Archive for August, 2016
I’ve voted in the Labour Party leadership election
August 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Voting in the Labour Party leadership election opened today. I voted online today. In the last leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn was bottom of my list and his time as leader has confirmed my worst anxieties. He simply cannot lead: his chairing of the Shadow Cabinet is appalling; he has lost the confidence of 80% of […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Word of the day: firenado
August 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
A firenado is a torrent of wind and flame that burns at extreme temperatures. Such whirlwinds form when a fire heats air above it and pulls in cool air at its base, creating a self-sustaining vortex. The most likely location for such a terrifying phenomenon is the United States and Australia and, in the last few […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (32): what happens if Trump implodes?
August 21st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Since Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump insulted the Muslim parents of a soldier killed in Iraq, his ratings have plummeted. He continues to make statements that confuse and denigrate and outrage. He has changed the leadership of his campaign yet again. What would happen if Trump pulled out? This is still highly unlikely and, for […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the movie “Me And Earl And The Dying Girl”
August 20th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
You’ll never guess what this film is about! Actually it has an unusually descriptive title, so I’m sure you know where we’re going with this. But the tale is told in a wacky way that holds the attention and in time engages the emotions. Check out my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the Italian novel “My Brilliant Friend”
August 19th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
My summer reading project is to complete as much as possible of the four works that make up the ‘Neapolitan Novels’, an acclaimed series by the Italian author Elena Ferrante. This is a saga of the 60-year friendship between two girls from a poor neighbourhood of Naples after the Second World War: the narrator Elena Greco, […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new movie “The Shallows”
August 18th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Not so long ago, I read a non-fiction book titled “The Shallows” which was all about the damaging effects of Internet [my review here]. The newly-release film of the same title has absolutely no connection with the book (although it features an amazingly good mobile connection on a deserted Mexican beach). Instead the movie is […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
China launches the world’s first quantum satellite
August 17th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
You probably didn’t notice this but three weeks ago, in my latest column for the trade union Prospect discussing information technology issues, I wrote: “… physicists have been using quantum mechanics to think about new types of communications systems. One idea is to use the power of what is called quantum teleportation – roughly, how […]
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Remembering Martin Luther King
August 17th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At this time of year, when I have few work meetings, I like to attend short courses at the City Literary Institute in central London. So I recently attended a course on Martin Luther King delivered by American lecturer Dale Mineshima-Lowe. We learned many things including: He was born in Atlanta, Georgia on 15 January […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
10 of the funniest jokes from the Edinburgh Festival
August 16th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Like a laugh? Not going to the Edinburgh Festival? Never fear – thanks to the “Guardian” newspaper, we have a compilation of 10 of the funniest jokes right here.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Why does the periodic table of elements look like it does?
August 15th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At this time of year, when I have few work meetings, I like to attend short courses at the City Literary Institute in central London. So I recently attended a course on the periodic table. What does the periodic table look like? Check it out here. How many elements are there? When the Russian scientist Dmitri […]
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (2)