Author Archives: barstep

About barstep

Founding Director of Restore (York), Digital Storyteller, cyclist, runner, walker, journalist, photographer, grandfather, Christian, churchwarden, and tech head esp. Apple stuff

No more bishops?

I’ve had time to think about this one – since the vote on intorducing women bishops is now a couple of weeks behind us. I’ve read a load of articles, opinions and summaries of the events that led up to and followed the vote that by a very slim (some woud say undemocratic) margin threw out the measure that would have allowed the church to consecrate women as bishops.

The decision that it was alright in principle to have women bishops was made some time ago. This vote was about how to do it.

So here we are looking down a dark five year tunnel that may lead to the next vote. Five more years of women in the clergy ducking under the ‘stained glass ceiling’ as one newspaper columnist put it. Five years of the church appearing to be struck in a bygone age. Five years of negative headlines where those outside the church appear to know more about what we’re doing than we do.

These voices will distract and deter some people looking for their place in Christ’s kingdom. But if it hadn’t been this issue those voices would have found another one to put off the seekers from looking for the truth in Christianity. 

Thankfully, the Church of England is not the only Christian denomination. Others have women in senior positions of leadership as do other parts of the Anglican communion. So it’s possible that another tradition would help those seekers to sign up to a local christian community.

For some though the long wait for the next round of debates and voting will be too long. They will never, in the duration of their working life, fully answer the calling they feel they have received. In the cold light of day there must be many callings that are never completely fulfilled, but in this case, to miss out because such a small number of people witheld their approval seems unjust. Rightly there were tears of disappointment at synod and probably some words of anger in private too. 

So perhaps this would be a good time to call a moratorium on the appointment of any more bishops until this issue is resolved. The church has agonised for years over the number of diocese and bishops with their palaces, staff and retinue. Here is an opportunity to cut the numbers. Impose the same stained glass ceiling on all clergy until men and women can be treated equally. It may just focus a few minds in all three houses of Synod and who knows – speed things up a touch.

Election Dilemma – vote or abstain?

I’m having problems with this Police and Crime Commissioners election.
Here in North Yorkshire it’s a 70 grand a year job – there’s no interview – no competencies or personality profiles are being checked – previous experience seems to be irrelevant – it’s just the popular vote that decides on the basis of what the candidates are saying about themselves.
Normally politicians (councillors and MPs) only share power with any number of other politicians. The PCCs are essentially on their own. All the power of the office is vested in one person.
So should I vote or abstain in the hope that low turn out will lead to a proper selection process in future.
I have never abstained from voting before – but I am in a genuine dilemma. I think the process is deeply flawed.

Virgin TV Anywhere iOS app revealed, ideal companion to your TiVo box – Pocket-lint

This is a preview piece about VirginTVAnywhere. After reading this perhaps the app should be renamed VirginTiVoCompanion.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/47159/virgin-media-tv-anywhere-ipad-app-tivoA later piece says the app will deliver Video On Demand – but I’ve searched through the app and there’s no sign of this function.http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/47395/virgin-media-launches-virgin-tv-anywhere

Virgin Tv Anywhere – my initial review

Review of iOS App VirginTvAnywhere (after hands on use for a week)

What is this app for and how will it improve my enjoyment of consuming Virgin Media TV using TiVo?

The ‘about’ and ‘help’ sections in the app are noticeably devoid of an over arching vision of its purpose. The help files are mainly about how the app functions technically – with little about why I may want to use those functions or how it’s better than using the standard remote control. I had to spend sometime with the app to discover what it would and wouldn’t do before I could think about how I might use it.

 

I asked myself three questions 
  1. Is this just a bigger remote control for TiVo?
  2. How does this app deliver TV Anywhere?
  3. How might I use it?
  1. On the first question – it certainly is a bigger remote control. It’s also smarter most of the time. It delivers improved content management. Shows can be scheduled, deleted and previewed without interrupting the family viewing on the TV screen (except for the odd slip when I press a button that I didn’t realise would affect the TV screen in real time). The app also gives access to many of these functions away from home – via WiFi. 
     
