Coming Soon...?

Kermit and Derek

Inimitable

No need to kindle the Sony...?

It's not that long, dear reader (and I know there's one of you) since I was expressing my frustration with the Sony e-reader - nothing wrong with the reader, but compared with Amazon's Kindle there were few books available, and what is available is more expensive.

But - there have been developments!

Did you know that it is possible to borrow e-books? A quick trip to Ferndown Library got me signed up to the Dorset e-library, and a whole host of books to download, free.  (It's a wonderful system - after the 7or 14-day loan period they can't be read on the reader: they've been 'returned'.) And guess what?  That's right: you can't borrow them for the Kindle!  Yay - score 1 for the Sony!


More developments
And that's not all.  It turns out that free software is available that will allow me to buy 'Kindle' books and convert them to e-pub format for the Sony (or vice-versa, but who cares?)  Haven't tried it yet - but I will.  And I'll let you know.


Sorry, Tim.


Update
Ah, no, it didn't work.  The software (Calibre) is fine - great, in fact.  And it does convert Kindle format to epub, easily.  BUT: I downloaded two 'Kindle' books.  One of them I had to pay for, the other was on their 'free' list.  The free one converted fine.  But the other was effectively locked: DRM,it's called - Digital Rights Management.  Under the pretext of protecting copyright, Amazon lock the books they sell (at least some of them and as far as I can tell, their site doesn't indicate which ones.  I'd guess 'all the ones you pay for') to prevent them being converted.  And I say 'sell' - do you know that they don't 'sell' ebooks to you, they lease them?  There've been cases recently where they've deleted copies of books from everyone's Kindle, and they defend their right to do so.  (You agree to it I guess when you sign up - you know, in that bit you tick to say you've read when in fact you haven't?)
Why do I say 'pretext'?  Because when you've paid for the books, the authors get their royalties - it doesn't matter to them what gadget you read it on.  The only folks Amazon are protecting are Amazon: they sell (sorry, lease) you the book and they're insisting you purchase a Kindle.  Like I said - pretext.

Ashkenazy plays Chopin - and Argerich plays too




I think he's the greatest pianist of them all, though my son prefers

The Enemy

‘For over a century now, belief in the devil has seemed to be on the way out.  The toothy red imp with the tail and the trident has become a secular figure of fun, while Protestant theologians generally have banished the personal devil of the Bible to the lumber-room reserved for broken-down myths.  No doubt this state of affairs is just what the devil has been working for, since it allows him to operate now on the grandest scale without being either detected or opposed.’ (J. I. Packer)

Even if they believe in God, a growing number of people do not believe in the devil at all; it’s a peculiar thing, says Spurgeon, when a man is persuaded not to believe in his own father!

‘We are opposed by a living, intelligent, resourceful and cunning enemy who can outlive the oldest Christian, outwork the busiest, out-fight the strongest and outwit the wisest’ (John Blanchard)

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil—Heb 2.14

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 15:57

Victor Borge and Phonetic Punctuation

I was sure that I'd included Borge once before, but I can't find it anywhere.  So - here's one of his most famous items.  Notice how funny, how clean, how inoffensive...  There used to be comedians like that - though not many like this.

Kindle the Sony e-reader? 

A year or so ago I bought my Sony e-reader.  It's unusual for me - though I love gadgets, I can rarely afford them.

I love it!  I've always loved books - the sight, the sound, the smell; but mostly, to be honest, the words.  I love to read.  The e-reader allows me to carry dozens - hundreds, if I want - of books around with me.  It remembers what page I'm on for all of them.  I can change the size of the print.  I can make notes.  It's great.

Lots of books - ancient and modern - are available to read on it.  Some of them are free - Project Guttenberg is making available as many books as copyright allows, as quickly as possible - and there are others.  All was going well until one friend - AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE - bought an Amazon Kindle.

