The Unknown Secret

As I look back on this month, my blog has had more than two-thirds of a million views -- which is a record. By way of comparison, in the previous month it had just over 150,000 views. It remains a mystery to me, why it is so popular. Wife E says it is because my blog is not more of the same. It talks about different kinds of things. Others have pointed to the ordinary-academic mix. Others have pointed to the fact that I share the trials of life, from time to time. What is its secret to success? I could also mention, photos. And my inter-cultural life. And my policy is generally this: one post = one thought. But really, I don't know!

Church Orchestra

Most Churches have a keyboardist or a music team. This Church had a small orchestra. It is a New Apostolic Church in Cape Town. OBSERVATION: The New Apostolic Church is led by a Chief Apostle, with a hierarchy of apostles. They have three sacraments: Baptism, Holy Communion, and Holy Sealing: the Holy Spirit transmitted through the laying-on of hands by an apostle, after water baptism. It is a thriving Church.

‘I'll Kill Him!’

This one is not for sensitive readers. A woman called me up to say that she wanted to see me. Her husband had taken to drinking again. “If he walks in drunk,” she said, “I swear I’ll kill him!” I said, “Is an hour soon enough?” Yes, she said, soon enough. Ten minutes later she called me again. She said calmly, “He’s lying downstairs in a pool of blood". I went over, and she was nowhere to be found -- but her husband was in a distressing condition, on his back -- surrounded by a pool of blood. A security guard had popped an eye back into the socket. How he knew how to do that I wouldn’t know. They kept him awake all night at the hospital, apparently to keep him from slipping into a coma. Then they operated on him for 2½ hours to save the eye. OBSERVATION: So what happened? They ran over a tape from a security camera, but it had happened just off-camera. And nobody was talking.

Motionless at the Lagoon

This one's "just a pretty picture". My father took it in the 1960's, on Beru atoll, in the Central Pacific -- where our family lived in the mission. OBSERVATION: He said about this photo that he could not comprehend how islanders could sit motionless for hours at a time, staring at the lagoon. What were they thinking about?

POSTSCRIPT: I used a Kodak SCANZA to convert this image from slide to digital.*

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

Library Fame

I was delighted to see my philosophy Everything, Briefly, on display in a library this week (pictured). The publishers set the price beyond the reach of us poor Africans, who live in the poorhouse, but one can obtain it worldwide on Amazon for $28.99 in paperback, here: Everything, Briefly*. OBSERVATION: However, with the Developing World in mind, the publishers deliberately set a low price for the Kindle edition. 

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

Another Swan Song

Final year students are each delivering a "swan song" -- a final address -- at seminary chapel. I took this photo of one such student last night (centre). OBSERVATION: He spoke about God's provision -- which had run contrary to expectations. It was particularly interesting that he gave detailed examples.

Theological-Philosophical Paper

It seems to be de rigueur that one announces the acceptance of a paper, like the birth of a baby. I was pleased to have a paper accepted yesterday (see the letter of acceptance), on the political engagement of the Church. I argue that Christian nationalism and progressive Christian politics, which may seem to be opposites (the political right and political left), often function as mirror images of each other by each pursuing a “fixed ideal”. I go on to deny the possibility of such an ideal. OBSERVATION: My paper received a lot of help from academics who generously upped my game. They called the paper "genuinely interesting" and "genuinely creative". As if that is not the case with all academic papers!?

Cosmic Radiation

More than 20 years ago, I conducted the wedding of an international airline pilot. I estimate that he was in his early 40's. He said that he was getting married and getting out. He was seeing his colleagues die of cancers caused by cosmic radiation. Now, all these years later, the BBC has a headline: Radiation link in flight attendant's breast cancer, French court finds. It was ruled an occupational disease. OBSERVATION: The case is a first: "A French court has for the first time recognised cosmic radiation as a factor ..."

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.