Monthly Archives: November 2007

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071127/od_nm/grenade_dc;_ylt=AvV.W1JogcUb5G5nzWHPuHms0NUE

Russian man blew himself up with a hand grenade Tuesday shortly after train inspectors asked to see his ticket.

Passengers were evacuated and negotiations with the police had started before Mikhail Ershov, 43, triggered the explosion, blasting out windows in the train carriage.

“Ershov had taken the pin out, he then tried to put the pin back in the grenade, but instead it exploded,” the prosecutor said.

The explosion did not kill or injure anyone else.

Computer consoles replacing reading – mirror.co.uk

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/11/29/computer-consoles-replacing-reading-89520-20177015/

From the page: “England has slumped from third to 15th place in an international league table of reading skills amid evidence children have abandoned books for computer consoles such as the Wii.

We now rank below Latvia, Bulgaria and Hungary and only Romania and Morocco have fallen further in the past five years.

The study links England’s poor performance with a new generation of “console kids”.”

Welcome to Scotland – the result of slogan hunt that cost &125,000 – Times Online

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2957875.ece

Passengers arriving at Scottish airports were never in any doubt that they were arriving in “the best small country in the world” – because of the signs that were erected telling them just that.

But this was the slogan of Jack McConnell, the previous First Minister, and it was derided by Alex Salmond when he was elected First Minister in May. In the new era of nationalism, the time seemed ripe for inspiring words that might evoke romance and expectation as much as they promised modernity and brisk efficiency.

Six months later – and after lavishing 125,000 on the initiative – the SNP administration yesterday revealed its exciting new slogan: “Welcome to Scotland”. The phrase is also rendered on the posters as “Failte gu Alba” for monoglot Gaels in transit. The copywriting component of the budget has not been disclosed.