Lifestyle topics
Robots are the great bogeymen of the 21st century. With their superhuman strength and non-stop work ethic, many feel they are gunning for our jobs. But these fears may be overblown. The first comprehensive look at automation on the German economy suggests that robots created more jobs than they destroyed. People’s fears have been stoked …
Continue reading ‘Robots don’t take people’s jobs – they make new ones’ »
An hours-long standoff between a group of heavily armed individuals and Massachusetts State Police on an interstate ended with 11 taken into custody. The situation was resolved “through negotiation and tactical maneuvers,” Massachusetts State Police Colonel Christopher Mason told reporters. The standoff began nine hours prior when police said the group claimed to “not recognize …
– Nuclear weapons – Corporations as persons. (ridiculous) – Online financial transactions in general. Unsafe? – Plastic bags and bottles – Cellphones (anti-social time gobblers) – The technology that allows social media, e.g Facebook and most other “social media” offerings, to flourish. – Availability of mind altering drugs and the violence that accompanies them. – …
Continue reading ‘The worst inventions of the last 100 years:’ »
England’s young lions won praise across Europe after making it to the final of a major international tournament for the first time in 55 years. What didn’t go down so well was the behaviour of some of their fans – or of the British government. The drunken louts, the booing of opponents’ anthems, the racist …
Continue reading ‘Lack of sportsmanship is vulgar and tiresome’ »
It’s a five minute walk from my house to the pub It’s a 35 minute walk from the pub to my house The difference is staggering.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland recently ordered a moratorium on federal executions and a Justice Department review of the death penalty. The move followed a decision by the Trump administration Justice Department to revive federal executions by lethal injection in 2019, using a one-drug protocol. The federal government then carried out 13 executions from July 2020 …
In 1921 men in England and Wales had a life expectancy of 56 years,women 60 years. Ninety years on the figures are 79 and 83 years respectively. Simply living longer is a bit meaningless in itself, but it is a pointer to better health. The Western world has shared in this greater longevity, thank to …
A new study has found that people who get little exercise and sleep poorly are 57% more likely to die prematurely compared to those who exercise a lot and sleep better as a result. Bad sleepers also had a 67% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 45% higher chance of being diagnosed with …
Damian Hirst reveals that his mum is happy with his shift from provocative artworks to cherry blossom oil paintings: “When I was making animals in formaldehyde , she said, “Oh, there are enough horrors in the world. Can’t you do paintings of flowers?” And I think, my God, it’s taken me until I’m 55 …
Food and drink exports to the EU almost halved in the first three months of the year, the Food and Drink Federation reports. The group’s data showed that EU sales dropped by 47% compared to the same period in 2020. Covid is likely to have had an impact but the trade body said the decline …
~ Robert Benchley. (American humorist and writer) I have kleptomania, but when it gets bad, I take something for it.
Public officials have taken the idea of affordable college from something everyone should have to a luxury item only for the super-rich and super lucky. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and chuck Schumer have spent months asking Joe Biden to use his authority to eliminate or reduce crushing student debt. Biden promised to do so. But …
Americans are quitting jobs in record numbers. Several retail workers among them recently spoke with The Washington Post, describing how the pandemic led to increased hours, pay cuts and understaffed stores, frequented by more disruptive customers. “We’re seeing a wider understanding that these were never good jobs and they were never livable jobs,” said Rutgers …
Continue reading ‘Will there be a sea change in the wealth gap?’ »
~ WH Auden.. We are here on earth to do good unto others. What the others are here for, I have no idea.
Phone conversations It seems that 75% of people with mobile phones value an actual phone conversation, but that 92% mainly use their phones for internet access. Long rambling phone calls are on the out, declining yearly. Extroverts prefer face- to- face conversations, which they find energising. Introverts, of which I am one, use the phone …
