Tony Radakin And Ben Wallace In Russia
The Times today has published a picture with this caption.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, his counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the defence staff, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of general staff
Ever since, Tony Radakin was made Chief of the Defence Staff, I’ve been curious about his name.
So tonight, I typed “radakin surname” into Google and got this answer.
Radakin (Russian: Радакин) is carried by more people in Russia than any other country or territory. It can also be rendered as a variant
Interesting! But surely, something that will enable the three military men and the former Scots guardsman to get on a bit better!
Liverpool Shows The World How To Plan A New Station
Liverpool and Liverpudlians tend to do things differently.
This article on Liverpool Business News is entitled First Look At New Baltic Triangle Station.
This is the first paragraph.
St James station closed in 1917 but images and a video fly-through of a proposed new Merseyrail station to serve the fast-growing Baltic Triangle in Liverpool have been released – and you can help choose a name.
These are my thoughts about the new Liverpool St. James station.
The Video Fly-Through
Merseyrail produced a high-class video fly-through for Headbolt Lane station and it is my belief that these types of presentation are the best way to show everybody what the Transport Authority, Local and National Government are planning to deliver.
Note.
- The station is very cycling-friendly.
- The proposal includes a cafe and toilets.
- There are escalators from the surface to the platforms.
My only fault with the video, is that it uses the old Class 508 trains, rather than the new Class 777 trains. But that is being picky!
The Station Name
Liverpool already has a station called Liverpool James Street station.
The UK also has seven railway stations with James in the name and the whole world has a total of twelve, which are listed in Wikipedia.
So to avoid any possible confusion, the three chosen names seem to be a good idea.
- Liverpool Baltic
- Liverpool Parliament Street
- Liverpool Riverside
Cast your vote before February 18th by clicking here.
I can’t remember a station name being chosen by an Internet vote.
At least a write-in name is not allowed, which should avoid a silly name like Station McStationFace.
Conclusion
Liverpool are to be congratulated on their planning exercise for the new station.
Was The Name Omicron For This Variant Of The Covids Chosen Deliberately?
We are trained to respond to single-word commands as are our pets and other animals. But then some animals and especially birds have alarm calls, when one sees danger.
Before omicron, we’ve had alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of Covid-19, so surely, if they were following the Greek alphabet, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu and xi all should have had precedence.
Consider.
- Perhaps zeta, eta and theta could get misheard when spoken.
- iota might be difficult for some to pronounce.
- mu and nu could be mistyped.
- xi risks confusion with the Chinese leader.
- omicron could stand out like a bird’s alarm call.
Omicron is also a word, you don’t hear often in normal conversation unlike some Greek letters.
Could it have been chosen as it is a word that will be picked out in conversation and those that hear it will be nudged towards covid-correct behaviour like wearing a mask or keeping, keeping apart or remembering to get a booster jab.
If people constantly say booster, covid and omicron in the same sentence would it nudge people to do the right thing?
It probably would work unless omicron meas something different in the local language.
Graham Miller Doesn’t Exist Any More
Yesterday, I got a letter from the Inland Revenue and it used the name I have on my passport, which I’ve used since I met my late wife in 1967.
As Hackney Council have also finally got round to changing my name on the Electoral Roll, the only place that Graham Miller exists now is with junk mailers and cold callers, who bought it off a list from an old Electoral Roll.
So I can now bin all mail addressed to Graham and be rude or humorous to cold callers who ask for Graham, in addition to those who ask to speak to Mrs. Miller.
Incidentally, it should be a criminal offence to ask for someone who has died in a cold call.
TfL’s Big Problem For 2015
look at this map for the London Overground.
TfL’s Big Problem For 2015
When the Lea Valley Lines come under the control of TfL in 2015, it’s going to give them a terrible problem about how they incorporate them into the maps.
But that’s only the start, as Crossrail will appear in 2018. But that has already shown on a map.
The picture shows the short-lived Lego version at Kings Cross station, this summer.
they’ve also got the problem of what to call Crossrail, if they do change the name. there has been some talk of calling it the Queen Elizabeth line, by such as Boris Johnson. I suspect, it’ll be called Crossrail or something similar like Across or EastWest line, if Boris doesn’t get his way.
If we called it Across, then Crossrail 2 could be called the Diagnonal line!
Of all the wonderful feats I have performed, I think yesterday I performed the most wonderful. I produced unanimity among 15 men who were all quarrelling about that most ticklish subject — taste
I think Brunel would have loved this problem, judging by this quote from the engineer.
It’s not a problem, I would like to have to solve.
Who Called His Daughter Orienta?
It was Julian Lloyd Webber, as he is a massive Leyton Orient fan.
Termibus
What better name is there for a bus terminus, than Termibus.
Termibus
Surprisingly, Termibus in Bilbao, would appear to be the only place the name is used.
Travelling With Michael Palin
The Class 153 train, that shuttled me to Felixstowe was named after Michael Palin.
Travelling With Michael Palin
I wonder how many other trains have been named after comedians?
London’s Name Advantage
It has just been announced that London has now acquired the .london domain name extension.
If you go through the major cities of the world, it generally would seem to work for many like Paris, Berlin, Rome and New York, but it doesn’t work for cities with longer names like Edinburgh, San Francisco and Copenhagen.
So do the short-named cities like London have an advantage? try typing in the domain name for the mayor of Vladivostok!
The Anonymous Widower 