I once knew a teacher of French who dabbled in import/export. He said that success depended on 1. A well designed product 2. A competitive price 3. Delivering on time. Speaking the language of the customer came nowhere.
I obviously don't know the background but I could imagine he got into the export business because of his languages experience. As a languages graduate I have mixed feelings. The only language you NEED to be able to speak is English. That comes by default for us. There are a couple of languages that I was reasonably fluent in, which I never speak now.
On the other hand I don't regret the time spent learning languages. They opened up opportunities for me and different ways of looking at things. I am a different person for it. I know that's horribly pretentious, but other people who have put the very considerable effort into properly learning other languages will agree with me.
On the subject of languages vs programming I studied both at school and took programming as an extra module (secondary to main degree) through my BSc and MSc but haven't really touched it beyond as a personal interest in the 12 years since graduation and suspect things have probably changed a bit since then in programming but wouldn't have in languages.
However the key issue to learn in programming is not the language itself per se, it is the discipline and logic to elegantly and properly write in the right manner. On a linguistic comparison it isn't the vocabulary that matters as much as the grammar. Learning logic and thinking logically is very useful even if you never later program code.
Redcar by election: another enormous growth in Lib Dem vote polled over 75% of poll up 37%, identical to nearby Catterick last night. Conservative vote down again. We await the Kent and Surrey results
On the subject of languages vs programming I studied both at school and took programming as an extra module (secondary to main degree) through my BSc and MSc but haven't really touched it beyond as a personal interest in the 12 years since graduation and suspect things have probably changed a bit since then in programming but wouldn't have in languages.
However the key issue to learn in programming is not the language itself per se, it is the discipline and logic to elegantly and properly write in the right manner. On a linguistic comparison it isn't the vocabulary that matters as much as the grammar. Learning logic and thinking logically is very useful even if you never later program code.
It is why I tell people NEVER to go and do a degree in "Computer Programming", it has to be "Computer Science".
I see politicians are now bickering over Team GB victory parade....
Let us hold it in Belfast.
That said there's a strong argument for Yorkshire or Manchester.
Perhaps they could re-purpose the infamous Boris BattleBus and take it on tour around the country. Might want to scrape that claim about the NHS off the side first though ;-)
If it is true, then it really will be a sad day for football. Whether or not the leagues would be under pressure to select an acceptable team is another matter, and I'd expect the PL to come under a lot of pressure and to do the right thing and pick the fourth place team.
Colour choice matters a lot and you can use it to argue different positions from the same map. Here, a two-tone palette argues the country is starkly divided, but by choosing very similar colours in the blue-green spectrum for 24-56 Remain and very different yellows for 56+, the country looks more united versus the cities/Scotland/Catholic Ulster. Anyone interested in colour in maps should strongly consider using the ColorBrewer palettes which successfully distinguish levels from each other.
Mr. Enjineeya, German's excellence comes from ridiculous compound nouns. [I do like German. Hardly ever use my A-level in it but do sometimes play videogames auf Deutsch, and use what little I remember now and then when writing about the Kuhrisch].
On the subject of languages vs programming I studied both at school and took programming as an extra module (secondary to main degree) through my BSc and MSc but haven't really touched it beyond as a personal interest in the 12 years since graduation and suspect things have probably changed a bit since then in programming but wouldn't have in languages.
However the key issue to learn in programming is not the language itself per se, it is the discipline and logic to elegantly and properly write in the right manner. On a linguistic comparison it isn't the vocabulary that matters as much as the grammar. Learning logic and thinking logically is very useful even if you never later program code.
I learned Java and ended up dreaming about HTML - it was really weird.
Linguistic/gender point but in the thread title it says "Mrs. May's ..." which is quite formal. Normally Cameron, Brown, Blair etc are referred to as such and without the formal Mr. in front of their name.
Maybe a subconscious issue or maybe I've just not noticed it in the past but why refer to her title but not others? Is it because she's new, a woman, or has a name that is a also month (though having a name that is a colour didn't seem to be an issue when referring to Brown).
