Thriving Church

The Churches in Switzerland are known to be weak. One tends to have a few scattered people in the pews. Surveys show that less than 10% of the population attend Church on a weekly basis. Yet my son's Church in Switzerland is thriving (see the image). It is proof that, if you do the right things, your Church will thrive. It need not struggle. OBSERVATION: In my experience, there are not many things you need to get right. Incidentally, before this Church began to thrive, the minister did some things that alienated some families in the Church.

Alternate LED Flasher

Here'a another electronic circuit I designed. It flashes two LEDs alternately, with about 0.5 seconds between flashes. It pulses the LEDs through capacitive discharge, rather than drawing directly on the out­puts of an IC. It may be used, for example, to simulate aircraft lights, or to give a flash which has a more aggressive appearance than a single LED. The CD40106BE IC was found to work best for IC1. Equivalents should work fine, but may cause a slight residual glow after flashing. Six AA batteries should last a few weeks here. OBSERVATION: A former electronics editor comments: "Thomas Scarborough knows NOTHING about the operation of this simple circuit." I designed it. It works!

Geo-Blocking

Pity us poor Southern Africans, who are subject to geo-blocking -- a technology that restricts internet access on the basis of one's location. They would go and dramatise it, too, by displaying the censorship on a black screen. In this case, it was a Sky News item that I could not see. OBSERVATION: There are divers reasons for geo-blocking -- some of them quite strange.

Underground Seam

Years ago, we built a house on a plot in the country. An interesting thing about it was that there was a seam running underneath it. There was groundwater below. This photo shows son M digging a hole for a tree. On the surface, the ground was bone dry -- but as soon as one got to a certain depth, one found the seam.

God and Suffering

I taught on God and Suffering tonight, to seminary students -- covering several points of view. The preferred view of my class was that, as finite human beings, we cannot fully understand the actions of an infinite God -- but one day we shall understand. God will be fully justified, even if many situations now seem unjustifiable. We shall know then that He was good, and we shall praise Him. OBSERVATION: And one of the questions for that view is that, if we cannot fully understand Him, how do we understand that He is good?

Shifting the Blame

Recently I received two written warnings, in quick succession, that someone had tried to break into my e-mail account. The warnings advised me to change my password -- which I did. Then someone broke in -- and whoever it was, they deleted and double-deleted all my Sent items. I reported it to the service provider, who mercifully shall remain nameless. They replied, "The password update would have secured your mailbox." In other words, I was the one to blame. However, I had updated the password, in good time, before the damage occurred. I wrote to them, "It appears that you are shifting the blame." OBSERVATION: At the end of the day, it was anyway my service provider who let the wrecker into my e-mail account.

Brutal

AI can be useful in all sorts of ways. Recently I received seven pages of revisions to an academic paper I wrote -- in small print, with a demanding deadline. Together with my other academic commitments -- not to speak of life itself -- I was dismayed. It seemed like a wall so high that I couldn't scale it. I asked AI what impression all this made. AI responded that it looked "brutal", and it gave me a 40% chance of completion. OBSERVATION: My attitude in general is then a) quit, or b) find another way of approaching the whole thing -- the alternative being c) to die trying. Option c) is out. I decided on option b). I just had to figure it out -- and I did.