A detailed description of how a real estate investment company defrauded 20 investors out of more than half a million pounds.
Left handed guitarists are often told- just reverse the chord shapes, string numbers, etc. But this puts them at a disadvantage. Why should they not have their own charts and diagrams? This article presents the fingerboard of the left handed guitar, to help players locate all the notes without fuss.
A pseudo-random selection of quotations from Jean-Jacques Rousseau with some supporting commentary by the author.
As responsible drinkers like to know what they are drinking, responsible homebrewers should be able to tell them. This article explains how to manage sugar content and alcohol production.
The gun lobbyists are fond of saying 'Guns don't kill people; people kill people'. But the vast majority of people want nothing to do with guns and violence.
Is it important to understand how things work? We are wholly dependent on technologies that no-one really understands. Does that matter?
Homemade wine should be both safe and wholesome, but there are some dreadful recipes and methods out there on the internet. Here's how to avoid the shockers.
A tongue-in-cheek but semi-serious walker's guide to coping with extreme heat and humidity. Includes photos and description of Doha, Qatar, as only seen on foot.
Enjoy this quick and reliable way to make cider without special equipment, ingredients, or knowledge. Sweet cider is an ideal summer drink!
The Bullnose Mercedes is a real truck. It shakes the ground and carves up the roads. It's bullnosed, with a big ugly vertical exhaust stack. Check them out in Qatar!
A collection of black and white photographs taken in Glasgow in 1979, mostly in and around the West end, University, Byres Road, Maryhill.
Tbilisi is an ancient city in an ancient country, with the pride of culture to match. This is no mere (ex) Soviet satellite. The culture is deep, unique and distinctive.
Government censorship of the Internet is not uncommon around the World. Is it in the public interest or is it an infringement of basic rights? Have your say.
From the writer of Tess and Jude, one would not expect a lot of jollity or gaiety, and indeed Hardy's poems tend to be sombre in tone, though often leavened with surprising metrical patterns borrowed from his local folk and church music.
St Luke's angel did not bring to the shepherds 'Tidings of Comfort and Joy'. That phrase comes from a 15th Century Christmas carol. The angel spoke only of 'great joy'. Luke chose his words with care. Joy, and not comfort, is the angel's message.
I thought I'd mark the occasion with a collection of a few of my poems on a romantic theme. I hope you find something to enjoy in them. This first one, Travellers, is about a chance encounter in a commuter train...
"I'll say what I like. It's a free country". This has rather fallen out of fashion, to be replaced, in UK, with "I'm entitled to state my opinion", and in US, with "I'm only exercising my (Constitutional) right to free speech"
Bur Dubai Panorama Hotel is an unprepossessing building. Six residential floors in low quality concrete, clad in pink crud. But Jockey's Pub and the working girls are its real claim to fame.
Still running your car on water? Move with the times guys! Be like me and run your car on nothing at all!
The Cycle of Fifths unlocks Western music. It is beautiful in its symmetry, simplicity and fruitfulness. It explains harmony, transposition and accompaniment. Vital for guitarists and keyboards.
For many guitarists, locating notes on the fingerboard can be difficult, especially in higher positions. Here's a quick, reliable method to learn all the notes on the guitar neck.
At first, I knew nothing about bed bugs. Then they infested my apartment and I learned so much more about them. This is my bed bug story.
One of the pleasures of living in the Middle East is passing an evening in good company while enjoying a shisha (hookah), the traditional Arab water pipe. I go over how to smoke a shisha, what flavours you can get, and more.
Scotland's Happy Family . . That Makes Every Family Happy. The Broons first appeared seventy years ago in the Scottish Sunday Post, published in Dundee by D.C. Thomson, and are still going strong.
Aging home made wine is important. But unless wine is aged in the right way, it might spoil. This article explains how to age homemade or commercial wine for best results.
Guitarists need to understand Equal Temperament, or at least the basis of it. Why? Because their instrument is fretted for Equal Temperament and the strings have to be tuned accordingly.
An introduction to the theory of generating electricity followed by a brief summary of some of the viable ways of generating electricity on a commercial scale.
Kipling, and IF, are not threatened by their critics or parodists. The poem was voted number one in the UK publication "The Nation's Favourite Poems". Kipling's IF has wide appeal. Like Burns before him, Kipling wrote masterful but accessible and genuinely popular poetry.
Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic year (1445). This article is a guide to Ramadan for non-Muslims, especially those living in the Gulf States.
The trouble with wearing the tartan /is everyone thinks you're a Spartan /who relishes cold /in the goolies. (I'm told /the best way to heat 'em is fartan!) A limerick is a short verse in a well-defined form which...
Working in the Middle East. Jobs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia. Jobs in Energy and Construction. Jobs in other fields. Live, work and stay safe in the Gulf States.
"Imagine" by John Lennon is a deceptively simple song. But behind the simplicity is an elegance of lyrical, melodic and harmonic structure that approaches genius. Please read my appreciation of this master's masterwork.
This hub explains home winemaking. When you understand the processes, you will be able to design your own 'recipes', (though, as we'll see, 'recipe' isn't really a word that applies to winemaking). If you...
Making wine from grape juice is relatively simple. In addition to the juice, all you need is a 5-litre container, a funnel, sugar, and wine yeast.