It's an editorial decision Mike and I made, because may is also a modal verb, so it can lead to problems/confusion, that's why we try and not use May on its own.
So it is a change, glad I'm not crazy for spotting it.
Linguistic/gender point but in the thread title it says "Mrs. May's ..." which is quite formal. Normally Cameron, Brown, Blair etc are referred to as such and without the formal Mr. in front of their name.
Maybe a subconscious issue or maybe I've just not noticed it in the past but why refer to her title but not others? Is it because she's new, a woman, or has a name that is a also month (though having a name that is a colour didn't seem to be an issue when referring to Brown).
Is it the same reason the Wimledon umpires refer to Nadal and Federer, but to Miss Williams and Mrs Henin?
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
Whilst I'm trying to decide what to write next, and therefore procrastinating, I also learnt correct Japanese pronunciation of Warring States era names by playing Kessen III in Japanese [audio only]. And people say videogames aren't educational.
[There's a Romance of the Three Kingdoms (13) out for PS4, though time, money etc mean I won't get it for a while, if I bother at all. I think the last I played, maybe 8, was pretty tedious].
Mr. Enjineeya, German's excellence comes from ridiculous compound nouns. [I do like German. Hardly ever use my A-level in it but do sometimes play videogames auf Deutsch, and use what little I remember now and then when writing about the Kuhrisch].
Ich begann sie der Spionage für die andere Seite zu vermuten.
The number of pupils studying foreign languages at A Level has now reached a record low. If you were 16 today and had to choose, would you learn a foreign language or a computer programming language?
Foreign language
or
Computer programming language
I'm someone who is fluent in several languages, and I love learning different languages, I reckon if forced, I'd go for the computing programming course.
What do other PBers think?
Neither. Foreigners invariably speak English, and frankly we are so appalling at teaching foreign languages that anyone who wants to learn one should just go and live abroad for six months, if that is still allowed after Brexit. And though most jobs use computers, very few need program them.
Spreadsheets. That's what the kids need to learn. The misuse and abuse of spreadsheets is rife and people need to have at least the basics. Accountants might use them to tot up cash balances but for everyone else they are used for tables, project-planning, ad hoc databases and probably even pictures of cats. It is all wrong but spreadsheets are ubiquitous.
I m going to make a plea for a (short) course in philosophy. People in this country don't know how to turn out an argument. Say a staff member wants a new piece of equipment. They will attempt to justify it with facts - how much it costs; how many gigabytes it has; what connections it has etc. But they won't attempt to persuade on the benefits: I can save this amount of time; it takes the stress out of my job and you get a happier employee; it allows us to provide a more reliable service - or whatever
I'd add to that that a lot of actual practical programming work is about turning vague ideas and problems expressed in human language into something specific enough to express in formal logic. I think philosophy is much better preparation for this than either maths or Computer Science.
The favourite part of my job in developing productivity software is visiting users - not customers making the purchasing decisions but the normally low paid, put upon employees actually using the system. No-one ever asks their opinion of anything but they take you through what they do and then thay say, wouldn't it be better to move that thing over there, instead of having to click three times? And say to yourself, why didn't I think of this? It's just great.
Linguistic/gender point but in the thread title it says "Mrs. May's ..." which is quite formal. Normally Cameron, Brown, Blair etc are referred to as such and without the formal Mr. in front of their name.
Maybe a subconscious issue or maybe I've just not noticed it in the past but why refer to her title but not others? Is it because she's new, a woman, or has a name that is a also month (though having a name that is a colour didn't seem to be an issue when referring to Brown).
It's an editorial decision Mike and I made, because may is also a modal verb, so it can lead to problems/confusion, that's why we try and not use May on its own.
So it is a change, glad I'm not crazy for spotting it.
May may call may election ...
We have in the past have occasionally called Jeremy Corbyn Mr Corbyn
Mr. Eagles, the most, I think, correct repetitions of a word in a grammatical sentence is eight.
