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Isaac Asimov, the science fiction writer, wrote an article for the Toronto Star newspaper back in 1983 predicting what life would be like in 2019.
An article looking at to what extent his predictions were accurate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46736024

 

Although I have got many of his books, the most unusual one is "The Man who upset the Universe". That's generally known as "Foundation and Empire", his second in the Foundation series. It was originally published by Gnome Press in 1952 as "Foundation and Earth". It's in two parts "The General" and "The Mule". Ace Books published it in 1955 as one of their double books with their title "The Man who upset the Universe" and that's what I've got.

El Loro
squiggle posted:

Good morning everyone, not a bad morning for January with quite a lot of blue sky, it does feel chillier but no frost.  I'm glad you had such a lovely sleep Summer  and I hope you are on the mend now Yogi.

 

Enjoy your day everyone

I’m much better thanks, Squiggle - which is just as well as I’ve been asked to have the tiddlers on a sleepover tomorrow 

Yogi19

Good morning everyone

 

Cold but cloudy enough here preventing any frost. Tomorrow forecast as the coldest day and temperatures now not forecast to get warmer until Sunday rather than Saturday.

 

Yogi, I'm glad you are feeling a lot better and I hope you have a good time with the tiddlers today and overnight

 

China has landed the first probe on the far side of the Moon. The first ever photos from the surface on the far side:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/sci...environment-46724727

 

I hope everyone has a good day

El Loro

Very busy morning for me discovering that HMRC self assessment January tax bills may omit payments on account for 18/19 where the taxpayer is also on the PAYE system. Separate topic made to alert anyone who might be affected.

 

I've gone through all my clients to identify those affected, contacting them and HMRC to get this sorted out. HMRC have admitted to me that they are aware that there's a bug in their computer systems.

El Loro

Good afternoon 👋 a cold but still day here, I walked on a lovely frost this morning 

 

el thanks for the interesting articles, I’m popping back later to read those 

 

yesterday I went to see the new Mary Poppins, and I thought it was absolutely brilliant! The perfect blend of old & new, with fantastic costumes (i’ll be surprised if they don’t win an Oscar for them) and Emily Blunt was fantastic as Mary  

~Sparkling Summer~

Summer, that's encouraging to hear that you liked the new Mary Poppins film. The BBC review hadn't been very good though the reviewer was Will Gompertz and I'm not convinced that he's the most appropriate reviewer for such a film.
I could post a link to his review but I won't as I would regard that as posted by some hardened film critic rather than as a true reflection on the film.

 

Mark Kermode subsequently reviwed the film for the BBC. He has more of the human touch than Will Gompertz.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06w9nk9

No spoilers in it of any consequence

El Loro

Good morning 👋 getting colder here, and very grey today. I hope you’re all keeping warm & cosy 

 

I’m taking my tree down tonight, I’ve psyched myself up for it 

 

El, I think it’s wise to take that review with a pinch of salt I wasn’t sure how on earth a sequel was going to work but came out very impressed  

~Sparkling Summer~

Summer, that's why I didn't post a link to Will Gompertz's review. If you watched Mark Kermode's review I think you would find that it's much closer to your thoughts. The original Mary Poppins film is one of his all time favourites - he's seen it over a hundred times. So he had some misgivings about the new film. Initially he thought it was very good but about 20 minutes in he realised that he was crying because he had become so emotionally involved with the film and he came away from the film loving it.

 

Don't expect the Emily Blunt version of Mary Poppins to be a carbon copy of Julie Andrews. I think it would be closer to how Emma Thompson would have been like if the film had been made say 15 years ago (and I don't mean like her Nanny McPhee).

El Loro
Last edited by El Loro

Good morning everyone, very grey and cold here, I'm cosily snuggled up and I hope you all will be at some time today.  Stay warm when you venture out.  I'm glad you slept so well to make up for your sleepless night Yogi but that's quite a compliment from your little ones, I bet they slept so soundly with Granny near to keep them feeling cherished and safe.

 

Enjoy your day everyone

squiggle

Yogi, I'm glad you had more of a sleep last night

 

Moonie, great pictures of your swans and a robin

 

Summer and Squiggle, I hope you can stay warm

 

Discovered today that M&S are ditching black plastic containers for their ready meals for environmental reasons. Instead they are using clear plastic containers for the majority of lines with a small number in metal foil containers. At present it seems to be the "balanced for you" range but no doubt that will be extended to their other ranges.

 

The clear plastic container meals are microwave only. So if, like me, you don't have a microwave, your choices are severely restricted.

El Loro

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