A step backwards brings progress. Vive IT!
16 September, 2010
I bought Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder on 8th May, 1999. I finished reading it a few days ago in September, 2010. Like so many other books, I bought this one to read on a trip for Feba, that time as I flew out of Heathrow to Nairobi and on to Seychelles. On the way home I visited Kampala, Uganda. Well, the book then went on the shelf and stayed there on and off as I accumulated others on different trips.
This particular literary journey to the end of Sophie’s World began with a visit to Francis Schaeffer’s Escape from Reason in the hope of understanding how British culture has so wholeheartedly turned away from Christian faith. His brief review of the history of philosophy made me want more, so I turned to Sophie. I only wish I was as bright as this fictional young lady, just 14 years old but able to absorb with great ease and rapidity all her mysterious philosophy teacher gives her.
14 September, 2010
In one of the many emails I get from helpful (sometimes) groups and lists, DropPic was mentioned as a quick way of reducing the size of a digital image for use on a web site. Even the little camera I most often carry makes a picture of about 1MB. DropPic reduces to around 20KB, much faster to load from this log, for example. DropPic is for the Mac, so Windows users will have to find another solution. (Whenever I move back into the dark side my blood pressure rises.)
6 September, 2010
Sunday afternoon, Marian had a convincing cough but wanted to get some fresh air. So, we drove over to Pulborough, stopped in the car park near the library and walked south across to Pulborough Brooks. The path crosses the River Chilt just where it joins the Arun. The whole flat plain reminds of the area between Rumney, where I lived in my teen years, and the River Severn.
The Brooks has the RSPB reserve; that afternoon there were hundreds of Canada Geese. A helicopter passed overheard, disturbed the geese who flew around making a marvellous racket before settling down again.
Now September’s here, so are autumnal signs, like these berries — possibly of the viburnum opulus — beautiful against both green and redding leaves.
6 September, 2010