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37 Signals recalls what it was like to be different and own Apple,
We had to deal with incompatibilities of all kind. There was the ridicule of overpriced shiny white plastic. We were somewhere in between the “first they ignore you” and the “then they laugh at you” state of adoption. But for those of us who endured it, the result was not disillusion but a hardening of the resolve. Macs were (and are) just better. Not just because they were better built or put together, but because Apple was a better company. A braver company. A company that stood for higher ideals. When compared to the empire of Microsoft and the Dells, Sonys of the time, it simply felt like they were more right.
The first Apple product I used was this, I owned (and wrote my dissertation) on this, and I concur with this.
c/o DF
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Fonts In Use (one of my favourite websites) assesses the Norwegian Bible published at the end of last year. The publishers tried to produce three versions (traditional, literary and digital) with one consistent theme, which doesn’t quite work, but the literary edition looks beautiful, and may well be the one that reads best.
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I’ve had an account for a while now and have finally decided to try and use it. My account is @punditsfolly or you can click the button on the left.
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Infrastructure is our family silver as a nation. It is our inheritance and our legacy. It helps define our greatness and our greatest days. It is the very furniture of a dynamic political economy. So I’m delighted it’s back in the news, back in fashion and back on the agenda of forward-looking politicians. We are talking here of what we will leave the next generation to make their lives and livelihoods richer, their tasks easier, their journeys faster, their trade and industry stronger. At relatively modest cost and nuisance to ourselves we can bequeath the young better cities and a better country to live and work and make their way in.
Matthew Parris gets it.
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Relevant, passionate and as much of the gospel as you could realistically expect to hear on the BBC.
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Really evocative writing from the Guardian Sport blog,
Part of its magic was the sound it made, a great hollow ‘whump’ that pre-dated the current, plosive crack. You couldn’t help but feel a bit superior with a Scoop in the bag, and that was half the battle. I got my first hundred with one, on a distant field long ago, forgotten by all but me.
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Preparing to preach in Penyrheol Community Church over the weekend, I was struck by this little truth.
If you had to write to a Lord how would begin your letter?
Wikipedia suggests the following.
Normally one refers to or addresses Baron [X] as Lord [X] and his wife as Lady [X]. In the case of women who hold baronies in their own right, they can be referred to as Baroness [X] as well as Lady [X]. In direct address, they can also be referred to as My Lord, Your Lordship, or Your Ladyship, but never as My Lady (except in the case of a female judge). The husband of a Baroness in her own right does not receive any style in her right. Children of Barons and Baronesses in their own right, whether hereditary or for life, have the style The Honourable [Forename] [Surname]. After the death of the father or mother, the child may continue to use the style Honourable.
Scottish feudal barons style their surnames similarly to Clan Chiefs, with the name of their barony following their name, as in John Smith of Edinburgh or John Smith, Baron of Edinburgh.[3] Most formally, and in writing, they are styled as The Much Honoured Baron of Edinburgh. Their wives are styled Lady Edinburgh, or The Baroness of Edinburgh. The phrase Lady of Edinburgh is wrong, if the lady in question does not hold a Scottish barony in her own right. Orally, Scottish barons may be addressed with the name of their barony, as in Edinburgh or else as Baron without anything else following, which if present would suggest a peerage barony. Informally, when referring to a Scots feudal baron in the third person, the name Laird of [X] is used or simply [X].
Non-Scottish barons are styled The Right Honourable The Lord [Barony]. Barons’ wives are styled The Right Honourable The Lady [Barony]. Baronesses in their own right are either titled The Right Honourable The Baroness [Barony] or The Right Honourable The Lady [Barony], mainly based on personal preference (cf, Margaret, Lady Thatcher and Brenda, Baroness Hale hold the same title). Note the order of the names. ‘Lady Margaret Thatcher’ would denote that she was the daughter of an earl, marquess or duke. Right Honourable is frequently abbreviated to Rt Hon. When referred to by the Sovereign in public instruments, The Right Honourable is changed to Our right trusty and well-beloved, with counsellor attached if they are a Privy Counsellor.
Courtesy barons are styled simply Lord [Barony], and their wives are Lady [Barony]. The style of Right Honourable and/or the article “The” in front of the title is not used for them.
Maybe that seems pompous and unnecessary but when it comes to the crunch, most of us want to be courteous and address an individual in the appropriate way, particularly if we want to be heard.
That’s why the disciples asked Jesus how to address God appropriately when they prayed,
Jesus suggested the following in Matthew 6,
Our Father.
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Is there any single improvement we could make in Britain today that would be better than this?
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Today’s competition ends in a tie between this description of footballer, Andy Carroll,
[who addresses] the ball with the finesse of a man booting an old hubcap along a motorway verge.
and this one of Ed Milliband,
[who should] learn to smile less like somebody trying to get the lid off a jar of jam.
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Question: What would Christianity be like if you could take God out of it?
De Botton believes in the need for a host of “consoling, subtle or just charming rituals” to restore a sense of community in a fractured society. He even envisages a new kind of restaurant in which strangers would be forced to sit together and open up their hearts to one another. There would be a Book of Agape on hand, which would instruct diners to speak to each other for prescribed lengths of time on prescribed topics. Quite how this will prevent looting and rioting is not entirely clear.
Answer: Tedious.
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36. The only number whose letters are in alphabetical order is 40 (f-o-r-t-y).
Also, number 41 is my type of trivia and 13 is unsettling.
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To misquote Johnson, when a man has tired of photographs peering into deep space he has tired of life.
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