The Era of Missed Opportunities

Two days ago, I was walking home from the train station when I heard a loud noise explode from behind me. The dreadful cacophony sounded like a goose was being strangled in 3-D surround sound. I turned, and saw that a group of teenagers had appropriated a traffic cone: one of them was using it […]

Still More Cold Call Absurdity

My blockade of cold call sales people took yet another unexpected turn; the Project Manager in my team, who hitherto has kept her name out of the the bullseye of these firms, is now starting to receive much of the same email traffic that I receive. The first paragraphs in their latest email is revealing: […]

Even More Cold Call Absurdity

The absurdity of cold call selling has reached new depths at my workplace; my voicemail is full of messages from recruitment agents who are desperate to get in touch with me.  Still, I’ve kept the barriers up. So, they’ve gravitated towards my Development Manager. He too has put them off. So finally, they found out the […]

Nature on the Boil

If you want a good indication of how the environment has degraded over time, get out your old home movies. My parents did this last Christmas in an effort to embarass me in front of my girlfriend, an endeavour made simpler by a recent transfer of some old Super 8 films onto DVD. As I […]

Best. Election. Ever.

I must admit, I was surprised by McCain’s vice presidential pick. Unlike many, I’d heard of Sarah Palin before, mostly because she was in favour of drilling in ANWR.  Still, because of her relative lack of notoriety (and the fact she’d only been governor for two years), I thought McCain was going to choose a […]

Kirsty Coventry Returns to Zimbabwe

I continue to be fascinated by the progress and exploits of Kirsty Coventry, the double gold, quadruple silver and bronze medal winning swimmer from Zimbabwe. Yesterday, she returned home to what The Zimbabwe Times called a “hero’s welcome”: Hundreds of fans gathered at the Harare International Airport on Wednesday to welcome Zimbabwe’s gold and triple-Olympic […]

The End of the Clinton Era?

Finally, Bill did the right thing. He gave a speech which was unequivocally supportive of Barack: I breathed a sigh of relief. It was also gratifying that Bill managed to surpass his wife: while she said all the right words in her address on Tuesday, it was done in such a way that one couldn’t […]

Before London…

The end of the Beijing Olympics has created an atmosphere, particularly in Britain, in which the focus has narrowed to the point of fixation on the London Games of 2012. I’m slightly irritated by this; after all, there are the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver to enjoy. Here is a promotional video to remind everyone: […]

Arguments, Please

The Democratic National Convention has kicked off in Denver, and apparently it’s gotten off to a brisk start. The reviews of the speeches by Michelle Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi suggest all have gone off without a hitch. No doubt, Michelle, Ted and Nancy breathed more easily once they got off the stage […]

Learning Chinese

The Beijing Olympics have ended just as flamboyantly as they began. I watched the Closing Ceremonies with interest and a tinge of sadness: after all, the Games have provided the bulk of my entertainment for the past two weeks, and the success of the British athletes has provided me with a timely set of “pick […]

Me And My Blog

Picture of meI'm a Doctor of both Creative Writing and Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering, a novelist, a technologist, and still an amateur in much else.