Kindle is Amazon's own version of e-reader, and the two are, apparently and unfortunately, mutually incompatible.  You can't buy Kindle books and read them on the Sony, or vice-versa.  It does just about everything the e-reader does.  It's perhaps not quite as sophisticated - no touch-screen, for example; it's got a keyboard instead.  But hey - it downloads books, you don't need to be near a computer to do it (don't ask me - something to do with wi-fi or 3G or something).  And get this: there are more - lots more - books available for Kindle than for Sony.  And they're cheaper.

For instance: I like thrillers.  Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher thriller, 'Worth dying for' was published last week.  Amazon are selling it in hardcover for £7.59 (rrp £18.99) and the Kindle version - available immediately - they are selling for £6.64.  Cheaper.  Waterstones, on the other hand, are selling the hardback for £9.49 (dearer than Amazon - no surprise) and the e-book for (wait for it) £13.58. That's right - I said £13.58.  More than twice the price of Kindle.


Worse (and even for a Yorkshireman there are worse things than money.  Not many, but some.)  There are so many more books available for Kindle it's ridiculous.  (I've said that,haven't I?)  I'll leave you to do the relevant searches yourself.  But try some Christian authors - Packer, Don Carson and the like.  Have a look. 


So I wrote - politely - to Waterstones (note some of the prices have changed since - but not for the better):

You may not be the right department to raise this with, but I don't know who else to approach.

I bought a Sony e-book reader from my local Waterstones branch around a year ago.  It's brilliant in almost every way - but I'm beginning to think Kindle is better...

For example, today, Lee Child's new thriller 'Worth dying for' is released.  You have it in hardback for  £8.99 ; but you are selling it in its electronic format for £13.58.  Amazon's kindle version, though, is £6.64.  I know you'll say that 'the publishers set the prices' but, since the ending of the NBA, that's not really the case, as witnessed by the very fact that the hardback version's 'full price' is £18.99.

Even worse when comparing kindle and Sony ebook is the variety of books available.  Waterstones list 11 Dick Francis titles in electronic format; Amazon list 51 in kindle...  When we look for books other than the most popular thrillers, the situation is even worse.  Again, you may say it's the publishers who decide what formats are available and you're listing all those titles that are available.  But if the purchase power of Waterstones and WH Smith together cannot influence the publishers, we all need to move to kindle!  (Consider: with the almost £7 difference in price for the Lee Child book mentioned above, a mere 17 books would repay the investment.  I easily download 17 books in a six-month period.)

Please can you tell me: are there plans afoot to make a greater variety of ebooks available soon?  And will Waterstones price them more competitively?  Or should I order a Kindle?

Sincerely,

Gary Benfold

Give them credit - they replied.  I didn't think they would.

Dear Gary,

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the price difference between ebooks and other formats online.

There are a number of reasons why the prices are different online but as this is an exclusive product prices may vary, I would like to inform you that in the future there will be reductions and promotions as the item becomes more popular.� We are doing all we can to lower the prices, but unfortunately we are unable to supply you with a time scale as to when this will be done.

I do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

Heather Jackson
Customer Service Team
Waterstones.com

Well, thanks Heather.  Thanks for taking the time.  But - well, it's not really an answer, is it?  I hope you don't mind me pointing that out.   'There are a number of reasons...'   I'm sure there are.  What are they?  'There will be reductions and promotions...'  Good.  But 'in the future'?  Next week?  Next year?  Next decade?  Why are you unable to supply me with a time-scale?  Is it because it's so long that I would go and buy a Kindle?  

And - why don't you address the question of the difference in number of books that are available?  Am I not right in thinking that - without actually saying it - you mean 'Yes, you'd be better off with a Kindle'?

So, dear reader, if you're thinking of an electronic reader - I'd go for a Kindle, myself.  In fact, I may get one myself, even if it means kindle-ing my Sony.

Penelope Keith and the Parker Pen

This advert predated 'The Good Life' and was, I think, in part responsible for PK getting the role of Margo.  I'd meant to schedule it for yesterday, and have only just noticed it didn't appear.  

