European Union

European Union

This is a poster showing the reaction of some parts of the French political spectrum in the early days of the proposal for a European Union.

Since then, of course, things have moved on and France has been one of the principal actors on the political scene seeking more integration in Europe.

But the recent poll carried out by the Pew Research Centre, as reported in the Guardian and the Telegraph shows that France is falling behind Germany economically, and that the French are falling out of love with the union.

It Was Different Then

One of the things that I think of when people talk about how things were different 'back then', is that 'back then' was 'now' when it happened.

And things that seem inconceivable today because 'things are different now', are not inconceivable at all.

And that is what worries me about legislation that takes away civil liberties in the name of security.

It's never the nice people who constitute our government that we have to worry about (well, maybe we do) - it's the people who will or could stand in their shoes when the inconceivable happens and things are just like they were 'back then'

And Now For Something Different: The Grand Place In Brussels

Looking Towards The Old Town - Brussels

Hashtags in G+

Putting this here so I can locate it whenever.

Info on Hashtags on Google+

With thanks to Rupert Wood and Nick Lewis

I Decided To Spring $9.00 For Clutterless Wordpress Theme

I had a spare domain sitting there and I thought, why not? It looks clean and it might be fun.

So I got the Premium version - which gives a couple of features over and above the free version:

Responsive Design The template adapts perfectly to fit mobile devices
Theme Customizer Change template color easy, no coding needed, see screenshot
Theme Support Friendly personal email support

Image Search - My Photos Search - Google

From Google's Inside Search blog

Starting today, you’ll be able to find your photos more easily and connect with the friends, places and events in your Google+ photos. For example, now you can search for your friend’s wedding photos or pictures from a concert you 
Try it out on Google.com by signing in and searching for [my photos] or [my photos from new york last year] or [matt’s photos of food]. You can also try out this feature on Google+ Photos.

NOTE THAT these are live links and if you are logged in to Google, it will show you your photos. 

Brussels For The Eclectic Visitor

I wrote an article about Brussels on the Quillcards Blog under the title

  Brussels - Hiding In Plain Sight

PhotoStudio App For iPhone

Sometimes the effect meets the subject in a way that feels right. That's how I'd describe the 'burnt paper'  effect of PhotoStudio combined with a shot of a building in the Grande Place in Brussels.

Ernie Pyle

On No More Pencils, I published a short book review of Ernie Pyle's Brave Men, published in 1944.

Pyle was killed the following year, in the battle for the islands off Japan.