We bought Isaac one of the cheaper ones of these for his birthday 2 weeks ago. We have also been saving drink can ring pulls – well Isaac has been making us save them – to enter codes onto the web site to win one. (see http://www.pepsiflip.co.uk/). Amazingly we won one and we are now the owners of a Flip Mino HD 2 hour! Great stuff.
Video of the product.
Official site
Forget all those fancy dan modern upstarts – where teatime treats are concerned, there is only one contender as the cake of champions
(Guardian article)
'At the start of the tournament, I was standing at the top of the arena near the players, listening to the sound and crying tears of joy'
(Guardian article)
A winning start for Roy Hodgson in a difficult game in which none of the World Cup players travelled.
David Ngog's double strike eased an inexperienced Liverpool side to victory over Rabotnicki in their Europa League third qualifying round first leg.
BBC match report
Loved this piece. Happy memories of the lengthy school holidays, never bored! My turn for hols shortly . . .
Some may continue to feel uneasy, in this still vestigially Protestant culture, with a season that is synonymous with idleness. David Cameron this week proposed lots of new and improving activities for next summer. Yet people who lead busy and stressed lives deserve their downtime. Even so, modern consumer society may not get the best out of everything that summer can offer. Spending lots of money and travelling vast distances to distant lands are not guarantees of the contentment that idleness can offer. Sitting under a distant palm tree may not be as satisfying as sitting under a native oak close to home. It is not hard to wonder whether modern adults, their lives atomised from one another, too often bowling alone, seated perpetually at their computer screens, have lost the art of connecting with the deeper pleasures that summer can provide. But it is a knack which children are born with. Maybe adults should try to relearn it from them.
(Guardian article)
Simon was one of the first retailers I came across in my reading of the subject area, many many years ago and was a huge fan of WH Smiths when I was in my teens and twenties.
Series of 100 photographs aims to show those involved in the 2012 bid in ways they haven't been seen before
(Guardian article)
Be inspired video:
Jean Sykes, chief information officer at the LSE (London School of Economics), has recently received an MBE for her services to higher education. She tells IWR about the challenges of keeping up with digital developments within the information industry and explains that despite ongoing technological changes, the fundamentals of library roles will always remain the same
(IWR interview)
In the summer of 1950, soon after Mao Zedong had proclaimed the founding of the people's republic, Wu Guanzhong, happily studying painting in Paris, made the fateful decision to return to China. Appointed to teach in the Central Academy of Art in Beijing, his head full of Cézanne and Van Gogh, he soon found that he was forbidden to mention those names, and felt unable to face his radical students until he could talk about socialist realism in the Soviet Union, and its foreshadowing in the art of Ilya Repin. This was the beginning of almost three decades of harassment and victimisation that, for him and countless others, ended only after the death of Mao in 1976.
(Guardian obituary)
Scenery of Guilin, above, painted by Wu Guanzhong, above, in 1973, the year he returned from working as a farm labourer
Few adults in Britain will not have looked in detail at the work of the artist Harry Eccleston, who has died aged 87. Eccleston was the Bank of England's first full-time banknote designer, a position that was created for him in 1967. He had been at the Bank of England since 1958 as artistic designer at the printing works, and remained in his new post until 1983.
Eccleston designed the first fully pictorial banknotes, which featured the Queen on one side and notable historic figures on the reverse, a trend borrowed from foreign notes. His Series D notes featured his drawings of Isaac Newton (£1), the Duke of Wellington (£5), Florence Nightingale (£10), William Shakespeare (£20) and Christopher Wren (£50). The notes were issued from 1970 to 1981. In 1979, Eccleston was appointed OBE. The design of the Newton note inspired the artwork of the £20 Adam Smith note, brought into circulation in 2007.
(Guardian obituary)
Founder of the Swatch company hailed as the saviour of the Swiss watch industry
(Guardian obituary)
Made in 1741 by Guarneri del Gesù, the violin goes on sale with Bein & Fushi of Chicago hoping to get $18m (£12m)
In the rarified world of old violins, the Stradivarius is commonly thought of as the very best. But for many connoisseurs and concert performers, the pinnacle is the work of a craftsman from Cremona in Italy known as Guarneri del Gesù.
One of the last violins to be created by the master, the Vieuxtemps Guarneri, made in 1741 three years before his death. Now it has been put up for sale in Chicago. If the violin achieves the asking price of $18m (£12m), it would be by a wide margin the most expensive musical instrument on Earth.
