Archive for June, 2007
The Department of Prime Minister
June 17th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
When Gordon Brown becomes Britain’s Prime Minister at the end of the month, he will be the 52nd person to occupy that role – the line stretches all the way from Sir Robert Walpole who served from 1721-1742. This weekend’s “Guardian” contains a wall chart picturing each of these Prime Ministers. Understandably there has been […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)
Life explained on film
June 16th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Have trouble following written instructions? Like a filmed demonstration instead? Then this videojug website may be for you. You could start by watching Stephen Fry talk about his use of the Internet here. Or you could check out computer tips and tricks here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Women in art
June 15th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
This is a brilliant clip from YouTube (all that’s missing is “Girl With A Pearl Earring” by Vermeer):
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
NightHawk is up and running again
June 15th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
For the last 10 days, I’ve been unable to add postings to this blog. As you will probably appreciate, I normally add something every day. So this block has been very frustrating to me and possibly disappointing to you my readers. The problem was a massive surge – make that a tsunami – of spam […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (3)
The colour changing card trick
June 9th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
You will be amazed by this trick.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Off on a training course
June 6th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
I’m out of London from this evening to Friday evening working at a place called Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park. I’m acting as Support Trainer for a course called “Tools For Success” run by the training consultancy Lamont Associates which which I’ve been working for the last five years.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
“Barkeep! A flaming tequila swizzle and a vodka and Ajax, hold the cherry.”
June 6th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
A friend has forwarded this sentence to me as an example of a pangram. A pangram is a sentence which uses every letter of the alphabet at least once. You can find a fuller explanation, lots of examples in English, and some examples in other languages here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A high-spending day
June 5th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Today I spent £350,000. No, I didn’t buy a house – so let me explain .., I sit on the Council of Postwatch, the consumer body for postal services, and I am Chairman of the Council’s Research Committee. Since Postwatch is likely to be closed down in a year or so, this year’s research budget […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
“Europe At War” (1)
June 5th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
One of the many subjects in which I am interested is history and I’ve just started reading the 500-page work “Europe At War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory” written by the British historian Norman Davies. This contains many fascinating facts, figures and insights. For instance, consider this table which sets out estimates of military war dead […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Recycle Now Week
June 4th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Here in the UK, it’s Recyle Now Week. On average, we throw away our own body weight in rubbish every seven weeks, so there’s a lot that each of us can do to help. Check out the advice here.
Posted in Environment | Comments (1)