British Pets Given Prozac

Comments (3) Posted on Mar 19, 2008 by Jodie in English News, English Pets

And I can’t even get a prescription! Ha ha, here is a piece of odd news that I read on the Telegraph’s site:

Increasing numbers of British pets are being given Prozac to help them battle against depression, a leading veterinary expert has revealed. Tropical birds such as parrots are the worst affected by depression, according to television vet Romain Pizzi. Mr Pizzi, who presents Creature Clinic on BBC3 and is a specialist in zoo and wildlife medicine for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, said pets are affected when owners leave them alone for hours on end.

He said: “Contrary to some people’s expectations parrots are very intelligent and sensitive animals. Typically if people go out to work all day their parrot will get very bored and frustrated and eventually develop depression. Symptoms often include plucking out their feathers or self-harming, which is obviously very dangerous. When Cockatoos in particular are depressed they can start to self-mutilate and peck their own legs to the bone.”

I do not know if this is a British peculiarity as I have not really run across news items about other countries doing the same thing. If there is one thing that this says about the British, though, it would be that they do love their pets. Wouldn’t you agree? I’d say that if you didn’t have enough time to spend with a pet, though, it might be better to simply NOT get a pet in the beginning. What do you think?

Easter Travel Not A Good Idea

Comments (6) Posted on Mar 17, 2008 by Jodie in English News

Easter has always been a good time to get away from the city and soak up some sun in other places. This year, however, it seems that traveling at Easter may not be a good idea at all. According to reports, travelers will be experience longer delays than usual. This is due to several factors, including the number of people who are planning on going on trips at this time of the year.

The Sunday Mirror reports:

If you are one of the millions who have plans to travel this Easter, you may want to check out UK Airport Delays for more specific information. Of course, if your plans are already set, you just have to make adjustments and take the delays into consideration. If your plans are flexible, you may want to go some place else whereby you wouldn’t have to queue up at the airports.

Harry Potter: Top British Attraction

Comments (2) Posted on Feb 26, 2008 by Jodie in English Culture, English News

Why visit Britain? I could think of a hundred and one reasons to do so. You have fish and chips, the River Thames, the London Museum, and more. According to Lost Weekend, however, the biggest attraction drawing people from all over the world to the UK these days is none other than the wizard boy, Harry Potter. Of course, we all know that he is a fictional character. That does not change the fact, however, that Harry Potter fans want to visit his country of origin.

Visit Britain conducted a poll among people from other countries to find out what the top reasons are for visiting Britain. Would you believe, number 3 was this:

Other items (or people) that made the list are Clarks (the shoes), Full English (what better way to start the day), the seaside (I don’t know why!), and Jamie Oliver (yummy!). Interestingly, none of the attractions I mentioned above made the list. Apparently, visitors to our shores have a different perspective as to what makes the UK interesting. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

Oasis: Still The Best For Many Brits

Comment (0) Posted on Feb 23, 2008 by Jodie in English Culture, English News

Oasis may not be the household name today that it was many years ago but a recent vote propelled them to the top of the charts once again. The UK Press tells the story:

Despite the Gallagher brothers’ tendency towards controversy – or maybe because of it – they have captured the hearts of music fans all over the world, most of all their fellow British. According to Rudy Osorio, HMV head of music, “most album polls of recent years have tended to see the likes of The Beatles, Radiohead and Stone Roses vie for the top five spots. However, as our perspective changes, it looks like many more of us are starting to recognise the iconic appeal of Oasis and the brilliance of Definitely Maybe as an era-defining album.”

I agree wholeheartedly.

Meet HECToR

Comment (1) Posted on Jan 15, 2008 by Jodie in English Education, English News

The British have never been really known for their technology – this honor is usually attributed to the US and Japan. However, University of Edinburgh is set to make a name for itself and its country with the unveiling of HECToR, Britain’s fastest supercomputer to date.

What is HECToR all about? Well, it just has the power of 12,000 desktop personal computers and just might be able to help figure out some of greatest puzzles in the field of science. To get to the nitty gritty of what HECToR is capable of, think about this – 64 million calculations per second! How is that for power and speed? With this kind of power behind HECToR, scientists will be able to look at various phenomena and study subjects such as climate change. Other things that HECToR can be used for are studies on:

-medicine
-oceanography
-nanotechnology
-radar
-superconductors
-combustion engines
-new materials.

In fact, the possibilities seem limitless!

So just how big is HECToR? Imagine 60 cabinets the size of wardrobes – that’s where HECToR can be found as of the moment. As for the weight, HECToR weighs in at 113 million pounds.

To balance out all the hype, the fact is that HECToR is not the fastest and most powerful in the world. It is in fact one of the best in Europe but not the number one. Yet who cares? HECToR is proudly British made and is capable of wondrous things. He doesn’t have to be the best there is. The mere fact that we’ve come up with something like him is something to be proud of in itself.

Things to know about English Practice and Tradition

Comment (0) Posted on Sep 3, 2007 by Jodie in English Culture, English Life, English News, English Traditions

One of the remarkable things about English culture is finding out more about local practices and events that are usually of interest to most people today. Through proper searches, the help of affordable search engine optimization by Los Angeles SEO has been a big boost to ensure that people can rely on a list of informative and static list of sites that aim to please the need for such data today.

