Woohoo. After a fair bit of frustrating experimenting with php I’ve got the “older posts” link to actually display older posts, rather than just the same 20 posts that appear on the front page. Now I just have to get the sidebar behaving correctly… But now I have a headache.
Category: Consciousness
Taxing time
Did my tax last night. I should get a refund… huzzah.
eTax is awesome – but I wonder how much I miss out on in terms of things I could be deducting. I’ve taken heaps of work photos on my camera so I deducted a portion of that… but I think perhaps an accountant might be the order of the day next time round.
I’m not too worried about paying tax though. I think as a general rule tax is a good thing. I like being able to drive on roads and give poor people money for having babies. And I’m looking forward to the Government giving me money when next I study.
Time Machine
Windows Live Writer apparently thinks we’re in the future. Some posts have now reappeared in their natural chronological order.
Windows Live Writer is really handy. You should check it out (if you haven’t already started using it).
15 and a half minutes of fame
I may have extended Corey Worthington’s 15 minutes of fame by referencing him in this letter I wrote to The Australian – but then he went and got booked for speeding and made the news by himself. My letter was a response to a stupid piece by Phillip Adams suggesting young people should get to vote because his 16 year old daughter is smarter than the average voter. My letter was edited slightly to fit in the space available so the second bit seems to be a bit of a non sequitur.
Ten things I enjoyed about the Townsville 400
- The feeling of professional satisfaction – the organisation I work for played an integral role in bringing the event to Townsville, I have written more about V8s than anything but energy generation. I know lots about energy generation. This photo is largely unrelated.
- The noise – is absolutely thrilling. The “pop” the cars make when changing gears sounds like fireworks. We were sitting in stands next to the starting grid and the start of the race was phenomenal.
- The crowd – was massive. It’s weird how into the sport fans of V8s are – they’re covered in team merchandise.
- The professionalism – The V8 organisation, the teams and the drivers are the most personable sports stars I’ve ever interacted with – if sitting in a room as a bunch of drivers talk about the sport is “interacting” – the Melbourne Storm weren’t far off. But these guys can sell merchandise and know who butters their bread (the sponsors).
- The carnage – everyone goes to races for crashes.
- The spectacle – it’s a visual feast, fast cars, colourful starting grid set-ups, the mini racing, the utes… it was a grand day out.
- The teamwork – one of the things I’m really starting to appreciate about motor sports (and cycling) is the team tactics – and the contribution to “individual” success that comes from the surrounding team – like the pit crews. They change tires, fuel up and do running maintenance in a blur. We were sitting opposite the pits and I spent as much time watching the pit crews as watching the cars.
- Photography – I was determined to snap a few photos of moving cars looking like they weren’t moving with the background all blurry. I got a few such shots – you can see other photos from the day here. I took about 1,300 photos.
- The Jesus car – Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher drives a ute in the V8 Ute race – his team is called “Jesus – All About Life” – he gets great exposure and they read out the full name of his “sponsor” every time he gets mentioned (see point 4). The exposure is tremendous. In the first ute race he ran three other drivers off the road – and busted a tire while doing so.
- My wife – I went to the V8s with Robyn. She makes everything more fun.
3 Reasons to keep your fish tank clean
- When fish tanks stop being clean they start being smelly.
- When fish tanks stop being clean your fish start being dead. Flushing a beloved family pet (who has been in the “family” longer than my wife) down the toilet is distressing. Even if it’s just a fish. Flushing two of his fishy brethren at the same time is even sadder.
- When fish tanks are not cleaned regularly the pump gets all slimy and stops doing its job. When your pump stops doing its job your fish die and the clean up job is much bigger and more daunting.
5 Points about Calvin
Calvin is famous for his slightly misattributed and grossly misunderstood “five points of Calvinism” – I’ve got a reputation for being “not a five point Calvinist” mostly because I don’t like hyper-Calvinism. Calvin was mostly terrific – having done some research though I can’t say I’m fully on board with his philosophy of government.
Here are some things I learned about Calvin this week that I thought were interesting.
- Calvin wrote some stuff under a pen name to avoid persecution from the established Catholic church – including Charles d’Es-perville, Martianus Lucanius, Carolus Passelius, Alcuin, Depercan, and Calpurnius – these would be good names to consider for your children or characters in a novel if you’re staunchly, but secretly, reformed.
