Can You Have The “January Blues” In A City As Enchanting As Edinburgh...?

Can you have the “January Blues” in a city as enchanting as Edinburgh..? Let me go for a walk and ponder that possibility...

Happy New Year! First Fireworks From Freezing Edinburgh

Taken in Holyrood Park, 2013!

Happy St. Andrew's Day - Here's That Saltire Sky Again!

Another year, another St. Andrew's Day, another excuse to post "that saltire sky" photo I took from the east end of George Street (whilst hanging out on roof tops, fighting crime).  This time it's on my Instagram profile, so enjoy!  

PS:  It's a little bit cold outside this St. Andrew's Day morning, as in -1.7°C in central Edinburgh at time of posting!

Drinking In The SECC Ain't Cheap - According To Google Maps!

The Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow is an interesting building that hosts a wide variety of events.  So Scots should be proud of it, right?  Well, not if we go by the latest review on the Google Maps place for the SECC:  "You know how much it was for a round at that fcukin SECC BTW".  I think the SECC might want to be a bit more pro-active in their social media footprint...  Or more reactive with their social drinking prices!

Living Social Offer Silly Supermarket Deal - Was £80 Now £79

Finally it has happened.. The group / social buying sites have started mirroring the supermarkets!  Not quite at the stage of Asda's "buy three and pay more than singles" or Tesco's "false multibuys", we have the "virtually nothing off the price".  Sainsbury's have for many years put out barker cards (the big signs in clear plastic) offering "1p off a high price where that doesn't help", and now Living Social are offering the bargain deal of "normally £80 - you pay only £79".  Still, they have been in this game for a while and like Poundland, they offer many "special deals" which are actually cheaper elsewhere at normal prices.  Anyway, welcome to the big boys' playground!  Still you have a long to go before you can match  and nowhere near the legendary "Sale: was this price, now more expensive"!

The Cinema Is Blue, The Future Is No Longer Orange

Whilst watching a disturbing yet excellent "romance" this evening (Rust and Bone / De rouille et d'os - highly recommend it) I was saddened.  Yet before I embarked into its dark journey I was already sad.  The final pre-film advert that ran was not the normal Orange parodying a film / film-goers who text, helpfully telling everyone to turn their phone off (not just silent - I can see your bright screen you inconsiderate yet unimportant phone addict!).  Whilst the advert was good, Kevin Bacon parodying how connected he is with the world, it was under their new guise of EE (Everything Everywhere).  It's definitely official then - this is the end of the Orange Film Board.  Let's hit those highs one more time Mr Dresden...

Instagram Web Are Live, Including Mine!

Finally Instagram have launched their own Web profiles! These pages will show the most recent 12 photos that you've taken. Sadly they don't seem to show all history at present, unlike others such as Gramfeed, but it does give you a simple one click follow me button! Unless you opt out, then your profile is coming soon at Instagram.com/yourusername - enjoy my Instagram profile here!

Here Comes A New Challenger: Super Amoled HD Plus Alpha 3

In the world of technology you never replace a good brand, you just keep adding to it.  Think back to the great series of Street Fighter games, starting with Street Fighter II which culminated with Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which came after Street Fighter Alpha 3.  It seems this is the nomenclature that is now de facto in mobile phone screen displays.  Not content with Super AMOLED, Samsung pushed on to add a Plus, then HD and apparently for the next device (the Note II missed out on this), Super AMOLED HD Plus.  What on earth will be in the Note 3 or Galaxy S4?  Super AMOLED HD Plus Alpha 3 Hyper-fighting edition?  Then again, maybe the screen name has to keep up with the increasing pixel size of the screen...

Have Brackets Killed The Oxford Comma?

Just like Video Killed The Radio Star, it seems to me that Brackets have killed the Oxford comma.  Now I'm sure some of you will be wondering, "who gives a fuck about and Oxford comma", whilst watching your English dramas...  Well Stephen Colbert cares that's who!  Let me give you an example that is only clear in a world where an Oxford comma exists.  I went on holiday last moth with my parents, Dizzy Gillespie and a French whore.  Now, how many people did I go on holiday with?  If an Oxford comma exists then it was two, my parents who are Dizzy Gillespie and a French whore.  Otherwise I would have written 'my parents, Dizzy Gillespie, and a French whore' - did you notice the Oxford comma after 'Gillespie'?  Clearly that list is of four people.  But in a world of business-speak, which is almost as bad as newspeak, if there was such ambiguity in a sentence then the most common solution would be to use brackets, e.g. can you book a table for lunch for the two tech leads (Jane and Simon).  And if you don't even revert to using brackets to avoid the ambiguity then maybe you won't keep your business role for much longerer...

How Not To Write You Are A Psychic On LinkedIn

Now, I'm not saying I have special extrasensory perception, but I am safely going to gamble this is not how to use LinkedIn to promote yourself as a Psychic:

Current Job - "Psychic Tarot Reader"

Education - "BTEC ... didnt [sic] get to finish these courses due to unforeseen circumstances"

Next!