Monthly Archives: April 2005

Doctor Who

Doctor Who Episode 3

Leave a comment

So I’ve just finished watching episode three of the new Doctor Who. This week we had our first TARDIS ooops episode, where the Doctor was aiming for Naples in 1860, but the TARDIS arrives in a wintery Cardiff in 1869. Of course this being Doctor Who, the TARDIS has taken the Doctor to where the trouble is to be found, a race of gaseous aliens who need dead bodies, and are haunting an undertakers.

We again got a reference to the bigger plotline, with the aliens saying that their predicament is as a result of the Time War, could this be another pointer to the demise of the Time Lords? We also get a bit of Rose backstory, when the maid talks to Rose about her parents. Like the other references it gives a larger backstory that the fans pick up on, but is such that the new viewers aren’t totally bemused.

The effects continue to be up to scratch, with the whispy gas aliens swooping all over the place. There is also some really cool effects with the snow. If you missed the snow effect, watch the repeat on BBC3 on Sunday, and watch what happens to the snow sitting on the ledges on the TARDIS when it leaves. As the TARDIS fades it starts to fall, but rather than falling straight down it gets caught up in the rush of air into the space where the TARDIS has been!

So far I’ve been pretty impressed with the new series. There haven’t been any really duff episodes. It is definitely a new show, but then if you watch some of the old shows on UK Gold, it needed to be – time has moved on, as have audiences.

Whilst on the subject of Doctor Who, in an article praising his star, Russell T Davies has confirmed what I had heard, that he was aware of Chris Eccleston only doing a single series, but that the news was not supposed to be released before the end of the series.

Church, General

A Royal First

Leave a comment

I’ve just finished watching the Royal Wedding coverage from Windsor Castle. The service was a typically grand affair musically, with both choir and orchestra, including a truly spectacular final verse of Praise My Soul.

Whilst there was much attention over the marital status of Charles and Camilla, this lead to by far the biggest change in the service. Since this was a blessing, they couldn’t use the traditional Book of Common Prayer marriage service. It is worth mentioning at this point that Prince Charles is Patron of the Prayer Book Society, who actively campaigned against the introduction of Common Worship saying that the Book of Common Prayer was all the Church needed, even dredging up a 1989 speech by the Prince in support in the book The Real Common Worship. In the run up to the wedding, the Times quoted Meg Pointer of the society saying “I would hope he would not use the Common Worship service.â€? She said a service could be “put togetherâ€? using the language from the Book of Common Prayer. (Just to be clear, she was proposing that the Archbishop of Cantebury and the one day head of the Church of England make up a non-standard service rather than using the form of service approved by the Church of England for such a situation. The reason being that the Book of Common Prayer, that the society said in 2000 is all the liturgy that the Church of England needs, doesn’t include a suitable service.)

Whilst in the past there have been occasions when rules have been bent over forms of service for Royal Occasions, it is a tribute to the flexibility in the new liturgy that what we had today was the Common Worship service, and perhaps the most public example of the aim of Common Worship to bring everybody in the Church onto a single book.

Although the press were commenting on the use of the 1662 confession, it is worth noting that it is present in Common Worship. They used the proper traditional Lord’s Prayer rather than the 1967 modified version that often gets called the traditional version today, which again is allowed under the rubrics.

There were a couple of interesting diversions from the traditional language. The dedication of the marriage stuck to the modern words in the services, and what especially surprised me was that the question to the families and friends to uphold the marriage was included. The other surprise was that whilst in almost every other respect the option of a traditional language prayer was taken, at the very end of the service, Rowan Williams used the blessing straight from the service, in it’s modern form.

Having said all of that, I doubt many people will have noticed, and to be honest the reason that Charles and Camilla had to use the modern service is that there is no provision for remarrying divorcees in the Book of Common Prayer. Perhaps the real Royal First will be when a Royal Wedding uses the modern language marriage service that the majority of couples use for their Church Weddings.

MobLog

Correspondance

Leave a comment

Back in February, I posted an item grumbling about the PC and Mac versions of Rise of Nations not playing multi-player. Last month, Mac Format published a review of the game, and gave it an all round glowing review, with no negative aspects at all, even saying how great the multi-player mode was to play. As a result I e-mailed them pointing out the problems with PC/Mac play, and how it wasn’t highlighted anywhere, and that I thought that as a leading Mac magazine, this should be the kind of thing they should be highlighting. I got a nice e-mail back from the editor thanking me for my e-mail and saying that in future they would double check. Anyway, my copy of the latest issue arrived this week, and turning to the letters page is a slightly edited version of my e-mail, and a similar response!

