tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50824822011-04-22T03:02:26.027+01:00Little to say for myselfPlignoreply@blogger.comBlogger1801100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1140624793301021592006-02-22T15:29:00.000Z2006-02-22T16:13:13.376Z

Fascinating.Reported in today's NY Times is the news that Bush would veto any attempt to block the takeover of certain US seaport terminals (New York, New Orleans, Miami and elsewhere), by Dubai Ports World. Apparently some members of Congress had said they would campaign to have the takeover blocked on security grounds.Aside from the obvious implication that Congress believes every Arab to be a

Plignoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1140523897113303612006-02-21T11:42:00.000Z2006-02-21T12:11:37.180Z

At first I thought I must have a masochistic streak a mile wide, for why else would I subscribe to the Daily Telegraph's daily news and sport emails? The fact is that they're one of the few mainstream news providers that still offer a free daily service that covers the stuff I want to read about. Most of their news coverage and pretty much all of the sport stuff is fine, but so many of the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1140103340668225072006-02-16T14:51:00.000Z2006-02-16T15:22:20.713Z

This sounds like a step forward to me - news of a successful pilot scheme that may result in women less than 9 weeks pregnant being able to have a chemically-induced abortion at home, rather than have to be admitted to hospital for the treatment.The bit that concerns me is this: "it is also likely to provoke controversy from anti-abortioncampaigners who will claim that home abortions would make

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1140014142281297542006-02-15T13:30:00.000Z2006-02-16T10:11:24.540Z

Nothing fuels my sense of scientific self-righteousness more than another blow to the Creationists and Intelligent Design advocates. OK, so I can give up the self-righteous bit.In talking about this at the coffee machine just now, I learned two little nuggets which help put things into perspective for me (as if I needed any more convincing).We must never forget that the Old Testament is a book

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1134656141555987052005-12-15T13:21:00.000Z2005-12-15T14:17:22.536Z

Yesterday I went to one of my favourite blogs, the Ex-Communicator's Livejournal, which is always a stimulating read, and saw this post about a recent scientific report. The report (from the journal Evolution and Human Behavior) was of observations of vervet monkeys playing with human toys. It seems that male vervets prefer to play with toy balls and trucks, and females prefer toy pots and pans,

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1132747978138738142005-11-23T10:25:00.000Z2005-11-23T12:12:58.180Z

With a certain curiosity I just read an opinion piece in the Telegraph, by Simon Heffer, called The Case for Capital Punishment. I clicked on the link purely out of curiosity as to what it might be about. I assumed that it couldn't be what it literally purported to be - as there is no longer a credible case for killing imprisoned criminals beyond a medieval lust for retribution - so it must be a

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1130767384121590152005-10-31T13:14:00.000Z2005-10-31T14:03:04.390Z

So, everyone's in a tizz about banning, or not banning, drinking on public transport now.They're missing the point again. Like the Police spokesperson said, it'd be of limited effect, because most of the drunks on trains and buses are already hammered when they get on board.I've said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't work to ban drinking, it works to place limits on the level of blood

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1130407411916550872005-10-27T10:41:00.000+01:002005-10-27T11:03:33.256+01:00

Pretty soon we're going to be able to sit in a pub or restaurant, in an atmosphere free from.... er, what exactly? Logic? Clarity? Principle?Most countries' non-smoking policies are drawn up to protect the employee's right to work in a hazard-free environment. It's a simple, clear and powerful stance.By arbitrarily exempting working men's clubs and working class pubs - er, I mean private clubs

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1129900789654261672005-10-21T14:06:00.000+01:002005-10-21T15:49:01.180+01:00

Who'd've thought it? Wishy washy liberal old me.It seems that the US Congress passed a law yesterday, protecting firearm manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits brought by the victims of shootings. Apparently this follows years of lobbying by one of the organisations I hate the most - the National Rifle Association.I was prompted to write about this just now, because I found myself agreeing with

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1128440373751100042005-10-04T15:35:00.000+01:002005-10-04T17:15:04.720+01:00

I was in the studio audience for BBC2's How Euro Are You? last night. It was a live broadcast, and supposedly a bit of fun, but it left me feeling a bit dissatisfied.That would be partly due to the appalling acoustics in Vinopolis (the massive warehouse-cum-wine-bar just south of London Bridge, where it was held), which made me strain to make out what the panel of "experts" was saying, and I

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1126274310980893172005-09-09T14:39:00.000+01:002005-09-09T15:02:58.653+01:00

Last Sunday afternoon, a bit of a scorcher, I popped out of the flat on an errand. When I got back an hour later I noticed the faint but distinctive smell of burnt paper. There was no smoke, and I looked around everywhere but couldn't see any traces of burning. There was nothing outside either - no distant bonfires or anything to explain it. So I forgot all about it.A couple of days later I

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1125659424150157912005-09-02T12:06:00.000+01:002005-09-02T12:12:36.863+01:00

