Almost 1.5 Million

My blog is romping along to 1.5 million views. It is almost there. All the other influence that I have seems to pale by comparison. What is 100 people in a service, thirty of forty people at a seminar, so and so many books sold, when in a single day, thousands of people read my blog? OBSERVATION: In the last day, hundreds of people have looked in from (each) India, Iraq, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Russia, Brazil, and many countries besides ... Today, the USA is at the top of my readers' list, but that is not always so.

What's Wrong With a Bribe

In many parts of the world, Christians are likely to be faced with the problem of bribery -- not least in Africa. There may be a lot at stake. If one doesn't pay the bribe, one may lose precious income, one might be repatriated, one may lose a license, and so on. It is tempting then just to pay. Here are some reasons not to (there are more): 

1. No matter which country, it is a criminal offence.
2. Even corrupt governments have checks in place. You could be caught out.
3. Who says a bribe taker is honest? You may not get what you paid for.
4. There are places to turn for help. A minister. A superior. A law clinic. And so on. 
5. Your payment of a bribe makes the next bribe more possible. And
6. The Bible says we should avoid even the appearance of evil. 

POSTSCRIPT: Have I been offered or asked for a bribe? Yes. Several times, as a minister. But it was never a simple ask, or offer. It was always very cleverly done.

Linux on Chromebooks

Which computers have overtaken Apple Macs in popularity? Just over two years ago, I bought a Chromebook. This is a two-sided machine, with Google Apps on the one side, and Linux Debian on the other. According to AI, "Mainline (Linux) kernel support has been steadily increasing, with usable support arriving around 2023." I am not sure which side of the machine I use most. I depend heavily on the Linux side. OBSERVATION: In the 2+ years that I have had a Chromebook computer, Linux functionality has improved, particularly speed. Tens of thousands of Linux programs will run on the Chromebook, including CLI (command line) applications. The image shows Google Chrome, Linux MyPaint, and DOS all running on the same screen.

More Than Conquerors

A businessman once called me from the Church, on his cellphone. He said, “I didn’t know where to run, so I ran to the House of God.” Our caretaker had let him in. I went to the Church to see him. His situation was dire, and he was exhausted. I said to him, “Where is your faith? How did you allow it so to decline? It is our most precious possession. Now you're in a panic! The Bible says that we are more than conquerors. We can lose everything, and still walk tall.” OBSERVATION: I spoke with him, and I prayed with him. He came out the other side just fine. I read today that he is "involved in international projects".

Google Rankings

For reasons perhaps known only to themselves, Google push some posts down the rankings. Far and away my most popular post at the moment is Mystery Musical Instrument -- which I see by the data behind the scenes. However, it is not under my Popular Posts in the right hand column. OBSERVATION: Posts get weighted by Google, so that the ones with the most views may not be seen on the Popular Posts list -- as in this case. This can become annoying where one is running a more serious blog, and selected news and views are suppressed.

No Driving License

Oy vey. This week I drove into our local Driving License Centre without a valid driving license. They pointed this out to me very gently -- then, without me even asking, or knowing what they were up to, they busied themselves with a temporary driving license (shown). OBSERVATION: Often enough, law and order in South Africa is too, too lax -- yet it can work in one's favour, too!

Doing Things With My Books

This year, I have received many requests to do things with my books -- a few requests a week. One wants screen rights. Another wants me in a study group. Another wants to feature my book. And so on. I have not answered any of them so far, as these are so often ruses. It is quite possible, however, that there are some genuine ones in the mix. For instance, I looked up the man who wants screen rights. He is indeed a producer, with credits on ... Rotten Tomatoes. 

Mystery Musical Instrument

Last week, I completed my mystery musical instrument -- rather, I finished a proof-of-concept -- see my post of 26 February 2026. It is potentially a very sophisticated instrument -- I merely proved that it would work minimally. Today I submitted the design to a publisher in Australia -- and we shall see. OBSERVATION: The question is whether they would publish for the idea's potential, or only see the bare-bones proof-of-concept, which may be too crude. It would potentially be big, because it is groundbreaking.

Responding to Church Conflict

A question that came up in my recent leadership seminar was, how to respond to conflict in the Church? Someone said, "Pray." However, in Paul's Epistle to Titus, which we were studying, there is nothing about prayer. The answer there is: do something about it. Confront the people concerned. Admonish them. Reject them. OBSERVATION: Which surely does not exclude prayer.

AI and Government Correspondence

Many times, I have found AI to be useful when I fed it correspondence. Most recently, I received an e-mail from a government official. It didn't look right to me. They wanted to talk to me, off the record, about a serious problem. I consulted DeepSeek AI -- I fed it the correspondence. DeepSeek replied that, under the circumstances, the official concerned was putting her entire career at risk. "This is precarious for her." It recommended serious action. OBSERVATION: This is the Programme Implementation Co-Ordinator of the Department of Social Development. And a core question: did they deliberately put their career at risk? I did take action, as DeepSeek recommended -- and sent the Co-Ordinator DeepSeek's summary analysis.

Linguistics

The way that people use words every day, they are usually absorbing the flow of them, and not paying special attention to individual words. One of the most useful things I have done is to study linguistics -- and one of the most useful things about linguistics is that it makes one keenly aware of individual words in the flow. OBSERVATION: There are various ways that this is useful. One catches significant words in counselling. One picks up key words in sermons. One finds core words in question-and-answer sessions. And so on.

Easier Than Stick Drawings

Towards the end of last year, I completed a fictional philosophy called The Lost Philosopher. But I felt that it really needed illustrations, if it were to be complete. With my previous artist apparently being out of the running, I experimented with what would be possible without help (I am no artist myself). I found this style, on the right, which is easier for me than stick drawings. I used MyPaint. OBSERVATION: There has been strong interest in the book from agents, but no acceptance yet.

Listen to My Leadership Seminar

On Saturday, I presented a two-hour leadership seminar at the Bible Institute of South Africa -- to kick off this year's Christian Leadership Programme. While I focus mostly on core themes of Paul's Epistle to Titus, I spend the first half hour looking at the huge fragmentation and proliferation of Churches in South Africa since 1994. At one stage, one new Church was formed every two days. What happened? Why? One may listen to the seminar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAf8L0pPLuw

Invention 48: New Guitar

I believe this invention would significantly change the use and sound of guitars -- or any stringed instrument. You saw it first on this blog. A guitar's strings are strung between two fixed points: the headstock and the bridge. Now imagine that we make one end float. Most likely, we would make the bridge float. Now we have strings strung from the headstock to a floating bridge -- and via strings or coils, we take the floating bridge to another headstock above the lower bout -- two strings or coils, or however many desired. Between the floating bridge and the lower bout headstock, we have therefore inserted a kind of springline reverb. OBSERVATION: This would make two differences to the sound of the traditional guitar. The plectrum striking the strings would be felt by all strings, and all strings would feel all strings' vibration. Moreover, the floating bridge could be used for a vibrato effect. Call it a Scarborough Guitar.

Church Elders

Paul's first instruction to Titus, in his epistle to Titus, was: "I left you behind in Crete, in order that ... you may appoint elders in every town." Yesterday I asked the participants in the leadership seminar that I presented: "If I were to say to your Church, 'Would the elders please meet with me over here,' how many Churches would know what I was talking about?" 8 out of 32 participants put up their hands, which is one-quarter. OBSERVATION: A rather telling figure, if this was the first thing Paul wanted to see in the Church.