K. Morris's Blog, page 793
January 18, 2014
Announcement
I have decided to spend more time on my writing which means that blog posts will be less frequent, 2-3 a week, sometimes more and, on occasions less. In addition to my blogging and writing I have a full time job. Balancing the competing demands of work, blogging, writing (not to mention friends)! Isn’t always easy, hence my decision to blog less frequently. I won’t be disappearing so don’t open the champagne just yet! I will continue to lurk in the depths of the web popping up from time to time with blog posts and comments!
I very much appreciate all my followers so rest assured I won’t be vanishing into the deep blue yonder!
Kevin
January 16, 2014
Fake Controversy Alert: Hitler’s Mein Kampf Was Not A Digital Bestseller
Reblogged from David Gaughran:
A juicy story broke last week, the kind that makes savvy sub-editors salivate over potential Twitter-bait headlines.
It had been discovered that Hitler’s pre-war memoir Mein Kampf was a digital bestseller, leading to a global bout of media hand-wringing and pontificating. One excitable commentator even suggested it was a sign the second Holocaust was imminent.
The only problem with this story is that it’s not true.
An interesting post about whether Mein Kampf is, in fact a bestseller as has been claimed recently. Even if Hitler's book is a bestseller this is not, necessarily a cause for concern. The fact that people read Marx's "Communist Manifesto" or Burke's "Reflections On The Revolution In France", neither proves or disproves that the readers are either a Conservative or a Marxist. It proves merely that the readers are interested in politics and/or philosophy. Likewise reading Mein Kampf does not make the reader a Nazi. While reading history and politics at university I digested many books expressing widely divergent viewpoints. People with open minds read widely including works by people's who's views they find repugnant.
Darwin Day Lecture 2014 – How To Make A Human
On Tuesday evening I received a call from my friend John. It was good news as he had managed to obtain 2 tickets for the Darwin Day Lecture, How To Make A Human which takes place on 12 February 2014, https://humanism.org.uk/civi/?page=CiviCRM&q=civicrm/event/info&page=CiviCRM&id=41&snippet=2. I have some issues with Humanism (the lecture is hosted by The British Humanist Association) but, none the less the event promises to be an interesting one.
As an aside, for anyone who is interested, my issue with Humanism is that many Humanists are, in my experience just as dogmatic in their assertions regarding the non-existence of God as religious people are in their’s that he exists. I am, in contrast an agnostic, one who sits on the fence. The only problem with sitting on the fence is, of course that I risk getting splinters in a rather delicate place!
Kevin
January 15, 2014
My Encounter
As someone who is registered blind I am ultra independent. I live alone and navigate the streets with the assistance of my trusty guide dog, Trigger. There are, however instances where I require help and yesterday evening was one such.
On my way home from work, about 5 minutes from the flat, Trigger stopped dead in his tracks. It being dark the limited vision I do possess was rendered next to useless. I stood stock still waiting for the sound of approaching footsteps. Fortunately I didn’t have long to wait. A man approached and in broken English indicated that I should take his arm. In fact he tried to take mine but it being far easier (and the approved procedure) for guides to allow visually impaired people to hold their arm I gently disengage my hand and, taking his arm allowed my companion to guide me round the obstacle.
During our brief encounter I asked my new found friend what was causing the obstruction. He responded
“Sorry I am from Russia, I don’t speak English”. I smiled, shook his hand, thanked him and continued on my way home.
The whole incident reminded me powerfully of our common humanity. One man, (not my fellow countryman) saw another soul in need of help and rather than continuing on his merry way he stopped and offered assistance. The fact that he was Russian, that we couldn’t understand one another barely figured in our interaction. It was an act of spontaneous kindness for which I feel extremely grateful. People are just that, people. Nationality and ethnic origin don’t matter, it is the person within, (the soul for want of a better word) which counts and this individual possessed a good soul.
January 14, 2014
Disappointing Results and a Scandal: Amazon's Withdrawal
Reblogged from Savvy Writers & e-Books online:
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Promoting local public libraries since fifteen years, and running a great website, PublicLibraries http://www.publiclibraries.com/ reported about Amazon's withdrawal from becoming a big trade publisher: "Amazon is toning down its plans to become a full scale publisher. The retreat from publishing appears to be a result of black listing of author’s signed with Amazon by brick and mortar book retailers."
Barking
Standing in my kitchen, peeling an orange, I was arrested in my progress by a sound cold, short and sharp – The barking of one of the many foxes who make their homes in and around Crystal Palace. “Bark” the sound sent a shiver down my spine. Once again, “bark”, what are you about my friend? Do you hunt for food or call to your brethren? My dog lies seemingly unperturbed in his bed. He is your distant cousin but on this evening acknowledges you not. Sometimes he stands, nose pressed against the window, intent on you, his distant relative in the garden far below, but tonight he communes not with you. Fox, dog, so close and yet so far removed. Creature of domesticity, something wild lurks within. Sometimes you give short, sharp barks like your relation yet, if your paths chanced to cross you would give chase. You are, my dog, mine but not wholly so. You are part of the domestic hearth but yet have a paw in the wilderness. When you dream you are, I think closer to the wild fox calling at my window than you are to puny man.