It's a symptom of the debate about the licensing laws that people refer to them as "Drinking Laws". The irony is that the new laws don't relate to drinking at all - they relate only to the selling of drink.The message to the binge-drinkers out there is that they don't need to be personally responsible for how much they drink, since the "authorities" are doing that for them by restricting (now

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1105374900722764192005-01-10T16:17:00.000Z2005-01-10T16:35:00.723Z

If you're having a rough start to the week, and feeling like you're up against it, have a quick peek at Ellen MacArthur's Team Ellen website. This follows her progress, currently in the Southern Ocean approaching Cape Horn, in her bid to become the fastest ever sole circumnavigator. She's nearly 5 days ahead of the record holder after 44 days, with a third of the journey left to go. It's an

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1104859788765284952005-01-04T16:23:00.000Z2005-01-04T17:33:08.350Z

Theodore's at it again, with this opinion article in today's Telegraph. It's a bit like reading Dear Bill in Private Eye, but without the wit: That the British are now a nation of drunken brutes, justly despised throughout the world wherever they congregate in any numbers, is so obvious a fact that it should require no repetition. A brief visit to the centre of any British town or city on a

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1102439132935277832004-12-07T17:00:00.000Z2004-12-07T17:05:32.936Z

Whoever wrote this leader in today's Telegraph, about the "execrable" standards of British education, clearly lacks a certain level of mathematical education themselves. Basically, the article implies that the Government's lying when it says that educational standards are improving, because:According to Pisa's international league tables, the relative standards of attainment of British 15-

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1100604447941657012004-11-16T11:01:00.000Z2004-11-16T11:27:27.940Z

I've been out of communication for some months (as you can tell). Since my last post, every time I came to think about writing I had no real enthusiasm for it. I distinguished something about that a couple of weeks ago. I realised that the reasons I started writing my blog were threefold: I wanted to look goodI wanted to be right about thingsI wanted people to admire meAs a result of an

Plignoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1092056840381489832004-08-09T13:58:00.000+01:002004-08-09T14:07:51.353+01:00

I know I'm dreadfully behind the times finding this spoof on the government's recent pamphlet in the "Protect and Survive" stylee, but it tickled me enough to make sure nobody else misses out: Official site: http://www.preparingforemergencies.gov.uk/ Spoof site: http://www.preparingforemergencies.co.uk/ I particularly like the letter from HMG saying that they are very concerned that the

Plignoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1092048904416774392004-08-09T11:41:00.000+01:002004-08-09T11:55:04.416+01:00

Fascinating article by sports academic Lincoln Allison questioning the ban on performance-enhancing drugs from professional sport.Forty years ago, we applied rules on amateurism to top-class athletes. By the end of this century, our current official stance against drugs in sport will look every bit as risible.I've often thought it odd that people are so vocal against the use of these drugs, on

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1092038918341302472004-08-09T09:07:00.000+01:002004-08-09T09:08:38.340+01:00

So, the Tories are privately thinking about changing their party name to boost their popularity. This is on the basis that it worked for "New Labour" in 1994. As far as I can see, they need to consider a couple of things:the Labour Party never actually changed its name - in fact it was about the only thing it didn't change. A new party name indicates a rejection of all things past, which brings

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1091801028969150202004-08-06T14:58:00.000+01:002004-08-06T15:03:48.970+01:00

Incidentally, bear with me while I try to get a new comments facility going - my current one seems to have crapped out. In the mean time you can gmail me at tim{[(dot)]}waterfield{[(at)]}gmail{[(dot)]}com if you have something wildly pressing to say.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1091800518878736792004-08-06T14:50:00.000+01:002004-08-06T14:55:18.876+01:00

A lot has been made this week about the horrendous thunderstorms that hit London (more entertainingly, here), and the problems caused to the sewerage system. Londoners should count themselves lucky that it was such a mild shower. In Washington three weeks ago, I heard on the local radio about the rainfall of the previous day a bit to the north in New Jersey. It was sufficiently intense to merit a

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1091530310113112812004-08-03T11:40:00.000+01:002004-08-03T11:51:50.113+01:00

I've read reports suggesting that the Bush administration will play up the terrorist threat between now and the election, believing that voters' fear will cause them to back him in the "War on Terror". The reports hinted that the current high alert about potential targets in Washington and New York was conveniently timed to follow immediately after the Democratic Convention. I'm a bit puzzled by

Plignoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1090921857570691782004-07-26T10:47:00.000+01:002004-07-27T13:50:05.413+01:00

Been dashing about a bit recently. Will have lots of photos to post, once I get a bit of space. In the meantime, a quick diary update: Went to Montreal (with work) and Ottawa about a month ago, re-visiting good friends and introducing them to my partner. We were shown the usual amazing hospitality and had a great weekend in the lakes. On July 4, I crewed (along with 5 friends from work) in

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1089195158275589362004-07-07T11:10:00.000+01:002004-07-07T11:12:38.276+01:00

