Two Films which should encourage people to walk.

Charlton Heston died a week back.

I would never describe him as a great actor, but he did
appear in one really remarkable film:
Soylent Green. ( 1973 ).

Soylent Green is a film set within a future that has suffered
an ecological disaster. Food is sort, and there are other major
pollution problems.

Yesterday I watched a 2006 film :
Flood.

Flood is loosely based upon a Richard Doyle book.
It is about a surge tide which coincides with a spring tide.
The Thames barrier is raised, but it does not work,
& Cockney Land ( London ) suffers a major flood.

This is a timely film while sea levels rise as the result of
global warming.

I notice that April 24th is ‘Walk to Work Day’.

Lets hope it works, & that a lot of people start to think about
the health & environmental benefits this will give.

We really do need more people to think about how saving
the environment is their personal responsibility.

Looking for the news.

Paris. New York. Amsterdam. Copenhagen. Rome. Berlin.

Each country has songs which celebrate its capital city.

Each national newspaper focuses upon its national news.

That is not to say that some national newspapers with a
good global just can’t be found. It’s just that most of them
are very expensive to purchase, & one needs to read a lot
of them in order to achieve a very comprehensive & well
balanced world view.

Continue reading Looking for the news.

On Death & Dying. On war & Peace.

As one gets older the more one thinks about death & dying.

This is not because one becomes more maudlin, but results
from knowing or having known more people who are now
dead.

Over the last few years I have had to focus more of my
thinking upon the issue of how we might remember our
dead, how to write obituaries, & what is in my will.

All of which I view in terms of how we celebrate live,
while I have rewritten my will in terms of helping those
whom may live on after I’m gone.

Continue reading On Death & Dying. On war & Peace.

I hate the Word ‘Customer’

I hate the Word ‘Customer’.

As a passenger I keep being refereed to as a ‘customer’,
even thought as a ‘citizen’ I part own the public transport
which I use.

Within libraries I keep hearing the expression
‘Library Customers’, even though they might better be
refereed to as Library Users.

The word customer is defined as someone who buys goods
or services.

Call me a linguistic pedant, but just how am I buying
something from myself?

This is why it’s about time we should all refuse to use that
ugly work, & go back to the use the word ‘Passenger’ as
we travel, & say ‘Library User’ within all public libraries.

A Memorial at Smithfield.

I was born in St Bartholomews ( Barts ) Hospital in the City of London.

Just next to Barts is Smithfield, which has been a meat market for some 800 years.

Smithfield market is housed within a beautiful Victorian building which is in danger of being pulled down. Needless to say, the whole issue of what becomes of the building is very controversial indeed.

I’ll not go in to the various issues which surround the future of Smithfield, but just mention what I think might be done at the place.

A memorial to the countless millions of animals which have been cruelly murdered, butchered, & sold within Smithfield market.

The building might also be used as a vegetarian education centre, with retail outlets which sell various organic, & vegetarian products.

I would like the same to be done at the site of the old meat
market at Caledonian Rd, & at every other meat market
throughout the globe.

MuckD- The Sawdust people !

I’ve been looking through my archive, & came upon the following.

So here is the fun text of the very 1st
Greenpeace ( London ) anti-MuckD leaflet,
which was given out on Jan 19th 1985.

Enjoy !………………….

‘Macdonalds – The Sawdust people !

Sawdust – The Taste of macdonalds ‘food’

Sawdust – The nutritional value of macdonalds ‘food’

Sawdust – On the bloody floors of macdonalds slaughterhouses.

Sawdust – From the destruction of the Amazon rain forests
…. from the felling of millions of trees to provide more profits
for macdonalds …….

Macdonalds – The Sawdust people ! ‘

What followed on from that became McLibel.

Sayings & Remarks from the new Machiavelli.

Here are a few ideas & remarks which might help anyone
understand just how to deal with any manager at work.

It’s not what you know,
or who you know,
but whom you go drinking with.

Question.
What’s the difference between ignorance & Apathy?
Answer.
I don’t know, & I don’t care.

Those who are incapable of teaching become managers.

Upon finding a problem work out its solution.
Only then should you tell a manager just what the
solution might be, and follow it up with an outline of just
where the problem is to be found.

Cuba

Viewpoints in extremity.

It is very difficult to think or write about any of the issues which face Cuba
without having to confront one major difficulty.

Namely, where ever you look to find information about Cuba, that this will
result in your having to sort a lot of facts from political opinion.

Continue reading Cuba