It’s World Toilet Day – and that’s no joke
November 19th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Did you know?
- 2.5 billion people – around one in three of the world’s population – don’t have a safe, clean, private toilet.
- Around 500,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation – that’s almost 1,400 children a day.
- Every year, around 60 million children are born into homes without access to sanitation.
- More people in the world have a mobile phone than a toilet.
More information here
Posted in Environment, Uncategorized, World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the novel “Gone Girl”
November 18th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Some weeks ago, I saw the film “Gone Girl” directed by David Fincher and I reviewed it here.
I was so impressed by the movie that I wanted to read the novel on which it was based that was written by Gillian Flynn who also penned the screenplay for the film. I’ve now finished it, would recommend it, and have reviewed it here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Was it actually the Russians who won the space race?
November 17th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I recently watched a BBC4 television documentary on the space race between the USSR and the USA which so captivated my teenage years. It presented a different angle, arguing that in effect it was the Russians (since the the Soviets are now history) who have won the space race.
All the early space achievements were achieved by the USSR – as I have lasted in this book review – before the Americans caught up and totally dominated the effort to put a man on the moon. But, in retrospect, what does having put a few men on the moon mean? Nobody has been to the moon in decades and nobody is planning to do so.
Instead the world’s space programme now revolves around an International Space Station based on the technology developed by the USSR with its Mir space station and the Russians are currently the only ones with a rocket capable of sending people to that space station.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Word of the day: encomium
November 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The word means ‘a formal expression of high praise’.
I came across the word this weekend when I attended a course on the Danish conquest of England and we were introduced to “The Encomium Of Queen Emma”.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
The Danish conquest of England in the 9th-11th centuries
November 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I have signed up for a number of short courses this autumn and next spring in an effort to keep my brain active and dementia at bay. I always learn new things and enjoy sharing some of my learnings on the web.
So this weekend I was back at the City Lit in Central London to attend a one-day course on the Danish invasion of England given by a very knowledgeable lecturer called Vanessa King. I found it quite heavy with lots of complicated names and confusing relationships, but I took away some learnings, including the following:
- It really was a Danish invasion of England between 875-1042. The Danes hardly touched Scotland, Wales or Cornwall. To this day, those parts of the UK are still different and there are nationalist movements in each of them
- The Danish conquest of England means that for a time we were part of a a mini empire embracing all England, Denmark and Norway and a bit of Sweden and most of the ‘English’ originate from the Danish peninsular.
- The one thing most British people know about the Danish/English King Cnut, who reigned from 1017-1035, is that he was so egotistical that he thought he could command the waves. But the true message of this (possibly apocryphal) anecdote is the exact opposite: Cnut was modestly demonstrating the limits of his earthy power compared to that of divine power.
- Cnut’s second wife was Emma of Normandy who had been previously marred to King AEthelred II (better known as the Ethelred the Unready) and she seems to have been a rermararkable woman. Two of her sons, one by each husband, and two stepsons, also by each husband, became kings of England, as did her great-nephew, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy who used his kinship with Emma as the basis of his claim to the English throne in 1066.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Two possible familial scenarios for the White House in 2016
November 14th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Hillary Clinton looks very likely to be the Democratic candidate in the US Presidential election of 2016. If she runs and wins (and I hope she does on both counts), then the recent occupancy of the White House will look like this: Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Clinton.
There is serious discussion about the possibility of Jeb Bush seeking the Republican candidacy for the next American Presidential election [see article here]. If he runs and wins, then the recent occupancy of the White House will look like this: Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Bush.
If either possible scenario comes to pass, then just two families would divide the White House between them for a combined total of at least 24 out of 32 years and a possible 28 out of 36 years. This is the country which declared its independence from Britain partly because it did not want to be ruled by an aristocracy.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (2)
Word of the day: vexillology
November 14th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Vexillology is the scientific study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general. The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum (“flag”) and the Greek suffix -logia (“study”).
I think that most of us, to one extent or another, are something of a vexillologist.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Rosetta: a space mission in its own way as technically brilliant as putting a man on the moon
November 13th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I’m really excited by the Rosetta mission and stunned by the technical achievement of putting Philae onto a comet. Here are some mission facts:
Philae lander
- Travelled 6.4 billion km (four billion miles) to reach the comet
- Journey took 10 years
- Planning for the journey began 25 years ago
Comet 67P
- More than four billion years old
- Mass of 10 billion tonnes
- Hurtling through space at 18km/s (40,000mph)
- Shaped like a rubber duck
You can see some of the pictures transmitted back to Earth in this report.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Can somebody please explain to me the meaning of the new sci-fi movie “Interstellar”?
November 13th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I loved “Inception”, even if it twisted my brain trying to work out the complicated narrative. But Christopher Nolan has now taken me beyond my powers of comprehension with the mind-blowing “Interstellar” which I have reviewed here.
Please, please explain it to me.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The potential candidate for the 2016 US Presidential race that is totally unknown outside America
November 12th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
You’ve never hear of him. He’s a senator from Vermont. He’s the longest serving independent in Congressional history. He isn’t afraid to call himself a socialsist. And he’s thinking of running for president in 2016.
His name is Bernie Sanders. You can read about the speculation concerning his candidacy here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)