Day: 80’8’18 (2013-12-31)

bookmark_borderMy predictions for 2013 :-(

Posted on by thomas


Firework
Originally uploaded by Paolo Dallorso

Predicting future events is harder than it looks…:

  1. At least one of Scotland’s unionist parties will change their leader. No.
  2. It will finally become possible to obtain dual citizenship in Denmark. No, not yet.
  3. One more country will join Scotland and Catalunya in planning an independence referendum for 2014. No.
  4. The CDU/CSU will continue to be the largest political grouping in the German Bundestag after the election. Yes!
  5. The Eurozone will survive another year (although Greece and Spain in particular will continue to suffer). Yes!
  6. Facebook will continue to be the most popular social networking site. Yes!
  7. The kids won’t get any opportunity to use their sledges or build an igloo in Newton Mearns. Yes. 🙁
  8. England will join Scotland and Denmark in not qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. No.
  9. Rangers FC will collapse again. No.
  10. The UK won’t win the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. Yes!

On paper, my predictions weren’t too bad (the same number of correct and incorrect ones), but the ones I got right were mainly the ones where I predicted a continuation of the status quo.

I must do better next year!

bookmark_border11.22.63

Posted on by thomas

I got Stephen King’s 11.22.63 for Christmas, and I just finished reading it last night.

It’s basically about a teacher who gets a chance to go back in time and save JFK’s life. It appears to be well researched and it’s quite a page-turner (although I think the ending is weaker than the rest of the book).

My only real criticism is that the main protagonist (born around 1975) seems to be a little bit too comfortable with life around 1960. Could it be that Stephen King forgot that 1960 isn’t a sweet childhood memory for a child of the seventies in the same way as it is for a baby-boomer like himself? I definitely would be much less worried about trying to fit in around 1980 or 1990, because of have memories of that time.

It’s well worth a read, even if you aren’t particularly interested in Lee Harvey Oswald and John F. Kennedy.