Impatient snobs who sneer at anyone who cannot pronounce Foie Gras correctly or as wonderfully welcoming as a warm tarte tatin?

Anthony Peregrine, writing in the Telegraph, dispels all ten myths in his dicidedly pro-Gaulish way....

No 3.  'French food is not all it's cracked up to be.'

Here's a claim made frequently these days, generally by clever people who go on to mention fusion food, the Pacific Rim and their favourite restaurants in Sydney. Certainly, it's true that you can eat some pretty alarming stuff in France. My digestion still recalls a banquet near Perpignan whose main course was essentially solid pork fat floating in liquid pork fat. "In LA," said a visitor from California, "this would be regarded as attempted murder." I would also resist manouls - sheep's intestine stew - in the Massif Central, and andouillette, which can surprise you anywhere. But this isn't bad cooking. The dishes are cooked as they should be. Andouillette is meant to have a "whiff of s***t about it", as someone once said.

If we British recoil, it's because we have lost touch with the origins of food. In Britain, the food chain begins, vacuum-packed, in the supermarket. In France, it begins on the land, in the sea and with the animals, in all their gory detail. To an extent unknown here, the French have kept links to a peasant past. Even when they haven't - when they are, say, Jacques Chirac (whose favourite dish is calf's head) - they pretend they have.

Peasants ate anything, by season. They had no choice. They didn't produce much and the best of what they did produce had to be sold off in town. That left them with the innards, ears and trotters. Which they supplemented with snails, frogs, thrushes and pretty much anything else that moved. Titmice were a treat in eastern France. Now life is richer and everyone can afford takeaway pizza, but mainstream French cooking remains rooted in its traditions.

Late last year I joined a family pig-killing in the Cévennes. Earlier in the autumn, we were mushrooming with the neighbours. Lots of people do this. Everyone's an expert and may talk so endlessly about the nuances of a blanquette de veau that one loses the will to live. But it is this culture that informs chefs (from the neighbourhood bistro to the Michelin three-star) and which they must satisfy.

Of course, other nations have good restaurants, but nowhere else do you eat so well up and down the scale because nowhere else (apart, perhaps, from Italy) has such unbroken links with a culinary heritage. And nowhere else do you eat so variously from region to region. Take a trip through eastern France, stopping at the Maison Kammerzell in Strasbourg for choucroute, the Hotel de la Poste in Charolles, near Macon, for the best charolais steak ever and the Miramar in Marseille for bouillabaisse, and you will see what I mean. But I'd still avoid the andouillette. It truly is disgusting.

Just received news today of the launch of the new Australian theology and ministry journal named "Crucible." It's completely on-line and completely free. It is divided into three sections - "The Cauldron" (peer-reviewed articles), "The Test-tube" (ministry resources) and "The Filter" (book reviews). You can find it here.

"Worship tunes tend to evince an adolescent theology, one that just can't get over how darn cool it is that Jesus sacrificed himself for the world."
 [Andrew Beaujon]

Found this quote over at Faith and Theology and disagreed with its general idea. It  seems to me one of those easy-to-make caricatures that sounds right in a general sense but, when specifically investigated, is wildly overstated.. Worship throughout history, starting with the psalms, has been a combination of simple heart-expressed gratefulness as well as deeper cries of lament, complaint and petition.... The two contemporary songs that have gained the most traction in the last 40 years would be arguably 'This is the day' and 'Shout to the Lord' both taken from the language of the Psalms..... Maybe he just didn't like the music....

No... I am not turning into a technology geek. However my apologies to all and sundry over the unfortunate timing of todays' postings. I think this is the first time in 3642 posts that I have written two computer info segments on the same day....... I am deeply remorseful and normal blogging will return tomorrow..... 

This from Business Week.... [With lots of links and explanations.]

"It's easy to laugh at nonsense on Twitter, the microblogging rage. "My nose is leaking," writes someone called Zapples, "so imma go to sleep now.…" But I've heard lots of similar drivel (and even produced some myself) on the phone—an important technology if there ever was one.

