Translation

Away from the heady world of translation, I have a number of interests which are mostly ways to pass the time rather than absolute passions and I start a number of projects which then seem to fade away as I flit onto something new. I have a portfolio of numerous abandoned short stories and novels (mostly science fiction). I quite like a number of sports but have never really put the effort in to become particularly proficient in any of read more

The world of science fiction has shown us many wonders: alien intelligences; faster-than-light (FTL) travel; dematerialisation transporter devices; bigger, brighter, louder weapons; machine intelligences taking over the world; Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming a successful U.S. politician… This list barely scrapes the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the developments shown in what we consider to be science fiction are quite clearly preposterous and might more properly belong in the realm of fantasy. To the best of scientific knowledge, it is never going read more

Jose Mourinho, or the ‘Special One’ as he famously labelled himself shortly after arriving in England, is arguably the greatest club manager of his generation. From humble coaching beginnings in the lower reaches of Portuguese football, the 49-year-old has found success at every rung of the football ladder and has now won league championships in Portugal, England and Italy. With his Real Madrid team 10 points clear of Barcelona (a Barcelona that includes the freakishly talented Lionel Messi), he seems certain read more

(with thanks to Tom Hanks for the headline…)

It’s the era of the iPad. Touch and swipe gestures are turning up everywhere, and there’s no excuse any more for software that is complicated and unintuitive to use. Discuss.

The Mac came to save us from products like DOS and WordPerfect, which some of us are still old enough to remember. Now those were the days! Before the era of the standardised windowed interface, every software package you bought had a different interface read more