Yearly Archives: 2004

Downhill from here

Posted on January 13, 2004 by acb

In everyone’s professional life, there comes a moment that can never be surpassed. Is it happier not to notice? I don’t know. But for Roger Boyes, the Times‘s man in Germany, the choice is past. Nothing can ever live up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment

Hot geek news

Posted on January 13, 2004 by acb

The latest developer build of OOo is slithering out: it has, I hope, integrated python scripting, along with a number of bug fixes that I don’ t understand. I have merely downloaded it, and not played with it at all, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The ideal birthday present

Posted on January 13, 2004 by acb

For anyone worth knowing must be this. If they don’t get the joke, they are too young to be worth knowing at all. Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 2 Comments

Tragedy

Posted on January 12, 2004 by acb

There is a long interview in Ha’aretz with Benny Morris, an Israeli historian(via ). He has done more than anyone else to expose the extent to which Palestinians were deliberately driven out of Iarael in 1948, and was for many … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in War | 1 Comment

Who was this, if not George W Bush?

Posted on January 11, 2004 by acb

“I have taken the rudder into my own hannds; my course is set straight and I am guidingyou to glorious times. Those who wish to help me are heartily welcome; whoever opposes me I will smash. There is only one … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Strange coupling

Posted on January 11, 2004 by acb

One of the nicest things in Saffron Walden is Lankester Antiques, a second hand bookshop housed in a building once used by Cromwell as his headquarters. Since the hardback fiction is arranged alphabetically by author, you can, if you tiptoe … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Christian apologetics: an apology

Posted on January 10, 2004 by acb

I have been rereading Dorothy Sayers’ translation of Dante, which is astonishingly good in a style of virtuosity that could not now be more old-fashioned. Her efforts to reproduce the rhyme scheme of the original, as well as much of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Alf, the sacred river

Posted on January 10, 2004 by acb

From the Guardian‘s obituary of Ingrid Thulin, a wonderful actress for Ingmar Bergman: Thulin was born in Solleftea, a small town and winter sports centre on the Alven river in central Sweden.Let’s see what’s wrong with this. It’s Sollefteå not … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Yet more spammers’ ingenuity.

Posted on January 9, 2004 by acb

Why are these bastards spamming my mobile? It seems to happen on Fridays and in the drunken hours of the evening: the phone rings, and hangs up as soon as you answer, leaving a tempting ‘ring me’ number on the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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How to get banned from the USA for ever

Posted on January 9, 2004 by acb

I was just about to start a wormseye on the new American visa regulations. And, while tossing around column ideas, I discovered one that would really cause a stink: “What the world needs is an annual Holocaust Forgetfulness Day.” Actually, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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