The key question today isn't what's dumb on Twitter, but instead how a service with bite-size messages topping out at 140 characters can be smart, useful, maybe even necessary. Here's why I'm looking. In the last few months, the traffic on Twitter has exploded, growing far beyond its circles of bleeding-edge tech enthusiasts and hard-core social networkers..........."

Coming in 2010:

[Via]

[Via]

Saturday, May 17, 2008 By Celia W. Dugger

JOHANNESBURG: The parishioners were lined up for Holy Communion on Sunday when the riot police stormed the stately St. Francis Anglican Church in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. Helmeted, black-booted officers banged on the pews with their batons as terrified members of the congregation stampeded for the doors, witnesses said.

A policeman swung his stick in vicious arcs, striking matrons, a girl and a grandmother who had bent over to pick up a Bible dropped in the melee. A lone housewife began singing from a hymn in Shona, "We will keep worshiping no matter the trials!" Hundreds of women, many dressed in the Anglican Mothers' Union uniform of black skirt, white shirt and blue headdress, lifted their voices to join hers.

Beneath their defiance, though, lay raw fear as the country's ruling party stepped up its campaign of intimidation ahead of a presidential runoff. In a conflict that has penetrated ever deeper into Zimbabwe's social fabric, the party has focused on a growing roster of groups that elude its direct control — a list that includes the Anglican diocese of Harare, as well as charitable and civic organizations, trade unions, teachers, independent election monitors and the political opposition.

Anglican leaders and parishioners said in interviews that the church was not concerned with politics and that it counted people from both the ruling party and the opposition in its congregations. Yet the ruling party appears to have decided that only Anglicans who follow Nolbert Kunonga — a renegade bishop in Harare who is a staunch ally of President Robert Mugabe — are allowed to hold services.

Over the past three Sundays, the police have interrogated Anglican priests and lay leaders, arrested and beaten parishioners and locked thousands of worshipers out of dozens of churches.#

International Herald Tribune

More... http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/16/africa/16zimbabwe.php

This is not new, but it's worth reminding you about.

The saga of an Australian woman who took on the governments of her state (South Australia) and the Commonwealth - and won! But in the process she's in danger of losing everything she owns. DID YOU REALIZE THAT SOMEONE IN AUSTRALIA CAN WIN A COURT CASE AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, I.E. BE DECLARED INNOCENT, BUT STILL HAVE TO PAY THE GOVERNMENT'S COSTS?

The latest here.

"Is this pew taken?"
"You float my ark."
"I just don't feel called to celibacy."
"My parents are home, wanna come over?"
"I didn't believe in predestination until I met you.
"How many times do I have to walk around you before you fall for me?"
"The name is Will, God's Will." 

 "Hey, baby, wanna come over for a prelapsarian fancy dress party?"

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[Old but still good.]

A man wakes up one morning to find a bear on his roof. So he looks in the yellow pages and sure enough, there's an ad for 'Bear Removers.' He calls the number, and the bear remover says he'll be over in 30 minutes

The bear remover arrives, and gets out of his van. He's got a ladder, a baseball bat, a shotgun and a mean old pit bull.

'What are you going to do?' the homeowner asks?

'I'm going to put this ladder up against the roof, then, I'm going to go up there and knock the bear off the roof with this baseball bat. When the bear falls off, the pit bull is trained to grab his testicles and not let go. The bear will then be subdued enough for me to put him in the cage in the back of the van.' He hands the shotgun to the homeowner.

'What's the shotgun for?',  asks the homeowner.

'If the bear knocks me off the roof, shoot the dog.'

 

Working at the moment on parts 3 and 4 of our series on 'God's hand: Providence and promise', to be delivered this weekend. In the process I came across this from the chief Rabbi of London, Sir Jonathan Sacks.

