My Google Plus review

I guess most of you have heard of Google+ by now.  Apparently it is the next big thing, facebook killer, or whatever...

Well, here's my two cents:

I love the graphics.  I don't know why, but I love crisp, clean graphics with bouncing icons.  It must be because I'm an Apple fanboy.  But as every Apple fanboy knows, it's not just about looks, but about functionality.  The functionality of Google+ is nice, but not great.  If I had never heard of facebook or twitter then I'd be over the moon, but I'm not.

From my (albeit limited) experience it seems to do what it promised to do.  But the question is whether or not I care?
Let's have a look at it feature by feature:
Circles: This is my favourite part of G+ it is nice to know that only the people that I select get to view my random status updates.  Yay.  But then facebook has had this ability for ages, it has just been too much hassle to use it.  Personally I use Better facebook which has given me the ability to do the same thing on facebook (just without the cool graphics)
Sparks: I don't care about this.  Sorry.
Chat: Opt-in chat is useless.  People are too lazy to opt-in.  If I want to chat to someone I have Skype, email, facebook and a telephone.
Hangouts: Group video chat sounds cool, but I'd be too worried about my hair and what is happening behind me to want to use this.  And when I do have my hair just right, the probability that someone else would have their hair just right at the same time is very remote.  So no, I wouldn't use this either.

But probably the most annoying thing for me is that there is zero integration with my Google mail account.  What's going on there?

So in conclusion:
Will Google+ replace Twitter?  Unlikely
Will Google+ replace Skype?  Unlikely
Will Google+ replace facebook?  Very unlikely, at least until G+ gets "Farm Town" or equivalent
Will I keep using Google+ beyond a month?  Honestly I don't know, only time will tell.

the Rage Against God

I've just finished reading The Rage Against God by Peter Hitchens.

Of course I am not the only one who has read it.  You can read a better review over here.

I did enjoy reading the book.  It provides a very calm and clear explanation of how the current attack on the Christian church in the west has been developing over the past fifty or so years.

I guess the most disappointing part of the book is that it didn't really answer the question so boldly emblazoned on the cover: "how atheism led me to faith."  The book contains almost zero references to faith.  In fact you could be forgiven for thinking that the author simply wanted society to adopt religion as opposed to each individual developing a personal, intimate relationship with God.

But the most value I got from the book was the way that the author clearly and succinctly provided a link between the effects of attaining an atheistic society and the resultant moral and societal decay of that country.

Which brings me to an article that I read today about a school in Krakow.  Krakow bishops outraged after school takes down crosses

On one hand any religion that feels threatened because a private school removes religious symbols from it's classrooms is extremely insecure (there are no crosses in the school that I teach in).  But on the other hand it possibly represents the thin edge of the wedge of an attack against religion.
In Poland the line between the church and state is often quite blurred.  Unfortunately this has probably caused greater damage to the church than it has to the state (especially when you consider the shenanigans of the former PM).

I guess the comments I really want to make is that in some respects I am grateful for the current 'Rage Against God.'  It is forcing people to carefully consider their faith.  People will either decide that their religion is a sham and stop giving lip-service to the church; or they will decide to give their lives fully to their God and change their lives accordingly.