Seeker

Tomorrow 22 July is the festival of Mary Magdalene, one of the women who followed Jesus - perhaps the most significant woman among those who supported him,  apart from Mary the mother of Jesus. She was a devoted disciple of Christ, one of the women who supported him financially and travelled with him. She was the first to announce to the Twelve apostles that Christ had risen from the dead. I wrote about her in May 2012 in a post in my 'Women of the Gospels' series on the Big Bible project here . And also on this blog last year on 22 July in a post called Mary Magdalene .  For a moving and inspirational contemporary sonnet about her do take a look at Malcolm Guite's poem in Mary Magdalene; A Sonnet published on 20 July 201. Image Credit: Flickr photo by Tim, CC Licence

One of my favourite toys was a kaleidoscope.  I was fascinated by the way the patterns could be endlessly changed - all of them beautiful and to my child eye magical.  And yet all were made by the same few pieces of coloured glass and mirrors. And the light. I was reminded of that toy when I read  'Digital Authenticity' by Vicky Beeching which addresses the question 'who are you online and offline?' She challenges the idea that 'authenticity in the digital age means being exactly the same online as offline' and that this can be a basis for digital ethics. Her challenge is based on the premiss that humans are complex who operate in a variety of ways according to context. She is naturally introvert, as I am, yet appears extrovert in public and on-line roles, as I think I sometimes may. The stranger in the supermarket sees one aspect of a person - their spouse another. Different settings or mediums bring out different aspects of the self. She refers to...

  It's a family joke that in public places away from home I can't return from a call of nature without reporting (privately) on the facilities. I try to stop, but sometimes I can't help myself - and my nearest and dearest expect it.  After 3 weeks away, still in holiday mood and just for fun, here is my first public report on prize-winning toilets. All are in Austria because that is where I enjoyed the facilities of what has to be one of the cleanest countries in Europe. Prize 1: The Most Beautiful Toilet Floor This goes to the ladies toilet in the Belvedere Palace, Vienna.   Above is my photo of part of the floor of the cubicle in which I sat. I was so impressed with the beauty of the tiled floor I spent a little longer there and got out my camera. I have cropped out my feet. A few minutes before, in the same building we had admired Gustav Klimpt's famous painting 'Der Kuss' in shimmering gold leaf and oil. The toilet floor was strangely reminiscent ...