I think Wolfram Alpha is a Wikipedia threat and not so much a Google threat. Just my 2c.
Wolfram Alpha
May 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: google, wikipedia, wolfram alpha
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
March 19, 2009 · 1 Comment
Many people considered the F. Scott Fitzgerald story to be unfilmable.
Turns out they were right.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Cynical
Tagged: curious case of benjamin button, the emporer's new clothes
Teatime at Nigiro in Cape Town
March 18, 2009 · 4 Comments
I love tea. I love tea very, very much. My day starts with a cup of tea in bed, and there is not much conversation that I am capable of until I’ve had my morning cup of tea.
Coffee is good, and I do appreciate fine coffee from fine coffee purveyors, but I am definitely a tea girl. Tea makes things better. Tea revives you. (I am SO coveting the Tea Revives You poster from Keep Calm Gallery – that’s the image above.) Tea might make the world go round. Oh, and I also like a G&T. Kind of tea, but not. At all.
Anyways, my fondness of tea means that I have been anticipating Nigiro (the URL might redirect to Origin – tut tut!), the new tea room at Origin Coffee Roasting in De Waterkant in Cape Town, for a while and so was very pleased to be invited along to the launch of Nigiro on Tuesday evening. What a fabulous occasion: Cape Town celebrating my favourite beverage! A beautiful glass box of a tea room has been created in Origin Coffee Roasting’s De Waterkant HQ, and I am very much looking forward to sitting down for a tea ceremony in there.
I got to meet some of the Elle Deco ladies (who were kind enough to compliment on my favourite necklace, which did make me feel less plainjane next to their lovely stylish selves), catch up with a few faces from the Open Everything event, of course congratulate David Donde on such a wonderful evening, meet a bespoke perfumer, drink some Stormhoek tastiness, eat the most heavenly steamed dumplings (best, and first, I’ve ever had) and of course taste some Nigiro tea. Superbly soft vanilla black tea and orange spiced rooibos yumminess. How wonderful.
I left with a beautifully packaged press pack with some teas to try at home (now I just need to get me one of those very nice glass teapots!).
→ 4 CommentsCategories: Cape Town
Tagged: Cape Town, nigiro, tea makes everything better
Bake Bread – Give Dough: Blakey gets involved
October 16, 2008 · 1 Comment
First up, two disclaimers:
1. I work for Breadline Africa, a fabulous charity that funds hundreds of grassroots community projects.
Container Nursery School!
2. My sister did the baking for me – I’ve been chock-a-block promoting the campaign (but I’ll get my apron on this weekend evening).
So, the idea behind the Blogger Bake Off is that bloggers will do something a little unusual (Bake Bread) and then donate money (Give Dough). Funds will be used by Breadline Africa to do things like convert old shipping containers into kitchens, schools, and clinics for needy communities (the photo is of a container nursery school – a double decker one!).
I’ve tried (and failed at) working with yeast before, but that experience made a statement that I read recently stand out: Early Money Is Like Yeast. Funding these grassroots projects means that there is an early and developmental injection of funds, which can make such a huge difference in someone’s life.
Madeira Cake - like bread?
For this blog, my sister baked a Madeira Cake, which is super tasty and kind of looks like bread! And I donated (and am asking everyone I know to do the same!).
And now, I do the tagging.
The rules:
If you are tagged, copy and paste the rules into your post.
- Bake bread, do something you wouldn’t normally do, and blog about it. Upload your picture and recipe on www.bloggerbakeoff.com.
- Give dough, donate to Breadline Africa and help us end poverty.
- Tag five bloggers, and ping Breadline Africa so they know you’ve done so.
I’m tagging:
The Lush (I’m a fan!)
Andrew Smit (who ran the comrades, but can he bake?)
Pam Sykes (who is a compulsive baker)
Avinash Kaushik (because he’s a great guy with a great blog: it would be fabulous if you joined us!)
Clotilde Dusoulier (I’m aiming big here: I’ve been a fan for years, I have your cookbook, maybe you can show the world how a Parisienne does it?)
Fingers crossed! Go on, Bake Bread – Give Dough.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Blogger Bake Off, breadline africa
Blog Action Day: Bake Bread, Give Dough, End Poverty
October 15, 2008 · 1 Comment
It’s Blog Action Day today with the theme of poverty. Bloggers all around the world will be talking about poverty, and some will even be doing something about it.
So, today, I am doing by donating as part of the Blogger Bake Off – a campaign that’s raising funds for Breadline Africa (a non-profit that I work for).
