Yes, the title says “Introdution”, not “Introduction”. If you didn’t spot it, don’t worry. Neither did the graphic designers at a training company I worked at in the 1990s. And it was the sort of thing that they were paid to notice. This piece touches on first impressions and attention to detail. It goes back… Continue reading Introdution
I wrote last month about coincidences, and how some people claim that things are “amazing coincidences” when really they’re not. If you keep your eyes and ears open, and read (anything – magazines, newspapers, websites, books), and watch TV programmes, movies and plays, and listen to the radio, you will come across the same things… Continue reading Porlock
Very sad news from West London: Angela Prendergast, who ran the Rhyme Time children’s activity during the last decade and more, has lost her battle with leukaemia. There are people who object to the use of military language when dealing with disease but most of the people I know, who have been through it, are… Continue reading Farewell Angela Rhyme Time
I thought I knew what an adverb was: anything ending in “-ly”, which describes a verb (happily, sadly, strangely). But there’s so much more to it, as I learnt from my 9 year old daughter’s homework at the weekend. She had to include “Time Adverbials” in her piece about how the school canteen works. Thank… Continue reading Word of the Week: adverb
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“You gotta phone, incha?” That’s our cockney rendering of the phrase “You’ve got a phone, haven’t you?” It’s our catch-phrase for any question with a factual answer that’s somewhere on the internet. What’s the capital of Burkina Faso? “You gotta phone incha?” (It’s Ouagadougou, which has long been my favourite capital city name.) Who’s top… Continue reading “You gotta phone, incha?”
Two stories late last year showed me the gulf between how I use technology (smartphone or laptop computer) and how other people use it. In Simon Hattenstone’s excellent, lengthy piece (over 9000 words) about alleged bullying in the Tory Party and the sad death of Elliott Johnson there’s a paragraph about how someone was blackmailed,… Continue reading Two ways that I will never use technology
Earworm. I first came across the word in this Guardian article, over ten years ago. At the time Kylie’s “Can’t get you out of my head” was listed as the #1 earworm, and it might still be top now. My current earworm is the Queen song “Keep yourself alive” (even more than “Starman”, which I… Continue reading Earworms and “Keep yourself alive”
Over the years many musicians and commentators have noted the significance of David Bowie’s performance of “Starman” on “Top of the Pops” in 1972. I remember Gary Kemp in particular discussing how powerful it was for him. It came up in a BBC documentary about Mick Ronson, and then in the run-up to the Bowie… Continue reading David Bowie in black and white
This is a test of my ability to teach, and my students’ ability, and willingness, to learn. You can work out the day of the week for any date in history if you can do the following 3 things: add 4 numbers together; divide numbers by 4 and by 7; learn a 12-digit sequence. If… Continue reading How to work out the day of the week from any date (takes 10 minutes)
