currybetdotnet Other archive

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...

Read the full post - Published July 6, 2008 in Other

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...

Read the full post - Published May 10, 2008 in Other

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...

Read the full post - Published April 21, 2008 in Other

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...

Read the full post - Published December 11, 2007 in Other

"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...

Read the full post - Published October 17, 2007 in London Olympics, Other

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...

Read the full post - Published September 17, 2007 in Other

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...

Read the full post - Published April 9, 2007 in Other

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...

Read the full post - Published March 9, 2007 in Flickr, Other

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...

Read the full post - Published February 23, 2007 in Austria, Ghost Walks, Other

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...

Read the full post - Published January 23, 2007 in Other

"Church and blur" on Druid Street

Published January 5, 2007 in Flickr, Other

currybetdotnet 2006 review

Published December 31, 2006 in Other

Greta Blue due to be a highlight of the Design Interiors show

Published December 8, 2006 in Other

More of my photographs included in Schmap's European travel guides

Published November 20, 2006 in Flickr, Other

currybetdotnet has a new home

Published November 9, 2006 in Linux, Other

The currybetdotnet Test Card

Published November 8, 2006 in Other

Illustrator Jhinuk Sarkar launches Paper-Fig.com

Published October 31, 2006 in Other

Greta Blue launches web site

Published October 23, 2006 in Other

You can't exhibit code - a tour around the Scottish Museum

Published September 26, 2006 in Other

Introducing 'A lemon tree of our own'

Published April 10, 2006 in Other

Currybetdotnet archive restored

Published January 9, 2006 in Other

Moving Servers...

Published November 13, 2005 in Other

I've Moved Desks

Published November 7, 2005 in Other

Most Haunted Live at Tower Bridge

Published October 28, 2005 in Other

Belam Senior On BBC Radio

Published October 22, 2005 in BBC, Other, Radio

More eBay Goodness

Published October 20, 2005 in Other

"I Used To *Really* Love H&M" - Reaction To H&M's &denim Romeo & Juliet Campaign

Published October 13, 2005 in Other

Airfix Dumbs Down. So Does Subbuteo.

Published October 4, 2005 in Football, Media, Other

More Of My Stuff On eBay

Published September 25, 2005 in Other

It's Not The Disability That Is The Problem, It's The Sex

Published September 19, 2005 in Evening Standard, Other

Buy More Of My Stuff

Published September 19, 2005 in Other

Buy My Stuff

Published September 16, 2005 in Other

The College Arms Re-Opens

Published September 11, 2005 in Other, Walthamstow

Behind The Scenes At Tower Bridge

Published September 11, 2005 in Other

Big Bus Tour - How Tourists Get To See London

Published August 29, 2005 in Other

Things Our Neighbours Have Thrown Into Our Garden

Published August 22, 2005 in Flickr, Other, Walthamstow

Dinosaur Fun at the Natural History Museum

Published August 22, 2005 in Other

May Discovery Continue

Published August 9, 2005 in Other

Haunted Belgravia and Chelsea

Published August 1, 2005 in Ghost Walks, Other

Boot Fair Virgin No More

Published July 18, 2005 in Other

Graffiti on Novy Most -> Wormfood

Published July 11, 2005 in Flickr, Other

Blue Thooth Headset

Published June 16, 2005 in Other

Speedway in Cardiff, and White City

Published June 16, 2005 in Other

"We Have A Technical"...

Published June 10, 2005 in Other

currybetdotnet Intermission

Published June 9, 2005 in Other

You Can Collect More Gamecards Tomorrow

Published June 2, 2005 in Other

An Elusive Camel and A WEEE Man

Published May 10, 2005 in Other

A gallery, a monument, a museum and a spot of shopping - Day-tripping in London

Published April 27, 2005 in Apple, London Underground, Other, Transport

Il Fumo Uccide - but they look good

Published April 5, 2005 in Other

Martin Belam presentation at IP Lezing in Amsterdam

Published January 25, 2005 in Other