tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3181172496475172342012-01-31T11:19:20.041ZMiscellaneous thoughts about anything, either topical or not, that arouses my interest.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.comBlogger3231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-47746650708712206102012-01-31T11:19:00.000Z2012-01-31T11:19:20.047Z

Recently several emails have not reached their destinations, though they were sent to valid addresses, and I received no error messages. All the messages had a particular attachment, consisting of a file created by zipping a folder containing instructions for connecting to a web site that I manage. There were three files in the folder. A batch file that opened a DOS window to make an ftp

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-69355439704827731012012-01-30T10:53:00.000Z2012-01-30T10:53:16.858Z

The Archbishop of York recently objected to proposals to allow marriage between people of the same gender. As reported in the media, his argument stressed the linguistic impropriety of using the word ‘marriage’ in a different sense from the customary one, but I suspect that his objection was not primarily a defence of linguistic usage. It is in some places the custom for one man to have several

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-16038566383601117102012-01-28T15:04:00.000Z2012-01-28T15:04:22.195Z

While I was in town this morning, it seemed very cold, but when I returned home it seemed relatively mild, suggesting that the City centre was colder than the Eastern suburbs - quite the opposite of what one would expect.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-87562745510470810842012-01-24T22:28:00.000Z2012-01-24T22:28:00.883Z

I spotted some crocuses in flower today, they looked as though they'd been out for several days but they were in a tub tucked away behind a shrub where they weren't easily spotted during my brief January incursions into the garden. I wonder why 'crocuses' doesn't have a double 's'.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-90214870146558777622012-01-12T16:54:00.000Z2012-01-12T16:54:15.165Z

It suddenly struck me that if there were a God, he'd have no need to communicate indirectly through the ambiguous words of ancient revelations, but could just call a press conference. As there's no divine press conference, there is no God. All the poring over sacred texts, and puzzling over metaphysical arguments, are quite useless except perhaps as exercises in linguistics and logic.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-74212578332552882662012-01-01T12:11:00.000Z2012-01-01T12:11:04.071Z

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of fireworks, and noticed it was 4:20 am. I thought it strange that people should show such enthusiasm for celebrating nothing in particular. That a new year begins today is a mater of convention, an artefact of our measuring system. I don't find it at all exciting. It makes sense to have a few parties to relieve the gloom of the long nights and

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-431961366767009142011-12-31T15:01:00.000Z2011-12-31T15:01:38.271Z

In the 1980's we had high hopes for the future of light pens, but I had't seen one for many years, until a bank asked me to sign on a screen with one. The problem seems to be price. An internet search suggested prices of the order of 150 dollars, much much more than even a very elaborate mouse.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-61567034627044910592011-12-30T10:20:00.000Z2011-12-30T10:20:40.407Z

I've just noticed that my daphne is coming into flower. It usually flowers early in the year, around February or March, but I don't recall it ever flowering as early as this.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-26491104418836498372011-12-24T15:51:00.000Z2011-12-24T15:51:23.336Z

I was surprised how quiet it was in the city centre this afternoon. Despite the fine weather there were far fewer people milling about than on a normal Saturday, and many shops were almost empty.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-45621400234003211782011-12-23T23:29:00.000Z2011-12-23T23:29:00.170Z

Yesterday I read a news flash to the effect that the French National Assembly has legislated to make it illegal to deny that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Turkish soldiers was genocide. ‘genocide’ is a slippery term with no precise generally accepted precise, and there is room for differences of interpretation. This legislation makes it illegal to discuss the question in France. It also

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-21108169062052760612011-12-22T16:05:00.000Z2011-12-22T16:05:37.188Z

This year I decided not to send any Christmas cards. Eventually I did send a few, mostly to accompany presents, but the total must be in single figures. For a long time I’ve been irritated by the way the postal service is swamped by pieces of expensive cardboard, so that letters that matter are delayed. More recently I started to wonder what Christmas cards are supposed to achieve. When I

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-76066405725012202262011-12-17T15:42:00.000Z2011-12-17T15:42:49.610Z

This morning I gathered some apples from my Bramley apple tree. The fruits seemed unharmed by the few light frosts we've had so far this year. I don't recall ever before gathering anything edible so late in the year.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-7218864605278809252011-12-04T10:36:00.000Z2011-12-04T10:36:41.829Z

I've recently been surprised how quickly my socks develop holes. I buy socks in packets of half a dozen or so, yet a packet seems to last only a few months. I think that next time I buy a packet I shall record the life of its contents. In what strange ways do we pensioners while away our twilight years !!

