African Traditional Religions

I was teaching World Religions this week. No. 5 in size is African Traditional Religions. A student shared an interesting anecdote. He was in a house with Xhosa men, he said, when a certain fly entered the front door. There was consternation! Among grown men! This was because the fly was believed to embody a spirit. OBSERVATION: I have witnessed something like this myself. This is why it is said that one can convert from African Traditional Religions to other religions, but not the other way round. No one can begin to see the world with African eyes.

Super-Simple Intercom

I designed this, surely the world's simplest intercom. The circuit was published worldwide -- and eventually the copyright reverted to me. One could use it to connect a home to a workshop, say, or a baby room with a kitchen. This offers excellent performance, though with a trebly tone. The intercom works on the master-slave (base-remote) principle, where the person with the master unit has total control. The person with the slave unit needs to speak and to listen according to whether the master wishes to speak or listen! The circuit is so designed that the remote unit can be wired up by means of a simple twin-flex cable. The sensitivity of the circuit may be significantly reduced by omitting C1. Note that with C1, there will be feedback (squeal) if the piezo cone tweeters are too close together. IC1's current consumption is about 10mA, so that this circuit would ideally run off a 12V DC plug-pack power supply. OBSERVATION: This can also be used as a window or door alarm. Mount each piezo cone tweeter on opposite sides of a closed window or door, and as soon as you open, there is the shriek of feedback.

POSTSCRIPT: One can obtain a pair of simple piezo cone tweeters* from Amazon -- sometimes difficult to locate. Amazon also have a pack of five LM380N IC's*, and DPDT switches* sold in twos -- one of them can be used for S1, the other for S2. You could look at this twin conductor wire* from Amazon -- 100 feet. Amazon also has the capacitors -- in big packs! Pull these from some junk electronics if you can.

*This is an Amazon affiliate link. I earn a commission, at no cost to the buyer. 

Mentoring a Student

Last week, I "adopted" a student to mentor him. Mentoring differs from counselling like this: counselling is about a person's inner world; mentoring is about their outer world. In counselling, one tries to get inside the mind and heart of a person; in mentoring, one seeks to put them on a path of action. Actually, both roles borrow from each other. OBSERVATION: I said to him, Make me some breakfast -- and we had a first session -- three hours -- in which we examined a Life Plan that he wrote. Together we worked out a list of things to do. The renowned J. Robert Clinton taught me mentoring.

Swan Song

In their final semester, final-year students are invited to lead weekly chapel devotions. It is called their "swan song". Here is another final-year student, receiving a blessing or being commissioned after his swan song. OBSERVATION: This photo uses a Leica simulation on a Fujifilm camera. The lens is the 18mm F2 Fujifilm lens*.    

*This is an Amazon affiliate link. I earn a commission, at no cost to the buyer. 

Pesky Robots

The times they are a-changin. My son wrote to me from Europe, saying that he was "nearly assaulted" by a robot today. A week ago, a friend wrote to me from the USA,

"In our grocery store three weeks ago, a robot appeared. It scoots around doing inventory, wearing little signs around its neck with things like 'I'm Simbe. I'm taking inventory.' I complained to management, saying I was deeply unhappy about how they were taking jobs away from humans ..."

My friend was also worried about what the robot was doing. Who says it was only taking inventory? OBSERVATION: I had an experience with furious little robots last year, when I arrived at Zürich airport in the early morning, and laid me down to rest. Next thing, there were cleaner robots everywhere! Thankfully, robots seem to be a long way off in Africa. We still have friendly, dawdling humans here.

Supper Report-Back

In city ministry, we held regular Church Suppers. Thanks to my being booked off sick once, I received a report of such a supper via e-mail. This was fairly typical of urban ministry -- full of life and chaos:

"At fifteen minutes past time, only one-quarter of one table had filled up, and it looked like a complete failure. But given another half hour, two such tables were completely full. Once full, the event was inundated by youngsters, and a third table needed to be provided. Such was the press of youngsters that it was decided, at a certain point, to turn them away at the door. It was the youngsters, too, who saw to it that all the food was finished. Not a scrap was left. Our caretaker's wife, who usually receives a special plate at the end, was disgruntled that there was nothing left for her. Several people needed to be enlisted to control the chaos, so that the various group presentations could go on."

OBSERVATION: This was a Church Supper of May 2008. I think that one table seated twenty people, so that this Supper might have started with five people present, and ended with seventy or eighty (minus the youngsters stopped at the door).

Watch With a Difference

I own a watch with a difference. While most modern timepieces would instantly be destroyed by a nuclear EMP, not this one. It shows the time with a small spot of sunlight on a ring. This dial is elegantly crafted -- and easily fits into the palm of one's hand. Also, it is far more versatile than its historical forebears -- being a universal dial. It will work all over the world. However, the instructions fail to explain solar time -- not the same as standard time. OBSERVATION: I estimate that -- with skill, and a sunny sky -- this will tell the time to within 5 minutes. The manufacturer claims 2 minutes.

POSTSCRIPT: Called the Kala Pocket Sundial*, this is available from Amazon.  *This is an Amazon affiliate link. I earn a commission, at no cost to the buyer. 

Dangerous App

Bridgetown, a Cape Town suburb which lies between Langa and Heideveld, is notorious for its gang violence. Google AI comments that driving in the area "requires high alertness and caution" (Google's emphasis). This is where I lecture at seminary. So I zip down the road towards the seminary, and as I go, I pull out my smartphone, punch in a password, activate an app -- and as I turn into the seminary driveway, I press on a button which says "Entrance Gate". The seminary gate slides open before me, and automatically shuts behind me. Last week, however, I activated the app, and my whole screen was taken over by a notice which read something like this: "Install the latest update? Our latest update includes ..." and so on. The "Entrance Gate" button was nowhere to be found. OBSERVATION: What in the world were the programmers thinking?! Google AI again: "When a driver has to stop, slow down, or wait for a motorized gate to open, they become a stationary target with limited escape routes."

An Arranged Love

This was at one point one of my more popular books. I haven't highlighted it for years. It is a true story. My late wife Mirjam, who was terminally ill, invoked an ancient tradition of the Church in Europe, naming her "replacement" before she died. This was no ordinary replacement, but a rural African woman of royal descent. I found myself cold starting an arranged marriage by African custom. A heart-warming, tumultuous tale -- I am told.

OBSERVATION: A black and white edition (120+ photos) is available here on Amazon: An Arranged Love*. There's also a full colour edition.   *This is an Amazon affiliate link. I earn a commission, at no cost to the buyer.

My Struggle With a Fish

Back in the mission, as a youngster, I took a strong fishing line and a big hook, and tossed it through an opening on the deck of our mission ship. I caught something so powerful that it started to drag me down the deck, towards the opening. I put my feet against the stanchions, but it did no good -- the fish was too strong for me. I called out. My guardian Temeeti came running. The fish was too powerful for him, too. He pulled out a knife, and cut the fish loose. He said it probably was a swordfish. The photo shows Temeeti, fishing in the reef.