not sure that all readers would follow it…. yes I know, you and you can put your hands down, I know you’re both cleverclogs, all mathy and such!)

We have an open-plan work area and a lot of the time we’re pairing on stuff, 2 developers to one computer. When working solo on tasks, though, we’re allowed to wear headphones and play music. Queen’s “Greatest Hits I” and “Greatest Hits II” make for great working tunes. Bryan May’s guitar work in “A kind of magic” is understated yet expressive, flawless in timing. A treat.

If anyone knows how to get a Compaq Presario (Desktop) 5004US machine to behave I’d like to hear it. The HDD failed, we got another one that supports the newer ATA133 protocol. Since the machine is old enough to not be up to standard, we picked up a Belkin Ultra ATA133 card to go with it. Thing is, the Compaq BIOS isnt allowing the card to broadcast the presence of our shiny new 120Gb HDD attached to it, and is complaining about not being able to find an operating system, when (strangely enough) the Windows install happily used the ATA133 card and installed just fine.

Grr.

Its not easy…

…preparing a sermon. I know in the broadest sense what I want to say, but actually getting an outline that looks logical, and is people focussed? Hmmmph!

It’s been a while since I visited, but it seems that Hollybush Christian Fellowship has a website. Reading through it certainly brings back memories! They say

We are a Christian Fellowship with a Church on a Farm. God spoke this place into being through the prophetic Word in 1968. The Fellowship has since moved buildings four times and now meets in a building which will seat around 800 people.

Im not sure what denomination they are affiliated with though.

I know - Im supposed to be preparing and reading and stuff, and finding websites for places I last visited in 1990 is a total distraction … it could be worse though. Thinking of which … Im hungry … maybe I’ll just go make myself a peanut butter sandwich.

I dont get to listen to the local Christian radio station all that often; generally I put the radio on when I am driving alone, most likely to and from work. Depending on time that means I get to hear snippets of 5 radio shows

There are other streaming audio shows on One Place worth listening to though:

Top of the list, with no clear contender for second place, would be Let my people think with Ravi Zacharias.

Salmon Fried Rice

(Serves four)

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Don Enrique ‘Chile New Mexico’ dried chillies
8oz salmon
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
0.5 tsp sugar

For rice
1.5 cups brown rice
3 cups water
pinch of salt

1. Add salt to water and bring to the boil, add the rice and cook in a covered pan for 30 minutes, until rice is tender. Drain and allow to cool, preferably overnight.
2. Peel and chop garlic, cut chillies into small pieces discarding seeds.
3. Cut salmon into bite sized (0.5 inch) pieces.
4. Preheat a wok and add oil, add chillies and garlic and stir-fry over medium heat until the garlic is golden brown.
5. Add salmon to the wok and toss in the garlic/chilli oil to coat thoroughly, stir-fry until cooked through.
6. Add the cooked rice, frying for a while to warm
7. In a small container mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar and add to the wok
8. Stir mixture well and continue to cook until rice is heated through completely.

I suppose I should really come clean and admit that I have been reading a rather interesting weblog for a while now - the blog of Jon, the freelance theologian. It’s good stuff!

From the online Jargon File,

meta-
[from analytic philosophy] One level of description up. A meta-syntactic variable is a variable in notation used to describe syntax, and meta-language is language used to describe language.

and Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says,

meta-
Function: prefix
Etymology: New Latin & Medieval Latin, from Latin or Greek; Latin, from Greek, among, with, after, from meta among, with, after; akin to Old English mid, mith with, Old High German mit

1. • occurring later than or in succession to : after
   • situated behind or beyond /
   • later or more highly organized or specialized form of
2. change : transformation
3. more comprehensive : transcending — used with the name of a discipline to designate a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one

There are fundamental assumptions locked up in our worldview that go unchallenged. If my worldview doesnt recognize the miraculous power of God, and if I believed that the biblical account of the life of Jesus was actual historical fact, I could still interpret the casting out of demons as some sort of therapy curing mental illness. On the other hand if my worldview recognizes the power of God, and the existence of other spiritual forces, then these accounts become a kind of ground-level spiritual warfare of 2 opposing (if mismatched) kingdoms.

All we want are the facts, ma’am

Sgt. Joe Friday, Dragnet
It seems on the surface to be a totally objective statement, “just the facts, ma’am”. Yet when you give just the facts to a group of people, they might draw different conclusions. A person’s worldview acts as a lens on their view of the facts, and colours their interpretation of them accordingly.

In a pagan worldview there’s an assumed meta-divine force that the gods are subject to. While the terminolgy varies from system to system, generally the gods can be influenced (even against their will) by the force of magic. For instance, the human hero of the myth wants to retrieve something from the halls of the gods, so they feed magically infused wine to the gods, they fall into a sleep (against their will) and the hero can sneak past them and lift the item from its resting place. In the Old Testament Israel and surrounding nations were judged harshly for treating the Ark of the Covenant as meta-divine. They seemed to think that they could march out with it in their army and God had to come through on their behalf, or steal it and victory would be denied.

A similarly pagan attitude prevails today when it comes to “the gospel” - if we preach “the gospel” and people pray a certain prayer, then God has to respond by saving the person. This “gospel” is so powerful, in fact, that you can punch your ticket to heaven once (and once only) and hop on the bus after you die no matter what sort of life you have lead - God has to save you. As with pagan ritual magic a person has to get the formula right for it to “take” - you have to preach “the right gospel” and respond in the “right manner”.

The new Apple Mac Mini is a sweet little computer, at a sweet price of only $499 for the basic model. Once again it comes down to an issue of style over substance. When the substance is roughly equal, you’re paying for style, and you’d have to have your head in a box for the last few years to argue that Apple doesnt have style! At the end of the day, the dimensions win out - 6.5″ x 6.5″ x 2″ and less than 3 pounds in weight beats 7″ x 8″ x 11.4″ and 13 pounds (the next best x86 PC thing from Shuttle). C|Net rightly pointed out

The Mac Mini, unfurled Tuesday during Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, costs about $100 more than similarly configured PCs from Gateway, Hewlett-Packard and others, according to analysts and price checks. The price delta increases as one factors in the typical standard equipment on PCs–neither mouse, monitor nor keyboard comes with Apple’s Spartan box.

I need a Mac to be able to test Chronicle Lite on, and this sweet little machine puts it within my reach, finally!

Peter Eavis, in a paper called “Where Was God When the Tsunamis Struck?” discusses a Christian perspective on the disaster. He tackles up front, several of the unhelpful “answers” to the question that believers often put forward. I always think it’s good when someone takes the wrong answers down a peg or two, as it hopefully means less people are hurt by (often well-meaning) mis-informed folks with bad answers that exacerbate their problem. If it werent the case, this book would never have been written.