Thinking about this again last night, it's even less comfortable than I thought. I said that hitting children had nothing to do with the welfare or coaching of the children themselves - it was just an expression of frustration (i.e. anger) on the part of the parent at not getting their way. When I was telling my partner about what I'd written, and looked at it more closely, I realised something.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1089109332958197332004-07-06T11:14:00.000+01:002004-07-06T11:22:12.973+01:00

This leader in today's Torygraph welcomes the House of Lords rejection of a total ban on smacking children. It's interesting isn't it? When someone's passionate about something you don't agree with, they become a zealot. Or part of a "brigade". As a parent, I suppose I'd class myself as one of their anti-smacking zealots. Although I prefer to think of it as anti-hitting, or anti-assaulting, or

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1088603713413362152004-06-30T14:52:00.000+01:002004-06-30T14:55:13.413+01:00

No excuses. You know how it is - just not particularly moved to write anything in particular, and then I realise it's months since my last post. Then, as the time-gap gets bigger, the "significance" of the next post increases exponentially and I don't know what to write to "re-launch" things. Anyway, I've given all that bollocks up and I'm going to start by writing a typical example of the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1080948788056114472004-04-03T00:33:00.000+01:002004-04-03T00:36:48.280+01:00

How many cities do you know where you can see this right in the centre of town? Cambridge's Midsummer Common has allowed free grazing since the middle ages. We missed them a couple of years ago, due to the Foot and Mouth scare, but apart from that it marks the arrival of spring each year.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1080297344263462042004-03-26T10:35:00.000Z2004-03-26T10:46:42.200Z

I guess this isn't topical or ground-breaking, since I found it at Lycos, but it's a goodie nevertheless. There are few things more satisfying than seeing a politician confronted with his words, seconds after he denied them, referring to them as folklore invented by critics. It's particularly satisfying when the culprit is Donald Rumsfeld, a man who makes Richard M. Nixon look like Gandhi.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1079388953165672692004-03-15T22:15:00.000Z2004-03-21T17:35:58.110Z

I followed my normal route to work this morning, and I saw something that struck me as ridiculous. I'd seen it hundreds of times, but not really seen it. I may have been in a tetchy mood because I'd just been pulled over by a policeman for jumping a contra-flow red light at some roadworks - you know the kind of thing: where both lights stay on red long enough to allow for an old dear on a

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1078931369749762882004-03-10T15:09:00.000Z2004-03-10T15:12:38.263Z

"It was twenty years ago today" that I first arrived in Ottawa, an excited young man entering a new world. I remember stepping out of the airport into an amazingly crisp, cold night, and thinking "so this is North America". I was really nervous, and the excitement of having a big, new, American car at my disposal (all I had back home was a bicycle) and the prospect of several weeks of

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1078922078506066352004-03-10T12:34:00.000Z2004-03-10T12:42:09.373Z

Does this picture blow you away as it does me? Does it help put our little ball of warm rock into some sort of perspective? If it doesn't, sing along to this and you'll get it. I can feel a soap box moment coming on. Can you conceive of an idea so ludicrous as to suggest that all of this was created by a higher being, for the sole benefit of one species of animal found on some parts of the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1078832364182560372004-03-09T11:39:00.000Z2004-03-09T11:42:30.873Z

I was browsing some photos I took ages ago, and loved the contrasting clouds in the upper part of this: click on photo to enlarge

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1078309297810622312004-03-03T10:21:00.000Z2004-03-03T10:25:01.983Z

A lot has been made of the 11 out of 11 awards won by The Return of the King on Sunday, and I've seen and heard a few pieces about how this puts it alongside other movies that also won 11 Oscars®. Ben Hur won 11 out of 12 nominations, and Titanic got 11 out of 14. First small piece of trivia: only 2 out of the total haul of 33 were awarded for acting (Charlton Heston and Hugh Griffith for best

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1077991686769727522004-02-28T18:08:00.000Z2004-02-29T13:01:17.106Z

A couple of early morning shots taken from my hotel room window. Click to enlarge: Update: Actually, that was a lie. The less impressive and more long-winded truth is that they were in fact taken from the roof of the multi-storey car park behind the hotel. That was lazy of me. Must stop fibbing for effect.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1077988900274917322004-02-28T17:21:00.000Z2004-03-09T11:00:13.793Z

Given that pretty much all I can do at the moment is sit on my backside, I've got time to post more photos as promised. click to enlarge: Update: My partner has tactfully reminded me that one of the above photos (the abstract fairy lights) was taken by her. Muchas apologias. Come to think of it, I think at least one of the static photos of the uplighter in my earlier

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1077987510554681022004-02-28T16:58:00.000Z2004-02-28T18:35:01.343Z

