SKYPE alert
OK, blame Mark Taylor.
You can now call me on SKYPE if you're a SKYPEr yourself.
My id is mikerjs
Technology, yes.

BTW, for those who want to know, Mark is definitely stepping up in the techno world.
Nothing like God moving a man from Harare to Horizon to play havoc with his "toys" fixation.
I offer you blogs of his mind (and politics) and heart.
You'll find links to the rest of him on one (or both) of these blogs.

(Hi Mark. Anyone who starts monitoring my BLOG is worthy of a mention and verbal abuse! Love and blessings to you and Rose)

In one sentence...

We had a Church Leaders' Weekend this weekend.
And, as this was a newly expanded crew, there was the obligatory "Introduce yourself" moment.

What do you say to introduce yourself without being, well, boring?

My contribution:

• I am Mike, and I can't be described in one sentence.

Later in the day, while driving home for the afternoon break, God challenged me on this.
Who am I to say that I can or can't be described in any way?
He alone knows all my paths and can decide on the limits of my existence.
And then I remembered that I can indeed be described in one sentence.

• I am Mike, and I'm a sinner, saved by Grace, and set apart for good works which He has prepared in advance for me to do.

That's better.
It feels a little pretentious, I know, but it's true.
Why He chose me is a wonder!

Chivero
Some will travel for hours and days to see wonders.
We are just so blessed of God that, within an hour of Harare, we have such marvellous wildlife!
My nephew is up from Joburg for a few days. Any excuse. Four of us (Bryden, Edgar Dacre - a long standing family friend, Mum and I) went out to Chivero National Park today.

As excellent as ever. Impala, tsesebee, zebra, warthog, giraffe, more zebra, rhino, fish eagles (with fish), more zebra, more impala, squirrels, zebra...
So close, so wonderful.
Such a privelege

Edgar joins "the diaspora" in a few weeks. How the glorious weather plays on his expectations of the UK wetness, is up to the imagination. We just provide the home-sickness in advance - not the ability to cope with it!

Bored moment last night
In the depths of another driver download (the road from WinNT4 to WinXP is paved with red-eyes and driver downloads), I did a search for "Mike Southall".

One of those "Where am I? Find me!" moments.

For my money, the best search engine for pictures is still AltaVista. (I probably shouldn't say that on a Google owned medium, but hey!)

Well, most of the "Mike Southall" returns from AltaVista are unknown to me, but one was this Blog as seen from "The Ageless Project"
Reminding me that it exists.

So I thought I'd write something.

• Something

While I'm here, I've taken off the "comments" links. Boatloads of spam drowned any real comments that might have been there.

Next stage ...
Dunno. Let's see how we go.

See you next year I fear!

Ha! We're back!
Three things to report tonight

Firstly, I'm back. Again. Much of the drivel I'd have puked at you has gone by email to a friend instead.
I guess I could have posted here as well, but didn't. Sorreee.
Will it improve? Don't count on it. Betting on ZimLemming regularity is as wise as investing in Zimbabwe's economy!

Secondly, new webring at the bottom of the page. Hopefully. I still don't trust code to come out right.
Check out the Blog*Spot ring. I haven't yet, but, hey, be brave.
Go there. At worst, your traffic will attract others back here!

Thirdly, I'm addicted to the NPR program "Car Talk".
In this weekly show (which hits the web on Tuesdays), two brilliantly funny guys discuss car related topics and take phone calls. They call themselves "Click and Clack; the Tapet Brothers", and they are well worth a listen.
And when you do, then you'll find that you too are using "Ha! We're back!" as a catch phrase at least twice a day!

Someday, I'll go off about the joys and trials of capturing streamed realmedia. But not tonight

Good night and Happy Heroes' Holiday. - like dead guys need a holiday anyway. No matter, it's a welcome break for the rest of us. And at least, when the shops are shut, we can forget that we don't have the cash not to spend there.

We-blocker and Blog Rings
It's an e-jungle out here. You know it, I know it.
What are you doing about it?
If you are strong enough never to go where you shouldn't on the 'web, I don't believe you!

At the risk of getting rev'ed for advertising, can I recommend We-blocker?
Much like other packages (CyberNanny, SafeSurf, etc), We-blocker acts to stop you seeing web pages that you really don't want to or don't need to see.
However, I choose We-blocker over the others for a few reasons.

