Back in the early ’80s I read a fascinating, and rather disturbing, book on the role played by German chemical companies in the Holocaust. I got it from the local library and I knew that someday I may wish to read it again. And so, I dutifully copied the ISBN number, publisher and the title of course … Continue reading
Different drummers
Coming soon: Why are we in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises… “If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music in which he hears, however measured, or far away.”
Dragon Age – epic fail
Turning a mistake into a disaster. A game maker’s servers crash and they pretend it hasn’t happened. Years ago I started playing a role computer game. I didn’t normally like computer games, I’d played with one or two, but this was different. A role-playing game based loosely on Tolkien’s mythology. I was completely addicted. So I played … Continue reading
Companions – with bread?
I have known my friend for years, a decade or more. Today we had lunch together – really lovely old coaching inn, Italian rustic food, complimentary bread and olive oil, fab coffee. What is it about eating, that makes spending time with someone so good. Years ago I found that the word companion comes from the Latin … Continue reading
A post on fluid dynamics?!
I saw this recently, posted by a fluid dynamics engineer, who has “…watched with amusement the philosophical discussions over the half full/half empty glass issue. In fluid dynamics terms the glass is always full. All that happens is that it moves from being 100 per cent full of a liquid to being 100 per cent … Continue reading
Birds tweet: Twitter is a cacophony
Am I alone in thinking that Twitter has lost it? Twitter is a great concept, but it is now sadly way past its sell by date. It has famously been likened to shouting into a darkened room. It has become a darkened room now inhabited by millions of others doing precisely the same thing. Cue a cacophony. The tragedy of course … Continue reading
Guest review: Fight Club
“With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels.” Less a film, more an experience, Fight Club sucks you in and straps you onto a merciless rollercoaster of shocks, laughs and revelations before spitting you back out again. Dismissed as brutal and sadist but many critics, one even describing the film as ”not only anti-capitalism … Continue reading
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter … and Spring
Spring, Summer, Autumn Winter… and Spring Extraordinary, Korean film on the nature of existence. Very slow, serene, elegant. Unforgettable. Enchanting, as far removed from a Hollywood blockbuster as it is possible to imagine and all the better for it. For me this is more masterpiece than movie. 10/10
A Philosophy of Life – involving balls, pebbles and beer
I love this, I was sent it years ago by a friend… A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students … Continue reading
eXmas cards
Over a billion (thousand million for us UK English pedants) greetings cards are sent out over Xmas. And so for the first time I have sent most of my Xmas cards electronically. I have used the Woodland Trust’s e-card service. The trusts exists to preserve woods so it seemed appropriate, and the cards looked nice, too. … Continue reading
63% of US teachers buy food – for their students.
Three decades ago I spent two long and very happy summers in the US. I stayed at the home of a teacher, food was abundant, I had never eaten so well. I had the time of my life and developed an enduring love of the countryside and especially for the people I met and stayed with. Yet now a survey has … Continue reading
Saying thank you to your enemies…
I recently read a blog article about the value of saying thank you. In it the author wrote that as a business owner she had been thankful for the pressures of the past year since it fostered an increased leanness in her business. Reading this I was reminded of a suggestion that we should thank … Continue reading
The Stripper: no Rocky Horror
Went to see The Stripper, by Richard O’Brien, he of the Rocky Horror Show. It looks good based on a pulp fiction book by Carter Brown. A washed up detective investigates a suicide that isn’t. Cue a tale of lonely hearts, strippers, and a florist who looks more than a little like a 1970′s Elton … Continue reading
Sexism/Ageism – sage-ism?
I have enjoyed watching Strictly Come Dancing on BBC. Alas no more. The new series that starts later this month will be missing at least one viewer. A highly experience choreographer and judge has been swapped with someone who can sing and dance a little, but judge? This is blatant ageism. Since the front-man and … Continue reading
WordPress adds email
Word Press has just made it easier to set up your whole website.(WordPress.com are the people who host this blog!) At first I saw WordPress as purely a way to publish blogs. However, you can add pages of content that is not a blog, there are pages to send emails, without exposing your email address … Continue reading
Facebook fear and friends
I use Facebook a lot. I like it, it is useful. Useful for keeping in touch with friends too distant to meet often; useful for finding out little things that I may have otherwise missed – a great concert over this last weekend, for example. Useful as simply another form of social interaction, that complements … Continue reading
Time
For the last three weeks I have rarely been aware of the time. I have not worn a watch; or had any real idea of the time of day. One of the few benefits of being sick. I returned to work today and instantly I found myself driven by time. Before I had even got … Continue reading
Lessons in motivation ca. 1570
Speaking of Ascham, reminded me something that has long been a gripe of mine. Why is it that so many seem to think that fear is the best way to motivate? I read recently that research into the behaviour of managers, shows that one third are, “Too afraid to be off ill”. Apart from being … Continue reading
Blogging – or not
Just saw this quote “The least learned, for the most part, have been always most ready to write.” It’s from Roger Ascham, a teacher to Queen Elizabeth I . Made me smile, thinking of some blogs I’ve recently seen. Also provides a good excuse for me not writing much
Free professional web editing software
Update (April 2012) This is still available. Microsoft SharePoint Designer is now available as a free download. Decent web editing applications are normally £200 plus. Microsoft SharePoint Designer is no exception. Although aimed at Microsoft’s SharePoint technology it will happily edit any HTML, or .ASP/.ASPX site. It looks and feels exactly like their Expression Web … Continue reading