Here's a fine to-do. I was up in the loft yesterday morning, preparing to move a whole load of clutter up there to make way for a party tonight. Muggins here (you wouldn't think I was a rocket scientist) had propped a ladder up against the loft hatch in my bedroom ceiling. As I started down the ladder for the third time, it slipped. Yes - I, a man with a brain the size of an asteroid, had just

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1077673884904932202004-02-25T01:51:00.000Z2004-02-25T02:28:02.890Z

As promised, a few snaps taken at a friend's birthday party in the (derelict) Strand Tube Station: Here's Alex celebrating his 50th birthday manning the decks in the old ticket office (click to enlarge): This phone booth had seen better days: I was fascinated by the range and depth of colour in the lampshade of a trendy uplighter thingy: Especially when I did the old "wiggly

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1077574298834887202004-02-23T22:11:00.000Z2004-02-23T22:14:25.750Z

Trade was pretty slow at this Toulouse restaurant spotted a couple of weeks ago. Can't think why.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1077117995899352382004-02-18T15:26:00.000Z2004-02-18T15:29:15.360Z

I've been in Toulouse for the last month (apart from the odd 24-hour visit home), testing a satellite, so apologies to those people out there (both of you) who might have happened upon this page and thought me dead. Got a few photos to show you - like the inside of the old (now derelict) Strand tube station, where I went to a friend's art exhibition and birthday party last month; and one or two

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1073915636345994592004-01-12T13:53:00.000Z2004-01-12T14:30:38.470Z

Blimey, doesn't time fly? Hello again. Just got back yesterday from a trip to Tokyo - my first visit to Japan. I noticed something striking within minutes of stepping out of my hotel in Akasaka, and then realised it was something Mr. Happy had also remarked when he visited there in July last year. There are no litter bins, and there is no litter. Towards the end of that first stroll I saw why. A

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1072091253759321002003-12-22T11:07:00.000Z2003-12-22T11:19:28.026Z

This Telegraph article by Dr. Theodore Dalrymple is darkly depressing, but, I think, misleadingly so.the horrible fact is that Ian Huntley was in many respects a perfectly normal young British male - normal in the statistical sense, that is, and within a certain social stratum. Only his superior educational accomplishments (nine GCSEs) and his two murders set him apart. As for Maxine Carr, she

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1071615232930957082003-12-16T22:53:00.000Z2003-12-17T08:55:52.183Z

Taken this morning from my bedroom window. Ths sky was just full of contrails, as if God had been doodling all night. Click on each image for an enlargement - worth waiting for...

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1071497587749918452003-12-15T14:13:00.000Z2003-12-15T14:20:33.723Z

At last - a mainstream article in yesterday's Observer about Landmark Education from the perspective of someone who has been there and done it, rather than from a cynical outsider:It claims to be about self-improvement but it's been accused of exploiting the gullible, even of being a cult. Others say it transforms their lives. So what is the Landmark Forum? And what does it do? Amelia Hill

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1070891457175886442003-12-08T13:50:00.000Z2003-12-08T13:51:09.236Z

Number 47: by strategic placement of carefully crafted foil shapes prior to roasting, you can create that holiday look for your festive table:

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1070271511807910992003-12-01T09:38:00.000Z2003-12-01T09:38:41.580Z

For the last month or so I've been receiving daily emails covering news, sport, arts, etc. from the Daily Telegraph, largely because the Guardian started charging a subscription fee for theirs and the Torygraph's are free. They serve adequately as a guide to the headlines (especially since my car radio's out of action at the mo), and have had good coverage of the rugby, but they've lacked any

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1069932951855851542003-11-27T11:35:00.000Z2003-11-27T11:36:00.476Z

As far as we're aware, we're surrounded by them. Wherever you look you see light and the things it illuminates. You hear sounds coming from all around you. Our eyes, ears and brain tell us they're all out there. We experience light and sound as things that exist out there, separate from us. Not true. There's only one place where light and sound exist. In your head. They're your invention. Think

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1069923733415406562003-11-27T09:02:00.000Z2003-11-27T09:02:22.470Z

An American surgeon struggles to get women volunteers to test his new orgasm machine. Yeah - I thought that too. Who on Earth would turn down an opportunity like that? However, it soon becomes clear that the "machine" involves implanting electrodes in the spine, and inserting a pacemaker-like control unit in the buttock. Eeeeuuuwww. Looks like we men may still manage to cling onto the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1069867349052156412003-11-26T17:22:00.000Z2003-11-26T17:22:37.643Z

The Great Communicator posts about a Grauniad article saying we all tell 200 lies a day, on average. She reckons that can't be true, at least in her case. Well, as I commented to her:We all tell AT LEAST 200 lies a day if you count that little voice in your head. You know the one - the one that just said "What little voice? I don't have a little voice in my head." We all think and say things

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1068842578531379092003-11-14T20:42:00.000Z2003-11-14T20:59:18.543Z

