Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Someone once told me that polls of people’s favourite authors of all time consistently came up with only one living author. I don’t know if that is actually true or not, because I can’t find a source. Sadly however, even if it was, it no longer is now.

It was only last Wednesday when I sat in a Toastmasters meeting and listened to a speech about Spock. Little did we know that less than 48 hours later his illness would take a turn for the worse.

It only seems fitting to remember him the way I am sure he would want to be remembered…

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the Humanist Action Group 2014 Holiday Food Drive for local homeless shelters in Leeds. Last year we managed to collect over £3,000 worth of donations and this year will mark our fifth anniversary.

We’re looking for donations of food, toiletries and clothing, as well as time and money to run the operation and buy more stuff. Learn more on the Humanist Action Group website or join us on Facebook.

We are making some exciting changes at Anxiety Leeds. Most notably our meetings are going to be moving to fortnightly. From November, we will be meeting on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month. We are also moving venue. Leeds General Infirmary have kindly agreed to host us, so we will be moving to B36 in the Clarendon Wing.

The group has been doing really well recently with around a dozen people attending each session. With our new schedule we hope this will allow people to be even more engaged with the group.

One of the frustrating things I have found as a beginner guitarist is that it is easy to find out the chords used in a song, but the strumming pattern is rarely discussed.

Worse, if anyone does dare ask about it, they are usually shot down but a swell of unhelpful comments suggesting that they should just “listen to the song and work it out”. This is not a particularly satisfying answer as why would you not assume the same is true for the chords? Surely someone is looking for a tab precisely because they do not know how to play the song.

Video tutorials are often a lot more helpful but do not translate into something that is easy to find. As a consequence, I have started a guitar strumming patterns database. It is very small at the moment but will hopefully grow over time.

I’m pleased to announce that Elina and I are now engaged. We have not made any plans yet. I am very pleased obviously, but to be honest, I don’t really see it as a big deal. I already knew I loved Elina, and I knew that she loved me. The engagement is really just a way to lock that in in case I get some kind of horrible disease or something.

I proposed after a moonlit serenade of The Church’s “Under The Milky Way Tonight”. I have a video of it, though I am not planning to put it online.

As you probably know, it’s tradition that when a Finnish woman gets married, her friends shower her with thousands of euros of gifts per person. I know that none of you will want to be culturally insensitive…

I, like many people, was saddened to hear about the apparent suicide of Robin Williams. Loved by many for his work as an actor in Aladdin, Jumanji, Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, Patch Adams, Flubber and above all here in the UK – Mrs. Doubtfire. This is to list just a few of the films he has starred in and to say nothing of his stand-up career.

Williams death has, at least briefly, shed a light on mental health issues in the wider public consciousness. I think this is a good thing. The more light we can bring to it, the better.

However, this only has value if we can capitalise on this attention and use it to make a positive difference for society. Which is why I am going to shamelessly use this opportunity to ask you to donate to Anxiety Leeds. You only get these opportunities every so often, and my pride is definitely less important than working to prevent more people who are struggling with mental health issues trying to take their own life.

At Anxiety Leeds we run a monthly peer-support group. To be most effective, we need to move to fortnightly. We have the volunteers ready, but currently we lack the funds to do this. Can you help us?

I am pleased to announce the publication of the 3rd edition of the guide. The new edition features 11 brand new reviews and updates to an additional 6. We have also cleared out the 22 that have closed down so far this year (compared to just 2 removed when we published the second edition).

Added

• Around the World in 80 Beers
• Chickando’s
• Colazione
• Lemongrass
• Peachy Keens
• Roxy Ballroom
• Sabor Latino
• Souvlaki
• Tapped
• The Angel
• Wasabi

Updated

• Ciao Bella
• Piccolino
• Primo Ristorante
• Prezzo
• Red Hot World Buffet
• YO! Sushi

I was saddened to hear that Duncan Dallas recently passed away. Duncan was the founder of Café Scientifique, a group that he started in Leeds. It has since grown into an international movement with hundreds of groups in the UK, Europe, North America and many other regions. After stepping down from running the Leeds group he continued his work promoting open access to science in Uganda, where access to accurate information on topics such as HIV and medicine is sorely needed.

Today I’m pleased to announce the launch the 2nd edition of the Leeds Restaurant Guide. The new edition contains 14 brand new restaurant reviews and updates to another 18 entries. This takes the total reviews to 200! It is available from tomorrow from the Kindle Store.

Added

• Aria
• Belgrave Music Hall
• Cosmo
• Crowd of Favours
• Harry’s Bar & Brasserie
• Prezzo
• Rare
• Roast + Conch
• Shears Yard
• The Atlas Pub
• The Pit
• The Pour House
• The Tetley
• Trinity Kitchen

Updated

• Ambiente
• Angelica
• Baby Jupiter
• Bar Fibre
• Bewley’s
• Brasserie Blanc
• Brasserie Forty-Four
• Dish
• Ho’s
• La Tranquillite
• Las Iguanas
• Little Tokyo
• Malmaison
• Nation of Shopkeepers
• Primo Restaurante
• Red’s True Barbecue
• Sam’s Chop House
• Sukhothai