Website Failure Alert (NSFW?)

More correspondence, this time an email I received in my official capacity as web production editor. It was from our, um, "obscenity checker" at work. I'm assuming that's a program rather than a person.

Anyway, under the heading Website Failure Alert (in red, with initial caps), the email warned me:

Obscene Word: A word contained in our library of obscene words has been found on your web page.

The word found is bollocks.

Made me laugh certainly. It turned out that one of our reporters had used the word on Twitter; it had then made its way into an aggregated feed of all our staff writers' tweets and then on to our website's homepage. Whoops.

Or should I say, bollocks.

Press office

At work today I received a letter addressed to my publication's press office.

Press office? The website only has a dedicated editorial staff of two. Mind you, we're both press (technically) and we work in an office...

James Brown wants to buy a sun lounger from me

The Engine Room has received a great bit of what I can only assume is spam email:

I am Mr. James Brown and i am contacting you to know if you do have sun loungers for sale?I will like you to email me back if you do with the types and prices of the sun loungers you have,Also do you accept credit cards as form of payment?

I am looking forward for your mail.Thank you very much.

My Regards..
Mr. James Brown

The Godfather of Soul isn't dead - he's alive and well and wants to buy a sun lounger. From me.

And this isn't the first time I've blogged about sun loungers either...

BBC finally assumes people know what Twitter is

A few weeks ago the BBC News website ran a story entitled Hundreds on Armstrong Tweet ride. It began:

About 300 people have joined an impromptu bike ride with cycling legend Lance Armstrong after he issued an open invitation on a Twitter post

Interestingly, the story doesn't say what Twitter actually is. Until now, the Beeb seems to have felt the need to explain that it is a "micro-blogging service" (as in this story from April), a "social messaging network" (as in this story, from the same month), or a "social networking website" (as in this story, again from April).

So does the Lance Armstrong story mark a change in house style? Without trawling through dozens more stories on the BBC News website - which I may do if I get bored - it's difficult to tell...

Vetchlings, must and a bain-marie

I'm currently reading the historical novel Imprimatur, by Rita Monaldi and Franceso Sorti. It's enjoyable, but rather hard going in places. Here's an extract in which the narrator, a serving boy at a tavern, describes a meal he has rustled up for the guests:

I made a special effort and prepared a little broth with eggs poached in bain-marie, together with vetchlings; to which I added an accompaniment of croquettes of soft bread and a few salt pilchards minced together with herbs and raisins; and, to complete the meal, chicory roots, boiled with cooked must and vinegar. The whole I sprinkled with a pinch of cinnamon; the precious spice of the wealthy would surprise the palates and refresh the spirits.

'Vetchling' is "a plant or species of the genus Lathyrus; the genus itself" (OED). This genus includes the sweet pea.

I'm not sure what 'must' is in this context; possible contenders (again from the OED) include "the juice of freshly pressed grapes before or during fermentation into wine" and "any of several varieties of apple used chiefly for making cider".

I didn't know what (a) bain-marie is either, but I imagine that most of the readers of this blog will do.

Headlines: 'Brown book breaks record in hours'

The ninth headline down in this BBC News 'Most Popular Stories Now' widget caused me some confusion:


What was this brown book, and why was it breaking records?

After a moment's thought, I came to the conclusion that it must be a book about (or possibly by) prime minister Gordon Brown.

Obviously, I was wrong: the book in question was Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol. The cover does look fairly brown, though.

If the BBC cares about SEO, it really should include the title (or at least the name of the author) in the headline of an article about a book.


BBC News: Brown book breaks record in hours

Sky's professional standard install

Satellite TV company Sky had a promotional van parked in my local town centre today. Among the services and products being promoted was a "professional standard install". This could mean:

a) The standard install(ation) is professional. In which case, are the other installations unprofessional?

b) The install(ation) is of a professional standard. In which case, why is it not simply a professional install? Perhaps it's carried out by amateurs but to a professional standard...

What not to say in a meeting

At work, whenever I want to use an image on a web page, I first have to upload it to the database - at which point it becomes known as an 'asset'.

Recently I've been experiencing a frustrating delay between uploading an image and being able to place it on a web page. So today, at a meeting with the other web editors and some of the developers, I decided to get to the bottom of the issue.

It came round to 'any other business', and the woman chairing the meeting asked if there was anything that anyone would like to raise.

"Yes," I said, rather indignantly. "I'm having trouble with my assets."

I'm sure you can imagine everyone's reaction...

From the sublime to the Mr Pricklepants

News stories, in print and online, can catch your eye for all sorts of reasons. Absurdity is one of them:


A colleague of mine called me over to his desk just to share this Empire headline (and strapline/standfirst?) with me. I'm glad he did.

We didn't feel any need to read the full story, though.