The Halifax - always giving you a little extra aggravation
Now, without wanting to start sounding like a grumpy old man, or indeed like Roshan Doug in the Birmingham Post, I have to indulge myself with a rant about some recent poor customer service from the Halifax. We wanted to open a new savings account for my wife, and, having taken advice from the boys at t'Fool, we opted for the Halifax. I applied to open the account online, with the expectation of dropping a cheque into a branch next...
Fake plastic waste from British Airways
One of the problems with setting yourself high ethical standards in public as a brand is that you are easily judged on them. British Airways are proud of their 'green' credentials, and like to say so. "We were the first airline to produce an environmental report and we've issued an update on our progress every year since 1992." "As a global airline, we're proud to connect people, places and cultures and keep business on the move. But the freedom of...
A month of Twittering
I never really had much interest in Twitter when it first launched. Despite it being almost exactly tailored to a compulsive blogger and early technology adopter like me, I really, really couldn't see the point of it. As the service has developed, people have begun to find more and more ways of using it to do research, market their blogs, get questions answered, get engaged, and to arrange when to meet down the pub. Increasingly I've been reading about what...
8 random facts about me
I've been tagged by Dan Taylor on Fabric of Folly in an '8 random facts about me' blog chain letter type thing. I thought of just linking through to "5 things you probably don't know about me" and adding 3 more, in a Blue Peter here's-one-I-made-earlier style, but that didn't seem to fit the spirit of the thing. 8 random facts about me: I owned a terrapin for much of the 80s and all of the 90s, until it went...
"East Meets West" at Tower Bridge
I was rather lucky on Monday to get to go to a promotional evening on the walkways of Tower Bridge, called "East meets West". I've been up there a few times, as my wife used to work there, and I've even DJed up in one of the towers. The bridge itself is unique in being both a heritage monument, a working bridge, and an astonishing feat of Victorian design and engineering. The event was being held to celebrate the success...
Sacred at the British Library
In between zipping around various BBC buildings last week for a series of meetings, I took a half-hour out to visit Sacred at the British Library - their exhibition of religious texts from the history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The material on display is undoubtedly spectacular from a historical point of view - with surviving fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest known Christian Gospels, and rare parchments from Islamic Spain. There are also bibles in Syriac, Slavonic, and...
Print versions now available for some currybetdotnet articles
Some time ago a student emailed me to say that a couple of my articles about search had been very useful to them in their studies, but to complain that there wasn't an easy way to print out entire articles from this site. About a year later I've finally got around to producing downloadable and printable versions of the articles on the site, so if you ever fancied your own cut-out-and-keep guide to a day in the life of BBCi...
My plastic bag photo is re-cycled by New Consumer
It is always nice to see some of my creative commons licensed photographs on Flickr getting recycled, and last week New Consumer were using one of my pictures of a plastic bag. It is a little ironic actually, as they are using it to illustrate Adam Vaughan's article about "High street pledges to slash plastic bags by 2008" The photo of the Tesco's bag is part of my Flickr series "Things Our Neighbours Have Thrown Into Our Garden". Thanks...
Investigating the history of witches in Salzburg
Unlike the behemoth of the BBC, I seldom take the opportunity to cross-post to or cross-promote the blogs I contribute to, but I wanted to make an exception this week. Those of you who ever followed the posts on here about the ghost walks that I use to do in London, and in one case in Haunted Malta, with my wife, might be interested in a series of posts she has published this week on 'A lemon tree of our...
5 things you probably don't know about me...
...(unless you are my mum) I've been tagged directly by Dave, and indirectly on This Is Not My Country, so just imagine all the usual humbug about how I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing but... 1) I played the lead role in my school's annual production of Macbeth when I was an insecure troubled teenager. A couple of months spent brooding over the Scottish play at the age of 17 didn't really help to be honest. 2) I...
"Church and blur" on Druid Street p>
Greta Blue due to be a highlight of the Design Interiors show p>
More of my photographs included in Schmap's European travel guides p>
currybetdotnet has a new home p>
The currybetdotnet Test Card p>
Illustrator Jhinuk Sarkar launches Paper-Fig.com p>
Greta Blue launches web site p>
You can't exhibit code - a tour around the Scottish Museum p>
Introducing 'A lemon tree of our own' p>
Currybetdotnet archive restored p>
Most Haunted Live at Tower Bridge p>
"I Used To *Really* Love H&M" - Reaction To H&M's &denim Romeo & Juliet Campaign p>
Airfix Dumbs Down. So Does Subbuteo. p>
It's Not The Disability That Is The Problem, It's The Sex p>
Buy My Stuff p>
Behind The Scenes At Tower Bridge p>
Big Bus Tour - How Tourists Get To See London p>
Things Our Neighbours Have Thrown Into Our Garden p>
Dinosaur Fun at the Natural History Museum p>
Haunted Belgravia and Chelsea p>
Graffiti on Novy Most -> Wormfood p>
Speedway in Cardiff, and White City p>
currybetdotnet Intermission p>
You Can Collect More Gamecards Tomorrow p>
An Elusive Camel and A WEEE Man p>
A gallery, a monument, a museum and a spot of shopping - Day-tripping in London p>
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About Martin Belam
I'm an Internet consultant and writer, with 8 years experience in product management, information architecture, and user experience design for global brands like Sony, Vodafone, The Guardian and the BBC. I specialise in advising on search, widgets, RSS, online news publishing and bulk email delivery.
Martin Belam CV
email: martin.belam@currybet.net
tel: +44 (0) 7801 828718
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