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-64870896336235801252011-11-30T10:38:00.000Z2011-11-30T10:38:20.100Z

My entries in this blog tend to cluster. There are periods of a week or two when I post nothing here, and other periods when I think of something almost every day. I noticed something similar when I was writing my Philosophy notes, now almost complete, by the way. There were periods when I wrote very little, and others when I scribbled away in almost every spare moment. Some would say the

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-60839602647343696072011-11-28T17:17:00.001Z2011-11-28T17:18:46.718Z

From time to time I hear comments about Mormon Underwear. Yesterday I investigated and found the following link: !!!!

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-76795704202437194212011-11-27T15:17:00.000Z2011-11-27T15:17:15.048Z

It recently struck me that a blog resembles the commonplace books people used to keep, in which they would record any events or quotations that struck them as interesting, and any thoughts that came into their heads, occasionally adding little illustrations. The principal difference is that blogs are usually public, or at least usually accessible by a moderately large audience, whereas a

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-72131709731030857002011-11-26T10:56:00.000Z2011-11-26T10:56:01.417Z

I've just walked round the garden checking which plants are in flower. I found plants of 14 different species in flower, the total number of individual plants was considerably greater. I also found 3 different species displaying colourful berries.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-61409383137877686822011-11-25T20:34:00.000Z2011-11-25T20:34:14.839Z

I usually have lots of spare cooking apples at this time of year. Large unblemished apples I wrap individually in newspaper and store, but there are lots of apples that fall out of the tree and won't keep because they are bruised. I usually cut out any bad bits, peel and core them, cook them down to a pulp, freezing what I don't want to eat immediately. Usually I sweeten the apple pulp by

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-73629094874931840782011-11-23T17:33:00.000Z2011-11-23T17:33:30.055Z

Imperial Tobacco has just produced a paper claiming that there is no statistically significant evidence that passive smoking is a danger to health. The company does not refer to any investigation conducted by itself, but simply criticises other studies, mainly because investigators did not themselves measure the period of exposure to second hand smoke, or the intensity of atmospheric pollution,

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-41838762111357673882011-11-22T15:20:00.000Z2011-11-22T15:20:40.923Z

Quite a few shops are making such offers, especially for pretty packages of odds and ends intended as Christmas presents. So many items are covered by such offers that I doubt if they are what are called 'loss leaders' and suspect that the profit margin is so high that selling three items for the price of two makes more profit than selling just one item. A little algebra, which I leave as an

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-56048306256002467452011-11-19T17:43:00.000Z2011-11-19T17:43:38.518Z

We often hear complaints that businesses cannot afford to borrow money, yet interest rates offered to lenders are below the inflation rate, indicating that real interest rates are negative. Thus borrowers are repaying less than they borrow. Businesses that that can't afford to repay what they borrow must be destroying value, instead of creating it, and shouldn't be in business at all.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-42940765561018536362011-11-17T16:08:00.000Z2011-11-17T16:08:22.411Z

This morning I gathered quite a few ripe tomatoes, in three different colours (red, yellow and green), from plants in my greenhouse. The plants are dying now, so there won't be much more fruit, but it was still gratifying to be able to gather them so late in the year.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-52467543759782793822011-11-12T11:32:00.000Z2011-11-12T11:32:25.687Z

There seemed to be fewer fireworks hereabouts, and I didn't find the usual bits of rocket scattered around the garden, and it wasn't until I put washing out to dry this morning that I noticed the soot on the washing line. I always wipe the washing line with a damp kitchen towel before pegging out my washing. Usually that leaves just faint stripes of grime on the towel; today the stripes were

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-46294379417372416972011-10-24T16:45:00.000+01:002011-10-24T16:45:24.812+01:00

I've been using long life bulbs for about 20 years, but notice that we are now discouraged from putting spent bulbs in the dustbin. In Leicester we are offered a choice of two Community Recycling Centres. One is near Freemen's Common (misspelt as 'Freemans Common' on the Council Leaflet) which is two bus journeys away from me. The other is on Bridge Road. I might be lucky there because there's

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-32432627948822504592011-10-22T10:47:00.000+01:002011-10-22T10:47:35.248+01:00

I just watched a television interview with someone who found it difficult to pay his fuel bill. I noticed that he was wearing an open necked shirt, but no pullover or jacket. Today many people keep their houses much hotter than necessary and walk around half dressed. I sometimes think central heating is to be regretted.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-84551186305051119692011-10-15T11:18:00.000+01:002011-10-15T11:18:28.214+01:00

When a recent television news programme showed a footballer called 'Wayne Rooney' kicking another footballer, I thought 'I bet he wouldn't be any good at flower arranging'. It was a surprising association of ideas, because there was nothing about flowers in that programme, and I handn't been thinking about them before I watched the programme. Perhaps there is a primitive inclination to connect

