Dedication 🔗
On Sunday my wife and I had the joy, together with The Globe Church family, of dedicating our son. Since people come to our church from all sorts of d [...]
James Doc
Posts
Alternatives to MacOS Bartender 🔗
This morning MacRumors posted a PSA that Bartender was under new ownership. The company behind Bartender, a very handy utility app allowing users to h [...]
Changing a site's URL slug in Sharepoint 🔗
I’ve recently needed to get my head around Sharepoint… as someone who has spent most of their time in Google Workspace this is a whole new world to me [...]
Handling Authy's desktop app deprication 🔗
Earlier this week, Twilio publically announced that Authy would be ending their Windows, Linux, and MacOS apps. Starting March 19, 2024, Twilio Deskto [...]
Subscribe to calendar link 🔗
Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar have functionality that allow you to subscribe to calendar feeds; add the URL of the feed, and then it will a [...]
Discipleship Tech progress in 2023 🔗
Over the last year I’ve been giving the Discipleship Tech team a little bit of help on the project management side of things. I’ve known Andy for many [...]
Adding a git based changelog in 11ty 🔗
I had an idea yesterday to pull the last commit detail from the git repo for this site and put it as an HTML comment so I can identify deploy issues q [...]
Running Age of Empires 2 on Apple Silicon 🔗
My setup for running Age of Empires 2 is on M1 MacBook Pro running MacOS Sonoma (14.2), the following steps worked for me. Your milage may vary. Step [...]
Experimenting with analytics via Tinylytics 🔗
The Christmas holidays have begun, which means that I have a bit of time to tinker… I can’t remember when I stopped using Google Analytics, but it was [...]
Default Apps at the End of 2023 🔗
There’s been a trend floating around the blogosphere this month looking at the default apps people are using… I like that. This is my list: 📨 Mail Cl [...]
Embedding your blog 🔗
In some research and development time I’ve been exploring some of the technology behind ChatGPT, and pulling on different contexts for uses of it. One [...]
Implementing View Transitions in Two Minutes 🔗
At the moment view transitions are still being implemented, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t get ahead of the curve and experiment with them. Howeve [...]
Conversational Actions Sunset– How to carry on the conversation 🔗
If you have a Conversational Action Continue the conversation Now is the time to let your customer base know what is happening. Google has included a [...]
Rebuilding 11ty on a schedule 🔗
On a recent Eleventy project I needed a calendar of upcoming events. One of the challenges that a static site generator brings is that when the site i [...]
Leaving the Birdsite 🔗
I’m keeping my account open… I’ll even log in every now and again to keep the account appearing active because I don’t want my username to vanish. But [...]
Install a custom font into a Netlify Docker Container 🔗
This weekend I’ve been implementing automatically generated opengraph images for blog posts as a quick experiment for a side project I’ve been plannin [...]
Reflecting on BUILD 2022 🔗
BUILD 2022 was our seventh year coming together for a weekend of work, merging our tech skills with our Christian faith. This year saw the return of m [...]
Goodbye Conversational Actions… what next? 🔗
We’ve been building for the Google Assistant platform, creating experiences that users can access from devices such as phones and home hubs. Last mont [...]
Preventing Google Chrome from Hijacking Your Media Keys 🔗
Chrome likes to steal your media keys - the play/pause buttons on your keyboard and then map them through to YouTube, or similar media. This is regard [...]
Using Airtable as a CMS for Eleventy 🔗
On a recent project I’ve been experimenting with adding Airtable as a content management system for Eleventy (11ty). Below I document the notes around [...]
Taking off the Bowtie; Hello Sleeve 🔗
Bowtie is an app that I’ve been using pretty much since I switched to running a Mac. A simple utility application; it hooks into iTunes, Spotify, etc [...]
Clearing a Slack Channel History 🔗
Today I had the challenge of wiping a Slack workspace/team of all the chat history. There isn’t a handy one click button to do this. The slow way arou [...]
Review - Anker Webcam PowerConf C300 🔗
As the whole ‘working-from-home’ thing became a thing the built in camera on my laptop decided that it was a good time to die. And because everyone e [...]
Preparing to Move to Hybrid Church 🔗
“I’m already sick of the term hybrid” one of my friends told me over the weekend; “I’m hearing it so much at the moment”. Everything is trying to work [...]
Glorifying God and Writing Code 🔗
Ahead of the launch of Stewardship launching their new CauseFinder tool I spoke with Joel Leakey about how Jesus is a technologist. So, you have Kingd [...]
Checking Which SSL Cert is Being Served 🔗
Over the last week I’ve been dealing with a number of issues relating to SSL certs; one discovery where the SSL cert expired yesterday, another standa [...]
Book Review: Reimagining the Spiritual Disciplines for a Digital Age 🔗
In just under 25 pages, Sara Schumacher, Director of Education at St. Mellitus College, packs in more clarity, focus, and personal encouragement than [...]
Grouping blog posts by year in Eleventy 🔗
It’s been on my list to get a good archive page of blog posts for a while, [1] more than just simple pagination where you have to click though posts i [...]
Book Review: The Age of AI 🔗
Even before national lockdowns, and our interactions with the world being mediated through screens, we have been interacting with artificial intellige [...]
Lessons from Netlify CMS 🔗
Over at OneSheep we’ve just launched the new website for Carnelian Search. Carnelian is company who works with charities or social impact organisation [...]
K3 Keyboard 🔗
While there are many good things about owning a MacBook, the keyboards in the 2017 model are not one of them! Low travel, sticky keys, falling off key [...]
What Comes Next? 🔗
Books about leadership have a bad tendency to be dense; dry and hard work to read, and that’s before you get to the unobtainable objectives such as li [...]
Running Age of Empires 2 on Big Sur 🔗
2023 update Have a look at Running AoE 2 on Apple Silicon instead. 👀 As with all technical blog posts as the technology gets updated things will brea [...]
Importing Yahoo Mail into Google Workspace 🔗
I’ve recently had the interesting time of setting up a new Google Workspace (formerly GSuite) install. Migrating emails between previous service provi [...]
Data Influenced Church 🔗
I was recently invited to give a 15 minute talk to a group of church worker about how data can equip and resource a church to be a church that is more [...]
Animate on scroll with Tailwind CSS 🔗
One of the requirements of a classic brochureware website these days is animated elements that fade into view as the visitor scrolls to the website. T [...]
Side Project - Trello Overview 🔗
I think that Trello is up there in my favourite online tools. It’s a simple project management tool; I’ve used in each job I’ve had since leaving uni, [...]
Not the Second of May… but the Fourth of July 🔗
Our last message to you was to let you know we were in a time of waiting. Many will know how difficult the last couple of months have been for us, bei [...]
Craft CMS, Code Snippets and PrismJS 🔗
In the coming weeks and months ahead in this Insights section we’re going to be posting a few tips and tricks that we’ve discovered as we have been bu [...]
The problem with staying silent 🔗
“Silence is violence”. These three words were written on one of the placards I saw in the Black Lives Matter protests this week. Start typing “silence [...]
Degulpification 🔗
Back in 2018 when I migrated the site from Codeigniter to Eleventy Gulp was very firmly in my toolbox. It’s been a while since I started a new project [...]
Not tomorrow… but soon. 🔗
The Second of May was due to have been our wedding day. As a result of what’s happening globally, our plans have had to be postponed; church buildings [...]
The Next Few Months for Kingdom Code 🔗
A month into lockdown and we’re beginning to stablise - there is more of an understanding of how our lives work now. We don’t need to worry about pani [...]
Psalm 130 🔗
Over the last two weeks at The Globe Church we’ve been in the Psalms of Ascent, the songs that the Isralites sing as they ascent to the temple of the [...]
Lessons learnt from live streaming church 🔗
As we face further into lockdown of the UK, our churches have embraced livestreaming as a way of keeping in touch with our church families. I’m not go [...]
Technologists Serving the Church During Coronavirus 🔗
As the government encourages us to reduce the amount of social interaction, now is the perfect time for the Kingdom Code community to serve the local [...]
A note about livestreaming and song licensing in churches 🔗
In light of Covid-19 and lots of churches moving their services online I had a chat with CCLI and PRS for music around the legalities of live streamin [...]
Tracing a JPG to SVG 🔗
Every so often I find myself with a JPG logo that I really want an SVG for… It’s a pain because the JPG just won’t scale for web or print work. There [...]
Sleepless AI 🔗
Earlier this week I was asked to give some thoughts to what keeps me awake at night thinking about the church and AI. This is my starter for ten… This [...]
Multiple BitBucket Accounts, Multiple SSH keys 🔗
Recently I found myself with the problem after set up a second account on BitBucket; I had a personal account, and now required a separate work accoun [...]
Hear back from BUILD 2019 🔗
Throughout the hackathon last month Bill Shaw spent the 24 hours interviewing and following some of the participants as they worked on the different h [...]
Plugged In 🔗
Of course there is the obligatory chapter facing the question ‘is it okay for Christians to watch Game of Thrones, or insert any other controversial t [...]
