Archive for December, 2009


Bank + iPhone = :-)

December 31st, 2009 by Roger Darlington

The latest app that I’ve downloaded to my iPhone enables me to check my bank statement any time I want. How cool is that? Don’t you just love new technology?

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Word of the day: hadron

December 31st, 2009 by Roger Darlington

You probably think that you’ve never come across the word ‘hadron’ but in fact you’ve possibly come across it in the context of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) without thinking what the word means. The LHC is the world’s largest particle accelerator, a machine some 27 km in circumference, located on the French/Swiss border near […]

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What are the most popular names for Britain’s babies?

December 30th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

The “Mirror” newspaper has a fun story today on the most popular boys’ and girls’ names for babies born in 2009. There is a comprehensive list of the top 100 names for each gender – see here. Now I’m really fascinated by naming practices around the world and have a major section of my web […]

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Is Iran going to have another revolution?

December 29th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

Iran has already had two revolutions in the last century: the constitutional revolution of 1905-1911 and the Islamic revolution of 1978-1979. To see these revolutions in the context of the wider history of Iran, read my book reviews here. So does the continuation of the demonstrations, following the fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June, […]

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Word of the day: decoherence

December 29th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

It’s a word I came across – for the first time- in a book I’m currently reading: a popular work on physics called “You Are Here” and written by Christopher Potter. The book describes decoherence as “the passing from quantum reality to classical reality” – which is not very helpful. In more lay person’s terms, […]

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My 16th short story

December 28th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

A couple of months ago, I had a holiday in Iran, so I have been following closely the political events in the country, most recently the reports of the bloody demonstration over the weekend. While I was on holiday, I was thinking about a short story on the country and its situation and I have […]

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Jack Bauer meets you know who …

December 26th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

… and we’re running out of time – click here.

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Merry Christmas everyone

December 25th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

A house near where we live

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Who killed Copenhagen?

December 23rd, 2009 by Roger Darlington

“Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful “deal” so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. […]

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Seasons greetings from India

December 23rd, 2009 by Roger Darlington

Seven years ago, we had a terrific holiday in India led by a wonderful guide, a sufi Muslim called Hamid Shah. We are still in touch with him thanks to the Internet and he has just sent us seasons greetings with this moving ecological message: “May the year 2010 bring peace, love and joy over […]

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