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May 2009 Blog Archive
29 May 2009 Robot, Pet or Best Friend
As another 4 day week draws to a close it's my turn to give Ellie a break and write this weeks blog.
I've just returned from a friends wedding in Santorini, Greece and although I've never been a fan of Greece the fantastic company we were in and the occasion made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I was shocked however to pick up an English newspaper to find a campaign against cruelty to donkeys in where else but Santorini! Apparently the Daily Express have been campaigning to save the donkeys for a couple of years. I have to admit had I not been in Santorini I probably wouldn't have given this any attention as I scanned through the paper. I'm pleased to report though I saw no evidence of any cruelty and none of the group had a donkey carry them up or down 680 steps. Read more on this here.
For some reason the topic of cleaning and in particular hoovering came up one late evening and to my amazement our Canadian friends have a solution to this arduous exercise... they have an iRobot! You may ask what is an iRobot? well take a look at the video below. The funny thing is our friends say it doesn't really save you any time as you find yourself sitting watching in amazement as it moves around the room covering every square inch in random patterns. Of course if you have a family pet then it can be further entertaining... family fun for everyone. On the matter of robots if anyone saw The Apprentice this week they will have seen 'Pleo' the robotic dinosaur, the manufacturers say it's not a robot but a life form — whatever it is it's not only clever but somewhat scary, will these one day replace our pets or maybe even our friends?
Another news story that caught my eye this week was 'China Bridge Jumper Gets a Push'. The story was about a man threatening to commit suicide by throwing himself off a bridge in China. Apparently, he created a rather large traffic jam much to the annoyance of a commuter who took it upon himself to push him to his death.
Finally, I'd like to say congratulations to our close friends Cherryl and Dave (pictured) on their wedding. I'd also like to congratulate all those who completed the Manchester Run including friend of Rapport; Paul Kain. Congratulations also to Lisa Yeaman on her epic charity walk in Scotland and I wish Ang and Si good luck in this weekends Northwich Triathlon.
22 May 2009 Apostrophe or not apostrophe
I defy anyone not to be slightly confused by apostrophes (or should that be 's or s'??) I can't really seem to find a set of definitive rules that are understandable, my knowledge goes as far as the 'possessive' apostrophe, but I don't actually have anything against them. Some people are going to the extreme of calling for the apostrophe to be abolished saying they are 'unnecessary'; this is silly. If I was to write 'I cant believe the weather' I would actually be saying I hypocritical talk often related to religious texts believe the weather'. Luckily not that many people know what 'cant' means so we get away with it, but without the apostrophe we will have to change the word for cant, and no-one wants that!
The expenses scandal has brought up some weird and ingenious excuses for what is allowed to be claimed back on expenses in Parliment, with 'second' homes being the way most expenses were abused. But forget the second house; my favourite MP's story by far is Peter Viggers who claimed for a house for his ducks...
The 5ft water feature was positioned on a floating island on the pond of his second home. The 'Stockholm' duck house boasted a square footage of 32sq ft and provided welcome shelter for the local mallards from the cold and foxes!
Finally, good news; Vimto sales are up!
15 May 2009 Start as you mean to go on...
We always hear that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it kick-starts you into action and prepares your metabolism for the onslaught ahead (in my case anyway!). So it always baffles me how some people can go without, if anything it provides me with a reason to get out of bed - the promise of food! As part of my job I am required to stay hotels up and down the country and I cant help but notice that the good old traditional English breakfast (and what used to be the most exciting part of staying in a hotel) is being replaced with a rubbish 'continental' equivalent. It seems that the British seem to be picking the worst parts of every other country; breakfast from Germany, weather from Poland, financial advice from America.
A massive part of traveling and experiencing different cultures comes in trying the foods and, as far as I am concerned, breakfast is no exception. In South Vietnam you can eat 'Pho'; a chicken or beef noodle soup, Champagne in Dubai, pork dumplings in Beijing or prawn curry in Indonesia. Although even I have to admit that, as tasty as it is, the combination of eggs and hollandaise sauce in Eggs Benedict is a bit wrong!
I must admit that when Manchester voted against the congestion charge I thought the Council would let the public transport System go drastically down hill in order to prove its point, but they are being they bigger person and putting money into transport anyway! This week the new £1.4bn re-generation scheme was announced, which looks to provide 21,000 jobs and create Metrolinks to Chorlton, Manchester Airpot and, most importantly there is one being built 2 mins from my flat on Gt Ancoats St - Brilliant!
33,000 people are expected to take part in the Manchester 10k run this weekend, apparently running in an organized race such as the run or a marathon is the best way to see a city as is is ensured that you will run past every major landmark, I suppose you have to take your mind off the running somehow; but I can definitely think of a more enjoyable way to spend a city break!
6 May 2009 It's not what you know...
The 'Six Degrees of Separation' theory is an idea we have used at Rapport in order to establish contacts within sectors we would like to do business in and has been a hot debate at many a dinner party/evening in the pub for students and royal alike.
The theory states that everyone in the world is connected to each other by an average of 6 other people (or 'degrees'). The phenomenon was born after a group of US students played a game called 'six degrees of Kevin Bacon' in which they had to connect Hollywood actors to Kevin Bacon via films they had both been in.
After this, many have tried to prove the theory, including the BBC and even Microsoft, who used its instant messages service to work out that from 180 billion users having conversations at that time they could all be connected by 6.6 degrees of separation. Anyway, the theory is back in the news again this week as it could, apparently, save the planet from Swine Flu. born from this theory, the science of 'mobility networks' can predict where people are likely to travel and who they will come into contact with, meaning we can predict the pathways of disease. So if you are unlucky enough to contract Swine Flu you can always blame Kevin Bacon!
I can finally stop running to meet the postman every morning in anticipation, because today the winning applicant of 'the best job in the world' was announced. To be fair the competition was fierce and I'm not sure my bodged inter-railing trip round Europe aged 18 really qualified me; 34,000 people applied from 200 countries to become the 'caretaker' of an Australian tropical Island. The competition was won by British Ben Southall, his job spec includes a £69,000 salary and a lot of snorkeling (as well as attempting to save Australasia's economy from collapse due to lack of Tourist interest)! Oh well, theres always next year
Who said that London gets all the best stuff; us lucky inhabitants of Manchester will be the first to be able to get ID cards this autumn, you have to register to receive one and they cost £60, but will supposedly protect us against terrorists and illegal immigrants, somehow I cant see them signing up for one myself!
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