Posted by: stazjia on: September 30, 2008
I’ve spent some time today giving this blog a new title – Stazjia’s Weblog was just too boring for words. OK, it’s still not very exciting but I’ve never been good at titles. I’ve also given it a new look. I hope it’s more attractive and easier to read. On the last design, I thought [...]
Posted by: stazjia on: September 26, 2008
Like many Europeans, I couldn’t believe that Americans could re-elect George Bush at the last election. Apparently, some Americans couldn’t believe it either as I had apologies emailed to me by friends in the US, assuring me that they hadn’t voted for him.
Generally, who a nations elects as its leader is strictly its own business [...]
Tags:
america,
banks,
crisis,
dollars,
economy,
elections,
europe,
finance,
george bush,
john mccain,
markets,
money,
president,
usa,
world
Posted by: stazjia on: September 23, 2008
I’ve just finished the latest novel by Alastair Reynolds, called The House of Suns. It was as good as all his other science fiction novels although it isn’t set in his Revelation Space Universe, like many of the others. Its big theme is morality and genocide, in particular as it relates to beings who are [...]
Posted by: stazjia on: September 23, 2008
Queses Likely
Originally uploaded by Horn Of Fury
I went to London on Friday and came back yesterday (Monday). I always forget how much I dislike London till I go back. I don’t think I could ever live there again. I’m too used to the peace and quiet of a country town, people having time to smile [...]
Tags:
accident,
air ambulance,
cars,
cities,
england,
jams,
london,
motorway,
pollution,
small town,
south-west,
traffic,
travel
Posted by: stazjia on: September 17, 2008
This is a follow-up to my post on August 20th and the revelations about the way many breeders of pedigree dogs are completely disregarding the consequences to the health of the dogs they breed by accentuating breed characteristics.
Now many organizations have joined in the debate. The RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to [...]
Tags:
barclays,
breathing,
breeders,
breeding,
breeds,
bulldogs,
characteristics,
crufts,
dog shows,
dogs,
dogs trust,
dysplasia,
evidence,
health,
hips,
inbreeding,
kennel club,
pedigree,
rspca,
scandal,
science,
standards,
uk,
welfare
Posted by: stazjia on: September 9, 2008
I’ve always been a very private person and not given to making friends easily. That doesn’t mean I don’t have friends, I just take time to get to know people. I’m a very outgoing person so this reserve isn’t immediately obvious.
Even though I’ve been an internet addict for more than 10 years, I’ve only made [...]
Tags:
bookmarking,
conversations,
facebook,
friends,
internet,
lenses,
lensmasters,
networking,
online,
shyness,
sites,
squidoo
Posted by: stazjia on: September 5, 2008
This really has been the most dreadful summer. It has rained so much and we’ve had so few sunny days, it’s been really depressing. Apart from a few days at the end of July, with all the rain and strong winds, it’s been more like autumn during August and this weekend is even worse.
It’s raining [...]
Tags:
aid,
autumn,
deaths,
flooding,
floods,
gales,
haiti,
hurricanes,
mud slides,
rain,
rescue,
storms,
summer,
sun,
wales,
winds
Posted by: stazjia on: September 2, 2008
Since I wrote about the Dickens novel, Bleak House, I’ve had an urge to re-read it. It doesn’t stop there, though. I’ve been compiling a list of books in my head that I’d like to read again. These are all books that I haven’t read for years. Most of them are classics that I read [...]
Tags:
angel pavement,
barnaby rudge,
bleak house,
Books,
charles dickens,
fiction,
good companions,
jb priestley,
kim,
les miserables,
little dorritt,
lord of the rings,
novels,
read,
rudyard kipling,
tolkien,
tolstoy,
victor hugo,
war and peace
Posted by: stazjia on: September 1, 2008
Yesterday I finished two new lenses. They started off as just one called Meet the English but the section on food got so long that I decided to put it in a lens of its own called English Food Explained.
In the second lens, I show pictures of traditional food like a ‘full English breakfast’, [...]
Tags:
alcohol,
baked beans,
binge,
black pudding,
breakfast,
cockneys,
diana,
drinking,
eggs,
england,
english,
food,
humour,
london,
passions,
patriotism,
people,
princess,
religion,
rioting,
sausage,
sport,
tomato
Posted by: stazjia on: September 1, 2008
Of course we are very lucky here in the UK to have a National Health Service (NHS) that is “free at the point of need.”
The problems start as more advanced treatments come on the market for life threatening illnesses like cancer because many of them are extremely expensive. There is a limit to how [...]
Tags:
budget,
cancer,
death,
disease,
drugs,
dying,
england,
free at the point of need,
government,
illness,
life-saving,
national health service,
nhs,
payments,
scotland,
tax,
treatment,
uk