 

"We live our lives poised between a known past and an unknown future. Between them lies a present in which we make our choices. We decide between alternatives. Ahead of us are several diverging paths, and it is up to us which we follow. Only looking back does our life take on the character of a story. Only many years later do we realise which choices were fateful, and which irrelevant. Things which seemed small at the time turn out to be decisive. Matters that once seemed important prove in retrospect to have been trivial. Seen from the perspective of the present, a life can appear to be a random sequence of disconnected events. It takes the passage of time for us to be able to look back and see the route we have taken, and the right and wrong turnings on the way....." 

"Humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sort we are still."

C.S.Lewis.  [Allegory of Love.]

Could I ask for your urgent prayers and action for Burma today?

Yesterday, I met with Burmese friends here in Bangkok to get the latest news on the Cyclone Nargis disaster and to ask how UNOH could best help with the relief effort. Dr San Aung, Maung Maung and Zin Linn are part of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB). Led by elected Burmese MPs from the National League for Democracy (NLD), this is the peak body of Burmese leaders working for democracy.   

As I heard their tragic news and saw the latest photos I felt a wave of nausea hit me. The death toll is now over 100,000 people, but over 2 million survivors are still homeless, living in makeshift camps and monasteries. Many survivors have not eaten food or drunk water for a week. Children are being found alive among their parents' dead bodies. Water-born diseases are now starting to gain momentum, taking their deathly toll. Yet, the junta are still saying 'Only the Burmese can help; we don't need foreigners'. They even went ahead with a constitutional referendum to enshrine military power on Saturday.

But, what can we do? After listening to these Burmese leaders, I believe we can best support the relief effort by supporting NCGUB. 

UNOH is setting up a UNOH Burma Cyclone Appeal so that Australians can donate on-line to help the relief effort through NCGUB/NLD Burmese workers on the ground. This has been approved by COCOA for tax-deductibility and online donations can be made by clicking here.  If you would like a hard copy of this letter and a donation form to print and return by mail, please click here. 

The UNOH Board has already given $10,000 from UNOH general funds to NCGUB/NLD workers inside Burma for travel to disaster areas and for the buying and distributing of basic food and medicines. These workers can get food and medicines to people within 2 days. NCGUB/NLD will give UNOH receipts, photos and reports of where, to whom and when the relief action took place.

UNOH will also be working with Dr San Aung and other NCGUB/NLD workers to connect with both those inside Burma and those on the Thai-Burma border. These include the newly-formed Relief Committee led by Dr Cynthia, based in Mae Sot. This group will make further recommendations regarding the best utilisation of UNOH Burma Cyclone Appeal donations.

Please consider doing all you can to help our Burmese neighbours in their time of disaster and grief. We can save lives.

God bless,

Ash Barker

Here are links to the following articles: Zin Linn's latest reports from NCGUB contacts inside Burma and a Press Release by NCGUB Should you have any further questions please click here to email us.

The latest forore over the film is coming from all people Yoko Ono.

On a related matter Dr Caroline Crocker, the former biology professor at George Mason University, explains a little of what led to her removal. [Both featured in this clip.]  [Thanks AB.]

Coming soon to the big screen: Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed.  

Seeks to investigate the intellectual censorship exercised in defence of Darwinism.

See the trailers here. 

I have long been convinced that what we think is happening to us is far more powerful than what is actually happening. This short clip illustrates the point beautifully and will make a great video illustration next time I'm preaching on the subject.

[Via]

The following is part of the latest interview with Andrew Adamson, director of the latest Narnian film. [He also talks a little on the next one in the series 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' with new director Michael Apted...

Before Lion/Witch, a USA Today story referred to you as the son of "associate missionaries" in Papua New Guinea. Can you tell me more about that?

It's a difficult thing to get into. I'm sort of in the public eye, and I don't think it's fair to drag my family into it. So I don't talk about it a lot. But yes, we did move to Papua New Guinea when I was 11. My father worked at the university there, and my parents were involved in the church there as well.

