Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Flashback 1960's

The photo on the right was taken by Peter Carmichael -- published in 1968 in A World of Islands. It shows an outrigger canoe in the (then) Gilbert Islands in the Pacific. Note the man crawling out onto the outrigger, to stabilise the canoe. These canoes reach a speed of about 10 knots -- half the top speed of a modern cruise ship. As a boy, in the mission, this was one of my greatest joys -- to crawl out onto the outrigger to stabilise the canoe as it travelled at speed.

Monday, October 29, 2012

11 Church Plants

A minister in our area said to me last week: "Did you know that there were eleven Church plants on our Main Road in 2010? All of them failed. They think it is easy to make a Church work here." OBSERVATION: I previously estimated (on this blog) an 80% failure rate among Church plants in our area. I think that was way too low. See also Church Plants.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Better Than Atomic

There are some big problems with time. For one thing, as we all know, even quartz clocks don't track it correctly. Even atomic clocks are problematic -- for the reason that the earth is a "living organism", and will not keep in sync with atomic clocks.  Most recently, this caused big problems for computers on the 30th of June this year. The photo shows a prototype of a clock that I once designed, which would (if perfected) have outperformed atomic clocks since their first use (that is, over time) -- not to speak of thousands of years to come. This clock determined solar noon, and went from there. However, the project was clearly going to be a labour of love, and I never got past an early prototype (pictured) which proved the idea. I'm putting this on my blog, partly because I'd love to see someone "run with the idea".

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Betty's Bay Sunset

I took this photo recently of a sunset near Cape Town, with my Leica. It is taken from (about) De Bos Dam above Vermont. Betty's Bay is in the background. From Betty's Bay, one is able to see Cape Town across False Bay. The photo is untouched, except for a modest crop.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Holy Redeemer Anglican

Here's a nearby Church that I haven't featured yet on this blog, albeit taken from an unusual angle across a development site called The Orchards.  It is Holy Redeemer Anglican Church in Sea Point. I have attended there many times, as it is two blocks from my home. You may click on the photo to enlarge to 80k.