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August 2017

Did You Know? (Part 4 – Art & Music)

By The WebNo Comments
did-you-know

Did You Know?

 This is the fourth in a series of Did You Know? blog posts. Each blog post will gives fascinating facts on a particular topic. In part 1 the topic was science. In part 2 the topic was history. In part 3 the topic was geography.

Today, I give you ten facts about Music & Art:

1. Vincent van Gogh produced his masterpiece Starry Night while admitted in a mental hospital.

2. Leonardo da Vinci completed the world’s most famous painting Mona Lisa from 1503 or 1504 to 1519. It is thought that Leonardo da Vinci could have been gay. He was 24 years old when he, along with several other men, were charged with sodomy. But the charges were dropped when no witnesses came forward.

3. Michelangelo is most famous for The Sistine Chapel ceiling, which it took him around 4 years to complete. But he was also a wordsmith. He created several hundred sonnets and madrigals in his lifetime.

4. Picasso was perhaps the most prolific creator of all time. During his 91 years of life he created: 13,500 paintings, 100,000 prints, 34,000 book illustrations and 300 sculptures/ceramics.

5. The top three best selling singles of all time are White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Candle in the Wind by Sir Elton John and Silent night, holy night by Bing Crosby.

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6. Mozart was a musical genius. He wrote half of his total symphonies between 8 years old and 19 years old. Mozart could listen to a piece of music once and write it down from memory without any mistakes. He died aged 36, successful in the creation of music, but without any money.

7. Beethoven performed for Mozart when he was 17 years old in Vienna. Mozart was notoriously unimpressed by other musicians, but apparently was impressed with Beethoven. No one really knows what happened at that meeting, but the myth says that Mozart left the room stating: “Keep your eyes on him—someday he’ll give the world something to talk about.”

8. Around 26 years old Beethoven began losing his hearing. He tried to keep the fact that he was loosing his hearing a secret. He was totally deaf by 44 years old. Beethoven used his memory of sound and imagination of how music could sound to continue producing music after becoming totally deaf.

9. Classical music helps plants grow faster, according to a 2007 study.

10. Art and music, along with eating and sex all increase serotonin (the happiness chemical) and dopamine (the motivation chemical) in the brain.

Write soon,

Antony

References
Degreed – Top 10 Facts About Vincent van Gogh
MostToday – 10 Most Famous Paintings In The World
Live Science – 5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Leonardo da Vinci
Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo’s Painting of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
History Stories – 9 Things You May Not Know About Michelangelo
Biography – Pablo Picasso
Picasso Mio – Picasso – How many artworks did Picasso create in his life time?
Express – TOP 20 best selling singles of all time
FactRetriever – 69 Interesting Facts about Mozart
Mental Floss – 19 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Beethoven
Classic FM – So if Beethoven was completely deaf, how did he compose?
Knowable – 27 Rarely Known Facts About Music And The Music Industry.

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Tuesday 8 August 2017

The Human Rights Act (1998) Explained

By Life, PoliticalNo Comments

The Human Rights Act (1998) is one of the most misunderstood pieces of UK law. In this blog post, I’ll explain simply all about The Human Rights Act.

What?
The Human Rights Act (1998) sets out in UK law the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It has several articles and protocols including:

List of articles and protocols:

  • Article 2: Right to life
  • Article 3: Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment
  • Article 4: Freedom from slavery and forced labour
  • Article 5: Right to liberty and security
  • Article 6: Right to a fair trial
  • Article 7: No punishment without law
  • Article 8: Respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence
  • Article 9: Freedom of thought, belief and religion
  • Article 10: Freedom of expression
  • Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association
  • Article 12: Right to marry and start a family
  • Article 14: Protection from discrimination in respect of these rights and freedoms
  • Protocol 1, Article 1: Right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
  • Protocol 1, Article 2: Right to education
  • Protocol 1, Article 3: Right to participate in free elections
  • Protocol 13, Article 1: Abolition of the death penalty

Article 1 & 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are not in The Human Rights Act (1998), as they are covered within the Act.

It is open to interpretation. For example, Article 12: The right to marry. Despite the Human Rights Act being dated 1998, Civil Partnerships for gay people only became legal in the UK in 2005. Gay Marriage only became legal in the UK in 2013. Prior to this the right to marry in the Human Rights Act (1998) was interpreted as only applying to straight people.

What it lacks?
With rights should come responsibilities. The Human Rights Act (1998) lacks listing responsibilities of the citizen, of local government and of national government. However you could argue that these responsibilities are covered by other UK laws.