Monday Magic More

Did you like last week's Monday Magic?  No?  Here's some more - try this.

They're killing babies inside

Quick - let's arrest those who protest!

From the Christian Legal Centre



Pro Life Abortion Protestors Arrested.

Two Christian pro-life protesters have recently been arrested twice by Police in Brighton and await the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service to see if they will face a Criminal Prosecution.

Andy Stephenson 35, married father of two and Katherine Sloane 19, pro-life campaigners were stood outside the BPAS clinic in Brighton on the 27th of July. They raised a banner showing an early aborted embryo near the entrance of the clinic and stood in silent protest. They had been there for about 45 minutes when they were approached by police. The police asked them to take down their pictures otherwise they would be arrested. A discussion followed as Mr Stephenson tried to explain why their actions were lawful. Mr Stephenson and Miss Sloane refused to take down the banner as they believed that they had a lawful right to protest and educate. The police therefore arrested them and took them to Brighton Police station. After having their photographs, fingerprints and DNA taken they were offered a “fixed penalty notice” instead of being prosecuted. They refused the police’s offer and requested a court hearing.

Undeterred by the threat of arrest, Mr Stephenson and Miss Sloane returned to the clinic on the 10th of August and protested in the same manner. Once again, after having stood in silent protest for 45 minutes, they were again approached by police. Mr Stephenson and Miss Sloane refused to take down the banner and so were again arrested and taken to Brighton Police Station and held for 14 hours. This time they were interviewed under caution and were supported by the Christian Legal Centre which has instructed human rights barrister Paul Diamond in the case. They have now been placed on police bail and will return on the 13th of October to hear whether the Crown Prosecution Service have authorised charge for prosecution under the Public Order Act.

Andy Stephenson says “all we were seeking to do was to highlight the dangers of abortion to the users of the BPAS clinic. The women who go to these clinics are simply not told the full story as to what abortion involves and the damage that it causes women. We always stand in complete silence and let the pictures do the talking.”

Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the case, said: "This is a test case for their democratic right to reveal what abortion really is like. This case raises important questions about whether our society will allow robust and rigorous debate about what remains a highly controversial issue.

In the 21st century it is not appropriate to silence and to censor those who speak out against abortion, even if the manner in which they do so is not how many would choose.
Many people in the UK remain horrified at the nature and scale of abortion in this country. There have been 7 million abortions in England and Wales since abortion was legalised in 1967. Obviously there are a range of ways in which people will choose to engage in this important debate depending on what they judge to be the most effective in each situation. However, the freedom to engage and provoke public debate on this matter of life and death must be safeguarded."

If you would like to donate to support the Christian Legal Centre in this case, we would be very grateful. To do so, please click the button below, or visit www.christianlegalcentre.com/donation.php


I'm very happy to leave this link for those who want to give a donation.  They're killing babies out there.  (If you don't think they are, follow this link http://www.priestsforlife.org/resources/abortionimages/index.htm  but you'll need a stronger stomach than mine)


'Yet the ideas and practices... are not our real enemies.  "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood," insists Paul (Ephesians 6.12).  We are not at war with Roman Catholics, liberals, Jehovah's Witnesses or evolutionary scientists.  We do not fight adulterers, gays, pop stars or the managers of abortion clinics.  We are not in conflict with any man or woman.  So who, then, are our enemies?  We are "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.' (Stuart Olyott, on Ephesians 6.12) 

Magic, not music

For a change, here's a bit of magic.  Paul Daniels is (IMHO) the most under-rated entertainer in the country at the moment.  And it's not just my opinion - Paul agrees with me.  Unfortunately this clip starts half way through and is interrupted once or twice - ignore the interruptions, especially the guy with the strange hair (turn the sound down for him; he's a bit of a bottom, to be honest.)

End of the World - Snoopy's Perspective

Just to keep you going until I can get back to more serious posting.

Amazing Grace

My older viewer will remember this well enough.  Today's a good day (it's always a good day) to take a moment to pray for our armed forces - the boys and men who defend our liberty and sometimes pay the ultimate price.

