INTERESTING! Especially having the German weather charts too...!

Just Finished Reading: I Don't Like Mondays – The True Story Behind America's First Modern School Shooting by N Leigh Hunt (FP: 2022/2026) [309pp] 

I don't remember the actual shooting when it happened on 29th January 1979. I don't even know if it was reported here. It probably was, being SO unusual at the time, but if it did then it didn't register. I only really remember knowing about it after the Boomtown Rats made her (apparently disputed) reason for the shooting into a hit song (below) – at least in the UK. It's also why I 'clocked' this book when I saw it in a local "we sell EVERYTHING shop'. 

The story is surprisingly simple. One morning 16-year-old Brenda Spencer told her father that she wasn't feeling well and would be taking a day off school. Shortly after her father left for work Brenda got her .22 rifle and, from her own front door, began firing across the street at her local Elementary school killing the Principle and Head Janitor and injuring 8 children all under ten. When she was finally arrested and was asked WHY she did what she did (a particularly unusual thing at the time but increasing common event today) she is supposed to have responded "I Don't Like Mondays" - which she later denied. 

Covering the shooting in detail (including extracts from the police dispatch and SWAT Team) before moving onto the arrest and fallout from the event this started out quite strong, but I slowly became a little bored as, despite the attention (and sometimes honestly over-attention) to detail, it didn't feel like there was a whole lot of SUBSTANCE here. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I did feel more than once like I was making my way through a plot made of cotton candy. I think that a big part of that was the fact that Brenda never went to trial (having eventually pled guilty) and that we never got to the bottom of why she did it or what circumstances made her at such a young age into a person who could gun down little kids in the school yard. There was talk of abuse (both physical and psychological), a broken home, drugs, a history of petty theft and 'trouble making' but nothing substantial or of substance. It was more than a little frustrating. 

 I was definitely looking for much more analysis here, both of the event and the larger (post-1979/future) context but that was rather thin on the ground. Whilst not a 'bad' book I think this needed a little less focus on Brenda's jail time (and seemingly endless delusions of eventually going free) and more focus on the causes and impacts of school shootings. Reasonable and more on school shootings and other aspects of the 'Dark Side' of American history/culture to come.     

Well..... Actually Sarah (and friends) blew up the Headquarters and main Research hub of Cyberdyne Systems in California who were under contract to supply advanced computer chips to the US military for its Skynet Project.... So..... kinda close..... [lol]

My 10 Most Played Computer Games (according to Steam). 

I've been meaning to post something like this for a while now but wanted to wait until my latest gaming obsession made my Top 10 List. So, here they are... 

Borderlands 2 – 1,407.5 hours 

This is a 'cartoonish' FPS (First Person Shooter) with a WICKED/Twister sense of humour. A group of us played it to death (as you can tell) and it became one of our all-time favourite games that we still talk about. 

Warthunder - 1,325.4 hours 

I was VERY surprised by how much I liked this game. You have an option of playing Land, Air or Sea combat in vehicles against other players usually in teams of around 16 of so. The era of the vehicles goes from the 1920's up to present day (bunched together in rankings so you're not fighting grossly superior enemies. It was VERY frustrating at first but once I got the hang of things you can see how many hours I put in. I played Ground Arcade mode. 

Company of Heroes 2 - 1,205.5 hours 

Another game that I played endlessly with my main gaming partner. It's a WW2 small unit RTS (Real-Time strategy) game where you get together a bunch of tanks, infantry & other units and try to kill the enemy (we played against the AI) before they killed you. Lots of fun mayhem. 

Generation Zero – 993 hours 

Yet another FPS but with a fun twist. This takes place in 80's Sweden where you've been on holiday, and you're suddenly presented with an invasion of strange robots that are hunting humans. I was MOST impressed by the AI on this one where it really felt that they were HUNTING you! A very emotional and immersive game. 

Borderlands 3 - 857.8 hours  

Although this was an enjoyable fun game it didn't quite match the quality and originality of the early Borderlands games. Certainly quirky and hilarious it just didn't have the replay-ability of especially Borderlands 2. 

Oxygen Not Included – 804.4 hours 

This was a 'try something different' single player game that became quite the obsession for my gamer buddy & me. It's a weird survival game where you get to control the lives of a group of duplicate humans (called Dupes) INSIDE an exploded planet by resource mining and coping with a hostile environment. The trick is finding or producing enough oxygen to make it through the next day! 

Dawn of War – Retribution 655.5 hours 

I'm a HUGE fan of the Dawn of War franchise and we've played most of them until recently. One of the great things about THIS variant was the ability to play arena matches against AI opponents and we became VERY good at it. Part of the fun was 'pugging it' where me & my gamer mate would team up with a random person and fight to the end boss – whether the pug could handle the strain or not. We had some terrible teammates, but we had some great ones too. It just added to the fun. 

