Love To Learn

Today this blog celebrates my wife's language school being open for one year. Love To Learn opened a year ago today and has been hugely successful and I am so proud of Sally and everyone involved. Mainly specialising in Study Holidays for foreign students to come over to England and learn the language (and culture by staying with host families) it has been so popular bookings have had to be postponed for next year because they are so busy. Bookings extend into 2009. They also teach other languages including Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

So, this list is inspired by the English languages and is a list of the top ten most commonly used nouns in the English language, occording to Oxford University Press researchers, taken from an BBC online article I found from last year. The results are quite surprising. Time takes the top spot, work made number 15 but rest and play didn't even feature in the top 100. That says a lot about today's society.

The top 10 most commonly used nouns in English:

1. Time
2. Person
3. Year
4. Way
5. Day
6. Thing
7. Man
8. World
9. Life
10. Hand

**added note** Feed the World

Now I stumbled upon this site and it's a great idea. FreeRice.com is an online word game that tests your vocabulary and for every question you get right the makers of the site donate 10 grains of rice to be distributed to the poorest nations of the world via the United Nations. Ten grains doesn't sound much but since going online in October it's donated 50,000 grams of rice, which is quite amazing. So if we all play just a little a day then it will make a huge difference.

The only catch I can see is that the site displays three small adverts at the bottom of the screen which are unobtrusive and you don't have to click. Go and play, improve your vocabulary and help the starving at the same time, you can't lose.

Global Warnings - predictions come true

Here is a list of predictions made in the past of things that have happened to our planet brought about by changes in the world's climate. Perhaps we should all listen to what the scientists (I mean the ones not being paid by global business interests) are saying now about what's going to happen in the future. Even if they're wrong what have we got to lose? Things that seem obvious and quite normal ideas today were once thought of as speculation and scare mongering. the following list proves that they were correct:

1. By the year 2000 there will be a noticeable increase in temperature.
2. Tropical diseases will increase.
3. The sea levels will rise.
4. The more CO2 that is release the more the Earth will warm up.
5. The CO2 will acidify the oceans.
6. Intensity of tropical storms and hurricanes will intensify/
7. Australia will become drier.
8. Food crops will be adversely affected by increased temperature.
9. Many species will become extinct due to temperature variations.
10. A rapid increase in the melting of the Earth's ice caps.

The argument that "as an individual I can't make a difference" is wrong and it's not just governments that need to act is misguided. If we ALL made just a little effort to cut back on a number of things; electric consumption, waste, re-cycling, travel etc, then it would make a BIG difference.

Now, switch off that light if you're not in the room. Simple and really not an inconvenience. OK, rant over.

Musical epiphanies

The Guardian have done an article on the songs that made pop stars realise music was a force to be reckoned with and why. The song that jumped out and made a difference. Some of these seem obvious but others are quite interesting:

• Kate Nash - Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry
• Sarah Harding (Girls Aloud) - Don't Look Back in Anger by Oasis
• Katie Melua - Imagine by John Lennon
• Jack Peñate - Respect by Aretha Franklin
• Natasha Bedingfield - If It's Magic by Stevie Wonder
• Kate Walsh - Cornflake Girl by Tori Amos
• Roisin Murphy - The Lady Is a Tramp - Frank Sinatra
• Stephen Duffy (the Lilac Time) - Ducks On a Pond by Incredible String Band
• Amy Macdonald - Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
• José Gonzáles - Hoy Estoy Aqui by Markama
• Kano - Bogle Dance by Buju Banton
• Irwin Sparkes (the Hoosiers) - Don't Be Cruel by Bobby Brown
• Kelly Jones (Stereophonics) - Highway To Hell by AC/DC
• Jason Pebworth (Orson) - Another one Bites the Dust by Queen
• Nina Persson (the Cardigans) - I Love Rock'n'Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
• Sister Bliss (Faithless) - Golden Brown by The Stranglers

Mine would probably one of three (all from my parents' music collection), either This Old Guitar by John Denver (a song that I wish I'd written and showed how emotional music can be and how it can express a feeling better than anything else), Solitaire by The Carpenters (I loved the way it told a story and Karen's voice is amazing and heartfelt) but probably my number one would be:



The Boxer - Simon and Garfunkle. - As a kid I loved the story and remember joining in with the "lie la lie" bits and doing the crashing drum punching bit. It also told a story with really clever lyrics (like the whole Bridge Over Troubled Water album) and really recreated a sense of time and place. It was certainly a step up from The Wombles and Disney's Greatest Hits!



