Behold the terrible moustache that I’m growing for “Movember”. Please read a little more about why I’m growing a moustache, and what I’m trying to achieve by it. Last year, I grew a moustache primarily to raise awareness about depression: it’s a cause I feel passionate about, and I was happy to raise some money …
Category Archives: long
Moving on?
In the movie Serenity, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a character with no name, a “true believer” who is working tirelessly away to create a better world. Unfortunately, because of the way he goes about it, there is no way he can be part of that world. I’ve found myself in a similar situation. Having put …
ride to work day
Earlier this year I went for a bike ride with a friend, and really enjoyed it. I mused on the idea of riding to work, and so I looked up one of the “no excuse zone” maps that the city of Sydney council has put together. I live a long way further out than even …
The Bechdel Test
It’s looks like being a wet weekend, so what better time to talk about the Bechdel Test, and ask if the movie that you’re watching passes the test or not. What is the Bechdel Test? It’s 3 simple rules taken from a comic strip from 1985. To pass the test, a film must have at …
lessons from a brief holiday
(If you like the look of the above, you could move there and take over a cafe). I’m just back from a relaxed few days staying (mostly) away from constant internet access. I’ve come back to over 400 unread RSS items, thousands of lost tweets and only tens of unread emails. It was good to …
The Forer Effect
Having just finished reading The Paradox of Choice, and then reading through Ruth Ellison’s presentation at Bar Camp Canberra 2010 (where she quotes the framing question from Paradox of Choice), I found this summary of something called the Forer effect to be another example of our poor ability to read the evidence that informs our …
crowdsourcing a sermon – part two
In the first part of the story of a sermon I preached I talked about the initial preparation stages, moving into Microsoft Word. It’s at this point that the sermon writing begins in earnest. The first word document I was working on is mostly a list of bible verses, in the order of the outline, …
crowdsourcing a sermon – part one
Last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at my church. In putting sermons together, I’ve been hoping that it would give me a chance to share a bit about my faith with people, and so I thought I’d write a short series of blog posts on my sermon preparation process. According to the “sermons” …
end of the year!
Just a quick note to mark the end of 2009 here on the blog. Thanks to everyone who has read, commented, linked, or emailed, and look forward to more blogging goodness in 2010!
Travelling on bus strike day
Although I grew up next door to a bus depot, these days I don’t often need a bus to get me from one place to another. So it’s not without a sense of irony that I find myself – yesterday’s freshly purchased travel 10 in hand – in need of a bus, and the drivers …