After over 10 years of development, SuperTuxKart has released version 1.0.
It's been a long road. In December 2009, the long task of porting over to an entirely new codebase, Irrlicht, was complete. In December 2014, a new version was released with a new graphics rendering engine that made the 3d graphics faster and a lot more realistic. But still the versions were numbered 0.x.
In my earlier post, I outlined my plans for a sabbatical next month. Part of the plan is for study. I said I'd explain what I plan to study.
In brief, I want to study two things, and they interrelate.
Over 10 years ago, I first published a piece of software called Bible Reading Plan Generator. It is very simple: You enter a list of books of the Bible you want to read (or a pre-prepared list, such as "Gospels"), and the number of days you want to spend reading them. It will divide those books up into the most evenly lengthed sections possible.
Luke's resurrection account comes in Luke 24:1-12. In common with Mark, Jesus himself does not make an appearance in the account of the empty tomb.
Instead, we encounter the experiences of various other people. Significantly, as you read Luke's account, there is an emphasis on the words spoken by a number of individuals. Language of speaking, of words, of sayings dominates the account.
From the middle of May, I'm taking sabbatical for 3 months. This is something that the Church of England encourages all its ordained ministers to do, somewhere between every 7 and 10 years. It's an opportunity to recharge, to refresh, to wind down, to have new ideas, to study, to rekindle the love for the Lord that so easily fades with the pressures of ministry day-in day-out.
I have a number of things planned.
Earlier this week, our Deanery Synod had an excellent 45 minute presentation from one of the clergy in our deanery, Revd Dr Lorraine Turner. Lorraine's doctoral thesis was on the subject of bullying as experienced by clergy, and her subject with us was bullying.
Clearly, 45 minutes is far too short a time for anything other than the most cursive of introductions, especially for someone who has studied this with the thoroughness required for a PhD. Nevertheless, it was extremely helpful, for reasons including the following:
This article offers a simple tool and some instructions to help anyone with the following problem: You've obtained a copy of Microsoft Office (for Windows) via Microsoft's charity donation scheme, only to discover that you have to use their Volume Licensing system to install it. This means that you don't get a nice, easy setup wizard to follow; instead, you find the process less than straight forward for those who don't live and breathe technology.
On 31st January 2014, I paid £2.42 to Google Play for a copy of Swype Keyboard. (That link is broken, unless you too bought it). At that time, it was by far the best onscreen Android keyboard that lets you trace the word you're typing with your finger.
It is a great privilege indeed to belong to a Christian church, and so to the Christian church.
This last weekend, I reached the milestone of 10 years serving the churches here in Kemsing and Woodlands, also a great privilege.
That gives me cause to look back on the many churches I have belonged to over the years. Each made its mark in different ways, and the person I am today is undoubtedly shaped by the time spent in those churches.
