Dear Teachers
I will put my cards on the table straight away. I urge you teach children Poker. Not pretend Poker for tokens or matches, but Texas Hold Em Poker with money. Their pocket money. Bear with me on this before you start going into a froth about the evils of getting kids into gambling and on the road to rack and ruin. I am not suggesting gambling on something as trivial as Bingo where there is no skill involved. I am not suggesting that this teaching goes unsupervised. But I am suggesting that the game of Texas Hold Em has a wealth of learning, that will equip children better for the rigours and the traps, financial and otherwise, in the world outside the school, college, Uni or Campus gates.
Consider what you need to do in order to be good at Poker. You need to be able to...
Lifestyle
Dear anti-obesity person
I am overweight, bordering on the obese. I am happy. I pay for my food, be it convenience food that’s allegedly bad for me, or maybe from restaurants where I am encouraged to get value for money by eating as much as I can for a fixed price. If I want your help, advice or guidance I know where I can get it. But at the moment I don’t want it, and I feel like a second-class citizen when I see posters, adverts, and news item, all going on about how much obesity is costing the country. In days off work, in doctors’ time, in many other areas.
But I go into work as much as I can, and if I have too many days off I’ll get fired. I pay for my doctor and health services through an insurance plan. I look after my kids and encourage them to be healthy, but also to be...
6,907
Dear High Street Retailers,
“Christmas comes but once a year, bringing happiness and good cheer” the saying goes. Well that’s all Santa-Red and rosy, but when the Christmas period extends from September to 12th night on January 6th don’t you feel that that’s too much? The Summer has hardly finished, and the kids have just gone back to school, Halloween, Fireworks Day (November 5th) and Thanksgiving are many many days away, and yet… Christmas trees in store windows? Christmas lights in the streets? Christmas advertisements for food, drink and children’s toys already popping up on the television and on the internet. Come on guys, give it a rest- do you really want to peak too early?
I just can’t relate to Christmas in September or October. Can’t you hold your horses (or perhaps your...
8,748
Dear Nathan Landy and Prof. David R. Smith, scientists/electrical engineers at Duke University, N.C.
I understand from scientific journals and hacks’ stories in dailies, that you are another step closer to perfecting the "cloak of invisibility," this time using a diamond-shaped device to help take things forward from previous unsuccessful attempts. Who can forget the Cloak of Slight Noticeability? The Now you See Me, Now You Still See Me Suit? And the infamous Stands Out Like a Worn Wig at a Wedding overcoat?
I’m told that building on research done in 2006, you have improved how the edges of their "cloak" work, allowing light to pass around an object without reflections so that the human eye can't see it. Light waves are bent around the object, making it appear not to be there.
I’m...
4,815
Dear organiser of the Oxford Street Lights.
On Saturday I went to Oxford Street to see the Christmas Lights. But on arriving was appalled to see giant illuminated jars of Marmite! I realise that Marmite have sponsored the Xmas lights this year, but what on earth has Marmite got to do with Xmas!
5,806
The Jug and plastic bag system of storing, displaying, selling and dispensing fresh milk was introduced with a flourish a few years back in my local Sainsburys store in London. The special jugs were given away free, and there were demonstrations as to how they worked, and we were told that the milk was cheaper to produce, and that buying bags of milk was good for the environment as it used less un-recyclable material that the harder plastic bottles.
I have continued to try to maintain this green approach to buying milk, but I think I have come to the end of the road. This is caused by a combination of Sainsburys showing no real commitment to this form of buying milk, and flaws with the jug itself.
Your Sainsburys bags of milk now appear in one tiny section of the dairy aisle. Often have...
4,046
Introduction:
You have to have some thick skin to work on the internet. The things people might think but never have the courage to say to your face in person are somehow permitted on the web. As a writer who critiques other people’s work, whether it’s a TV show or a live concert or a book, I am open to feedback and criticism. It comes with the territory.
But it’s rare that someone takes the time to send you something like this. It reminded me of the Jennifer Livingston situation recently, and how the news anchor answered the viewer who sent her a “helpful” message about her weight on air. So in response to this email I recieved tonight, here’s an open letter I’ll be sending to [email protected].
Dear Jamie (if that is your real name),
Props to you for still using Hotmail....
5,725
Dear Bishop Welby
Congratulations on your being appointed the new Archbishop of Canterbury. I hope you run the Church of England with wisdom and tolerance. I understand that you favour the ordination of women bishops, are in favour of gay marriages, but also don’t want to ride roughshod over the feelings of the old guard. Tricky!
I have an odd request. Can you please consider the position of atheists like me? I guess your first response might be… why? Well, it seems you are a tolerance man, and presumably respect religious convictions of those who are not in the Church of England, where they don’t directly contradict the teachings of the C of E or the laws of the state. Can you do the same for those of us who have thought about believing in something for which there is no or little...
4,352
Dear Barack Obama,
It's Sophia Bailey Klugh. Your friend who invited you to dinner. You don't remember okay that's fine. But I just wanted to tell you that I am so glad you agree that two men can love each other because I have two dads and they love each other. But at school kids think that it's gross and weird but it really hurts my heart and feelings. So I come to you because you are my hero. If you were me and you had two dads that loved each other, and kids at school teased you about it, what would you do?
Please respond!
I just wanted to say you really inspire me, and I hope you win on being the president. You would totally make the world a better place.
Your friend Sophia
P.S. Please tell your daughters Hi for me!
10,748
Dear Starbucks
For the past several years I have been having my daily boost of Starbucks coffee, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. It costs me dearly, easily £120 in a single month.
To get this £120 I have to earn at least £200 and only after the tax man gotten hold of their 25% of my already pretty poor income, I can spend that money on your delicious coffees.
I like Starbucks. It's clean, appears ethical and makes good coffee. So I felt almost ashamed for you when I read in a London newspaper, that despite your billions of UK turnover, you pay next to no tax. Suddenly, your ethical coffee farming makes me think if it is really what it appears to be.
I understand very little about taxation laws and loopholes, but I am on PAYE so there is little I can do to...
4,410