John, where James had 'had', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had been approved by the exam board as correct.
Eleven:
John, where James had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
Can we have an example here - I can't imagine such a sentence.
A sign writer is putting up a sign above a fish and chip shop. The customer complains about the spacing of the sign, says he wants more space between the words 'fish' and 'and' and 'and' and 'chips'
Linguistic/gender point but in the thread title it says "Mrs. May's ..." which is quite formal. Normally Cameron, Brown, Blair etc are referred to as such and without the formal Mr. in front of their name.
Maybe a subconscious issue or maybe I've just not noticed it in the past but why refer to her title but not others? Is it because she's new, a woman, or has a name that is a also month (though having a name that is a colour didn't seem to be an issue when referring to Brown).
It's an editorial decision Mike and I made, because may is also a modal verb, so it can lead to problems/confusion, that's why we try and not use May on its own.
So it is a change, glad I'm not crazy for spotting it.
May may call may election ...
We have in the past have occasionally called Jeremy Corbyn Mr Corbyn
I see politicians are now bickering over Team GB victory parade....
Let us hold it in Belfast.
That said there's a strong argument for Yorkshire or Manchester.
Perhaps they could re-purpose the infamous Boris BattleBus and take it on tour around the country. Might want to scrape that claim about the NHS off the side first though ;-)
They should do a tour of the country with it. Take in half a dozen key cities over a week, finish with a massive party in Hyde Park followed by tea and biscuits with Mrs May at No.10. They deserve no less.
So it looks like over the next couple of days, China has to get three more gold medals than GB to get second (because we are well ahead in silver medals). We have two guaranteed shots at gold (Adams, hockey) with a further distancing of the silver tally at worst. Gymnastics and wiff waff have finished. So apart from diving, where else are China going to get their golds?
EDIT Damn it - rhythmic gymnastics still to come! That must be one where the Chinese excel? And badminton....
I'm disappointed we have less than 3x the number of golds France have.
Mr. Enjineeya, German's excellence comes from ridiculous compound nouns. [I do like German. Hardly ever use my A-level in it but do sometimes play videogames auf Deutsch, and use what little I remember now and then when writing about the Kuhrisch].
What's ridiculous about them? It's just what German does instead of using adjunct nouns.
Linguistic/gender point but in the thread title it says "Mrs. May's ..." which is quite formal. Normally Cameron, Brown, Blair etc are referred to as such and without the formal Mr. in front of their name.
Maybe a subconscious issue or maybe I've just not noticed it in the past but why refer to her title but not others? Is it because she's new, a woman, or has a name that is a also month (though having a name that is a colour didn't seem to be an issue when referring to Brown).
It's an editorial decision Mike and I made, because may is also a modal verb, so it can lead to problems, that's why we try and not use May on its own.
Is a good point. But you could use "PM May" instead?
Is a work in progress, think of the thread when there's talk of an early election
Neither. Foreigners invariably speak English, and frankly we are so appalling at teaching foreign languages that anyone who wants to learn one should just go and live abroad for six months, if that is still allowed after Brexit. And though most jobs use computers, very few need program them.
Spreadsheets. That's what the kids need to learn. The misuse and abuse of spreadsheets is rife and people need to have at least the basics. Accountants might use them to tot up cash balances but for everyone else they are used for tables, project-planning, ad hoc databases and probably even pictures of cats. It is all wrong but spreadsheets are ubiquitous.
I m going to make a plea for a (short) course in philosophy. People in this country don't know how to turn out an argument. Say a staff member wants a new piece of equipment. They will attempt to justify it with facts - how much it costs; how many gigabytes it has; what connections it has etc. But they won't attempt to persuade on the benefits: I can save this amount of time; it takes the stress out of my job and you get a happier employee; it allows us to provide a more reliable service - or whatever
I'd add to that that a lot of actual practical programming work is about turning vague ideas and problems expressed in human language into something specific enough to express in formal logic. I think philosophy is much better preparation for this than either maths or Computer Science.