Climbing plant at the B&B Clouds over Freshwater Bay My son fishing for crabs Leaves in the garden at Freshwater Pine tree at Osborne House In the greenhouse at Osborne House The Undercliff sand at low tide Shadows on the Undercliff sands Cliff steps to the beach Freshwater stone Sunset over Freshwater Bay My son wrote my name with shadows

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1068738609486381002003-11-13T15:50:00.000Z2003-11-13T15:50:14.340Z

I heard Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi Governing Council on the Today programme this morning. He was being interviewed about the possible acceleration of western troop withdrawals (to boost Bush's electoral chances?). Click on the "listen again" link for 8:10am here if you want to hear it for yourself. He said he couldn't wait for the restrictions imposed by occupying troops in Iraq to be lifted or

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1068216739530844442003-11-07T14:52:00.000Z2003-11-12T16:17:31.850Z

One of the distinctions discussed in the Landmark Education is "being unreasonable" as a positive way of being. All through the course I was aware of a GBS quote along those lines, so when I got home I looked it up. Lo and behold, there was a whole raft of quotes from the great man that go a long way to representing the distinctions of the course - and without the danger of infringing copyright!

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1067944467183847822003-11-04T11:14:00.000Z2003-11-04T11:14:30.240Z

Oh, and by the way - it's my birthday today.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1067944088818877392003-11-04T11:08:00.000Z2003-11-04T11:10:11.150Z

I'm floating in a cloud of power and passion after the Landmark Advanced Course. It was wonderful. The final evening session is tonight, and I can't wait. Although I've had difficulty shutting up about who I now am, I have noticed a couple of things that have occurred in the world while I was out. It seems that the Tories will be relying on Michael Howard to lead Her Majesty's Opposition into

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1067471350178272702003-10-29T23:49:00.000Z2003-10-29T23:49:10.470Z

Been away again - this time to the slightly less exotic, but nevertheless lovely, Isle of Wight - for a long half-term weekend with my boys. Lots of photos to come (when I get time). Time is lacking because I'm off again tomorrow - this time for the four days of the Landmark Advanced Course. This follows on from the Forum I did at the beginning of the month. I hope it's as momentous and moving

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1066913138736494872003-10-23T13:45:00.000+01:002003-10-23T13:45:38.446+01:00

Just been away crewing in my first yachting regatta - "Ariane's Cup" - in the Aegean. It's an annual event bringing together all the European space companies, at a different location each year, with plenty of boozing, eating and singing, and with a little bit of yacht-racing thrown in. There were 90-odd boats and about 750 crew taking part, mainly from France, Germany and the UK, but also from

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065972524977199862003-10-12T16:28:00.000+01:002003-10-12T16:28:44.783+01:00

The Great Communicator has a couple of good posts about movie scenes. This is what I commented on the second one:What a great idea, to think of great scenes rather than great movies, since there are masses of great moments in otherwise mediocre films that would be forgotten. One of my all-time favourite scenes is in (the mediocre) Forrest Gump, when Forrest sees his son for the first time in

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065780856194627812003-10-10T11:14:00.000+01:002003-10-10T11:14:16.216+01:00

From the BBC this morning:The engineering firm Jarvis is to give up all its contracts for carrying out day-to-day maintenance on the rail network. Jarvis told Network Rail it was worried about its profits and reputation.Reassuring isn't it? What do you do when your alleged negligence causes several deaths? Do you make extraordinary efforts to put things right, to regain some integrity, and to

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065708124853194982003-10-09T15:02:00.000+01:002003-10-09T15:02:05.010+01:00

Wendy links to an interesting story on Yahoo!:The Federal Communications Commission decided that U2 singer Bono's utterance of an obscenity during this year's broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards did not constitute a violation of the nation's broadcast indecency rules. On Monday, the government agency's Enforcement Bureau rejected complaints by the Parents Television Council and others that

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065532374339049462003-10-07T14:12:00.000+01:002003-10-07T14:15:42.960+01:00

I feel amazing. I've already got several people worried - they think I've been brainwashed, I'm so different. Well, this is me from now on, so they'd better get over it. I can't possibly explain here what the experience was like, and there'd be no point. Besides the fact that I'm bound by confidentiality, you don't know me as a person, so I can't explain it with reference to what you already "

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065112177890289132003-10-02T17:28:00.000+01:002003-10-02T17:29:37.700+01:00

Well, this is my last post before I embark on the Landmark Forum. By Tuesday night I'll be a different animal. Quite which species, I've yet to find out. In the meantime: it's been emotional.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065097861704300902003-10-02T13:29:00.000+01:002003-10-02T13:31:01.460+01:00

There was a really interesting edition of The Commission on R4 last night, about the issue of sex selection (in unborn children). I'm not sure if it was timed to coincide with yesterday's court case, but it was really pertinent to what I was trying to say in that last post about parental "ownership" of their children's lives. You should listen to it. I did while driving home, and was alternately

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065032118527844782003-10-01T19:14:00.000+01:002003-10-01T19:15:57.863+01:00

The High Court's decision today, to deny two women the right to implant frozen embryos against the wishes of the biological fathers (their ex-partners), is right. It's crushingly sad that these women can now not conceive more children of their own, and I don't want to diminish that sadness, but there's more at stake here than what these two women want. There are three reasons why I think the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1065001382400424162003-10-01T10:42:00.000+01:002003-10-01T10:43:02.203+01:00

How many words can you think of that sound like they are a plural, but are treated as singular? Offhand I can think of two:News (as in "here is the news")Bollocks (as in "that is bollocks")Any more?

