Archive for May, 2007
Can Uri Geller bend spoons?
May 14th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Sure he can – but he doesn’t need special psychic powers to do so, just a bit of clever trickery. Really? So, how’s it done? Probably, like this:
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
The Human Footprint (1)
May 14th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
On 26th April 2007, Channel 4 television showed a programme called “The Human Footprint”. The programme featured a host of fascinating statistics which are averages per person over a lifetime of 78.5 years. Of course, averages only tell us about typical behaviour and the figures will vary greatly between individuals, but I thought that each […]
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)
Three characters book meme
May 13th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
My cyber buddy Dana Huff – an American teacher of English – has tagged me with a book meme which I guess means that I have to offer my selections of: three characters… 1. … you wish were real so you could meet them: * Vianne Rocher from “Chocolat” by Joanne Harris [my review here]. […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
The leadership of the Labour Party
May 12th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
For 13 years, it has been completely clear that Gordon Brown was the best person to succeed Tony Blair as Leader of the Labour Party. All the rest has been political froth. Every leader has flaws but Brown’s talents are immense. Brown officially launched his campaign yesterday with an unfortunate gaff over use of the […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)
Faster, cheaper broadband
May 11th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Although I sit on two statutory consumer bodies – the Ofcom Consumer Panel and the Postwatch Council – I’m not a very active consumerist myself. I guess I value my time more than my money. But even I had come to the conclusion that it was ridiculous that I was still spending £23.44 a month […]
Posted in Internet | Comments (2)
Forgotten World (80): Cook Islands
May 11th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
The Cook Islands has one of the tiniest poulations of any country in the world with just 18,700 citizens.This South Pacific Ocean nation consists of 15 small islands spread over 2.2 million square kilometres of ocean (roughly the size of India), divided into two distinct groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (1)
The long goodbye
May 10th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
As long expected, Tony Blair today finally announced his intended resignation as Leader of the Labour Party and therefore as Prime Minister of the Labour Government after 13 years as Leader and 10 years as PM. You can read his announcement here. During the day, I’ve been listening to extracts from his speech on the […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Walking the Pilgrims’ Way
May 10th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
When I was Head of Research at the Communication Workers Union, my Deputy was a great guy called Derek Bright who took early retirement at the same time as me and with whom I still keep in touch. Derek formed a small tourist business for the area of Kent where he lives, organising walking tours […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (79): Tajikistan
May 10th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A former Soviet republic, Tajikistan plunged into civil war almost as soon as it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. The five-year civil war between the Moscow-backed government and the Islamist-led opposition, in which up to 50,000 people were killed and over one-tenth of the population fled the country, ended in 1997 with […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Food for thought
May 9th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Have you got a Morrisons supermarket near you? I don’t – but a NightHawk reader who does has written to tell me about one of their campaigns which grammatically takes the biscuit. Their current posters are making her annoyed every time she goes past. The announcement reads: “The smarter way to eat healthier”. As she […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)