Some unusual Christmas decorations
Over the last decade I’ve put together a large collection of photos of Christmas decorations. Many of them are the classics - things like Santas, reindeer, stars and Christmas trees. But this time round I wanted to share some of the more unusual ones, including nominating the most unusual for each year.
Bazball's back: The Down Under edition
A few years ago, I wrote about Bazball, the radical English cricketing approach that had led to victory after victory. It was about to face its greatest test - an Ashes series against the old enemy, Australia, who also happened to be the newly crowned World Test Champions.
The result was a drawn series - the previously unstoppable Bazball machine didn’t wilt, but nor was it able to consistently dominate. Australia retained the Ashes, and England vowed to regroup and prepare for a successful Australian campaign. Well, now they’re here on Australian soil, with the first Test starting tomorrow.
You want God's attention? Remember to grovel!
Tonight in Bible readings I was brought back to a famous prayer (and prophecy) from Daniel 9. It was a prayer I’d once known well, and probably spoke approvingly of. And now those around me talked about how beautiful a prayer it was, and all I could think was how truly awful it was.
Escape from Doubting Castle
I have an audiobook of The Pilgrim’s Progress Retold - a much simplified version of the original Pilgrim’s Progress. It has the same quaint language and earnestness as the original, and I find that amusing (John Bunyan’s probably turning in his grave right now…).
I listened to it again recently, and one scene hit differently from before: Their imprisonment in Doubting Castle by Giant Despair.
The wizard from Chicago
I’d heard the Dresden Files recommended for years before I finally started reading them in 2022, and I was quickly hooked. Over the next year or so I’d read or listened to the extant seventeen novels, two short story collections, and one novella. Then in 2024, for good measure I watched the TV series.
Now it’s just a matter of waiting for what comes next…
Visiting the Sherlock Holmes Emporium
Did you know there’s a Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium on Cape Cod? Well, there is in fiction, anyway. Let me tell you about it.
I've got free space again
One of the consequences of my photography obsession was that I spent much of 2024 scrambling to try and make sure I had enough space for all those new photos. A few months ago, I took my laptop apart to more than double the space available.
In reality, it wasn’t too hard, but given I’ve always said “It’s not an accident that I’m a software person, not a hardware person”, I was proud of myself for (finally!) getting it done.
Another recipe: Peanut butter choc chip cookies
We recently had our annual cooking competition at work. The theme this year? Anything with chocolate in.
When pondering what I should do, I was reminded of a simple but tasty recipe I hadn’t made for many years. So here it is.
The lure of nuclear power
Here in Australia we have an election tomorrow, and one of the things the Coalition has promised as part of their energy plan is nuclear power. We’re told 19 out of 20 major nations either already use nuclear power or are building that capacity, so we’re the odd ones out. Nuclear is going to solve all our problems.
The perils of incumbency
Last year when I was in Sydney, I visited the State Library of NSW, and they had a collection of Australian political cartoons from the last 120 years. Some of them were funny, while others would probably have been more funny if I actually understood their political context. But there was one from our last election that particularly caught my eye.