No Mans Sky – 585 hours 

Another strange one for me – essentially a galaxy wide explorer game where you hop from planet/system to planet/system mining, building, finding/buying cool ships and essentially doing whatever you felt like. It was multi-player, but the galaxy was SO big I think I only detected one or two other people ever – and immediately left the system...  

Divinity: Original Sin II - 501.2 hours 

A Fantasy RPG (Role Playing Game) with quests, mysteries and baddies to overcome. Mostly fun but could be VERY annoying at times. Although you could pick from a number of character types we did find that replay-ability was very limited. 

The Long Dark - 353.1 hours 

...and to my latest obsession! This is a walking survival game based in a post-apocalypse frozen Canada after some sort of geo-magnetic 'event'. Essentially, you're on your own (the next version is multi-player) against the environment (known as PvE) and in the mode I'm playing the only objective is to survive. So, you have to keep warm, keep hydrated and fed and don't do anything stupid like falling off a bridge, getting caught in a sudden blizzard or attacked by a wolf you've antagonised (or in my case a MOOSE!). There are no other people, not even NPCs (non-player characters) except a disembodied voice on the radio from time to time. I find it all VERY restful.  

Happy Birthday: James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete. He made history at the 1936 Olympic Games by winning four gold medals, setting individual Olympic records in each event, plus another as a member of the 400-meter relay. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes in track and field history.

Owens excelled in short sprints and the long jump and was lauded in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history". Earlier he won four events, set five world records, and tied another—all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and was called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport". He won four NCAA titles in both 1935 and 1936, bringing his total to eight—an unparalleled achievement still unmatched.

He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited by ESPN with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy".

The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track & Field's accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. In a 1950 Associated Press poll, Owens was voted the greatest track and field athlete for the first half of the century. In 1999, he made the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century. That same year, ESPN ranked him sixth-greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport.

Or sometimes we DID try it at home but no one blamed the cartoons. Either it was "kids being kids" or kids being stupid. So, we got told off, shouted at, told to wash off the muck or blood (not always our own) and, from time to time, got driven to A&E for stitches.... Or very occasionally fitted with a wrist cast... to show off to our mates in school on Monday... 

Just Finished Reading: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal-El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (FP: 2019) [198pp] 

It started as almost a joke, a tease, a way of snubbing the enemy. At first s/he was annoyed, even amused in a way but also intrigued. They had been at war for countless years across countless worlds and countless realities, but they had never communicated at least not directly. Almost on a whim a response was sent and forgotten. When another letter was discovered s/he experienced something akin to pleasure. She wasn't even sure before that if she could experience such things. The letter itself spoke of admiration for a skilled opponent even if the effort was wasted as they, the other side, would eventually win. Knowing that such a victory was impossible for the other side this caused much amusement. Despite some misgivings the correspondence continued. At first, it was a teasing, but mutual admiration of battles well fought, and strategies well played. But admiration turned, slowly, into something akin to friendship. Could you be friends with an implacable and dangerous adversary? Apparently so... Control, of course, must never discover their conversations. Both 'Red' and 'Blue' would have a hard time explaining themselves without the words loyalty and betrayal being thrown about, especially now that they were both avoiding situations where it might be possible they could come into actual physical conflict. But could they meet? Could they discuss, face to face, what they do next? Could there be a third way or will one side finally lose the Time War? 

I'd been aware of this book for a while (YouTube had gone crazy over it) so snapped it up when I saw it on offer at my nearby Indie shop. Then, as usual, it sat unread for a year or two. When I finally got around to it, I was not disappointed. It was a little confusing at first, but decades of Sci-Fi reading helped me ease into the narrative. From my intro you might assume that the novel takes place as a series of letters between the two protagonists in the story. The letters (in various intriguing formats) are certainly central but there's a lot more going on here. We do spend quite a bit of time in the minds and memories of both 'Blue' and 'Red' throughout as they both progress their own faction's war in time to ultimately bring about their preferred outcome in the far future. So, there are actual battles, assassinations and other violent acts, but there's also people just being delayed so they don't meet someone or a message is delivered to puts a scientist on a different train of thought – subtle manipulation. The reason I used s/he earlier is that it's not always clear exactly what gender either 'Blue' or 'Red' are. Indeed, it's not 100% certain if they're exactly human as we would recognise it. One seems to be more machine than human and is at least a cyborg. The other appears to be more mythical, almost Elvin in nature or maybe even a plant (I kid you not). They both also seem to either swap gender as required and sometimes even appear to be non-human. It's an interesting identity fluidity that, in part, shows them to be more similar (despite their differences) than they first appear. I did feel distinct resonances of Michael Moorcock at times (although I have no idea if that was deliberate) which I found interesting – and it prompted me [again] to re-read some of his work. Overall, I found this to be a delight from beginning to end. I do tend to be rather 'out of the loop' where more modern Sci-Fi is concerned but this has certainly prompted me to focus more on it in future (no pun intended for a change!). Definitely recommended if you're up for something a bit strange and rather haunting or if you're a fan of Time Travel stories without too much actual science to spoil the fun. 