Firstly - price. Free. 'StruasBob! You can slip them a donation (if you have a credit card and live in a country with a currency!), but it works fine for free with only a "one in every 15 clicks" pop-up to remind you who you have to thank.

Second - ease of use. This is unfair. I'm not an expert in the other packages so they could be as good. But I am getting to really like how easy and intuitive We-blocker is.

Third - user input. You find a site you don't want to see, you can do three things. You could try remembering the URL so that you don't go back there (yeah right!), or you can tell We-blocker to block it for your purposes or, and here's the good bit, you can tell We-blocker you think other folk might want it blocked too. We-blocker then review the recommendations, and roll out updates on a regular (and invisible) basis.

So today I stumble across a cesspit, and push the button for an e-heads-up to We-blocker. Tomorrow, you are spared the same trap. No more depending on a group of specially desensitised specialists to decide what to block. We're in this war together. I help you, you help me, and that's the way we go.

And sometimes we find some really strange things.
There used to be a couple of "Christian Blog Ring" links at the bottom of this page. Used to be.
Don't ask me what was blockable on the one "Christian" link, but it has started being blocked by We-blocker. I trust them. If it's blocked, I'm not gonna waste my time digging for why. I've just removed the links from the page altogether.
It's easier that way!

Inflation
Central Statistical Office says that, for the month of April 2003, Zimbabwe's inflation rate hit a new level.
269%.
We are into an arena of unimaginables. How does one plan for anything?
I remember growing up hearing of folk in (then) Israel going straight from the pay office to the shops to buy anything and everything. Making sure that all the pay was spent imeadiately. Stockpiling whatever they could find - from jam to Jaguars. Anything to get the capital as goods rather than cash.
It was a joke.
We pitied them in a distant, far off way.

Now I buy a month's supply of bread at a throw, and that twice a week.
It freezes, and it's going up.
It's no longer "them" - it's "us".

And ZCTU says that we need to stock up on food because the next strike will be the big one.
What food?
OK, I'm at the top of the food chain, but what proportion of the population feel in a position to stock up on anything?
What proportion can find the necesaries to stock up on?

Where will it end?

And still we know it is not as bad as it might have been. Do you remember that "one hit wonder" STEP team band "Voyce" who came through Zimbabwe in the late '80s? They had a song which included the words

If the Lord had not been on our side
We would have been the ones who died
That's easy to say. Many are dying anyway. It almost feels as if God has abandoned us. I don't believe He has. It's not His style!
It would be so much worse if He had.

Make a comment!
I'm not sure if this is a good idea. This is the first time the "[View/Post Comments]" link has been attached.
It means that you can tell me (and the world) what you think of my blog entries. What a scary thought.
However, if no-one comments, it will be a bit of a downer, no?
So do this thing, OK?!

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, Harare
Dinner for two. Great grub, great company, Great Wall.
I could go back there.
Where? You know - East Road, behind Reps
And not as bad as the Fingaz review from July 2002. (Not to mention the other bits of Grace Mutandwa's private life and newspaper article!)

So you were surprised I have a web page(/blog/whatever)?
Well now your dinner is on it. Ha!
Garlic chicken wings, gingery lamb something or other and grilled bananas. Ha!

Donate your PC
I love technology. Especially when it works.
Distributed technology is just such a technology.
What it means is something like this...

Some clever clogs wants to find, for example, a drug that will bind with a cancer cell and stop it misbehaving and being cancerous.
Easy enough - in theory. We know the structure of a target molecule on the surface of the cell we just have to try other molecules to see if they will bind and then we can build the drug.

Any ideas on the number of possible molecules we could try?
No problem - use a computer.

Nope, the number is too big for a computer. Truly. The cost of a computer to do such a gob-smackingly huge and useful project far exceeds the research funding.

But Clever Clogs isn't beat.
What if, he muses, instead of using one super-computer with a super price tag, we use several ordinary computers which are already paid for (ie, free)?
You see, you and I are sitting at computers that are not using all their smarts. So, if we "donate" our spare processing capacity, together we all, worldwide, make up some humungous amount of processing power.

That's distributed processing.
I'm working with two organisations - one from my work PC (shhh!) and one from the PC at home. These two organisations send down "work" to my PC and the PC processes it and, when finished, sends it back. The impact on my PC speed is zero (or closer to zero than matters), and the dowload / return results time is also absorbed into other connection time such as when I download my email.

