Today, let’s talk about Friday 13th. What is it about the day that many people are wary about? Why is it unlucky for so many?
Friday 13th is associated with bad luck. Many people avoid traveling on this day, so it’s actually one of the cheapest days to fly. Some people refuse to go to work on Friday 13th. Others won’t buy a property with a number 13 on its door. Some believe that seating 13 people at a table is bad luck. Movie fans like to watch Friday 13th.
So what exactly does your mobile phone do? These days, most mobiles have a vast number of different functions and apps on them. Today, we’ll look at some of them.
Consider though, how you would manage to do all of the things you do now do on your mobile, if they hadn’t been invented. How did we manage to do these things in the past?
Most mobiles, these days, have a camera on them. In fact, the current trend is to have two cameras front and back, for selfies and for taking other photos on. Mobiles also have video cameras on them. We can send and receive messages and talk to people on video using Skype, Viber, and Facebook. Incredible!
Why do the clocks go back in October and forward in March in the UK and Europe? It’s an interesting question with an interesting answer. The clocks go forward in the spring to make the most of daylight hours. They go back in the autumn to allow more daylight hours in the mornings in the wintertime.
Benjamin Franklin, who was one of the US founding fathers, first proposed the idea in 1784. He said jokingly that Parisians should get out of bed early, to economise on their candle use.
If you look at a map of Europe today, it’s hard to imagine what it might look like in 100 years. It might be much the same as it is now, or it could be totally different, with new countries added and border lines changed.
Consider the situation 100 years ago. One could never have imagined the breakup of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Who could have imagined the creation of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia?
The UK has voted to leave the EU. Crimea is now Russian. Catalonia is currently in the news. It wants independence from Spain. Who knows what the outcome will be?
Recently the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced that a royal decree had been issued, allowing women to drive in the Kingdom from June 2018. This is a landmark step for the ultra-conservative country.
Saudi Arabian women have been celebrating the news that they will finally be able to drive. Currently, they still need either a male member of their family, or a male chauffeur, to get around. Many women have previously been jailed for trying to drive in the Kingdom.
The gains will be enormous for the oil rich country, as women will now not need to spend vast amounts of their salaries on hiring male drivers, so their spending power will thus increase.
Recently, no frills airline Ryanair cut as many as 2,000 flights from its schedules. Ryanair has said this is due to its pilots and crew having to use up their annual holiday entitlement.
More than 400,000 passengers across Europe have been affected by the flight cancelations. Many passengers have been left stranded, broke and unable to get home. Ryanair has published a full list of affected flights that have been cancelled, which cover a six-week period.
The budget airline has offered full refunds for passengers affected by the cancelled flights. When the news first broke passengers received a text message, asking them to call a premium rate phone line, which left them more out of pocket.
Paris and Los Angeles have been confirmed as host cities to stage the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympic Games. The announcement was made by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach in Lima, Peru on Wednesday 13th September 2017. He said, “This historic double-allocation is a win-win-win situation for the city of Paris, the city of Los Angeles and the IOC”
Paris last hosted the Olympic Games in 1924. In its bid, it said it wanted to host the 2024 Olympic Games. The city had indicated it didn’t want to host the 2028 games. LA was happy about this and had sent signals it was open to going second.
Today, let’s talk about hurricanes and typhoons.
Hurricanes and typhoons are really the same weather phenomenon that can see violent winds, torrential rain, and huge waves. These can create terrible floods in the affected areas of land.
Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic. They regularly hit islands in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as parts of Florida and North Carolina, in the USA. Recently, many of these areas were hit by Hurricane Irma. The results were devastating. It was a tragedy for all involved.
Today, let’s talk about school etiquette. It is a hot topic in some schools currently. School etiquette is about students social behaviour in school, especially in the classroom. With the new school term having started, students in some schools have been sent home for wearing the wrong sort of school uniform.
In Norfolk, England, one new headmaster is asking parents to make sure their children are in bed every night by 9pm and up by 6.30am. Students have also been told that their mobiles will be confiscated for up to four months, if they use them in class. If a student is feeling sick, a bucket will be provided for them to vomit into. The idea of this strict regime is to improve standards in the school in question, and to ultimately improve exam results.
What do you think about plastic bottle recycling? It’s an interesting question that the Scottish government is taking action on. They aim to introduce a deposit return scheme, whereby you can get money for depositing your plastic drinks bottles, glass bottles, and aluminium cans, into recycling containers. The Scottish government wants to tackle litter and clean up its streets.
Having a deposit return scheme could also have a huge impact on decreasing the amount of litter found on Scottish beaches. Certainly, it will save money for local authorities, and it will help the recycling industry.
