My favourite photo from my recent Nice - Paris cycle ride. That’s Dijon mustard in the background, and the contrasting colours really make this shot special.
As a road cyclist, it is quite unusual for me to go mountain biking. However, going today for the first time in a few years has convinced me that I must get back into it: not only is the riding exhilarating, but the views are incredible! The only worrying moment came as I tiptoed around a large black bull which had stationed itself directly in my path…
Some highlights from my trip to Wimbledon on June 28th, 2011.
It’s amazing, the illusion of power that little flags provide! This is the Security Council at BISMUN 2011.
Dude looks like a lady.
Louis XV to Chevalier d’Eon
My submission!
Real tennis fans watched Ward-Mannarino and Tsonga-Nadal at the same time.
Anonymous and Nato
We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us…
Dear members of Anonymous,
We are NATO.
We have many legions of soldiers, tanks and fighter planes.
We do not sit in front of our computers all day.
We do not pretend to be important (we actually are).
Expect us…
Bath Cycle Races last month. I was a marshal, as road racing is a bit too scary for me! This is the Cat 3/4 race, in which a Bath CC rider (pictured here at the front) came second. The guy with the yellow shows who is in second place in this photo went on to win.
The Effect of Cigarette Prices on Youth Smoking
From the abstract of this 2001 University of Illinois paper (click above):
‘The results confirm that higher cigarette prices, irrespective of the way they are measured, reduce youth cigarette smoking.’
The paper also found that:
‘If state average prices would rise by $0.50 (i.e. 26.5%), the youth cigarette demand can decline by 17.5 percent: participation would drop from 27.8 to 24.8 percent and the average monthly consumption would decrease from 139 to 130 cigarettes.’
Obviously, this is not new research, and prices have risen over the past decade, but it seems to me that it is any and every Government’s clear and unequivocal responsibility not to be cowed by the tobacco lobby and to continue to reduce smoking rates amongst young people. If price rises are successful in doing this, then price rises we should have.
Of course, the strength of the tobacco lobby is far greater in the USA than here in the UK, but the paper is still highly relevant. Another interesting point is that the largest effect comes from the perceived price of cigarettes: education and society must paint smoking as an expensive habit, as this has a powerful effect in preventing young people from taking up the destructive habit.
This page lets you create your own Star Wars introduction crawls! It’s quite good fun, actually.
