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Games of Life
I got my first smartphone, a Nexus S, back in early 2010 when I was living in Cambridge, UK. Impressed by the novelty of the beers there, I started snapping photos of taps and bottles: When I uploaded these to Picasa, I discovered, gloriously, that my phone had been saving location data, and Picasa automatically…
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The Coolest Traveller I Have Ever Met
This story comes up again and again when I tell travel stories, and it was briefly mentioned on Taylor and I’s 2007 Southeast Asia travel blog. The guy’s name was Manfred. He was 70-ish. We met him while taking the Mekong river boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang in Laos. His deal was, he’d…
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Cultural Imports
I’ve been around the world more than the average person in the last few years, both traveling through places and living places. When I encounter a new bit of culture that I like, I try to incorporate it in to my life. Over time, I should end up with the best culture ever. Here’s the…
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Among the English; Travel Lifestyle
Back among the English: [Our bus comes up to our plane from Düsseldorf to Stansted; turns out to be fairly small, props instead of jets] Guy #1: Huh, its a small one. Guy #2: Yes, I was wondering why there was only 2 to a row when I was picking my seat. Me: Wait, my…
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Glasgow to Skye 2011
From Glasgow-Skye and Back 2011 This past Thursday (March 17th, 2011) I was invited by Julie Rico to speak at the Glasgow Interactive Systems group (GIST). My topic was “How Users Learn Wrongly From Ambiguity in Gestural Interfaces”. I basically talked about some interesting behaviour I’ve observed of the past couple years with gestural interfaces…
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The Trailer of Life and Death
At the end of a night of drinking in Cambridge, the drunk head to the centre, Market Square, for late night food before their stumble home. The two available choices for food are trucks that only appear at night and disappear to parts unknown during the day. Both of them are a perfect mix of…
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Drunk Theatre Review: The Way Through the Woods
Last night, I saw The Way Through the Woods at ADC Theatre in Cambridge, an original production by The Story Tellers. It wasn’t very good. I thought of writing a review, but I am kind of lazy, so I will instead present my extensive scribbled notes, which I think are more honest and funny. The…
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Different Cities, Different Lives
In Toronto, I am a pretty boring person. Whenever I am not in Toronto, I’m pretty awesome. I get to not be in Toronto fairly often, more than most people. When not in Toronto, I am more extroverted, adventurous and I do things that locals might consider a waste of time. Example: (in Toronto) Frenchwoman:…
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Indian Moments, Part 4
[Today, I have a bad cold, with a sinus headache and running nose. The amount of mucous I’m producing is pretty epic. I’m trying to at least conserve mass, so I’m drinking lots of water.] [At a pharmacy.] Do you have Eriecedamol? [I had called a local friend who pronounced this for me over the…
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Indian Moments, Part 3
Indians refer to Native North Americans as Red Indians. We ordered bottled water to our table and it was…Foster’s branded. Foster’s branded water. It would seem kind of okay with, say, Coca-Cola, if they put their brand on water, but a beer company putting its brand on water is just plain suspect. An Indian told…