A review of the film “Son Of A Gun”
August 14th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Australian filmmakers rarely try to make a crime thriller movie for the international market, but “Son Of A Gun” is an effort that is modestly successful. You can read my review here.
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Word of the day: Bildungsroman
August 14th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I came across this word for the first time as a comment on “My Brilliant Friend”, the first of the four Neapolitan novels by Italian writer Elena Ferrante. My summer project is to read the whole series.
I learned that the German word is a term of literary criticism referring to a novel of formation, education or coming-of-age.
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How long would you like to live? Welcome to the Blue Zone …
August 13th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
“Four areas of the world have been designated as Blue Zones by scientists: Okinawa island in Japan, parts of central-eastern Sardinia, the Nicoya peninsula in northwestern Costa Rica, and the Greek island of Ikaria.
Certain traits link most of these areas, where exceptional longevity has been proven. First, most of the populations have been isolated for long periods due to their geography or other reasons, which in some cases led to inbreeding between distant family members, possibly helping certain genetic variants that favour longevity to be passed on from generation to generation.
The insularity of these communities could explain some delays in socio-economic development, researchers have found, making them relatively poorer than other nearby communities and delaying the onset of capitalism. Other similar characteristics include high quality food (though not necessarily abundant), physically-active lifestyles, and a prevailing attitude of collectivist rather than individualistic thinking. The latter, in turn, has limited the onset of high stress levels in the communities, researchers said. Finally, the four communities all exhibit strong social cohesion, a fact that potentially allows older people to still feel like they are an important part of society.
Gianni Pes, the Sardinian scientist who helped coin the term Blue Zone, is not convinced there is any such thing as a “longevity gene” that sets the populations apart. For one, there are genetic differences between the populations of the 14 towns that comprise the Sardinian Blue Zone, suggesting other factors – like environment and diet – may play a bigger role than just genetics.”
This is an extract from a feature in today’s “Guardian” newspaper looking ay why certain parts of the world have clusters of people who live exceptionally long lives. There are all sorts of theories and the latest approach to the mystery involves trying to identify a specific gene.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (1)
My heart bleeds for the people of Aleppo
August 12th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Just a couple of weeks before the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, we visited the country for a holiday. The Arab Spring had engulfed Tunisia, Libya and Egypt but, on the surface, all seems quiet in Syria.
Every time I see a news item about the situation now in Syria, I remember our visit and my heart bleeds for its people. Currently the conflict in Aleppo – Syria’s largest city – is especially fraught and tragic. What did it used to be like there before the war? You can read my travel notes here.
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As if the Brexit decision wasn’t bad enough, now tea sales have fallen
August 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
We can’t blame younger people for the referendum decision – apparently most of them voted for the UK to remain in the European Union. But it seems that we can blame them for the fall in sales of teabags – they drink less tea than older people.
In a short feature in today’s “Guardian” newspaper, it states:
“It is a problem that has been brewing for some time: sales of ordinary teabags have been falling for the last five years, with a 14% drop between 2013 and 2015. Now, according to the latest market research, teabag sales are due to plummet even further – by 5% this year to £614m.
The problem, say researchers, is being caused by younger people having fewer brews; while a third of 55- to 64-year-olds choose a cuppa more than five times a day, only 16% of 16- to 34-year-olds do the same. And the generational divide doesn’t stop there. Green tea sales have shot up by 39% in the past two years, a trend led by younger drinkers.”
As a moderate in all things, when I’m at home, I tend to drink coffee in the morning and early afternoon and then switch to tea for the late afternoon and evening (which also includes a glass of red wine). What about you?
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (31): what about the other candidates?
August 10th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I suppose that either Hillary Clinton or (perish the thought) Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. But these are very strange times politically, so who knows? However, there are other candidates for the White House.
There is the Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson who is currently polling around 8% – more information here.
Then there is the Green Party candidate Jill Stein who is presently polling about 4% – more information here.
Now there is a guy called Evan McMullin who is a conservative independent – more information here.
If any of these challengers wants to appear with Clinton and Trump at the scheduled three debates between presidential candidates, he or she has be polling at least 15%. The venues have been warned to be ready just in case – see here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Was there really only one Renaissance?
August 9th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I recently read a book called “Age Of Discovery” written by Ian Goldin & Chris Kutarna. This impressive and inspiring work is sub-titled “”Navigating The Risks And Rewards Of Our New Renaissance”. The theme of the book is that, since around 1990, we have been living in a time which is in effect a New Renaissance and we should learn some of the lessons from the original Renaissance of 1450-1550.
However, in first chapter of the book, the authors argue that renaissances can be you found in every civilisation. As well as the European Renaissance, they instance:
- The Mayan Classic Period of 300-900
- The early centuries of Korea’s Choson Dynasty (1392-1897)
- The Islamic Golden Age from 750-1260
- China’s Tang Dynasty of 618-907
- India’s Gupta Empire of 320-550
- The Mughal Empire under Akbar the Great (1556-1605)
We should avoid adopting a superior Western-centric view of history and appreciate that many parts of the world have exhibited periods of great cultural and technological flourishing.
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A review of the impressive book “Age Of Discovery”
August 8th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
There are not many books that are so wide-ranging in subject matter and optimistic about the present and future of humankind as “Age Of Discovery”. It argues that, for most people in most places on the globe, this is the best time to be alive in the whole of human history. You can read my review here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (30): has Trump finally gone too far?
August 7th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Donald Trump has just had what pundits are calling the worst campaign week of any presidential candidate in living memory. It may be that we look back on this week as the turning point in Trump’s seemingly unstoppable march on the White House and the time when he lost the race to the relief of the world (with perhaps the exception of Russia). But he has bad weeks before. He seems to be the teflon candidate and his core support is solid.
An article in today’s “Observer” newspaper summarises the week and its current consequences:
“In a few short days, Trump managed to insult the parents of a fallen war hero, claim that Russia would not invade Ukraine (it has already done so), say his daughter should “find another company” if she were sexually harassed, joke about receiving a Purple Heart, initially refuse to endorse Paul Ryan, the highest ranking elected Republican, and even order a crying baby out of a rally.
The string of unforced errors certainly seemed to affect independent and moderate Republican voters. An NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll put Hillary Clinton at 47% and Trump at just 38%; tellingly, she had moved one point ahead among men, who usually lean away from the Democrats. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey even put Clinton four points ahead in Georgia, where a Democrat hasn’t won a presidential race since her husband, Bill, did in 1992.”
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the new super-villain movie “Suicide Squad”
August 7th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
It’s the summer and my workload is starting to ease, so this week I managed three visits to the cinema to see some very different films. This latest was the over-the-top but fun “Suicide Squad” which I’ve reviewed here.
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