EU gives up on 'metric Britain'
Britain say's 'Non' to Napoleon.
At last a good news story from the EU. Over 30 yrs of attempts to convert us to the weights and measures of Napoleon have ended. "I want to bring to an end a bitter, bitter battle that has lasted for decades, and which in my view is completely pointless. We're bringing this battle to an end." said Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen, as he announced that UK traders can display prices in both Imperial and metric weights, and that the UK will retain 'Pints' and have road distances in Miles, not Kilometers.
Sadly the original Metric Martyr Steve Thorburn didn’t see his victory, as he died unexpectedly some years ago.
Just as sadly, our PC schools will continue to only teach in metric (and on calculators), so eventually there will be no one who can use Pints, Pounds and Ounces or Miles but I for one expect to see a few more years and welcome the news. Mind you without calculators, more than half our kids can't perform simple calculations in their heads, or on paper.
‘Ocktoberfest’ Palestinian style.
The Christian village of Taybeh in the west bank, has a mini brewery which produces beer to Bavarian standards of purity (which allows only four ingredients: malt, hops, pure water and yeast), which it supplies local Christian villages with.
And in celebration of this fact, they hold an annual ‘Ocktoberfest’, held in September so as not to offend Muslims (ah well, that’s always the case everywhere these days). It’s highly attended and popular with Christians and some Muslims, and if not for the travel problems caused by the Israeli army defending a couple of illegal Jewish settlements would be even more successful.
Let’s hope that this festival grows and grows as it appears to be the one jolly thing that happens in that permanently blighted part of the world.
Electric debate between young and old
In the Taiwanese village known locally as the ‘Dark Village’, the older and younger members of the Amis tribe (a local aboriginal group) are debating the merits of having electricity or not. The village is only occupied in the summer months (they have electricity in the other winter village), and has never had electricity, but that may change after a court action by the tribe to regain full control of the land surrounding the village. Tourism has meant that power pylons are now in range of the 'dark' village.
The older villagers want electricity because of the convenience it allows, but some of the younger villagers want to keep the summer village ‘dark’ because of the social spirit the lack of electricity engenders in the evenings.
Oddly this is a reversal of the normal tendency of the old not to want changes.
And lastly Kenya's bus stop cartoonist
Humphrey Barasa a resident of Nairobi in Kenya has taken to drawing cartoons on a bus shelter near his home. These cartoons which reflect on life and politics in Kenya, and Africa, have proved popular with regular users of the stop.
In this cartoon, Humphrey illustrates Kenyan churches, civil society and the media, along with the US and the international community, urging President Mwai Kibaki not to sign a proposed media bill. Critics said it would suppress media freedom. President Kibaki refused to assent to the bill.
This unusual take on bus stop graffiti has attracted much attention to Mr Barasa's talents, and he hopes to be offered a full time cartoonists gig with one of the national newspapers.
Britain say's 'Non' to Napoleon.
At last a good news story from the EU. Over 30 yrs of attempts to convert us to the weights and measures of Napoleon have ended. "I want to bring to an end a bitter, bitter battle that has lasted for decades, and which in my view is completely pointless. We're bringing this battle to an end." said Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen, as he announced that UK traders can display prices in both Imperial and metric weights, and that the UK will retain 'Pints' and have road distances in Miles, not Kilometers.
Sadly the original Metric Martyr Steve Thorburn didn’t see his victory, as he died unexpectedly some years ago.
Just as sadly, our PC schools will continue to only teach in metric (and on calculators), so eventually there will be no one who can use Pints, Pounds and Ounces or Miles but I for one expect to see a few more years and welcome the news. Mind you without calculators, more than half our kids can't perform simple calculations in their heads, or on paper.
‘Ocktoberfest’ Palestinian style.
The Christian village of Taybeh in the west bank, has a mini brewery which produces beer to Bavarian standards of purity (which allows only four ingredients: malt, hops, pure water and yeast), which it supplies local Christian villages with.
And in celebration of this fact, they hold an annual ‘Ocktoberfest’, held in September so as not to offend Muslims (ah well, that’s always the case everywhere these days). It’s highly attended and popular with Christians and some Muslims, and if not for the travel problems caused by the Israeli army defending a couple of illegal Jewish settlements would be even more successful.
Let’s hope that this festival grows and grows as it appears to be the one jolly thing that happens in that permanently blighted part of the world.
Electric debate between young and old
In the Taiwanese village known locally as the ‘Dark Village’, the older and younger members of the Amis tribe (a local aboriginal group) are debating the merits of having electricity or not. The village is only occupied in the summer months (they have electricity in the other winter village), and has never had electricity, but that may change after a court action by the tribe to regain full control of the land surrounding the village. Tourism has meant that power pylons are now in range of the 'dark' village.
The older villagers want electricity because of the convenience it allows, but some of the younger villagers want to keep the summer village ‘dark’ because of the social spirit the lack of electricity engenders in the evenings.
Oddly this is a reversal of the normal tendency of the old not to want changes.
And lastly Kenya's bus stop cartoonist
Humphrey Barasa a resident of Nairobi in Kenya has taken to drawing cartoons on a bus shelter near his home. These cartoons which reflect on life and politics in Kenya, and Africa, have proved popular with regular users of the stop.
In this cartoon, Humphrey illustrates Kenyan churches, civil society and the media, along with the US and the international community, urging President Mwai Kibaki not to sign a proposed media bill. Critics said it would suppress media freedom. President Kibaki refused to assent to the bill.
This unusual take on bus stop graffiti has attracted much attention to Mr Barasa's talents, and he hopes to be offered a full time cartoonists gig with one of the national newspapers.
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We have bus stop cartoonists round our way .... they are called Graffiti vandals!
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