The changing shape and functionality of the mobile phone
May 2nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
An inside pocket on my brown jacket
Of course, my iPhone 6 does not look a bit like this – which shows either how old my jacket is or how fast mobile technology is developing.
Posted in My life & thoughts, Science & technology | Comments (0)
My 8th short story: “The Dinner Party”
May 1st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Interesting conversations can happen at a dinner party and interesting consequences can follow – those were the themes of one of my short stories. You can read it here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The world’s languages in seven maps and charts
April 30th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Just seven maps and charts, visualised by the “Washington Post”, will help you understand how diverse other parts of the world are in terms of languages. You can access this fascinating material here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
British general election (12): when Russell Brand met Ed Miliband
April 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for The Martian”
April 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just read a cracking novel about an astronaut stranded alone on the red planet Mars. By the end of the year, the film of the book will be released and you’ll hear a lot about “The Martian”. Meanwhile you can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
So what happened about all those dire forecasts of disaster as a result of Obamacare?
April 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The official name for Barack Obama’s reform of the American healthcare system is the Affordable Care Act but it has been dubbed – usually by his opponents – as Obamacare. At first, media reports on the implementation of the legislation concentrated – at least outside the US – on the initial IT problems and on continued legal challenges, but quietly the Act has been transforming health care for the better for millions and millions of Americans – as is clear from this quote:
“There was no rate shock: average premiums in 2014 were about 16 percent lower than projected. There is no death spiral: On average, premiums for 2015 are between 2 and 4 percent higher than in 2014, which is a much slower rate of increase than the historical norm. The number of Americans without health insurance has fallen by around 15 million, and would have fallen substantially more if so many Republican-controlled states weren’t blocking the expansion of Medicaid. And the overall cost of the program is coming in well below expectations.”
This is an extract from a column in the “New York Times” by Paul Krugman. So will the Republican doom-mongers recant? Will pigs fly?
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Starting a new television series: “Madam Secretary”
April 28th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I’m a bit of a political junkie and I love political dramas in the movies or on television. “The West Wing” was my all-time favourite TV series – I watched all 155 episodes as they were broadcast and every episode again when it was out in a box set.
So I thought that I would give a go to a new political series on television that has been running in the United States for some months but has only just arrived on British shores. It’s called “Madam Secretary” and is about a female Secretary of State played by Téa Leoni. I wonder if any of my American readers have been watching it?
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
How happy are people in your country? Check out where your nation comes in this list of 158.
April 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
For three years now, there has been an attempt to rank nations by how happy they are. In the latest report, the UK comes 21st, while the USA is 15th out of 158. It is noticeable that, all the top 13 countries, have small populations.
Where does your country come in the list?
- Switzerland (7.587)
- Iceland (7.561)
- Denmark (7.527)
- Norway (7.522)
- Canada (7.427)