RSS + Eleventy 🔗
When I switched this site across to Eleventy I left myself with a to-do list which I’ve slowly been working through- one of them was to re-implement t [...]
The Gospel Comes with a House Key 🔗
In The Gospel Comes with a House Key, Rosaria Butterfield shows through part autobiography, part Bible teaching why hospitality isn’t an optional extr [...]
Reviewing BUILD 2019 🔗
In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belonging to all the others. We have different gifts, according the grace given to each of u [...]
Part of something bigger… 🔗
Kingdom Code BUILD is part of a global set of hackathons hosted by Indigitous. During two weekend in October over 30 different cities of technologists [...]
One of the BUILD projects in the wild… 🔗
Last year Dan Rackham came to BUILD with an idea that had been mulling in the back of his mind for a while, and now a year on GoChatter Custom Videos [...]
Kingdom Code BUILD 2019 challenges 🔗
At Kingdom Code we want to explore how the technical skillsets that God has given us can be used for His glory and serve His church. BUILD, our annual [...]
Beeline 🔗
I am a magpie for technology, old or new I just seem to hoard it. I am routinely reminded by my parents of the old computers that I just can’t seem to [...]
BibleTrainer 🔗
Every Sunday, seven year-old James came home from church with a new memory verse. Each week it would be a different passage from the Bible lesson that [...]
Responsive images in Eleventy 🔗
There’s nothing quite like a little bit of Christmas eve coding… Adding responsive images to my Eleventy (11ty) build has been on my to-do list for a [...]
Globe GetAway- Moving Forward 🔗
At this time of year it can feel that The Globe Church changes a lot. The university term is starting back, new jobs are beginning, people are coming [...]
Getting to know Jonny Miller and the role of the eldership 🔗
Last Sunday, our church family commissioned Jonny Miller as a new elder. Jonny joins Jonty Allcock, Phil Tinker, Stephen Fletcher and Trev Archer in p [...]
Moving your ideas forwards 🔗
Years ago a friend told me “ideas are cheap. What sets people apart is the implementation“. It was a provokation… they had heard me share another wild [...]
Moving your ideas forward 🔗
Years ago a friend told me “ideas are cheap. What sets people apart is the implementation”. It was a provokation… they had heard me share another wild [...]
Holding out hope in Southeast Asia 🔗
The gospel isn’t something that we want to hoard for ourselves. The gospel is for everyone. That’s why one of our four values as a church is to be mis [...]
Voice Assistants and the Church 🔗
In the 1960’s voice assistants were the thing of science fiction. James T. Kirk was talking to the computer onboard the USS Enterprise, or the world o [...]
Importing old posts 🔗
I’ve been writing blog posts (of varying quality) since 2006. One of the things that I always dread about moving blog platforms is the export and impo [...]
Play/Pause keys not working 🔗
Have you ever had that issue on your Apple Mac where the play/pause keys seem to be temperamental. Most of the time they work perfectly playing and pa [...]
Eleventy 🔗
It’s been a while since I wrote a blog post… it’s been on my mind to get back into writing words in order for a a few months now. But about a year ago [...]
Redesigning your church website – where to start?! 🔗
Getting to know you As a church team, you’ve been talking about it for a while… that old, dated website that you’ve had so for so long has got to the [...]
One21 Launch 🔗
Can you remember a time when you were listening to a sermon and it really hit exactly in the situation that you were facing? Sometimes that link been [...]
What to expect from Kingdom Code BUILD 🔗
Kingdom Code: Build is about gathering a people together who love to think about technology, design and build. Over the course of the weekend we’ll fo [...]
Where's all the paper gone? 🔗
I’ve got a confession to make… I don’t think I actually read any of the books on my university reading list. At least not in ‘physical book’ form anyw [...]
Digital Doorposts 🔗
On Wednesday at Globe Focus we started out on a new series of small group studies in the book of Psalms. The title for this term is Like a Tree Plante [...]
A wonderful customer experience 🔗
Bad customer experience is awful. Have you ever tried to make amendments to train tickets if you've accidentally selected the wrong day? It's painful. [...]
I Choose Hope 🔗
I woke up on the day of the Brexit result on an air bed on the floor of a friend's apartment in Boston, MA. It felt like a punch in the gut. It was al [...]
Twitterbots; Is This the Start of a Revolution? 🔗
Perhaps you saw in the tech news a month ago Microsoft’s PR mishap — “Tay, Microsoft’s AI chatbot, gets a crash course in racism from Twitter”. It sta [...]
Good Friday... 🔗
Today is Good Friday. It is a day set in the Christian calendar to make time to reflect the day of Jesus’ death. It’s a day when we remember the event [...]
Podcasts... 🔗
Back in 2006 when I owned my first (and last) iPod* I started to listen to a couple of podcasts, I listened for a few weeks and then got bored of them [...]
Code for the Kingdom 🔗
This happened. 120 people showed up. 16 projects were hacked on. God showed up. It was amazing. Onwards to C4tK 2016! A list of all the projects is on [...]
Getting Ideas Out of the Notebook 🔗
This post was originally written for Christians in the Media (Formerly the MediaNet). Their website has since gone. The original post is below. I love [...]
Inlining SVG in CSS as a background image 🔗
In a recent project, in an effort to reduce HTTP requests, I have been inlining various icons into my CSS via base64 encoding. It is really handy if y [...]
KeePass OS X 🔗
After the LastPass security breach in June I've been meaning to change my method of securing my passwords. I had been put off KeePass because of the c [...]
Building the DeepZoom- Concept to Creation 🔗
The V&A has a wealth of creative talent within its walls, one of these areas is within the artists in residency program. Last month we said goodbye to [...]
HTML5 audio fade in and out 🔗
I’ve just discovered that the animate function within jQuery can provide more than just visual animation. One such ‘animation’ is adjusting the volume [...]
Easter. Kenya. 🔗
As a Christian, Easter is a time of celebration for myself and my family. Today, however, I am in shock from the news of the attacks in Kenyan univers [...]
Firewall blocking git-// URLs 🔗
I've just discovered that git:// urls are blocked by internal policy. Frustrating. Fortunately http:// and https://github.com/etc still work for git c [...]
The Story Conference 2015 🔗
Last week I went along to The Story Conference. I wrote up some of my thoughts from the day on the V&A blog: The Story Conference 2015 – Reflections [...]
The Story Conference 2015 – Reflections from a Web Developer 🔗
It may seem odd for a web developer to attend The Story Conference 2015, a conference about story telling, and as was mentioned at the beginning of th [...]
Backing up AWS S3 bucket to a local machine 🔗
There are lots of solutions that talk about making a copy of a local folder and sending it to an S3 bucket. The solution I’ve needed is the reverse of [...]
Reducing Wordpress database size 🔗
After having a Wordpress blog running for the last year with 320 users posting to it, and over 1500 posts on it I’ve noticed that the database size ha [...]
Facebook API- Getting counts for likes, comments and shares for pages feed 🔗
By default when you request a page’s feed from the Facebook API via /v2.2/[pageid]/feed a lot a JSON is sent back, including very specific data about [...]
Content Drilldown with the Google Analytics Core Reporting API 🔗
Today I’ve been trying to replicate the content drilldown function from Google Analytics through their Core Reporting API. The solution I came to requ [...]
Where is all my email space going? 🔗
It has been a long while since I have had to worry about how much space I have for emails thanks to Gmail giving me a lot of free space. However that [...]
Radcliffe Camera 🔗
I was in Oxford last night and snapped this photo of the Radcliffe Camera. This one has gone through a little bit of post-production, but still impres [...]
Wi-Fi Splash Screen 🔗
One of the projects I've been involved in at work has been turning the embarrassing Wi-Fi splash screen into something beautiful. I'm quite happy with [...]
Designing a new Wi-Fi splash screen 🔗
Earlier in the year Andrew Lewis wrote a post going through some of the research he had done looking into the user experience of connecting to public [...]
Candela at the V&A 🔗
This week the V&A has been taken over by the London Design Festival. Across the building are some wonderful installations across the building, includi [...]
Emotional and intellectual assent 🔗
An extract from today's lunch time read. It would seem that Christianity requires both emotional and intellectual assent. If there is only emotion, [...]
New Start 🔗
Another year ends and a new one begins. This change happens so often, but this year for me brings more than just a change in final digit. The emotion [...]
Work out where all your Dropbox space is going 🔗
I received all horrible message the other day indicating that my Dropbox is approaching it’s maximum size. I’ve managed to pick up a lot of free space [...]
Locking the screen in OS X 🔗
Control + Shift + Eject. For some reason this shortcut never managed to commit itself to my memory. As a result I always have to trawl Google search [...]
Improve productivity. Block websites. 🔗
Recently I’ve taken the sweeping step of preventing my computer from accessing specific websites. These site I have determined to be time-suckers, one [...]
That gingerbread house… 🔗
I’m in the process of moving to London. I’m thinking about boring things like packing boxes, and telling my bank I’ve changed address. In a bit of do [...]
I met a spaceman today 🔗
Sometimes there are occasions that life throws up that you just cannot miss. Today was Commander Chris Hadfield was in town. I am a very happy person [...]