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1064920046614715452003-09-30T12:02:00.000+01:002003-09-30T12:07:26.750+01:00

Interesting to hear this this morning. There are moves afoot in the US to set up an independent inquiry into suspicious circumstances surrounding the attempt to discredit someone critical of the government's reasoning for going to war with Iraq. Sound familiar? The person in question is Joseph Wilson, the subject of this excellent post by Iain last week, who points to a recent interview with

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1064873248486896612003-09-29T23:07:00.000+01:002003-09-29T23:09:37.770+01:00

You know how you sometimes forget you have a passion for something? Well I just remembered this evening how much I love taking photos, and realised I hadn't yet downloaded some I took a month ago. This is the pick of the crop:

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1064487912881392862003-09-25T12:03:00.000+01:002003-09-25T12:06:27.120+01:00

For reasons too obscure to go into here, I just Googled up "outside a chip shop in" and was greeted with a list of local news reports. It seems that if you're bored and want a savoury snack and some unsavoury action, pop out to your local chippy in: Dundalk Cork Sligo Luton Markey Drayton Nantwich Blackheath Glodwick Dublin Kirkby Stephen Newcastle Altrincham Tottenham Exeter Hackney Ballyfermot

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1064323999912334972003-09-23T14:32:00.000+01:002003-09-23T14:33:19.643+01:00

This is great. I heard some people on the radio this morning complaining about it, saying that it was unfair for students from under-resourced state schools, with equal or lower A-level grades, to be preferred to other students with grades achieved at independent and private schools with masses of advantages. They argued it should be based on grades only, otherwise it was unfair. They want it

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063898861739226672003-09-18T16:25:00.000+01:002003-09-18T16:27:41.583+01:00

It feels a bit confessional to admit it, but I've been thinking about the soon-to-be-enacted L.A. law I mentioned yesterday - the one imposing a 2-metre "total exclusion zone" around strippers in clubs (i.e. banning lap-dancing). The reason given was that it's a response to local complaints of prostitution and other illegal activity in and around the clubs. I can't see exactly how this measure

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063872994361705222003-09-18T09:13:00.000+01:002003-09-18T09:16:34.343+01:00

Some more amazing optical illusions, via memepool - who I linked to via Bob, who commented to Meg that he'd fasted (i.e. water only) for 30 days once while getting on with his life, hence corroborating my theory about Blaine.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063805700354179852003-09-17T14:32:00.000+01:002003-09-17T14:35:00.053+01:00

You know what was the main thing that struck me about lap-dancing being banned in L.A.? "So - the US is finally going metric." Nothing that happens there surprises me any more..... P.S. If I were a smart L.A.-based entrepreneur, I'd develop a sequinned kiddie-style fishing net with a 2 metre long handle - for collecting tips.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063800648881577632003-09-17T13:09:00.000+01:002003-09-17T13:10:48.900+01:00

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteres are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. Initsereg.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063796711828402562003-09-17T12:03:00.000+01:002003-09-17T12:05:12.006+01:00

Meg saw David Blaine in his box recently, and had good things to say about the fact that he's supposedly going to earn millions for choosing to do something that the poorest in the world can't avoid. The fact that he's volunteered for it doesn't make it impressive. There are masses of people out there who would do the same willingly if they thought they'd be paid the same amount. 's a funny

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063621600267921992003-09-15T11:25:00.000+01:002003-09-17T13:38:14.473+01:00

Just completed a voluntary questionnaire for the French website ViaMichelin, which incidentally is a great site for European roadmaps and town plans, as well as route planning, hotels etc. I was interested in the different cultural slant on hobbies and interests (from what I'm used to with a UK-based organisation), which gives an insight into our similarities and differences:Quels sont vos

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063191425067883982003-09-10T11:55:00.000+01:002003-09-10T11:57:04.953+01:00

Being a woolly-headed liberal I have problems being forthright, one way or the other, about this article, which reports on the fact that cluster bombs are being exhibited at an arms fair in London. Obviously I'm appalled at the prospect of children playing with unexploded bomblets and being killed or injured. On one level, any lethal weapon - something expressly designed, built and delivered

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1063110822688808502003-09-09T13:32:00.000+01:002003-09-09T13:33:42.700+01:00

Courtesy of What You Can Get Away With:

