Tripod, meet Radiohead.

Radiohead, meet Tripod.

Beautiful. Brilliant. Everything is as it should be.

A new version of the excellent document organisation/writing program Scrivener is out.

I’ve been running the beta version (1.05.something) and it didn’t recognise the updated version, even when I ran ‘Check for Updates’ manually. Having installed the new version however, things are working out nicely. There’s a list of updates as long as your arm… longer, probably.

I use it for organising my lecture notes, writing exegeticals and essays, and even sermons. It’s good gear. Try it if you haven’t already (oh, it’s Mac only. Sorry).

I was down at the local shopping centre earlier today. I was feeling pretty average, and my wife kindly made me go and sit down at a cafe while she did the first part of the shopping. This particular centre was a little short on decent places for coffee, so Gloria Jeans was the best I could find.

Yes, I am a coffee snob.

At the counter, I ordered a macchiato. That’s a shot of espresso, plus a dash of frothed milk on top. I started to suspect that things might not work out for the best when the conversation went like this:

Me: “A macchiato please, to have here.”

Shop assisstant: “Sure. Would you like that in a mug?”

Me: (perplexed). “Ummm…” (holding fingers up, about 2cm apart), “A macchiato is about this big.”

Shop assisstant: “Yes, but we also do them in mugs.”

Me: “Ummm… no, a small glass will be fine.”

I know that upsizing things is all the rage in chain stores, but needing a mug for what is a very tiny drink seems, to me at least, to be indicating that priorities are a little askew.

There’s a nice list put together at the Baptist Blogger on rules/advice for seminary students. Here are some I particularly liked:

5. Never, ever use an exclamation point for any reason whatsoever.

(!)

17. Serve one year as a professor’s grader. There’s nothing like reading stacks of horrible research papers to teach you how not to write.

Amen. My UNSW Ethics classes have taught me well.

23. Skip chapel most of the time for early lunches off campus with friends. Hooky is liberating.

Now if only our chapels were before lunch…

36. Ask no more than three questions in class per semester.

Need I say anything?

48. Burn at least one textbook in a ceremony of private dissent. Most books on leadership make for good kindling.

How about this one?
Some, however, didn’t quite sit well with me:

14. Find a spot in the library away from high traffic areas and live there between classes. Stay away from the coffee shops. Do not waste your energies rutting with the spring bucks.

Coffee shops are wonderful. Newtown has some good ones.

16. Expand your knowledge base of art, literature, and music. Visit at least one museum a year, and spend the day. Attend a symphony. Read Shakespeare.

Sure. But don’t just be arty. Get into the culture of the people with whom you minister. Compare Mark Driscoll’s advice.

A friend suggested that we put a list together for Moore College. Any suggestions?

My microwave is a case study in awful user interfaces.

Here it is, in all its matching stainless-steel glory.

For starters, it isn’t always in “I’m-ready-to-cook” mode, which is clearly what one uses a microwave for most often. To set the time you need to push the ‘Time’ button, then put in the time. Awkward, but perhaps forgivable.

Setting the clock, however, is a different kettle of fish. This is the process:

1. press ‘Clock‘
2. press ‘Cancel‘ (this, inexplicably, clears the current time from the display)
3. key in the current time
4. press ‘Clock‘ again

That sucks.

Pressing ‘Cancel’ after starting an action should cancel that action, not be an integral part of it.

This is what happens when electrical engineers design user interfaces.

Yes, I am aware of the irony.