Undelete a Google Analytics Account 🔗
Over the weekend I managed to delete a lot of Google Analytics data. This was unfortunate in many ways. Most unfortunate was the lack of 'undelete my [...]
The Adobe password breach 🔗
One of the more impressive security breaches in the technology world this year has been the millions of user account details that was stolen from Adob [...]
Affordance 🔗
Parallax scrolling is one of the big design trends online at the moment, there are some really great examples of it online. Now building on this idea, [...]
Newsboys- Restart Review 🔗
Newsboys have just released their 16th album. They have been making music since 1985, and you would think that when you've been doing something for so [...]
Amazon MatchBook 🔗
A couple of months ago I wrote a post about Amazon's announcement about a new feature they were adding to music sales: 'AutoRip'. The summary it is th [...]
A period of email grace 🔗
This morning I made a potentially huge mistake - sending an email way before I intended to. In my pre-coffee haze, rather than hitting the return key [...]
Waiting room congestion 🔗
Having had an appointment in the diary for six weeks, with a precise time given for arrival, I was entirely unsurprised to find that the hospital were [...]
Interesting... as a person 🔗
It was remarked over the weekend that my high volume of blogging has dipped back to infrequent. During my week in Edinburgh I had a lower access to bl [...]
Searching for a new RSS reader. Again 🔗
The king is dead. This morning I woke up to the news from The Old Reader blog announcing that it will probably be closing down for entirely reasonabl [...]
Running 🔗
I have just gone for a run. Not the 'argh, I am going to miss the train/bus' kind of run, but instead the 'run in the park' kind of run. This is odd. [...]
I am a 'x' 🔗
I've been making my way through my new reading list and a fair pace. Since putting it together 22 days ago I have finished off three books and and now [...]
To Edinburgh 🔗
In less than a week I will be in Edinburgh. For a holiday. A time of rest. That I've actually planned and stuff (rather than having time off surprisi [...]
Discipline and grace 🔗
There are occasions where 'nothing new' creeps up on me and catches me off guard. Sometimes it is a result of spotting a new thing in something old. O [...]
Alice 🔗
One of my favourite set of books is Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. They are completely off the wall and funny, but have a po [...]
Autoripping from Amazon 🔗
BBC news has an interesting article on it today about a new feature from Amazon: AutoRip. The long and short of it is that when you buy a CD or vinyl [...]
Design language 🔗
Below are my scribbling* from tonight's UXOxford talk. Tom Fletcher from BBC World Service was talking about design, responsive web design and typogra [...]
Email testing 🔗
I have spent a fair amount of time this week working on creating an email template. It is like creating a webpage, however without any form of standar [...]
Tough week 🔗
Work has been tough this week. A friend of mine describes these times as 'Genesis 3 periods', periods in your work when it is hard, and all you feel y [...]
The reading list 🔗
My reading list was something that stayed in my head. It tended to be more of a wish list, rather than an actual plan to get through books. I would ho [...]
Block 🔗
I suppose this is what they call writer block then… I've been outputting almost a post a day for the last couple of months, however as soon as I offer [...]
Solar powered bins? 🔗
Over the last few months there have been a lot of new bins appearing over Oxford. Normally this isn't newsworthy at all, however these bins have solar [...]
We need more 🔗
My friend Adam just posted a list of 27 things we need more of. It ranges from slightly silly (but fantastic) things such as paddleboats and tree hous [...]
A Song of Ice and Fire boxed 🔗
Over the last two weeks I've been signed off work to give some time and space for my collar boon to start healing. This has given me two weeks worth o [...]
Changing direction 🔗
One of the sections at TEDxBrum yesterday was entitled 'Changing directions'. There were talks about changing direction in the wake of mental health, [...]
TEDxBrum 🔗
I'm sitting on the train traveling home from TEDxBrum. I've spent the day listening to some fantastic ideas about transforming the city, about inspiri [...]
WiFi Gestures 🔗
I haven't written a post about cool new technology in what seems like ages, so it is time to change that! The Verge have just posted a really interest [...]
Becoming a lefty 🔗
My writing process for blog posts always starts on paper. It is a draft, which I write quickly as I can, and then edit as I type it up. I find it real [...]
Put on hold 🔗
One of the more frustrating things in this modern world is being put on hold. That lovely music, of varying quality, being played to you for 20 minute [...]
Enjoying autobiographies 🔗
Yesterday I over-did myself, I think I found where my 'freshly broken collar bone limit' is. I had the foresight not to stay right to the end of The B [...]
I broke myself 🔗
I broke myself today. Well, specifically I have broken my collar bone. It wasn't smart or clever, but it happened. Personally I am impressed that afte [...]
Travelling distances 🔗
My current location is a carriage of a First Capital Connect train, heading towards Brighton. It is the third train I have been on this evening and wo [...]
The trouble with church meetings 🔗
Church meetings have an incredible ability to turn your brain to squish. 45 minutes into last night's meeting did that to mine as I looked down at my [...]
Conferences 🔗
I booked myself into dConstruct 2013 today. This beings my EventBrite account up to 3 upcoming events; UX Oxford (Thursday), TEDxBrum (June), dConstru [...]
Dumb mistakes cost time and sanity 🔗
This morning I managed to empty my database. One command and everything went. At the time it was intentional, I had just created a copy of the databas [...]
Speculation after The Name of the Doctor 🔗
The following post is going to be two things. Firstly it will be a spoiler filled post - I will spoil the ending to the final episode of series seven [...]
Built to last 🔗
Today I built a castle. Or a rocket. Or a train. Or a cave. Or whatever the imagination of a child makes it. In reality I partook in the construction [...]
Created or creator 🔗
I did another longish cycle ride today on my way into work. The weather has been pretty poor for the majority of the week, so I was taking every oppor [...]
Online authenticity 🔗
Swearing, it’s not big, it’s not clever, but it is authentic. That is a quote from Terence Eden who has just managed to find is way into the geek tech [...]
Clinging to the Post 🔗
Each fortnight I meet up with a few of the guys from Magdalen Road Church to discuss a couple of chapters from a book we are reading, I've mentioned i [...]
AoE II HD 🔗
This evening was spent doing something that I spend a fair amount of my teenage years doing - play Age of Empires II. It was re-released lat month wit [...]
Catching up with old friends 🔗
Catching up with old friends is always a great joy. Over the last two weekends I've done a lot of it, and it is so good! One of the things pointed out [...]
The post-deadline calm 🔗
That time after passing a deadline is always an odd one; on one hand there is that wonderful rest having worked crazy-hard to hit the targets, to get [...]
Cycling plans in motion 🔗
Ages ago I remember being told that 'ideas are cheap'. Ideas come and go quickly. To often for me that is where they stay, as ideas. Rarely do I actua [...]
On print design 🔗
If you have been following my twitter updates over the last couple of weeks you may have noticed a variety of design related posted. I think most of t [...]
Bank holidays 🔗
This weekend managed to have the perfect weather for a bank holiday weekend; hot (but not too hot), dry and cloudless. Room for an afternoon BBQ, catc [...]
Coloured memory 🔗
One of the notes I scribbled down earlier for this post went something along time lines of 'I could have done without this week'. This week has been f [...]
Preventing widows and orphans within InDesign 🔗
Before you think I am writing about women who have lost their husbands, or children without parents I want to stop you there. Widows and orphans is a [...]
Two lock cycle 🔗
A comment that is often made about the British is our love of talking about the weather. This is because, unlike so many other places around the world [...]
A 5am vantage point 🔗
The weather in Oxford today is incredible, right from the very start at 5am we've had an amazing blue sky (yes I did see 5am). It's really not the kin [...]
Castle building 🔗
Last night I put up a C.S. Lewis quote on the blog, it was pulled out of the book I am reading with a couple of blokes from church; Every Good Endeavo [...]
C.S. Lewis on Pride 🔗
I've been reading through Tim Keller's book Every Good Endevour and he has just thrown in this challenging quote about pride: "Now what you want to [...]
Tangible thoughts 🔗
I've been trying to maintain a regular set of posts appearing on this blog for almost the whole of April. I set aside 10 minutes each day to get some [...]
Letting go of the design 🔗
This weekend I picked up a project that I haven't exactly been avoiding, but one I haven't been rushing to pick back up! The project is for website, b [...]
Harry Potter films 🔗
For about 10 minutes today it started hailing in Oxford. Being April, and being in the UK, I expect rain, but not hail! At the time of this hail I was [...]
Dunked? 🔗
Quite often I will sign myself up for early testing of new applications or website. I love playing with new things and looking at fresh ideas. More re [...]
Thinking about subtitles 🔗
Last night I visited the Oxford Playhouse to watch the Spanish play La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream). It is a philosophical play that brings out the [...]
Mismash day 🔗
In an unlikely turn of event I am making my daily scribbling after work, rather than during my lunch break. Over lunch I enjoyed the company of a good [...]
Comfort Zones 🔗
This just appeared on my Twitter feed shared by Harry Roberts: Comfort zones are plush lined coffins. When you stay in your plush lined coffins, yo [...]
