[vimeo width=”540″ height=”303″]http://vimeo.com/2327058[/vimeo]
shot on a Canon Eos Mark5DII
WordPress is the DADDY! I’ve been using it now since Jan 07 and it has been brilliant. For someone like me who is not chiefly a web developer it has taught me how to think with regards to developing sites. The infrastructure of how it works is quite brilliant really.
Here’s the low down: Wordpress is an open source free bit of software that is very much like a Content management system. Because it’s open source this means that anyone who uses it gets access to the code.This in turn means that anyone can edit/adapt the code for their needs. It was originally designed to run peoples weblog sites but has now become so much more:
It can be broken down to 3 main areas: The main code, Themes & Plugins
- The main code are the basic set of files that make the site run, communicate with the database, give the user interface and so on. It’s the backbone if you like.
- Themes are the look / visual design of the site and its layout.
- Plugins- This is where the real genius happens. These are add-ons. They effectively add on extra functionality to your website.
The use of plugins is encouraged by the developer so much so that on the website they give yo all the tools you need to create your own plugins. When you create a plugin you can then upload it to their site and it becomes available t anyone. That’s not to say that you HAVE to do so – i appreciate some will work hard on these and wouldn’t want to just give it away. Effectively this means that io stead of having one developer working on your site, you have the knowledge of thousands.
I just think it rocks!
I have to admit here to being one to Listen to BBC Radio 1. I like the music selection but over the past 10 months i have been finding myself tuning into other stations like Radio2/4, Virgin even Heart and Magic! I realise that i am not part of their ‘people aged 16-24’ demographic. I guess I’m getting older and things are starting to pass me by.
Last night was another occassion whee i was quite disturbed by the stance the NewsBeat team were taking on a particular story. The outline was that certain councils are now providing the Contraceptive Jab to girls as young as 13. While this in itself is a quesgionable thing to do it was the attitude the reporting tea took on it was one of sheer apathy.
There have been stories where they have put an incredibly biased slant or spin on a story knowing that thier younh impressionable audience will lap it up and take this “slant” as fact. The pioont being that thier listners takeon board the message they give. So reporting on a strory apethetically sends out that message.
Instead of looking at this problem of under-16’s haveing illegal sex they just say – Dont worry – there is an easy way out! They inteviewd a young girl who said – she doens’t have to remember to take a pill or a patch. Well GOOD FOR HER! She doesnt have to face the consequences of breaking the law neve mind the emotional and moral consequences. Not once did the reporter mention the fact that oung peiople uder he age of 16 shouldn’t be havin sex. This is just irrespossible news casting and this apathetic attitude to underage sex is not the first occurence.
Undrage pregnancy is an issue in this country. Unless they are told by people they look up to that they dont have to jump into bed with people and probably should wait, well, it’s going to continue being a growing problem. We need t remember that these kids are just that – THEY ARE CHILDREN. they don’t have the mental maturity to understand the consequences of sex.
Newsbeat need to get their act together because at the moment they may aswell tell these kids directly yo go ad sleep around and tell then that nothing matters – That’s the basic message they’v been giving….
Maybe they need to look at the position of authority they hold and how much our youth look to them for advice?
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This is cute and creepy at the same time:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5QIwOYZz6U&fmt=18
I dunno how this has happened. Well in some ways I do and I feel terrible in some ways and in others i feel like standing up and saying, “well no its cause of this or that!”. The fact remains that I have been a really crap mate to some of my friends. I’ve let some of my closest friendships really dwindle when all it requires is a little more effort.
I’ve been thinking a lot about where is the balance between the natural distancing with friends one would expect when you get married. Friendships shift a great deal after marriage and while it’s tempting to say its always a negative shift I want to stop myself and say its not a negative shift but its maybe an uncomforatable change. And change is hard.
Bob is probably the best example of this. Bob and I have been friends for the bast part of almost 10 Years. We met at college and while we both thought the other was a bit of a prat initially we soon became very good friends. As clichéd as its sounds I love him like a brother. His loyalty is astounding, his wit incredible and his mind is aspirational. If he is so great, you may ask then why and how have i let our friendship slide so drastically? The answer? A Lot of things ad a lot of unknowns….
One of the harsh truths is that we have naturally grown apart. Our lives have become so different that common ground has become spa**er and spa**er. But it’s not like that should really hold th friendship to ransom. I mean, My own brother Tom is drastically different to me in all aspects and our friendship is fine but comparing one friendship to another is also a mistake and pointless.
So how has it come to this with Bob? The dynamic of our friendship has been based a lot on a shared sense of humour that our circle of friends has always had. Put a bunch of intelligent good looking people together a it’s what you get. (That sounds really superficial – not intended to be so.) Part of that included us taking the mick out of our catholic upbringings which led on to extremely skeptical views of any religious beliefs and the integrity of any religious organisation. I.E. we took the piss out of anyone religious. While my family has always been religious there was a lot of unspoken jibes and references clouded in layers of subtlety that makes it difficult own to place specific examples but it doesn’t affect the result which was a generally skeptical view on religion and God. So when I became a christian all this was turned on it’s head and it bore a new set of complications – at least that’s how i have seen it. Before I say anything more i need t say i bare all this on my own shoulders as it has been my actions and reactions that have got me to where I am.
SO becoming a christian was and is an amazing experience. My life has been transformed in amazing ways. There is a but coming, can you feel it?……. BUT! I couldn’t help thinking what would my friends think, what would Bob think? I was embarrassed that one of the very things that was a common ground and an easy target for ridicule had become the very core of my being. I was embarrassed to tell my closes frinds that I was attending the alpha course in the first place as I had up till the concluded that needing religion was a weakness. I was also embarrassed that i was going back to what my parents had said all along. I was embarrassed and wrried at what my frineds would think of me. Here came my biggest mistake.
