Archive for November, 2008
Word of the day: refulgent
November 30th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As recorded in my previous posting, I attended a classical concert this weekend. Now the programme notes for Bruckner’s Symphony No 4 concluded with a sentence containing a word with which I was unfamiliar: “The final coda is one of the most awesome of all symphonic perorations, crowned by the same majestic horn call that […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (2)
Mozart, Bruckner and Linz
November 30th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
My wife Vee and I used to go quite regularly to classical concerts but, over the years, we’ve fallen out of the habit. This weekend, however, we were persuaded by our friends Bob and Diana to join them at a concert at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank. It was the Bavarian Radio […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
A sad metaphor for our consumerist times
November 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
At dawn this morning, a 34-year-old employee was trampled to death as sales-hungry shoppers rushed into a Wal-Mart store in New York. More information here.
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)
American and British political systems
November 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Now that the dust has settled on the American presidential election (although the Electoral College does not actually vote until 15 December), I’ve pulled together some of my blog postings and expanded them a little to create a new web page on “Contrasts Between The American And British Political Systems”.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Our new roof (5)
November 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s the weekend; the tilers aren’t here; and, for once, there’s none of the crashing and the banging. Oh, heaven!
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Mumbai attacks and the Net
November 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
We all know that the Internet has utterly transformed how news is now reported to the world. This is brought home to us especially when there is a big event that attracts the interest of people around the globe and developments are fast-moving. A classic example was the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in south-east Asia […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
An idea for Christmas
November 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
An elderly father in Britain calls his son in Cape Town and says, ‘Son, I hate to ruin your Christmas, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 35 years of misery is enough.’ ‘Dad, what are you talking about?’ the son screamed. ‘We can’t stand the sight of each […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Our new roof (4)
November 27th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s making progress …
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Obama – the first Net president (2)
November 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I did an earlier posting about how Barack Obama could take the Internet tools he used in his successful campaign into his Presidency so that his supporters continue to play a role. As this “Newsweek” article puts it: “Barack Obama is the first major politician who really “gets” the Internet. Sure, Howard Dean used the […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Which countries will be hit hardest?
November 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
“The downturn is expected to be severe in economies most vulnerable to the financial crisis or to sharp house price falls. These include Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK.” In its half-yearly health check of global growth, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has stated that the UK economy will […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)