U.S. presidential election (5): how many will actually seek their party’s nomination?
April 8th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This week, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky officially declared himself a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Paul becomes the second Republican to enter the 2016 campaign, following his colleague in the Senate, Ted Cruz of Texas.
But, as an article in the “New York Times” puts it:
“It will not remain a small field for long. Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, is expected to announce his candidacy next week. Also waiting in the wings are Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, who are expected to declare soon, rounding out what Republicans say is perhaps their most competitive and robust slate of candidates since 1980, when Ronald Reagan faced competition from party heavyweights like George Bush and Howard Baker.”
The “New York Times” has compiled this very helpful schematic to indicate who probably will and who probably won’t run for the Democratic and Republican nominations respectively.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Is it best to take notes by hand or electronically?
April 7th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
According to this article, a study suggests that students who use a laptop to take lecture notes do not learn as well as those who make handwritten notes. I’m not so sure about this.
At every meeting, conference and lecture I attend, I take notes on my iPad. I believe that there are the following benefits to using a computer rather than a notebook.
- I can read my notes much more easily because they are more legible than my handwriting and and the text can be formatted later with highlighting or bullet points.
- I can have all my notes over several years with me all the time, instead of these notes being in various notebooks accumulating at home.
- I can organise the notes thematically, so all the meetings of a particular organisation, all the conferences on a particular subject, and all the lectures on a particular course are grouped together.
- As the event progresses, i can build up a list of action points at the bottom of my notes.
- I can connect to the web to check on a term that I do not understand or a website that is mentioned.
- I can easily e-mail any meeting note to a colleague.
- Since all my notes are routinely uploaded to the cloud, if I should lose my iPad or change it, I can easily download all my material to the new device.
I can see two potential downsides to this approach:
- I type more slowly than I can write. However, many students can type as fast or faster than they can write.
- There is a temptation to look at e-mail or web pages instead of concentrating totally on the event. However, very few meetings or conferences are so interesting that they merit full attention 100% of the time. Multi-tasking can be an efficient use of time.
What do you think?
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (6)
What lies beyond quarks, leptons and bosons?
April 6th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
You’ve heard of electrons, protons and neutrons, Haven’t you? But these well-known sub-atomic particles are only a few of what makes up what is called the Standard Model of the sub-atomic world.
Many of the other sub-atomic particles that we know about are grouped into families called quarks, leptons and bosons. You might have heard of the Higgs particle – that’s a boson which was discovered by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN on the French-Swiss border.
Now the Large Hadron Collider has been doubled in power and just re-opened for a new set of experiments that might take us beyond the Standard Model. You’ll find a simple explanation of what’s going on here.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
The world’s water is now a political issue
April 5th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
You could view the history of the world through the prism of water. As I explained in an earlier posting,the first civilisations arose in the alluvial basins of four major rivers. Today, almost wherever you look (think California, Ireland, Pakistan, China, Australia …), water is becoming a more and more serious environmental and political issue.
In the last three years, my interest in water has intensified as I have been chairing the Customer Challenge Group (CCG) of South East Water here in Britain where, in this water-stressed corner of England, householders consume an average of 160 litres of water a day for just 55p a day. I have agreed to chair the Customer Panel – a successor body to the CCG – for the next two years.
So I was pleased to see the “Observer” newspaper devote it lead editorial today to the growing crisis around the world in the supply and cost of water. The piece points out:
“Whichever part of the world you care to look at, water is becoming a source of hardship, violence and, perhaps most worryingly, political tension.
Last month, Unesco’s world water development report warned that the planet could suffer a 40% shortfall in 15 years unless countries dramatically change their use of resources. It will be a cause of war and major migration on an even greater scale than witnessed so far.
The report says that global water demand will increase by 55% by 2050, while reserves dwindle as climate change takes its toll.”
You can read the full editorial here.
Posted in Consumer matters, Environment | Comments (2)
A review of the film “While We’re Young”
April 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This Good Friday, I saw three new films in one day, finishing with “While We’re Young” which I have reviewed here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (2)
A review of the film “The Water Diviner”
April 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This Good Friday, I saw three new films in one day, the second being “The Water Diviner” which I have reviewed here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the film “Fast & Furious 7”
April 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This Good Friday, I saw three new films in one day, starting with “Fast & Furious 7” which I have reviewed here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
What can you expect at a Passover seder?
April 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This evening, I shall be attending a Passover seder at the invitation of dear Jewish friends, although I am not myself religious in any way. I have been to a seder before but it’s a struggle for a non-Jew to remember all the stages of the festival and what they symbolise.
So what can I expect at the Passover seder? There’s a helpful guide here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
My 4th short story: “The Hostage”
April 3rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This week, we have seen a very important presidential election in Africa’s most populous state Nigeria.
Six years ago, I set one of my short stories in an earlier time in Nigeria. It is called “The Hostage” and you scan read it here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
How long can a person live?
April 2nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The world’s oldest living person, Japan’s Misao Okawa, has just died from heart failure at the age of 117.
The oldest person who has ever lived was Jeanne Calment of France, who lived 122 years and 164 days. She died in August 1997.
More information here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)