I heard on Radio 4’s All In The Mind today that many people steer well clear of the topic of race for fear of being misunderstood and thought racist. So let me not stand on ceremony and say how delighted I am that Irish-American senator O’Bama prevailed in the U.S. presidential election.
November 5, 2008
November 1, 2008
Fortune Cookie
A fortune cookie prediction, clearly manufactured before the credit crunch became a global economic crisis, advised me that I would be travelling and coming into a fortune. Hitherto, this combination would have made me reluctant to board a ‘plane whose descent path skirted major banks. But now I don’t even know what to worry about!
The second cookie (my partner does not believe in the future - should I worry?) stated that a new business venture is on the horizon. This is not for me. I once had a job on the horizon and was sacked for perpetual failure to arrive punctually.
September 7, 2008
conCERN
Remember millennial angst when worries ranged from washing machines breaking down to computerised pension plans dissolving? Welcome to 2008’s equivalent – conCERN. This Wednesday scientists will circulate a beam of particles around the large hadron collider. The first particle collisions are planned for 21 Oct. This report’s intention is to allay ConCERNs that these collisions, designed to recreate conditions present at the Big Bang could produce black holes, endangering the Earth.
The work carried out at CERN is the collaborative fruit of 20 EU member states and a further 8 countries with observer status. Nevertheless, due to CERN’s location, many mistakenly believe this to be a Swiss project.
Were both popular misconceptions flagged up in this short piece to be true, what a hat-trick that would be – cuckoo clocks, chocolate and the destruction of Earth!
Crazy Horse
As a blogger, I’m grateful to receive one year’s free subscription to Britannica Online – particularly the daily email, “On This Day” outlining births, deaths, discoveries, inventions and events from human history. However, I did find this wording a little odd:
“”The Sioux Indian chief Crazy Horse, who died this day in 1877 during a scuffle with soldiers trying to imprison him…..”
Were I to be killed in a scuffle, I’d hope the name of the event might be upgraded.
September 2, 2008
No more have a go heroes any more
Brits are less likely to intervene when a crime is taking place, than our European cousins – according to the think tank Reform. Bottom of the have a go hero league, we prefer to abdicate responsibility to the authorities. In the case of those who previously have had a go, I presume the authorities refers to their parole officers.
August 28, 2008
Weather Haiku?
Heard today on Today on Radio 4 – not exactly a haiku – but it does certainly feels like one – especially when delivered by John Humphrys:
The Weather
Cloudy and damp in the west
Brighter in the east
But not much
July 30, 2008
Donation
After reading this blog post by a London ambulance man, I signed up here for organ donation. The transplant statistics for the last year make interesting reading. If you haven’t already, why not consider it and join 15.5 million others? There are 53 FAQs here.
July 9, 2008
July 7, 2008
Walk It
If you live in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London or Newcastle and would like to see how much CO2 you could avoid emitting and how many calories you could burn by walking as opposed to driving, then you might be interested in walk it.
July 2, 2008
Tobacco
It is estimated that tobacco kills 5.4 million people every year – a more devastating effect that the combined ravages of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS & malaria. This statistic came from Dr. Douglas Bettcher of WHO when he was interviewed by Duncan Bannatyne in an edition of BBC2’s This World entitled Bannatyne Takes on Big Tobacco.