I suppose it depends on your age and what your family where listening to, but what was your musical epiphany?

NME Cool List

The trying- too-hard-to-be-oh-so-trendy NME has published their Cool List this week. It's the once-good music paper's annual list of rock and pop starts they think make the grade in the cool stakes, something that is so subjective and arbitrary that it annoys every year. Former winners include Alex Turner, Beth Ditto, Pete Donerty, Justin Timberlake and Jack White.

NME editor Conor McNicholas commented:

“Thirty years after the height of punk there are a whole load of new bands
making wild and passionate noise. But it takes more than just great music to
make it to the top of the Cool List - these people effortlessly set trends with
every breath they take - and it’s great to see that people like Keith Richards
prove that you don’t have to be young to do this!”

The Top 10 Cool People:

1. Frank Carter, Gallows
2. Jamie Reynolds, Klaxons
3. Lovefoxxx, CSS
4. Ryan Jarman, The Cribs
5. Lethal Bizzle
6. Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys
7. Kate Nash
8. Amy Winehouse
9. Beth Ditto The Gossip
10. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones

Had it lost it:

1. Richard Archer Hard-Fi
2. Sugababes
3. Donny Tourette Towers of London
4. The Libertines
5. Kanye West
6. Iggy Pop
7. Mystery Jets
8. Paul Smith Maximo Park
9. Paul Mullen

Ludicrous Laws

I think the people UKTV might read my blog! After my list of stupid criminals and crimes last week they released a list of the UK's craziest laws, as voted for by 4000 members of the public. BBC online published this story yesterday. Here are the results:



The UK's top 10 most ridiculous laws:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)


2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down (7%)


3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6%)


4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned(5%)


5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter (4%)


6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (4%)


7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (3.5%)


8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3%)


9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour (3%)


10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2%)

And they didn't stop there, here are some crazy laws from foreign soils:

The top 10 bizarre foreign laws:

1. In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk (9%)


2. In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation (8%)


3. A male doctor in Bahrain can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror (7%)


4. In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm (6%)


5. It is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle in Alabama (6%)


6. In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed (6%)


7. Women in Vermont must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth (6%)


8. In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except during funerals or hospital visits (5%)


9. There is no age of consent in Japan (5%)


10. In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon (4%)

IT for Dummies

Oops, missed yesterday's list, sorry. Here's one that was posted on my forum, apparently an excerpt from an article in the New York Times. Some people really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near computers:

1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.
2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.
3. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "Send" key.
4. Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his bathtub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.
5. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "Bad and an invalid." The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.
6. A confused caller to IBM was having trouble printing documents. He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't find printer." The user had also tried turning the computer screen to face the printer-but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.
7. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happened." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.
8. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked, "What power switch?"
9. Another IBM customer had trouble installing software and rang for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and had some problems with the disk. When it said to put in the third disk, I couldn't even fit it in..." The user hadn't realized That "Insert Disk 2" implied removing Disk 1 first.
10. A story from a Novell NetWare SysOp:CALLER: "Hello, is this Tech Support?" TECH: Yes, it is. How may I help you?"CALLER: "The cup holder on my PC is broken -and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?"TECH: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"CALLER: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my omputer."TECH: "Please excuse me. If I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"CALLER: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it."At this point, the Tech Rep had to mute the caller because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder and it had snapped it off the drive.
11. A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer. The tech asked her if she was "running it under Windows." The woman responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window and his printer is working fine."

• 12. TECH SUPPORT: "O.K .. Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager."
• CUSTOMER: "I don't have a 'P'".
• TECH SUPPORT: "On your keyboard, Bob."
• CUSTOMER: "What do you mean?"
• TECH SUPPORT: "'P' on your keyboard, Bob".
• CUSTOMER: "I absolutely refuse to do that!"
  

Disclaimer: I can only guess these are true, they're the kind of thing that get set around via e-mail. Even if they aren't true I can imagine that this kind of thing happens.... and they are amusing.

