Author: Janus

Hey! I'm back ...... and front

The thirst for a friend

They tell me that social life these days is all about getting the most friends on your FaceBook file. Not that you know most of them (in any normal meaning of the word) from Adam or Eve, or even care who they are; as long as you can parade their names and faces as being ‘yours’. Even today I received an email asking if I wanted to be ‘Linkedin’ with a chap in Coventry. Nothing strange there, you reply. My home town, old friend? Well, yes and no. The chap married a childhood/family friend about 45 years ago and I’ve never met him! Would I like to learn more about him and share my thoughts? Er, not really, but thank you for asking. (I think.)

Then there is the latest Starbucks gimmick – asking customers their names. “Hello, I’m Sherry and I’m your barista today. What shall I call you?” I shall of course now avoid Starbucks even more studiously than before, since I would be likely to disappoint them on several fronts. a) I just want coffee, not a weird beverage with a life history and geography thrown in. b) I prefer to be anonymous (people tell me I am, effortlessly). c) I hate American chumminess which seems to demand that we are all welcomed like immigrants at the Staten Island depot. It’s a cup of coffee FGS! d) Every other customer below the age of 50 will be studying their ipod/ipad/laptop/notebook, making even more cyberfriends and ignoring the aromatic reality of a coffee shop where normal people meet in person.

O tempora, o mores!

The real ’60s

Allegedly a new Beeb series called White Heat is getting everybody excited about the swingin’ sixties. Danish TV will probably run it in five years or so, so I’ll let you know what I think. But meanwhile the Grauniad has asked some pundits how they have reacted to the show and one in particular has written this:

Roger McGough, poet, b.1937

“We never wore kaftans or put flowers in our hair Never made the hippy trail to San Francisco Our love-ins were a blushing tame affair Friday evenings at the local church hall disco Continue reading “The real ’60s”

Too many foreigners

Nicolulla, pictured here with a recent squeeze, is the son of a Hungarian immigrant and a French mother of Greek-Jewish origin, was baptised a Roman Catholic and grew up in Paris, and is now married to an Italo-Brazilian. Glass houses and stones came to mind when he identified an excess of foreigners as the root of France’s woes. Continue reading “Too many foreigners”

More pseudo-science

As far as I know (but there again I only have four children and eight grandchildren) children sometimes sleep ‘badly’, snore and report bad dreams. Believe it or not, it’s because they are human and respond in the same way as adults to what life serves up. They get scared, worried, confused, excited, even impatient – and then sleep just doesn’t happen as it ‘should’.

But now we are informed that such short-term difficulties are potentially dangerous, harmful to the brain! They might lead to the elusive ADHD – which not surprisingly means that after a bad night’s sleep it’s hard to concentrate. Wow, that’s terrifying. Quick, get a shrink, pick up a prescription, talk to your child about the dangers of snoring.

Or alternatively, ignore it and get a life!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17237576

Brave old world?

Euthanasia is a favourite essay topic for students. Some probably think it’s the name of an exotic flower they’ve trodden on some time. Others will simply argue it is a good thing, given their own youth and the ‘remote’ prospect of terminal illness. Its relevance expands with age, I’ve found, and these days I’m not so sure it’s wrong (ethically, I mean). Whether it is practical socially is quite another isssue. Continue reading “Brave old world?”

Court and Social caption, if you please

“The royal trio browsed luxurious delights before they were each presented with a Fortnum’s hamper, containing delicacies including champagne truffles – and dog biscuits.

They laughed as they rummaged through their goodies and spotted the “hearty treats for happy hounds”.

While the Queen is known for her love of corgis, Kate and William recently acquired a cocker spaniel they have named Lupo”.

(Text and picture from today’s DT)