Alabama 2022 - 10 July: TV and Wildlife

It has been a quiet few days.  This is mainly due to the heat.  Inside, in the cooled house, life is easy.  There is little manual labour and the temperature is entirely comfortable.  Even the guest bedroom is comfortable, and that is the coldest room in the house.  We have been entertained by binging on TV series.

Lost in Space

An update on the 1960s TV series, which fails on so many levels.  It falls into the trap of being 'all action' at the expense of story and proper character development. Every character has their own agenda, none are focused on the mission. There are occasional loose ends left hanging, and impossible (in the story's universe) things seem to happen - or did I doze off and miss something critical?

Ted Lasso

I was expecting the sitcom to be utterly cringe worthy - an American baseball coach comes to London to manage a Premiership football team.  It isn't. The mixture of American enthusiasm and English cynicism works to provide a few laughs an episode with some reasonable stories, The central characters are developed, as far as they need to be, so far.

Wildlife

In the evening, as the temperature starts to drop a little, the noise is incredible.  I'm told this is caused by frogs.  There are certainly lots of little frogs around the property, the children have caught one almost every day.  Tonight, coming back from the store, we found something bigger on the patio.

Using google to look up the picture, I think this is a Fowlers Toad.  There were two of them, and I speculated that their skin patters may be like fingerprints and can be used to identify individuals. Each as abut 5 cm long.  The picture was taken using one phone's light to illuminate the toad and another phone to take the picture without flash.

In the trees at the bottom of the yard and just beyond the fence, there are a couple of Northern Mockingbirds.  They regularly harass the kite that sits at the top of the tallest tree.  Tonight, they also chose to harass Mauve after I threw her ball under the tree.  I'm assuming there is a nest in the tree.
 

American Christmas: Boxing day

"Boxing day" has to be explained, so if you need an explanation follow the link.  I've heard other explanations than the ones recorded here, but these are also ones have heard.  For us it is a quiet day.  After the drive back from Douglasville (90 minutes) we have a quick breakfast, including some real coffee (a rare treat these days) and then take things easy. Jo and Karen go off to Hobby Lobby to get wool and other places for bits and pieces for lunch.  Robert and I skype with Andy, Jess and Leo.
After lunch Karen and I watch Dr Who: The snowmen (2012 Christmas special), and the introduction of the new assistant.  Neither of us like the line about a family crying on Christmas eve, nor do we like the idea that 'Sherlock and her assistant' are married.  In places it is too flippant.  Otherwise its a good story and develops a new mystery for the series to unravel.  The new assistant seems to be a good character.
In the evening we went to one of Roberts friends for a meal.  Robert had spent the afternoon cooking a turkey, so we were all hungry, having smelt the turkey cooking.  They have a new house, on a new estate (don't know the american word), where the (p)lots are marked out, but only some of the houses built.  That strikes me as a much better system - get the land, then get the house built as you want it.  That way you don't have to rely on a builder to complete the whole estate.
There was more new food to try, okra - which was OK, another cheese ball (lovely), macaroni cheese (solid, not with runny cheese sauce), very nice, green beans (not salted, very nice), cabbage (very nice), grits with cheese (very nice) and ham and of course turkey.  It was a lovely meal, but a complete diet breaker!
The food was served buffet style.  Before we were invited to collect our food our host gave thanks to the Lord.  It is so good to be in a house where I don't have to remember to give my own thanks silently.
As a special treat they had found Christmas Crackers, so I was required to give them the run down about crackers.  We pulled the crackers, they made a good 'crack' and we found the toy, jokes and paper hat.  The jokes were awful, in the best tradition of the Christmas Cracker.

So, boxing day was quiet and relaxing, with good company and good food.

A Quick Exit

Sunday saw us make a quick exit from church as Jo was in pain from a nasty tummy bug.  I don't remember much about the morning before that.  The rest of the day was very busy.  I managed to cook lunch and clear up.  Then almost immediately prepare for our visitors - my sister, my nephew and his girl friend coming to tea to mark Andy's birthday.

Monday, I made emergency arrangements to work from home.  Jo was still unwell. With the loft now cleared - well tidy anyway, it was time for the insulation to be installed.
Here you can see the before and after images part of the front of the house above our bedroom.   The before image is really a 'half-way' image.  The before image would have shown the area packed with old cardboard boxes.

 This is how it happens.  When you buy something you are told you must keep the box, if you need to return it.  The box goes in the loft.  You buy something else.  The new box goes in front of the old.  Repeat the process every few months for 23 years or so.  It makes good insulation.  Lets hope the new stuff is as good.  It bedroom was certainly cold after the boxes had gone!