The favourite part of my job in developing productivity software is visiting users - not customers making the purchasing decisions but the normally low paid, put upon employees actually using the system. No-one ever asks their opinion of anything but they take you through what they do and then thay say, wouldn't it be better to move that thing over there, instead of having to click three times? And say to yourself, why didn't I think of this? It's just great.
Yes, I used to do something similar. It's really important when speccing a new software product to spend time with the existing product and those that are using it. It's also amazing how the written business process for an action, authored by a head office operations manager, bears very little resemblance to how that same process works on the shop floor!
I see politicians are now bickering over Team GB victory parade....
Let us hold it in Belfast.
That said there's a strong argument for Yorkshire or Manchester.
Perhaps they could re-purpose the infamous Boris BattleBus and take it on tour around the country. Might want to scrape that claim about the NHS off the side first though ;-)
They should do a tour of the country with it. Take in half a dozen key cities over a week, finish with a massive party in Hyde Park followed by tea and biscuits with Mrs May at No.10. They deserve no less.
Absoutely, are the Royal Mail still painting gold post boxes?
The number of pupils studying foreign languages at A Level has now reached a record low. If you were 16 today and had to choose, would you learn a foreign language or a computer programming language?
Foreign language
or
Computer programming language
I'm someone who is fluent in several languages, and I love learning different languages, I reckon if forced, I'd go for the computing programming course.
What do other PBers think?
I hate languages (because I'm shite at them)
I'd focus on science, history and philosophy- but I did maths, physics and chemistry for a-level anyway so not too bad.
Linguistic/gender point but in the thread title it says "Mrs. May's ..." which is quite formal. Normally Cameron, Brown, Blair etc are referred to as such and without the formal Mr. in front of their name.
Maybe a subconscious issue or maybe I've just not noticed it in the past but why refer to her title but not others? Is it because she's new, a woman, or has a name that is a also month (though having a name that is a colour didn't seem to be an issue when referring to Brown).
It's an editorial decision Mike and I made, because may is also a modal verb, so it can lead to problems, that's why we try and not use May on its own.
Is a good point. But you could use "PM May" instead?
Is a work in progress, think of the thread when there's talk of an early election
I'd be up for doing the victory parade in Manchester. The Cycling team are based there and delivered 6 golds and 12 medals in all. We had it in London last time, no need to do it here again.
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Mr. StClare, must confess I don't know what that means.
Schade. Or "Mensch!" as my German teacher would mutter whenever we got something obvious wrong.
It looks like the output of Google Translate in response to "I began to suspect you of spying for the other side." Unfortunately, though, it doesn't make grammatical sense.
I mean if they are "pathetic" why are they "hurtful"? Unless you are a whining jessie
I don't know why people would get so exorcised about some stuff a few numpties say in a secret Facebook group.
Well, actually I do, but that makes it even worse: I could get annoyed by the left wing vapid bilge some of my friends post publicly, pretty much on a daily basis, but life is too short.
I see politicians are now bickering over Team GB victory parade....
Let us hold it in Belfast.
That said there's a strong argument for Yorkshire or Manchester.
Perhaps they could re-purpose the infamous Boris BattleBus and take it on tour around the country. Might want to scrape that claim about the NHS off the side first though ;-)
They should do a tour of the country with it. Take in half a dozen key cities over a week, finish with a massive party in Hyde Park followed by tea and biscuits with Mrs May at No.10. They deserve no less.
Absoutely, are the Royal Mail still painting gold post boxes?
I see politicians are now bickering over Team GB victory parade....
Let us hold it in Belfast.
That said there's a strong argument for Yorkshire or Manchester.
Perhaps they could re-purpose the infamous Boris BattleBus and take it on tour around the country. Might want to scrape that claim about the NHS off the side first though ;-)
They should do a tour of the country with it. Take in half a dozen key cities over a week, finish with a massive party in Hyde Park followed by tea and biscuits with Mrs May at No.10. They deserve no less.
