Woolwich Attack Incredibly Hard To Stop
This was the headline on this story on the BBC.
It’s so true.
I once met a senior police officer, who told me that a lot of knife crimes in his experience happened, after someone had a row and lost it. They might run into the kitchen at home and grab the first thing that was handy, such as a knife from a block in the kitchen, which we all seem to have these days. As he said, his mother only had one small knife on display, which she used for everything, with the carver for the Sunday joint safe in a drawer. My mother was the same.
It’s just too easy to get hold of a lethal weapon.
Obviously, this wouldn’t have been a factor in the Woolwich killing, but it is too easy to get hold of dangerous weapons as so many cases show.
A real Crime-Solving Lawyer
This story, which is all over the media, shows how to solve the theft of an iPad.
The West Midlands police seemed to be as useful as a chocolate tea-pot.
The French Get Touchy About Language
The French can get very touchy, when English encroaches on territory, they think is reserved for French.
But this row, reported here on the BBC is totally of their own making, Here’s the introduction.
The French parliament is debating a new road map for French universities, which includes the proposal of allowing courses to be taught in English. For some, this amounts to a betrayal of the national language and, more specifically, of a particular way at looking at the world – for others it’s just accepting the inevitable.
The English-speaking world has nothing to do with it.
My French is such, that I can get by as a tourist. I also successfully used the language, when I was at ICI, as it was quicker to read scientific reports from the Belgian company, Solvay, in French, rather than wait for a translation.
On the other hand, when I was in Montreal, a few years ago, I was totally baffled, as Canadian French, is more different to French, than American is to English.
When we developed Artemis, we sold in quite a few European countries, but didn’t bother with French, as we thought they would be touchy, wanting everything in their own language.
In the late 1970s, Metier had installed an Artemis system, at Chrysler in Coventry. For various reasons, it hadn’t been upgraded, as much as it should. Soon after Peugeot-Citroen took over Chrysler in 1979, someone in Peugeot-Citroen decided to do a company wide survey of the various project management systems in use in the group. on one visit they went to Coventry and because they were impressed with what they saw, they came straight down the M1 to see us in our offices in Hayes.
Peugeot-Citroen then decided to buy a system for Paris. We told them it was only in English, but they said not to matter, as all their engineers knew the language. They did ask us to get some proper sales flyers in French.
The rest as they say is history, in that Peugeot-Citroen introduced Artemis to a lot of their friends.
Another story I remember, which illustrates the French and their language, happened a few years later. In the 1980s, I owned a company that made hand-tools. One tool, was exported to France and the United States. Our American agent asked if we could produce an English/French version for Canada. But a straight combination of what we already had was unacceptable and we had to get a special French Canadian translation at great expense. Eventually, the Canadians excepted it.
A couple of years afterwards, we had an urgent order from France, but unfortunately we were out of French leaflets. So we faxed over the French Canadian one to ask if that would be acceptable. The response was, that it will do, but that the French would have a bit of a laugh about the language.
Make of that, what you will!
I should say, that I once travelled to the States with a secretary from the New Zealand embassy in Ottawa. She told me, that some Canadians got very upset, if she sent them a letter with some American English spelling.
Where Do New Buses for London Go On Holiday?
According to this story, LT1 seems to be having a good time in the United States.
Surprisingly, it seems to have lost the green hybrid logos!
Are We Getting Less Intelligent?
This story in the Daily Mail and other newspapers suggests we are. Here’s the first few sentences.
It was an era of glorious scientific discovery.
And the reason for the Victorians unprecedented success is simple – they were ‘substantially cleverer’ than us.
Researchers compared reaction times – a reliable indicator of general intelligence – since the late 1800s to the present day and found our fleetness of mind is diminishing.
They claim our slowing reflexes suggest we are less smart than our ancestors, with a loss of 1.23 IQ points per decade or 14 IQ points since Victorian times.
As the study was done, by three universities, I won’t argue with their findings.
But it does make you think!
There are now so many factors in our modern life and the way we bring up and educate children, that without decent research we won’t know why. and we can’t go back and do experiments on our Victorian ancestors.
Japanese Do Things Differently
This report from the BBC shows that the Japanese do things differently.
A prominent Japanese politician has described as “necessary” the system by which women were forced to become prostitutes for World War II troops.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said the “comfort women” gave soldiers putting their lives at risk a chance “to rest”.
He also said last year, that Japan needed a dictatorship.
I would hope that any British, American or European politician, who made statements like this, would be promptly booted out of office.
Peer-to-Peer Lending In The Times
There is a good review of peer-to-peer lending in The Times today. One of the most significant things of the piece is that Google has taken a small stake in Lending club. There’s more on the Google deal here.
The banks might not like it, but the writing is on the wall.
Today, I’ve started to move my working deposit account to Zopa.
How To Stop Smoking
This story from California, is an interesting way to stop smoking. Here’s the first paragraph.
Think you’ve heard of every way possible to quit smoking? Etta Mae Lopez came up with a new one: slap a cop and go to jail, where smoking isn’t allowed.
Perhaps, we should take a leaf out of California’s book and ban smoking in prison.
What’s Going On In Luton?
Luton has always struck me as a rather boring place, which is a bit like Ipswich, but last night they had their ninth shooting in a year, as reported here on the BBC.
What is going on?
A Bail-Out Too Far
The Sunday Times is reporting that because of the big fire at Daw Mill, UK Coal is close to collapse. The story is also here in the Newcastle Journal.
For many decades now, I’ve been against the mining of coal and its use as a fuel. My objection probably stems more from the dangers of mining, the bad disasters of my childhood years and recollections of a few former miners, that I’ve met, and not from any political reasons. When global warming became known, it just reinforced my views that we should get rid of this dangerous and polluting fuel.
If we don’t put UK Coal out of its misery this time, we’ll only be delaying the inevitable for a few years, as some other problem will come along.
The Anonymous Widower 