There are lots of new series on TV at the moment.  CSI, CSI New York, and Hustle are the ones I watch.  I have seen the first episode of each.  The CSI stories are good, but Hustle was streets ahead as a story, for its characterisations and for raising your spirits.

Returning Roots

Alison & Peter, our link missionaries and longer time friends have been back from Tanzania a while.  Our church was one of their supporting churches.  Jo and I have known them a lot longer and were therefore please to host one of the meals that they shared with members of Christ Church as they spoke about their time in Tanzania and the reason for their return.  They are slowly getting re-accustomed to England.  Cars and parking, supermarkets and cold weather, long hours of daylight and the equality found in our society are all things we have discussed since their return.  You can see how the re-establishment of their home is going on the Roots News blog.  This morning they spoke at both the 8am and 10am services.  They shared a summary of their time in Tanzania.  Some of the pictures they showed us are on the blog - so do take a look.  There is also a website that they used while in Tanzania - it is still in existence, so if you would like to read what they said a while ago try http://www.roots-online.org.uk/, but it may not last long!  I have a link on my site to a blog called 'because baronesses are people too'  - its closed now, so will be removed soon.  I mention it here because one of the themes of last night was that missionaries are people too - just like you and I.  Well some of you anyway.  Let me explain.  Perhaps it would have been better if I had said "We are all missionaries really, some of us just go overseas to carry out our mission", then you would see that 'missionaries' are just like you and I. (If you're a Christian that is.)  We all have the mission of caring for the world and spreading the good news that Jesus has beaten death.

Sometimes that mission can involve some very difficult - even life threatening - problems.  That was partly the theme of the 10am service, where Warner spoke on 1 Peter 4:12-19.  The church was packed, with two baptism parties totalling around 70 people and a regular congregation.  He started with a sweet shop and his family 'advertising' their favourite sweets.  It certainly got the attention of those listening.   A difficult topic handled honestly (as it was) may well have a greater impact on those hearing the message for the first time than a simple message that doesn't portray the gospel accurately.

In other news, this afternoon, our Sky-TV system was upgraded to HD (thanks to Andrew).  We now have even more channels - many showing the same programs in better quality pictures.  One of the first adverts I saw was for Sky-3D.  Where does it end?

Freecycle

I have a natural dislike of throwing things away when they are still in good functioning order.  We are supposed to be good stewards of the earth and its resources, and I try to live up to that.  That's why, a while ago I joined the local freecycle website.  Its a place, a message board (a yahoo group actually) where you can put 'adverts' for things you would like to get rid of, or things you would like to acquire.
Time moves on and technology changes (improves?).  As a result, and so that we are into the digital age, we have just bought a new television - a Samsung.  Its digital and HD, so I'm almost up to date. 
What to do with our old Sony?  I can't even work out how old it is (at least 8 years, I think), certainly nowhere near as old as the Ferguson we had before that, but things change so quickly.  The Sony was working well, and not showing any signs of problems.  So to free cycle with it.  I looked at trying to sell it but for £40 (the going rate for similar TVs), its hardly worth the effort.  I looked at giving it to charities, but they won't take analogue TV's any more.  So freecycle it I did, and after just 3 days it's gone.  I hope it's new owners enjoy it.
That's my first experience of freecycle and it's a very good one.

Talking Rubbish / Talking Sense

What a strange news morning it was. When we should have been talking about Haiti, instead we hear that Nick Clegg has apparently been saying that faith schools must tell the truth - that homosexuality is normal.  He was speaking to Stone Wall (a pressure group for homosexual rights).  Nick wasn't on the program, only a representative from Ekklesia and a Headmistress. Firstly, to Nick Clegg - you are the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, so you shouldn't be telling anyone what to believe.  If this autocratic approach dictates policy, I will leave.
Secondly, and more importantly, as Nick wasn't there, on to the debate itself.  The headmistress spoke sensitively and sensible about the one incident of homophobic bullying that she had experienced.  The man from Ekklesia stated that there were 10% more cases of homophobic bullying in faith schools than in state schools, and it was something we MUST address.  He went on to say that being a homosexual is normal, like having sex before marriage is normal because it happens all the time.   Ekklesia say on their website "the religion and society think-tank at the cutting edge of culture, spirituality and politics".  If this mushy thinking is the best that those on the cutting edge can manage, I'm appalled.  Many of the things we see all the time are a normal part of human experience - divorce, domestic violence, public drunkenness, random acts of kindness by strangers, being ginger, or bald ...  Being normal does not make them good, healthy, positive or bad, sick, negative experiences. A very different form of judgement is required.  That is where the role of the faith community comes in.  Most people of faith have certain standards.  They know that the God they believe in asks certain things of them.  As a Christian, I know that my God expects me to abstain from divorce and sex outside of marriage, which must be to a person of the opposite gender.  My God expects me to remain sober, indulge in random acts of kindness to the best of my ability, not discriminate against people based on their hair colour, their gender, their skin colour, their social class or their personal belief system and defend all who are being bullied. He's not really into rules, he would prefer I just copied his son.  My God has very high standards and as hard as I try I will never live up to them, but I do at least have something of value to aim at, so I should make progress. If I were just to accept what I see happening to many people as normal (implying acceptable) then standards in society would plummet and chaos ensue.
After watching that interview, I went upstairs and caught most of "thought for the day".