Living in Papua New Guinea is an important part of my story in another way. When I tried to understand the Narnia stories from a kid's point of view, I realized that the Pevensie kids were going through something I'd gone through. I went to this country when I was 11, and Papua New Guinea has changed significantly since then. When I was there, I'd ride my cycle all around, a huge amount of freedom. Now there's a lot of violence and corruption. Basically, the place that I grew up in doesn't exist anymore, and for me, there's a sense of loss. I realized that's something the kids go through in returning to Narnia [in Prince Caspian]. They try to go back to a place they spent 15 years in, and now the place they knew is gone. And ultimately at the end of the story, for the older Pevensies, they have to let go.

It's something we all go through in our passage from childhood to adulthood, when we realize we can't go back to the innocence of our childhood. We can't get back to the house being as big as we thought it was when we grew up. And at some point you have to say I accept that—and move on and become an adult. To me, that was the heart of this story from Peter and Susan's point of view. And my own experience provided this sort of bittersweet, nostalgic framework for that.

How many years were you in Papua New Guinea?

From 11 till I was 18. So I still consider it kind of my home, because those years are so formative.

And then you moved back to Auckland at 18?

Yes, and I was there till I was about 24, and then moved to San Francisco. And I've lived between San Francisco and Los Angeles for the last 15-16 years. And now I'm in the process of moving back to New Zealand.

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The English fry up is ok on the rare occasion...Like when I visit my mum in Cornwall and stop at the 'Egg and I' an hour out of Heathrow, however anything more is deadly.... This from Giles Coren in the Times.

"....I'm not exaggerating about the effect of fried breakfasts on working-class health. I made a film for Channel 4 in 2005 called Tax the Fat (which I truly believe we should) in which I visited a truck-stop café just outside Pontefract. With a public health nurse at my side, I tested two dozen random truckers and found that none was less than 3st (19kg) overweight. Some had body-mass indices of around 50, which is double the level at which you are defined as "overweight" and only five points short of the score that has you reclassified as a small town. And all of them - all, mind - were eating fry-ups.

I managed to persuade one of these truckers, an 18st sweetie called Paddy, to replace his daily fried breakfast with a large bowl of porridge, but to make no other changes to his diet. We weighed him two weeks later. He had lost a stone......"

With our new theme being the "Hand of God: Providence and Promise," we decided to launch our Accelerate sessions with that perennial challenge - the problem of evil. The problem is usually put this way ...
1. God is all-good.
2. God is all-powerful.
3. Evil exists.

Now, this becomes an apparent problem if you seek to affirm all three statements without compromise or nuance. In other words, if God is all-good you would expect that he would want to stop evil; if he is all-powerful, you would expect that he would be able to stop evil; and yet, evil exists. So, does that mean that God is actually not all-good (he doesn't want to stop evil) or that he is not all-powerful (he is not able to stop evil)?

We entitled the session, "Why Doesn't God Stop Suffering and Evil?" and, if you are interested, the participant notes and podcast can be located here. By the way, a small apology is in order - at about the 40 minute mark of the podcast I was speaking off the top of my head about Christian Science as an example of a worldview that denies the reality of evil (hence, compromising/nuancing number 3 above) and inadvertently confused them with the Church of Scientology (and mentioned some known scientologists such as Tom Cruise etc). Sorry for the stuff-up - it had been a long week!

Been humming this all day long. The song tied into the message this weekend on providence comparing linear and cyclical views of history... I think the story of God is more like the aforementioned spiral, with beginning, ending and progression. You can catch the message via podcast if you wish as well as mutter these lyrics by Noel Harrison or better still re-watch the more recent of the two Thomas Crown Affairs and sing along with Sting:

"Round, like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel.
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnaval balloon
Like a carousell that's turning
Running rings around the moon

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on it's face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of it's own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream.

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle your head
Why did summer go so quickly
Was it something that I said
Lovers walking allong the shore,
Leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand

Pictures hanging in a hallway
And a fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circle that you find
In the windmills of your mind..."

As posted back on the 18th, Tom Sine was in Perth recently. Here is his take on aspects of his visit, in particular his brief experience of living as a part of Peace Tree Community in Lockridge. Interesting reading.

Microsoft's new worldwide telescope is coming. Ray Gould and Curtis Wong give a sneak preview in this video talk... Or go to worldwidetelescope.org