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-82774765293223559192011-10-12T10:25:00.001+01:002011-10-12T22:57:32.587+01:00

Israelis and Palestinians have agreed to exchange 1027 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for one Israeli held prisoner by Palestinians. It appears that both sides agree that one Israeli is worth 1027 Palestinians. One can understand that some Israelis might make that evaluation, but it is very revealing that Palestinian authorities agree.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-25772046737812290982011-10-11T11:09:00.000+01:002011-10-11T11:09:04.245+01:00

I'm revising my Notes on Philosophy chapter by chapter and am now wrestling with Politics, and am finding it very boring. To a considerable extent political thought involves creating elaborate systems of fallacious argument to provide a smokescreen for bossy people to tell other people what to do, and to give themselves an excuse doing so with self righteous pomposity. Worst of all, many of

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-52819258197553693122011-09-25T11:13:00.000+01:002011-09-25T11:13:53.335+01:00

Neutrinos appears to have travelled slightly faster than light. BBC reports suggest that that refuted e = mc2 which connects energy to mass, yet the observations have no direct relevance to that, what they do challenge in the Lorentz Transformation. A general revision of the theory of relativity might involve changes in many formulae accepted today, but it it too early to jump to the

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-60468944259907117792011-09-16T12:52:00.000+01:002011-09-16T12:52:55.613+01:00

The revision of my notes on Philosophy recently reached the chapter on Ethics, and I realised that there was nothing there about sex. That's not as surprising as it might seem, because much pontification about sex consists of proposals to apply to sexual behaviour special rules and restrictions that are not applied to other behaviour, while I think that the same general rules apply to any

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-24437630187634211112011-09-15T17:28:00.000+01:002011-09-15T17:28:42.972+01:00

I went into a card shop today, looking for birthday cards, and found that about half the display space was taken up by Christmas Cards. Perhaps we should have Christmas right away and get it over. We could enliven the end of December with a revived Saturnalia.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-2662623772662099532011-09-14T11:14:00.000+01:002011-09-14T11:14:41.293+01:00

I recently came across this faux proverb: A pizza without anchovies is like an egg without a moustache So much of what people say solemnly is similarly mad, but less obvious. If only I were creative I might try to write a story entitled The egg that lost its moustache

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-46541070231553372952011-08-29T20:53:00.000+01:002011-08-29T20:53:04.775+01:00

I recently bought some unusually shaped peaches. The are roughly disk shaped. One market stall compared them to doughnuts. I liked them very much. They were ripe sweet, and easily skinned. I prefer peaches skinned because I don't share the cats' liking for furry food. I strongly recommend flat peaches.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-12944644778817619162011-08-23T16:30:00.000+01:002011-08-23T16:30:49.591+01:00

My Philosophy notes continue to distract me from other things. I've just edited two more chapters so I've now checked this first six chapters this Summer. The latest versions are now on my web site

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-52678841354004641262011-08-18T12:09:00.000+01:002011-08-18T12:09:15.072+01:00

Earlier this week I noticed that I was no longer receiving automated nuisance messages by telephone, and enjoyed the freedom from interruption. Then, yesterday evening, a friend appeared unannounced to ask if I were still alive - he'd been getting no reply to phone calls, and is the only member of my circle who has no Internet access. It turns out that my phone line is out of order, so,

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-10700869420966563572011-08-17T17:34:00.000+01:002011-08-17T17:34:33.801+01:00

Earlier today I made a comment about C. S. Peirce on an American website, and the spell checker objected to the spelling. I assume it was an American spell-checker, so it seemed very odd that it should not be able to spell the name of America's most distinguished Philosopher. I notice that the spell checker on this site can't spell it either. Alas for America !!

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-85584484564050282412011-08-14T15:15:00.000+01:002011-08-14T15:15:49.806+01:00

I've just checked my web site statistics for the last three months, and found that only about 3% of visitors have screens less than 1000 pixels wide, and only 33.6% used Microsoft Internet Explorer, though that was still the most popular browser, with Chrome and Firefox close behind. I've designed the picture pages of my site to accommodate screens just over 800 pixels wide; I'm thinking of

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-63781384405478369552011-08-11T17:26:00.000+01:002011-08-11T17:26:53.243+01:00

My excuse for my recent neglect of this blog is pre-occupation with a revision my Philosophy notes. I've started at the beginning and corrected, and in a few places extended, the first four chapters. The revised versions are on my website here. I should be especially interested to hear from anyone who tries the logic exercise in Chapter 2.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-44605288769382088972011-07-22T10:41:00.000+01:002011-07-22T10:41:12.007+01:00