- Calvin was, by nature, incredibly humble – he wanted a life of quiet scholarship. He requested an unmarked grave. He was pastorally sacrificial. He submitted all things to the sovereignty of God. He championed a doctrine that made human agency incredibly small. He instituted a political system in the city whose church he lead removing power and authority from the church and putting it in the hands of the people. The idea of having a theological movement named after him would have been an anathema. It seems to me that this aspect of his character is in stark contrast to the pillars of the “new Calvinism”.
- Calvin was, by nature, incredibly arrogant. He was so incredibly confident in his personal views on scripture and Government – and did not particularly like opposition. God seems to prefer to work through guys who are an incredible paradox of confidence and humility – I’m not sure that humility and arrogance are the polar opposites people suggest. They seem to be two separate characteristics with related distinctives.
- Calvin was politically savvy enough to know when not to be political. This greatly enhanced his influence on the political sphere.
He was expelled from Geneva the first time round because he wouldn’t pander to the rich and powerful (by serving them communion). He was brought back to reform the political structure of the city a few years later. But he didn’t use this as an opportunity to grandstand or point score (at least from the pulpit)… To quote the helpful biography of Calvin I linked to the other day:
When Calvin returned to St. Peter’s Cathedral in 1541, he unceremoniously but symbolically resumed his pulpit activity by expounding the Scriptures at the exact verse where he left off prior to his exile.
Several days earlier, Calvin had consulted with the Small Council, the real political powerhouse of the day, and encouraged them to make important reforms. They were so willing to help him in the Reformation of Geneva that they not only approved his proposals to revise the protocols for church order, but they also appointed him to a committee to design a constitution for the Republic of Geneva.
- Calvin’s post-reformation political realignment of Geneva pioneered the separation of church and state, and the separation of powers. His restructuring of Geneva’s government removed power from the head of the church to a church council, and to a separately elected government in the city. These groups functioned as checks and balances. He separated government of the city from the church to protect the church from the interference of the government and the wealthy – not the other way around.
He was, however, not a fan of government being “secular” – his philosophy of government, or theology of government, revolved around the government acting in a Christian manner. Again, a couple of insightful quotes from that biography…
Calvin practiced what he preached. A consistency of ideals, both in church and state, permeated his thought and action. He was prudent enough to realize that the best way to reform the culture was an indirect one, i.e., to first reform the church.
…
”With the publication of the Ordinances, Geneva created a unique Christian commonwealth whereby church and state cooperated in preserving religion as the key to their new identity.”
Why I didn’t blog much over the weekend
- I organised the Willows Presbyterian Church Calvin 500 Conference.
- I spoke at said conference about Calvin v Servetus
- I organised the dinner part of said conference (and made coffee) where Mike Raiter talked about the New Calvinism.
- I attended the Townsville 400 V8 Supercar Event
- When I wasn’t doing those things I was cleaning out my big fish tank after a mishap with the filtration killed three of my pet fish and endangered the life of a pet turtle.
- I was telling the national director of MTS why I like MTS but don’t think it’s for me.
- Or I was watching The Ashes and Robyn was using the laptop.
Welcome back Scotter…
Nobody actually calls Scott “Scotter”, or in fact by his real name. It’s either Scott, or Scooter… at least that’s what I’ve gathered in a few years of knowing the chap. His cynicism and sarcasm brighten my day – and after a two year hiatus he has rejoined the blogosphere. It promises much…
So, with a new coat of paint, here’s to an old blog getting a new start – new content, new sarcasm, cynicism, maybe even vandalism – here’s hoping we can prompt ponderance, brew brainstorming and captivate comment.
Signage fail
We spotted this at our favourite cafe on Saturday – while I’m not a grammar nazi I am an irony fan – so this made me laugh. I tested it on people at work and most of them thought the slogan was funny without noticing the glaring error.
Guide to better working
Successful careers are a matter of working smarter not harder. I’m almost positive that’s the case. Every job has “short cuts” or tricks of the trade to make things easier. Here’s a collection of some of the best – from some obscure trades and some normal every day careers.
My favourites:
Mechanic
If you have to change a light bulb where the glass is broken, you can press a potato into the metal base to unscrew the remains of the bulb from the fixture.
Graphic Designer
If you have a client who is unable to approve a proposed design without putting her stamp on it, just put an obvious error in the proposal: a logo that’s too large, a font that’s too small, or a few judiciously seeded typos. The client requests the change and feels she’s done her part—and your design, which was perfect all along, sails through to approval.
Proofreader
If you’re reading too fast, your brain can “correct” typos, preventing you from catching them. That’s why it’s sometimes a good idea to read a page upside-down. It forces you to pay closer attention to individual words out of context, and you can’t race through pages too fast.