It was recently pointed out to me that there are ways that we are taught to categorize people. In the case of one group – evangelical Christians – they have three labels for people: Christians; People who have not yet heard the Good News; and Satan worshippers. This sounds preposterous to me. I was raised in a legally-Christian country, went to Sunday school, and learned about God, Jesus, and Moses. Armed with this knowledge, I cannot fall into the second…
COVID-19 has brought into sharp relief some differences between people. Some of us are willing to limit our interactions with other people because, in our opinion, going to the cinema, or having our hair cut, is not important enough to risk long-term disease, or causing the death of others. I think that bears repeating. If you are taking unnecessary risks during this pandemic, you are taking this risk on behalf of others. If this pandemic had been responded to appropriately,…
I am a lucky person. I was born in the Europe, white, straight, not disabled, reasonably intelligent, to loving parents, who did not damage me any more than any competent, loving parent damages their children. If any of those things were different, my life chances would have been very different. If I was born in the USA, and black, my life chances would have been significantly worse. All my other characteristics could be the same, but my life would have…
My wife and I are among Google’s best customers. I have long been ‘in’ the Google ecosystem. I have used Android phones since Nokia died, and I have several Google Homes, a Google Home Hub, Google Stadia (which I love), and YouTube Premium (which includes YouTube Music). Currently I have a Pixel 5, and my wife has a Pixel 4. Oh, and our phones use Google Fi. We are among Google’s best customers. But next July, photos my wife takes…
With the highly charged election nearly behind us (as soon as Donald Trump is willing to admit defeat and behave like a grown-up) it might be easy to forget that we are living in times where what is true and what is false is being made more difficult to discern. The current President of the United States routinely makes false statements. This has become so common, in fact, that we have started to become inured to it. Of course, politicians…
I just remembered, as I put a drinks can in the recycling, that in the 1980s, when I was at school, we were told by teachers to crush cans before putting them in the rubbish bin, because that reduced their size in landfill. That, for the record, was 1980s environmentalism! We had “bottle banks” where we could recycle our glass – one for clear, one for green, and one for brown, or mixed colors. But that was the only recycling…
Long ago, a good friend of mine told me about some softwares he had bought. You cannot say “softwares” I told him, it’s “pieces of software”, or some other construct. He did not believe me, but I was right, though in those pre-internet days, it was difficult to prove. More recently, I edited the Pound Sterling page on Wikipedia because it said “There is a variety of theories”. Again, ‘variety’ is uncountable, so the correct version of the verb “to…
I want to ask you for a favor. Next month – November 2020 – is a month of great importance for the United States, but also for the world. This is not a political post, although I have my own views, and will give them away, below. I want to ask you for a simple favor no matter who you vote for. The ask If you see anything amazing on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or Instagram do not share it until…
It is currently half time in the Six Nations rugby game between Italy and Ireland. The game is being played eight months late because of the reason. My wife is American and so is not familiar with rugby (or, if I am honest, particular interested in spectator sports), so I sometimes find myself explaining things. Today she asked why the players in rugby are so much better behaved than in Association Football (aka soccer). The reason, in my opinion, is…