When individuals or companies go bankrupt, their assets are administered, and usually sold, by agents of the creditors to pay as high a proportion as possible of the debt. States are treated with surprising leniency. Discussion of the possibility of a Greek default rarely mentions the sale of Greek Government assets, yet those must be considerable. Governments usually own many buildings in

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-60430140385295285432011-07-18T16:25:00.000+01:002011-07-18T16:25:58.154+01:00

I was unhappy to learn that the recent turmoil in the Metropolitan Police Force has resulted in a promotion for Ms. Cressida Dick. It was she who presided over an anti-terrorist operation in the course of which armed police arrived three and a half hours late, and made up for lost time by shooting a plumber. Should that become the standard way of dealing with crises, Londoners with blocked

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-19710528108356574632011-07-15T23:22:00.001+01:002011-07-15T23:22:05.399+01:00

At a recent meeting of the Leicester U3A a visiting speaker talked about South Korea. What most impressed me was what he told us about the Korean Alphabet This was apparently designed so that each letter represented the physical process by which we make the corresponding sound.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-87890331849083236192011-07-09T17:20:00.001+01:002011-07-09T17:20:25.447+01:00

Curiosity recently led me to buy a carton of mascarpone Cheese. It tasted like cream, with the addition of just a hint of cheese. For many purposes it would be an acceptable alternative to cream or even to butter. It seems to go well with jam, and when I spread some on a slice of bread it formed a perfectly good basis for my breakfast marmalade, However, at £2-25 of 250 grams, it costs nearly

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-71329813346958051652011-07-07T09:50:00.000+01:002011-07-07T09:50:59.294+01:00

Quiite frequently I hear someone claim that either that person, or people in general, have aquired some idea 'by osmosis' Osmosis is a process occurring when two solutions of different concentrations are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, that is a membrane that allows the passage of solvent but not solute. I see no analogy between that process and the transfer of ideas from one person to

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-34536832690889245922011-07-06T16:21:00.000+01:002011-07-06T16:21:56.706+01:00

Two friends who use ntlworld.com email addresses reported trouble with email much of which was being misdiagnosed as spam. Although I have an ntl email address I don't use it, but I decided to log on to my ntl account and inspect the mail. Examining the spam box I found just one message - an email from Virgin Media telling me about a new security system they've just introduced. Meditate

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-11360296153348785412011-06-30T17:38:00.000+01:002011-06-30T17:38:50.646+01:00

I can't remember for how long people have said 'industrial action' when they mean 'strike'. 'Industrial action' conjures up in my mind's eye a picture of labourers marching on Whitehall brandishing their sledgehammers and crowbars but the current strikers are mostly office workers and teachers. Let's call it what is is: 'non-industrial inaction' or just 'strike'

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-45244050710607006312011-06-19T12:11:00.000+01:002011-06-19T12:11:14.307+01:00

I've just made my first batch of redcurrant jelly. For as long as I can remember, I've done that in the first week of July, so this year's redcurrants have ripened a fortnight earlier than usual. I'm tempted to attribute the change to the warm Spring, though generalisation on the basis of one example is a very risky induction.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-2822199847172985262011-06-18T23:25:00.000+01:002011-06-18T23:25:47.578+01:00

Philip Davies MP recently suggested that one consequence of minimum wage legislation is that it is much harder than it would otherwise be for handicapped people to get jobs, and he went on to say that some mentally handicapped people had told him that they would be prepared to work for a lower wage if that would secure them a job. The reaction was an astonishing tirade of abuse and vituperation.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-30870974076699883942011-06-17T16:53:00.000+01:002011-06-17T16:53:11.060+01:00

The member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire was recently accused of a sexual attack on a 29 year old woman. The accusation was reported widely. Today it was announced that no proceedings will be taken. Although the accused was named, the identity of his accuser remains a secret. I think it is in the public interest that people who make unfounded accusations be named, so that that

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-58707313411985424772011-06-16T11:07:00.001+01:002011-06-16T11:07:29.234+01:00

I have two web sites I don't use - the one that comes with my cix subscription, and the one that is bundled with my broadband Internet Access. The latter site proved unreliable, and the former has a capacity of only 5 MB. I have used them in the past, but in neither case for more than a year, and their index pages just provide a link to the website I do use, yet there are still visitors,

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-49121288247936100752011-06-14T13:02:00.000+01:002011-06-14T13:02:22.645+01:00

I've just sorted out and browsed through a heap of old diaries. I have diaries for every year from 1969 onwards, and it's fascinating to recall what I did all those years ago. I've always used diaries mainly to record appointments, not to provide a narrative of events, but there's still a lot of information, including visits to and from people I can't remember at all.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-52326674796065374042011-06-13T11:14:00.002+01:002011-06-14T11:27:16.812+01:00

I recently gave a talk with that title at a meeting of the Leicester U3A Science and Technology Group. The text is now on my website; follow this link

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-72981918236413787342011-06-12T11:58:00.000+01:002011-06-12T11:58:49.909+01:00

Text messaging and tweeting require brevity, at which Latin excels. Let it be revived!

