Archive for 2004
Presented in Widescreen 10 Dec 2004
Now, I like my movies in the format they were intended: widescreen. Most of my family hate widescreen, they see black lines at the top and bottom of the picture as wrong. I’m not sure if it’s some subconscious belief that it’s broken, or that they think they’re not getting their money’s worth as it [...]
At Your Fingertips 9 Dec 2004
Having had my internet access cut off again at the hotel (this time because my 30 days were up, rather than technical failure), it occurred to me just how much I use it. I use the net for all sorts of stuff, not just updating my blog (despite what you all think). I use the [...]
Get Writing 8 Dec 2004
The title of this post refers to a section of the BBC website. As you could probably guess, it’s a section all about writing. Now, you may remember I wrote a post about another section of the BBC site that impressed me no so long ago, The Collective. Get Writing shares many features. BBC accounts [...]
The Lux 8 Dec 2004
Q: How do you refer to people from Luxembourg? A: Luxembourgers Incidentally, the official language is Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch) (though they do use French and German for the written word). For other interesting facts on Luxembourg, visit: www.luxembourg.co.uk/trivia.html
Continental Keyboards 7 Dec 2004
Using computer systems in the Netherlands means I am subjected to using a continental keyboard. As with cars, many Americans will see the similarities and feel fairly at home. There is no £ sign for example, which is eminently annoying. A UK keyboard includes $ and € symbols, but obviously everyone else doesn’t think they [...]
Oh, Shoot 6 Dec 2004
Last week I noticed the Dutch use the word shit a lot. I had noticed it before, but not to the same extent, limiting themselves to the occasional jovial use every now and again. Last week, however, as someone was repeating it in a little mantra after making a mistake, one of my English colleagues, [...]
North and South 6 Dec 2004
One of the benefits of the hotel having satellite, and indeed of the Dutch generally speaking English, is that I do get the BBC. This has meant I have been able to enjoy the delightful North and South which was adapted from the book of the same name by Elizabeth Gaskell. I will admit that [...]
The Female Form 4 Dec 2004
Now, before I start, I realise that this post could be interpreted as sexist, offensive, or just make me out to be some sort of pervert. I don’t mean to offend anyone, so should it do so, I can only offer an unconditional apology. Men stare at women; it’s an open and well-known fact. It’s [...]
The End 2 Dec 2004
Of this year’s NaNoWriMo challenge at least. I didn’t complete the challenge, in fact I all but gave up in the last week or so, but nearly 6,000 people did, and are registered winners. Congratulations to everyone who took part. The collective word count, at least, when I checked it for this post, stood at [...]
Site Tweaks 30 Nov 2004
I’ve made a couple of usability changes to the site over the weekend. On single entries you should see a little printer icon down by the details at the end of the post. This, as I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, is to format the page for printing. You can, obviously, do this [...]