Three years is better than five. Five year plans give me a funny itch.
I predict I will make Grammarly mistakes and AI will helpfully correct them without me even knowing.
Courtersy of today’s AI
A simple trick to decide if the word is the object , is to substitute “he” or “she” for “who” and “him” or “her” for “whom”, if “him” or “her” fits use “whom”
Well it doesn’t in the above title , but I learned something and in three years time, which if I’m here I’ll be learning something too.
This headline is courtesy of the Financial Times. I’m not a subscriber , so haven’t read the full article, but this is certainly different to most news we are currently hearing about Israel .
So the Israeli Government are worried that they are losing intelligent, qualified technical people to other Countries because of emigration, they are people they don’t want to lose. So they will offer them financial incentives to stay. Perhaps it will work , perhaps it won’t.
It all depends on what technological opportunities there are to develop. I know that an Israeli Company now owns the Soda Stream Brand.
I’m a big fan of making my own fizzy drinks, particularly on hot summer days. So much better than lugging heavy plastic bottles with additive fueled drinks out of the supermarket on a trolley. However, I think there have been some electronic type developments from the original Soda Stream design, but none that float my boat. Basically it’s a gas bottle attached to a holder. You don’t need timers, GPS or indeed measuring devices. So this could be a technological rabbit hole.
Perhaps the technological people feel they can use their skills more usefully elsewhere , perhaps in bigger markets in other countries and thus they want to move on.
Perhaps it’s a moral decision , that the don’t want to use their skills in developing weapons. Perhaps their specialisation is in Medical Science , and they believe everyone should benefit from their advances. This is a distinct moral dilemma that money does not answer.
Thus , the emigration might have nothing to do with earnings or “Tax Breaks” at all. Time will tell.
Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.
I suppose it’s a holiday that we all need, just a break from the onslaught of Microsoft. A week where we don’t need to use the software, where we don’t have to worry about upgrading to Windows 11, buying a new laptop that will use the full AI benefits that Microsoft wants us to use. Where simply everything works without updates or notifications.
I think we all need that holiday. We could celebrate by just being relaxed and getting on with what we want to do without constant interruptions.
Loved this book and really admire the writing, flair and spirit in it.My thoughts are my own.
Poetry is not my passion, so I’ve never read much or studied poets and their output. However, Sylvia describes incidents in a way that captured my interest. She uses the word “ptomaine poisoning” to describe an outbreak of shellfish poisoning which happened to her and ten of the girls on her secondment as an assistant editor to a prestigious New York Magazine. Ptomaine is now an outdated term , but so powerful, I can almost taste the crab.
As “The Bell Jar” is Plath’s only published prose book and is regarded as semi autobiographical, I came to it with a freshness and curiosity, with my ears ready to listen to a story and I was not disappointed.
I found myself fact checking some of the details in the book . Sylvia Plath was indeed a straight A student and I believe had the potential to have been a top academic if she had wanted. The Physics class she took reluctantly and excelled in then used her success to persuade her college that while she would attend Chemistry classes(which she hated) there was no need to sit an exam. Only someone who knew how to play the academic system could have done that so successfully and with such aplomb.
I suppose it was the era that she was born in that defined her view on relationships with the opposite sex. A ” woman’s role” to keep house, have children and worship her husband (the main bread winner) seems like something that she would grow to hate. Perhaps she did or perhaps she didn’t. The scene in the bell jar where the the diamond pin man tries to rape her and she sticks her stiletto heel in his thigh and leaves him to search around in the grounds for the diamond pin that he gave her and then insisted she gave him back was classic sassy woman. Sylvia could give as good as she got when she needed to .
I love the descriptions of her mother, whom with such a talented daughter , verging on genius as a writer had to support her both emotionally and financially taking into account Sylvia’s sensitivities. I appreciate Sylvia’s honesty in describing how her mother made her feel, but my overall impression was that she knew she was loved and also that she had many people around her that cared for her too.
What strikes me as sad, is it was all based on competitive writing, she wanted to win competitions , earn money for short stories from Publishers of Magazines , win , win , win. She could do it to, really she was invincible and curious and had a lot to offer the World. Did she stop winning, or did she stop believing she could win.
I don’t think those times were easy, there was not much money floating about. I love her frankness in saying that her family would run out of financial sympathy for her and she would be moved from expensive private psychiatric hospitals to public facilities where her treatments would be inferior. She wanted to get better before that happened. Which indeed she did,as at the end of the book she does return to college and eventually goes to Europe, the rest is history.
I will return to the Bell Jar again and again, because it’s language, it’s descriptions and it’s story are absolutely fascinating, so much better than J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” which as a coming of age novel left me slightly doubtful of it’s characters. Plath’s writing was heartfelt and visceral and frank. There was nothing phoney about her.
This news headline blows apart the fact that Jersey is a haven of wealth and community minded multi- millionaires and tax evading billionaires. More parsimonious , selfish creatures who last thought is to help their fellow humans.
Surprisingly it appears that the Head of the Fire Brigade for Jersey has announced publicly that they do not have enough PPE to ensure the safety of the Firemen and Firewomen whose duty it is to tackle fires and other incidents that these brave people are contracted to address.
In order to be safe from potential hazards and carcinogenic materials, they need two sets of tailor-made and specially fitted PPE which when used need to be decontaminated( hence the need for a spare set). They simply don’t have it and the Fire Chief of Jersey says it is unacceptable and will put lives at risk.
