- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Cement Magazine
As an amateur magician, I am often intrigued by the world of psychology, an area where science and the arts combine to create some pretty weird effects. Magicians have honed the art of directing attention (misdirection) over the centuries, to the delight of audiences. Among the ‘mind glitches’ they exploit is ‘change blindness,’ where part of an image is changed but the observer doesn’t notice. A classic demonstration of this is to rapidly switch near-identical images with a split-second of blank screen between them. You’d think you’d see the change, but the blank screen trips you up. If you don’t know what to look for, you’ll probably miss it. There are hundreds of demonstrations online that show just how strong this effect is.1 Another type of change blindness is demonstrated by Richard Wiseman’s Amazing Colour Changing Card Trick2.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Cement Magazine
After months in lockdown, working from home and teaching the kids, life for Family Edwards, as for many, has been slowly groping its way back to ‘normal.’ For us, there have been two main step changes. Firstly, we were fortunate to have children in year groups that were allowed by the UK government to return to school on 1 June 2020. This meant that the adults in the house could once again work during daylight hours, rather than patching together the work day through a haze of caffeine and poor diet choices - See below.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Cement Magazine
An editor’s job is to package text for the clear and efficient transfer of information. Much of this involves ‘extracting the juice’ from information presented by authors, interviewees or PR firms, so that they can be shown in the best possible light. A large part of this is knowing what to omit, as the clarity and order of the text are also critical.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Cement Magazine
The Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented in modern times, both in terms of its effects on individual health and the global economy. While SARS, MERS, Swine Flu and Ebola outbreaks have been devastating for those affected, there has not been a full-blown pandemic since 1918 - 1919.1 Thankfully, we are extremely unlikely to reach the estimated 50 million deaths seen due to that pandemic during the current outbreak, although the situation remains very bad indeed.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Cement Magazine
As one of the 4.5 billion people on earth currently under some form of coronavirus-related lockdown, I have seen a lot of my local area recently. This has mainly been while walking / scooting with my wife and two small children. During a recent jaunt, we noticed how clear the birdsong was on our road. This was due to three factors: More birds in early summer, virtually zero traffic noise and the fact that we ourselves were not racing from A to B in the car. A little further up the road, a question popped up: Does this situation look anything like a ‘low-CO2 future?’
