Category: General
-
Artificial Intelligence – are we all doomed?
In this post, I reflect on the rapid evolution of AI and its impact on various industries, particularly translation, writing, and creative professions. While acknowledging advancements in machine translation and automation, great concern is expressed about job losses, diminished human creativity, and the proliferation of misleading or offensive AI-generated content. The future remains uncertain, but…
-
The seventh child of the seventh child – a tribute to James Hunter Alexander
On the back of Newcastle United winning the Carabao Cup in March, I had planned to write a follow-up to my previous post so I could rave about a Newcastle team that had finally ended a Wembley hoodoo that stretched back 70 painful years. I had also intended to mention my dad. He was fortunate…
-
Love is in the air – Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all! I hope you have a day overflowing with love on what is a wonderful time for anyone working in the flower, chocolate, fine dining or rubber johnny business! 😍 A couple of quick facts about me and Valentine’s Day: Uno – my granddad on my mother’s side was…
-
Catalina La Grande – homage to a Yorkshire terrier
Catherine II, most commonly known as Catherine the Great (Catalina La Grande in Spanish), was the 18th Century Russian Empress who came to power after overthrowing her husband Peter III. Under her long reign, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, Russia experienced a renaissance of culture and sciences, which led to the founding of…
-
2025 – damp squibs, butchery and a load of old tosh!
2024 was a funny old year and not one I will remember with any great fondness. I had hoped it might be the year that my business would take off but, if anything, it was worse than 2023 – a year which promised so much but ended up being a damp squib. It’s a bit…
-
To blog or not to blog and what to blog about?
When I was studying for my Master’s in Translation one of the things suggested to us that would be beneficial to our future career prospects as freelance translators was to start writing a blog. It was pointed out that sharing educational material might add value to the translation community and help other translators. Furthermore, creating…
-
The Corona virus – brighter days on the horizon?
It’s funny how life pans out sometimes. We finally think we are getting somewhere and then, suddenly out of nowhere, something happens to stop us dead in our tracks. This something may be a bereavement in the family, an illness, an accident, redundancy or a relationship break-up, to name but a few. For a while…
-
Baldness – a blessing or a curse?
I’ve been in my current state of baldness for as long as I can remember. This is probably because I started to lose my hair at such an early age. By my mid-twenties it had become a major problem in my life. What began as a slightly receding hairline had transformed into an undeniable thinning…
-
Lockdown – growing beards and self-reflection
The inevitable has finally happened. We have been placed on lockdown. We were given every opportunity to follow the recommendations set by Boris Johnson and the Government. The message to social distance was clear to all, but the news reports over the weekend showed that there was a minority openly ignoring the advice. Parks and…
-
Mother’s Day and the Corona virus
I remember Mother’s Day as a small child. Every year my brothers and I would get up early, go downstairs into the kitchen and prepare a breakfast for my mother. It wasn’t much, toast with jam on, a bowl of cereal, a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice. We’d put it on…
-
The Corona virus – like a bat out of hell?
With its origins in Wuhan, China, Covid 19, otherwise known as the Corona virus, has swept through the world at breakneck speed. It is largely believed the virus came from infected bats illegally sold at wet fish markets. Once the virus jumped from animal host to human host, it soon spread and has now reached…
A Geordie In Girona 