Posts

Whatever happened to LinkedIn?

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Out of interest, what is the purpose of LinkedIn nowadays? I used it regularly for several years, had a solid Network of people, most of whom I knew personally and had worked with. It was a good way for us to keep in touch, alert each other to work opportunities, shoot the breeze in a non-aggressive (i.e. Twitter free) way, and now and again to practice my blogging skills. I even found a work contract one time. It was fine. Then I retired, and (as I thought...) closed and deleted the account as no longer relevant to my life. That was in 2018. A couple of months ago, My Beloved asked me to track down an old work colleague who we had lost contact with, so I revisited the platform and found him straight away. But without having a LI account of my own, I couldn't reach out to him, so I started to set one up (with the intention of it being purely a temporary means to an end) - and lo and behold the old account I thought was no longer in existance popped up, with all the same personal de

Is the US complicit in the Gaza conflict?

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  I do wish the media would stop using the term "Israel - Gaza War" - it is NOT a war, it's a slaughter.  With a war, generally, both sides are more or less equal in terms of armaments, forces and objectives.  The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a war (of aggression, prompted by one sovereign state invading a neighouring sovereign state).  No-one could suggest that is the case in the Israel - Gaza conflict because Gaza has no sovereignty. Hamas committed an awful terrorist attack, and has rightly been condemned for doing so.  Israel's response is anything but proportionate, no matter what that state's government might say. There have been around 1,200 Israeli deaths, and 253 citizens captured (some of whom have now been released by Hamas) according to press reports. In Gaza, there have been almost 30,000 deaths and over 70,000 injured by Israeli forces. And that ignores the tens of thousands, on both sides, who have been killed or injured over the past 75 y

I worry about America...

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  Seriously, I do. For my entire life, the United States of America has been a beacon of hope and peace and democracy, whether under a Republican or a Democrat Administration. Amidst all the gung-ho posturing and often angry rhetoric - and sometimes it could be very angry indeed (and often about what in my view were the wrong things) - and despite a pathological Superiority Complex the size of the Andromeda Galaxy, I always felt the country could be relied upon to Do The Right Thing.   And mostly it did. The Government and its spokespersons always trumpeted its successes, its "American values" and the sanctity of its Constitution; how there was no alternative - indeed, could never be an alternative - to Freedom, Democracy and The American Way, while at the same time leaving millions of its citizens in unemployed misery in ghettoes in every city, every large town, because of the colour of their skin or the place of their birth. I turned a blind eye and a deaf ear as they tri

Privacy concerns

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  Privacy matters.  And not just on your internet browser of choice.  Nor on the internet as a whole.   It's one of the reasons Vivaldi is now my daily driver.  As well as being fast and offering more customization options than you can shake a stick at, and a host of productivity tools that for me, at least, are completely irrelevant, it has excellent security and privacy features baked in.  Specifically its own ad- and tracker- blocker that ensures my browsing choices and history are not flogged off to the highest bidder, nor am I peppered with ads all the time.  It gives a running count of the number of ads and trackers it's blocked too, which makes interesting and sobering reading - I've been using Vivaldi pretty much constantly for around 15 months and I'm told that in that time (as I write this...) I've had close to 300,000 trackers and nearly 150,000 ads blocked......  But even these tools are no match for the world's biggest advertising agencies (that'

Facing trials.

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  Today has been a good day.  It's not quite 11 in the evening, and I'm sitting on the balcony in my old and rickety IKEA rocking chair that I fear is nearing the end of its useful life. (It come to all things, including ourselves. But do not think I am coming to that stage - far from it.  So please don't worry - as if you would!)  The day was hot, approaching 30C I think, not bad for early September in Warsaw, and even now it's a comfortable 19C and in my old blue shorts and new black Red Hot Chilli Peppers tee, I'm warm. I have a chilled Lech beer on the table beside me, a full belly from My Beloved's cooking, and the sublime music of Mozart fills my ears.  It truly is a fine ending to a fine day, and I feel thankful and satisfied with my life right now. Of course, it hasn't always been so.  There have been trials to face and there will be more I doubt not.  It's what we humans have to go through (probably all living things do, come to think of it). An

Whatever happened to Travellin' Bob?

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  I've been a bit blocked lately. Not in the digestive-y way, you understand, but....well, in the head. Which is why there's not been a lot posted so far this year. My Muse, always a bit hit and miss for me, has buggered off.  Again. Truth to tell, I'm out of ideas.  No inspiration.  Not for blogs, not for longer stuff like short stories. Or essays  And as for complete book length writing.......not a snowball in Hells chance! ----------------------------------------------------------------- I mean, it's not as though is there is nothing going on in the world to bring a little inspiration. There's Putin's War for a start, but I've lost a little bit of, I suppose, focus as it drags on through the winter months. There are war crimes being committed on a daily basis by the Russian invaders, and heroic resistance by Ukrainian forces to counter them. Life goes on mostly, as people try to live as normally as possible amid the power cuts, lack of heat

Off with the old, in with the new - 2023

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So here we are, the first post of the year - better late than never, but at least it’s not February yet.  I hope you all had a good and pleasant Christmas, and a riotous New Year’s Eve (mine was sober but a nice family one), and wish you every success and happiness for 2023. As for 2022, I’m kind of glad to see the back of it.  My ambition last January was to get through the year without being hospitalised, and in that at least I succeeded, despite some sciatic problems that needed some physio in a clinic, but I don’t really class that as “hospital” - so I’m calling it a win. Apart from that, at least on a personal level, not a lot happened.  For a number of very good reasons, it was a quiet year.  Finishing off the new place meant there was not a lot of spare cash so for the first year in my life (at least as far as I can remember) I never got to the seaside, and I’m rather surprised at how much I actually missed it.  Since childhood I’ve loved the sight and sound of waves, big and sm