Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Today I learnt...that Blogger.com...was broken

OK, this is a belated post and you may also have noticed that I'm 5 posts behind on my 'what I learnt today' experiment.  I would like to point out that the last 5 days have been a feast of trivia but unfortunately Blogger.com was caput and so I couldn't update you.

So a summary:

Thursday May 12th
Today I learnt that the 'political unrest' in the Middle East was provoked by a incident in Tunisia in which a young graduate, Mohamed Bouazizi, set fire to himself in protest after fruit and vegetables, which he was attempting to sell from a small cart, were seized by police.

This sad and baffling event reminds me of Jan Palach a Czech student who, 42 years ago, also set fire to himself.  Jan's protest was alledgedy against the continued soviet occupation of, what was then, Czechoslovakia and was followed by the similar deaths of 2 other students in the same spot in Prague within 2 months of his death.

These young people are not the only deaths by self-immolation but I wish that they could be the last.


Friday May 13th
Today I learnt that no one that I know actually knows why Friday the 13th is unlucky.  You may argue that this doesn't count as having learnt something new but it was news to me and therefore counts!

Saturday May 14th
Today I learnt that fir cones show us the direction in which new branches of the tree will grow.



Sunday May 15th
Today I learnt that there is such a thing as a Duct tape fashion.

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