The Telectroscope

I can't quite believe this is true but apparently, a tunnel has been built from London to New York, so that, using optical devices, you can see from one end to the other. I thought this may be an April fool joke at first, but it's May, so that's unlikely! Interesting website here

ADDENDUM

Turns out nights must have affected my brain! The Telegraph puts a more likely theory, being that the "tunnel" is actually a broadband connection between London and New York. Sad in a way - all the mystery is now gone!

Music production gadgets

Argh! I'm being persued by musical gadgetry! The Create Digital Music blog has been tempting me with pricey technical wizardry!

The bizarrely named Tenori-On is a Japanese invention (who else) which seems to be trying to create a completely new way of making music. It's extremely exciting (and also quite expensive), particularly as a live instrument. Originally created by a Japanese visual artist called Toshio Iwai in conjunction with Yamaha, as well as being able to be used as a sampler/sequencer and performance instrument, it also has brilliant flashing lights! Check out the Youtubes below for demonstrations of the Tenori On.

The other musical gadget that's got me excited is the Pacemaker portable DJ machine thing. It stores your MP3s, plays them, and allows you to do all the things a DJ would traditionally do with decks - beatmatching, crossfading, adding effects, pitch shifting. Again, it's not cheap (although compared to decks+mixer it's pretty good value), and here are some Youtube vids of it in action...

Radical Christianity

In our house group we've been talking occasionally about how comfortable we are as Christians - as though we are in a social club rather than a life changing faith. An interesting article at Ekklesia seems to suggest we need to become more radical, in line with the social upheaval suggested by Jesus' teachings.

Looking at the front page of the BBC News website its easy to see there are increasing opportunities to express the life giving nature of the Gospel - tax demands on low income households, rising food prices, torture and death in Zimbabwe and Sudan to name a few.

I pray, Lord that we will not be found wanting...

Fly sex change nonsense

Not content with our already vast levels of knowledge of Drosophila, a group of scientists have now discovered how to program female flies to behave like male flies during courtship rituals. Not only is this 'fascinating' and 'exciting' but I'm sure very useful. I can think of at least.....hm.....no uses for such an insight into the lives of fruit flies.

Might I suggest that if the researchers want to learn more about human behaviour, they stop wasting money on fruit flies and go to an average town centre club on a saturday night. It's already apparent what triggers female homo sapiens to behave like males during courtship rituals - the combination of lambrini, archers, vodka chasers and cheesy pop music provides an immediate trigger for hormone fueled tomfoolery.

The power of prayer!

Bizzarely, this is a really heartwarming story about a gent who had a little accident in his car, but thanks to prayer and some friends ended up none the worse for wear...

Spring has arrived!

Spring has arrived!, originally uploaded by petersandbach.

Spring has officially arrived today as the French doors were flung open and the roof was ceremonially removed from the MX5!

More musical robot craziness with the Thingmagoop

There are more musical robots in action here at Beep Labs - the Thingmagoop is more like a traditional synthesizer in robot clothing, but still looks like it's trying to take over the world (in a friendly fashion of course!)

Robot beat box

A robot that roams around generating samples of things that it hits and then creating drumbeats out of it? I WANT ONE!!!

Scapegoat

I'm finding more information on the scapegoat philosophy that I was referring to earlier. An old 'Thought for the day' reminds me of how cruel we can be using the media to crush people and remove their dignity. There are some interesting relfections relating to humanity's scapegoating of Jesus on the cross at 'Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary' which give us an idea of Girard's theory. There's also a great interview and summary of his work at Touchstone archives.

Sunset over the water tower

Sunset over the water tower, originally uploaded by petersandbach.

Here's a sample of the Lent Photo Project. Hope you enjoy them...

Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Christ's resurrection on the cross offers us all hope for the future and the chance to start again in the present. I've just finished reading an excellent article by Giles Fraser on the Ekklesia website which offers a controversial but really interesting perspective on the season and the behaviour of some prominent Christians and points towards work by a French philosopher, Girard. I've heard a friend of mine, Andy, talk about this guy before, so I think I should check out some of his work before long...

The arrival of Easter also heralds the end of my Lent Photo Project. Every day this Lent I've taken a photo, trying in some way to be an act of worship to God. Judge for yourselves whether I've managed it and I'd love to hear what you think...

The atheist delusion

Definitely worth a look if you're fed up of hearing that Richard Dawkins is a 'scientist'!

New Camera Phone - my lovely wife

New Camera Phone - my lovely wife, originally uploaded by petersandbach.

Another year, another gadget! I've now upgraded my Treo (sob and whimper) to an all singing all dancing Nokia N95. One of the main reasons for this was the opportunity to take more pics - the Nokia has a 5MP camera! I'm still trying to work it all out but seems to have lots of multimedia stuff to play with. I'll continue to let you know how I'm doing!