Jazz cooking 🔗
Cooking is fun, I am regularly reminded of this by a couple of people within my church homegroup. Last night I was cooking for several friends, a simp [...]
Planning 🔗
Yesterday I suffered a mistake I had made a while ago. On Sunday I was supposed to be in Sherbourne for the dedication of my second cousin, however du [...]
Death by Strava? 🔗
Spring has finally happened and, as I noted last week, I've got back into cycling. My route to work has grown from the most direct route I could find [...]
Wicked 🔗
Yesterday was my sister's birthday, so a surprise for her I took her to see Wicked today. I had asked Mum and Dad to ensure she kept today clear, and [...]
The arrival of a Pebble 🔗
My Pebble finally arrived at work today. Having backed the project via KickStarter in May last year I was almost beginning to believe I would never se [...]
A succinct job description? 🔗
I attend a local event in Oxford called UXOxford (User Experience), it is run by local folk, for local folk. I get a lot out of being in an environmen [...]
Activist culture 🔗
In the life of my church in Oxford there is a lot going on. We had a meeting last night to hear some thoughts about one of the project and it was real [...]
Enjoying spring time 🔗
Today I adjusted my cycle into work in light of the improving weather. Rather that taking the quickest route into town I detoured to allow myself to c [...]
On Facebook Home 🔗
Last Friday Facebook released their most recent project; Home. Home is a launcher of home screen for Android phones that is designed to change how use [...]
Delight 🔗
Delight. It is a word that is appearing a lot at the moment. It is an emotive word that brings together the ideas of joy, happiness, surprise. Lots of [...]
Headphones 🔗
I find myself replacing pairs of headphones much more often then I would like. Either I misplace them or I break them. As a result I will never invest [...]
A weekend of travelling 🔗
At the moment most of my weekends seemed to be filled with travel. Today I spent about 4 hours on a coach travelling to Cambridge. Last weekend I spen [...]
Thoughts from Tearfund... 🔗
Yesterday I was wiring a little bit about sharing skills on a small scale, today I have found myself doing it on a much larger scale. Alongside a grou [...]
Lack of Spanish and French 🔗
I find myself attempting to squeeze long quotes down into bite-size, tweetable, snippets more often than I care to think about. It's part of my job. T [...]
Miscommunication 🔗
Over lunch I've was thinking about miscommunication. In my life most miscommunication is rarely as a result of what is said, but instead how it is sai [...]
Thatcher 🔗
One of the big news items from last few days have been the death of Margaret Thatcher. In certain parts of the UK, and generally online, there have be [...]
Write now... 🔗
Current status: In IFES Monday morning prayer. We've been challenged to spend 7 minutes writing. Like an Englishman my first thoughts are towards the [...]
Responsive Day Out 🔗
I'm just back from the Responsive Day Out organsied by the wonderful folk at Clearleft. I'm feeling inspired, energised and at the same time very tire [...]
Am I living life? 🔗
Yesterday I posted briefly about my topic of blogging over lent - Life Life. It is an exploration of what Jesus meant when he said "I have come that t [...]
Heading into Lent- Live Life 🔗
Today we prepared for Lent in the IFES office by eating lots of pancakes for lunch, it was tasty! You may remember this time last year I took part in [...]
Why do I apologise for not smoking when someone asks me for a light? 🔗
I'm not sure if you have seen it or not, but recently there has been a list that has gone vital over Twitter and Facebook. 21 Brilliant British People [...]
Writing in iA Writer 🔗
I consume a fairly large amount of text online, news articles, blog posts, reviews, tear downs, guides, pictures of kittens, etc. Recently, thanks to [...]
The West Pier 🔗
I had big plans to post something today about the Christian New Media Conference which I attended over the weekend, however as Evernote totally failed [...]
Icons in the navigation 🔗
Today I finally got around to making a small, but really important tweak to the design of this site! The navigation for the desktop design now actuall [...]
Logging in with Social Media Credentials... 🔗
Currently on the large white board at work is a big brain storm with the title 'the next update to the IFES website should include...' And until today [...]
How I read the internet… 🔗
My favourite tool I've added to Chrome has got to be the Evernote Clearly plugin. It has completely transformed how I consume blog posts and online ar [...]
My top five Android apps 🔗
I've been an Android user for a while, lots of apps have come an gone off my phone over that time. So I thought it was about time I composed a list of [...]
A week off… 🔗
I've just spent the last week doing very little work, very little checking email and generally avoiding social media. It is to be recommended. As a re [...]
Updated design 🔗
Some of you may have noticed that in the last couple of weeks I've pushed a fairly major update to my website, version 6 by my reckoning. I've ditched [...]
On a blog or in a blog? 🔗
One of the things that I have started doing at work is putting together a style guide so we can communicate in a consistant way. I fear it's going to [...]
Who are you? 🔗
This fantastic quote appeared on my twitter stream earlier today: You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the [...]
Reading list- Turn off your phone at dinner 🔗
I've just read a fantastic article on the Relevant Magazine website about being too plugged in to technology. I'm just going to pull out three quotes [...]
Grabbing a favicon from any website 🔗
One of the great discoveries I made this week relates to grabbing a favicon from any website as required; Google has put together a handy API which ta [...]
Enhancing YouTube Comments 🔗
Just a quick post today to share a something I have been using for the last few months which has completely improved my experience of YouTube; Comment [...]
The Media I Consume... Kony 2012? 🔗
This week World Vision Acts have been challenging me to think about sacrificing what feeds me with the aim of broadening my worldview. There were seve [...]
Blindness / Injustice 🔗
Last week I wrote about sacrifice; the giving up of something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. I've been pr [...]
Six Great Tips Before Using QR Codes 🔗
If we do not really know what QR codes are or what they do, we are starting to see them in many places. Guest blogger, James Doc, says that his first [...]
ReLENTless Acts of Sacrifice 🔗
Sacrifice. act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy ” good’ in exchange for the things we [...]
QR Codes - Doing it Right… 🔗
I initially drafted this post last month, but it quickly became a very long rant that I didn't want to read! So I shelved it for a bit and have come b [...]
Mobile Web- CSS position- fixed; 🔗
Thanks to Aarron Walter's talk at FOWD last year I've started a side project. And it's great because I get to test and experiment with new techniques, [...]
Let your eyes look straight ahead… 🔗
I've got several plans and aims for this year… one of them is to do more things with this site; that means that there will be tweaks and adjustments t [...]
Keep Calm; it's the Queen's Speech 🔗
If there is one thing that is family tradition in the Docherty household it is the Queen's speech... This is normally something that is inflicted upon [...]
Battersea Power Station 🔗
I've spent the evening playing around with Pixelmator and thought I would share some of what came out of it. The final version of this image is up on [...]
Here's to the Crazy Ones 🔗
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. Play Video: Troublemakers Thank you Steve. [...]
Jane Eyre 🔗
Have you ever watched the C4 comedy Spaced? If not you should; firstly it is a fantastic comedy and secondly it has so many references to other televi [...]
I am resolute... 🔗
Listen! You have two options: Paul had a clear eye on life after death too, he knew his future was secure in Christ and he knew that after his death h [...]
Vision - Part 1 🔗
The following is the product of a 3 hour train journey and a blank piece of paper... I thought I would experiment with the idea of 'what does vision l [...]
Thoughts on 'Still Got Legs' 🔗
Chameleon Circuit are a band that I have been excited about for quite a while, they combine two of my favourite things - proper decent music * and Doc [...]
Lyrical Wallpapers... 🔗
The banner image is just a thumbnail from some work posted on Josh Hailes' blog. He posted three images he put together in Photoshop over the last cou [...]
Getting Closer to a Blog... 🔗
So you will have noticed that of late this blog has been fairly quiet... it is not because I have been short of ideas, it is because I have been short [...]
.htaccess + OS X 🔗
Words cannot contain the frustration I have configuring a Apache with .htaccess files on OS X. Having followed various online instructions I have man [...]
Future of Web Design Talk Notes 🔗
I'm going to be adding links to all my notes from the Future of Web Design conference to this page. Feel free to bookmark and steal notes if you can' [...]
Sneak Peak of the Redesign... 🔗
I’ve started the great process of redesigning and coding my website while being inspired by the talks at Future of Web Design. There will be a lot of [...]
Dropbox Top Tip- Syncing Any Additional Folders [OS X] 🔗
As regular followers of this blog may know - I have a lot of love for the piece of Software Dropbox; it is a nice quick and simple method of data back [...]
AV explained with cats... 🔗
Play Video: AV Explained with Cats A nice simple explanation for the Alternative Voting system... with cats. Source: YouTube via @claireperson. [...]
The Evolution of the Address Bar 🔗
In the early browsers the address bar was simply a box where users typed the address of the webpage they needed to get to and then clicked a large ‘go [...]
I Love RSS Feeds but... 🔗
I love RSS feeds, I think that a site feed is one of the greatest things a website owner can put on their websites. RSS takes the content from a web s [...]