Absoutely, are the Royal Mail still painting gold post boxes?
Mr. Eagles, the most, I think, correct repetitions of a word in a grammatical sentence is eight.
John, where James had 'had', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had been approved by the exam board as correct.
Eleven:
John, where James had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
Can we have an example here - I can't imagine such a sentence.
A sign writer is putting up a sign above a fish and chip shop. The customer complains about the spacing of the sign, says he wants more space between the words 'fish' and 'and' and 'and' and 'chips'
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
I had the best tonno e cippola in Napoli last year.
I mean if they are "pathetic" why are they "hurtful"? Unless you are a whining jessie
I don't know why people would get so exorcised about some stuff a few numpties say in a secret Facebook group.
Well, actually I do, but that makes it even worse: I could get annoyed by the left wing vapid bilge some of my friends post publicly, pretty much on a daily basis, but life is too short.
I mean if they are "pathetic" why are they "hurtful"? Unless you are a whining jessie
I don't know why people would get so exorcised about some stuff a few numpties say in a secret Facebook group.
Well, actually I do, but that makes it even worse: I could get annoyed by the left wing vapid bilge some of my friends post publicly, pretty much on a daily basis, but life is too short.
I mean if they are "pathetic" why are they "hurtful"? Unless you are a whining jessie
I don't know why people would get so exorcised about some stuff a few numpties say in a secret Facebook group.
Well, actually I do, but that makes it even worse: I could get annoyed by the left wing vapid bilge some of my friends post publicly, pretty much on a daily basis, but life is too short.
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Oh dear.......
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
Mr. Enjineeya, little things like that are quite useful. I recall "Was zum Teufel?" ["What the hell?" but literally "What to the Devil?"] from Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
It is genuinely useful to play videogames in a foreign language. Unfortunately, most only have an English language option, (or English-Japanese).
When I get around to getting the DLC-laden Witcher 3 edition, I may try playing that auf Deutsch.
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Oh dear.......
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
Might I recommend Franco Manca. I'm quite the pizza snob and generally only eat my own pizzas, but I do enjoy FM. Wouldn't go out for pizza anywhere else in London.
Mr. Enjineeya, little things like that are quite useful. I recall "Was zum Teufel?" ["What the hell?" but literally "What to the Devil?"] from Shadow Hearts: Covenant.
It is genuinely useful to play videogames in a foreign language. Unfortunately, most only have an English language option, (or English-Japanese).
When I get around to getting the DLC-laden Witcher 3 edition, I may try playing that auf Deutsch.
"Videogames", Mr. Dancer? This noun compounding seems to be catching!
So it looks like over the next couple of days, China has to get three more gold medals than GB to get second (because we are well ahead in silver medals). We have two guaranteed shots at gold (Adams, hockey) with a further distancing of the silver tally at worst. Gymnastics and wiff waff have finished. So apart from diving, where else are China going to get their golds?
EDIT Damn it - rhythmic gymnastics still to come! That must be one where the Chinese excel? And badminton....
I'm disappointed we have less than 3x the number of golds France have.
Need to do better.
Not if they are to take up Sandpit's suggestion of tea and biscuits at Number 10. We must stop winning once the Cabinet table is full.
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Oh dear.......
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
Might I recommend Franco Manca. I'm quite the pizza snob and generally only eat my own pizzas, but I do enjoy FM. Wouldn't go out for pizza anywhere else in London.
My lad and his mate are making pizza down in the kitchen (it's raining, and they're finally bored with video games) even as a I write here in my office. The results may or may not be edible, but the kitchen will most definitely look like a tomato bomb detonation in a flour mill.
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Oh dear.......
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
What, no truffles? No tagliatelle al fungi? No prosciutto? No gelato? What an ascetic you are!
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Oh dear.......
