obsession with the self

Are blogs inherently narcissistic?

Sunday Night Live

Anna on suffering, for Sunday Night Live this week

bag the mac

Tonight I was doing some online window-shopping for a laptop bag. I've only ever found one that fits my laptop properly and for the past two years I've been deliberating if £80 is too much for a laptop bag.
Anyway tonight I found this forum with the following comedy comments:

"As demonstrated in one of the most helpful animated gifs ever, one can see that the CORE system is designed to keep your notebook standing on end if you drop it on a pillow." See http://www.brenthaven.com/core-protection-levels.html

millsE @ Whirlpool: "i have a 12" Booq Viper and i am very impressed with it, i had a ridiculously clumsy stumble at school, somehow i tripped over 2 chairs, didn't fall over and managed to gain balance again, and then i stumbled over a further chair, my shoulder bag with my 12" ibook in it fell off my shoulder and i stepped with quite some weight onto the laptop, and all is fine."

(I wanted to add a comment congratulating him on a great story)

i love the bbc

** Man pulls helicopter with ear **
A Georgian man claims to have set a record by pulling a helicopter weighing nearly eight tons for 26 metres with his ear.

pot of gold

Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows, goes on sale in the shops in a couple of months' time. Today you can download it from their website, and you decide how much you pay for it. I say well done Radiohead, for raising an interesting question in a creative way. Monday's Guardian (http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2185647,00.html) liked their marketing strategy.
I paid £1 for it (I tried to pay £4 the first time and the site crashed). Afterwards I felt a little guilty, because upon listening to it realised it's probably worth more than that. But now I'm not so sure. On a very philosophical walk home I pondered, how on earth do you decide what monetary value to put on any item, never mind on a collection of music, which can lift or sink the soul? I pay £50 for a pair of jeans because the shop tells me that's how much they're worth. But who gives them the authority to say that? I'm not convinced they have it.
Jesus Christ once said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man (ie him) will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." (John 6:27)
In other words, Jesus suggested that an item's value (or whether it is worth investing in) is determined by its eternal worth and significance. The one thing we ought to consider of immense value, that we don't, is the human soul. Only through him can we invest in it eternally. Who gives him the authority to claim that? He claims that God does. I think he's right, and his comments are fresh air for our consumerist culture.

Suffering? Let your light shine!

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Jesus Christ, Matthew 5v11-16

"What is most salty and bright in this insipid and dark world is the almost incomprehensible joy of Jesus' followers in the midst of persecution and the hardships of life. It is a joy that is meek and merciful and pure and peaceable, but these things alone do not awaken people to the glory of God. In order to waken people to consider God as an explanation for our good works there generally must be an obstacle of suffering that would ordinarily cause them to be angry or despairing, but does not have that effect on us. Rather they see us "rejoice" in hardship. They see that this hardship does not make us self-centred and self-pitying and mean-spirited. Instead they see our joy and wonder what we are hoping in when ordinary props for hope have been knocked away. The answer, Jesus says, is that we have great reward in heaven. That is, Jesus has become a treasure for us that is more precious than what the world offers. Therefore, when persecution or calamity take natural pleasures away, we still have Jesus, and we still have joy."
John Piper, What Jesus Demands From The World, IVP

woohoo!