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-48930847019217780882011-06-08T11:16:00.000+01:002011-06-08T11:16:39.281+01:00

I'd almost given up hope that Dr. Who would ever again be worth watching, and missed the second episode of the present series, but I watched the third episode and thought it showed some promise. It was a little confusing, but that was only to be expected when I'd missed the previous episode. Once again the story contains puzzles that are revealed a bit at a time, and things are not what they seem

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-38017542259958804072011-06-04T17:23:00.000+01:002011-06-04T17:23:44.446+01:00

Inspired by an article in this week's Economist, I've tried out the online cyber genius Wolfram Alpha. When I asked for the elasticity of demand for sugar, it just supplied nutritional information, and when I asked 'Is there a God?' it refused to answer. I was very disappointed !!

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-88109741212987756712011-06-03T19:37:00.000+01:002011-06-03T19:37:32.890+01:00

I have an Epson SX200 Printer, which usually works well. I often save money by using compatible ink cartridges made by other companies. There's no difficulty in installing such cartridges but on two occasions a compatible cartridge has stopped working when not empty - when I shook it I heard the remaining ink sloshing about inside. A chap at a computer shop said this problem is created by

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-59346768788495364892011-06-02T22:16:00.000+01:002011-06-02T22:16:30.227+01:00

A long time ago I experimented with forms and after some messing about managed to get one working on my website - just to prove I could. I now actually need a form to provide feedback from visitors to the U3A Open day in August. I therefore put an experimental form on my own website but it couldn't find the cgi file to which data was to be sent. Eventually I solved the problem by shortening the

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-70197521898543472122011-05-08T15:27:00.000+01:002011-05-08T15:27:04.441+01:00

I recently wrote several linked web pages, with file names beginning with a capital. When I put links in the pages, I absent mindedly spelt the file names entirely in lower case, yet when I tested the links with Chrome they worked. That doesn't seem to be a very good idea!!!

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-58623537204029688532011-05-07T23:26:00.000+01:002011-05-07T23:26:02.380+01:00

I regard the referendum on the Alternative Vote as an intelligence test for the British electorate. The electorate failed. A slight consolation is that the affair has suggested a way of spoiling my ballot paper when I'm not not enthusiastic about any candidate. I can number the candidates in the order of my preference, as if we were using the Alternative vote.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-83397856556768465052011-05-05T16:23:00.000+01:002011-05-05T16:23:41.273+01:00

This year Leicester elects a Mayor. There were nine candidates, yet none of them sent me an election address. Apart from official stuff - a poll card and an explanation of the Alternative vote, I had just two pieces of election literature, one from the Conservatives, and one from Labour, both asking me to vote for their City Council candidates. The Conservative leaflet also asked me to vote for

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-65697035653957183522011-05-04T19:39:00.000+01:002011-05-04T19:39:23.771+01:00

The leaflet sent to me by the No to AV Campaign protests that AV would allow the supporters of small parties to decide the results of elections. That claim is not supported by any analysis of election results, or by any other evidence. I suspect it is based on an assumption that all or nearly all the supporters of a minority party might give their second preferences to the less popular of the

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-60692234731995674852011-04-30T21:31:00.000+01:002011-04-30T21:31:21.425+01:00

The 'No to the Alternative Vote' campaign objects that AV would give the same weight to low preferences as to the first preference, whereas, they argue, the first preference must be the most important. I disagree. Although some of our preferences may be more important to us than others, the most important need not be the first. I think it will quite often not be. I divide the candidates

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-26189793761279830012011-04-29T21:55:00.000+01:002011-04-29T21:55:52.069+01:00

Reflecting on the sad record of government misbehaviour, I’m inclined to prefer that they should be weak. The ‘No to the Alternative Vote’ campaign thinks otherwise. It wants one party governments with an overall parliamentary majority, and thinks we are more likely to get those with the present First Past The Post (henceforth FPTP) system than with the Alternative Vote (henceforth AV) However,

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-5522340955060329472011-04-27T18:58:00.000+01:002011-04-27T18:58:55.398+01:00

I've spend most of the last two days happily engrossed in adding another page of pictures to my web site. Pottering about renaming and resizing pictures is surprisingly satisfying. Now I've created the new page, I need to persuade someone to look at it. This blog is my first attempt.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-73651464701410845252011-04-24T15:06:00.000+01:002011-04-24T15:06:11.572+01:00

