Christmas day 2007 December 31, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : wildlife, Music , 3commentsIt was a bit special this year, as the morning began with a clear blue sky, empty beach and calm sea. A walk around the rocky side of the little bay, then a short trip into town to sit on the cafe terrace in the square, drink a cold beer in the sunshine and watch the world go by.
We ate our dinner on the little jetty, watching the jellyfish below and flocks of cormorants above. An aged Rioja and Galician pie.
By late afternoon a breeze had started up and waves were breaking on the previously calm shoreline, leaving thousands of jellyfish washed up at the high tide mark as the sun sank magnificently between the twin peaks.
Asturian cider, Iberico ham and Manchego cheese.
In the evening, Mars was again the brightest object in the sky after the just past full moon, and Orion was clearly distinguishable, with the Plough curiously absent.
Song: Winter in Andalucia
More pics : lindah
Enterprise RSS? December 12, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Enterprise 2.0 , 4commentsI’ve clearly got a lot to learn about Enterprise 2.o. For example, what exactly is the point of standardising on one mandated brand of RSS reader software for every employee in an organisation?
In my understanding an RSS reader is a personal productivity tool, a way of organising the way a person works with their chosen reading matter. But people do not all consume information in the same way. Some like to organise everything into neat folders, others prefer to have everything in one big pile with the latest at the top. Some like to quickly scan through everything and then deal with the most important first, others prefer to work through their incoming notifications one at a time. You get the picture. There are also preferences for the style of presentation, because some people have different eyesight capabilities. For different folk, certain styles and coloured fonts work better than others or they need specific colour backgrounds to work from. Some like three panes visible at once, others a single paned window. Some work with one highly customised computer, others need to be able to log in from anywhere on a variety of machines.
So I can’t work out yet what would really be the problem facing an Enterprise IT department if people were allowed to choose for themselves which RSS reader they prefer to use. What are the benefits of standardisation, and to whom?
Planet Germany December 11, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : General , 3comments
Colleague Cathy Dobson has been writing a book for the past three years - and I just wanted to let you know that it has finally been published.
It’s about living in Germany and the first year of setting up Red Door. Well… it’s not really about that - it’s about the funny culture clashes and differences between the Germans and the Brits.
Synopsis
After a decade of living in Germany, a chaotic British family makes a New Year’s resolution to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the local culture. The process is complicated as the mother is founding a business with a German partner who is convinced that all Brits are both dysfunctional and poorly nourished. The year sees them bumbling through local festivals, getting into scrapes with authorities, and falling foul of the law, all aided and abetted by their eccentric neighbours and posse of cats. This book exposes the crazier side of both British and German culture, examines profound mysteries such as German fortune telling and sauna etiquette, and explains why dachshund owners are the most dangerous people on the planet.
Half an Hour December 9, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : General , 3commentsToday, December 9th 2007 the clocks go back in Venezuela - by Half an Hour.
Half an hour?
Yes, half an hour. That may sound a bit like the craziest thing a whole country has ever done in recent times but actually it’s just a reversion to the time zone which was used previously by Venezuela between 1912 and 1964 in the twentieth century.
The new official time zone of Venezuela is determined by meridian 67° 30′ west of Greenwich, in South East London, UK. This meridian divides Venezuela into two almost symmetrical areas and represents a -4:30 hour offset from Greenwich Mean Time.
So what’s the time now? Here, very near Greenwich when it’s eight o’clock in the morning 8.00am - GMT, in Caracas, Venezuela it will be half past three: 3.30am.
Half hour timezone differences will not be unique to Venezuela though, they will be in the company of several others including Afghanistan (GMT +4:30 hours) and Iran (GMT +3:30 hours) and also the states of South Australia and Newfoundland, Canada. And in Kathmandu, Nepal they are a quarter of an hour out of step with neighbours by adhering to GMT +5:45 hours!
The Minister for Science and Technology supporting the the new timezone declared
“I see it as a very positive thing that while there is light we can be in it”.
Controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also claims that people will be healthier and school children will arrive for lessons with more energy as a result of the extra half hour.
Social media and musicians wiki December 6, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Music, Wiki , add a commentIs there a connection between those who like social media and music?
http://socialmediamusicians.wikispaces.com/
London Google Maps mashup with what’s on listings December 5, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : object centred sociality, social objects, London , 1 comment so farThe LondonPaper has launched a website which mashes up Google Maps with up-to -date listings data to provide a service which will also be available by mobile phone using Monilink.
They (News International, Rupert Murdoch) call it “The London Knowledge” and the listings information is apparently supplied by Londonparties, one of the best Time-Out style online guides to London nightlife. The checkbox allows you to map any or all locations for categories Cinema, Theatre, Comedy, Art shows, Live music, Nightclubs and ‘Something different’
The Search box accepts street name , venue or postcode for 5,000 listings of cinema showings, music gigs, theatre shows, club nights and art events for any specific day, so you can find out what’s on at the London theatres for example.
The one fatal drawback at this stage though, is NO PERMALINKS !
It’s all done within Javascript, Ajax, Flash or whatever within the same initial page URL so no social objects, no ‘email a friend’ and no community reviews, community content. If this is engineered into the software design then Trusted Places have nothing to fear for a long time to come, except for the mobile phone aspect perhaps, which Londoners may take a liking to especially for finding out what’s on last minute nearby when you’re already out and about.
Why is Samaritaine in Paris still closed? December 2, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : eurostar breaks, Paris Breaks, Art , 3comments
When I was taking an Eastertime short Paris break this year, I found the Samaritaine flagship store by the Pont Neuf to be closed. Galleries Lafayette was closed too, but the Samaritaine building had a sign up saying something along the lines of closed indefinitely for security reasons.
I was back in Paris last week for a few days and guess what - it’s still closed.
Any idea what’s up with this grand old Art Nouveau / Deco building next to the Seine? On one of my recent Paris breaks I noticed that it still looks spectacular at night from the left bank, all lit up except for the giant letters of the name Samaritaine.
** Online bargain Eurostar Breaks to Paris **
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