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Bush's speech last night (full text here) makes me fulminate - again. Apparently:"Iraq is now the central front [in the war on terrorism]."So whose bloody fault is that then? Let's ignore for one moment the definition of terrorism. After all, parallels could easily be drawn between the killings in occupied Iraq and the actions of, say, the Free French in occupied France during WWII. Were they

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1062894015499207802003-09-07T01:20:00.000+01:002003-09-07T01:38:02.783+01:00

The Great Communicator links to this article about a recent Doonesbury cartoon. It referred to the recent evidence that regular masturbation reduces prostate cancer risk in certain age groups. I mentioned the news at the time, albeit light-heartedly. In the article it seems that 19 out of 34 newspapers polled said that they would not publish the strip, because it included the M word. It's just

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1062776832188844842003-09-05T16:43:00.000+01:002003-09-05T16:50:58.866+01:00

I'm not a fan of the program myself. I only clicked on this op-ed link because I thought it referred to the Sissy Spacek version of Carrie, rather than the Sarah Jessica Parker one. However, my disappointment deepened when I read it.The show may deserve a nod for spotlighting women's conversation, for treating sexuality frankly and for rendering the traditionally stigmatized state of being a

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1062681932077216292003-09-04T14:25:00.000+01:002003-09-04T14:28:35.180+01:00

Does anyone remember that series on the Beeb many years ago, fronted by smarmy erstwhile Tomorrow's World presenter James Burke, where he explained the mechanism for technological progress in terms of a contrived series of links between contemporaneous but completely independent discoveries? You don't? Well, whatever - I've just made one of those connections myself. Consecutive items on Today

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1062673802050143332003-09-04T12:10:00.000+01:002003-09-04T12:10:02.083+01:00

This morning's execution of a pro-life murderer (how's that for an oxymoron?) leaves me all over the place:he had carried out the killings "to prevent innocent babies being killed". In what way does killing a doctor and his driver stop abortions from being carried out? Wouldn't the abortions just be carried out by someone else?How many women with unwanted pregnancies are going to change their

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1062616781844758402003-09-03T20:19:00.000+01:002003-09-03T20:25:31.070+01:00

This is a propos of nothing, other than the fact that I haven't posted much for ages, and this thought came back into my head this morning. Like many others, I really enjoyed reading Nick Hornby's High Fidelity a few years back - mainly for its exposition of how the "bloke" mind works. (If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, but intend to, then read no further - the plot details will

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1061562691679049902003-08-22T15:31:00.000+01:002003-08-22T15:31:31.610+01:00

Did you notice the deliberate mistake in that previous post? "their own suicide" Whose else would it be?

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1061562399155137082003-08-22T15:26:00.000+01:002003-08-22T15:26:39.113+01:00

Another example of brainless sensationalising. Both TV news last night and the newspapers this morning led with what they seem to think is the juiciest morsel yet to come out of the Hutton inquiry: that David Kelly foretold his own end - in February. What complete and utter bollocks. The man had just been explaining to a colleague that:he'd assured the Iraqis that if they co-operated with the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1061383514206843842003-08-20T13:45:00.000+01:002003-08-20T13:45:14.090+01:00

Maybe I'm getting too up-my-own-arse, but yesterday I turned up at work clean-shaven, after three years with the full beard in the photo. So far only two people, out of the thirty or so I've encountered, have shown any indication of noticing. This means that the others:genuinely haven't noticed (because they never noticed the beard in the first place) and I wildly over-estimate the significance

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1061365100725102472003-08-20T08:38:00.000+01:002003-08-20T08:38:20.740+01:00

I realise that this is another media-driven whinge, but one of the myriad things that affect me is the propensity our leaders have for making statements of the bleeding obvious every time there's an atrocity like yesterday's bombing of the UN HQ in Baghdad. I suppose it's the fault of the media sticking microphones under their noses and demanding that they say something - as if they're going to

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1061221637034443122003-08-18T16:47:00.000+01:002003-08-18T17:06:26.293+01:00

For some months I've become less and less a fan of the Today programme on R4 - but I couldn't put my finger on why. Reading this article by Roy Hattersley has spelled it out to me. I know his view is hardly impartial, having been on the sticky end of more than a few confrontations with Humphrys, Naughtie and the like, but thanks all the same Roy.A radio news show Today undoubtedly is. But it is a

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1060785767957541462003-08-13T15:42:00.000+01:002003-08-13T15:49:43.843+01:00

As I have said before, I'm an engineer working in a multinational company that designs and builds spacecraft. The company is currently going through massive rationalisation across national borders in an attempt to become more competitive in a shrinking market. Doing the rounds this week has been the following anonymous email from within Boeing. Whilst the spacecraft business has its differences

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1060693746788101832003-08-12T14:09:00.000+01:002003-08-12T14:09:06.790+01:00

I'm vexed by all this talk about talks over the plight of UK citizens held in Guantanamo bay (the issue is summarised neatly here). I know we should be grateful for small mercies, and believe me I am, but I'm also concerned about the implied message being sent across the world. I have a number of questions:Has the "leniency" (no death penalty) offered to UK citizens been offered to citizens of