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
Might I recommend Franco Manca. I'm quite the pizza snob and generally only eat my own pizzas, but I do enjoy FM. Wouldn't go out for pizza anywhere else in London.
My lad and his mate are making pizza down in the kitchen (it's raining, and they're finally bored with video games) even as a I write here in my office. The results may or may not be edible, but the kitchen will most definitely look like a tomato bomb detonation in a flour mill.
Everyone has to start somewhere! When it was me I was in my parent's kitchen making an awful mess. Now I'm in my own kitchen making less of a mess and with the right tools to bake a pizza in 160 seconds, the best ovens do them in 90, but unfortunately I don't have a garden in which to build a wood fired oven.
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Oh dear.......
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
What, no truffles? No tagliatelle al fungi? No prosciutto? No gelato? What an ascetic you are!
Prosciutto is included in mortadella. Gelato is nice but not a "must have". Truffles: bah! Tagliatelli ai funghi are nice. I also like a good risotto and osso buco and I absolutely adore calves' brains, which were a regular in my childhood. Vitello tonnato and, indeed, veal of any kind is nice and I am partial to offal generally. Mussels, sea bass and pasta alle vongole and pasta soups with lentils, peas, beans, artichokes are also nice. My mother's meat loaf is unsurpassable.
But if I were paring it down and trying to minimize cooking time so I could spend more time in the sea or in the garden or generally on the terrace, a glass of limoncello or good wine in hand, that's what I would choose.
Still, if anyone wants to invite me to lunch/dinner where the other foods are on the menu..................
Neither. Foreigners invariably speak English, and frankly we are so appalling at teaching foreign languages that anyone who wants to learn one should just go and live abroad for six months, if that is still allowed after Brexit. And though most jobs use computers, very few need program them.
Spreadsheets. That's what the kids need to learn. The misuse and abuse of spreadsheets is rife and people need to have at least the basics. Accountants might use them to tot up cash balances but for everyone else they are used for tables, project-planning, ad hoc databases and probably even pictures of cats. It is all wrong but spreadsheets are ubiquitous.
I m going to make a plea for a (short) course in philosophy. People in this country don't know how to turn out an argument. Say a staff member wants a new piece of equipment. They will attempt to justify it with facts - how much it costs; how many gigabytes it has; what connections it has etc. But they won't attempt to persuade on the benefits: I can save this amount of time; it takes the stress out of my job and you get a happier employee; it allows us to provide a more reliable service - or whatever
I'd add to that that a lot of actual practical programming work is about turning vague ideas and problems expressed in human language into something specific enough to express in formal logic. I think philosophy is much better preparation for this than either maths or Computer Science.
The favourite part of my job in developing productivity software is visiting users - not customers making the purchasing decisions but the normally low paid, put upon employees actually using the system. No-one ever asks their opinion of anything but they take you through what they do and then thay say, wouldn't it be better to move that thing over there, instead of having to click three times? And say to yourself, why didn't I think of this? It's just great.
Yes, I used to do something similar. It's really important when speccing a new software product to spend time with the existing product and those that are using it. It's also amazing how the written business process for an action, authored by a head office operations manager, bears very little resemblance to how that same process works on the shop floor!
In safety, we call that difference 'work as imagined' rather than 'work as done'. That gap is frequently large when major accidents happen. To improve safety, always ask the people who perform the at risk task, not their managers, to show you how work is done.
The Italians managed to turn polenta into a trendy food. If they can do that with something that tastes like heated MDF, anything is possible.
My gf made me try a polenta pizza in Milan recently. It felt like a wasted meal, literally no taste.
Well, obviously. That sounds quite disgusting: never eat pizza outside of Naples. Pizza should have nothing but tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and mozzarella. Olives and basil if you must. San Marzano tomatoes and really fresh mozzarella from Battipaglia are one of life's great glories.
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
In Socal they refer to pineapple and ham pizza as a "sweet pig" and it works really rather well...
Oh dear.......
