The Shock and Horror Show
As I have said before, the problem with the internet is that it is very difficult to get at the truth. The internet is such a wonderful forum for posting opinion and your version of the truth that, on any single issue, one can find articles from every side – all believable until you do your critical research. Bu who has time for that? No one does critical research. Instead, they seek confirmation of what they already believe to be truth. Everywhere I see lazy shock and horror stories. Its today’s fad. I just read how the price of oil is no longer set by fundamentals but by the big oil companies and the big banks who manipulate futures. I read this on Huffington Post. Its a crock of course.
Read More »Reading the News
Whenever I return to the UK and listen to the news on TV I am always forced to conclude that newsreaders there must go to some special school of news reading. I’ve seen the news on TV in many many countries now but the UK is unique and fairly strange. I know people living there don’t notice but it is something to do with vocal inflection. The newsreaders’ vocal inflection is simply all wrong and they always go down at the end of a sentence. It drives me nuts. It makes them sound as if they were afflicted with some strange mental disease from my perspective. It sounds condescending too if I am honest. As if, these superior news readers know something I don’t. I always notice this on every
Read More »Hull – A Great Northern City
Today I realized that I hadn’t mentioned the Hull City Tigers and their return to the EPL. Well now I have. Yep, we got beat 2-0 at Chelsea in the opening game but I suspect most teams would have been swept aside by that performance. It will be an interesting ride this year but I am pumped! By the way, has anyone been to Hull recently??? I know most southerners get lost in the back woods north of Watford and that Hull is a really tough place to find but, it hasn’t half changed. Its really rather worth a visit chaps. Of course, anytime now, some lazy sod of a journalist is going to come up with the oh so original article title “To Hull and back” in relation to
Read More »The Secret Anti-Aging Formula…
There is a surreal feel about getting older. Inside, we tend to think of ourselves in a state of eternal youth. I guess for me that would be an age of say 25. From my thinking perspective, I feel no different than when I was in my mid-twenties. But then you catch a glimpse in the mirror or you see a photograph and there it is…. wrinkles, gray hair, paunch, double chin. Sad isn’t it? How people approach aging is also interesting. For some, any visible sign of aging is to be avoided. Anti-aging and anti-wrinkle creams, plastic surgery, injections of growth hormone, whatever it takes to fool mostly themselves into believing that they do not age. Billions upon countless billions spent pursuing eternal youth. The vast majority of us
Read More »Everyday Connections Interview
Unfortunately, technical issues meant this got cut short but I am assured it will be repeated in the near future…. Online Entertainment Radio at Blog Talk Radio with Everyday Connection on BlogTalkRadio
Read More »Beyond Family and Friends
Over 1700 people entered the Goodreads.com giveaway for The Last Observer and more than 700 have added it. Wouldn’t it be nice if 10% of those actually purchased the book? The two lucky winners were sent their copies today. One in the UK and one in the USA. Is it selling? I’m not sure. Lots of people tell me they have it or they plan to get it but the Amazon site suggests they aren’t buying it there as its not very highly ranked and few copies appear to have sold there. I guess I will see more end of next month when the publisher sends a report. It should sell. The reviews are all good to great. Its not over priced. I am just not sure how to get
Read More »Nova Scotian Fieldwork
I was lucky enough to visit Nova Scotia three years running for 6-weeks at a time between 1981 and 1983 to do geological fieldwork there. Actually, I spent most of my time on Cape Breton Island in and around Sydney – a coal mining region as well as a little time in Joggins of which more later. I also managed to get to Montreal on one trip and Ottawa on another ostensibly to visit museums and examine specimens there. The trip in 1981 will always stay in my memory. I had to hurriedly pass my driving test in the UK to go because I would need a rental car to get around. With just 3-weeks to take off, I failed. For undue hesitation I recall! The instructor might have considered
Read More »The Ride
The flight into Halifax was late and, as a result, I had missed the bus to Sydney on Cape Breton Island. It would be all day before there was another. As a PhD student on a tight budget, I could not afford to do anything but take the bus so what could I do? The answer was stand in the doorway of the airport periodically asking people if they were headed in that direction and if so, might they give me a ride? I stood there for about 30 minutes before two gentlemen approached and told me they may have a ride for me. Not them but a colleague was heading to Cape Breton in a rental car and he may be inclined to give me that ride. Eventually their
Read More »School Days
After posting the story of how I was nearly became a member of the rock group The Police, my best friend from those days – Steve – and I compared notes. He pointed out that not only was my memory correct but they also offered him a job as a roadie! And they did too…. However, posting that story got me to thinking. What a hell of a life I have had! Really, very few complaints – well, more money would always be useful but other than that…. So, my next few posts will deal with some events from my life and how I became me…. I couldn’t wait to leave home and Hull. Wolfreton School did me well in that I got a good education – 9 “O” levels,
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