All posts by Mark Edwards
Preach to the cat, rant at the world…
Ever wanted to own your own pulpit?
Here is your opportunity….
There is also a old typewriter and old slide projector up for grabs…
Finding Free Images
This is a great search engine.
If like me you are reasonably proficient on Photoshop, but your budget is limited, you are probably often looking for images to manipulate and use in your non-profit advertisement. Often times Professional Stock Images can stretch budgets too far.
This site, Freepik does just what it says, “Freepik helps you find free photos, ilustrations and vectors to use for websites, banners, presentations, magazines, advertising.”
Unlike say Google Images, which helpfully in its own way drags up all types of images, Freepik finds you images you can use freely. I searched for “Christmas’ and came up with a stack of useful images which are useful. 
Mac Video Convertor
I do a lot of video editing for Inglewood Church and have recently shifted to Mac for both editing and presentation duties. Before that I was moving between both PC and Mac platforms.
However even now with just Mac, I am always on the lookout for video converters that work. Often the good ones are the ones that cost you.
But get in quick, Macx Video Pro Convertor is available for the next day or so for free, make sure you download it, install it, and then grab the free authentication code off the website and register.
By the way, if you are still stuck in a Windows world, they also have a PC version for free as well.
Yahava Beans
Finished up some lovely Five Senses beans and needed some coffee for Monday morning.
My local deli has started selling Yahava Beans, from the Swan Valley in Perth. Fortunately they have a see through panel on the back of the packet so it was easy to see they were fresh, no oily residue on the beans.
Took them home and ground them up in my Sunbeam Grinder and into the 6910. The Crema came up lovely and rich and smelt delightful. Then some Harvey Fresh Full cream milk on top after the appropriate aerating.
These beans were fresh, lovely rich smell and beautiful taste with a nice velvety strong bite to them.
After my awful experience with some oily and old Rubra Beans, its good to have a product which is fresh and lively.
Its all about communication and honest conversations
I received this picture from someone doing a class teaching pastors.
The basic idea is this.
We all see and hear things. Perhaps someone looking at us in a funny way. We then presume something about that….tell ourselves a story. Perhaps we say “I must have upset them, they look mad!” Then we feel a certain way, perhaps we get upset or mad ourselves. Finally we act, we might ignore them, yell at them, or act innapropriately in some other way.
The point is, just because we see something, how we interpret it is the important aspect. In our analogy, maybe the ‘angry’ looking person just got a speeding fine! Maybe it has nothing to do with us at all! Therefore, don’t make assumptions, which may just be a product of our own insecurity. Instead, find out the truth, ask the question, before you start making assumptions.
It may help to remember the line, ‘have an honest conversation’. Ask the extra 10 percent we sometimes don’t, find out the truth! Maybe they are mad with you! But if you don’t know, you can’t do anything about it.
Why Angry Birds works
For those who are coming in late….
Angry Birds is a game which you can download on your Iphone or Android device. It is consistently one of the top selling games and has becom
e a cultural phenomenon. The basic premise is that some pigs have stolen eggs off some birds, who are now angry!
The idea is you catapult the birds, of various sizes, shapes, colours and abilities towards the pigs, who have stationed themselves in various strongholds, to try to destroy and kill the pigs.
Why has it become so successful, so quickly?
It is easy to play, but hard to master. Challenging, yet not impossible.
There are varying levels of success, you can defeat the nasty pigs, but getting them in one go is the key.
Its addictive, and fun.
The music is suitable, but not distracting.
Anyone can pick up the basic game in seconds, without any instructions, but after you have been going for a while, you find yourself looking for clues and instructions.
Its fun knocking over the pigs, who constantly laugh at you when you can’t get them!