Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Highlights of Mexico (8): Monte Alban and more Oaxaca
March 28th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 5 was Easter Sunday and we were woken up from about 6 am with very loud fireworks celebrating that the Lord had risen. Then the covers were taken off some of the birdcages in the courtyard and the dawn chorus started. Next church bells began to toll calling the faithful to mass. All in […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Highlights of Mexico (7): Oaxaca
March 27th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Outside of Mexico City, the southern-most Mexican states are the poorest and those with the largest indigenous populations. We were now to visit three of these states: Oaxaca, Chiapas and Yucatan. First off was Oaxaca, the birthplace of two famous figures from Mexican history: Benito Juarez, president for most of the years 1858-1872 (which came […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Highlights of Mexico (6): Teotihuacan
March 26th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
There is virtually nothing to be seen these days of the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan because the Spanish invaders destroyed the city and then built a new metropolis on top of it which is present-day Mexico City. But fortunately one does not have to travel far to see the site of another great pre-Hispanic […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Highlights of Mexico (5): Mexico City
March 25th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 2 (Maundy Thursday) was devoted to time in Mexico City. The present site of Mexico City was developed by the Aztecs in 1325 when it was known as Tenochtitlan before being destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors of Hernan Cortés in 1521. The Spanish built a new capital which the United States briefly occupied at […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Highlights of Mexico (4): outward bound
March 25th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 1 (Wednesday) of our trip was wholly a travelling day. Flying with British Airways on a Boeing 747-4000, at 1.15 pm we departed from London’s Heathrow Airport where security was obviously tight following the previous day’s murderous terrorist attacks on the international airport and metro station in Brussels. On the journey, Roger read a […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Highlights of Mexico (3): Mexico today
March 23rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Mexico is a large country with a large population. Geographically it covers over two million square kilometres (over 760,000 square miles) which makes it the 13th biggest nation on the globe. It has an estimated population of over 120M which makes it the 11th most populated country on earth. The country has three time zones. […]
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
Highlights of Mexico (2): Mexican history
March 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilisations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. While researchers do not agree which Mesoamerican culture first domesticated the cacao tree which gave us the wonders of chocolate, the use of the fermented bean in a drink seems to […]
Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Highlights of Mexico (1): introduction
March 21st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The Americas – the longest of all the continents, stretching from almost the North Pole to almost the South Pole. We have visited many countries in the different sections of the continent: the United States and Canada in North America, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala in Central America, and Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
How to make a good presentation
March 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Almost every week, I attend a conference or meeting at which speakers make PowerPoint presentations. On almost every occasion, a speaker uses slides that contain so much text that those present cannot read it, mainly because the words are so small but also because there is so little time devoted to that particular slide. In […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
How to make a good speech
March 4th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I started public speaking at school and then university with debating competitions, so I’ve about 50 years experience and I’ve tried to distill my advice here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)