GOOD advice! I wish someone had told my 8 year old self that...!

Happy 60th Birthday Star Trek...!

Just Finished Reading: The Weaponisation of Everything – A Field Guide to the New Way of War by Mark Galeotti (FP: 2022) [229pp] 

The classic image of modern war, that of tanks rolling across fields (or deserts) accompanied by helicopter gunships engaging enemy units at range is, seemingly, a thing of the past – and not just because of the drone experience in Ukraine. War is incredibly expensive as the US is finding out in Iran. Even so-called Superpowers are not gifted with infinitely deep pockets or weapon production lines that can be sped up at a moment's notice. What Great Powers (again so-called) are finding out, or more accurately re-learning, is that apparently overwhelming military power does not always or easily translate into victory – especially quick victory. Apparently 'weak' countries can still hit back and hit back HARD. Knowing that they are weak by almost every metric means that when they fight, they need to avoid facing a much stronger enemy on the battlefield and most especially avoid fighting an enemy on the battlefield of THEIR choosing. To defeat a much stronger enemy you have to fight elsewhere, and this is where hybrid or asymmetrical warfare comes into play. 

It does seem quite strange, even frankly bizarre, that countries fully capable of destroying the world couldn't seem to defeat guys in sandals carrying AK-47's but we have the example of Vietnam. Likewise, it was assumed by many experts that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would be over in a few weeks or a month at most. Afterall, Russia boasted probably the second-best military in the world. Unfortunately for them time and technology had moved on. The Russians fought as if the Cold War had never ended while the Ukrainians fought increasingly in the 21st century so that a four-week war has now lasted more than four years. Unable to win on the battlefield Russia has deployed other tactics (on top of regular ballistic missile strikes) both in Ukraine and across Europe including employing locals to sabotage factories and other infrastructure targets, fund opposition parties on both the Left and Right to undermine political stability and spread disinformation across the world using the megaphone that is Social Media. Of course they are not alone in this. Countries across the world are using the Internet to spread propaganda to bolster their own position and undermine their perceived enemies. Effectively mercenaries are being hired to cause problems elsewhere who might even be unaware who they are working for. Contractors spy for the highest bidder (or even multiple bidders) to acquire political, personal or financial information to use against their handlers' opponents... and so it goes on, and on.  

This is the message of this disturbing and equally fascinating book. War hasn't gone away, quite the opposite. War, as politics by other means, has simply adapted to the new reality of very expensive weapons systems and limited budgets. Where a $10K drone can kill a million-dollar tank who is going to send that tank into harm's way? Instead, why not pay some disaffected group to plant a bomb under your opponent's car and take advantage of the resulting political chaos? Such new(ish) modes of warfare certainly go a long way to explain some of the seemingly random issues showing up across the world from air traffic control failures, denial of service attacks, plane crashes, and timely 'accidents'. The 'upside' to all of this – if you can call it that – is the reduction of cities being carpet bombed with the resultant death toll. The downside is that such methods of war become both ubiquitous and perpetual. We are always at war and war is everywhere. That's not exactly a pleasant way of being.  

This was definitely an eye-opening read showing how things have changed in the relatively recent past and how military decisions going forward are going to have to change. It's never going to be cost effective to use $5 million dollar missiles to shoot down $20K drones and you have to start wondering if $100 million dollar jets have much functionality on a modern hybrid battlefield (never mind a $10 billion dollar aircraft carrier). Definitely a recommended read for anyone interested in modern/future warfare and who wants to understand some of the stranger headlines and news stories of our increasingly complicated and dangerous world. 

Solid answer....!

Happy Birthday: William Dampier (1651 – March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He has also been described as Australia's first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between the 16th-century explorer Sir Francis Drake and the 18th-century explorer James Cook; he "bridged those two eras" with a mix of piratical derring-do of the former and scientific inquiry of the latter.

