Wednesday 27 June 2007

It's Wednesday and spelling test day at school for my 8 year old daughter. This week the words are:

mother
father
daughter
brother
sister
cousin
grandmother
grandfather
aunty
uncle
nephew
niece

Yes, these are family members. For reasons unknown, my daughter informs me that son was deleted from the list. Without stopping to analyse that, I offer my alternative spelling list:

step-dad
lawyer
CSA
prenuptual
visitation
rights
test tube
twins
triplets
quadruplets
civil
partnerships

This list combines with the school list to provide a UK perspective that is more familiar.

Monday 25 June 2007

Having realised this weekend that the school holidays are within touching distance and it's time to get organised for the family summer trip or hide from the joy spread by holidaying families, the brand new week starts in the UK. What could be making Really Huge News by the time Friday comes and the supermarket special offers on sunscreen are making the British weather look even more miserable? Possibly the following:

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The UK Secretary of State for International Development launches an anti-drought programme with arrangements for the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and Wimbledon Tennis Championships to go on tour round sub-Saharan Africa.

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George W. Bush's contribution to the video celebrating the anniversary of the UN Charter becomes a YouTube sensation as he shares with the world some trivia about its signing and the introduction of the phrase John Hancock into common parlance.

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International Day In Support of Torture Victims
is marked in the USA by the release of a 1974 report into CIA wrongdoings, further concerns about extraordinary rendition and the release of Paris Hilton.

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44 years after John F. Kennedy's evocative comments "Ich bin ein Berliner", Angela Merkel lets slip that George W. Bush's last words to her were "Ich bin ein Massage Therapist".

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The third anniversary of the USA handing sovereignty back to Iraq is marked by traditional gift giving with George W. Bush receiving another reduction in his approval ratings.

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Prime Minister's questions
proves more amusing than usual when Tony Blair stands up and says "The thing is that I had a farewell dinner with Gordon in Islington last night and, you won't believe this, I'm actually staying on."

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Kate Moss
's new perfume "Kate" is launched despite Coty turning their nose up at her original Fragrant Pete concept.

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Japanese fans show their devotion to Harry Potter by queuing for days to catch a glimpse of the stars of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" on the red carpet at its world premiere in Tokyo. Chinese fans show their devotion by buying the DVD.

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My 8 year old daugher, inspired by Anne "Special K" Keothavong's performance at Wimbledon, picks up a tennis racket and immediately gains a UK women top twenty ranking.

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The iPhone launch proves a huge success for Apple with its iPaidHowMuchToBeCool? price tag.

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Friday 22 June 2007

As the week draws to a close and following the traditional summer solstice observance - Day 23 of Big Brother - it's time to look back on recent happenings.

The REALLY HUGE NEWS this week is:

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The Dutch trucker caught eating pasta from a saucepan while driving his 40 tonne lorry one handed along the A55 in North Wales, apologised profusely as he didn't realise the protocol in Britain is to eat spaghetti on toast.

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The Royal Mail has lost its contract with Amazon. A spokesman stated "We know it's somewhere but can't put our finger on it straight away".

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Cadbury's has announced sweeping steps to become leaner. First, lay-off all those Creme Eggs.

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The advertising watchdog has blocked 50 year old "Go To Work On An Egg" adverts citing public health concerns at eating half century old eggs.

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Following the Vatican's Ten Commandments for Motorists, Buddhism launches Four Noble Truths about hair styling, and the Mormons re-issue their 13 Articles of Faith - one for each wife.

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Nicolas Sarkozy has explained that at his infamous G8 press conference he was running late, took a flight of stairs four steps at a time and was "out of breath" ... as a newt.

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China has overtaken the USA as the world's biggest CO2 emitter. That's one big SodaStream. George W.Bush immediately assured his nation that the hot air released by the 2008 Presidential election campaign will soon return the USA to world dominance.

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Ukvisas denied applicants entry to the UK because they did not have sufficient command of English. They failed to demonstrate an ability to ... speak ... slowly ... and ... LOUDLY.

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French officials have been forbidden from using Blackberry wireless email devices for reasons of state security. There are concerns that they may fall out of pockets when running up flights of stairs four steps at a time.

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Gordon Brown is considering including non-Labour party members in his cabinet to kick-start his administration and immediately give it wider popular appeal. Paddy Ashdown and the Liberal Democrats have rejected him but he's pretty confident about Paul Potts as Secretary of State for Wales and Pete Bennett as Secretary of State for Culture.

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Wednesday 20 June 2007

It's Wednesday and spelling test day at school for my 8 year old daughter. This week the words are:

asked
answered
called
bellowed
cried
boomed
replied
demanded
said
screamed
shouted
whispered

Yes, these are conversation verbs. I guess it's a sign of the times that 8 year olds have entered the world of software programming. So, in the language of C, I offer my alternative spelling list:

GET_TYPE
[MC_]ALLOCATE
[MC_]CONFIRM
[MC_]CONFIRMED
[MC_]FLUSH
[MC_]GET_ATTRIBUTES
[MC_]RECEIVE_AND_POST
[MC_]PREPARE_TO_RECEIVE
[MC_]RECEIVE_AND_WAIT
[MC_]RECEIVE_IMMEDIATE
[MC_]REQUEST_TO_SEND
[MC_]DEALLOCATE

My 12 year old son is not impressed. Don't I know about Linux?