The Human Rights Act does place a duty on Public Authorities to act within ways that are compatible with the Act, but again, this is open to interpretation.

Why?
The Human Rights Act (1998) exists to outline the rights and freedoms that every person in the UK should be entitled to.

When?
The Human Rights Act was passed through UK parliament in 1998, but came into force in October 2000.

How?
If a citizen feels their Human Rights have been denied, they can ask a court of law to look at their case. But this is a complex process and without good legal support can be difficult. This means that justice on Human Rights breeches are only challenged if people can afford good legal counsel, or are supported by certain charitable organisations that do work around Human Rights.

The Future of Human Rights?
The Government wants to replace The Human Rights Act (1998) with a British Bill of Rights. The concern is that this new bill of rights could weaken the rights laid out in The Human Rights Act and be even more open to interpretation than the current Act.

Blog soon,

Antony

References
British Institute of Human Rights
Citizens Advice – What rights are protected under the Human Rights Act?
Import: The History of Marriage in the UK
Liberty – The Human Rights Act
Equality and Human Rights Commission: A history of human rights in Britain

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Saturday 5 August 2017

Book Review: How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
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View on Amazon.co.uk
 How To Stop Time by Matt Haig is most likely the best book published in 2017.

In How To Stop Time Tom Hazard has a condition called anageria, a condition that slows down the ageing process. He’s lived for over four hundred years and yet looks about forty.

Tom’s condition is kept a secret from the world because he and people like him come to harm when other people find out about it. Tom is protected by an organisation whom help keep knowledge of the condition a secret and whom help him and others like him to stay safe.

Here’s how it works: Every eight years he gets to choose a new life doing whatever he wants, wherever he wants and gets to live it for eight years. In exchange at the end of every eight years he must complete a task, set by the organisations manipulative leader Hendrich.

As well as surviving, Tom is also looking for Marion, his daughter, from hundreds of years before who has the same condition as him. Hendrich is helping with this.

Tom’s character is intriguing, his naivety despite living for over four hundred years is endearing and his past and present are fascinating. The reader is pulled in from the very first word. In How To Stop Time not a single word is wasted or unnecessary, which is a credit to the editing. The reader will whiz through the short chapters eager for more.

The description ignites the reader’s imagination and takes them to the right place and time throughout.

The plot seamlessly transitions from the present to Tom’s memories of the past and back again. Tom is a skilled storyteller, which comes as no surprise when the reader reminds himself/herself that he was written by the brilliant Haig.

The risk with this sort of book is that the pacing is slow because some of it is set in the past. However Haig’s pacing was flawless throughout, never being to slow or to fast.

Tom tells the story in first person perspective which is perfect for this sort of novel, which is essentially about living in the now, not existing and living in love.

Marion only comes in at the end of the novel and the reader will be left wanting to know more about her and her life.

How To Stop Time is available on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Thursday 3 August 2017

Did You Know? (Part 3 – Geography)

By The Web2 Comments
did-you-know

Did You Know?

 This is the third in a series of Did You Know? blog posts. Each blog post gives ten fascinating facts on a particular topic. In part 1 the topic was science. In part 2 the topic was history.

Today, I give you ten facts about Geography:

1. Africa is the only continent that is in all 4 hemispheres: North, South, East and West.

2. Canada has half of all natural lakes in the world.

3. At 8, 848 metres (29, 029 feet), Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain.

4. Out of the highest 25 peaks in the world, 19 are in the Himalayas.

5. Every continent has a city called Rome, apart from Antartica.

6. The Antartica ice cap has 29m cubic kilometres of ice and represents 90% of all the ice on the planet.

7. Australia is wider than the moon.

8. The UK has over 100 small islands around it.

9. The Dead Sea is made up of 33.7% salt, an unusually high concentration, and it is this that allows people to easily float due to natural buoyancy.

10. Russia is the largest country in the world covering an area of 17,075,400 square kilometres.

Write soon,

Antony

References
Mental Floss – 11 Weird and Wacky Geography Facts
Scoop Whoop – 18 Interesting Geographical Facts You Probably Had No Idea About
Live Science – Mount Everest: World’s Highest Mountain
Cool Antarctica – Antarctica Facts
Fun Facts About the Antarctic
Travel + Leisure – 12 geography facts that will blow your mind
ThoughtCo. – Geography of England
Twisted Sifter – 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Dead Sea
Friendly Local Guides – 17 Interesting Facts about Russian Geography

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Tuesday 1 August 2017
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