Tim Abbott

Facebook before face-to-face

Today I became friends with a new minister here in Colchester via Facebook before meeting up in person thus creating the perfect opportunity to arrange to, well... meet up in person.

In a slightly creepy way Facebook has become almost invisible - part of the social water within which many of us swim.

Groovybooth

Diana and I went to a family party in Bath on Saturday. Apart from the company, the food, the brilliant speeches and the splendid surroundings, the high profile attraction of the day was a Groovybooth.

It's basically a photo booth which allows guests to take four photos of themselves, with or without any of the crazy selection of hats, shades or accessories provided, as a memento of the occasion. The thing even has a built in wind machine for that wind-blown hair look. Afterwards all the photos are uploaded to their website and can be downloaded for free.

At the party everyone chose a picture of themselves to stick in a scrapbook along with a message for the birthday boy.

Such a simple idea - so much fun!

The Bble in five lines

Argghhh... I've been tagged with one of those meme things again.

But as it's from Banksy (and before that the good Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley) I thought I'd have a go. The rules are:

Summarise the Bible in five statements, the first one word long, the second two, the third three, the fourth four and the last five words long. Or possibly you could do this in descending order. Tag five people.

Here goes:

Light
A nation
Exile and division
The word made flesh
Your kingdom come unto eternity

Rather than tagging people I'm going to invite anyone reading this who wants to have a go to, well, have a go. Leave a comment so we know you took up the challenge and know where to look for your inspired theological brevity.

Wood panelling - my most viewed photo!

Texture - wood panelling, originally uploaded by timabbott.

It is, to me, one of life's little mysteries that this is my most viewed photo by far on Flickr. About 2500 views. By comparison, the next highest picture has about 700.

I know that compared to some giants of the Flickrverse 2500 views is peanuts. But for a picture of a wood panelled wall?

It was taken as part of a vague theme to record a wide range of textures that might be of use as backgrounds. The CC licensing is an acknowledgement that this picture might be of some use to others and it really doesn't harm me to let them download it. Which must surely account for the number of views. I mean, you wouldn't click on this image just to take a closer look would you? Not unless you're a student of 21st Century wood panelling. So I'm guessing there are people out there who have this bit of interior wall for their computer desktop, Powerpoint / Keynote slide background or perhaps something else.

I just never imagined it would be so popular.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Good Story

Brilliant!

h/t: Phil Cooke

Dunbar's number, or The Monkeysphere

Seth Godin on Dunbar's number.

There's a limit to the number of people with whom we can effectively maintain a relationship and that number is a maximum of about 150. Interesting that the gathering of Jesus' followers after his ascension numbered about 120.

There's a brilliant exposition of this theory by David Wong, What is the monkeysphere? (some-rude-words alert) which roots it in everyday life, even if you don't entirely agree with all of David's conclusions.

Something happens when we get more than 150 people together - we lose touch. Think about the churches you know. What do the ones with up to about 120 people feel like compared with the ones that have 180 or more? Interesting!

Body Image - 1

By now you've probably seen this image and the story behind it circulating on the web.

It is, allegedly, a Ralph Lauren ad featuring a ridiculously photoshopped model, Fillippa Hamilton. (Here she is on the Ralph Lauren web site looking relatively normal) As the image started circulating Lauren started issuing DMCA takedown notices to offenders (will they be calling here I wonder?)

Boing Boing has a full rundown of events.

Going after companies who posted the image inevitably invokes the Streisand Effect whereby an attempt to censor stimulates the multiplication of the information across the internet. Lauren subsequently admitted that they were indeed responsible for the "poor imaging and retouching" and that they have "addressed the problem".

There are a whole lot of unanswered questions, like, Who did the original artwork? and, Who signed off this image for publication? Surely no fashion house with the resources of RL would allow an image like this out by mistake. And no one seems to have been able to come up with the original ad in print or on the web. All of which makes me wonder what's really going on...


UPDATE, 15 Oct
Well, it seems the original of this ad was a display poster for a Japanese department store. But no matter, Fillippa Hamilton has now been sacked by Ralph Lauren "as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us" which apparently means she was too fat. Hamilton is a UK size 8. More details from The Times

Google Street View snappers snapped on Street View

Some bold and fast acting photographic types have been sacrificing themselves before the all pervading Google Street View camera cars and have thereby achieved Street View immortality.

The Register has all the details.

Street View snappers of the nation, we salute you.

Death Star over San Fransisco

I'm away, back home, and away again quite a bit this summer, so blogging is taking a bit of a break.
But I love this!

Jesus and the dinosaurs

Thanks to Dan Kimball for posting this.

We laughed. We nearly cried. We printed it out and stuck it on the wall.

I'm really not sure what to make of it. I think it could be subtitled, "where fundamentalism meets paleontology". But I'm not really sure.

Dan wonders whether this was truly from a Christian children's colouring book. I hope not...
I'm still confused...

You could also see Dinosaur Comics!