Category: General

Egovision

I have never been a great one for watching television. When living in England my viewing was confined to the news programmes, comedy series and documentaries. Of this last category, one of my favourite presenters was David Attenborough. He was unobtrusive, a voice-over adding to what was happening on the screen with interesting detail. The programme was not about him, but about the topic. That situation appears to have changed.

Last night, I watched part of a documentary on silverback gorillas. I did not catch the name of the presenter, but he worked in the Attenborough mode, allowing one to study the gorillas without distraction. I then switched to BBC 1 to watch something called ‘Secret Britain’. What a contrast! The camera was dominated by the two presenters, particularly by the woman. Spending all of two or three minutes on the ‘secret’, the pair were pictured walking from one spot to another, speaking directly into camera or standing to admire the view being described. The producers of this shallow tripe clearly thought the viewer would be more interested in watching the behind of the female presenter as she walked, than in the view she was there to present. This was straight egovision, and uninteresting for it.

World survey on food shortages

WORLD SURVEY BY PHONE

In a nutshell……

Last month a world-wide survey was conducted by the UN.

The only question asked was:

“Could you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”

The survey was a massive failure because of the following:

1. In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant.

2. In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.

3. In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.

4. In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.

5. In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.

6. In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.

7. In the USA they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.

8. In Canada they hung up as soon as they heard the Indian accent.

Off to hospital this morning

Some of you may remember that last year I ventured on a motorcycle expedition through Southern Africa. I began to write about it on the other place, but when it all went pear shaped I sort of gave up the exercise.

On the 14th of August my little adventure took a turn for the worse. This is a sanitised account of what I wrote to family and friends at the time. It is quite long I am sorry to say, but that is just the way it is. Continue reading “Off to hospital this morning”

Private Space

Am I unusual in feeling somewhat aggrieved when, in a near empty bus, cinema or church, someone comes and sits alongside me?

This happened to me today in church and I moved, despite not wishing to appear rude.  I did not know the man from Adam.

I would welcome any views that any of you might have on this. No comments will be edited. Not many, anyway.

I hope all are well and happy today.

On Greed

A blogger on MyT complained about the threatened strike in France on Tuesday, which he sees as resulting from pure greed on the part of the strikers. I sympathise with his being personally inconvenienced, he is resident in France, but found his pejorative use of ‘greed’ quaint in an age when its use is taken by many to be complimentary. He has not heard perhaps, that ‘greed is good’, believed by many, including some bloggers on MyT, to be the only worthwhile motivator. Indeed, to suggest that someone is possibly driven by an alternative, sense of duty for example, can earn derision and accusations of naïvety. In a sense, it is heartening to see that there remains someone who does not admire the predominant trait in our society.