Dampier's expeditions were among the first to identify and name a number of plants, animals, foods and cooking techniques for a European audience, being among the first English writers to use words such as avocado, barbecue and chopsticks. In describing the preparation of avocados, he was the first European to describe the making of guacamole, named the breadfruit plant, and made frequent documentation of the taste of numerous foods foreign to the European palate at the time, such as flamingo and manatee.

After impressing the Admiralty with his book A New Voyage Round the World, Dampier was given command of a Royal Navy ship and made important discoveries in western Australia, before being court-martialed for cruelty. On a later voyage he rescued Alexander Selkirk, a former crewmate who may have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Others influenced by Dampier include George Anson, James Cook, Horatio Nelson, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace.

Jonathan Swift mentions Dampier in his Gulliver's Travels as a mariner comparable to Lemuel Gulliver, and the novel itself occasionally parodies Dampier's travel books as well as other tales of exploration.

He is cited over 80 times in the Oxford English Dictionary, notably on words such as "barbecue", "avocado", "chopsticks", and "subspecies". That is not to say he coined the words, but his use of them in his writings is the first known example in English.

He recorded the first English language recipes for guacamole and mango chutney.

[Side Note: He was baptised on 5 September, but his precise date of birth is not recorded]

Just Finished Reading: Ultra-Processed People – Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn't Food... and Why Can't We Stop? By Chris van Tulleken (FP: 2023) 

Growing up my mother cooked most of our meals from scratch (wonderful substance and SO versatile). She'd be in the kitchen chopping, mixing, heating and produce decent filling meals. She was never a great cook – except maybe for her scones which I miss to this day – but we never went hungry no matter the circumstance. Of course, some of the food was more processed, coming in tins (how could we possibly live without Heinz baked beans?) and sometimes packets (when ready meals started coming out in the later 70's and mother & I started experimenting with curries (which my older brother called 'foreign muck'!) and chillies. But it was only later, when I went to university in the early 80's that I started having what would probably be called ULTRA processed food - essentially 'food' that had more contact with a factory than it did with a farm. After we moved off campus in our 2nd year we ate some very questionable food essentially because it was dirt cheap. After reading this book I now understand more just why it was so cheap and exactly why we kept going back for more. 

In essence I am a lazy eater. Some of my friends are (or have been) very food focused and enjoy both preparing and eating food of a wide variety. Food, apart from the basic need of consuming it or dying, has never really interested me. Naturally there are foods I like to eat and some that I still miss after becoming a vegetarian 25+ years ago, but I don't obsess over it. My brother often said that if he could take a pill each day and didn't need to eat anything else he would do so. I'm not QUITE that bad but I appreciate where he's coming from. Although I do get some pleasure from food that pleasure is not my primary motivation for eating it. In essence, at least to me, food is mostly about fuelling the body. Anything else is, all joking aside, garnish. 

With that out of the way [grin] what has that got to do with this interesting and alarming book? I think that's there's two ways of looking at it – personal and global. From a global point of view, we've seen a significant increase in obesity just about everywhere as well as an increase in the number and severity of numerous other diet related health issues. At the same time (surely not coincidental) is the creation and explosive growth of 'food' that wouldn't be recognised as such by previous generations. Although it might be difficult to PROVE that one actually CAUSES the other – not unlike smoking despite the fact that the link between it and cancer has been clear for some time now – it's not too difficult to show the likelihood of a link. So, there's that... 

On a more personal level I don't think that my eating habits are producing any obvious health related issues. I've had eczema (for example) all of my life – it runs in the family – and these days any flare up is a rare occurrence and (normally) quickly relents. Nothing else comes to mind. I did gain weight from my 40's onwards – after being the same weight for decades no matter what I ate – but that's likely to be metabolism/age related rather than diet. I've gained some more weight since retiring but, again, I think that's mostly activity rather than diet related. Like most people I do eat 'junk' from time to time knowing that it's not 'real' food. I used to be a great fan of Pringles – which, interestingly, gets its own CHAPTER in this book – but haven't indulged in a while (and probably never will again after reading this!). I still eat crisps (or 'chips' to my American readers) probably more than I should but I think I need to odd 'vice' to tide me over. It's not like I'm living off them. So, although I do periodically indulge in UPF (Ultra-Processed Food) I think I do so in moderation. [Side note: despite knowing the chemical concoction that is the MacDonalds 'strawberry' milkshake I still low-level crave it every time I pass a MaccyD's....] 

One of the things I will be doing going forward is spending more time READING ingredients lists on the things I buy (or am thinking of buying). The author gives some rule-of-thumb ways (some I'm sure are a little tongue in cheek) for spotting UPF: It comes in a plastic bag; it has more than 5 ingredients [Side note: My local supermarket sells its own brand Tortilla chips that has 3 – Maize flour, Rapeseed oil & Salt... and they're SUPER cheap too!], it has a LONG shelf life, it contains flavours, colours or both. It's not hard and fast that its UPF if it has one or two of these but if it has more than two... it's probably not real food. 