  2. I have to admit that my expectation of the app when I was recruited for this trial was that at the very least I would be ableto watch live streaming of my Virgin TV package on the same WiFi network. At best I would also be able to watch shows recorded on my TiVo anywhere at home or away – a sort of Slingbox for Virgin. In the event only a handful of mainly obscure channels are available for live streaming and there is no access to recorded programmes. So I am puzzled by the name of the service because it doesn’t deliver TV anywhere. Shouldn’t it be called TV Remote Control Anywhere? It would be a truer, if rather long winded, title.
     
  3. There’s a novelty value – O look I can control my TiVo from my iPad! (I tried this once before using a long lead to connect the TiVo to my Router. I downloaded an App called Peanut. I wasn’t impressed and decided it was wasn’t worth persuing it as I would have to find a more practical way of making the network connection permanent – The app was fine but so was the dedicated TiVo Remote.)

    So how will I use it? 

  • I will occasionally use VirginTVAnywhere to browse the guide.
  • I will probably use it extensively to manage recordings. The TiVo interface on TV is somewhat ‘clunky’ and slow; the app is faster. 

    • Network required
    My final comment is about connecting the TiVo to the router. Mine are in different rooms so I have attached a WiFi adaptor to the TiVo. Isn’t it time TiVo was fitted with an integral WiFi card – after all it would add little to the cost of the box and apps like TVAnywhere could connect without substantial extra cost to the customer.
    Manage Expectations
    I assume that when the app is launched it will be free. If so then Virgin Media has a lot to gain by good marketing. Without it, the title raises expectations above it’s function. 

    So what do I like about VirginTVAnywhere?

    • Ability to browse the programme guide without interrupting the programme being viewed by others in the room.
    • Being able to manage recordings
    • Limited TV streaming – although there are better apps in the App Store.
    • Greater control of the TiVo box using the app

    But I won’t be taking the batteries out of my TiVo remote just yet. For basic use it’s still quicker to pick it up to select a show or a channel.

    I also think I may have found a bug.
    1. Select a folder in My Shows
    2. Delete the series link.
    3. Delete the shows one by one using the swipe- delete method
    4. When the last show is deleted (leaving an empty folder) the app loses connection with the TiVo – presumably because it’s trying to connect to a folder that no longer exists.

     

    So BBC Local Radio is safe ….. The DG says so

    In an article in this week’s New Statesman, Mark Thompson says that merging or closing local radio stations is not the way forward for the BBC ……We’re in the middle of an open debate inside the BBC about its future. One idea was whether you could merge local radio with Radio 5 Live or reduce local radio in some way. Although local radio is relatively cheap to run, when you run 40 radio stations in England, you have to multiply the cost. The point of local radio is that if it’s not local, it’s not doing its job. It’s reasonable for people to have a debate about merging or shutting local radio but that’s not the way forward for the BBC.

    Have you booked for the Riding Lights Summer Theatre School yet?

    Rlsts011

    If you haven’t:

    a) Why not?

    b) It’s not too late to apply

    I’ve been planning, with Bridgett Forman, for the workshops that we’ll be running through the week of the summer school, which this year is at Queen Margaret’s School in Escrick near York.

    Tall Stories is brand new this year. It will combine digital storytelling with stage production to put on a show that combines multimedia production and performance. It looking very exciting and innovative.

    So don’t miss out – book it in your diary for July 23rd – 30th, book, pay up and travel to York to join in. See you there.

     

    The dining car standing at platform 3 is the last to depart from York – forever

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    via guardian.co.uk

     

    These gently swaying restaurants have always been a classy public place where even grubby standard class passengers could taste first-class treatment. As a waiter on the East Coast service recalls, lone diners would complain about being seated together, but once the wine started flowing they would all be chatting and swapping business cards. “The deals that got done in this car,” he sighs.

    Patrick Barkham sums up the experience of travelling in style on the East Coast Main Line. Sad that the dining cars are being shunted off the tracks in the new timetable.