English has a wide array of things to offer. This can include areas of local traditions, current practices and events, and historical occurrences which most companies differ in more occasions. While studying their local traditions and practices may be of great need to students today, it remains that reliable and consistent content will be a big help to people wanting to learn more about different cultures.

For sure, the primary interested groups would come from students and potential tourists anywhere in the world today.

Name Calling in Great Britain

Comments Off Posted on Mar 4, 2007 by Jodie in English Culture, English Education, English Language, English Life, English News

Depending on the sensitivity of a person, names used to call someone who may be around would get the wrong idea since they are simply easily identifying factors to note on the person in the way that they would perhaps describe them. To other cultures, this may be a bad way of citing a person but to the English, it is a form of christening when it comes to tagged names.

Among the tagged names that people may call others include dear, dearie, chuck, me duck and so on. For people who are not used to this, they may think that they are making fun of them but when they are actually not. Such practices are known in England and to be able to determine the actual meaning, a person may act dumb at times and act why they were called those names.

Most people would be surprised at the different approach of social interaction in England. But once they have been briefed, a better understanding of the practice and name calling can be expected.

[tags]english tradition, name calling, english culture[/tags]

The Descent of Boxing Day

Comments Off Posted on Feb 28, 2007 by Jodie in English Culture, English Life, English News, English Traditions, General

The day itself should not be associated with the usual boxing sport that most of us watch over the famous world sports channels such as HBO and ESPN. Rather, Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen’s day where people share food and is a national holiday for the families and friends to share friendship and love.

This event is usually spent on the 26th of December of each year, the day right after Christmas. This is celebrated in known regions such as Austria, Britain, New Zealand and Canada. During this time, most business and government offices are closed and people can be found in malls savoring the holiday for the time to enjoy and be with their loved ones.

Such a practice is considered and extension of the usual Christmas breaks. For some people, they technically practice this although unnamed. Besides, there is no harm in extending a one day vacation considering that the Christmas season should be spent at its fullest potential worldwide.

[tags]english tradition, boxing, boxing day, christmas[/tags]

English Music and Bands Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Comments Off Posted on Feb 25, 2007 by Jodie in English Culture, English Life, English News, General

England is known to house the best names in the music industry, covering that of rock, jazz and pop music. A lot of the known names in the music industry today have made their mark in most parts of the world. Music artists such as The Beatles, Led Zepellin, The Rolling Stones, and Queen have all made their mark as solid English groups that have taken the world by storm.

To this day, most of their original hits are still being played all over the world. The musical artists have left a trail of followers still supporting them to this day and this can be attributed to the quality of music that they have offered to music lovers all over.

All regions and countries have a good following for following the memorable and up to date musical tunes of today. Music hits the spot for most people and using the path of fans that they have until today, such English music names will forever remain in the annals of history and provide inspiration as well to aspiring musicians on the rise.

[tags]beatles, english bands, rolling stones, led zepellin, queen[/tags]

Hammasa Kohistani: Miss England a year on

Comments (2) Posted on Jan 23, 2007 by Jodie in English News

Hammasa Kohistani, famously chosen to be the “English” entry into the Miss World contest last year, has spoken publically about the societal rift between Muslims and British people in England.There are several observations I would like to make over her comments, reprinted below:

“The attitude towards Muslims has got worse over the year. Also the Muslims’ attitude to British people has got worse.”

She simultaneously wishes to see the osmosis of Muslim Brit’s into English society while herself making a distinction between the two. She worries that she was only used as a “sugar coating” to help iron over the tensions between Muslims living in Britain and British caucasians, yet she self-defines as a Muslim and her opinions seem to prioritise her Muslim identity above her English identity, rather than both being of equal importance to her.

“there is this hostility”, she says, which comes “mainly from the Government”.

She blames Tony Blair for making things worse:

“Tony Blair addressed Muslims in particular [?], telling them that they need to sort out the problem within. That was a huge stereotype [?] of the Islamic community. Even the more moderate Muslims have been stereotyped negatively and feel they have to take actions to prove themselves.”

The highlighting is my own. Firstly, why would Tony Blair not address Muslims in particular? What other group should he be addressing on the subject of Muslim terrorists that he has not already addressed? Secondly, how is this a stereotyping? By instructing Muslim leaders to do more to avoid those from within their communities from becoming terrorists or terrorist sympathisers, he is simply speaking logically. If group A has a problem, you are best advised, lest you want to be accused of being patronising, to expect that group’s leaders to deal with it. I find no basis for the accusation that his instructions were in any way stereotyping Muslims. Unless she means he was stereotyping Muslims as being Muslims, in which case she has no complaint.

Hammasa feels that Muslims are unfairly treated by the opinions of English people, yet she herself received several thousand death threats from Muslims in the weeks after she accepted the position of Miss England. Several community leaders openly declared her to be betraying Islam. Yet she feels Toby Blair has no place telling those same leaders to do more to curb the problematic few Muslims who are capable of causing such destruction.

“It is not for me to answer how to get people to turn away from terrorism. The politicians don’t know what to do and I am just a 19-year-old.”

Fortunately she saves herself from sustained criticism by at least admitting the possibility that she doesn’t quite know enough to express opinions on this subject. Yet the subtext here is still vitriolic; that the politicians do not know what to do.

Call me racist if you must (I assure you I am not) but is it really, really awful of me to expect Miss. England to be caucasian English and to have spent their childhood living in England and not abroad? That, of course, is another post entirely.