Good stuff.

Why do I use two different companies?
Simple - United Devices expect a smarter PC than the one I have at home, so they get to use my work PC. However, my older, slower PC at home is working away for Folding@home.

United Devices / Grid.org are at the University of Oxford. Currently we are working one two project lines - cancer and smallpox. (They "did" anthrax last year)

Folding@home however is on the other side of the pond at Stanford University. This is an interesting one as the research is to do with a family of diseases which includes Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, and Parkinson's disease.
What these diseases have in common is that all of them are the result of some important molecule getting bent. Literally.
If a dopamine derivative folds the wrong way, it can't bind correctly to its target site, and the result is Parkinson's disease. By running Folding@home we hope to learn more about these folding errors and maybe...

My Dad died of Parkinson's in March this year. We miss him massively - but I pray that someday, either through Folding@home or some other research, someone else will be spared the pain as their Dad is spared the horrors.

Meantime, I donate my PCs to the cause, and my knees to praying that those who do die in these horrible ways are ready to die.
Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Dad lived in Christ and believed in Him. Even though he is dead, I know he, along with Lazarus and many others will live. Can I say the same for you?
Donate your PC - yes. But give Jesus your life as well. It's even more important!

And the rewards are better too!

You all come back now!
Having been a less than regular blogger, I'm aware that I have few (a.k.a. no) regular readers. My bad.

Blogging is, I guess, like any relationship. It requires continuous upkeep. However much effort was put in to start or at any stage in the past, the relationship depends on the effort put in now.
And putting in the same effort day after day, week after week is not necessarily enough either. I could publish "Mary had a little lamb" every day, religiously and without fail and it would not attract more readers. In fact less.
You'd be less likely to come back for "I wonder if he's changed" than you would for "I wonder if he's posted anything at all".
Or, if a husband brings home five red roses every day, religiously and without fail, that too will loose it's "specialness" with time. Although maybe initially an act of love and passion, it soon becomes an act of habit and duty. The impact comes when it stops.
"Where are my flowers? He didn't bring me flowers today. Is something wrong with him? Has the relationship died?"
Whatever is wrong with him has been so for a while, and the relationship too may have been dead for a while. You only just noticed.

Happily, not all things are so monotonous. Although GOD, unlike me, puts in the effort to maintain His relationship with us, He is not just doing the same thing every day. As Eugene Peterson translates the book of Lamentations in "The Message",

"GOD's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!"

New every morning.
GOD 1 : Mankind 0.
Again.

Minor template edit.
Blog ring banners were mutilating the layout so I'm moving them from the right to the end of the page.
It looks like the rings may have collapsed in my absense anyway, but no matter.

He's back - I think
Nearly a whole year, and no ZimLemming post.
I know why, but I'll be nice and not go into the detail. Suffice it to say that the major problem is now over, and much of the follow on problems have now resolved themselves as well.

So I'm back.

I think.

Much has happened in the last 49 weeks, so I won't try and fill you in on it now. Rather, I'll call up issues "pole pole" as they become relevant.
For now, it suffices to say - "He's Baaaack!"

From the "Newspaper placards of note" department...
This morning's Herald placards are reading:
ZBC DJ PROBED FOR SODOMY
The mind boggles!

Mugabe visits Mike Mackenzie
It's some days ago now, but the fall out from Robert Mugabe's visit to the farm is still very low key. Indeed, it seems that the media have not been too interested in the event. To gauge by the commentary, what the Presidential couple said could be expected to cause a stir. If Grace Mugabe was, as implied, showing a critical attitude to the fact that Mike Mackenzie is under a Section 8 order, this is, at least, a public faux pas. It could however be more than that.
Why did Mr. Mugabe ask the convoy to stop? This is in itself contrary to the conventional wisdom of his views of white farming. But he did not just drive by callously. He stopped. Mackenzie later commented to reporters on how "warm and friendly" the Mugabes had been.

