Walking

This was in my regular email from Go 4 a Walk

"Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend."

Unknown, (but often attributed to Albert Camus)

Reviving interest

Terrorism and fiction are reviving an interest in religion in Britain. An article in the media section of the Observer describes how religious programming is forcing its way into peaktime schedules. The BBC is planning a major series called The Passion about the life of Christ. The first since Lew Grade's Jesus of Nazareth (in which Holby City's Robert Powell played Christ).
The DaVinci Code has also aroused religious passions amongst both the faithful and the sceptics. The book is fiction and according to the critics, the film is a tedious dramatisation of it. But it is already a box office hit.
The people who bring us the Alpha Course are grasping the opportunity to promote their own response to the book. It's worth watching, especially if you want to know why the code is merely fiction and not afraid of the facts about the integrity of the New Testament gospels.

The Vox Pod?

I was listening to the Guardian's Mediatalk PODCAST in the car when a voice I recognised emerged from the speaker.

If you know my circle of friends and acquaintances then you might like to listen to this extract for yourself. Can you identify the voice before the back anno?

voxpod.mp3

Is there a new career emerging - creating and voicing definitions for New Media?

Mum on Skype?

I was quite excited. An email arrived from an accountant at Skype. He suggested I call my mum to keep to my Skype account active. I know Skype is at the leading edge of VOIP (voice over internet protocol) but I hadn't realised just how advanced their software had become.
It's years since I talked to my mum. I don't have a phone number for her, and she doesn't appear to be a Skype user herself. Perhaps Skype has devised a system to link earth to the saints, a sort of "for faster prayers contact your patron saint by Skype" service. But I wasn't aware that mum had been canonised - she wasn't even a Roman Catholic.
I am now at a loss - perhaps Skype could direct me to where the inhabitants of heaven list their contact details and then I can keep my Skype Account active by giving her a call. Their home page has a hopeful message We've included new destinations in our SkypeOut global rate so you can call more friends abroad from £0.012. perhaps the next one will tell me I can also call more friends in heaven.

Arc Light On

The City of York Council has selected the Union Terrace Car Park as its preferred site for the new Arc Light Centre.
York Arc Light will now have to apply for planning permission to build its new centre for homeless people in York on the car park
There has been a well organised campaign by local residents opposing the site and I have no doubt it will continue. It is a campaign I have chosen not to support.
I trust that if the centre is built there will be open and effective communication between the centre and the residents. I am under no illusion that it will at times be challenging to provide for homeless people so close to our homes. But in some ways nothing changes because they are already here. Many of them come to the Salvation Army at the end of the street for their meals, and until recently they congregated in Exhibition Square. Now they will have a purpose built centre designed to help them find their place in society. It will staffed by people qualified to assist them. I wish them all the best.