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Category: STAFF

Blistering Barnacles and Thundering Typhoons – The Language of Captain Haddock

Anyone who has read the Adventures of Tintin by Hergé will have no doubt enjoyed the strange but colourful exclamations and bizarre insults hurled by the irascible and often inebriated Captain Haddock at his foe, phrases such as “blistering barnacles” and “thundering typhoons”. But where did these quirky phrases come from and do they have any historical precedent?  Using digital resources at Canterbury Christ Church University Library, I set out on my own adventure (minus wire fox terrier) to find out.

International day of human space flight – 12th April

Today is the International day of Human Space Flight, celebrating the anniversary of the very first space flight made by a human being. This day of celebration was created by the United Nations in 2011, to acknowledge the start of the space era for humankind. However, it has been celebrated by the Russian people as a national day since 1962, where it was called Cosmonautics day.

Ensuring you make the best use of your breaks

We all know that during this busy time, Augustine House is open 24/7 but that doesn’t mean you should work 24/7.

To get the best from yourself and to ensure you stay motivated and don’t burn out, you need to give yourself regular breaks!

But how do you get the most from them?

Here’s our top tips for staying ahead of the game and ensuring you make the most of this valuable “me” time:-

 

Autism Awareness Week

Making Sense of ASD

While researching notable autistic people for the presentation currently running in the ground floor atrium area in Augustine House as part of Autism Awareness Week (AAW), I noticed something of a common theme. Many of the celebrities I was finding on lists of famous figures with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) had been diagnosed not as children but as adults – whether they had been encouraged by their partners and families to seek the opinions of medical experts, or had read about symptoms that resonated with their own experiences and behaviours and gone on to self-diagnose, it seemed clear that for many of these people, the lack of awareness and understanding of autism during their childhood and adolescence had meant that only as recognition of autism developed during their lifetime had they come to realise that ASD is a fundamental part of their identity.