Guardian guide to freebies

Why waste your hard-earned cash when people are queuing up to give you stuff for nothing, says Huma Qureshi in The Guardian's guide to freebies.

Is cyberchurch a viable option for Christians?

EN asks if if an exclusively online church is a viable option for Christians? The article is written in the context of a rapidly growing movement promoting the idea of an exclusively online church. The Church of England and the Methodist Church have already launched versions of online church, and in March of this year a group committed to the development of online churches met in London.

Read the full article Cyberchurch - the future church? which addresses some concerns about online-only and emphasises the importance of the local church and the necessity for all Christians to belong to a local church.

The Wave: march and pray for climate justice

March and pray for climate justice on Saturday 5 December, in London, as part of The Wave. The Wave is organised by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, and tens of thousands of people from all walks of life are expected to flow through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all. Paricipants are asked to wear blue or bring blue banners to join the blue wave.

There will be a church service at 11am, at which Archbishops Rowan Williams and Vincent Nichols will be speaking. This will be followed by a fun and peaceful march around the Thames.

The flexitarian

The BBC website discusses the rise of the non-veggie vegetarian:

"vegetarianism used to be simple - its protagonists foreswore the flesh of any dead animal. Today there are "veggies" who eat fish, and people who eat no meat but don't call themselves vegetarians. What happened?"

What to remember during the silence

David Winter, on Thought for the Day last Saturday, talks of the challenge: 'I never know what to think about during these silences'. He says "it would be inappropriate to tell other people what to think about" but it is important to reflect on what we do think about during the annual collective silence.

He concludes: "To remember, and then forget what we have learnt, is an unforgivable waste of the God-given gift of memory. The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures constantly call on us to remember - events, outcomes, people, tragedies, blessings - but not just to remember. Genuine, profound remembrance brings the past into the present so that the present may be changed....... The precious gift of memory is a means, not an end in itself. We remember the past, but in order to transform and renew the present".

US judge bans Christian car plate

A US judge has ordered South Carolina not to issue a vehicle number plate with a Christian image and slogan. The state legislature had approved a licence plate with a cross in front of a stained glass window and the words "I Believe" written along the top.

Whatever happened to the teapots?

In the 1980s, Roger Law and Peter Fluck of Spitting Image went to Stoke-on-Trent to get some Margaret Thatcher teapots made. Now Mr Law, in the Radio 4 show Whatever Happened To The Teapots?, has returned to meet the potters to find out what has happened to their industry.

Whatever Happened To The Teapots? is broadcast from Monday 9 to Friday 13 November on BBC Radio 4 at 1545 GMT. You can also listen to the programmes for seven days after transmission on the BBC iPlayer.

20 years ago

@ProQuest "tear down the wall" and they did: see news report from Berlin on 9 Nov 1989

Free Audio Book: Desiring God

During November you can download the Desiring God audio book for free from Christian Audio.

It's the last day of autumn!‏

According to the Dorset Cereals website, today is traditionally the last day of autumn? This is because it is as the midway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Dorset Cereals run a simple pleasures blog and suggest "Why not take time today to celebrate all the pleasures of autumn one last time, with a leaf-kicking, conker-gathering walk in the park?" See also:

• great places for a walk today
• nature-spotting tips

Twinings competition

Twinings are inviting tea-lovers to describe their favourite Everyday moment on the Twinings Discoveries blog; they will send you "a little something" if they like your suggestion best.

Also, the famous Twinings shop on London's Strand has just been renovated, with a new tea-tasting bar. For example, you can try out the autumnal infusions – like Blueberry & Apple or Camomile & Spiced Apple.

Wallace and Gromit's 20th birthday present from Google

Google, it seems, loves Wallace and Gromit as much as the rest of the world. Today marks the twentieth birthday of the first public airing of the plasticine duo and Google UK has honoured their achievement with a homepage illustration. Nick Park unveiled Wallace and Gromit to an unsuspecting public on this day in 1989 at an animation festival. Their public debut was the 22-minute romp A Grand Day Out, later broadcast by the BBC - and so a UK institution was born.
[From The Guardian]

Eat for the environment

Read about how "scoffing fish can save ecosystems" in Eat for the ecosysytem.

Make do and mend?

BBC News reports that although repairing gadgets can save cash, many people would rather replace their broken appliances. So the BBC decided to find out whether it is worth giving these broken gadgets a new lease of life with a little help from a traditional repair man. Read the story and the accompanying advice from Which?

Calculate your personal carbon footprint

The Guardian's quick carbon calculator enables you to calculate the impact of your travel, home and shopping habits with our simple carbon footprint calculator. You simply drag the sliders to the left or right based on your spending and lifestyle patterns to compare your footprint to the UK average and other countries around the world.

• Find out more about the calculator's methodology
• Get some quick tips on reducing your footprint

Best time to meet?

A new study says 3pm on Tuesday is the best time to call a workplace meeting as most prospective attendees will be free. The hour in question is an office diary sweet spot - representing a confluence of employee availability, motivation and willingness, say those responsible for the finding.

Keith Harris, of online scheduling service When Is Good, has analysed 100,000 responses to 34,000 meeting requests sent by When Is Good users, and 3pm - particularly on a Tuesday - is the time which has the most acceptances. Conversely, the worst time to plan a meeting is at 9am on a Monday. Then, just one in three people will readily accept, compared with about half for an afternoon meeting.

Communicating God’s love through ice-cream

Young people in Coventry Diocese are about to blend their love for God with their love of ice-cream by opening an ice-cream parlour, to give away ice-creams and host events for young people in the area who fancy a fun flavour of Church life.

Meanwhile, in Chester Diocese a Christian Union wants to run the Sock Project to communicate God’s love to their school using sock puppets, running events and film-based discussions, and performing random acts of kindness in the school lunch hour.

These are two of 84 ingenious new evangelistic projects to receive a pump-priming grant of up to £3,000 from the Church of England’s Youth Evangelism Fund (YEF) in 2009. The fund is supported by the Archbishops' Council (50 per cent), the Henry Smith Charity, the Laing Family Trusts, and the Jerusalem Trust.

Launched in 2006, the YEF grew out of a report presented to General Synod in 2002 entitled Good News for Young People: The Church of England’s National Youth Strategy, which included proposals for a Youth Evangelism Fund. It aims to enable more young people to connect with the Gospel and develop faith within the life of the Church by allowing the young to share faith with friends in ways that make sense to them. Each year for five years, eight to 10 dioceses are receiving YEF support to resource new ideas for mission.

Wild Vision Tour Autumn-Winter 2009/2010

John Beatty is widely acclaimed as one of the most exciting and stimulating nature, travel and adventure photographers to have emerged in recent years. With over twenty years of assignments to his name, John’s work has taken him from the peaks of all the Greater Ranges to the American Deserts, to the teeming wildlife of East Africa and the wonder of the Galapagos Islands.

This autumn/winter he will be touring with his show Wild Vision: Images and Stories from the Wilderness. He will be appearing at Loughborough Town Hall on Thursday 4th February 2010.

10 best chocolate dessert recipes

To celebrate Chocolate Week, check out these delicious chocolate dessert recipes:

• Chocolate roulade recipe
• Chocolate and black cherry marquise recipe
• Hot chocolate pudding with fudge sauce recipe
• Chocolate, hazelnut and Amarula cheesecake recipe
• Chocolate tart recipe
• Chocolate and cardamom pots recipe
• Chocolate trifle recipe
• Chilled mocha souffle recipe
• Chocolate and orange brioche pudding recipe
• Chocolate, coffee and mascarpone torte recipe