The Widmann Blog » obituary http://blog.widmann.org.uk A blog about love, DIY, linguistics, politics, computer science, cooking, photography and anything else that interests me Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:23:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The end of El Bulli http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2010/02/14/2077/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2010/02/14/2077/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:49:33 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=2077

El Bulli 2007
Originally uploaded by loremipsum

I’m sorry to read that El Bulli will close down.

Given that it’s been rated the world’s best restaurant for several years, I’ve always had a desire to go there, but I had to contend myself with a book about it Phyllis gave me for Christmas two years ago.

I guess it was inevitable, though. That type of innovative cuisine can’t stay at the top forever, so they had to choose between slipping down the rankings at some point, or closing while they were still at the top.

Hopefully the academy they’re creating instead will eventually lead to even better restaurants.

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2010/02/14/2077/feed/ 1 Catford has died http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/11/03/1716/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/11/03/1716/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:18:16 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=1716 John Wells blogged today that the Scottish phonetician Ian Catford has died. There’s a detailed obituary here.

I never met the man, but I love his Practical Introduction to Phonetics, which is a great introduction to articulatory phonetics, teaching you how to produce all sorts of speech sounds.

All high schools should teach all their students phonetics like this – I’m sure it would improve the pronunciation of foreign languages immensely!

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/11/03/1716/feed/ 0 In memoriam Michael Jackson http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/06/25/1341/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/06/25/1341/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:14:35 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=1341 It’s being reported that Michael Jackson has just died.

I guess one of the things he’ll be remembered for is moonwalking, so here’s a tutorial:

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/06/25/1341/feed/ 1 Dönererfinder gestorben http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/01/20/1088/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/01/20/1088/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:42:31 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/01/20/1088/

Shawarma
Originally uploaded by cyclone bill

Der Erfinder des Dönerkebaps, Mahmut Aygün, ist gestorben.

Er hat nicht das Dönerfleisch erfunden, nur das Fleisch mit der Joghurtsoße in eine Pita gefüllt, aber das allein ist ja auch eine hervorragende Erfindung!

Ich finde es übrigens interessant, wie der Döner verschiedene Namen in verschieden Sprachen hat: Deutsch Döner, französisch kebab (und es gilt da als griechisch, nicht türkisch), dänisch shawarma (arabisch statt türkisch).

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2009/01/20/1088/feed/ 0 Qongqothwane http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2008/11/10/946/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2008/11/10/946/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:14:04 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=946 I’ve come home from a long weekend in Denmark to the news that Miriam Makeba has died.

When I was a linguistics undergraduate, it was claimed that she made click sounds famous through her click song:

I had never heard about her before, nor about the click song, but I borrowed it from the library and enjoyed the clicks.

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2008/11/10/946/feed/ 0 Hvil i fred, Rune! http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2008/09/11/829/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2008/09/11/829/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:49:51 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=829
Billede fra første møde for dk.kultur.sprog. Rune står yderst til højre.

Billede fra første møde for dk.kultur.sprog. Rune står yderst til højre.

Jeg har pludselig fundet ud af, at Rune Zedeler døde for to måneder siden.

Jeg kendte ham fra datalogi, fra TÅGEKAMMERET, og ikke mindst fra dk.kultur.sprog.

Jeg mistede kontakten med ham, da jeg flyttede til Skotland, men det gjorde alligevel ondt, da jeg hørte, han var død.

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2008/09/11/829/feed/ 0 Bye, Mrs. Hughes! http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/05/23/368/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/05/23/368/#comments Wed, 23 May 2007 21:00:00 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=368 John from the cornershop just told me that Mrs. Hughes, our neighbour in 0/2, passed away a week ago in the hospital where she was being treated for a chest infection. Because she had had her throat removed, I never managed to have a meaningful conversation with her, but I often saw her in the close.

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/05/23/368/feed/ 0 Jørgen Rischel er død http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/05/17/361/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/05/17/361/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 23:10:00 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=361 Jeg så på Linguist List i dag, at Jørgen Rischel døde den 10. maj. Jeg har kun mødt ham en enkelt gang, da han holdt en gæsteforelæsning om mlabri på det daværende Institut for Lingvistik ved Aarhus Universitet. Jeg erindrer, han mente at være en af de få feltlingvister, der har arbejdet med sprog både i kolde og varme lande (Grønland og Thailand i hans tilfælde).

Det er trist, mlabrierne nu aldrig igen får besøg af den fine lingvist på hans motorcykel i junglen, og det er trist, han nu aldrig mere vil skrive mere om deres sprog og kultur.

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/05/17/361/feed/ 0 John Sinclair has died http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/03/14/309/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/03/14/309/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:15:00 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=309 John Sinclair, one of the founders of corpus linguistics, and driving force behind the COBUILD dictionaries, died yesterday in his home in Tuscany. He will be buried in the English Cemetery in Florence.

I spent a bit of time with him six months ago, working on a secret dictionary project, and he was definitely still full of ideas then. It’s odd to know that he will now never see this project completed.

]]> http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2007/03/14/309/feed/ 4 Mortis William Auld http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2006/09/19/148/ http://blog.widmann.org.uk/2006/09/19/148/#comments Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:56:00 +0000 thomas http://blog.widmann.org.uk/?p=148 Mi ĵus legis, ke mortis William Auld, unu el la plej konataj esperantlingvaj verkistoj, kaj certe la plej konata skota esperantisto. Mi neniam renkontis lin, sed foje mi aĉetis lian faman poemon, la infana raso, kaj legis parton de ĝi.

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