2013 a few goals....

There are a few things which I'm going to change this year..

*Green Stuff

• One month of not buying anything new. Yep op-shops here we come.
• Eat 1-2 things out of the garden for one of the meals of the day.

The garden has been a bit of a hit and miss so far. At times we produce huge amount of one type of produce and we end up not eating any of it. One of the problems is we often eat what we feel like. Not what is in season. Hopefully trying to eat something out the backyard will make a difference.

• 2-3 new Pekin's/Silkies Chooks

We have had our three little chooks for a while now, they have been faithfully doing pecking buts, giving us fertiliser and eggs, but at times we are caught out with eggs so a couple more will be great.

• Start making soap

Christina likes her nice organic, etc, etc soap. The health food shop is her usual port of call but its $$$. I've been reading the 'Greening of Gavin', and doesn't look out of our ability.

Quit facebook and twitter.

This is a tough one. But there are a few things that really bug me about both.

• The advertising is really starting to ramp up.
• I'm not sure the bites of information are really that healthy. For me it's distracting. It takes me away from the now. It affect how I interact with others, and how focused I am at a task. I suppose, I want to be fully in the moment, not have an urge to check my phone for a feed.

So I've decided to keep the accounts, Facebook as an address book and to communicate with people who aren't around its good. Twitter at times is handy especially in times like fires or local emergency services. So, they are on my desktop but the apps and bookmarks are deleted on my iPad and mobile.

I'm still going to keep the RSS feed of blogs, stuff that interests me, theology, bikes, gardening. Actual articles instead of bites.

read 52 book

I think with the above gone, my old devouring of books will return. 2012 I was probably half that.

Watch 52 movies

Keep blogging...

I still enjoy putting some of my thoughts out there engaging with books.

...write a Spiritual diary

This is a bit of a maybe. I've been listening to 'The spirit of things on the ABC'. There have been a few 'Spiritual diaries' I like the often rawness, the prayers, the growth...

 

Facebook the new antichrist?

It had to happen. A pastor in America has banned facebook with his congregation. From Out of Ur blog ::

Reverend Cedric Miller of Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in New Jersey has banned Facebook. He's ordered about 50 married church officials to delete their accounts or resign and has called on married people in his 1,100-member congregation to delete their Facebook accounts. The problem isn't productivity lost to Farmville—it's adultery.
Miller said 20 couples from his church have had marital problems in the last six months after a spouse reconnected with an old flame on Facebook. "What happens is someone from yesterday surfaces, it leads to conversations, and there have been physical meet-ups. The temptation is just too great."

Its pretty sad that once again 'laws' are implemented in Church. I wonder if there could have been any other way around this for the Rev'd Miller. Such as some sort of accountability group, or discussion group on 'wise choices' for facebook.

Related articles

• Cedric Miller AFFAIR: Facebook-Banning Pastor Admits To Threesome With Wife And Male Church Assistant (huffingtonpost.com)

Facebook

Facebook has brought a strange reality to our world. Where once we just were 'friends' with some people. Now there is a moving for some to thrust upon us an element of 'close friends'. It spews forth on my 'wall'.
A friend who is going though courtship, details, I'm not sure I want to know.
The bereavement of a husband by the loss of his wife. Incredibly moving.
The strange suggestion by facebook to be a dead persons 'friend'. As if to keep the memory alive.

I ask myself can I  truly be there friend? There is an element of friendship now missing face to face interaction.

I ask myself is this real?
I suspect it is now verging on entertainment, and I am the consumer.

Twitter, Facebook, down more power to Georgia?

Interestingly Google, Facebook, Twitter got involved in a denial of service, which brought these sites a bit of grief.
The reason attacks interested me was because twitterfeed.com which I use has been put out of action.

Interestingly as reported the attacks where related to the the Russian Georgian conflict. The person 'Cyxymu' was the intended victim for the attack. He/she used google, facebook, and twitter services.
It made me wonder was it the government of Russia that was behind these attacks; and if so it appears that its backfired on them. 'Cyxymu' now has more publicity internationally than he ever had. It also made me wonder if there was a war between two superpower. What would the cyber implications be....

Facebook :: 2

After the first post regarding my facebook, there has been culling. Those who I've never really had a real conversation and only wanted to befriend me to push stuff on my wall are gone...

The other thing that I have done thanks to the tip from Ruth is filter. Her comment::

"One great thing you can do now is select 'hide' on contacts or options you're sick of seeing all the time ;) My wall/notifications page is much less crowded now and I generally only see the updates about people I want to know about!"

I have people who are real friends yet, for a better word thrust upon my wall 'Christian Spam'. Unfortunaltely if they put anything up other than the 'Christian Spam' I wont be able to read it. But on the bright side I can still look them up if need to.

Facebook

I have noticed that facebook is used by people for different motives. Some of which I'm happy to go along with. Others use it, trying to push an opinion down my throat without me knowing this is part of the deal. It would appear their motive is about accumulating friends so, that they bait them, throwing out a quote or snippet, usually alligned to an opinion they hold. Then watch as comments appear. It seems to me an unfair way of engagment. For me a fairer way is just to blog. The reader is looking for the material. Instead of it been pushed upon the 'wall'.
Others like politians, or people selling books etc etc will happily become your friend without even knowing you.
So I've decided to do some culling. My criteria now is
::I actually want to know people who want to be my friend (this has been my policy from the start).
::I will have actually had a decent conversation and would genuinely want to know what they are up to. The good thing about facebook this may mean some of my oldest friends.
::I'm also aware that I've got a few non-Christian friends, who wouldn't give a stuff about theology; so I'm mix it up a bit with other things people might be interested in about me.


I am genuinely interested in opinion, of friends. But not so of aquatinces. I do share my opinion with friends. But  I accumulated 'Friends' so as to get a wider audience, for my opinion, thats for the blog....