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
What, no truffles? No tagliatelle al fungi? No prosciutto? No gelato? What an ascetic you are!
Prosciutto is included in mortadella. Gelato is nice but not a "must have". Truffles: bah! Tagliatelli ai funghi are nice. I also like a good risotto and osso buco and I absolutely adore calves' brains, which were a regular in my childhood. Vitello tonnato and, indeed, veal of any kind is nice and I am partial to offal generally. Mussels, sea bass and pasta alle vongole and pasta soups with lentils, peas, beans, artichokes are also nice. My mother's meat loaf is unsurpassable.
But if I were paring it down and trying to minimize cooking time so I could spend more time in the sea or in the garden or generally on the terrace, a glass of limoncello or good wine in hand, that's what I would choose.
Still, if anyone wants to invite me to lunch/dinner where the other foods are on the menu..................
Ah, there's part of the difference. While I like pottering in my kitchen garden and love the sea, I prefer to limit my time in the sun (for very sound family medical reasons), and suspect I enjoy my time in the kitchen as much as you do yours gardening or by the sea.
Town by elections Colne , Lancashire last night. Two Conservative seats, they held one, Lib Dems second and lost one to Lib Dems who seem to have had quite a good night in the North. Pelham ward Conservative % down.
The number of pupils studying foreign languages at A Level has now reached a record low. If you were 16 today and had to choose, would you learn a foreign language or a computer programming language?
Foreign language
or
Computer programming language
I'm someone who is fluent in several languages, and I love learning different languages, I reckon if forced, I'd go for the computing programming course.
What do other PBers think?
I hate languages (because I'm shite at them)
I'd focus on science, history and philosophy- but I did maths, physics and chemistry for a-level anyway so not too bad.
I've just forgotten most of it.
The new GCSE Computer Science course is actually half decent - compared to the old one.
My children may be biased (probably partly due to where the family income comes from) but both of them are taking it as one of the 2 options they had a free choice on...
I think their viewpoint was they need a GCSE language to get into a decent uni but knowing how to write computer programs (even if its just Excel Macros) will help them find a decent job..
Mr. Eagles, the most, I think, correct repetitions of a word in a grammatical sentence is eight.
John, where James had 'had', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had been approved by the exam board as correct.
Eleven:
John, where James had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
I believe this to be grammatically incorrect unless it is in the context of another sentence that is missing from this example. The pluperfect has to be relative to the perfect. The following is correct, I believe:
John, where James had had 'had', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
Of course you could cheat as the 'had had' is in quotes and can be anything you like:
John, where James had had 'had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had ', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
Comments
John, where James had 'had', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had been approved by the exam board as correct.
'The fucking fucker's fucking fucked'
Ormesby (Redcar) result:
LDEM: 75.4% (+37.3)
UKIP: 10.6% (-6.8)
LAB: 9.7% (-9.4)
CON: 3.2% (-8.4)
NEP: 1.2% (+1.2)
LDem HOLD.
On the other hand I don't regret the time spent learning languages. They opened up opportunities for me and different ways of looking at things. I am a different person for it. I know that's horribly pretentious, but other people who have put the very considerable effort into properly learning other languages will agree with me.
John, where James had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
For the next government to call a second referendum on the EU would be...
Acceptable: 34%
Unacceptable: 56%
(via YouGov)
"Who said it [Olympic parade] had to be in London? After all, London is only the capital of England - not Great Britain... "
.....
For a start, there's no country called Great Britain. And London's the capital of the UK.
However the key issue to learn in programming is not the language itself per se, it is the discipline and logic to elegantly and properly write in the right manner. On a linguistic comparison it isn't the vocabulary that matters as much as the grammar. Learning logic and thinking logically is very useful even if you never later program code.
Theresa May may hold an early May election
Mr. L, it reads fine, you finickity tatterdemalion
Mr. X, I believe you're right (do wonder if all the had hads work. Hmm).
