joshedwards.com » guardian.co.uk

Spelling and the Internets

Josh — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:06:18 +0000

At Thanksgiving dinner we talking about text messaging and the damages to proper spelling, and now I just saw this: “Chatrooms and social websites encourage bad spelling, says study.”

Determined among a survey of 18- to 24-year-old children “there is now a ‘general attitude’ that there is no need to correct mistakes or conform to regular spelling rules, it says. But this means that children who have been brought up with the internet do not question wrongly spelt words.”

(Don’t worry, the article is British, so “spelt” is properly spelled.)

I know that English is an always adapting language, which has helped make is so popular, but I do agree with this article. Kids today!

Insect Food

Josh — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:00:52 +0000

I know this idea makes sense on a rational level, but still, yuk: “Insects could be the key to meeting food needs of growing global population.”

Key quote:

“We’re looking at ways of grinding the meat into some sort of patty, which would be more recognisable to western palates.”

Recognizable, but I’ll take a burger, thanks!

Ras al-Khaimah & Terrorists

Josh — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:13:26 +0000

Yesterday the Guardian had an article about Ras al-Khaimah (one of the other seven emirates in the UAE) and their terrorist links: “Ras al-Khaimah’s links to al-Qaida, not Iran, is the real issue“.

Prostitutes in Dubai

Josh — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:00:36 +0000

Oh snap!

Check out this article in The Guardian: “Why Dubai’s Islamic austerity is a sham – sex is for sale in every bar.”

Sting in Hot Water

Josh — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:39:00 +0000

So, as you know by now, I worked for quite some time on The Emperor’s New Groove. Musician Sting, the former Police singer, also worked on the flick.

By my logic that makes is best pals. Close confidants.

Which makes me sad that he’s such a hypocrite: “Sting in the pay of tyrannical Uzbekistan regime.”

More Dubai Assassination Details

Josh — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:25:06 +0000

More info about the assassination of Mahmoud al Madbouh from last month (see Dubai Assassination).

Apparently they’ve found info about some of the assassins: “Dubai killers stole identities of UK citizens“.

The Dubai papers played up the fact that it took either 11 or 17 people to kill him, but I think regardless of the size of the team, this is the key quote:

“His murder in his hotel room near Dubai’s international airport took 10 minutes and early forensic tests suggest he was suffocated. The assassins left on flights to Europe and Asia before the body was discovered on 20 January.”

He was dead before the Police even knew they’d been to and left the country.

Jeesh!