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N5-Cam VII: Long Train Ride · On March 1st I went from Barcelona to London by train. It was amusing and relaxing; If you can spare a day and some money, I recommend it ...
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[1 comment]
Donkeyists · I have always been sweet on donkeys. I’ve published some fetching donkey photographs in this space, and have visited the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon on three separate occasions. Herewith a donkey-centric book review, travel recommendation, and French word that needs a better English translation ...
[11 comments]
[11 comments]
FSS: Zürich and Yvoire · Friday Slide Scan #22 is two pictures from 1990, Zürich at dusk and old stones in Yvoire. I have some history with Zürich ...
Ils sont fous ces Français! · Translating from Goscinny/Uderzo to Hunter S. Thompson: there’s bad craziness going on over in France. Apparently, there’s a move afoot to ban Free Software, and I can only think “Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence”. Malice or incompetence aside, in the unlikely event that this silly thing passes, it could hardly be enforced without building a cyber-police-state of an efficiency and comprehensiveness beyond the wildest dreams of the Beijing regime. If any of my readers are French citizens, you might want to call your local politician’s office or write a letter to your local editor or whatever. Here’s some more from Henry Story, with French-language links. [Update: Gilles Gravier writes: “It’s not all free software that they are trying to ban... Just software that enables distribution of copyrighted material which is not equiped with means of tracing who shares what with whom... Obviously, open-source software makes it easy to remove such tracing means, so is a no-no for SACEM (who are desperately trying to keep alive an old model for making money over artists instead of trying to turn to the future and find new adapted ways).” And now I see that he’s written more on the subject.]
FSS: Dolmens Near Carnac · Friday Slide Scan #4 is from April 1992: a row of dolmens in grey light in Brittany ...
AOCs and URIs · To accompany the barbecued chicken at dinner we had a bottle of hastily-purchased 2002 Côtes du Luberon rosé. Initially disappointing because too cold, it became rather nice as the chill wore off. On the label was a URI, not that common in A.O.C. wines (yet), and a quick after-dinner visit to the Val Joanis web site was most rewarding, check it out. It’s well-set-up, good-looking, works in more than one browser, and makes you want to visit the place; why do so many commercial sites fall short on these obvious goals? Also it’s comprehensively bilingual—each page’s Union Jack glyph taking you to the corresponding English page, very good. And an interesting piece of translation-ware; on the page labeled (en Français) Le vignoble and in English The estate (?), Un travail de titan est lancé... becomes The Herculean task of rehabilitation was begun... (boldface theirs). A sloppy translator would have made the task “titanic” but this feels way closer in spirit; language is slippery, slippery, slippery.
