Archive for October, 2012


A lovely day in London with Yasmin and Lucas

October 31st, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Here in London, it’s half term this week and Vee and I have some major childminding duties. First, for two days and two nights we are looking after Yasmin and Lucas, the daughter and son of Vee’s nephew. Then I have an evening babysitting our granddaughter Catrin at her home. Finally, at the weekend,  we […]

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My latest appointment in the comms sector – or how a damsel is coming to help those in distress

October 30th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Today 4G mobile services arrive in the UK delivered by EE using its existing spectrum. This initiative has acted as a spur to bring about an agreement that the auctions for new spectrum for 4G will be brought forward to the New Year so that EE should have competition by the late summer of 2013. […]

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Tom Scott’s vision of the future

October 29th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Last week, I attended the seventh annual ‘Parliament And The Internet’ conference which was addressed by two Government ministers: Chloe Smith from the Cabinet Office talking about cyber security and Ed Vaizey of DCMS talking about communications policy. By far the liveliest talk, however, came from a young futurist called Tom Scott who presented a […]

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How come that voting has already started in the US presidential election?

October 28th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

In the federal system that is the United States, each individual state determines voting processes which is why so many Republican-controlled states have passed the voter suppression laws. So each state determines whether a vote can be cast before polling day either through the post or otherwise. Votes are not actually counted though until the […]

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The arrival of Big History

October 28th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

One of my many interests is history which is why this blog has a history section and why my book reviews have three sections on history. Some of the problems with history, however, are that it tends to start with Ancient Egypt or at least the arrival of humankind, that too much of it is […]

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Two review of “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

October 27th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

First I saw the film which I have reviewed here. Now I have read the novel and reviewed it here.

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Taking bite after bite out of the Apple

October 27th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

First, I bought an iPod. Then I went for the first iPhone as soon as it was launched. Next I obtained the first iPad as soon as it was out. Then I bought the Mac Mini to replace my PC. Finally and quite recently, I upgraded to the New iPad aka the iPad 3. I […]

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The life and language of baby Catrin

October 26th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

My wonderful granddaughter Catrin is now 21 months. As regular readers will know, I try to see her each week and this week I babysat one evening. She went from a morning at nursery to an afternoon with her Canadian grandpa visiting from Montreal to an evening with me without any problem at all. She […]

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A review of the new James Bond film “Skyfall”

October 26th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

Now, a week after I saw it, I can publish my review of “Skyfall” here.

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The women of the James Bond films

October 24th, 2012 by Roger Darlington

“Skyfall”, which is released this week, is the 23rd James Bond film but one 007 fan has compiled a list of 74 women who have had significant roles in the Bond movies. Although “Skyfall” has not been released yet, in fact i saw it on Sunday morning at a special cast and crew viewing at […]

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