This Amazing thing that was happening to me I kept to myself. I didn’t tell them about it. I didn’t want t because i didn’t want to risk them thinking less of me. I started to distance myself from them. Getting involved with church and everything helped with this. It was easy to busy myself with everything that goes on with a church community but i had no sense of balance. The more I gt involved the more excuses i had to not see my frineds and to not talk t them about what i was going through for fear of the ridicule thy might give me. So i started to spen less and less time with them. It was easier to stick my head in the sand rather than to speak proudly of how my life was changing and becoming sooo much better.
Going back to Bob. This was such a stupid attitude to take. I know Bob has loved me like a brother too and I know that while he might have had reservations about it he wouldn’t judge me as much as I thought he would and to make mattes worse i didn’t give him or my other friends the opportunity to do so. I assumed that they would take a particular stance and i didn’t like it so I didn’t give them the chance. This is what started to create a divide.
Friendships, no, relationships are always built on trust. Closer relationships are built on a trust where you share stuff about your life with those people and that they will love you and respect you regardless of what they may think. I didn’t give them a chance. I didn’t trust them. In turn I held back what was going on. When you hold back stuff from people who know you well they can tell something is up. When you refuse to tell them, that causes a divide as they feel like they are not being trusted.
So what does this make me? It makes me a bit spineless actually. How can I stand up with integrity as a Christian but wollow away form my closest friendships a let them grow stale out of my own insecurities? I cant!
I wont!
I’ve gotta figure out the balance which as you can imagine aint easy but it’s not as complicated as I’m making it. There’s a lot of damage to be repired and while i know my friendships will never be as they were (mainly due to being married), I still want them back.
Nice
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/2234625[/vimeo]Friday: 09:00am – 11:45pm
Saturday: 09:30am – 10:45pm
Monday: 08:00am – 7:40pm
Tuesday: 09:30am – 11:30pm
Needless to say, I am a tired tired boy! – We’ve had a very last minute job come up and i left the clients office at 11:30 last night. It was a tricky one but it’s done now.
I am so so soooo Tired 
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4
Before i became a christian i used to often think that Christianity was dull, frumpy and boring. I quickly realized that this was soooo far from he case. Yes there are some people out there who prefer a slower paced style of practising relgion which is absolutely fine. BUT there are people out there who live dynamic lives who make a difference in the name of Jesus.
27-7 shorts (which is part of the 24-7 Prayer movement – an idea of having prayer rooms in different cities that have prayer going on 24-7) is a website with a bunch of movies about Christians doing some amazing things and they are sooooo far from being frumpy/dull/boring. This is the kind of stuff I’d love to get into. Here are a few (MP4 Format):
[flv width=”420″ height=”265″]http://www.irishmark.net/MEDIA//2008/11/prayer_as_mission.mp4[/flv] Prayer as Mission
[flv width=”420″ height=”265″]http://www.irishmark.net/MEDIA//2008/11/prayer_as_justice.mp4[/flv] Prayer as Justice [flv width=”420″ height=”265″]http://www.irishmark.net/MEDIA//2008/11/prayer_as_community.mp4[/flv] Prayer as Community [flv width=”420″ height=”265″]http://www.irishmark.net/MEDIA//2008/11/prayer_as_a_movement.mp4[/flv] Prayer as a Movement
1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity.
2. You shall not make an idol of your blog.
3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog.
5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes.
6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings.
7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind.
8. You shall not steal another person’s content.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content.
wasn’t 100% happy with the last design, the protrait one, It didnt feel me. It was far too serious but was born from using my new lens so there ya go.
Have tyhis shiney new one instead.!
Last night, my gorgeous wifey and i decided to go and see Quantum of Solace after church. Now before i commence this rant i have o say we both loved it. The film is a great Bond movie. I can understand why it has gotten some bad reviews but i think that’s just plain narrow-mindedness. For a film legacy to continue it must evolve. This is not the tongue and cheek type of film we used to know in the days of Connery and Moore. No Craig plays a very sinister Bad Ass MoFo of an agent who makes the guys from “Spooks” look like sissys.
Every single shot was beautifully crafted but the story line left me wanting a little bit more and not in a satisfied “cant wait for the next one” kind of way. It felt a bit too much like it was focusing on Bonds bereavements rather than ass woopin. That said, it’s still really really great. I still miss not seeing “Q” ad cant wait for when they do introduce him, if ever.
THE RANT BIT What annoyed me the most as this: I had managed to not read any reviews or see any trailers for he movie. I wanted my eyes to be un-tainted and virginal to this film. They were when we walked into the cinema. BUT then they started with th ads. There were about 15 mins of ads from watches to computer games based around the movie and very single one showed footage from the film. WHAT IDIOT DIDNT THINK THIS ONE THROUGH. They may as well have shown the whole movie in a 10 Min promo. Ok ok, so it wasn’t that bad but it did severely annoy me.
Be warned! Spoilers in the adverts!
Other Things:
On Sat wifey and I went to Littlehampton on Sat. It rained alot but we had a good time walking down the beach and having tea in the tea-rooms/arcade – an interesting mix yes!
The fish head was weird. The drive home was horrible as the rain was chucking it down and was no fun to deal with.
Other photos include Dan (the singer and my cameraman fr the day)with his feat of snow prowess..
and some pretty autumnal leaves.
Also – I’ve created a VIMEO page. YouTube is becomming a pain, The quality is rubbish and it takes hours to upload to so there you have it.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/2141099[/vimeo]