Just before Easter I wrote a long posting after recieving a notice of deemed supply from Scottish Power. In response I wrote to them giving them ten working days to sort out the problem by confirming that they do not have a contract with me. Yesterday, just at the point when I was going to raise the problem up with Energywatch, the ten working days having passed on Tuesday, I got a letter from Scottish Power Customer services. They confirm that my account with them was marked closed as from 9th August 2001 (which is the same day they opened it) as they had stated previously. They have also checked their application system, and there is no record of either a contract listed to my address, or with my MPAN number. They also say that my comments “have been noted” – I made no secret of what I thought of their company and general competence demonstrated by both this and the previous problems. Whilst they didn’t manage to get back to me within the limit I set, as they have come back confirming everything I said, and apologising, I’ll let them off, there was Easter in the middle after all!

MobLog, Politics

What’s in a Handshake?

1 Comment

Having watched a lot of the coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II in amongst many of the images, what is really bugging me is that every report focuses in on the ‘diplomatic gaffe’ of shaking hands with President Mugabe. More than that we now have various politicians saying that he should have used the opportunity to refuse to shake his hand.

My annoyance has grown when I found out at what point the handshake took place – not before the service, but at the peace during the service itself – and also when it transpired that it was actually Mugabe who leant over to shake Prince Charles hand, rather than Charles actively shaking Mugabe’s hand. Take a look at the picture, and also note the other handshaking that is going on.

Mugabe shakes Charles hand

Fundamentally, I think that Charles did the right thing. The liturgical high point of the funeral mass of the Pope is not the right time to make a big political point, the hand was offered, as it was from many other people sat around at that point. It is also worth pointing out the symbolism of the Peace at the point it is placed in the Roman Church. It follows the Eucharistic Prayer, and also the Lord’s Prayer, and is intrinsicaly tied to the line from the Lord’s Prayer:

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Earlier in the service has been confession and absolution, and in the same way that we ask God to forgive our sins, we are called to forgive others sins. If it had been anywhere else, then perhaps my opinion would be different, but in the context of a Christian service, I think Charles did the Christian thing.

Do I think that Mugabe has had some great conversion? Probably not. Do I think that the attrocities in Zimbabwe will continue? Most definitely. However I think that today was not the place to make a big point, just do as Charles did, shake the mans hand and carry on, no big fuss one way or the other.

What I think is much more important to highlight, is the other handshakes and conversations that took place on the steps today. The presidents of Israel, Iran and Syria who talked to each other, despite the tense relationships that still exist between them. President Bush sat only a few metres from people he described as being an axis of evil. People of many faiths and none come together in a common cause. Maybe it is a vain hope, but maybe through his funeral the Pope has brought all these people together, and maybe through that some good will come.

Computers/Technology

Taking the Strain

Leave a comment

I actually intended to write this blog entry a few weeks ago, but with one thing and another never quite got around to it. However thanks to a work colleague having similar problems I was reminded!

One of the most common problems that people in the IT industry suffer, are aches, strains and pain that generally gets classed under the heading RSI. It’s usually associated with either typing, or using a mouse, or both. With it being so common, a whole industry has grown up producing ergonomic keyboards, mice, mouse-mats, wrist rests and so on.

Anyway, I didn’t have had problems from time to time, but didn’t have too much of a major problem until last year, when during the requirements gathering stage of my current project I started to get discomfort from my right wrist and thumb. After a bit of consideration of what I was doing different, I changed the pen I was using for note taking to one with a larger barrel, and using gel ink and the problem seemed to go away. However since then I’ve had a couple of recurrences, with no real pattern that I could discern. The advice on the topic I could find, and the comments online from people with similar problems was that the best solution was usually to take some anti-inflammatory pain killers, and try to avoid doing what was causing the pain and discomfort. The other common thread was that whilst surgery may cure the problem for a while, it often came back. There is also a general problem that most of the online advice comes either from sufferers, or from manufacturers of ergonomic equipment. Whilst the advice to stop doing what you’re doing makes sense, when your entire job (and most jobs today) revolves around keyboards and mice, it becomes a bit of a problem!

However, one of the RSS feeds I regularly keep an eye on is from the O’Reilly Network, who produce the range of ‘animal’ technical books that most IT people will be familiar with. Last month an article came through on their feed written by one of their authors about his search for good advice on RSI online. The article gives a brief introduction, and also looks at various ergonomic keyboards and mice, however the most important thing I gained from the article was a recommendation of an American book on RSI in Computer Professionals called “It’s Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!: RSI Theory & Therapy for Computer Professionalsâ€?. The key point from the book being that the source of the problem is not in your hand or wrist, hence why having surgery and all the ergonomic everything’s that you can get doesn’t address the root cause of the problem. It also highlights than in a lot of cases, you local doctor will tend to offer solutions to the symptoms – not the root problem.

Anyway, I got hold of the book, which has certainly been an eye opener, and is definitely one I would recommend for anybody experiencing RSI symptoms, especially if you’re in the IT industry. Being written specifically for Computer Professionals, it seems to be a lot easier to understand what is going on, and ultimately make you better able to do what you need to do in as much comfort as possible. It is worth stressing that the book is no miracle cure – but it does point you in the right direction for addressing any RSI problems you may have, or ensuring that you don’t develop them in the first place!

It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!: RSI Theory & Therapy for Computer Professionals