Tag Archives: technology

In defence of the ‘Nonsense Norwegian’ (Rousse)

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Dreamaticus

The residential staff retreat was a dreary affair. As I stood in a queue waiting for my turn to take part in the next ‘exciting’ activity – charity shop shopping – my mother-in-law lifted my woollen jumper to check that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blade, charity, cousin, defence, Edinburgh, hall, jumper, lecture, mother-in-law, navigation, nonsense, Norwegian, Nottingham, poke, retreat, shop, shoulder, suit, technology, university | Leave a comment

Quad on the Tyne – with David Tennant (Rousse)

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Dreamaticus

My mother took up observing the wildlife of East Lothian in the dead of night using infra-red technology. She invited us to join her one evening. David Tennant turned up to wave us off – my mother on a quadbike, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boy, bridge, David Tennant, deer, East Lothian, embankment, fling, fox, handbag, infra-red, iron, mother, night, pretty, quadbike, river, shopping, six, technology, teenage, tourist, transport, trolley, Tyne, village, water, wave, wildlife, wrought | Leave a comment

Sating a stationery obsession (Rousse)

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Dreamaticus

In the summer we would walk over the hills to the beach on the other side. We could even take bikes, so long as we were prepared to carry them part of the way. For the time being while it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, alk, annual, beach, bike, bikes, carry, conference, cycle, drawer, drawers, factory, ground, harvest, hills, industrial, letters, machinery, metal, name, notebook, notebooks, obsession, Online, paper, post-its, relic, relics, sate, stationery, summer, technology, winter | Leave a comment

Malcolm McLaren dons eye patch at degree show (Rousse)

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Malcolm McLaren seemed somewhat out of place at a conference on women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, especially while wearing an eye patch. Then someone pointed out that this was a degree show and I accepted that this (perhaps) … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged conference, degree, engineering, eye, eyepatch, Malcolm, Malcolm McLaren, math, mathematics, maths, McLaren, Patch, presence, science, show, stem, technology, wear, women | Leave a comment

Time travel to the 1960s, a meeting with Phil Davis, and a stolen bracelet (Rousse)

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Dreamaticus

I travelled back in time to the 1960s where I found myself outside a concrete football stadium, in the company of actor Phil Davis. Conscious of the sexist attitudes of a half century ago, I steeled myself for inappropriate remarks. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged actor, bracelet, concrete, diamond, e-mail, email, football, Internet, niece, Phil Davis, sexist, stadium, steal, technology, time travel, uncle, victim, will, World Wide Web, www | Leave a comment

E-mail upgrade disaster (Rousse)

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The university adopted new technology that displayed everyone’s e-mail on their office doors. While this meant that you could see your messages as soon as you arrived at work, it also gave anyone in the corridor the opportunity to read … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adopt, confidential, correspondence, corridor, disaster, door, doors, e-mail, messages, New, office, technology, university, upgrade, work | Leave a comment

Sympathy and ping pong (Rousse)

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Dreamaticus

When XY broke down in tears in my room I realised that the only way to comfort him would be to invite him into my bed. Between sobs he listed many injustices others waged against his research projects, using this … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bed, blue, boss, British Library, careers, colleague, comfort, dinner, Edinburgh City Council, engineering, fair, formal, injustices, invitation, little, man, math, mathematics, maths, members, old, ping pong, project, projects, research, room, science, senior, silver, skirt, stem, stranger, suit, suits, sympathy, table tennis, tears, technology, travels, violet | Leave a comment

Dead grandmother joins Rousse on an uncomfortable trip to Ireland (Rousse)

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Dreamaticus

It was a long journey to Ireland by sea and coach. My poor Granny H, dressed in her usual uniform of camel, smiled the whole way, but in my heart I knew that she was not enjoying herself – especially … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bar, British Rail, camel, ceiling, childhood, coach, conversation, dead, death, development, garndmother, granny, green, handbag, handbags, Ireland, jellies, jelly, journey, journeys, leather, luminous, lump, lumps, man, microfiche, museum, ornate, paper, planning, pub, rough, route, sea, Simon, stool, stools, technology, TPR, train, visit, visitor, visitors | Leave a comment

Baboon baffling with Belle

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Dreamaticus

While discussing the rapid evolution of a piece of technology, I told my audience that it might be astonishing to us humans today, but that in the future it would “baffle a baboon”. Horrified by the lack of logic in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baboon, evolution, technology | Leave a comment

Stephen Fry scoffs (Rousse)

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Stephen Fry raised a haughty eyebrow and sneered “They gave you a PhD for that?!” Despite his reputation for erudition, he was clearly unfamiliar with the notion of technology implementations as inanimate actors as conceived in sociotechnical studies.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged PhD, scoffing, sociotechnical, sociotechnical studies, Stephen Fry, technology | Leave a comment