(Guardian article)
Garima Gospels, possibly among earliest surviving illustrated Christian manuscripts, preserved by Anglo-French team working at remote monastery
(Guardian article)
Domestic web connection joins holidays, mobile phones and fridge-freezer among necessities of modern life, Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds
(Guardian article)
Loving the mixed fruits version of this cider.
Official site
Wikipedia entroes for the place and the brewery
Labour maverick Frank Field now works for the coalition, and plans to tear up child poverty targets and focus on single dads. So is he bothered that old colleagues are accusing him of betrayal?
(Guardian article)
This chapel and museum in a Cheshire hamlet is celebrating the founding of Primitive Methodism
(Guardian article)
Of lasting influence on my aunt Joyce Parkinson, who has died aged 94, was the time she spent in Germany at the end of the second world war, initially with a Quaker relief team, which was one of the first civilian teams to enter the concentration camp at Belsen. Their job was to clothe, register and begin to rehabilitate survivors.
(Guardian obituary)
Chris Haney, left, and Scott Abbott play the game that they dreamed up together in a Montreal sitting room
Chris Haney, who has died aged 59, following kidney and circulatory problems, co-created one of the most successful board games in history, Trivial Pursuit. More than 100m copies of the game, which is available in around 20 languages, have been sold, generating sales of more than $1bn. Time magazine has called it "the biggest phenomenon in game history".
(Guardian obituary)
Wikipedia entries for Chris Haney and Trivial Pursuit
John Hedgecoe, who has died of cancer aged 78, photographed a variety of subjects but was best known for his portraits of artists and writers. His style ranged from the formal, such as posed shots of artists with their work in the studio, to close-ups revealing their various reactions to being photographed. Hedgecoe took portraits of Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, John Betjeman, Ted Hughes and Agatha Christie, but his most famous sitter was the Queen. Hedgecoe's image of her has effectively sold more than 200bn copies, as it is used on postage stamps. It is credited with being the most frequently reproduced image in the world.
(Guardian obituary)
Anthony Hopwood, who has died aged 65 after a long illness, dedicated most of his professional life to showing that accounting is not a neutral technical endeavour, that it amounts to much more than book-keeping, and that it has an impact on our lives in a multitude of ways. To understand accounting properly, he argued, requires analysis of the contexts in which it takes place. These contexts might be the organisations in which people work; the wider institutional and regulatory contexts, such as those created by professional bodies; and the ideas and ideologies that carve out roles for accounting, such as the idea of the market, or notions of efficiency or competitiveness.
(Guardian obituary)
Arne Nordheim, who has died aged 78, was a leading light of contemporary music, and the finest Norwegian composer after Edvard Grieg. His creative vision was unfettered by conventional limitations, as was evident from his sound sculptures, such as that created for the Scandinavian Pavilion at the 1970 Osaka World Exposition, in which six loops of varying lengths would – if allowed to run their course uninterrupted – not regain their starting points together for 102 years.
(Guardian obituary)
Good service in the morning with the guys from Global Cafe followed by a bring and share lunch.
Lazy afternoon and then led the latest Culture Club meeting. We watched the "Control Factor" episode from Series 2:
While on vacation in Mexico with Emily, Lightman becomes involved in the case of a missing American woman, who is a single mother on vacation with her daughter. Upon investigation, Lightman learns that the mother got herself involved with an illegal fertility broker and he manages to find her just in time. Back home, Foster investigates D.C.-area hospitals with Lightman's rival, Jack Rader. They try to uncover the reason that five people have grown gravely ill after receiving blood transfusions.
Well attended with Anthony, Dave, John, Hilary, Tracey, Eryl and Mark and well received – lots of laughs while it was showing. Then quite a serious discussion on lies, truth and dishonesty.
Meeting details here
I vividly remember watching Alex win the 1982 World Championship when I was in digs in Bridge of Allan for my 2nd year at Stirling Uni. He was one of Nana’s favourite sports personalities. A sad loss.
BBC obituary
Guardian article by Clive Everton
Wikipedia entry
Isaac was, unbelievably, 12 last Saturday but due to the Ju-Jitsu grading had his party – kayaking at Pugneys in Wakefield – was today.
Great bunch of guys came and all had a great time.
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| From Isaac's 12th Birthday Party - Kayaking |
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| From Isaac's 12th Birthday Party - Kayaking |
Oldest member of the US Congress and former segregationist, he was a lone voice against the Iraq war
(Guardian obituary)
Speaking out against the Iraq war:
Edward England was a publisher of remarkable shrewdness and deep faith, who was responsible for bringing to Britain the New International Version of the Bible, generally regarded as among the most reliable and popular of the modern translations.
