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Continue reading →: Stuff about blogging and search engines
I am amazed at the search functions available online. Google is top dog, of course, but let’s not forget Bing, Ask and other more specialist search engines. Refining your search requires familiarity with the syntax that will get you what you want. Some tips about Google searching can be found…
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Continue reading →: Anti Smoking
As a former smoker, I am now very much against the idea that smokers have a right to pollute the air of others in enclosed spaces. That said, I don’t mind sitting outside a pub and breathing in the occasional whiff of tobacco smoke. Anti smoking posters range from the informative to…
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Continue reading →: Armenia
As Europe veers to the right it is worth remembering past atrocities carried out by authoritarian regimes in the last century or so. The Ottoman Turkish regime carried out the mass killing of Armenians, a fact that the Turkish government disputes to this day. There were approximately 2 million Armenians living…
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Continue reading →: Clean Monday
Another Bank Holiday and the kitchen cried out for cleaning. Dishes, floor, cupboard doors, vases and recycling-done. Now for the DIY, lawn mowing….nah, it will keep. The bees are on my side I’m sure. Not because they are anti DIY, I have no idea what their opinions are on that…
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Continue reading →: What’s in a name?
The shocking news that Blue Ribbon biscuits are in fact Blue Riband biscuits is gripping the nation. Never mind that 300 jobs in the UK will be lost and the factory shifted to Poland, one of the bastions of English teatime had us all hoodwinked with its cunning spelling. Dr Johnson’s…
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Continue reading →: Clive James on poetry
Clive James has a column in the Guardian’s Saturday colour supplement that is always worth a read. In the April 1st issue he took an American journalist to task for asserting in a book that “poetry is over.” No mean poet himself , Clive James in praise of Helen Hunt’s performance…
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Continue reading →: Dentistry – dentinogeneris imperfecta
It’s bad enough having to look at the ravages of time each morning in the bathroom mirror. When your teeth start breaking, it might be time for you to don your best sealskin coat and boots and head outdoors towards an icy oblivion. Luckily I am not an old-fashioned Inuit, so…
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Continue reading →: Crowdfunded politics
In the UK there is an organisation called MoreUnited founded by the former Liberal Democrat leader, Paddy Ashdown that is looking for contributions online. Their aim is to help get people elected who sign up for their core values. Is this another way to boost votes for the Liberal Democrats…
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Continue reading →: Macron vs Gerontocracy
The French political system has been described as a gerontocracy, in other words a society ruled by old men. This description could equally apply to authoritarian governments around the world. The ‘old boy network’ helps to maintain the status quo, where privilege and wealth are tickets to political power. Emmanuel Macron is…