Sunday 2 November 2003

Literacy or the lack thereof I went for a meal this evening in Captain America's on Grafton Street. And it was quite nice. The food was good and the service was friendly and efficient. However, while I was paying at the desk on my way out I saw a bundle of flyers for the "Vietnam Challange"(sic). The same spelling is repeated on the Beaumont Hospital Foundation's Website. I have to ask myself what sort of professional public relations person allows material with such a glaring error to get out of the door. Sadly this is just the latest example of the failure of our much-lauded educational system. We're turning out computer programmers, scientists and engineers by the hundred but it seems none of them have basic literacy skills. You hear it on the rado in adverts - "We at Celtic Invoice Discounting are the largest invoice discounter ... - or in news reports - "The Government are finalising plans..." There is only one government so it should be "The Government is finalising plans..." and as for the invoice discounting quote, I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. 12:33:10 AM    comment []  Google It!

Goodbye to Common Cents I was walking down Grafton Street this afternoon when I spotted a copy of the Algemeen Dagblad, a Dutch Newspaper in a rack in one of the Newsagents. Apparently, from the start of the year, Dutch supermarkets will round their prices to the nearest 5c thus paving the way for the elimination of the 1c and 2c coins. This comes on the heels of news that the various governments of the Eurozone are having some differences of opinion over the future of the currency. Some governments want to eliminate the o5 note and replace it with a coin while the Italians want to introduce o1 and o2 notes 12:03:29 AM    comment []  Google It!

© Copyright 2003 David Stewart. Last update: 01/12/2003; 00:07:20.