University of Lincoln Printer Upgrade 🔗
The University of Lincoln’s printers are currently featuring a fantastic sign stating that ‘Linguistic Module 4.01 has been installed’ which will enab [...]
Provoking Thought... 🔗
Play Video: Thought Provoking One of the people I follow on Twitter, @benhollebon posted a link to this video earlier with the simple title ‘Thoug [...]
FYI The English Language is Changing. 🔗
Perhaps this is what the evolution of language is all about, and perhaps it is a reflection of just how much the internet has changed how we communica [...]
Apple's Minimise, Maximise and Close Window Buttons... 🔗
Did you read my small rant about Spotify back in October last year? If you didn’t like it I wouldn’t read this one, it is in a similar vein? With the [...]
Sandbox and Dev Blog 🔗
I think I may have found a satisfactory use for the university blogging platform… rather than place updates about some of the more geeky work that I’m [...]
lncn.eu bookmarklet 🔗
Update: Please note this has been retired and due to an official release: lncn.eu/tools. I think one on the most handy services that the Online Servic [...]
University Work Update... 🔗
One of the modules I am doing this year is called Mobile and Social Computing. This semester we’ve been making little Java applications to fulfil the [...]
Stick Figure Demo 🔗
Oli Taylor and I have been working on a bit of test footage for our Digital Special Effects course at the University of Lincoln. The final idea will i [...]
ULCU Houseparty Video 🔗
I’ll be posting the photos from Houseparty later in the week… when I have this rare thing called free time! For those interested all the talks from Br [...]
Is Christian Faith Just a Psychological Crutch for the Weak? 🔗
I had the privilege of speaking at the Christian Union meeting looking at the topic of faith being perceived as just a psychological crutch. Below is [...]
Responding to 'Back to the Mac' 🔗
I’m just going to jump straight into a response here to each announcement, if you haven’t seen anything from Apple yesterday you can rewatch the keyno [...]
Official- He's is Back [Pleo] 🔗
Regular readers of this blog will have seen this little dinosaur before. For those who haven't this is Pleo, he is a little animatronic toy, produced [...]
10.7- A Wish List 🔗
For those of you who are not slightly addicted to the likes of Engadget, Gizmodo or TechCrunch, this news might of slipt you by; on Wednesday Apple ar [...]
A Spotify Usability Failing 🔗
Nicholas Pierce, a friend of mine from Worthing, will be one of the first people I know to point out a flaw in a user interface. One of his biggest b [...]
IE9; Just as Much Fun as IE6? 🔗
I’ve just had the pleasure of reading an article on the site CSS3 Wizardry talking about the subject of the latest incarnation of Internet Explorer; I [...]
Happy Forty Two Day 🔗
Happy 42 Day Don’t Panic [...]
A Touch Quiet on the Farm... 🔗
Those who are regular followers on this blog will have noticed a massive drop in the posting. While I am looking to address this issue I will leave yo [...]
The Track Video 🔗
Last week I spent the week with twenty four young people messing around with karts, cars and bikes, whilst teaching about Jesus Christ. All in all a g [...]
In the Time it Takes to Install Windows... 🔗
In a shocking turn of events I managed to solve a Rubix cube in a lot less time than it took my computer to install Windows XP. I didn’t even have to [...]
Mute Math Armistice Live CD/DVD Pre-order 🔗
Back in 2008 Paul Meany, lead singer of the New Orleans band MuteMath, commented on the upcoming release of their new studio album, Armistice, “Our go [...]
How to Install Google Quick Search Box for Windows 🔗
A while back I wrote top five list of light weight Mac apps that everyone should be using. Right at the top of that list was a program called QuickSil [...]
Newsboys Born Again - Review 🔗
So firstly, and something that you have heard before on this blog; sorry for the absence in posting recently, life has got rather busy, I’ve come back [...]
You Don't Backup? Foolish! A Simple (Cheap) Solution 🔗
One of the worst things that can happen to you in this technical era is after doing a whole load of work on a report for work, university or school to [...]
Trains + iPods = Disgruntled Doc 🔗
Those who follow my Twitter (@jamesdoc) will know that a fair amount of my time is spent on trains. I don’t drive, so the majority of my travelling be [...]
yFriday - The Final Farewell 🔗
Back in January yFriday announced through their website that towards the end of this year they would be disbanding. In the press statement they said: [...]
DC Talk Reunion Next Year? 🔗
Now, I’m not one to jump at rumours the float around the Twitter Mill… however this one is looking pretty big at the moment, coming right out of the T [...]
Alice in Wonderland; A Small Rant 🔗
It’s been a little while since I used this blog as a platform for a good old rant, the last time was in fact February, so I felt a new rant was well o [...]
Dvorak Keyboard 🔗
As you can see my keyboard has undergone a bit of modification with the new addition of little bits of cut post-it notes. The keyboard layout was desi [...]
Beta BBC iPlayer 🔗
It is pretty much expected that in this modern day and age people are too busy to actually watch TV live, and will therefore need to catchup later onl [...]
First Cycle of the Summer 🔗
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.lincolncu.co.uk%2FWistonHall.kml&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.502405,55.8 [...]
Finished Angel 🔗
So firstly, yet again, I would like to say sorry for the lack of regular posting, I can assure you that over the next couple of weeks service will be [...]
Polling Station Issues 🔗
I'm staying up until at least the Lincoln result comes in at 2:30, and maybe if I'm feeling particularly keen to see the Worthing result at 5:00. Thi [...]
Angel Video 🔗
Sorry for the lack of updating recently, with any luck service will resume to normal soon, it’s safe to say that I have been quite busy with various b [...]
Doctor Who Adventure Games 🔗
I think we can all agree that at one point or another we’ve said; ‘wouldn’t it be great if…’ whilst watching a TV show. And this is something that the [...]
Doctor Who is Back! Review 🔗
Those who either follow my Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook will have seen an out pouring of Doctor Who quotes, or general fandom in response to Saturday’s [...]
Lord of the Rings on BluRay 🔗
I’ve been pretty vocal in my opinion on BluRay, words such as ‘optical formats dying’ and ‘beating dead horses’ might of been mentioned, alongside tal [...]
Doctor Who Returns 🔗
In a weeks time Doctor Who is going to be returning to BBC 1. While the series is still going to be very Doctor Who, a lot has changed since Christma [...]
Alice in Wonderland; A Film Review 🔗
Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton, is very loosely based upon the book by the same name written by Lewis Carroll. Set several years after t [...]
Finding Space... 🔗
Over the last few weeks the blog has been pretty much quiet; looking back over my calendar I’ve been keeping busy, doing stuff at church or within the [...]
ULCU Events Week; What is it all about? 🔗
The Christian Union are hosting a set of events this week on and around campus. The purpose of these events is to share something about Jesus, to talk [...]
Become a fan... 🔗
Please excuse the following rant: Through Facebook I have been asked to test Dell laptops, win a free t-shirt or just have a lego man made to look me. [...]
3DS Max Day One; Not Quite a Fail! 🔗
This semester I’ve opted in for taking 3D modelling. I’m not sure what use I am going to have for this subject in later life, however it sounded fun o [...]
Flash & Apple 🔗
I know what you are thinking, another iPad blog, this is the forth one. Firstly, it is the last one for a while, and secondly I won’t be writing anot [...]
iPad and iBooks... 🔗
In my previous post about the iPad, I wrote a lot about the pros and cons about this new Apple device, however I didn’t actually touch upon one of the [...]
A Response to the iPad 🔗
Last night we saw the announcement of the long rumoured tablet computer made by Apple. Steve Jobs took to the stage and after announcing the sale of t [...]
Rumours- Apple Special Event 🔗
At 6pm (GMT) today, Apple are expected to announce several things: A Tablet, possibly named iTablet iPhone OS 4.0 Updated MacBooks or new iLife & iWor [...]
Redesign 🔗
I’m in the process of redesigning my website and blog, an early theme went online last week, and after some major rethinking the currently layout is t [...]
Retro Screen Savers 🔗
Don’t get me wrong, the built in screen savers to OS X are nice, flurry is pretty and the mosaic screen saver coming from iPhoto or Aperture is just f [...]
yFriday Calling it a Day... 🔗
With five studio albums, a live album/dvd, a six track EP and single to their 17 year career yFriday today announced that the journey as a band would [...]
Camera Challenge... 🔗
I’ve just picked a Canon 20d off eBay. It is all very exciting! However due to a whole load of uni assignments play time with my new toy is minimal at [...]
Pleo Returns! 🔗
Back in July I posted that a very nice company called Jetta had saved our friendly animatronic dinosaur, Pleo, from extinction. Well the company have [...]
The Five Become Six- Bridge to Terabithia 🔗
Those who know me, or are regular readers of this blog, will know that I have a top five list of films, commonly referred to as the elite five which w [...]
Dreaming Androids vrs the Nexus One 🔗
As mentioned in the blog yesterday Google have finally put out some hardware with their name on it; the Nexus One is currently the flagship Android de [...]
The Nexus One 🔗
Of late there have been several big phone announcements, the obvious iPhone announcements each year, Nokia released their N97, Palm put out the Pre an [...]
