I simply couldn't resist this juxtaposition, and was able to get my camera out and fired up in time. But am I being overly cynical? Do campaigns like this make any difference? Poverty, after all, is not yet history.

Long-time readers will doubtless be wondering what has become of my beloved magic frangipani. The news, alas, is not good.

I noticed some time ago that it wasn’t flourishing. Some kind of soft rot seemed to be attacking the smaller shoots. I cut off the worst bits, and hoped that the rest woul...

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Thanks to my friend Jacob, who, with a throwaway "No mention of Disney stickers", pointed me to a press release about a fascinating study.¹ Barbara J. Rolls and her graduate student Maureen Spill watched preschoolers at a daycare centre having lunch. On three days there was a first course of c...

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There is a fundamental rule I follow: more complex the concept, the simpler the graphics; conversely, the simpler the concept, the more fun you can have with the graphics.

There really isn't a lot more to say; nevertheless, I suggest you go and read how Thomas P.M. Barnett would have approac...

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Unable to decide, this fine Mayday morning, I give you both. However, let this not be a mere indulgence. Let it be an opportunity for self-improvement. Note, for example, that the pelf on which the weak and base fix their minds is “money or wealth, esp. when regarded with contempt or acquired by rep...

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