Bake Bread - Give Dough
Coming soon: Blakey Bakes Bread
→ 1 CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: blog action day, Blogger Bake Off, breadline africa
Blogger Bake Off: It’s coming!
October 13, 2008 · 3 Comments
Breadline Africa’s Blogger Bake Off is on its way! www.bloggerbakeoff.com
→ 3 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: blog action day, breadline africa
R2D2 on Twitter
August 27, 2008 · Leave a Comment
*dwooooop! dwooooop! dwooooop!*
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: R2D2, twitter
Test driving a website
August 19, 2008 · 2 Comments
My little TT* has served me well, but it’s time to get a new car. Being a Geek Girl, car shopping begins online. I’ve downloaded the road tests from Car magazine (thank you for making them freely available), I’ve been to Toyota to test drive the Yaris, and it’s time to tackle the Mazda2 (and the Honda Jazz is the last on the list). Not knowing where the Mazda dealership is located, I took to the Internets to find it, which led me to a little test drive of the websites of the cars in the running for Blake’s New Chariot.
The short story: Mazda is more “doom doom” than “zoom zoom”, Toyota leads the pack and Honda hobbles along in the middle (though still far ahead of Mazda’s online offering).
The longer story: I made my subjective opinion based on -
1. How easily I could locate my closest dealer.
2. How easily I could get information about the vehicles I am interested in.
3. General very subjective opinion about the website.
1. Being able to locate a dealer online
Landing on the Toyota website, there is a clear and easy to use Dealer Quick Find which is a search box right on the page. And the results page: it’s got links to maps and directions to the dealer. Being directionally challenged, these are things I like!
Moving on to Mazda and Honda, the links to their dealer locations are not as prominent, and there are no maps! And, on the Mazda site, they even managed to get a typo into the address. Tut tut.
2. How easily can I get information about the cars I am interested in
It is easiest to find and compare on the Toyota website, and both Honda and Toyota let you download the brochures for their cars as a pdf. Mazda has an e-brochure which only works on Windows. So, I can’t even view their brochure on my (now happily working) Mac. Grrrrr.
3. General very subjective opinion
All three sites use Flash on their homepages, but the Mazda site seemed to take forever to load. Mazda has a lot of little tools which I am sure seemed like a good idea to the planning team, but on the whole are poorly executed. The website seems not to take any consideration of the user, which makes me wonder if the car is going to feel the same way. Toyota continues on its track record of reliable with a website that caters better my needs. Toyota links easily to a search for previously loved cars, and also has a link to its Facebook page. And Honda, I haven’t looked too closely!
Mac Mazda2 Fail
I probably won’t make a purchase decision based on a website, but if I did, I’d be sticking to Toyota. Mazda didn’t even let me access the basic information I would need. In fact, the Mazda website looks like it was designed by an ad agency: pretty (if you like that sort of thing) but lacking in functionality.
Scott, BMW is a little out of my price range right now, but give me a couple of years and I’ll be test driving your website too!
*Toyota Tazz – no zippy coupe for me (yet)
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Honda, Mazda, Toyota, website usability
CAPTCHAs are helping to save crumbling texts
August 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment
I’ve noticed CAPTCHAs are now asking you for two words, and didn’t know that the extra effort requested is all about making sure that old literary texts (the crumbling, fading and falling apart ones) can be successfully digitised. Well, I didn’t know that until I read this BBC article.
If you’re using CAPTCHA, you can switch to reCAPTCHA and help to archive old books. Pretty cool.
How reCAPTCHA makes text legible.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Smart is the new sexy – geek girls in Cape Town
August 15, 2008 · 2 Comments
BrandsEye Cupcakes from Charly's Bakery
Last night at the home of the best coffee in South Africa – Origin Roasting in De Waterkant – some of the smart gals of Cape Town had a little get together. The fabulous venue was complemented with champagne and cupcakes: Moreson kindly sent along some of their exquisite MCC, and BrandsEye had some mucking afazing cupcakes from Charly’s Bakery delivered. And we were even sent some Flight Centre vouchers – hurrah! Quirk also sent along a few copies of eMarketing to give away.
Nikki Friedman of Big Words Scare Me led the way in a discussion on groundsquirrels and leopards – it really was all about making sure that we are telling authentic stories. And that led to some of the amazing resources, networks and companies, started by some of the women in the room:
- Flying Solo South Africa – a network for those of us working alone
- Freelancecentral – make sure you’re finding those clients!
- Femtrepreneurs – a network for smart women
The best part? Getting to chat to so many smart and fabulous people in one evening.
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: brandseye, cerebella, emarketing textbook, geek girls, moreson, origins roasting
