This is my final goodbye and “thank you” to the many loyal visitors to this blog. There is a time and place, a beginning and an end to most things. The system has dictated that I can upload no more items. I am blocked. And my age and energy tell me that the time is …
A leak of data from Swiss bank Credit Suisse has shown that it provided services for many years to known criminals and fraudsters involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and other serious crimes. It’s the latest huge scandal to hit the Swiss bank, say investigative Guardian reporters. The leak points to widespread failures …
Aerospace engineers and brain surgeons are not necessarily brighter than the general population, a new study has found. Researchers examined data from 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons who completed 12 cognitive tasks. They found that only neurosurgeons showed a significant difference, with quicker problem-solving speed but slower memory recall compared with the general population. …
“Wealth is like seawater; the more we drink, the thirstier we become: and the same is true of fame”. (Arthur Schopenhauer, quoted in The Atlantic
As we’re watching the horror of this war and refugee crisis unfolding in Ukraine the UK Government is picking this moment to dismantle the refugee protection system in the UK. This post-Brexit overhaul of the asylum system – if passed in its current form – will punish people who ask for our help. It will …
Jonny Greenwood is Radiohead’s keyboardist. When he joined the band in his teens, he had no idea how to play the instrument. The previous player had been fired for playing too loudly. “So when I got a chance to play with the group,”he said, “the first thing I did was to turn my keyboard off …
“If you invite a bear to dance, it’s not you who decides when the dance is over. It is the bear”. (Russian proverb cited in the New York Times) My comment: Don’t trust Russia
There is a clear story in the way Americans perceive our country. We assume there are far fewer white Christians than there actually are, and that there are far more of everyone else – people of color, immigrants, non-Christians, non-straight people and non-binary people. To be fair, Americans also overestimated the number of left-handed people …
The British ferry operator P&O, carrying cars and their owners across the Channel, has summarily and instantaneously sacked 800 of its workers, apparently without even ten minutes of notice, and has replaced them with cheaper agency staff. The Mirror describes the “despicable billionaire chiefs” behind the sackings as “scum,” while The Guardian says ministers and …
A Washington state lawmaker has introduced a bill requiring life jackets in canoes and kayaks, but wants to exempt Native Americans due to their “eons” of experience. Native Americans have the highest drowning rate of any racial demographic, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Nevertheless, State Rep. Cindy Ryu said that her bill exempts …
“Something we may learn from this research (about dying. Ed.) is that, although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives.” Dr Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, and his …
Vittorio Lai, nicknamed Pistol, still drives and hunts wild boar, and tecently became the latest person in Perdasdefogu, (pop.1,765) a remote mountain town on the Italian island of Sardinia that set a world record for longevity, to celebrate his 100th birthday. He will be joined this week by another sprightly centenarian, Piuccia Lai (no relation), …
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Staring ‘is sexual harassment’. London commuters are being warned that staring is sexual harassment. Posters have started appearing in stations across the capital as part of a Transport for London campaign against “common examples of sexual harassment” – including catcalling, exposing, pressing, cyber-flashing and touching. Also on the list is “staring”, with one poster reminding …
Up to 70% of 10-year-olds in low-and middle-income countries cannot read or understand a simple text, up from 53% pre-Covid, the research suggests. Classroom closures continue to affect more than 635 million children globally, with younger and more marginalised children facing the greatest loss in learning after almost two years of Covid, according to the …
A psychedelic researcher spent 15 years in a relationship with a pigeon who she believed judged her for not being able to fly. “I know telepathy exists because I had this passionate relationship with a pigeon who I brought up from a baby and he fixated and fell madly in love with me and I …
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