I’ve just read a pretty scary article in The Independent newspaper which says that people who spend many hours of the day seated (at their desks or on the couch watching TV) are increasing their risks of ill health (and early death) — regardless of exercise at other times. This quote sums it up: The …
Author archives: Marian Dougan
Converting PDFs (for free) without losing the formatting — or your temper.
I took part in a conversation on Twitter recently about converting files from PDF to Word without losing the formatting. In this case, it was for translation purposes but there are plenty of other circumstances where this would come in handy. Filling in forms sent as PDFs, for example (so without having to print them out …
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Dot-dot-dot (2): when to type an ellipsis
My post on Tuesday (26 October) was about how to type an ellipsis; this one goes into a wee bit more detail about when you should do so. I’ve lifted the following straight from Wikipedia, mainly to save time but also because I love the following phrase: “the ellipsis can also inspire a feeling of …
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Dot-dot-dot (1): how to type an ellipsis
Here’s a quick tip that comes in handy for computer-typing in general and Twitter in particular (it saves you two characters). When you’re typing an ellipsis (three dots indicating an omission), instead of typing all three dots, type it as a single character by using the following keyboard shortcuts: Mac OS ellipsis: OPTION + semicolon …
Internet gems
ne of the things I love about the Internet is the way it lets people share their enthusiasm for and knowledge of their own niche subjects. Subjects that you may never have given a second (or even a first) thought to but when you discover them are a delight. Here are some examples: The Daily …
A translation sin of omission
I wrote a couple of posts, back in August, about the Oxford comma (Oxford commas (1), The Oxford Comma dilemma: a solution? and Oxford commas (2): Live dangerously – take our poll!). This post too is about “list” sentences containing commas. It’s also about a way of spotting when an Italian-to-English translator is working on …
Planked away
My mother, who’s 85, was discharged from hospital last week. Her local pharmacy makes up a weekly blister pack dividing out her medication for each day. Yesterday, she got a bit confused and took her pills at the wrong time. My sister Eileen decided to hide the medicines away until Mum can manage better for …
The shaky maths of child benefit cuts
I’ve written in previous posts (Teaching the language love, Sharing the language love (1) and Sharing the language love (2) – Careers Days) about language learning, which I believe is a vital part of any school curriculum (primary or secondary level). I also believe that maths and the sciences – and any other subject that …
And sometimes words are just soooo interesting!
I’ve just been reading Khoi Vinh’s marvellous blog, Subtraction. In his post on “Ways I’m a Dork: Travel Edition” he describes the Grid-It Organizer from Cocoon. The Grid-It holds “all the paraphernalia — cables, remotes, pens, dongles, adapters, etc.” that most of us now need to pack for work trips (and probably holidays too). The …
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Sometimes you just don’t need words…
…even words to good effect. With thanks to Bird Box Studio and Rough Cut. By Marian Dougan