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1060035186578059482003-08-04T23:13:00.000+01:002003-08-04T23:13:06.583+01:00

Well I'm off for a few days again, but this time it's for ME! Well, for a certain lovely woman and me. I can't tell you how excited I am about this - just take it from me that I've been looking forward to the next five days for weeks and weeks. Five days of searing mediterranean heat (by all accounts), lots of Matisse, Chagall, Picasso, Leger, Van Gogh and many more, meeting old friends and

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1059694045980284562003-08-01T00:27:00.000+01:002003-08-01T02:08:02.666+01:00

If only we could. How come the Vatican gets away with publishing downright bigotry, and flouts the hard-won equality legislation of every civlised country? If I were a journalist who printed statements like"Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law."or[allowing children to be adopted by gays and lesbians] "would actually mean doing violence to these children"I'd be

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1058880170209570982003-07-22T14:22:00.000+01:002003-07-22T14:38:36.233+01:00

The longest commute in Europe has very little to do with poor public transport. That's a symptom of the problem, not its cause. It can be blamed squarely on the British weather, but not because of the famed "leaves on the line" and the "wrong kind of snow" that make such good seasonal copy. I reckon it's because the weather here is too good. The British are a nation of gardeners, helped by the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1058865741629600072003-07-22T10:22:00.000+01:002003-07-22T10:32:17.776+01:00

Search me. I'll investigate. In the mean time, Iain tried to comment on my post about wanking with something that deserves to be read:They're talking about banning smoking in pubs. This gives me an idea for a politically popular quid pro quo.Iain, such a proposal would tax even your powers of eloquence, although I'd like to be there to see the motion (and the show of hands afterwards) at the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1058790488399147692003-07-21T13:28:00.000+01:002003-07-21T13:36:59.016+01:00

So about this first visit to the southern hemisphere: I was lucky to have enough time to do a whirlwind tour of the city, and managed to squeeze off 174 photos before my camera memory ran out. It has to be said that about 40 of them were of the Opera House. In the end I conceded that there just isn't a best view of it - it looks amazing from every angle. Given that Sydney must be one of the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1058445845110855492003-07-17T13:44:00.000+01:002003-07-17T13:44:05.013+01:00

This is fantastic. Now maybe we'll get some decent magazines in hospital waiting rooms.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1058279119871508032003-07-15T15:25:00.000+01:002003-07-15T22:52:21.126+01:00

Does it strike anyone else as odd that airlines are so trusting of their passengers that they rely on their goodwill to switch off their mobile phones to avoid interfering with the plane's navigation system? They never check whether you have actually done it. This isn't consistent with their extreme conservatism as regards safety in other matters. There was the freak accident in 2000 when an Air

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1057590149395810352003-07-07T16:02:00.000+01:002003-07-07T16:02:29.300+01:00

This afternoon I'm off on a preposterous journey. I'm flying 11000 miles to Sydney for a four-hour meeting, and then flying back. I'll be back (just) in time for my aunt and uncle's golden wedding bash on Sunday. I hope they're not expecting anything intelligible from me after 23 hours in an aluminium tube.

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1057589131201253732003-07-07T15:45:00.000+01:002003-07-07T15:55:53.630+01:00

The Church of England had better believe in an afterlife, because it's vital signs are looking decidedly dodgy. This is an organisation which promotes itself as a paragon of tolerance and the "love thy neighbour" values of Jesus Christ. At the same time it flies in the face of equal rights principles to the extent that it allows the prejudices within its ranks to force a worthy employee out of

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1056991787625387812003-06-30T17:49:00.000+01:002003-06-30T18:03:55.613+01:00

It really is a "high horse" day for me today. The retiring head of the BMA said yesterday "The right to practise medicine as a professional and not a government bean counter is worth fighting for". I have a lot of empathy with highly-trained people who want nothing more than to practise their specialism with minimal interference from lay managers. The cornerstone of being a specialist is the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1056969668853068522003-06-30T11:41:00.000+01:002003-06-30T11:45:11.173+01:00

Two things this morning: one trivial, one not. Trivia first: Last night, shortly after midnight, I made the mistake of a final browse through the TV channels before switching off, and lighted on the start of an episode of "Law and Order" on Sky One. Never having seen it before, I was intrigued that they seemed to have the name arse-about-face. It's a crime series where the title refers to the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082482.post-1056916971355582722003-06-29T21:02:00.000+01:002003-06-29T21:46:34.533+01:00

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I did a stint of work in Toulouse recently. As is often the case with such trips, I only had one day off while I was there, so I made the most of it. I went to Albi to re-live my first visit a few years back. The main attraction is the extraordinary Saint Cécile's Cathedral, although the Toulouse Lautrec Museum is also worth the trip. The cathedral is the

Plignoreply@blogger.com0