New BBC News Site

After launching the new version of their main website roughly a month ago, the Beeb have now also done it to their news site. Until now, I hadn’t much noticed the new designs, as I normally only access the news feeds of the Beeb, and don’t  go to their homepage.
Now, I can no longer escape [...]

My Friends’ House

Source: WikipediaI went to see my friends at their new house today. It’s in a wee village or rather a large group of houses. It’s amazing how quickly you are deep in the countryside when driving out of Edinburgh. In London, just getting out to nowhere simply isn’t possible, as there are always houses, neverending.
On [...]

Mad Men Season on BBC 4

I got into this a bit late, though I knew it was on (it doesn’t help that on the BBC website this supposed ‘Mad Men’ season isn’t actually promoted on their website in a separate section, which is annoying if you want to find out more).
From what I gather, this ‘Mad Men’ - season [...]

The Battle Is Won

My stubborn insistence and asking, asking, asking has finally paid off: I’ve now got my colleague’s computer, with, notably, 1024MB of RAM instead of 256. I had been on the case from the very first day I started, considering it absolutely unacceptable to be working with a 5-year-old shitty LAPTOP.
I had to push the matter [...]

werbung gegen realität

Some Germans have been taking pictures of food product packaging, then taking the food out and photographing what it really looks like
I quite like it - it’s very simple - though a lot of the ready-made meals used are very German and as such unrecognisable for us here. Imagine doing it for Spam [...]

dict.cc needs English Speakers to Pronounce Stuff

dict.cc, which I’ve used just this week when checking some translations, emailed me today to ask for my help pronouncing English words. I’ve blogged about them previously - really like their idea of a dictionary-wiki, where users contribute vocabulary and translations. The audio is currently in beta, and the email I got read:
The reason [...]

Having Lunch At Home

I’m not one for having lunch with my colleagues. Firstly, food at the canteen is quite heavily geared towards meat-eaters. OK, there are vegetarian options, but there is quite a strong meaty smell and look about the place. Non-vegetarians may not understand this - but it’s seriously off-putting.
Secondly, I tend to go on lunch later [...]

German Language & Literature

I’m currently getting back in touch with my German-ness, through language and now also literature. I love the written German language - It’s much more beautiful, formal, and structured than English could ever be (no offence).
My favourite German authors (German in language, that is - not nationality) are Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, and I was [...]

Back to EDI and back at Wrk Tomorrow

I’m on the train right now - we’ve just passed Darlington, and I should be back home within two hours. Annoyingly, the sockets on the train that read Laptops and mobile phones only please don’t seem to have any juice in them - so I’m limping around on my battery, with 48% left.
I completed the [...]

My N95 Mobile is Now Unlocked

My gorgeous N95 is now unlocked. Cost me £10 from a phone shop on Mare Street. Fuck you iPhone, with your shiny huge billboard ads EVERYWHERE, your penetration of every magazine, newspaper, and TV, casting yourself as absolutely desirable, most beautiful necessity.
Unlike the iPhone, the N95 has a 5 Megapixel-camera, and 3G (the iPhone’s camera [...]