Postcard from Bishkek

SPOILER ALERT: This postcard has (virtually) nothing to do with Kyrgyzstan. One of my fabourite sayings is that “I don’t believe in absolutes …” which is ironic because that, in itself, is an absolute. Even though I taught Mathematics, the Queen of the Sciences, which is often considered to be about rigour, logic and absolutes … […]

There is a story of a journalist interviewing Kim Philby in Moscow.  Philby, of course, was the original Third Man, one of the Cambridge undergraduates recruited by the KGB to work for Soviet Intelligence, who went on to follow a brilliant Career in MI6, rising through the ranks to a senior position and was even […]

Spoiler alert: This postcard has (virtually) nothing to do with Kyrgyzstan … but, please, don’t let that stop you reading further. I am not very keen on games … at least not the sort of computer games that involve in the player “zapping” an opponent. Although I am happy to try my hand at one […]

Here at ianbek.kg I sometimes get some interesting feedback from readers … and it is interesting to note what points people decide to pick me up on. But then, as one person put it, “at least it shows that someone has read the postcard!”. There is an opportunity for people to post comments at the […]

I have to admit that, although I understand why they were developed and people use them, I hate spam filters. Please, don’t misunderstand me – I hate Spam!, but I probably hate spam filters even more!  They are like computers and technology in general … they offer so much and when they work they appear […]

“Google it!” –  that’s the standard advice these days when you want to look something up … but back in 1913, the advice given in the advert said: “When in doubt – “Look it up” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica” … or “A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, compiled upon a New Plan“. The first “installment” of the […]

I was surprised the other day to receive an email from a firm based in the UK offering professional translation services … it said: We had a message from Google about unnatural links pointing to our site, and we are currently in the process of cleaning our link profile. We believe the link from your […]

Today is International Translation Day. The day was established in 1991 by the International Federation of Translators, (an international grouping of more than 100 professional associations – representing over 80 000 translators in 55 countries.) For the record: The Federation was established in 1953 to promote professionalism, improve conditions for the profession in all countries […]

Just in case you haven’t noticed … today is Friday the 13th … but it is not just a day to be cautious and carefully watch out for potential misfortune looming over the horizon, it also a day for celebration … at least, that is,  for some people. In fact, it is, (at least), a […]

A couple of weeks ago, one of our staff walked into my office and asked: “What are the GPS coordinates for the Silk Road Lodge?” “Ummm … I don’t know”, I had to admit – and then asked, “… why?” It seems that we had a request from a group of clients who were driving […]