Monday Night Pub Quiz

I'm blowing my own trumpet a bit with this one. the forum I frequent holds a "pub quiz" in it's chatroom every Monday night. The quickest to type the correct answer gets a point, the first to five wins. Last night I won again. It's brilliant fun and some of the answers are hilarious and most of them I wouldn't dare put here, being either too rude, blasphemous or libelous or just too bizzar. These are last night's questions so you can have a little quiz to do yourself:

1. Which was the first European country to issue banknotes?
2. What were the first living creatures sent into space by the United States?
3. How many barrels of gunpowder were discovered in the cellars of Westminster Hall as part of Guy Fawkes' gunpowder plot?
4. What is the name of the dog in "Peter Pan"?
5. It’s my dad’s 70th birthday today – what is his first name: the same as a soap start who came to a sticky end?
6. Who was best man at Posh and Becks’ wedding?
7. What is Norman Fatboy Slim Cook’s first name?
8. Who called Michael Parkinson “a stupid white man”?
9. How many tiles are there in a scrabble game?
10. 10. What is the name of the temple on the Acropolis?
11. Who sing the theme tune to Dad’s Army?
12. What’s the round stump on the front of a saddle called?
13. What is the only clockwise rotating planet?
14. How long does it take the typical hen to lay 19 dozen eggs?
15. What is pewter made from?
16. What did Italians abolish in a 1946 referendum?
17. Who wrote Catch 22?
18. What does a hippophobe fear?
19. What country hosted soccer’s 1978 World Cup?

Answers:

1. Sweden
2. Mice
3. 36
4. Nana
5. Barry
6. Gary Neville
7. Quentin
8. Muhammad Ali
9. 100
10. The Parthenon
11. Flanagan and Allen (actually Bud Flanagan)
12. A pommel
13. Venus
14. A year
15. Tin and lead
16. The monarch
17. Joseph Heller
18. Horses
19. Argentina

I'm not too worried about winning this week. Normally it's a right pain cos the winner gets to do the questions the following week. Someone couldn't do it this week so someone else stood in and they're doing it next week. Phew!

Remember, remember...

...the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.

Funny how you never forgot those kind of things. Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night (or Bonfire Night as most people call it now). Celebrating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 when explosives expert Guy Fawkes, in a conspiracy of English Catholics, attempted to rid England of James I and the Protestant government by blowing up parliament. So how does Britain (and the Commonwealth) celebrate? By burning effigies of Guy and setting off fireworks.

I love a good firework display (and we went to see one in Stamford, with my in-laws on Saturday). What I don't like is the ASBO teens running around the streets with fireworks blazing and the constant bangs and crashes that seem to last a fortnight either side on bonfire night. It sounds like a war zone out there at the moment. If the government can ban smoking in public places I think it should have the balls to ban the sale of fireworks to the general public. What's wrong with going to see a safe, organised display where the fireworks are 100 times better.

Ok, rants over, on with the list of facts about fireworks:

• It's commonly believed that the first fireworks were made in China about 2000 years ago. They were originally used at Chinese New Year celebrations to scare away evil spirits, a tradition that now extends to other celebrations such as weddings, birthdays and religious festivals.


• 90% of fireworks in Britain are still made in China.


• India and Thailand have also used fireworks in religious ceremonies. Ancient rockets could be up to 10 feet long and tended to be attached to bamboo shoots, up to 40 feet in length.


• The Japanese word for fireworks is "hanabi", meaning "fire flower"


• The burning temperature of sparklers is 15 times the boiling point of water. It only takes three together to produce the heat of a blowtorch.


• Throwing a firework in a public place in the UK is a criminal offence with the maximum fine if £5000


• More than half the firework accidents in the UK happen to children under 16 despite them not allowed to purchase them.


• The first recorded fireworks in England were for Henry VII wedding celebrations. Elizabeth I even had a "fireworks master" for organising the pyrotechnics for special occasions. James II even knighted his after a particularly brilliant display for his coronation.


• John Smith (of Pocahontas story fame) introduced fireworks to America.


• Some states in America, including Georgia and New York have a total ban on fireworks being sold to the general public.