tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151356902009-10-18T06:34:04.433+01:00...And it involves an inner tube, bath mats, and 21 able-bodied mentomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-43968704950531498352007-02-12T13:52:00.000+01:002007-02-12T15:53:50.405+01:00

So I went to Bruges, Belgium recently, a surprise for my one year anniversary with the beautiful Jane (a surprise for Jane, not me, I booked it). The cobbled streets, canals, and gothic market squares make this a delightful, but petit, classical European city. It seems as though nothing has been built in the main town for a 100 years or so. The photo on the right is from the top of the belfry

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-10051830528148064732007-01-18T00:01:00.000+01:002007-01-18T00:11:33.737+01:00

Right I have an idea, bear with me on this one I want your comments.What if the law was changed so that pedestrians could reclaim the streets? What if any accident involving an automobile and a pedestrian resulted in a prison sentence for the driver, would that encourage people to slow down and get out of their cars, use public transport a bit more, and have a positive impact on the environment?

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-81272717779618910152007-01-15T22:21:00.000+01:002007-01-15T22:42:09.815+01:00

Just finished an introductory course in Peace Studies. It was a 12 week online Certificate in Peace and Reconciliation Studies, at Coventry University. For my final assignment I had to write about a non-western form of conflict resolution. I wrote about the Semai tribe of Malaysia - they live up in the remote mountain valleys, and are famed for having little or no recorded violence - ever!When

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1161529072071561132006-10-22T15:51:00.000+01:002006-10-22T15:57:52.086+01:00

It seems that history doesn't matter that much, as i realised that the post i made below to the 'blogging britain' campaign probably won't ever get published because of the political comments. They say in their terms and conditions that:the material [must not be] capable of being considered as inappropriate for the Site, is not racist, sexist or political in nature nor otherwise offensive nor

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1161114360942049512006-10-17T19:53:00.000+01:002006-10-17T20:46:01.063+01:00

As part of the history matters campaign by the national trust, I am taking part in blogging one day in the life of Britain. Tuesday the 17th October 2006 is the chosen day, here's what i did:"Slept through alarm number 1 today, a Sufjan Stevens song played on my mobile phone. Fortunately alarm number 2, an M Ward song on my iPod did the trick and got me up in time (7am) for my usual breakfast of

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1159391553163592752006-09-27T21:54:00.000+01:002006-09-27T22:13:01.440+01:00

Greenpeace today launched a spoof website to raise awareness of Apple's un-environmentally friendly ways. Check it out. Although I love Macs because they lead the pack in terms of design, use-ability, and downright coolness of home computers, I wish they would also be so forward-thinking where the environment is concerned.

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1159008042946053192006-09-23T11:36:00.000+01:002006-09-23T11:43:16.753+01:00

Found a link to a cool site where you can do a quiz to test where your theology is at. Thanks to Jon Matthews for the link. The quiz is here.Below are my results:Emergent/Postmodern86%Neo orthodox61%Classical Liberal61%Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan54%Modern Liberal43%Roman Catholic39%Charismatic/Pentecostal14%Reformed Evangelical7%Fundamentalist4%What's your theological worldview?created with

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1158778362736057472006-09-20T19:52:00.000+01:002006-09-20T19:55:33.326+01:00

I spotted this grafitti on the wall in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I think its quite a profound picture - interpretations of its meaning welcome on the comments board...pic by the beautiful Jane.t.

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1158695589782242212006-09-19T20:40:00.000+01:002006-09-19T20:53:09.793+01:00

I was visiting a Childrens Centre in Birmingham today as part of my job, and i noticed they had the profound African proverb above as a slogan after their name.It got me thinking about the role of local community in the way we bring up Children in this country. It seems families, however functional or dysfunctional have become like islands, where family business is private, and other members of

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1158002590229910042006-09-11T19:59:00.000+01:002006-09-11T21:47:59.353+01:00

I have been following Adem since the release of his first album, homesongs, in 2004. I believe he used to make music with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) as part of Fridge. His latest album, Love and Other Planets, became a concept album after Adem wrote the title track and then realised he could write a whole album about outer space!The album gently ables along with sweet melodies and intricate

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1153067726966698702006-07-16T16:43:00.000+01:002006-09-12T20:34:20.443+01:00

Hey, its been a while.I went to Slovenia with Jane recently. Its a really cool place to go for a holiday, really relaxing and cool to get out and enjoy the beautiful countryside. Not gonna do a full review but there are a few photos with comments below.This is a typical view from the three bridges, right in the centre of the capital Ljubljana. The bridges cross the Ljubljanica river, and form the

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1149453709509099782006-06-04T21:23:00.000+01:002006-06-04T21:43:15.590+01:00

Just bought a new toy (see opposite). Its the new apple Macbook. Apple have now managed to squeeze an intel chip into their whole product line, and they do a hell of a lot more than they do in PC's! It does lots of amazing things, but perhaps the most fun is the new program - photobooth. This program takes a photo of you with the new built-in iSight camera in the top of the screen (of course you

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1145828605076640322006-04-23T22:37:00.000+01:002006-04-23T22:43:25.086+01:00

My new community herb garden in my front garden in Cotteridge. If you live in the area, help yourself!

