Calling time – giving names to eras By Nic Price on 1 January 2020 — 1 min read (I tweeted this last week, and realised it’s the closest thing to a blog post I’ve written for a while, so I thought I’d turn it into one.) We’re entering the twenties. The 2020s. Will they be roaring like a century ago? In Western society the Roaring Twenties was a time of possibility and progress,... More
Intranets. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. By Nic Price on 6 December 2007 — 1 min read Yesterday about thirty Intranetters (thanks to Andrew for pointing me towards the yahoo group) got together in central London. It was a really good event – a kind of intranets anonymous. Big thanks to Simon Hill and Rod McLean for their warts’n’all stand-up routines. It certainly seemed quite a cathartic experience for all involved. Intranutters.... More
Never can say goodbye By Nic Price on 26 October 2007 — 1 min read Have you noticed that on the radio very few, if any, presenters and guests say “goodbye” at the end of an interview or phone call? More often than not they say “thank you” instead. I was just wondering if this is conscious and deliberate. More
Where did escalator etiquette come from? By Nic Price on 23 October 2007 — 1 min read Do you stand on the right on the escalator in John Lewis or your local shopping mall? Did “Please stand on the right” originate on the London Underground? Like Pavlov’s dog, we’ve been gradually conditioned to do this. And why is it the opposite to our roads in the UK, where we drive on the... More
Automatic accents By Nic Price on 24 September 2007 — 1 min read Do you have a lift at work? Does it have a male or female voice? Who decided that? Does a lift in Belfast have a different accent to a lift in Manchester, Falmouth or Glasgow? Should the automated announcements on trains change accent depending on which part of the country you’re in? More
Sounds like it should be a blast By Nic Price on 6 June 2007 — 1 min read If you’ll pardon the pun. I’ve just been sent this info about an event taking place in July. I’ve added in the link showing where the venue is on Google maps. Title: Gas Organ exhibition Venue: The Sassoon Gallery Location: Blenheim Grove, Peckham Rye, London SE15 Date: 16th – 18th July Time: Midday – 9pm... More
Ad nonsense By Nic Price on 24 March 2007 — 1 min read Listening to Xfm on my phone on the bus on the way home from work on Thursday night and an ad came on that went something like this: Imagine a world where we all watched one TV channel. Imagine a world where we all read just one newspaper. Imagine a world where we all used... More
Running track question By Nic Price on 23 January 2007 — 1 min read Why do we run in an anticlockwise direction on a running track? Has it always been anticlockwise? Is it clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere? [No, actually scrap that] Does it mean top athletes’ descendants will have shorter left legs than right? [Actually scrap that one too] More