Technolgies that Defined the Decade 🔗
Engadget earlier in the week posted an entry under the title ‘Ten Gadgets that Defined the Decade’, you can read it here. So I was curious to see what [...]
Why 'The End of Time' was the Second Worst Episode of Doctor Who 🔗
Firstly, I would like to make it very clear: David Tennant as the Doctor has been absolutely fantastic. Seriously brilliant. He has done an amazing jo [...]
Discovered bands of 2009 🔗
This time last year I wrote a post on the bands that I discovered in the previous year… and this year I think I’ll do it again! Portland I have raved [...]
A Year of Films... The Top Five 🔗
The top five list of quality films from the last year… While none of them make it into the elite top five, they are all worth a watch! So as per tradi [...]
Sound Track of a Decade (2000-2009) 🔗
Back before Christmas I posed the question ‘What are your top ten tracks of the last ten years’. Having posed the question and read through many peopl [...]
The Problem with Spotify 🔗
For those who have yet to come across Spotify (where have you been?) it is a very handy piece of software that allows you to listen to almost any musi [...]
What Are Your 10 Tracks of the Last 10 Years? 🔗
This week some of the bloggers I follow have been looking back on the last year and also the last decade of music and picking out their favourites… Wi [...]
Bluetree Working on Second Album! 🔗
The Belfast based band, Bluetree, who since 2007 have gained a lot of support, have had their debut albumGreater Things/God of this Cityreleased and r [...]
Special Edition vrs Normal Release 🔗
Yesterday I wrote about a small piece of news about the latest release by Anberlin (you can read it here), a year or so after the release of their lat [...]
Anberlin Prepare Deluxe Edition of New Surrender 🔗
Anberlin have just launched their pre-order form for a deluxe edition of their latest album New Surrender which was released back in September '08. Th [...]
Hebron - End of an Era 🔗
Some of you will know for the last many years I have attended a Scripture Union camp called Hebron and this year I returned as a leader. The Hebron we [...]
A Horrible Turn... A Prequel 🔗
Ok, so I got excited about Dr. Horrible, and about act 4 which is coming soon… However at the moment I am getting excited about the fan made prequel, [...]
Dollhouse Axed 🔗
The news is in, and it’s not good; Dollhouse is being axed after just two seasons. Fox has said that all the episodes that have been planned will be m [...]
Procrastination -- Surviving the World 🔗
In a major period of procrastination this afternoon (HCI assignment!) I was introduced to a daily web comic entitled Surviving the World. One guy, one [...]
That would be Sir Christopher Lee to you 🔗
With over 250 film and TV appearances in the bag Christopher Lee, most well known for his roles in Dracula, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc, was kni [...]
That's My King 🔗
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. When life calms down there may be something exciting… I have some thoughts I would like to share at some point [...]
Question Time 🔗
If you get time this week I really recomend having a watch of BBC Question Time. It wasn’t a typical Question Time, rather than focusing on issues fro [...]
Tech Monday- Dyson, Finland, Acer, Nokia, Adobe Photoshop and Kelloggs! 🔗
Our favourite over priced vacuum cleaner producer and recently hand driers have done it again, another revolutionary design that probably does a fanta [...]
Which Hero is Going to Die? 🔗
The latest Heroes rumour is that someone fairly significant, and not wearing a red top, is going to be killed off fairly soon… The quote from Michael [...]
Photoshop, a Dove and the French 🔗
A couple of weeks ago Photoshop Disasters picked up this quite frankly horrific photoshop job done for a Ralph Lauren advert… The comment “Dude, her h [...]
Tech Monday- Flashing Kindles... and T-Mobile 🔗
A little intro to the start of this blog post… in the future, rather than blogging every exciting piece of tech news that comes my way as soon as I ge [...]
Review of Relient K- Forget and Not Slow Down 🔗
Forget and Not Slow Down follows on the five album progression of the band Relient K. You would be forgiven for thinking that we have only just had an [...]
Saturn has an Extra Large Ring! 🔗
Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road t [...]
New Doctor... New Logo? 🔗
The BBC have just released more excitement regarding Doctor Who 2010. Alongside a new Doctor and assistant, a slightly modified exterior of the TARDIS [...]
Tech Monday- Seven Kindling Waves... 🔗
There is a fair amount of tech news this week, and for a change a lot of it is rather interesting! The main bits of news are, in order of general inte [...]
A Unified Theory of Superman's Powers 🔗
We’ve all seen Superman in one form or another, be it from film to comic or TV series to book. Rather than having one superpower, as seen in a show li [...]
Autumn Television 🔗
Over the last year I have rarely got excited over what is showing on the box, especially after the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis and the conclusio [...]
Dorian Gray 🔗
Before I start I won’t lie, before watching the film I didn’t read the book… I’m a bad person, I am reading it now and really enjoying it… confession [...]
Doctor Horrible… Act Four 🔗
Right so, Dr Horrible was just one of the most fantastic online videos of this year, for those who haven’t seen it please please go and have a look at [...]
Authentic Christianity -- Through Weakness... 🔗
The following is an extended form of the notes I made from one of the sermons preached this morning at TCM take on 2 Corinthians 2:12-24. I claim no [...]
Windows 7 for £30 🔗
For a limited time Microsoft will be offering a full copy of Windows Home Premium for just £30 to all students around the world. All you need in the U [...]
Solar Panelled Roads 🔗
One of the problems with the 21st century is the need for power, and the further into this century we go the more power we are going to need. As such [...]
Forget and Not Slow Down up for Pre Order 🔗
Relient K’s new album, Forget and Not Slow Down, is now available for pre order from one of their partners; Skyroo. As has become fashionable of late [...]
HTC Hero Review 🔗
I have finally said goodbye to my E70, it has been packed up in it’s box waiting to be loved, and instead moved on to the HTC Hero, also known as the [...]
Youth of Today? 🔗
Firstly I would like to open with an apology for my absence on this blog for the last two weeks, those who have been following my twitter will have se [...]
Broken by Lifehouse to Appear in The Time Travellers Wife 🔗
Upcoming movie ‘The Time Travellers Wife’ staring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams will feature the track Broken from Lifehouse’s fourth album; Who We Are [...]
Tumblr 🔗
A couple of days I posted a tweet & facebook status asking the point of Tumblr… should I sign up to yet another social networking site! The responses [...]
New TobyMac Project due for February 🔗
A recent twitter update from TobyMac places Relient K’s front man, Matthew Thiessen, in the studio providing vocals for the new album being put togeth [...]
Portland- These Broken Hands Lyrics 🔗
I mentioned a while back that I would post lyrics from These Broken Hands by Portland, plus after a quick search of the interweb came up with nothing [...]
Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple Board 🔗
Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, has resigned his seat on the board of directors at Apple. This news follows on from last weeks Apple/Google excitemen [...]
Release Dates of Note- August 2009 🔗
The month of August is looking very good for Christian music, there are new albums from Aaron Shust, Britt Nicole and Amy Grant to name but a few, how [...]
Tait recording with Newsboys 🔗
Back in March of this year it was announced that Peter Furler would be stepping back from the Newsboys to be replaced by DC Talk’s Michael Tait. Since [...]
Hebron 2009 🔗
The week has ended, Hebron 2009 is at an end, what a week it has been! For those you who I haven’t raved about Hebron to it is the camp that I have at [...]
... is not a verb. 🔗
Sorry, a small rant coming up... very very small I promise! Google is not a verb Photoshop is not a verb iPhone really is not a verb Facebook is not a [...]
Fireflight Heading Back in the Studio 🔗
Back in March of last year Fireflight released their fourth album called Unbreakable, suffice to say it was stunning, one of the tracks even got featu [...]
I don't want anyone to get too excited, but… 🔗
Excited Voice: David Tennant might be playing Bilbo Baggins in screen adaption of The Hobbit… The Telegraph has been reporting that David Tennant is t [...]
Four stitches to the head = mega fail 🔗
Ok… so the explanation to the facebook/twitter update… I had a minor incident with my bike that involved falling off into a parked car and then crawli [...]
Windows Seven Shipping with out a Browser 🔗
Before I start this post I would like to prefix by saying this is not a rant against Microsoft, there will be no Apple Fanboyism coming through this, [...]
All Star United - The Good Album; A Review 🔗
So it’s been a while since I have done a CD review, and I’ve been meaning to write this one up for at least a week! So the eagerly awaited ‘Good Album [...]
Kutless Prepare New Album 🔗
Jeff Gilbert, drummer of Kutless, announced through the band’s online journal that Kutless have been back in the studio preparing their new album, fol [...]
Henry V - Rainbow Theatre 🔗
I’ll start with a basic summary of the play; Henry the Fifth, aka Henry V, invades France. Now for an extended summary Henry V is persuaded that he ha [...]
Paramore - New Album Up and Coming! 🔗
On the 29th September the third studio album by Paramore will be released. Brand New Eyes, recorded in Nashville, will have two releases a standard 12 [...]
Stargate- Universe 🔗
Right, so now SG1 and Atlantis have come to an end, MGM have felt the need to milk the franchise a bit more, so the third spin off of the original mov [...]