(Times obituary)
Church Times obituary
Christianity Magazine article
His book “The Addiction of a Busy Life” is a great read.
The start of Isaac’s school holidays (the rest of the family are all off bar me too!).
Good breakfast at Gateway.
Sammy led us and was after ideas for a sermon series he is about to deliver in Kenya on the theme of standing out as a Christian and should we be beige! Good discussion and I was reminded of the “Great is the Darkness”:
Great is the darkness
That covers the earth
Oppression, injustice and pain
Nations are slipping
In hopeless despair
Though many have come in Your name
Watching while sanity dies
Touched by the madness and lies
Come Lord Jesus, come Lord Jesus
Pour out Your spirit we pray
Come Lord Jesus, come Lord Jesus
Pour out Your spirit on us today
May now Your church rise
With power and love
This glorious gospel proclaim
In every nation
Salvation will come
To those who believe in Your name
Help us bring light to this world
That we might speed Your return
Great celebrations
On that final day
When out of the heavens You come
Darkness will vanish
All sorrow will end
And rulers will bow at Your throne
Our great commission complete
Then face to face we shall meet
Christianity Magazine’s Book of the Year (review):
From the back cover of the book:
St Andrew's Chorleywood has been at the forefront of church renewal for over three decades. In the last five years it has seen substantial growth as the congregation has moved from drawing people to one place, to a model in which well over a thousand believers have been sent out in mission-shaped communities of up to fifty members, meeting in school halls, community centres, coffee shops and other contexts. This daring move has resulted in the raising up of over a hundred new leaders, a massive release of spiritual gifts, great vision and creativity in outreach, and major growth through evangelism. Breakout is the story of one church's move from a 'come-to-us' to a 'go-to-them' model of mission.
'I warmly commend Breakout to any church leaders who long to see the Holy Spirit releasing missional energy snd imagination both among and through thier people.'
(Rt Revd Graham Cray, Bishop of Maidstone)
'I have found all that is happening in terms of mission-shaped communities at St Andrew's a fascinating and inspiring story.'
(Revd Dr Steven Croft, Archbishops' Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions)
Website named digital consumer publisher of the year and picks up five other prizes at Association of Online Publishers awards
(Guardian article)
Looks like I have chosen the right newspaper and online platform for my news and sport!
What’s your type? Suddenly everyone’s obsessed with fonts. Whether you’re enraged by IKEA’s Verdanagate, want to know what the Beach Boys have in common with easyJet or why it’s okay to like Comic Sans, Just My Type will have the answer. LEARN WHY USING UPPER CASE GOT A NEW ZEALAND HEALTH WORKER SACKED. Refer to Prince in the TAFKAP years as a Dingbat (that works on many levels). Spot where movies get their time periods wrong and don’t be duped by fake posters on eBay.
(Publisher’s book page)
AllSaints go marching in – UK label takes Gothic success story to NYC
Distressed clothes and skull logo go down a storm in 'the capital of the planet'
Read this Guardian article after being intrigued by all the old sewing machines in the window!
It is not a label for everyone though. Firstly, and despite the fact that a lot of its clothes are quite young in spirit, it's not cheap. Secondly, it is not always easy to work out how to wear the clothes, which sometimes feature one quirk too many. Lastly, sometimes it is the label of choice for fairly bland celebrities who want a route to instant edge.
This picture is a clearer one (click for larger size).
Reviewed in a recent edition of Christianity magazine.
Most Christians, faced with those questions, think in terms either of ‘rules’ or of ‘living authentically’. Both lead to problems. In this book, full of fresh biblical exploration, Bishop Tom Wright proposes instead that we inhabit the ancient tradition of virtue once again – but from a thoroughly Christian, not just a philosophical, perspective. The virtues are the strengths we need to get to our goal. Following on from his popular best-selling books Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope, he sees the goal in terms of the whole new creation, with humans renewed to look after it.
(Publisher’s book page)
Ed Roberts, who has died of pneumonia aged 68, was a founder of the microcomputer industry that ushered in the ubiquitous personal computer. In 1975, he introduced the first home-computer construction kit, the MITS Altair 8800. In the same year, he gave Bill Gates and Paul Allen their initial break by hiring them to write software for the computer. While Gates and Allen later flourished as the founders of Microsoft, Roberts sold his business in 1977 before the personal-computer industry became a global phenomenon.
