With varying degrees of confidence the web is slowly coming alive with prospects and premonitions about when the iPhone 5 will arrive (if that’s indeed what it will be called – the new iPhone?) and what new and exciting features it might hold within it’s sleek and seductive form. Here are a few ideas which won’t be in the latest handset from apple. Note that these are based on out-of-the-box from Apple and do not reflect any third part apps or jailbreaks that might become available. Read More…
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I Hate ‘Management Speak’
Some say that poorly spoken English is actually the evolution of a language. I disagree. While there may be some words that have become part of our spoken language over the last few years and decades (mobile phone, Starbuck’s and wireless) these are predominantly nouns and to a lesser extent adjectives which are used to reflect changes in society and technology.
In grammar, an adjective is a ‘describing’ word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified.
But the incorrect and often excessive use of common words really grates, “She was like really? And I’m like, I know! And she was like, no way!” (My blood boils at even writing that). But it is not just the Chavs (Council House and Violent) who are the culprits here. Management types across the globe are coming up with more and more new and irritating phrases presumably to make themselves sound smart and/or cool. Here are some of my most hated phrases and some alternatives to avoid their usage. Read More…
Golf versus Energy
Scotland! The home of the kilt, the Bay City Rollers, Irn-Bru, ginger hair, Lulu and golf! We can be justly proud to be the nation who gave birth to the sport played by an estimated 26 million golfers world-wide (National Golf Foundation). The actual number is probably a lot more considering that any sane man would never claim to wear the attire preferred by the average golfer. But I digress. Right here in the middle of Europe’s oil capital there are two ongoing debates about the impact of methods being proposed for ensuring future energy supply on the enjoyment of the game. Read More…
Sign of the Times
OK, it’s a pretty clichéd title but while digging through my Aperture library recently I came across these beauties from a trip to China. It even became a bit of a game for our party to spot amusing or even just silly signs. Clearly somethings just get lost in translation. (The cliché-fu is strong with this one). This one had somewhat rude overtones – although that could just be my mind. My wife has suggested we put this sign above our bed. Yeah weill that’ll only be useful if the do learns to read. The graphic seems to suggest that soliciting will not be tolerated. If memory serves it was at the five gorges dam project, it should have been on the Nanjing Road in Shanghai, where they sell everything from umbrellas to chopsticks and whatever else you might need for a good night out on the town. Read More…
The Joy of Taste
A couple of weeks ago I was up in Inverness visiting the in-laws and was treated to something rather unusual in terms of a restaurant experience, and one from which I took away mixed reactions. The restaurant is located in Inverness’ city centre at the end of Church Street and it is called ‘The Joy of Taste‘. Read More…
Queue!
Recently Roman Mars over on 99% Invisible (no I am not having his love child!) touched on a subject that affects us all – queuing. One aspect of this was around queuing at airports, and if you travel a lot then you will be painfully aware of the security measures that have been established over the last ten years which make travel by plane more and more frustrating. Read More…
Design Process
Roman Mars over on 99% Invisible published his 50th podcast a couple of weeks ago which looked into the design of Galludet University. Galludet is kind of unique in that it is one of the only Universities which caters almost entirely for deaf and hard of hearing people. Some of the insights into designing a building for such a purpose were brilliant. Some of the mistakes that were made also serve as good examples in the design learning curve. It is part of a process and it does not matter which particular field you are in; architecture, engineering, media, etc. the process has to be followed. Experience however will help us to take some faster routes. Read More…
Chilli con Carne – A Rant!
How hard is it to make a half decent pan of chilli? Not, difficult right? Or at least you would think so. So why is it that restaurants are incapable of producing a decently hot pot of the stuff? Read More…
Whisky Galore
Although I have been trying to curb my alcohol intake, albeit with limited success, I am still out there collecting whiskies. It started with a short lived attempt to collect anything starting with or including Glen in the name (Glenfiddich, Glenlivet etc.) Then one morning at my local whisky shop I tried out a single cask malt. OMG! The fact that I hadn’t smoked for a few weeks meant that my sense of taste and smell had returned and I actually found myself asking the owner “Can I taste caramel in there?” He nodded, smiling. From there on in, it was limited edition single cask malts only. 21 Year Old Glendronach was now for everyday use! For those of you who are perhaps unaware of the distinction, the graphic after the break should help to explain. Read More…
An Evening of Meat
Last Saturday my wife took me to the The Prime Cuts restaurant which as the name suggests serves steak – and lots of it! The building, which used to be La Bamba’s Mexican restaurant, is located just off Crown Street in Aberdeen: Crown Terrace, which has an unusualy high concentration of restaurants (mainly Chinese and Thai). Prime Cuts however would be in the higher end of the price range and offers quite a luxurious dining experience, if feasting on pounds of bloody flesh can be considered luxurious! Read More…
