I’ve just about perfected this. Takes just 3 mins to cook…tasting good, but still needs some tweaking.

‘Chocolate Mug Cake’

Hinted at in the last post…

I was faced with a problem last night. I hadn’t started reading the book, it was 270 pages long and the exam is tomorrow. I could have gone with summaries and notes, but I kinda wanted to read it but just hadn’t gotten around to it.

Enter speed reading: I’ve been reading a bit about it (link 1, link 2) and thought I’d give it a shot. It’s the bomb!! I got through the book in two sittings… last night and this morning taking about 4 hours total, and (I think) I got some good retention. We’ll find out tomorrow

I recommend you give it a try if you find yourself having to get through large blocks of reading.

The things that worked bast for me was

• Comfortable chair
• Good light
• Stopping sub-vocalisation (click the links above)
• using a piece of paper to track my reading down the page
• Taking a break every now and then to think back over what I’d read

Anyone got other reading tips?

photo via::fffffound.com

It’s a really great book and am glad I read it! This is the set text for Mission Foundations at college. It paints a sweeping picture of God’s saving activity across the stages of salvation history but also gives a good level of detail at each.

The section on intertestamental Jewish missionary endeavour made convincing use of the historical data (they argue that there was not organised, systematic evangelisation by 2nd temple Jews) and the investigation of what each gospel writer contributes individually to a theology of mission was great. For me the gold was the language of inclusion/ingathering. The OT presents Israel as under a general mandate to include (which happens in a few cases - ruth, rahab etc) but with Jesus death and resurrection a new eschatalogical age of ingathering has begun. The key is to realise that this is exactly what Isaiah’s ’servant’ would do (cf. Is 56 esp v8).

Another bonus, the book has an excellent synthesis/conclusion chapter which gives you the whole book in a few short pages.

So #4 on the list is done!

How do you tie your shoes? Do you use any of the bizzaro alternates?

I’m tempted to try the checkerboard:

I have excessively long laces on my current pair of shoes so it might just put the huge dangling ends to good use…

I have to admit that I didn’t know what the team colours were befor the game, but it became pretty clear when I saw the overwhelming sea of Adelaide supporters in their red get-ups:

Thanks for getting me up to the coast Dave, had a great time!! I’ll be back sometime for that pizza place too. very nice… so full of meat and cheesy goodness!

I came across this: Googlism

complete with 9 proofs of Google’s existence as a God…

Proof 2:

Google is everywhere at once (Omnipresent). Google is virtually everywhere on earth at the same time. Billions of indexed WebPages hosted from every corner of the earth. With the proliferation of Wi-Fi networks, one will eventually be able to access Google from anywhere on earth, truly making Her an omnipresent entity.

via::buzzfeed.com

I wonder if they could also accurately predict the end of the world 2 weeks in advance? …perhaps based on how many users searched for “barack obama antichrist”? (here’s what I found, in case you’re wondering)

So judging by this picture shooting oversized thumbtacks at them isn’t going to work

Since I am impatient, I got some mango this week and used it in last night’s meal - this is more Nick’s territory i  know, but hey i’ll have an amateur crack at food blogging…modified from Cajun Lamb with Manjo & Avocado Salsa. The Salsa is the main game for me. I used basil instead of the recommended coriander and served it with Moroccan seasoned chicken breasts.

Mango & avocado salsa

1 just-ripe mango, cheeks removed, peeled, finely chopped
1 avocado, halved, stone removed, peeled, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 long fresh red chilli, halved, deseeded, finely chopped
2 tbs finely chopped fresh basil
1 tbs fresh lime juice

Just combine it, toss and serve. Great summer flavour!

Continuing the retro-cool theme…

Some of you will have seen my cassette t-shirt design (on my merch page or on my body)

The images were sourced from tapedeck.org - an collection of high res tape images. It’s a pretty wacky idea for a website, but it is interesting to see the variations in packaging.

Best thing about tapes: Their usefulness in the production of the mixed tape. I have no idea how long I spent back in the day listening to rage and top-40 radio/super-request recording stuff to my next mixed tape!

Did you ever make one? for a love interest? did it work?