They vote for the funniest joke of the Fringe every year. here are a few winners: – 2023 – Lorna Rose Treen ‘I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah.’ 2022 – Masai Graham ‘I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I…
A Cornish Afternoon
I went to a garden party in a local Cornish village and sold cards and and a few art books to raise funds for the church. I laughed with the vicar and made new friends and raced a snail and in the late afternoon after the music had died down and the people were mostly…
Why Oxygen?
Oxygen’s key role is to function as a terminal electron acceptor. In other words, it is like the positive terminal on a battery. Food (like carbohydrates) function as the negative terminal. Electrons flow from food to oxygen, and cells capture some of this energy along the way, similar to how a light bulb captures the…
What Freedoms?
I have tried to see where the freedoms are we hear so much about. I understand we have freedom of thought – with the caveats that education can limit ones preparedness to imbibe information. That said it makes sense we all have a freedom to think. Politically we have a freedom of speech which is…
It’s just Weather
I chatted to a friend in London today and she said ‘I hope you are enjoying the sunny weather’. I smiled. This is the second full day of constant drizzle. But then, we are lucky there are people in the world who would give anything for two days of drizzle in their droughts, in their…
You Would Understand Why
You Would Understand Why You would understand why – Why lilac and Chopin go together – Just before spring or after winter’s Retreat back into the earth – Our beginning and our end – You would understand this – This sudden sadness and lack of will – When my body feels full-up with stones…
A Strange Tide
I have been reading some Muslim scholars who have argued against jihad for many years, and one who converted from being a Quran Reciter and teacher at university level – to being a Christian – that reveal the texts in the Quran and hadith about the Jewish people and the level of inbuilt hatred for…
Kayaking
So I agreed to go with a friend to a local tidal river today and test out her new/old kayak. Let’s not think about the fact she bought a kayak she couldn’t life onto her car or lift off so she needed someone to help, let’s concentrate on the warm evening and the kind river…
From Our Own Correspondent
I recall Alistair Cooke’s ‘Litter from America’ which was required listening when I was growing up. It was only later that I learned he was a Republican and liked to tell you how good the houses were his children had bought. But he was recognised by the US for his decades of explaining the US…
Cloudstrike Falcon
So as I write the AI enhanced cyber security programme Cloudstrike’s Falcon, used across the world, has failed an update and business and individuals are finding life harder than yesterday. According to the news the one bit of good news is that this is not a deliberate attack on the system but a faulty bit…