On both sides of the controversy claims are exaggerated. The proposed change in our voting system is likely to have only modest effects. AV will not make it impossible for a single party to have a majority, though it will make it a little less likely for a parliamentary majority to be obtained by a party that does not have either a majority of the total vote, or a commanding lead over its

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-55271786445979203152011-04-21T20:34:00.000+01:002011-04-21T20:34:15.313+01:00

An old folk story, used by Shakespeare in King Lear, tells of a conceited King who urged his daughters to say how much they loved him. The two eldest daughters having exhausted the resources of conventional flattery, the youngest daughter just said 'I love you as meat loves salt' Only later, when served meat with no salt, did the King understand. For a while I've been complaining about the

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-14411013396377980732011-04-19T18:50:00.000+01:002011-04-19T18:50:46.313+01:00

After several days of anguish I have at last managed to copy pictures and other material into my computer from my new LGC300 mobile phone. When I tried to use Bluetooth, I got no further than pairing phone and computer. Every attempt to send anything in either direction produced a 'pointer error'. As mobile phone users have no access to pointers that is an extremely silly message. I then

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-36427352231870927232011-04-13T11:01:00.000+01:002011-04-13T11:01:57.255+01:00

It's sometimes hard to get Google Chrome to clear its cache and present the latest version of a web site. When I've changed a web site I want to check that the new version is actually on the site. Sometimes, even after I've pressed the 'refresh' button, and Chrome has done its dither and flicker, the old version still appears, when I know the new version is there because I can see it with

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-64283135087224064362011-04-12T12:19:00.000+01:002011-04-12T12:19:46.281+01:00

Last Saturday, and the Saturday before, I was given a free copy of the Times when I bought the Economist. I'm now about to put both copies of the Times in my recycling bin, unread. I read The Economist every week, and I listen to broadcast news programmes. There is so much topical information is available on the Internet that I have no time, or need for daily papers.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-18510874813678031952011-04-11T22:24:00.000+01:002011-04-11T22:24:10.325+01:00

I dislike burning books, preferring to give away unwanted books. The nearest I've come to burning one was when I threw away a book of essays by Ayn Rand, unwilling to inflict it on any friend and fearing that, if I gave it away to a charity shop, someone might buy it and believe what she said. However I should not try to prevent anyone burning a book that belonged to them, provided they did so

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-51820673366210940162011-04-07T10:13:00.000+01:002011-04-07T10:13:33.646+01:00

The apple blossom is appearing early as, in an earlier blog, I suggested it might. I've just noticed that the blossom on my Beauty of Bath is starting to come out. My reference book (Morgan and Richards The Book of Apples) gives 9th May as the optimum date for pollination of that variety. I assume that is the time the flowers are all completely open, which may not be for a day or two yet, but

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-35813466355220456492011-04-06T11:08:00.000+01:002011-04-06T11:08:40.096+01:00

I recently noticed an article in the Scientific American suggesting that drinking water before meals helps one to lose weight. Strictly speaking we should say 'lose mass'; some weight could be lost by living on top of a mountain and all of it could be lost by living in orbit, so I'll use 'mass' hereafter. The recommended consumption is half a litre of water before each meal, which would be a lot

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-56290130096750032252011-04-05T21:57:00.000+01:002011-04-05T21:57:04.373+01:00

Quite unintentionally, I've just made some raisins. On examining an aged bunch of grapes that I'd neglected for a week or so, I discovered that the grapes had turned into raisins, just like the raisins one buys from the shops. Perhaps I'll try to make prunes from this Summer's plum crop, provided there is one. What else might I make ? Readers of this blog are invited to make suggestions.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-64327546344533942932011-04-04T11:43:00.000+01:002011-04-04T11:43:09.593+01:00

With several surplus leaders who seem likely to lose power soon, it seems a good time to decide what to do with them. Recent practice has been inconsistent. Some are put on trial, others allowed into government, like the former IRA leaders (they aren't former rulers but had sufficient power to merit similar treatment). In Chile Pinochet was persuaded to relinquish power in exchange for an

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-39528802892372207002011-03-28T10:36:00.000+01:002011-03-28T10:36:29.694+01:00

I've just noticed that one of my plum trees is coming into flower. The gardening books, which base their judgements on the experience of past generations, suggest April as the usual time for plums and cherries to flower, with apples following in May. I shall be interested to see when my apple blossom appears. At the time I thought that last November's snow and the cold December that followed

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-34919509182340075462011-03-21T10:13:00.000Z2011-03-21T10:13:02.197Z

In several recent news broadcasts I've heard 'iodine' pronounced to rhyme with 'dine', suggesting that some media folk completed their school-days without acquiring avoided even a smattering of science. Iodine, together with its companions fluorine, chlorine and bromine, should be quite prominent in even an elementary course in Chemistry, and iodine is also used in Biology to test for starch. It