Choosy 🔗
A while back I posted a list of five free apps that I couldn’t live without. Choosy is one of those apps that I can’t live without, unfortunately it i [...]
Mobile Phone Directory 🔗
118 800 are going to be starting a database of mobile phone numbers allowing people to phone them up and request anyone in their databases mobile phon [...]
Syncing your Mac with Google, without installing anything! 🔗
So yesterday I was trying to get my Mac and Google to talk nicely to each other… It was suitably painful and unpleasant to do, not because there aren’ [...]
GMail out of beta??? 🔗
I don’t want to scare anyone… however GMail is finally out of beta… this could be the end of the internet as we know it! GMail, or Google Mail, starte [...]
A busy week looms... 🔗
I think that the following week is going to be one that is rather busy and full! My church in Worthing is just coming to the end of a phase of massive [...]
Bluetree; Greater Things & God of this City 🔗
So here it is, back in 2007 the awesome band from Northern Ireland called Bluetree released an amazing debut album called Greater Things. Then the yea [...]
Do You Know What a Browser Is? 🔗
Play Video: What is a Browser It is a fairly harmless question… do you know what a browser is? Google put this question to 50 people in Times Squ [...]
Kevin Max in Lincoln 🔗
Kevin Max, one third of the trio that was DC Talk, now running with a set of amazing solo albums will be playing in Lincoln next month. Kevin Max will [...]
A review of These Broken Hands - Portland 🔗
If you were to put into a blender the musical styles of Damien Rice, Ocean Colour Scene, Sara Groves, with a hint of Newton Faulkner you may begin to [...]
MuteMath Tour Dates 🔗
Mutemath have just released tour dates following on from the release of their second album Armistice. The album is due for release on the 18th of Augu [...]
Inspired Design… 🔗
Can someone explain to me the difference between being inspired by a design, and just completely ripping it off? Where does taking one idea and using [...]
The Letter - Portland 🔗
I'm working on a full review of These Broken Hands by Portland, it is coming. However during my listening of the album, I got it yesterday and I'm li [...]
Jesus is God... not just a promoted human! 🔗
Jesus is eternal, He lasts forever, not like a created thing... This was one of the things that was said at the sermon I listened to today. It just s [...]
iPhone 3GS 🔗
So as one of my previous blog entries mentioned, Apple are going to be realeasing a updated model to the iPhone called the iPhone 3GS. While the desi [...]
Pleo back from the Grave? 🔗
So you may remember a couple of months ago I wrote on this blog about Pleo becoming extinct as a result of the company that makes the little toy robot [...]
New Desktop 🔗
I’ve been playing with a new desktop layout recently, new icons, clock etc (click the image to get a large copy!). I quite like it and felt like shari [...]
MuteMath - Armistice 🔗
Over three years after their debut self titled album, MuteMath’s long awaited second album; Armisitice has been given a date of release; 18th August. [...]
A Brief Summary of Apple WWDC 2009 🔗
Because I am tired and lazy you can have a brief summary of what went on at the latest Apple event. If I get some time in the coming week I may do a f [...]
Jellyfish Crop Circle 🔗
This news item appeared on the BBC a couple of days ago. Some people have got together and created a 250m long jelly fish an Oxfordshire field. Obvios [...]
A Few of my Favourite Quotations 🔗
Just a quick post today! Here are a couple of my favourite quotes at the moment from a wide variety of sources! “It is more fun to talk with someone w [...]
Frenzy 2009 🔗
Frenzy is a music festival that takes place each year in Edinburgh that attracts some of the biggest Christian bands from both the UK and US. It has b [...]
My Top Five Films... and why 🔗
I often quote my top five favourite films, however rarely do I justify my reasoning behind them, so I thought that I would here say a short bit about [...]
Pentecost & The Holy Spirit 🔗
Yesterday I started talking about Pentecost, and I didn’t really go into a huge amount of detail. I wanted to talk about it a little bit more about it [...]
Election Day 🔗
Today is an election day; voting in many places on a local level, who makes the decisions about the town/city you live in, but also voting at an EU le [...]
Portland, Pentecost and London 🔗
Apologies for the delay in this particular post, this should of been either Saturday or Sunday. I’ve had a lot to blog about recently… or too much tim [...]
Lincoln Christian Union Logo Video 🔗
This is just a little demo I’ve been working on this holiday that I wanted to share with you all. Feedback would be appreciated, however saying ‘I don [...]
Cycle Paths 🔗
As a cyclist, I am a big fan of cycle paths, they mean that I don’t have to worry about pesky cars trying to run me down, and generally keep pedestria [...]
Worthing Birdman 🔗
For those who have not come across the Birdman festival, it is one of those stupid things that just kept on going because it was a laugh… Basically wh [...]
Film Certificates 🔗
In the last academic year I have seen the following films at the cinema: City of Ember The Dark Knight Defiance Saw V Star Trek Quantum of Solace Watc [...]
Karen Gillan cast as the Doctor's assistant 🔗
News has hit the tubes today that Karen Gillan has been cast alongside Matt Smith in next years series of Doctor Who. As with Freema Agyeman she was g [...]
Big Church Day Out Photos [Part Three] 🔗
Despite the nightmare that was the car parking at the beginning and end of the day, The Big Church Day Out was a really great day, I thought I would s [...]
Star Ratings? 🔗
A five star rating has always made sense to me, it implies the best of something, however what does a four star rating really mean, and how do you dis [...]
Listening to A Collision or (3+4=7) 🔗
This review is of an older album that I’ve only just rediscovered, I used to listen to it, and then it got pushed to the back on the CD shelf and it’s [...]
Thoughts and Feelings on Crash; Decyfer Down 🔗
Decyfer Down are a band that have been around in some form since pre-2000, however it wasn’t until 2005-06 that they really began to get recognised as [...]
Louder Than the Music 🔗
Those who have been following my blog will have noticed an increase in music related posts on the blog over the last couple of months. This is becaus [...]
Big Church Day Out [Part Two] 🔗
One thing that was said over and over again at the Big Church Day Out yesterday was this; we cannot keep this to ourselves. It is great for the church [...]
Big Church Day Out [Part One] 🔗
So yesterday was the Big Church Day Out held in Wiston Hall which is just outside of Steyning. The plan for the day was to get 14,000 church members, [...]
Facebook- Like... Dislike and Frankly Don't Care 🔗
I’ll be honest; I can’t remember when Facebook rolled out the ‘like’ button on everything from status updates, comments, wall posts, images, etc. I’ll [...]
Doctor Who to Dark for Kids? 🔗
Please read this article from the Daily Telegraph. Right, now that you have read it… I cannot comment on the likes of Ben 10, Power Rangers and Primev [...]
Star Trek vrs Star Wars 🔗
http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1910892&fullscreen=1 Don’t worry there are no spoilers in the above clip! I came across th [...]
Delirious? - The end... or is it? 🔗
So if you are into Christian music, and haven't been living in a nice pretty bubble, you will of heard that Delirious? have decided to call it a day, [...]
Relient K Finalising New Album 🔗
American punk-pop band, Relient K, are almost finished in the studio for their sixth studio album. The album has been given the provisional title of ‘ [...]
Goodbye to an Old Friend 🔗
It has come to the end of an era... the E70 has died a death... well half of it has, the main body still works however the flap has stopped working wh [...]
Five Very Simple OS X Applications that are Awesomely Useful 🔗
This is by no means a definitive list of all the useful small applications, however these five are the ones that I use regularly and find just fantast [...]
Life is Good- The best of Stellar Kart 🔗
Stellar Kart is a band that I have been meaning to listen to for a while now, and I’ll be honest, I’ve never really got round to it on the basis; do w [...]
The Almost Back in the Studio 🔗
American alternative band The Almost are following up their 2007 release, Southern Weather, and are currently in the studio recording their their new [...]
All Star United to Release New Album 🔗
American band All Star United are releasing a new album in the UK sometime during May following on from their hit album Love and Radiation released in [...]
Thoughts on Live Revelations - Third Day 🔗
Third Day are a band that have been round since the early '90s, however really took off when they signed with Reunion Record in '97 and released their [...]
Thoughts on Great and Glorious - yFriday 🔗
In late 2008 yFriday released a news update about their Prelude Tour; their live CD/DVD had captured everything that they had been as a band upto this [...]
Harold... Can Walk! 🔗
For those who have been following what I have been doing with Harold will know that I've been trying to get him to walk... well I have vaguely succeed [...]
Pleo to become extinct 🔗
You may remember a previous couple of posts about Pleo…. Pleo is a little robot dinosaur who is just generally fantastic, anyone is welcome to buy me [...]
Future Plans 🔗
So I’ve just had a look through some of my older posts on this here blog, it is interesting to see how much I’ve changed in some respects, and in othe [...]
Train Fares 🔗
Ok, sorry; incoming rant. But seriously how much are train fares??? And why does it cost me £52.55 to get home to Worthing from Lincoln… Oh and that i [...]