Stephen Hawking

If I were an atheist, I'd be worried!

Many years ago I found a book of mathematical puzzles.  The only one I remember seemed to prove that every point inside a circle was actually on the circumference.  I was doing 'A'-level maths at the time (and, at the time, that meant something) and finding the flaw seemed a good idea.  I couldn't.


Neither could my friend Pete, who was brighter than me (not hard to believe, I know).  So he set out to do what the puzzle said - you know, it was one of those that read 'draw a radius AB and extend AB to the point C such that the ratio...' - and so on.  As soon as Pete actually tried to do what it said, we discovered (note the 'we' - I'm happy to claim partial credit for his work) that it couldn't be done; therein lay the flaw.  If you assumed it could be done, the maths all followed, and every point in a circle was on its circumference.  The moment you tried it, though...

Stephen Hawking thinks that the universe created itself; once it wasn't there, and (while not there) it created itself and became there.  ‘...the universe created itself out of nothing; spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing.’  Yep - it's a quote; I'm not making it up.


If you were an atheist, wouldn't that terrify you?  The world's most famous scientist - one of the best minds of his generation (if not the best) says, in effect, 'The only alternative to God is a universe that made itself out of nothing.  Once there was nothing, and it exploded...'


Pardon my French, but isn't that just - er - stupid?  And those who believe it also are - well, 'although they claimed to be wise they became fools' (Romans 1.22).

Take a look at this:

William Tell with a Difference

School - not for me!

Stephen Hawking and God: Who made the touch-paper? 

Stephen Hawking is quoted in today's Daily Telegraph saying

“Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”

He added: “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”

Oh, dear - once again I have to quake and tremble as my faith receives an unanswerable blow... or not.  Just a couple of things, though, Stephen, before I retreat into the pointlessness that atheism brings: 

• Why is there a law of gravity?

• Who made the touch paper that we don't need God to light?

Filling the heart?

It would take 250 million standard-sized tennis balls to fill Wimbledon's Centre Court with its roof on; but nothing can fill the heart that’s made for God

The Charlatan

Peter was a preacher – the ‘was’ is important.  His ministry focused on miracles; thousands of people attended his crusades and church conventions in the seventies and early eighties.  Peter would stand at the front and call out the names of people he’d never met, describe their illnesses in detail, sometimes give their addresses and assure them that God wanted them well.  Somehow, Peter’s ministry prospered – and so did Peter himself.

Some people were suspicious, though – some people always are!  One of them was very suspicious, and in 1983 employed the aid of an investigator with high-tech radio scanning equipment.  They discovered that Peter’s wife, and a team of helpers, were meeting people as they arrived, chatting, getting personal details, asking if they had particular needs  - then writing them on index cards.  Elizabeth, the wife, would then use simple radio transmission to transmit the details to Peter on stage.  Not surprisingly, he was never wrong.

After he was exposed in this way, with exposure made on national TV, too, Peter and his ministry went bankrupt.  ‘Good,’ you say; and I agree.  But by 2005, Peter was back in business.  His website makes no mention of the scandal, but does invite you to send in for your bottle of miracle spring water and debt cancellation kit – stick with Peter, and you can be healthy and rich.  Sadly, once more, Peter is a preacher. 

There are frauds and charlatans in every walk of life.  In the US at least, one of the best ways of making a fortune from flim-flam is the religious way, and Peter is by no means alone.

There are charlatans in every walk of life; crooked accountants though don’t destroy our confidence in  accounting or accountants, crooked lawyers don’t destroy our faith in the law.  Crooked ministers, though, can all too easily inoculate us against the real thing.

My Sunday morning sermon this past week dealt with one of the dangers of the charlatan and how to recognise him;  Jonathan Hunt has linked to another ministry that appears to be - shall we say? - dubious.  It's a perennial problem.

An unusual duet for Monday

'If I could live for ever, and all my dreams come true - my memories of love would be of you.'