That said there's a strong argument for Yorkshire or Manchester.
http://tinyurl.com/z6dwh9c
If it is true, then it really will be a sad day for football. Whether or not the leagues would be under pressure to select an acceptable team is another matter, and I'd expect the PL to come under a lot of pressure and to do the right thing and pick the fourth place team.
"Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach."
I mean if they are "pathetic" why are they "hurtful"? Unless you are a whining jessie
#JustSayNo kids.
May may call may election ...
Pineapple and ham and tuna and eggs just mark you out as a barbarian, fit only for Dominos.
Polenta should be used like couscous: as a base for more delicious flavours and as a way of providing bulk.
[There's a Romance of the Three Kingdoms (13) out for PS4, though time, money etc mean I won't get it for a while, if I bother at all. I think the last I played, maybe 8, was pretty tedious].
Arthur ASCII
#r4today Once you've seen it, it's in your head forever. Thanks Private Eye https://t.co/kiSDduc4DJ
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/37124970
Need to do better.
CON: 36.0% (+8.4)
LAB: 31.5% (-4.8)
UKIP: 26.0% (+2.8)
GRN: 4.3% (+4.3)
LDEM: 2.3% (-1.5)
Conservative GAIN Gravesham East (Kent) from Labour.
Schade. Or "Mensch!" as my German teacher would mutter whenever we got something obvious wrong.
"Will Mrs May call an early election?"
I'd focus on science, history and philosophy- but I did maths, physics and chemistry for a-level anyway so not too bad.
I've just forgotten most of it.
That is a little bit spooky....
Edited extra bit: Mr. Enjineeya (2), cheers for that.
Well, actually I do, but that makes it even worse: I could get annoyed by the left wing vapid bilge some of my friends post publicly, pretty much on a daily basis, but life is too short.
I am not in fact a great pizza lover but I do have it when I am in Naples. Once or twice a year there will do me. Everything else that passes for it is an abomination, as far as I'm concerned.
I could quite happily live on nothing but pasta al pomodoro, mozzarella, tomatoes, arancini di riso, mortadella, lemons and panettone at Xmas for the rest of my life.............
It is genuinely useful to play videogames in a foreign language. Unfortunately, most only have an English language option, (or English-Japanese).
When I get around to getting the DLC-laden Witcher 3 edition, I may try playing that auf Deutsch.
LAB: 46.2% (-4.1)
CON: 30.4% (-4.6)
LDEM: 9.4% (+9.4)
UKIP: 8.5% (+8.5)
GRN: 3.3% (-11.5)
EDEM: 2.2% (+2.2)
It was a very low turnout but even so, poor result for Labour in the sort of seat they need to be winning to form a government.
There is some other good nuggets in the article e.g. went to buy an Aston Martin, came back with a Volvo (who says Yorkshire folk are tight)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/37126597
How many medals from
Scotland
Wales
Yorkshire
London
But if I were paring it down and trying to minimize cooking time so I could spend more time in the sea or in the garden or generally on the terrace, a glass of limoncello or good wine in hand, that's what I would choose.
Still, if anyone wants to invite me to lunch/dinner where the other foods are on the menu..................
There, I've said it.
Even so, simple dishes are very often the best.
Pelham ward Conservative % down.
or LeedsMiss Plato, the provision of olives was a factor when considering where to found Greek cities.
One of them (maybe Byzantium) was described as perfect in all regards, excepting the lack of olives.
Edited extra bit: anyway, must be off.
My children may be biased (probably partly due to where the family income comes from) but both of them are taking it as one of the 2 options they had a free choice on...
I think their viewpoint was they need a GCSE language to get into a decent uni but knowing how to write computer programs (even if its just Excel Macros) will help them find a decent job..
John, where James had had 'had', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
Of course you could cheat as the 'had had' is in quotes and can be anything you like:
John, where James had had 'had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had had ', had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had the approval of the exam board.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3748782/Jewish-rabbi-stabbed-Strasbourg-Muslim-attacker.html