Authors Electric

Ah, travel writers - they can transport us all over the world. But times have changed since Eric Newby wrote about his Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. Now we can google anywhere we want. We can watch people terrify themselves with white water rafting or bungee jumping. We can relax to the shush of the waves while we sip wine from the comfort of our own living rooms. Do we need words any more? And, if we do need words (I'm a writer - what is life without words?), what are we hoping for? To find out about a faraway place we might visit some day? To learn about cultures and differences that can widen our horizons? To get vicarious pleasure from someone else's risk-taking? I've written about travel for decades. I think that the focus - even the reason - for travel writing has changed. When I wrote about my round-the-world trip ( Over the Hill and Far Away ) I was in my mid-50s and wanted to show that it was possible for women of any age to take on the world and have advent...

Large bracket fungus - home to an array of mini beasts I had something completely different planned for this month. However, whilst researching for a project I'm working on I came across the Woodlands Trust website. As the name suggests they actively conserve our woodlands and trees. We all know trees are an extremely important part of our environment, for a number of reasons including: Combating climate change by absorbing CO2 and other pollutants  Protecting against soil erosion therefore helping prevent flooding Improving soil conditions Helping keep cities cooler Reducing noise Supporting a huge range of wildlife and fungus So, I wanted to share the following:  Schools, community groups (even a group of neighbours who want to improve a local open space) plus not-for-profits can apply for a free tree pack from the Woodlands Trust - more info can be found at this link . Also did you know the government has put aside £10 million to help plant 130,000...

Whether or not you are one of the people who can feel them, all living things rely on electrical signals at cellular level. It's how our nerves work, and particularly our brains. Electricity is also in the air all around us, in the form of EMFs (electric and magnetic fields) given off by our modern devices, and it's not too big a leap to see how one might affect the other.  https://www.healthline.com/health/emf#research . Very soon, on top of all our existing EMF producing devices, we will have a new technology: 5G, which promises faster wi-fi connections than 4G and uses microwave frequencies similar to those used in weapons for crowd control . The problem is that digital wi-fi (2G and above) has only been around since the 1990s and so we can't really know the long term effects yet. Also, nobody has actually asked our permission to expose us to this stuff. Following pressure from the public, several places have recently postponed or halted the roll-out of 5G, includ...

A week or so ago, I removed all my books from Amazon. This post was both the genesis of that act and something that arose from it. When I was a student in the early 90s it went without saying we didn’t buy Cape bananas. And people of my generation still wince when people hand out Nestle goods. I’ve just filled out a survey on the future of publishing as the industry sees it. Lots of fascinating scenarios about the development of smart technology, the increase consumer demand for interactivity, an increasingly doughnut-ish business model. But something was missing. So let’s tie those thoughts up. The food industry has long since demonstrated that consumers demand ethical transparency and leadership and are prepared to walk with their feet when they don’t get it. From Organic to Fairtrade, propping up unacceptable regimes to the treatment of animals to a transparent chain from field to shelf, consumers demand ethical leadership from business. More recently, our collective ...