You Read It First ...

Once again, you read it first on this blog. A Fox News headline proclaims this morning: "Trump signs executive order rebranding AI as 'Super Intelligence'". I wrote more than two years ago on this blog, "There are those who claim that AI is a trick. It is not a trick. It is a super-intelligence." See my post Super-Intelligence. OBSERVATION: But philosopher Nick Bostrom put the term on the map with his book Superintelligence in 2014.

Powering a Perpetual Clock

Many years ago I discovered -- perhaps for the first time -- that there is a ground/plant potential difference of about 0.4V in all plants. If one wires pot plants together in series -- inserting pins into the ground and into the plants -- one has (in this case, above) 2.0V potential. That is enough to run a "potato clock". The big difference is that a potato battery eventually goes flat, while this will keep on going as long as the pot plants are alive -- an almost endless source of free power. OBSERVATION: There is a suitable potato clock available from Amazon*, to plug in here.

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

Robber Fly

I took this photo of a robber fly -- also called an assassin fly -- on the windscreen of my car. They used to be rare in Cape Town, but one sees them often now. A robber fly preys on other insects -- and will even snatch a spider from its web.

Meeting Deadlines

During an evening lecture, a student told me he had just submitted an assignment. I asked another student how he was doing. He said he would work on the assignment after the lecture, and hoped to submit by the deadline at midnight. I was quietly astonished. Suppose that he'd had the flu, or suffered an accident, or had an emergency? OBSERVATION: As it happens, he did very well. It has been my own custom, if given a deadline, to finish in half the time -- and I don't remember ever being challenged by a deadline, or indeed not finishing in half the time. I may have felt challenged at the start, yes -- though not challenged in finishing on time. (This is, in my view, the secret to my own high grades).

Urban Movement

Someone was late for an appointment once, in 2011 -- so I picked up an old Church address list in my vestry. I was amazed to see that, since 1997 (in 14 years), only 34 out of 220 surnames -- 15 percent -- remained on the list. That was rather stunning -- although for an urban congregation, really quite normal -- and this is one of the big things a minister must get used to when moving to urban ministry. OBSERVATION: The number of names joining us was, however, far greater than the number of names leaving. God Himself sustains His Church. 

Making Donations Work

Yesterday I sought to make a donation to a theological seminary -- not in fact to make the donation, but to see how this worked -- which is, TWINT. The seminary promised that it would be "very easy". Instead, TWINT took me through to Baseplay MAX games. Ah, yes, they said, they'd had a lot of trouble with TWINT. OBSERVATION: Now, if you're going to open a channel for donations, be sure that it works!

POSTSCRIPT: They found the problem. I used the QR app instead of the TWINT app. I myself have no access to the TWINT app. Enough said!

Administrative Assistant

It's been a while since I shared any news of son M. He has now lived for many years in Switzerland -- having Swiss citizenship through my late wife Mirjam. His interests revolve very much around the Church -- and this very week he is to begin a job as a Church's Administrative Assistant -- a thriving Church in Zürich. OBSERVATION: The job involves, very broadly, Administration, Communications, Event Coordination, and Data Management.

Useless Books

It's a photo of the library at the seminary where I work. What strikes me as I walk these aisles is how many useless books people have created -- perhaps one should say, comparatively useless. It depends, of course, what one means by "useless". Perhaps some books were useful insofar as they brought in some royalties for their authors. OBSERVATION: The Bible says, "Of making many books there is no end."

The Perfect Fix

For this kerbstone fix, one has to give our city a perfect 10. Firstly, this job was clearly optimised for speed and efficiency. 10/10. Secondly, the fix is obviously a strong one that has held. 10/10. And all in all, this must have saved the taxpayer a lot of money. 10/10.

POSTSCRIPT: It brings to mind my post New Broom.

In Conversation

I took this photo earlier in the week, of a final-year student (left) in discussion with a lecturer (right). This would be a good one for some captions! I obtained such a "roomy" shot with a wide-angle 18 mm prime lens. OBSERVATION: One can buy a similar shirt as the final-year student is wearing on Amazon*.

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