aboveboard
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An unusual event
Took the train this morning to London and, to my surprise, it was early. The screen displaying time of arrival gave it as three minutes late so I walked down the platform to stretch my legs. Suddenly, round the bend, appeared the train so I had to walk smartly back.
London was busy as usual; full of dust, noise and people. There was a thunderstorm so that reduced the dust, but the rain made the pavements slippery. I was glad to get on the train to come home.
Woodpeckers added to the dawn chorus as I strode through the wood on my early morning walk. I looked up but couldn't see any. They are difficult to spot as someone commented on Wednesday. It's 8.10pm, the birds have gone to bed, and the foxes are on the prowl. I can hear one barking.
Thought for today
It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, and--what will perhaps make you wonder more--it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.
Seneca
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11.4.08 20:19
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A load of rubbish
The country is covered in litter. This has become so noticeable that someone has started a campaign to get Britain tidy. There was an article in yesterday's Times about it. The author wondered why people took their rubbish into rural areas and dumped it there instead of taking it to local household waste sites. I think the reason is simple; it is easier for them. When I go to my local household waste site I choose my time carefully. At peak times the queues of cars going to the tip extend back onto the main road. Tempers become frayed.
As the population increases, there is a corresponding increase in traffic, rubbish and litter.
Thought for today
Counting time is not so important as making time count.
James J Walker
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13.4.08 19:39
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Another load of rubbish
I went to the local tip today for the first time in weeks. The men had changed the layout enough for me to have to search for the skips I wanted. My visit wasn't straightforward because when I arrived there was a wagon depositing an empty skip and collecting a full one. A chap outside motioned to me to pull in and wait; the tip is temporarily closed when skips are moved. By the time the wagon was ready to leave, there was a queue behind me of drivers eager to get rid of their rubbish. It was a case of more haste less speed. Some, like me, prefer to park having reversed in because this makes the exit easier. Others rush straight in and stop facing the skips. They then have to reverse out towards incoming cars. Once a queue develops on the entry things become fraught.
My trip took longer than I'd hoped but at least I emerged having dumped my rubbish and having escaped injury to my back and car.
Thought for today
Troubles are like babies--they only grow by nursing.
Douglas Jerrold
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14.4.08 19:55
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Family values
After my reference on Sunday to a Get Britain Tidy campaign, someone mentioned a Keep Britain Tidy campaign. I can vaguely remember this. It started, I found out, in 1955. The commentator was doubtful that another campaign would have much effect. I have my doubts too. An editorial in the Times on Saturday said that too many kids emerged from school not knowing that littering was wrong. They should emerge from home knowing that. Perhaps bravado plays a part in littering.
Thought for today
The thief is sorry that he is to be hanged, not that he is a thief.
English proverb
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15.4.08 20:52
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A little learning
Medical details in dramas on telly are usually incorrect. Details in books are little better. One I am currently reading, and enjoying, is Robert Ludlam's The Bourne Betrayal. Today I came across a paragraph that bugged me because the details are wrong. The hero, attempting to disable a villain, stabs him in the neck with a syringe loaded with an anaesthetic agent, and then runs off. The villain starts to feel odd. He discovers that he has been injected with midazolam.
'A short-term anaesthetic agent meant to induce twilight sleep. Knowing that, he knew what he needed to counteract its effects. He went through the cabinet until he found a vial of epinephrine, the main chemical in adrenaline. Locating the syringes, he loaded one up, zipped a little of the liquid out of the end of the needle to get rid of any air bubbles that might have formed, then injected himself.
'That was the end of the midazolam. The cotton-wool haziness went up in a blaze of mental fire. He could breathe again. ...'
Off he went to continue his dastardly deeds.
Oh dear, I thought. Sticking a needle in someone's neck--where was the hero hoping the tip would lie when he injected the drug? I'll let people ponder. Chances are it would stick into bone which would prevent the injection of the drug.
Epinephrine and adrenaline are the same drug. The former is the US name, the latter is the UK name. It is not an antidote to midazolam. It is used in the treatment of anaphylactic shock and, unless used cautiously, can kill. The villain, far from feeling better, would feel dreadful; his heart would beat so fast that he would be lucky not to go into heart failure.
Thought for today
The man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn.
Henry S Haskins, (1875 - 1957) American author
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17.4.08 20:24
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The treatment of children
There was a programme on Channel 4 on Wednesday called Child Genius about children with IQs above 150. It featured three such children. They looked normal for their age, and acted normal for their age, but their speech belied their age. It was years above it. It took little imagination to realise that they would have difficulty at school because they were years ahead of their peers. Being born bright is not necessarily a blessing.
The eleven-year-old had written a letter to his MP, Michael Meacher, to ask about his schooling. He read out the letter he'd written. The language was remarkable for a child of his age. We saw Michael Meacher reading the letter. He was not impressed and, in effect, dismissed the content as cheek; it was not worthy of a reply.
His attitude was feeble. I doubt he would dismiss a letter from a voter in that way. Adults don't like to be told what to do by kids; they pull rank and tell them not to be cheeky.
What surprised me more was that he ignored the quality of the English from one so young. A child, if indeed it was an eleven-year-old who had written the letter, with that ability needed careful educating. His brain was not a resource to waste. The country needs people with brains like that.
Thought for today
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
Karl Popper (1902 - 1995) Austrian-born philosopher
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18.4.08 19:44
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A problem with progress
My mother now has a hearing aid. Actually she has two but one packed up twenty-four hours after she received it. Hearing aids for old people are, I think, unnecessarily small. Bad eyesight and arthritis make them difficult to use. A bigger battery compartment separate from the earpiece and worn round the neck or in a breast pocket would make life easier. One of my grandmothers had one like this. These days many people wear headphones so the stigma of wires coming out of ears has gone.
Hearing aids are almost as revolting as false teeth if they are not your own. What do old folk do when they have problems with their hearing aid? They either try to change the battery and drop it or they hand it, wax and all, to someone else to sort out. A bigger and separate battery compartment would help more than just the owner. There would be no need for reading glasses and no need to get close to the greasy earpiece.
Thought for today
Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
Augustine
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19.4.08 20:08
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