So what?
There are few that would say that Mugabe is any more of a saint than the rest of us. The notable churchman who chose to compare the president to Jesus Christ has been widely scorned for it. However, although this may be an isolated incident, it may point to something pleasantly sinister - if that makes sense.
Do you remember a few years ago when it was officially reported that Grain Marketing Board officials had misled the Minister of Agriculture about the grain reserves? As a result he was surprised when he found that we were running out as he expected there to still be plenty in store. Well maybe, just maybe, this is similar. Do the Mugabes see what the rest of Zimbabwe sees or are they dependant on what they are fed from their advisors?
Consider a scenario. We know that the “real world” media has pretty heavily dissed Mr. Mugabe in recent years. It is therefore well within the scope of possibility that he is bleak enough to really believe that what he sees on satellite TV (I assume he watches) is deliberate fiction to undermine him. This would not be surprising - just the perfectly normal paranoia we humans carry with us. Much like those of us who drive in Southerton believing that "they" are about to deliberately smash-n-grab our vehicles. Nice, healthy self-defense reaction.
Now, let's add a hypothetical assumption that Mugabe's advisors are, for reasons unclear to many, deliberately or accidentally not giving him the whole picture. What is he left with? He must then continue to rule on dodgy information, and assume it's right because it contradicts what the BBC says!

And then he sees a farm sans crops and his people - peasants, new farmers, old farmers and opposition-loyal urbanites - short of basic commodities and facing rampant hunger and starvation. Surprise!

OK, I extrapolate and hypothesise, but whatever really happened, let's pray that Robert and Grace remember the white man they met on the way to the dam. May they remember that, but for the hand of God, we are in Queer Street without folk like Mike Mackenzie. May God grant mighty wisdom to the President, the Cabinet and the whole of Government as they try to govern in a manner that, while addressing the known wrongs, does not exacerbate them. May He guard their ears that they may hear the truth - whatever and wherever it is. May the advisors and Ministers be enlightened and envisioned with that supernatural power that comes from on high.

Here's a thought. Imagine Zimbabwe or any other country governed by men and women of God, filled with His Spirit and manifesting His gifts of Knowledge, Wisdom and Leadership (amongst others)! Now we're cooking! Even so, come Lord Jesus! Come to our leaders.
Or as Dave Pass put it "God bless the leaders of Africa - may they not abuse their power. God bless the leaders or Africa - give wisdom in this hour"
Have you prayed for the President today?

John Stanko and the hope for Zimbabwe
John Stanko is in Zimbabwe for the next week. I personally don't expect to see him, but have been very interested in the Open Letter to the Citizens of Zimbabwe he wrote before coming. (This is not just another link - go there and read it!).

Over the last few years of what, were we Irish, we could have called "The Troubles", it has been interesting to watch every Tom, Dick and Philemon coming up with their version of where there was hope for Zimbabwe. Commonly (and reassuringly), the Christian voices have said that our hope rests in God. The difference comes in what they add on to God. Trusting in "God and ..." must be different from "God alone".
How far do we take this? A hermetic stance of total separation from the world, the flesh and the devil is commendable - but possibly over simplistic. The other extreme is working for change in our own strength and submitting mangement reports to God in the form of prayer of a regular / occasional basis. This is equally unbalanced.

The problem of Zimbabwe is a problem of human dimensions. None of us are guilt free and we all have a responsibility in the fixing of the problem. The challenge we face is thus three fold.
= We need to mobilise the people at all levels to do the work. We need folk in the community to be loving and caring for the AIDS sufferers; people to be sourcing and distributing critical food stuffs to starving people. We need people who are tired of bleating about what this newspaper said that that newspaper said; people who are commited to addressing the real issues.
= We also need the people to be aware of what needs to be done. There is no point campaigning, for example, for political change if one political party is as likely to be as able to solve the problems as another. These activated people must be looking above the man-made barriers and institutions, using them as means rather than ends.
= We therefore need, more importantly than the other two, people whose hearts are right. Not just people who will not step outside the lines of the Public Order and Security Act, but people who can walk humbly with their God.

This is impossible - except that it's happening.
One of the reasons for John Stanko being in Zimbabwe at this time is for the 20th anniversary of Hear the Word Ministries. Well done Tom & Bonnie. We're proud of you for what you have done since you joined us as Zimbabweans. Hear the Word and other churches are being seen to be making the difference.
In fact it is not Tom and those like him who are making the difference. It is God.
He alone is the hope for Zimbabwe. In Him alone can we achieve the unity in the bond of peace and the love that will let us work for the common good.

What is the future of Zimbabwe? I dunno. But with God, it's good.
Trust me on this!

