I’ve been telling everybody how great Linux is for, ooh, the past 4 years or so. Admittedly, it doesn’t crash as much as Windows, and individual software crashes rarely bring down the whole machine. But perhaps I am suffering from overfamiliarity: I want things to work, not just not crash. Before last Monday (when I installed Mandrake 9.1) we had a working machine, except that we had no sound or scanning. Read more...

So Apple have been busy little bunnies. Not content with ramping up the iBook to 800/900 MHz, they have launched a slimmer, sexier(?) iPod and launched the iTunes Music Store, which is browsable from anywhere, but only open for business in the US, so far. Many good things have been written about the service so far, so much so that Windows users seem to be either (a) jealous and sarky, or (b) salivating at the prospect of the launch of the service for Windows, due later in the year. Read more...

We’re off to Easter People on Wednesday. I’m doing stuff I’ve never done before, namely DJ workshops, some DJ worship and a gig. We sang in three services at church over the weekend: Maundy Thursday (communion), Good Friday (Meditation) and Easter Sunday (communion). Not much voice left now, though. Sheenagh and Dylan’s wedding on Saturday was a hoot — Simon and I DJ’d at the evening reception. Back-to-back was fun: best moment was the Fatboy Slim version of Eple Eple by Royksopp (Si) mixed into Billie Jean by Michael Jackson (me). Read more...

Downtrodden Christ, to you we praywho at the third hour of the daywere led away and nailed up highin naked shame beneath the sky:Show through the pain that scars your facethe love of God, and man’s disgrace. Uplifted Christ, to you we praywho at the sixth hour of the daytook all our guilt upon that treein darkness, blood, and agony:Look on our pride and unbelief,grant us repentance and relief. Outstretching Christ, to you we praywho at the ninth hour of the dayalone dismissed your final breathand opened heaven by your death:Come to our dying world and reign,that we with you may live again. Read more...

So for a few months now my parents have been in touch with a guy called Deogratias, who works for an organisation called Christian Community Development in Burundi. He works with refugees and orphans — kids whose parents have either been killed by the AIDS pandemic or by the awful inter-ethnic violence that occurred in the mid-nineties. I’ve finally got the first phase of the web site up! Christian Community Development is a Christ-centered organisation with goals of assisting the poor and the needy of Burundi to know Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and to overcome poverty. Read more...

…The BBC have the following story in their ‘latest news’ ticker: Muffin the Mule, one of the most popular children’s TV characters of all time, is being revived by the BBC to mark its 60th anniversary. — http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2952533.stm While I deplored the wall-to-wall coverage in the early stages of the war, it feels as though Iraq as a subject has been tossed aside like last season’s jeans by a bored teenager. Read more...

“72,000 capacity”, I thought to myself, “that’s 36,000 tickets for each club”. Except it isn’t, as the FA keep 22,000 for distribution around the country. Only some members will be eligible for tickets and, as we’ve only been to one game, I don’t suppose we’ll get offered the chance to buy one. The club are currently in the process of working out how many games members will need to have been to in order to qualify for a ticket. Read more...

Sometimes I think that I write boring stuff, but The dullest blog in the world is in another league entirely. It’s popular though…

I was browsing the Saints FC website, as you do, and I saw a photo of a Saints fan who went to desperate lengths to get tickets to the semi-final of the FA Cup. I thought to myself ‘he looks familiar’ and sure enough it was indeed Brian Percey, from Andover Baptist Church, the church I grew up in! Brian ate pickled onions, wore a Pompey shirt and cleaned the Pompey players’ boots with his toothbrush. Read more...

I wish, I wish, I wish. This rather nice Apple iBook is currently going for £900. I specced up something similar at the Apple Store and it came to £2700, with all the accessories and extra software. There’s even an iPod! Drool. Update: The seller has just closed the auction, cancelling all bids. I don’t know whether to be sad or happy…