I'm only really scratching the surface of what this book covers and I'm missing out evidence of environmental damage, transportation costs, pollution, unknown or long-term health risks, damage to existing local or indigenous food supplies, control of what we eat by a handful of GIANT corporations... and so it goes. I think that the fact we call it a food INDUSTRY kind of gives the game away. Although I don't think that this is as life changing or impactful as some of the blurb comments make out, I think it'll encourage people (including me) to ask many more questions about what we eat and what it's doing to us and our world. More on Food and Health to come (as they're two subjects I know FAR too little about). Recommended unless it might tip you into paranoia!  

Welcome to September. We Made It! I hope that you enjoyed my Summer of Pop Culture. As the kids go back to school here this week I'm dedicating (as usual) the month to all things School, Education, Learning & Teaching related. Lets go LEARN something!

Just Finished Reading: Till September Petronella by Jean Rhys [53pp] 

This was a small collection of four short stories dominated very much by the titled work which ran to 35 pages. Although well written and very 'visual' I did struggle with it more than a little. Essentially (without given too much away) it revolved around the eponymous Petronella who had just arrived at a cottage 'in the country' - AKA outside London – at the invitation of a male friend presumably with the intention of 'having a good time'. Another couple was already there but Petronella quickly soured of the idea and managed to get a life from a local farmer to the railway station and went back to the city - with the farmer hoping to meet up with her next time he was 'in town' presumably for a 'good time'. That was essentially it... Which I thought was more than a little flat! 

Other stories – all well written – revolved around a wife getting revenge on her recently departed husband by destroying his beloved library on a bonfire in the garden and an old woman who is deprived of her LONG hair (which she loves) during a stay in hospital. Again, these stories fell rather flat as they all seemed to lack a recognisable narrative 'flow' despite, I'll say again, being well written. 

The only story I really liked was the last one – a mere TWO pages long – called 'I Used to Live Here Once', where the main character returns to a childhood home in the West Indies and is presented with an unexpected revelation. The 'twist' at the end caught me completely by surprise which I liked!  

Will I be looking out for any more of her work? Possibly not... but its always good to dip a toe to see if a new author will appeal. Reasonable. 

A day late and an EMP grenade short..... 

The Last 10 Books (I added to my Wish List) - August 2026 

It's been quite a busy month for my Wish List with additions from Booktube as well as a packed bibliography from a recent eye-opening read. It's quite a mix of old/new and near/far this month. As usual I have zero idea when (or if) I'll get around to them, but where's the fun in actually KNOWING what you're going to read next, right? 

How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict by Nina Jankowicz 

KLEPTOPIA: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World by Tom Burgis 

The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West by David Kilcullen 

The Art of War and Peace: The Changing Face of 21st Century Warfare by David Kilcullen and Greg Mills 

China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower by Frank Dikötter 

Fortune's Bazaar: The Making of Hong Kong by Vaudine England 

Conquering the North: China, Russia, Mongolia: 2,000 Years of Conflict by John Man 

Empires of the Steppes: The Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilisation by Kenneth W. Harl 

The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic by Robert L O'Connell 

Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World by Thomas Heatherwick 

Funnily (I've just remembered), I saw 'Humanise' on the bookshelf of a YouTuber who was using it as a backdrop... The things you notice! 

Happy Birthday: John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". His important works include A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), Two Treatises of Government (1689/90), both published anonymously, and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689/90). His writing on toleration contends that religion is a matter for the individual and that the churches are voluntary associations, ruling out religious coercion and uniformity; these lead to the idea of separation of church and state. His Two Treatises on Government argues for government based on the consent of the governed and the right to revolt against tyrannous government which has lost consent. The Two Treatises are believed to have influenced the language that Thomas Jefferson chose in his drafting the July 1776 Declaration of Independence during the War of American Independence.

Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, Locke is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American Revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Internationally, Locke's political-legal principles continue to have a profound influence on the theory and practice of limited representative government and the protection of basic rights and freedoms under the rule of law.

Locke's philosophy of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of personal identity and the psychology of self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers, such as Rousseau, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. He postulated that, at birth, the mind is a blank slate, or tabula rasa. Contrary to Cartesian philosophy based on preexisting concepts, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception, a concept now known as empiricism. Locke is often credited for describing private property as a natural right, arguing that when a person—metaphorically—mixes their labour with nature, resources can be removed from the common state of nature.