This year! 🔗
I really wanted to write to let you know what has been happening with me here in Lincoln since I came back after Christmas. It seems such a long time [...]
Avoiding an assignment 🔗
There are two things that I normally do during essay time to avoid having to complete assignments, messing with websites and redoing my desktop set-up [...]
The bands I discovered/was introduced to in 2008 🔗
Sabio… many thanks to Simon J for these guys! Seriously amazing band! They are no longer around however the one album that they did release, called Es [...]
Top 10 albums at the moment 🔗
I consider the following albums (in alphabetical order by artist) to be my favourite at the moment, they are the ones I find myself listening to the m [...]
Bluetree; Greater Things 🔗
So during Sunday evening I went to see a band called Bluetree. I genuinely cannot express how good I thought they were! For those who haven’t heard of [...]
Talent, Time and Treasure… 🔗
Reflections from the feeding of the five thousand (Luke 9:10-17) One of the key elements in Jesus ’ ministry was the forgiveness of sins, when Jesus c [...]
Face Palm Update and Blog Action Day 🔗
I’ve retaken the two photos for this little toy, and then redid the effect spending a little more time on it, I think it looks a lot better now! Make [...]
Face Palm 🔗
This is the result of my creative tech workshop… exciting eh? Should I get some spare time this week I will be redoing it, however Richard would be up [...]
First week at uni... 🔗
Right, it 's Friday! First week at uni really! Has been a good time! :D I am sharing a floor with 7 other people which is a great laugh, everyone is r [...]
What to take to uni? 🔗
Ok general question post… what do I really need to take to uni with me? And what are the things that I will forget that I need? Please comment with y [...]
Road Cyclists! 🔗
There is nothing worse than being over taken when you are cycling by another cyclist... what adds to this insult is when the cyclist who over takes yo [...]
Facebook & Last.FM Redesigns 🔗
As a whole… I really like both of the new designs, both designs changed a lot and I think they make both pages look a lot cleaner, they removed a lot [...]
Website Progress + Dr. Horrible 🔗
Greetings all! I feel like a need a break for the coding… I have doors going everywhere! I have a dislike for Javascript at the moment… It would help [...]
The End of an Era... 🔗
Yesterday (Sunday) Delirious? announced that at the end of next year they would be going on extended leave from being a band to go on and continue the [...]
2nd Generation iPhone... G3 🔗
Ok so Steve Jobs has done it again; new iPhone + new iPhone software. Basic summary because I have better things to do at the moment than blog (aka re [...]
The Jing Project 🔗
The amount of times I end up taking screenshots for people who want help with something on their computer is fairly high, because most of the time it [...]
The effect of A Levels on my room... 🔗
Revision has made my room change layout, yes all by itself, and the space on my walls is slowly disappearing as more and more notes appear on it… It i [...]
What have they done to you Pleo? 🔗
For those who don’t know Pleo is an amazing animatronic little robot dinosaur that aside from being totally cute is a stunning piece of engineering. S [...]
Is That a New Site Design? 🔗
So rather than revising as I should be I’ve been working on my new website design to do after my exams are out of the way. I was round Gareth’s last n [...]
PicLens 🔗
PicLens has just been updated for FireFox 3 which in itself is amazing, however they have added YouTube support. This add-on has become almost perfect [...]
Twitter 🔗
I’ve just started using twitter… I signed up a while ago, however have only just started using it! I think that may have something to do with avoiding [...]
Delirious live at the Indigo2 🔗
We arrived at the Millennium Dome, now the O2 Arena, at about 18:30 to find a fully formed queue, so being the respectable British people we slotted o [...]
The Format War 🔗
Now I know a vast majority won’t actually care about this following blog entry so I will say that you are free to leave and not bother reading this wh [...]
Perhaps it was a pipe dream 🔗
Hum… so much for the regularly blogging… Ah well it’s as if it is a requirement to life! Right today… scary nasty horrible coursework exam done so Jam [...]
To Do List for later today! 🔗
Get some sleep! Subject reviews... YUCK Sort Vicky out with a cable WiFi router Write proper emails to the people who emailed me today... Grab a coffe [...]
First Proper Cycle of the Year! 🔗
Yes it is now official! Today, myself and Matt got onto our bikes and headed for the Downs. It proved one major thing - we are SO out of practice! Heh [...]
The blog is back? 🔗
Well I'm not sure if back is the right way of putting it - this may just be a one off post, however it will be what it is! The time is 00:45 and I am [...]
Time Travel 🔗
Ah, where would SciFi be without the idea of time travel. Pretty much all SciFi shows have messed with the idea of going back it time to change somet [...]
SpaceTime - Browsing in 3D? 🔗
I think everyone has seen the nice features in Vista now with the open windows dropping nicely behind each other and then flicking between windows lik [...]
Facebook Polls... Don't mention the war... 🔗
Yes, I know this is not sounds like an exciting post I know, however last night Facebook released Facebook Polls which is as it sounds; it enables use [...]
A tech blog? Not really... 🔗
It has been a while since I had a bit of a tech blog so this is going to be one of them! Long over due I belive! And there has been quite a lot of int [...]
Towel Day 🔗
It's towel day!!! And I'm ill so this post will be brief! Photos of the day with my M&S towel can be found here: www.picasaweb.google.com/jamesdoc/To [...]
Computing exam done! 🔗
Second set of exams today... that was fun! Spent three hours on computing exam, wahey. I did not enjoy it! It became a case of 45 minutes work followe [...]
Whats happening? 🔗
You know it feels a long time since I last blogged. And now really isnt the time for a blog, I've got an exam tommorow! But I'm going to do one anyway [...]
James has tagged you! -) 🔗
<rant version="1.01" type="tech"> James is getting very annoyed with the social networking group who set up tagging. A sample of one of my friends i [...]
Google "PowerPoint" Presentations 🔗
Okay, those who read my blog know what's coming... have a go at Google! These guys just have no imagination anymore, Google Search was great, Gmail w [...]
Should I be worried? 🔗
Just done a little bit of internet browsing as you do and was scared to come across a picture of myself on an American’s site!!! They had been to a De [...]
Google TiSP, Gran Paradiso and a Eskimo Disco? 🔗
Google's Aprils Fool's day joke has reached a new level this year with the release of ANOTHER beta product: Google TiSP [Toilet Internet Service Provi [...]
Google Personalised Home - Upgrade! 🔗
Google products; everyone has used them, from the very simple Google search, to their Hotmail equivalent; Gmail and the more useful ones like Google E [...]
Cycling on the Downs 🔗
Wow! The last two weeks have been so nice with the weather all nice and sunny. Last Thursday & Friday we (Matt, Dan, Ben, Caitlin, Rose & myself) sat [...]
Hats of to the iTunes update! 🔗
Those who know me fairly well know that I used to be a real Apple hater and have since 'seen the light' (or the shiny white appleness) and now own an [...]
Webcam... 🔗
I've finally got round to installing proper webcam software on my computer, this is a result of the Creative software that the camera came with not do [...]
You are who you are for a reason 🔗
I was doing my purpose driven life reading last night and came across this poem, I quite like it: You look like you for a reason. The parents you had [...]
Prayer, Fasting, Lent and one more thing... 🔗
Having just come back from an amazing weekend at Jessie's, thanks to her and all the Hebron guys and gal (minus Ellie who couldn't make it) I've got b [...]
Why not to Install the Google Toolbar... 🔗
There it is, the Google Toolbar, one of the more installed toolbars for a web browser. Incuding a search box, spell checked, auto forms, and various [...]
More USB... 🔗
Some may remember a few blogs ago I wrote about pointless USB devices. Well while I was in Argos today on the shelf I found a USB Aroma Diffuser: " [...]
2006 Roundup looking to 2007 🔗
Well! 2006 has been pretty exciting! Loads of stuff has happened to me this year, and I've changed quite a bit over the last year! This year started [...]
Moving (only temp) 🔗
Due to the fact that Blogger has become blogger beta and is therefore rubbish… Live Writer can’t publish to it… So if you want to read the latest blog [...]
The problems with Computers 🔗
There is only one main problem with mine at the moment... IT DOESN'T WORK. Both my CD/DVD trays have vanished from explorer... They are in the device [...]
Internet Help Desk 🔗
Found this clip on Google Videos today, the funny thing is that it is so true. My work experience was in the same kind of thing… [...]
USB Toys 🔗
I have just found something great... Room Defender. Admittedly the original incarnation of this toy was a bit weak, it shot foam disks at the target t [...]
How to mess up - a story by Dell 🔗
The problems with Dell computers: Support Spam Pre-installed software Price Strategy Exploding Batteries Personal vrs. Business Adverts [...]
Nigel's Eco Friendly Store 🔗
Reading through the paper magazine today I came across the advert section and this photo caught my eye. It is a bamboo computer screen, key board and [...]
Windows Live Writer 🔗
Having just been away at Soul Survivor for a week, which was great, I’ve come back home to find that this program called Windows Live Writer has been [...]
Where I Live 🔗
I live in a small place called Worthing that's population includes lots of old people and various chavs. Along with the chavs and the old people are s [...]