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-78144813869142545622011-03-20T20:22:00.000Z2011-03-20T20:22:12.970Z

I've often been irritated by television reporting in which the centre of the picture is occupied by a reporter's face, instead of the events being reported. I was particularly infuriated by part of the BBC 24 hour news programme this evening. There was a press conference in which a military spokesman reported on events in Libya, illustrating his remarks with a series of slides. Only occasionally

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-21751571101971504612011-03-18T09:58:00.000Z2011-03-18T09:58:37.827Z

Wine gums are very effective cough sweets; not much inferior to the remedies that are claimed to act on the brain to dull the cough reflex, and markedly superior to the cough sweets that work by soothing the throat. I recently bought some wine gums to test the hypothesis that they do not taste of wine; they don't. When I contracted a cough I found that sucking them almost completely eliminated

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-51018564449982653522011-03-14T21:14:00.001Z2011-03-15T10:20:24.901Z

I've starting using the electronic kitchen scales to estimate the energy content of food. An interesting conclusion is that just one slice of brown bread, with butter and marmalade, is about 240 kilo calories, about an eighth of my daily requirement and enough energy to lift something weighing a ton to a height of a hundred metres 1. 35 grams of bread accounted for 90 k cals, 11 grams of

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-70854379076005793162011-02-27T10:34:00.000Z2011-02-27T10:34:20.388Z

I planned to spend much of the day in the garden shredding a vast accumulation of prunings. When I found it was drizzling I was delighted to have an excuse to do nothing in particular indoors instead. Am I becoming very lazy, or just indulging a laziness that I've always had? I wonder if that matters ?

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-23961006824032584052011-02-22T10:45:00.000Z2011-02-22T10:45:46.128Z

Irritating though they can be, I much prefer footnotes to the alternatives. I'm reading a book 1 that puts all the notes between the last chapter and the index. If I want to read a note I must therefore start by turning back, page by page, until I find the beginning of the chapter to find the chapter number, then turn to the end of the book and browse through the notes until I find the heading

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-32407024630611182842011-02-16T17:42:00.000Z2011-02-16T17:42:43.404Z

The text of a talk I gave to the Leicester U3A Science group last month is now on my web site here Incidentally, a fault on the server put my web site out of action last night, but don't be discouraged; it appeared to be working normally by midday today.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-23164737107143975882011-02-15T11:25:00.000Z2011-02-15T11:25:17.217Z

I'd always had trouble with DVD writers, never succeeding in getting them to behave, as they are supposed to, like a disk drive to which one can just drag and drop whenever one feels like it. Several years ago I bought an external hard drive and have relied on that for backup, but I recently decided to try again with a DVD. I formatted in the way that is supposed to make it behave like a disk

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-79797783380381329552011-02-14T10:26:00.002Z2011-02-14T10:26:31.936Z

I've never received, sent, or been inclined to send a Valentine's card, and find it all very puzzling.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-27962754989436261342011-02-09T11:58:00.000Z2011-02-09T11:58:20.617Z

I'm not an enthusiast for the Supreme Court. The final court of appeal used to be the House of Lords. I thought of that as a symbol that, as Parliament creates laws, it should have the last word about their interpretation. Of course it was only the Law Lords who heard appeals, so the role of Parliament was purely symbolic, but a symbol may be better than nothing. I should have preferred a

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-53458911127350035832011-02-08T18:39:00.000Z2011-02-08T18:39:53.773Z

I can't take seriously the protests about Government plans to sell woodland owned by the Forestry Commission. The function of government is to do the things we need doing but cannot do by individual effort. Growing trees is something individuals can do perfectly well. I'm growing eleven trees in my own modest suburban garden, and most of my neighbours grow several. I suspect that people worry

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-57988450685715532362011-02-06T17:28:00.000Z2011-02-06T17:28:55.035Z

Yesterday, tired of hearing from the BBC the same news about Egypt that I'd heard the day before, I switched the television to Russia Today. I was surprised to hear a story about a large anti-Muslim demonstration and counter demonstration in Luton. I don't think that was even mentioned by the BBC, and I did watch for it when I listened to the BBC news later in the day. I wonder if someone

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-37093940165739559102011-01-30T21:09:00.000Z2011-01-30T21:09:45.751Z

I'm puzzled by '24/7' for 'all the time' If it is necessary to supplement '24 hours per day' by adding '7 days per week', we need to supplement that in turn by '52 weeks per year'. If we don't need the 52, we could drop the 7 as well and say '24' for '24 hour per day' Even easier would be '1' for the proportion of the time the speaker claims to be available, though anyone who likes to show off

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-81546496345825807602011-01-15T12:24:00.000Z2011-01-15T12:24:07.221Z

This morning I spotted the first snowdrops of the year, stimulating a feeling that 'Spring is in the air'. Even when I reflect that Spring is months away, I still feel a little reassured.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-42920355077974919852011-01-14T17:15:00.000Z2011-01-14T17:15:08.851Z

Watching a televised meeting addressed by Mr. Cameron, I heard him say: "Sometimes I think we should take everything out of the curriculum except for food and sport" Has he forgotten sex ?