- Finland (7.406)
- Netherlands (7.378)
- Sweden (7.364)
- New Zealand (7.286)
- Australia (7.284)
- Israel (7.278)
- Costa Rica (7.226)
- Austria (7.200)
- Mexico (7.187)
- United States (7.119)
- Brazil (6.983)
- Luxembourg (6.946)
- Ireland (6.940)
- Belgium (6.937)
- United Arab Emirates (6.901)
- United Kingdom (6.867)
- Oman (6.853)
- Venezuela (6.810)
- Singapore (6.798)
- Panama (6.786)
- Germany(6.75)
- Chile (6.670)
- Qatar (6.611)
- France(6.575)
- Argentina (6.574)
- Czech Republic (6.505)
- Uruguay (6.485)
- Colombia (6.477)
- Thailand (6.455)
- Saudi Arabia (6.411)
- Spain (6.329)
- Malta (6.302)
- Taiwan (6.298)
- Kuwait (6.295)
- Suriname(6.269)
- Trinidad and Tobago (6.168)
- El Salvador (6.130)
- Guatemala (6.123)
- Uzbekistan (6.003)
- Slovakia (5.995)
- Japan(5.987)
- South Korea (5.984)
- Ecuador (5.975)
- Bahrain(5.960)
- Italy (5.948)
- Bolivia (5.890)
- Moldova (5.889)
- Paraguay (5.878)
- Kazakhstan (5.855)
- Slovenia (5.848)
- Lithuania (5.833)
- Nicaragua (5.828)
- Peru (5.824)
- Belarus (5.813)
- Poland (5.791)
- Malaysia (5.770)
- Croatia (5.759)
- Libya (5.754)
- Russia (5.716)
- Jamaica (5.709)
- North Cyprus (5.695)
- Cyprus (5.689)
- Algeria (5.605)
- Kosovo (5.589)
- Turkmenistan (5.548)
- Mauritius (5.477)
- Hong Kong (5.474)
- Estonia (5.429)
- Indonesia (5.399)
- Vietnam (5.360)
- Turkey (5.332)
- Kyrgyzstan (5.286)
- Nigeria (5.268)
- Bhutan (5.253)
- Azerbaijan (5.212)
- Pakistan (5.194)
- Jordan (5.192)
- Montenegro (5.1922)
- China (5.140)
- Zambia (5.129)
- Romania (5.124)
- Serbia (5.123)
- Portugal (5.102)
- Latvia (5.098)
- Philippines (5.073)
- Somaliland region (5.057)
- Morocco (5.013)
- Macedonia (5.007)
- Mozambique (4.971)
- Albania (4.959)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (4.949)
- Lesotho (4.898)
- Dominican Republic (4.885)
- Laos (4.876)
- Mongolia (4.874)
- Swaziland (4.867)
- Greece (4.857)
- Lebanon (4.839)
- Hungary (4.800)
- Honduras (4.788)
- Tajikistan (4.786)
- Tunisia (4.739)
- Palestinian Territories (4.715)
- Bangladesh (4.694)
- Iran (4.686)
- Ukraine (4.681)
- Iraq (4.677)
- South Africa (4.642)
- Ghana (4.633)
- Zimbabwe (4.610)
- Liberia (4.571)
- India (4.565)
- Sudan (4.550)
- Haiti (4.518)
- Congo (Kinshasa) (4.517)
- Nepal (4.514)
- Ethiopia (4.512)
- Sierra Leone (4.507)
- Mauritania (4.436)
- Kenya (4.419)
- Djibouti (4.369)
- Armenia (4.350)
- Botswana (4.332)
- Myanmar (4.307)
- Georgia (4.297)
- Malawi (4.292)
- Sri Lanka (4.271)
- Cameroon (4.252)
- Bulgaria (4.218)
- Egypt (4.194)
- Yemen (4.077)
- Angola (4.033)
- Mali (3.995)
- Congo (Brazzaville) (3.989)
- Comoros (3.956)
- Uganda (3.931)
- Senegal (3.904)
- Gabon (3.896)
- Niger (3.845)
- Cambodia (3.819)
- Tanzania (3.781)
- Madagascar (3.681)
- Central African Republic (3.678)
- Chad (3.667)
- Guinea (3.656)
- Ivory Coast (3.655)
- Burkina Faso (3.587)
- Afghanistan (3.575)
- Rwanda (3.465)
- Benin (3.340)
- Syria (3.006)
- Burundi (2.906)
- Togo (2.839)
You can read the full report, with the explanation for the rankings, here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Feeling for the people of Nepal
April 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Nepal has suffered its worst earthquake in more than 80 years with at least 1,500 deaths. One always feels more acutely for the tribulations of a country, when one has actually been there.
In 2003. Vee and I made a visit to Nepal, staying in the capital Kathmandu. We met some lovely people but the nation is one of the poorest on the planet and this earthquake will set them back still further.
You can obtain a flavour of life in Nepal from my account of our visit here.
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the 2011 film “Carnage”
April 25th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I’ve seen two films this week and they could not be more different.
The first was an action movie called “John Wick” with fast and furious combat and shootings [my review here]. The second was the film of a play set entirely in a small apartment – it is called “Carnage” and you can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)