(Guardian obituary)
Annotated 10-volume edition offering new insights into Henry VIII's break with Roman Catholic church to go on sale
(Guardian article)
The lot went for €324,750 when it was auctioned.
One of the care centre stream of meetings of the church leadership team looking at the work of the centre, its management and leadership etc.
God is love. Crazy, relentless all-powerful love.
Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo? Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions? God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn't working harder at a list of do's and don'ts — it's falling in love with God. And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same.
Because when you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything.
(Official book site)
This exhibition shows the spectacular wardrobe of Grace Kelly, one of the most popular actresses of the 1950s. Featuring dresses from many of her films as well as the gown she wore to accept her Oscar in 1955, the exhibition will examine Grace Kelly's glamorous Hollywood image, the evolution of her style as Princess Grace of Monaco, and her enduring appeal as a fashion icon.
(V&A site)
Some photos of Grace Kelly:
A fave Bond girl from Die Another Day.
From a major V&A exhibition to the look of Mad Men's leading ladies, Grace Kelly is everywhere this spring. Actor Rosamund Pike pulls on her white gloves and travels to Monaco to recreate her timeless style
(Guardian article)
. . . who won the Nobel prize for deciphering the genetic code of DNA
(Guardian obituary)
Stumbled over the Damned United film and a Clough documentary this evening and got hooked – ended up watching both live.
South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen turned the Open Championship into a procession as he romped to a seven-stroke victory over Lee Westwood at St Andrews.
(BBC report)
Isaac and Hannah got their next belts at the Ju-Jitsu grading yesterday and Isaas is on a sports leadership course today connected with the JU-Jitsu club that he is a member of.
Finished the book this time!
Took Tracy G to this (she won the bid for this “lot” at a recent charity auction at church. The upstairs room was double booked so we met in the main cafe room. Good discussion on a range of topics. Generally, good feedback on the book.
It was my selection of books that got voted on for the next session and out of this list:
the last one was selected.
Went with Isaac to school to see him pick up his award for academic achievement in core subjects (reading and writing). A proud dad.
Rachael and I had an enjoyable evening watching Isobel singing in the chorus at this school musical with lots of Queen songs and other well known tunes. Evening started with a massive downpour and later on when we were all sleeping a power cut with house alarms going off.
Robert Hudson, who died on June 3 aged 90, was the radio commentator who described the great occasions of state, such as the Prince of Wales's wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 and the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, as well as Test cricket and rugby internationals; he was also one of the original presenters of the Today programme and a meticulous and influential BBC administrator.
(Telegraph obituary)
Good times at this conference event at the barn at East Riddlesden Hall including food and barn dancing. Very enjoyable. Stayed till the end.
Stumbled over this book earlier this week.
Evangelism is about reaching out to others. Really? You think? Brace yourself. In Nudge, author Leonard Sweet sets out to revolutionize our understanding of evangelism. He defines evangelism as “nudge” – awakening each other to the God who is already there. Sweet’s revolution promises to affect your encounters with others, as well as shaking the very roots of your own faith. So brace yourself.
A long story but in summary I now need trousers 2 inches larger round the waist than previously including a miraculous exchange . . .
Isaac and I were looking forward to this game but it was a disgrace as per these tweets of mine:
is hoping for a #esp win in #worldcup as #ned confirm my view that they are a very dirty side, van brommel is a disgrace
agree witb chris waddle on fivelive #ned total fouling not total football, not pretty to watch, HT 0-0, shameful challenges per alan green
go #esp, terrible match, justice re winner, #ned were a disgrace, end of #worldcup, bring on new season . . .
Andres Iniesta struck a dramatic winner late in extra time to give Spain World Cup glory for the first time but condemned the Netherlands to their third defeat in a final.
(BBC report)
A much cooler day today. Went to Lisa Normington’s 40th birthday party picnic at Bradford Academy in the grounds. Enjoyed the food and the Jon B and friend’s singing classic tunes (including The One I Love).
Octavia Nasr fired by CNN over tweet praising late ayatollah
Internal memo said Twitter tribute to Hezbollah's spiritual leader had compromised senior Middle East editor's credibility
(Guardian article)
Alistair Begg has been giving this book out to all those donating to his Truth for Life ministry earlier this year.
Rafael Nadal rising fast on list of all-time greats
The Spaniard is only 24 but, with eight grand slam titles to his name, he is moving up the rankings of tennis legends
(Guardian article)
I was surprised to see John McEnroe not on this list but having checked he only (!) won 7 grand slam singles titles.
