Live while you are alive
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
“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 …
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 …
To my loyal readers: It seems that I have chattered on a bit too much. The system tells me I have exceeded my allotted space (total news to me). So until I can get some brilliant techie to tell me what I can do about it I am silenced, speechless, but only temporarily, I hope. …
Continue reading ‘Taking a breather, albeit not willingly.’ »
The following is part 1 of a précis of an article in the Washington Post of February 9: “The data are clear. Boys are more than twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention); are five times as likely to spend time in juvenile detention, …
“It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it’s not. It’s a visa and it runs out fast.” (Writer julie Burchill, quoted in Psychology Today)
The influence of public personalities in the US is not a modern phenomenon, in case you thought it was. A little incident, bordering legality, from my youth: I hitch-hiked to most corners of the US in my early twenties, In the course of this adventure I visited good friends of my parents, the Nivens, who …
A survey of 2,000 married Brits has found that the recipe for a happy marriage includes six meaningful conversations, three long walks and two massive rows every month. The Times reported that the most contented couples claimed to have sex five times a week and say “I love you” up to 20 times a fortnight. …
Continue reading ‘Two rows a month equals a happy marriage’ »
Following the disaster that was Jan. 6, an already-partisan Congress has grown almost entirely untenable as working Republican and Democratic partnerships — particularly in the House — crumble in the face of the most serious attack on the U.S. Capitol since 1812. In interviews with more than four dozen lawmakers and congressional staffers, “people of …
Continue reading ‘Is the American democratic system breaking down?’ »
