More citizen journalists…

Manel Al Qaafr and the people over at Hispalibertas are launching something. Here are some rules for contributors, and here‘s how to get a look at a trial version. I’m sceptical: I think the future of participatory journalism lies not in sites like this but rather in a combination of mass, diffuse publishing with improved…

Killing the pig

Jayne’s got a photo here, and here’s an old joke which is told in Spain and probably in other places too: A farmer brings home a new horse, which immediately gets sick. The farmer calls out the vet, who takes one look and says, “That horse of yours is in a bad way. Make it…

Fire!

It’s getting light and tipping it down as firemen cut through the shop’s metal blinds to fix the electric heater. A woman peers out of a first-floor window, and her neighbour shouts to her from the street:

Catalan only

The library service has thought up a cunning scheme to reduce the embarrassingly high proportion of Spanish-language books borrowed: only provide information resources in Catalan.

Overheard

So if that’s Badalona, where’s Goodalona?

For sale: TheBaldie.com

Just received an update reminder for thebaldie.com. Taking offers from baldie.com (not work-safe) and other hairless freaks via the usual channel. If no one wants it, I’ll probably renew it anyway, just so you don’t think baldies come cheap…

Online Catalan-English dictionary

Diccionaris.net is an initiative of Catalan translator Macià Falgàs. Although there’s a lot missing, there’s also a lot in there. It would be interesting to know how he’s compiling it–I think an off-the-cuff estimate for a normal dictionary would be something in the order of 50 person-years.

Happiness…

… is an extremely drunken Russian musician careering down a street mounted cowboy style on a wheeled drafting plotter. Fortunately no one was killed.