The barking has ceased but the sound of death lingers on.
January 13, 2014
The Captcha Monster
I like to follow other people’s blogs. Interacting with others is, after all part of the fun of blogging as sooner or later you get bored talking to yourself! Likewise I love receiving comments and commenting on other people’s blogs. To me a blog which does not accept comments is a dead entity. It may well contain interesting content but without the ability to interact with the blogger his/her site does, in my view lack a certain vibrancy.
One of the difficulties with allowing comments is separating the wheat from the chaff. My site receives a fair number of wheaty (have I just invented that word)?! Comments, however the blog also gets bombarded by chaff (spam)! Akismet (the spam filter used by WordPress) captures the overwhelming majority of junk mail consigning it to a dedicated folder where it can be reviewed by the blog owner. The beauty of Akismet is that it does not entail the person commenting attempting (often unsuccessfully) to solve a visual Captcha. Captchas are visual puzzles which must be solved prior to those wishing to comment or contact the site owner being able to do so. For a brief period I maintained a site on Blogger. Blogger employs Captcha and low and behold not a single comment did I receive on my site hosted there. Given that I receive a fair number of comments on my WordPress hosted site (which does not utilise Captcha) and I had none while using Blogger, I attribute my success in attracting comments (on WordPress) to the lack of Captcha. Unless a person feels extremely strongly on a given issue they are, when faced by a tricky Captcha likely to give up and move onto a blog where the Captcha monster is not lurking ready to pounce on the unlucky would be commenter!
As a blind computer user I have a particular detestation of Captcha. Screen reading software such as Jaws (the package I use to convert text into speech and Braille enabling me to use a standard Windows computer) only recognises text (it is not able to recognise images). Many sites have no alternative to a visual Captcha. Others do have audio alternatives, however most of these are, in my experience more or less unintelligible so, if you employ Captcha on your site you are, albeit unintentionally locking out many visually impaired people from the possibility of participating fully on your site.
As a blogger I do understand the problem posed by spam. Spammers are selfish individuals who ought to earn an honest living rather than spending their time bombarding site owners and e-mail users with solicitations for fake products. However spam is not going to disappear any time soon and we will continue to be faced with the issue of how best to minimise it’s pernicious effects. Given the existence of Akismet I can not see a valid reason for anyone relying on clunky old Captcha. If you must use Captcha then please choose a non-visual version. For example “prior to posting please add four and 3 and type your answer”. Such a Captcha can be read by screen reading software and is intelligible to the overwhelming majority of the human population. It also has the benefit of preventing automated spam bots from wreaking havoc by spraying your site with spam. Better still use a programme like Akismet which dispenses with the need for Captcha altogether!
January 12, 2014
People Don’t Read Round Here
Over the festive season I fell into conversation with a lady. The conversation ranged far and wide and at one juncture touched on the subject of books. My partner at the dinner table remarked that she had only read 2 books, (I don’t recollect the title of both works but one of the books was “Flowers in the Attic”). My companion went on to ask me for recommendations regarding what she should read. I responded that literary tastes are highly personal matters (I return to Wuthering Heights again and again because it is, in my view a wonderful work of fiction while others find nothing of merit in it). I went on to describe how I’d enjoyed reading Kevin Cooper’s thriller Meido and recommended his book to my companion. At one point during the conversation another of those present said that “it isn’t like that round here” by which she meant that people don’t read books in this area.
The above conversation took place in a fairly typical suburb of Liverpool. I don’t like using the term but for want of anything better the area is “working class” comprised of (mainly) owner occupied houses inhabited by people engaged in occupations ranging from barmaids and cleaners to those employed in clerical work.
The implication that people living in a given area do not read books is, of course a sweeping generalisation. My grandfather who had never gone on to higher education and lived in a council house throughout his life spent many hours reading to me. I well recall the glass bookcase which stood in the spare bedroom chock full of books ranging from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five to works of poetry. It is, I believe largely due to my grandfather who was “working class” (oh how I hate to use that term as people are, at bottom individuals not social groups), that I gained my love of literature and went onto university to read history and politics.
Sadly there is among certain people a lack of aspiration which is exemplified by the view that people round here don’t read. This can, if we fail to take care become a self fulfilling prophecy (I.E. many homes contain few, if any books but are replete with wide screen televisions to which parents consign their children rather than spending precious time reading to them). A house full of books won’t guarantee happiness but it will assist in producing rounded individuals with a love of literature and a broad perspective on the world.
There are, fortunately organisations working to promote education among all people. Perhaps the most notable of these is The Workers’ Education Association which has, since 1903 been striving to uplift the aspirations, through education of all segments of society with particular emphasis on those of (that term again) “the working class”). All power to their elbo. For information on the WEA please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Educational_Association.
January 11, 2014
Getting in Contact
If you have queries regarding my writing or would like to do a guest post on newauthoronline please e-mail me at newauthoronline @ gmail.com (the address is given in this manner in an attempt to defeat the scourge of the internet, spammers. Alternatively please feel free to comment on any of my posts.
Kevin
