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This last week has been a troubled time for me emotionally. Partly through unfortunate circumstance and partly through stupidity, I’ve made some massive blunders in my relationships with several people. Some of the people are close to me, others I have never met and yet I’ve managed to alienate them...
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Happy New Year to all my readers, I hope the new year and the new decade bring good times for you. I love snow. Yesterday and today we’ve had a good covering of lovely fluffy powder snow across South Wales, there’s about 5 inches on my driveway right now, and with the predicted deep freeze tonight, it...
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Well, at least not paper ones. My colleague Richard Tubb covers some of the reasons that I agree with completely. I haven’t sent Christmas Cards for a lot longer than Richard, though, so I’m not going to get away with his ‘Internet’ explanation. It’s a personal choice, one that is hard to justify sometimes...
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Real musical talent is hard to find these days amongst the commercial mush being churned out by the record industry. My favourite roots band, Show of Hands stands out for me as an example of everything that’s good about music. Their latest song "Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed” has a new performance...
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The last couple of days I’ve been the guest of Microsoft UK at their Thames Valley Park HQ in Reading. About a hundred MVPs from across the UK and Ireland came together to learn from each other, find out about upcoming technology, to network and socialise. Our schedule began with what I had mentally...
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BBC - Electric Dreams - Home Page Do you remember the 1970s? So do I. From Electric Dreams Blog to the BBC TV series, take a trip down memory lane and recapture your childhood. Available on BBC iPlayer , this retrospective series takes a tongue-in-cheek look at how people lived and coped 30 years...
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I don’t understand the binge drinking culture. I’m not against people having a drink or enjoying themselves, but personally, I’d rather sit in a quiet country pub with a few friends with no music, so we can actually talk to each other comfortably over a few pints. I live on a main road and every Friday...
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I was just watching a repeat of the series “Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain”. I couldn't help but be impressed by his closing sentence: “Looking ahead, we world’s islanders (as we have become) are more open and perhaps more vulnerable than ever before; and yet, to be born British remains...
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“The true wealth of all nations comes from clean rivers, healthy soil and most importantly, a rich biodiversity of life”. “…we are not what we think we are. We are not the masters of creation. No matter how sophisticated our technology has become, the simple fact is that we are not separate from nature...
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“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.” T.S.Elliot (I discovered this inscription on a feature at Baylands Country Park, Sunnyvale, California) You know, we take a lot for granted in Britain. We...
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It has been a while since I have written an article for this blog for one reason or another. If I even try to explain, my reasons will only be misconstrued as a very lame copout. This morning I came across this You Tube video from the International Non Fiction Writers Association (INFWA) which features...
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A little while ago I blogged that I was concerned about the missing evidence linking global warming to the activity of humankind. There are plenty of people who will show you all sorts of evidence that the Earth's climate is changing – and with that I agree. However, what then generally happens is...
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I just spent a very enjoyable bank holiday weekend doing loads of cycling, mainly in the Bath/Bristol area along the Bath Bristol Railway Path, aka National Cycle Network route 4. At one point along the route I stopped to chat with a couple of guys from Sustrans . I think it was Joe Beck I spoke to....
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Catalyzed by my ailing car finally dying, something has awoken in me that I have not known for a decade or so. I’ve been a long time dead, as one of my friends puts it. I’ve started cycling to work, about 8 miles each way. First time out was hard. Really hard. But spurred on by the clement weather and...
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This post is mainly for my cohorts on the The Sky as a Cultural Resource course at University of Glamorgan. I run a Yahoo group that was originally created to support the Alien Worlds course. The idea is to build an independent community around the course material so that we can keep in touch during...