I am sitting in Caffè Nero trying to test out a new iPhone app - SpellChecker.
It has its own dictionary that it refers to as you type. However, it can also access a range of other iPhone dictionaries. I have mine linked to the very impressive (but expensive) Oxford English Dictionary and Thesaurus.
Once you have [...]
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Posted in Education, Psychology, Therapy on Apr 9th, 2010
How to Think and Intervene Like an REBT Therapist
Windy Dryden
Routledge 2009
ISBN 978-0-415-48795-5 (pbk) £18.99
I liked this book a lot, partly because it is straightforward and ‘does what is says on the tin’. As you would expect from arguably the UK’s most authoritative REBT practitioner and teacher, the book, like an ideal REBT session, is [...]
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Apologies for my absence. I’ve been pre-occupied over the ‘holidays’ with a couple of other writing tasks that I needed to complete. Having finished them today I found myself with a few idle hours before returning to work tomorrow and started amusing myself with dreadful similes to tweet.
For those of us who have forgotten, a simile [...]
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Posted in Education, Humanity, Humour, Language on Dec 16th, 2009
I think that people are sometimes snobbish about language. For me, words and phrases are like clothes in a wardrobe. In terms of linguistic benefits, there are at least two possible results of having an education: you have more clothes in your wardrobe to choose from; and you may choose your garments with [...]
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Posted in Education, Humanity, Science, Society on Nov 26th, 2009
Who will win this year’s bad faith award?
The New Humanist’s annual vote to discover who people think deserves a bad faith award is still open. If you haven’t cast your vote yet, do pop along to the site and see if anyone merits your selection.
Last year Sarah Palin romped home to victory for her [...]
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Posted in Education, Health on Nov 12th, 2009
Would you rather have your leg ulcer dressed by a non-graduate, skilled, caring practitioner who knew what she or he was doing, or by a graduate who didn’t? I have mixed feelings about recent proposals to make nursing an all graduate profession.
I can find three arguments in favour or introducing compulsory graduate status. First, as [...]
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The feathers of the Malaysian peacock pheasant were stunning. The display had lit them in the centre of the room so that they looked like a metallic sculpture. I wanted to take the work of art home.
The Darwin Exhibition is running at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for few more days. My visit yesterday, on [...]
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Posted in Education, Faith, Government, Religion on Sep 22nd, 2009
For a long time I have felt very uneasy with the notion of Faith Schools. Having worked in Secondary Modern Schools, and latterly in Comprehensives, and Further Education Colleges, I have a profound dislike of anything that divides young people unnecessarily or that make access to progress a privilege.
My two main objections to them are [...]
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Posted in Education, Language on Jul 30th, 2009
Despite what the (American) religious right may teach, just saying “No” to yourself doesn’t always work.
Many of us already knew that, but it’s now official. The truth is out at last – abstinence-only programmes make the situation worse. To the surprise of few, it has recently emerged that George W. Bush’s “abstinence only” [...]
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