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. 

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).