I was watching CSI: New York tonight and came across this activity featured in the programme. Not knowing whether or not it was part of the drama I googled it. Whaddayaknow, as they might say in New York, the Annual Blessing of the Bicycles really exists!
It takes place in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and the priests there offer it as a ’service’ (every pun intended) to the cycling community of the city. Apparently cycling in NYC takes all the divine intervention one can muster.
Annual Blessing of the Bicycles
March 22nd, 2008 by neilmacBBC NEWS | Technology | BBC iPlayer comes to the iPhone
March 8th, 2008 by neilmacWell, this was a little surprise. Not days after Apple released the SDK (software developer kit) for the iPhone [developers only] the BBC have released its iPlayer software for the iPhone. I gave it a little try today. Very impressive. Watched a little Top Gear (although Dave (formerly UKTV G2) is giving me a little Top Gear overload).
It’s only available when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, but that’s to be expected. Quality was very good too.
No iPhone yet? Get yours today 
Test post
January 28th, 2008 by neilmac
This is a test post.
With several paragraphs.
__TITLE__
January 28th, 2008 by neilmac__CONTENT__
Movable Type
January 21st, 2008 by neilmacOne thing about a new version of the blogging software is a complete lack of good templates for it. Am having to hack about with CSS myself(!) to get the look and feel that I’m happy with. Please bear with me whilst I keep changing colours every day. If anyone has some good template for MT4, please leave me a comment! Ta.
Happy New Year
January 1st, 2008 by neilmacA Happy New Year from me and the rest of the family. 
Not many of us about….
July 12th, 2007 by neilmac
You probably don’t know many certfied “Podcast and Streamed Internet Media Admin” specialists — well, you do now! I had my exam yesterday at a Prometric testing centre in Edinburgh for my Apple Certificate in Podcast and Streamed Internet Media Admininstration. I passed. I’m adding it to my other Apple Certification as a Certified Apple Help Desk Specialist. Ultimately I’m looking to gain my Apple Certified Systems Administrator badge.
Why bother? Well I think that just because we work for the church we shouldn’t be seen as “unqualified amateurs” “doing their best” “in their spare time”. I’d much rather that we were seen as the professionals in our field that we are. Not that anyone has said as much to me I should confess, but I think that nonetheless we should strive towards excellence in all that we do.
I also hope that it will give other churches and organisations more confidence in hiring us and our team to help them with their podcasting and streaming needs
In case you’re reading this and wondering what benefit this has to the church, then why don’t you take a look online at either 10.30am or 6.30pm each Sunday where you can join us in worship taking advantage of our live internet stream. You’ll need QuickTime 7 from, er, Apple.
Audio Hum
July 9th, 2007 by neilmacIn church, we’ve been getting some hum from our computers when we play a music file, CD or DVD and plug it in to our sound desk. It vanishes (read “becomes harder to hear”!) when we crank up the volume, but for quiet tracks, it’s really obvious.
I suspect that it’s a ground loop ocurring between the sound desk and the computer and having done a little Googling today I find that this is a known situation between desks and computer audio sound cards.
So, how to fix it?
The recommended solution is to isolate the audio signal from physically (electrically) transferring from one system to another. 
I’ve found such a device from a JK Audio, the Pureformer Stereo Isolation Transformer. Using a pair of phono cables you connect the output from your sound card to the isolation transformer and then, using another pair, you connect the output from the isolator into your sound desk input.
I’ve found a UK supplier selling it at about £40 + VAT so I’m going to go ahead and get one. I’ll let you know how I get on!
Moving Blog?
July 9th, 2007 by neilmac
Well, I’ve only just started blogging and I’m looking dump our current blog platform! First of all though, I’m pretty impressed with Wordpress (the software we’re currently using) in its multi-user configuration. But I thought that I’d play the field a little and take a look at 
Movable Type: Wordpress’ main competitor I guess. Of course for folks looking on from the comfort of your office, living room or study, then all you need care about it how it looks — and that’s down to themes that people generously create in their spare time. But I’m a little more interested in how it performs “under the hood” both in performance terms but also user administration.
I must have spent a good three hours tonight getting Moveable Type configured on my Mac. Many build errors. As a little aside, if you’re looking to install this on a Mac you might find the following references helpful to save you the time that I’ve spent!
http://jayallen.org/journey/2006/04/dbd-mysql-build-problems-on-mac-book-pro
http://lists.mysql.com/perl/4018
http://sourceforge.net/projects/expat/ (if you want Atom support)
So I got it up-and-running, and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed. I downloaded the beta version of their new version 4 and it looks much better, but it’s beta and I’ll not be running that on a production machine. So the bottom line is that we’re keeping Wordpress for the time being and once Moveable Type 4 moves out of beta I’ll take another look.
At least now I’ll invest some more quality time in some widget- and plugin-hunting for Wordpress to enhance(!) your end-user experience!
iPhone
July 6th, 2007 by neilmac
Well, this object of desire finally launched in USAmerica* this week. Most of the news that I read about it cites how folks are trying to break it. Either:
I just look forward to it being over here. That is, in Europe. Hopefully it’ll be iPhone v2 with all the bugs fixed and with 3G cellular data transmission. The USAmericans* have only “2.5G” versions of the iPhone with speeds only one-tenth that of 3G. I imagine that Apple will announce the 3G version and a European launch date exactly 30 days after the USAmerican* launch last week. Coincidentally 30 days corresponds to the warranty return period of the 2.5G iPhone of which Apple reportedly sold 500,000 in the last week.
Finally, who will be the sole UK provider of the iPhone? Vodafone rumors were rife in the last few weeks, but O2 have apparently come in as a late contender. Either way, it looks like I’m changing networks at Christmas time unless the two fruits can come up with what surely must be the most sought-after campaign for any advertising agency: Apple and Orange.
* Incidentally I notice that America has now become USAmerica in books and periodicals (at least the ones I read). I assume this is at the insistence of other North Americans, say for example, Canadians who want to make sure that a clear distinction is made.