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-75361539296724396442011-01-11T22:44:00.000Z2011-01-11T22:44:48.858Z

A few days ago I heard someone protesting against the recruitment of 16 year-olds into the Army. Alexander the Great commanded an army in battle at 16. It would have been a foolhardy person who told him he was too young.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-87321956913387413132011-01-03T16:23:00.000Z2011-01-03T16:23:17.580Z

I'm always glad when the Christmas and New Year holidays are over. With two bank holiday weekends, preceded by a couple of weeks when the shops are uncomfortably busy, and separated by a few days of semi holiday, it is a uniquely messy holiday. This year it seems to be lingering even longer than usual. Even today, the 3rd of January, buses were running only a Sunday service and the market was

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-62458402133469875392011-01-02T11:54:00.000Z2011-01-02T11:54:09.740Z

Google Chrome is now the most popular browser among visitors to my web site. Figures for the last month are: Chrome: 40% Windows Explorer: 26% Firefox: 24% I do most of my browsing with Chrome, so my visits will have biased the result a little, but I usually visit my site only to check alterations, and when I do that I usually use Seamonkey.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-17986880685521758782010-12-30T22:14:00.000Z2010-12-30T22:14:10.602Z

Listening to reports of the water crisis in Northern Ireland, I was surprised that the local water company is still publicly owned. There may be a connection. A privately owned company would try harder to avoid annoying its customers.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-64132157500764594632010-12-21T11:05:00.000Z2010-12-21T11:05:29.915Z

When confidential messages from ambassadors began to be leaked I was annoyed, fearing that diplomats would in future be afraid to write that they thought. I still have that fear, but as American manoeuvres against Wiki-Leaks continue, I begin to feel that the Americans brought the trouble on themselves and are trying to blame others for their own negligence. I've just read an account of

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-41895797813138549752010-12-15T22:40:00.000Z2010-12-15T22:40:49.165Z

I notice that charges have been laid against the Prime Minister of Kosovo for gruesome crimes committed a decade or so ago. Many criminals are in power, yet only a few are charged. I eagerly await the charging of the leaders of Sinn Fein with atrocities committed by the IRA under their command.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-3080233588915477412010-12-09T17:48:00.000Z2010-12-09T17:48:12.897Z

'Trivial' is derived from the trivium Mediaeval education, following later Roman practice, centred on the seven liberal arts, which comprised three basic subjects, Grammar, Rhetoric and Dialectic, which were known as the trivium, and the four mathematical studies recommenced by Plato, Number, Geometry, Astronomy and Harmony, which were called the quadrivium. 'Dialectic' meant what we should

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-89098175012936190712010-11-30T19:48:00.000Z2010-11-30T19:48:01.665Z

Confidential messages leaked from the US State Department include a request from the then British Prime Minister that the US Government abandon extradition proceedings against a computer hacker, Gary Mackinnon, whose misdeeds were perpetrated in Britain, which is not within the jurisdiction of the US Government. I gather the Prime Minister's request was refused. I recommend hard bargaining. We

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-11671976847841053122010-11-29T20:19:00.000Z2010-11-29T20:19:21.359Z

It's quite common to hear 'borrow' confused with 'lend', but I was surprised when this morning's Radio 4 News programme claimed that various countries had 'loaned' a vast sum to Ireland. Surely they are aware of the verb to lend.

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-53470750405919134282010-11-18T11:37:00.000Z2010-11-18T11:37:23.875Z

I used to enjoy browsing round bookshops, but find Leicester's are gradually fading away. Of two moderate sized second hand shops that I used to frequent in the 1990, one has closed completely, and the others has shrunk to a market stall open for just a few days each week. Last time I entered the larger of our two branches of Waterstone's, I notices that a chunk of the ground floor is now

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318117249647517234.post-32354189822170741452010-11-07T17:41:00.000Z2010-11-07T17:41:30.466Z

A leaflet recently dropped through my letterbox advertised the services of an astrologer and palm reader, who ambitiously offered to solve 'any problems' 'within 18 days', and to predict 'the past - present - future' I wonder what he'd charge for 'predicting' yesterday's weather ?

Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289458552373210843noreply@blogger.com1