Saint Martin/Sint Maarten

I occasionally like to visit this site’s statistics to have a look at all you lovely readers come from. I’m always amazed and grateful to see people from all over the world (I’d love to know if the two visits from Greenland were two different people, or the same person visiting two different pages).

It was interesting to notice that I’ve had a few visits from both Saint Martin and Sint Maarten. Continue reading

There is or There are?

This isn’t something I’ve ever really wondered. For a native English speaker, which one to use is rarely in doubt. Sure some regional dialects might use is and are in non-standard ways, but if asked, most speakers of these dialects would know the “proper” form of the verb to be to use.

Which is why I was surprised to see the following headline on the BBC website: Continue reading

Is there Life on Mars?

We don’t know. Maybe.

Was there life on Mars?

We don’t know, but it now looks a little more likely that there was. This evening, it was revealed that the Curiosity Rover on Mars had discovered organic matter.

This is exciting, but not proof of life. Because organic matter is… is… what exactly is organic matter? Continue reading

D-Day

Today is the anniversary of the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944, when Allied forces landed on a series of beaches in Normandy, France, thus beginning their invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II.

Continue reading

There’ll be Repercussions…

While writing yesterday about our dear friend Donald Trump, I used the word repercussions. It stood out, as I don’t use it very often, and I thought about it for a few moments. Continue reading

Summit

Trump Says North Korea Summit Back On

It’s tiring, isn’t it, trying to keep up with global politics today? Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all political again. Rather, I started thinking of that word summit today.

Continue reading

John Likes Facebook

Or does he? That’s the thing: I don’t know, really.

Continue reading