From the BBC Website (you'll need real player to listen):

Thought for the Day

Script not yet available Date: Friday 15 January
Presenter: Giles Fraser
Subject: Trying to rationalise theology is counterproductive; belief resides somewhere deeper than logic.

He made refreshing sense, saying that the logical arguments for the existence of God don't work in the face of great disaster, but that those who believe respond to such disasters by realising their need for God and their reliance on him in an even greater way than usual.  The atheists therefore cannot expect believers to suffer shock and suddenly 'wake up' from the delusions.

There followed an item in which Vince Cable (Liberal Democratic spokesman on the economy) made perfect sense on the subject of getting our money back from the banks.

I left for work with my faith in reason and faith restored.

Quick review of "The Cell"

The review is here.

Time

Our perception of time slows as we get older - no surprise there. In his experiment Michio Kaku shows that young people asked to estimate a minute are generally short of the target (less than 60 seconds) whereas older people generally exceed the target (greater than 60 seconds). So as we get older our internal clock move from running fast to running slow. Other changes occur as well - we age. These changes give us a sense of how long we have left before our clock stops altogether. When you're young, fifty or sixty years remaining is two to three times the life you've experienced so far. When you older 10 or 20 years remaining is less that half what you've experienced so far. We are all aware of our mortality, its in everything we do. We're also unique in this respect amongst all creation. There's lots of technical stuff about 'free radicals' (which reminds me of the line in James Bond "eliminate all free radicals") and mitochondria, very old parrots (not dead yet), and the sea urchin. The sea urchin apparently lives a VERY long time, and doesn't appear to age. So then we come to the big question. The nematode worm has been bread to live to twice its natural age. Would you choose for you children to live to 140+? Another professor reckons that in 20-30 years the elixir of youth will be found. Drink this and your body will become 30 years younger. You're not immortal an accident will get you eventually, perhaps on average you'll last 10,000 years.
This was the topic I wanted to cover for my Ethics essay, but couldn't find enough information. It raises so many questions. How will society change? What would your motivations be if there really was ALWAYS TOMORROW? How will we deal with the population issues? Would you keep on bringing up children, say one every 1000 years? How long does 1,000,000 years look when you're 100,000 years old? How would we ration this treatment - the usual way I expect, so a few rich people live 'forever' and the majority of the worlds population still die in their 40's?

but the big question is would you?

The program suggested that older people would and younger wouldn't - well at least not until they're older.

This may be the most frightening Sci-fi scenario ever.

would you?

Tragedies

A gunman shoots a woman dead in a Montreal college and injures many more. The TV has shots of people running away, being guided by police to safety. I'm quite amazed as I watch the pictures. Not because they're filming a tradegy - which they are of course, but news reporters do do that! No, I'm amazed because one woman is STILL talking on her mobile phone as she runs away! Its slowing her down. What is she thinking?
While looking for this link I was shocked that it also happened in 1989. Here's the NY Times article.

Steve Irwin died in a random accident, its very sad but I imagine its probably the way he'd like to have gone - just not so soon. I do not normally mention celebrity, but an angry young woman (please forgive the language!) and a discussion at work has prompted some thoughts. Steve was a charismatic celebrity, sometimes controversial, always enthusiastic. He means a lot to some people. Some of a particular age, old enough to be aware of what's happening, but young enough not to have experienced the sudden death of a celebrity will be particularly affected. That explains the reaction, somehow there's an expectation that those in the public eye are invulnerable, when it is proved not to be true - there is shock and grieving. That also explains to some degree the black humour - tasteless jokes about Steve and the unfortunate circumstances of his death. Let our thoughts and prayers be with his family & friends - the ones who ARE seriously affected by his death.