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Computing/Internet

Spam Bait

Sky News has a list of the ten people whose names are used to attract people to read spam email. These are people who are apparently so attractive that we will be unable to resist their names in the subject line and we will open up emails containing viruses and other nasties. The top three […]

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Committees!

To get something done a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent.  ~Robert Copeland A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours.  ~Milton Berle If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, […]

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Observations Politics

The Greatest Threat

…Britain faces a “serious and sustained” threat from al-Qaeda and other suicide bombers and others prepared to use chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in the name of Islam. But it concluded that a flu pandemic posed a graver danger. The Government is to work with international health bodies on early warning systems and preparing vaccines […]

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More on the housing front

A few days ago, I posted about the speculation that the government would remove stamp duty from house purchases. Well, the situation is still no clearer, but our situation has moved on. We had found a house we really liked, and we made an offer to buy it even though it was quite a stretch […]

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Observations

What would Jesus say to James Bond?

Dave Burke has some good thoughts here: Physically, Bond is indestructible, but in relationships he is a quitter. Let me put this bluntly (perhaps too bluntly, forgive me) Bond wants us to think he is invincible but he is really a looser, using the past as an excuse for his inadequacies in the present. Intimacy, […]

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Africa Politics

Military Coup in Mauritania

Most Westerners know very little about the West African country of Mauritania and the news that the first ever democratically elected government in the country has been overthrown by the military has made virtually no impact on the media in this part of the world. Thankfully, the BBC website continues to keep us informed of […]

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Observations

Cartoon Competition

If you have any ability as a cartoonist, you might like a trip over to SPCK/SSG News where Phil Groom is running a cartoon competition on the cease and desist affair which I blogged on a a day or two ago.

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Bible Translation

Which Bible Version is Superior?

A couple of weeks ago I referred you to an article by Mark Naylor on two types of Bible translation (here). Mark has followed up that article with another looking at the differences between literal and meaning-based translations in more depth. Better make yourself a coffee before you read the article as it is a […]

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What should we do?

There are reports today that the government is considering suspending ‘stamp duty’ on house sales in the UK. Stamp duty is a strange name for a tax which you pay when you buy a house here, it isn’t a very high percentage, but with houses being as expensive as they are in the UK, stamp […]

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A Good Day Off

Like any true son of the North of England, I fully believe that the countryside down-south is not a patch on the moors and fells my homeland. But, I have to say that today’s walk along the Thames and over the Wittenham Clumps was very pleasant. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but the view […]