Monday 18 June 2007

Having wasted half the weekend poring over the Queen's Birthday honours list, failing to find your name (once again) and realising (once again) that it mostly rewards people who have people who read the honours list for them, the brand new week starts in the UK. What could be making Really Huge News by the time Friday comes and the days have started getting shorter? Possibly the following:

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The Paris Airshow is cancelled when the governor requires her to strictly adhere to the jail dress code.

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European Human Rights and Trading Standards officials combine in a campaign for fairer and more accurate representation to require Men, Children and Disfunctional Family Days at Royal Ascot.

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Nicolas Sarkozy, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown re-work the Entente Cordiale. Agreement is reached, after a session at 10 Downing Street lasting several hours, that the best recipe includes whisky, creme de menthe cut with russian cologne and that Monsieur Sarkozy should handle all the questions at the press conference.

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Years of bottled up emotion are finally released at Tony Blair's last EU Summit. His closing speech, again talking about Britain being at the heart of Europe is marked with tears ... of laughter.

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To the surprise of many World Humanist Day is marked in the White House. George W. Bush expresses happiness at celebrating all that is good in humanisty and in the same press conference thanks his fellow celebrants from the Repulicanisty Party.

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Blue daubed naked dancers found by police in fields near Oxford on the summer solstice turn out to be Chelsea footballers continuing John Terry's wedding celebrations.

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Last minute preparations for Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts are completed with the announcement of Tony Blair headlining the new 45 minutes stage.

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The publishers of Pete Doherty's diaries stress his work is not be sniffed at - for health and safety as well as legal reasons.

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Queen Elizabeth
celebrates Prince William's 25th birthday, noting that she was William's age when she became Queen. Prince Phillip lightens the mood by commenting that Prince Charles has celebrated one more birthday than his grandfather King George VI ever did.

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World Refugee Day is marked around the world. Refugees and their children have made a huge difference to our world. A random selection includes Albert Einstein, Maria von Trapp, Joseph Conrad, Arnold Schoenberg, Sir Alec Issigonis, Isabel Allende, Sigmund Freud, Hans Singer, Gloria Estefan, Henry Kissinger, Richard Rogers, Marc Chagall, Karl Marx, Anish Kapoor, Olivia Newton John, the Dalai Lama, Michael Marks, and Marliene Dietrich. The Daily Mail goes with "Immigrants To Get Weekly Rubbish Collection".

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Friday 15 June 2007

As the week draws to a close it's time to look back on recent happenings, perhaps with a sense of relief similar to that felt by a soon to be prime minister flying out of Iraq just after a mortar attack on the International Zone in Baghdad.

The REALLY HUGE NEWS this week is:

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A week of many believable denials. George W. Bush didn't have his watch lifted while embracing an over-enthusiatic Albanian crowd (obviously a case of mistaken identity), Nicolas Sarkozy was not drunk at the G8 summit last week. And Gordon Brown is not James Brown's son. Further denials reveal that one of these is definitely not true but which one?

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Ikea is giving its UK employees low-energy light bulbs for use at home. This small but admirable eco-friendly step was frustrated when none of the Ikea employees could understand the instructions that came with the light bulbs.

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A Tate Gallery spokesperson poo pood claims that Piero Manzoni's artistic creation "Merda d'Artista" are tins containing only plaster.

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After weeks of media intrigue, Jamaican police announced that Bob Woolmer was not murdered and died of natural causes. The Pakistan cricket team and bookmakers in India stated that they had known this the whole time.

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Victoria Beckham's lawyers admitted a simple misunderstanding and withdrew an injunction stopping the We Are What We Do (WAWWD) campaign to exclude plastic bags from Christmas shopping.

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The lap dancing advert on a field under the flight path into London Gatwick airport has triggered a new wave of promotion. The flight path into Birmingham International Airport is adorned with images of a local Balti restaurant. The Royal Bank of Scotland has plans for the approach to Edinburgh airport. No surprises at London Heathrow where National Car Parks has benefited from overhead images of the M25 for years.

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The cause of the International Space Station's computer crash is now understood to be the visiting astronauts trying to watch clips of "Britain's Got Talent" on YouTube and the computer's advanced analytical software logic paths being unable to cope.



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George W. Bush's jewellers celebrated the US President's visit to Albania and his close encounter with cheering crowds. Alfred Moisiu, the Albanian President issued a statement that President Bush enjoyed his time in Albania not only meeting the people but also, when in private, games of Find The Lady and Liar's Poker.

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The New South Wales State Emergency Service delivered 12 kegs and three crates of beer to the town of Hinton which has been cut-off from the outside world by floods. Hinton residents have appealed for assistance from Aboriginal spiritual leaders for more water.

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Paul McCartney fans have spotted that the title of his new album - Memory Almost Full - is an anagram of "For My Soulmate LLM". LLM = Linda Louise McCartney. Heather Mills-McCartney is, of course, an anagram of Mentally Charm Heretics. Now we better understand the relationship dynamics.

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A spokesperson for Nicolas Sarkozy highlighted the new French President's cultural sensitivity on the world stage by Monsieur Sarkozy's refusal to offer French wine to Vladimir Putin and instead serving the President of the Russian Federation Eau de Cologne Imperiale Russe Martinis.

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