(To view John Stanko's letter, you will need the Free Acrobat Reader)

Oswald Chambers - My Utmost of His Highest
Are you an Ossie fan yet? So often in the short history of this blog I've thought to quote what Oswald Chambers is saying. I've therefore decided to include a link to the daily "My Utmost for His Highest" courtest of Heartlight over on the right. Enjoy.

If you tried to get here since yesterday, thanks for trying again. It seems that blog*spot did a whoopsie. However, they're back now (as you can see).
Good to see my first fan mail coming in too (thanks Jay - Good to hear from you, even if not all the news is nice. I will reply in time.)

Overflow
What a week! I could write a tonne - but probably won't. The problem is, what is really the issue of the week?
Do I talk about the the burglary on Tuesday? Do you want to hear about the sinking feeling to find your wardrobe almost emptied and two of your shirts on the lawn? Do you want to know the joy of a protecting God and a clever dog who lead me to where all (yes, all) the clothes had been hidden? Boring isn't it? No-one looses except in emotions.

Or would you like me to tell you about how tobacco auctions were called of on two days because of unrest from growers and political activists? What could I say that you have not already seen in the official sources? You may already know that the growers were given an effective 80% pay rise by way of a bonus from the Ministry of Finance. This means that, while the Zim$:US$ exchange rate remains pegged (nailed and glued) at 55:1, the growers are now being paid out in Zim$ as if the exchange rate was 99:1. I don't understand the economics, but it seems that the growers will be the winners short term. Long term is another question.

While I'm out of my depth on economic issues, I could tell you about my chat with one of our nation's stock brokers. I didn't really understand much of what he said, so I'll not try repeating it. All I'll say is that anyone who voluntarily runs the Two Oceans marathon may know what he is talking about. After all, he must use his brain for something - even if it's not self-preservation!

I guess the weekend puts the rest of the week in context.
About 150 people gathered at Resthaven, 20 minutes north of Harare, for the 2002 NFI Zimbabwe Leaders' Camp. I (officially out of deference to home security) opted to sleep at home and commute. However, even missing the hours of "bonding" (a.k.a too tired to sleep, sit and talk until the wee hours), I can put this down as a wonderous weekend.
Our guests this year were Lex & Jo Loixides from Jubilee Church in Cape Town. Lex is a man who is available to be used as God chooses - and this usually seems to mean evangelism.
A group of us had a long discussion last Wednesday about what an "evangelist" is. It sounds such an impressive term. After, all it's one of the "big 5" of Ephesians 4!! But when you spend time with folk like Lex & Jo, you suddenly (and shamefully) realise that evangelists are just normal people doing what God says. And one of the prime things He says concerns taking the Good News to everyone. How easily we get stuck behind the barriers of "right time" and fear of "causing offense". I believe most of us have come away from the weekend challenged that we are not doing what we were created for. We are not ready "in season and out" to give an answer to those who need to know. Jesus died for them each. They are hell-bound and hopeless, but we're worried about hurting their feelings. There is a hope!

This blog is meant to be dealing with what's happening in Zimbabwe. This is relevant. At a time when many are loosing hope, we can stand and categorically say that there is a hope, and that hope is not in economics, politics of agricultural reform - as excellent as those things are. The only hope for our land, our people and ourselves lies in one man - Jesus Christ.

It's amazing (although it shouldn't be) that we hear God re-emphasise the same message repeatedly in a short period of time. Just the other day I ran across the Keith Green song Asleep in the Light again after several years. And guess what, we are still (to a depressing degree) asleep. Time to get shamelessly busy!
(I'm not 100% sure of the copyright of that last link. I'll leave it to you and your conscience)

Premier Worship and Premier Touch
Remember what I said a few days ago about The Fish being great background while I'm working?
Well, for those who get a little worn by Georgian adverts, here are two English feeds out of central London which are working for me. They are part of the Premier group and, although their parent station Premier Radio is also a cracker, these two are not really radio staions. Rather, they are each a set of forty songs without DJ interruption.
Premier Worship dishes out pretty respectable Praise and Worship music, while Premier Touch covers the contemporary Christian bases. Both these collections are well worth the bandwidth - especially as the company is paying!
So, If you're wanting more God than radio, or if you have a more English than American taste, give them a listen!

(I'm adding this Blog's URL to my Yahoo! profile. You never know - this could be what starts the traffic coming in. Hope so.)