So where are the billionaires to help out?
Couldn’t the Fire Chief have had a quiet word and the rich have a few quality fundraising dinners and raffles to solve this? Why have the rich people of the Tax- Haven not volunteered some cash to protect the lives that protect their property.
Why I ask isn’t it a good enough cause? The reality is , just like the PPE scandal during the Covid Crisis, all these people are interested in is themselves, they’ll be quick to criticise if they lose their assets because of an inefficient Fire Response.
They won’t care if other people’s lives are put at risk as long as they are safe in their properties. They will argue to their blue in their faces that the “Fire Service ” is properly funded despite the evidence to the contrary.
Silly question, of course this is my favourite website. thenotsomightom.com Full of wit and common sense and such a lot of not so valuable tongue in cheek humour.
Thanks to BBC Online News for the inspiration from their slightly modified Headline.
Here we are, so close to the 5th of November so this Headline about the danger of handmade fireworks is very poignant. There is however a much bigger picture and that is about caring about the Health and Safety of people in populous countries like India and also the ever present danger of using cheap labour , in this instance Child Labour.
The story is about a young 14 year old boy who has suffered serious eye injuries from a home made, rudimentary device . Unfortunately during the Diwali celebrations the young lad was injured as the device did not go off as expected. He is waiting to hear how much his eyesight has been damaged.
He is worried as his parents depend on the income he brings into the household from his job repairing televisions. The young man sounds a budding electronic engineer, but he no longer goes to school and the Law now in India states that as long as the work is non-hazardous, he can work and does not need to attend school.
I wonder if the Law was the same in the UK , how many 14 year olds would elect to do non-hazardous jobs. Our Health and Safety Laws would definitely say that doing any form of work is potentially hazardous. Some would say it is overkill. I do hope that we never arrive at a position that 14 year olds are allowed to work, no matter what the Law says.
Meanwhile, like any 14 year old he wanted to have some fun and was out and about enjoying Diwali. I hope he recovers and I hope he gets a chance to learn as a young 14 year old should. Sounds as if he could be very good at Electronics.
AI Generated Image of young boy from India repairing Television
Headlines or articles aren’t always read as the writer intended. On this particular ocassion I have used device as it was more appropriate to do so . What I was left thinking about from this headline was just hoping the boy’s eyesight would recover and also that he got a chance to learn. I wasn’t interested in the actual device itself or the descriptions of how to make it or why it was impressive or dangerous. Yes it may be a Social Media Craze, but given the dangers it’s probably better not to disseminate it , again through any Media. No I don’t not need to know the ingredients or how to make it and I hope no silly idiots start throwing them around on the 5th November.
Thank you to the Online BBC News Team for this inspiring gem.
This story reminded me of a tragic(for architectural and historical reasons purely) of our local Council’s argument with a developer who bought a beautiful building called ” The Mechanics Institute” probably over thirty years ago for a lowly sum and then proceeded ,despite the building being “listed” ,to let it deteriorate and go to ruin. I don’t think the developer ever had the money to ” turn the building into a hotel” and actually saw the value of the land for house building once the building was in such a state it had to be demolished.
So this story about a developer using a small union jack on the side of a building he owned to advertise a “Fly the Flag Campaign” on a former Council building which presumably the developer had bought from the Council struck a chord.
The developer was outraged when the Council asked him to remove the said Union Jack Flag .He responded by putting a Union Jack that completely covered the frontage of the five story building and the Council have said that they will not take any further action as the flag ” does not breach any planning rules”, and actually the Council feel that it can be considered as part of the National Remembrance period to remember our War Dead. Yes, the Union Jack represents the whole of the United Kingdom (or does it? * see below) and does seem an appropriate way to remember those that have died, and I’m sure the Council did not intend not to include Wales.
They will however pursue the developer for advertising a “Fly the Flag “”Website address on the building as this is deemed an unauthorised advertisement.
I can’t imagine if there are any tenants in the building how they will see out of it? Perhaps that is what the developer is upset about, he is not making any money out of the building and indeed it is costing him money. Why not use it to advertise his cause of ” Fly the Flag”. Has he got shares in British Airways?
For those of us who feel that flags are dangerous, I would say no. Flags are open to interpretation and anyone stupid enough in medieval times to run in front of load of marauders waving one, well they became part of history, respected perhaps , but not survivors. Unlike those who followed behind and picked up the pieces, tended the wounded and learned to live in Peace with each other . Flags are icons but they do not solve anything.
I like the Union Jack and the Cornish Flag, St David’s Flag (Gold and Black) I’ve always had a penchant for the St Andrews Cross and as I’m Irish the St Patrick’s Cross. * Apologies to Wales who aren’t included in the Union Jack , because when it was devised, Wales was regarded as part of England. Hence there is no Gold or Black in the Union Jack. Sounds like a recipe for a contentious , alcohol fuelled pub brawl.
So I won’t be joining “Fly the Flag Campaign” , not because I don’t like flags, they are colourful Icons, but in truth their origin’s can be contentious.
What’s something you believe everyone should know.
Believe in something, always think that hope is not a bad thing and that tunnels do have lights that you can switch on. Also there are electricians who can fix things.
thenotsomightyom 