Creating a challenging quiz on-line is quite difficult. They end up being either too hard or too easy. Generally graphical quizzes are hard as they are more difficult to to research on the web, but achieving this makes composing them difficult, word quizzes tend to be much easier to research. Thinking about this reminded me of the ‘Round Britain Quiz’, which unfortunately is not yet available on the BBC iPlayer. Continue reading “Bliz or Quog?”
Author: Peter
Web researcher
Neat bomb patterns
In the 60s and at the height of the ‘Cold War’ I was stationed in Germany for three years. I had a really nice time there, to the point of considering going back to work and live there when I left the forces in 1969. Well, I didn’t, but I did have a life changing experience there. I read ‘Catch 22’ by Joseph Heller. Reading this book wasn’t my prime reason for not signing on to a retirement age in the forces, but it was a contributing factor.
Continue reading “Neat bomb patterns”
Cutting & Pasting (gerund-wise)
In 2006 The Iconclast writing for The New English Review published an article on his web page with the exciting title , ‘Breaking news – English has a gerundive‘. I came across the article following a challenge to one of my comments on a MyT post from ‘beanbeab (stefa)’. This was some few years back, and I was always happy to have my use of English corrected by the now sadly departed and greatly missed beanbean. As I’m sure she suspected, my knowledge of the gerund (and I suspect that of most other people) was non existent. Either that, or buried in some long unopened memory vault. Nevertheless, my fleeting contact with beanbean did revitalise my interest in the English language. An interest that I now avidly pursue. In a recent parody I composed based on ‘Sea Fever by John Masefield’ , the following line became a real test for a bear of very little brain:-
“I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide” Continue reading “Cutting & Pasting (gerund-wise)”
Pee Fever
I must get up for a pee again, to the dowly pee must I hie,
And all I ask if I fall or slip no mar to veer forbye,
And the real kick the wind’s strong and the night hails its breaking,
And a fey frist my dreams replace, and a blay drawn aching.
Continue reading “Pee Fever”
Billy Bennett
This months ‘poetry’ competition theme is parody and while searching for answers to Boa’s ‘Who are they?’ competition I came across the music hall comedian Billy Bennett. I recall that many extracts from his monologues were catch phrases, some of which still are – ‘It’s the same the whole world over – it’s the poor what gets the blame!’
One Regret
Last year my wife and I celebrated our ‘golden’ wedding anniversary. I met her at a dance hall, and as they say “The rest is history”. Thank goodness the populare dance was the cha-cha-cha, which I could get by on. Some 50 years later, if I were to admit to any regret in my life, it would be not learning to dance. My wife ‘was’ a good dancer and I love dance music. I wish that I could have danced the Argentinian tango with her. This evening a TV advert reminded me of this. I recognised the music but couldn’t name it. here it is;-
Continue reading “One Regret”
Education or Instruction?
Some time ago I posted a piece with the title It’s Hell For Democracy. Based on the writings of C.S. Lewis, part of its intent was to show that contemporary thinking and criticisms on society are rarely the outcome of original thought. In the post Lewis’s thoughts on education are truly contemporary and yet he published them some 40 years ago. While researching something else I became distracted by a reference to an article on education. The attraction was the in the title Knowledge is not a shovel – Universities and democratic society.
The primary aim of education, however one understands it, must be to nurture the ability to reflect, to develop new ideas, and to implement these collectively, writes Gesine Schwan. Cognitive multilingualism is the only way to prevent the specialization of knowledge narrowing our horizons to an extent that results in structural irresponsibility.
Two Political Quizzes
Clicking on the above takes you to worlds smallest political quiz (10 questions). This a site run by The Advocates for Self Government . It’s a reasonable conclusion that these advocates are ‘libertarians’ and yet there is little evidence that any political administration is capable of being anything but ‘authoritarian’.
Clicking on either of the two graphics below takes you to a more detailed test devised by The Political Compass . In theory both tests should produce the same result.
The problem that I have with such tests is what I see as a naïve transposition of views into contemporary society, when they were not even valid in the historic context claimed for them.
10 Clerihews
Colonel Gaddafi
Isn’t happy,
He sent all his people a text
Asking ‘y r u vxd’. Continue reading “10 Clerihews”
Cognitive Teasing or Quantitative Easing?
Quantitative Easing supposes to improve the economy through purchase of British Government bonds (gilts) and high quality (investment grade) bonds from private sector companies (banks, pension funds, insurance companies and non-financial institutions). By doing this the Bank is able to inject money directly into the economy and the companies that need it. This is in the belief that printing money and rising prices mean that they are creating value. But wait a minute ‘purchase government bonds’? That is, buy gilts to provide the exchequer with money that the government needs to meet a budget deficit! Gilts that creat more debt that the government needs to honour in terms of returning any capital invested plus any promised interest. A debt serviced through taxation. An article by Frank Chodorov with the title Don’t buy Government Bonds puts it this way: –
Continue reading “Cognitive Teasing or Quantitative Easing?”
Boadicea's Chariot 
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