My Lent Project

Disintergrating leaf, originally uploaded by petersandbach.

For Lent this year I've decided to do something positive as an act of worship to God. This entails taking a photo a day for the duration of the season, ostensibly detailing God's creation (but actually ranging far and wide into all sorts of subjects!). Feel free to check the pics out and I'd love to hear what you think...

MX5

Check out this review of MX5s to see why I'm going to be so sad when our one finally gives up the ghost!

Feb Update

Apologies for that little December rant - not very seasonal!

Well, we've been through lots of stress over the last couple of months. Once again I have been revising for an exam (which, thank God, I passed!), but the strain its put on Lorna and me has made me realise that there is more to life. I think that God has taught me that my career has become too central to my self identity, and He and some of my new friends here up north helped me come to terms with the prospect of failing this one (probably the hardest I've done so far). I also had a lot of doubts about my career choice but I do feel called to be an anaesthetist and much more excited by it now I've lept this most recent hurdle!

Having been enmeshed in a rather negative couple of months, where the most I could manage was to get up, go to work, come home and sleep, I'm now noticing my creativity returning - once again I'm feeling the urge to write music! I'll be uploading them soon at Myspace.

I'm also in the process of putting some of my better photos online at Flickr, so please feel free to look at those and I'd love to hear you comments.

Lorna is doing well, starting her new job next week. I think at the moment she feels that strange combination of trepidatious and excited! I know she'll do brilliantly though.

We've also managed to complete on our house, which is very exciting! We picked up the keys yesterday, and while I am at work typing this (very busy today you know!), the furniture is busy arriving in our 3 bed semi in Timperley. I'm not quite sure how its all going to fit in at the moment, so keep watching ebay for some Sandbach Seconds!

Thanks for all your support and prayers, God bless...

Brown set to oppose MP pay rise

Too bloody right after the panning he's given the rest of the public sector. I wander if they'll delay the MPs' pay rise to give a below-inflation award?

Doubt it though...

Merry Christmas everybody - all God's blessings!

Lost Data (again!)

Yet more data seems to have been lost recently, and apparently private firms (in addition to government departments) are coming forward admitting to losing customers data! Of course this can't all be a coincidence that we are hearing all about these loses at the same time - my interpretation is that loses of personl data happen all the time, and we are hearing about so many because the press are baying about it all! I have to say I'm not encouraged to apply for an ID card!

What's even more galling is that recently a doctor was struck off by the GMC for amongst other things taking patient details around with him - at least he didn't lose them! I wonder if the government will suffer such consequences?

Tunisia

Just a few photos of our recent holiday to Tunisia - very long overdue!

Up North

Hello all,

Well, we're finally settling in up in Manchester, so I thought I'd better at least try and get back in to updating the ol' blog.

It's only been 4 months since I moved up (3 since Lorna joined me) but it feels like we've been here for ever. We've settled into a town called Altrincham, just south of Manchester city centre, which has trams into the city but it's own little town centre which is very well serviced for restaurants and bars. That might explain why we were so attracted to it!

We've joined a church, Altrincham Baptist Church, which is a large, vibrant family church with lots going on. We're slowly getting into going to house group and getting to know lots of new people who all seem very nice. I think I'll hold off getting involved with doing too much for the moment, until we get more settled, but we have already helped decorate a new community centre which the church is taking over.

Work is busy as ever! I'm based at Wigan hospital, working in the theatres and intensive care unit. I'm also sitting postgraduate exams (the Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists this time) - I recently passed one, quite miraculously, and I'm sitting another at the end of January which I don't have high hopes for (as always!)

Lorna is currently locumming as a GP, so spends lots of time trying to navigate around greater Manchester finding GP surgeries, which are usually in really obscure places! She starts a permanent job in February in Warrington in a lovely practice, so that's a real answer to prayer.

On a sadder note, my Grandad fell recently and broke his hip. Fortunately, Broomfield patched him up and he's on the mend now, but we're not really very sure about the future, whether he'll cope living with mum and dad, etc. That happening really made me miss Essex and being close to everyone.

We often wander how all is in Bicknacre and St Andrew's, and we continue to pray for everyone. In many ways we miss being so close, but we're so blessed in lots of other ways and joining another exciting and vibrant community and absence definitely makes us realise how much we love everyone down in Essex. Life really suits us up here and we can't wait to get involved in more stuff (and try out Altrincham's Michelin starred restaurant, Juniper). We've already had some visitors from Essex and we're looking forward to loads more, we've made an offer on a house near where we're renting a flat, and we're starting to make some friends here. The next step is to start to explore some of the amazing scenery up here, like the Peak District and the Lakes!

Thanks for all your prayers through what has been a busy and emotional time - I'll try and update a bit more regularly from now on! God bless...