Found this game on-line. It simulates the cost of life, and is very difficult to play well. The best I have managed so far is to set people on the right track. The first few times I played it they all died. Think out of the box about education and that seems to be the way forward.
Today is Armistice day, and across the countries silence was observed at 11AM
It saddens me that the media seem more interested in the usual "crack pot" stories that gather at this time of year.
However the Red Poppy / White Poppy question seems to be getting more column space than normal. I guess when Jon Snow starts out stating that he won't wear a poppy on screen, and the guy from Ekklesia states that the Red Poppy is somehow less "Christian" than the white; I guess we get what we deserve.
BUT look beyond the headlines and we see reasoned comments:
Snow wears a poppy in private life, but draws the line at wearing symbols to support any organization on TV. The white poppy row seems mainly taken out of context, whilst the white issue is one of the redemptive nonviolence peace, and the Red poppy remembers those who fought for peace.
My personal take on this is best summed up by the notice at our local Waitrose.
Remembrance of Armistice day, and the conflicts since then. WWI may not have been clear cut in its roots, and it was a tremendous loss of life, but it did allow for major social and economic changes to come after. WWII was different as a war could be. Fought against fascism of the worst kind, with a will to subject other peoples and inflict untold horror on other races. Those that fought, fought for the freedom of Europe and the world.
Since then we remember our armed forces who continue to fight for their country (right or wrong). Therefore I wear red and will continue to wear red.
That is not to say that white is wrong, this whole issue must be about choice. Because choice is part of that freedom fought for.
That deserves remembering. Reading out the names of the fallen, staying quiet, remembering is important for our society today. We need to remember, we need to remember that it only takes a small conflict to become a world war. Our society is not forgetting the fact of the wars, but it is starting to loose its respect and focus on what it meant.
In these times we all need to remember.
The white poppy remembers a better way to peace. The red reminds us that sometimes there is no alternative.
So in whatever manner you choose to remember, please remember and spend sometime thinking of the cost our freedom takes from our own people.
Whilst lurking on various blogs, Howies have come up several times as a great casual clothing supplier.
I've seen their stuff out on the "street", and it looks cool. It is also very ecco conscious, and the likes.
However I've not made a purchase because I am too like their icon DohBoy!
Well now help is at hand, or offered......
Howies appear to be launching some kind of small campaign against FAT in bread.
Link.
Maybe I should follow this one, and maybe I will no longer look like DohBoy and can buy some product!
On a serious note, Howies are a grass roots kind of organisation, and are holding a Free weekend for 40 people who wish to learn from their journey.
LINK
Places are limited, but if you have a campaign it may well be worth applying for one of those places..
Thanks to Jonny for putting me on to this.
I've seen Ben's Images from previous years, and they are always thought provoking and taken from contemporary life. I'd much rather have this kind of image drop through my door than some expected Church notice about Carol Services, and nativity plays.....
Its great to see the Church doing something more interesting and getting notice locally.
So much better than the miss-informed adverts from CAN
I just find the sub-text disturbing. IE find Jesus in the bottom of an empty beer glass. This just strikes me as trying a little too hard to be mass market.
I know that too much can be read into these things, but the Church is always subject to in-depth scrutiny.
Also looking at the two works side by side, I know which one has better production values for me....... I just hope CAN did this in-house........
I spent most of Friday up in town (London for the non southerners), I had a career advice session just off Regents Street, so I decided to have a look at the non-art slides at the Tate.
I say non-art, because I am not sure that these can qualify as art in itself. The materials are nicely presented, but their position in space is more about letting people use them as slides than for their artistic placement. The spirals do make a nice loop, but this isn't much different from the local water park!
However it is a great use of space, and is certainly pulling in the crowds.
From the ground the spirals are nice, but again it just feels like industrial metal work and the shape is determined by the function more than the art.
However what they do to the space, and how they encourage activity, could be performance art and easily justifies their presence in the turbine hall.
These signs are scattered around the halls, and I found their advice apt in both the context of the gallery and life.
Now the Bridge is art!
The Complex Christ blog is going into liquidation. Kester has posted that he will be winding up the blog here.
I've been lurking around the blog for a good couple of years, ever since I met Kester at Greenbelt during the launch of the Complex Christ.
"The Complex Christ: Signs of Emergence in the Urban Church" (Kester Brewin)
Its been fun keeping up with Kester, both during and post vaux. The long term theme that keeps resonating with me is the concept of a dirty Christ, and the experiments with an allotment!
The book is finally being released in the US, with a new title..
It looks like it will be coming out next summer. I guess the title is more appealing in the American market, and the new cover looks less "academic" than the old. I hope it sells well over there!
Kester will continue with a new blog here.
I've just downloaded a beta of a new CD burning application for the Mac. Its called Disco and has just been released on public beta. Pre-Release is $14, and it looks like final price will be around $30.
Disco is a very pretty application, sitting in a simple window where files can be simply dragged and dropped. It also uses a smoke effect when it does some things.
This "smoke" doesn't work on my mini, so not too sure what it really looks like, but the idea sounds cool (or hot!).
This would seem to have a very good chance of knocking TOAST off the top spot, as Disco is really simple to use, and is designed to be as easy to use as possible. It spans multiple discs and the simple interface hides some powerful options, well worth a look at...
I stopped off at Mac Expo last week, just to see what was on offer.
1 Freebie! A Shure T-Shirt stating that my ear phones cost more than my iPod. Fact, they didn't because I would not pay nearly £300 for a set of in ear phones that only just beat my £40 sennheiser cams!
Stopped off at a free presentation on music mixing with the mac, OK but nothing startling.
Stopped to listen and talk with the nice folks from Apple. I spoke with one of their main motion guys on a piece I am putting together for Sanctum (will post later). Got some interesting hints on future products. The main being that if I needed to upgrade today then I would have to use the pro machines to get the most out of motion, but if Apple happen to upgrade say the macbook or mini with the next intel integrated graphics card, I could be happy with that platform. IF they happened to do such a thing, if it happened to be sometime next spring, you never know....! I think I may just wait and see.
However I will need to order my Final Cut Studio Pro upgrade before the end of the month, as I can use my Motion license to get the complete suite for £140!
This was the corner where I was accosted by GREENPEACE. Well they gave me a leaflet about having a green apple, and offered a nice organic looking apple to me as well.
Link to their campaign. It seems that they were ejected from their stand latter that day.. I must admit they were all over the show handing out leaflets when asked about their t-shirts, but I didn't find them offensive..... Link to an article..
So all in all an OK show, but nothing I could not have missed. Didn't buy a thing, which is good training for me and my wallet!
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