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1144704564999687932006-04-10T22:26:00.000+01:002006-04-10T22:29:26.483+01:00

Blemheim Park, April 7th 2006.

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1141943510943963812006-03-09T22:26:00.000+01:002006-03-09T23:32:51.423+01:00

In a response to a lively debate going on at the bench press, i thought i better put a post on here about theories of the atonement.There are three main theories of the atonement: Christus Victor, Satisfaction (penal substitution), and Moral Influence.Very briefly i will try to explain these three theories.Christus Victor is the 'classic' view - it goes back at least to the time of Iranaeus (c.

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1141341063149607792006-03-02T23:47:00.000+01:002006-03-03T00:15:54.853+01:00

Much as I hate blogs that write about what the athor has been up to day to day, I thought I ought to write a quick review of Poland, since i've just been there. Its not bad as countries go, bit cold, bit somber after the war, and no facial expressions at all. Really, whether people are over the moon because they've just won the lottery, or gutted because they've just realised they lost the

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1139266048459695142006-02-06T23:20:00.000+01:002006-02-06T23:47:28.486+01:00

Been reading an interesting book recently - Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way - by Walter Wink. Its been extremely thought provoking. You learn in the biological sciences that there are two natural reactions to a threat - 'fight' or 'flight'. Wink suggest here that there is a third way, a way which has been embraced successfully in the past by Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and others.

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1138734470783920402006-01-31T19:44:00.000+01:002006-01-31T20:07:50.800+01:00

After the news today of the 100th death of a UK soldier in Iraq, I was wondering what people thought about the future of British involvement in Iraq. Bit of a straw poll I suppose - Should Britain pull out of Iraq? If so how quickly? Should they be replaced by UN peacekeepers? Leave your comments on the comments board below.

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1138399251281644042006-01-27T22:29:00.000+01:002006-01-27T23:04:06.023+01:00

Z, the extraordainary new album from My Morning Jacket hit the shelves back in october but unfortunately went undetected by me until a recent article on them in the excellent Uncut magazine. Z is their first album since the reshuffle - they lost two founder members and promptly replaced them after their major-label debut It Still Moves in 2003. I am not familar with their other albums but i am

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1137951566585901982006-01-22T18:19:00.000+01:002006-01-22T18:39:26.600+01:00

I listened to a Radio 4 series recently called 'In the Footsteps of Jesus'. In the final programme the presenter visited an Ashram community/monastery in India, where the Monks practised their Christian faith with a fusion of both Christian and Hindu disciplines, including depicting Jesus in artwork as a Hindu Guru sitting in the lotus position.I thought this was incredibly beautiful. The way

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1137804618366374312006-01-21T01:37:00.000+01:002006-01-21T01:50:18.376+01:00

Sufjan Stevens' album 'Come on Feel the Illinoise' (which was excellently reviewed on this site, and from which this site takes its name) has won album of the year on metacritic, the web review-congregator. This excellent service collects and averages the reviews of thousands of releases from the top music weekly's, monthly's and newspapers (including Q, NME, Uncut etc), to give an averaged

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1137803618108038222006-01-21T01:04:00.000+01:002006-01-21T01:33:38.120+01:00

29, the latest album from alt.country trail-blazer Ryan Adams, is his most intimate set of songs since the ill-fated Love is Hell series that his record company didn't want to release. It comes as his third release in 2005, 3 albums in 7 months...is that a record?? His solo career began in 2000 with the excellent 'Heartbreaker', and this is his eigth studio album release since then.Ah, but surely

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1137701095260930882006-01-19T20:53:00.000+01:002006-01-19T21:07:24.380+01:00

This guy just keeps getting better doesn't he?Apparently now he has warned the town of Dover, PA, that they can expect a disaster any day now as they have apparently rejected God from their town!His comments came on his daily show, the 700 club. The board members of a school in Dover had recently unanimously rejected the proposition that Intelligent Design be taught in their school as a competing

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1137623382568710182006-01-18T23:15:00.000+01:002006-01-18T23:30:53.393+01:00

I don't know if this passed your radars, but a funny story from accross the pond that made me chuckle...A couple who planted a human finger in a bowl of chilli in the hope of gaining compensation from Wendy's fast food chain have been jailed in California.Anna Ayala, 39, was sentenced to nine years and her husband Jaime Placencia, 43, will serve 12 years, four months.Ayala's false allegation was

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15135690.post-1133822401685161682005-12-05T23:23:00.000+01:002005-12-05T23:40:01.696+01:00

Tonight the BBC showed a program reflecting on the 'Tsunami: Seven Hours on Boxing Day'. It told the story of the aboriginal Andaman people of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. It was feared that this whole ancient people would have been wiped out by the boxing day tsunami. Not one of them died. Why? They knew it was coming, they had an early warning system, their traditions. An Andaman

tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09512249109697371045noreply@blogger.com1