MadParrot.bsky.social

Latest from Lourdes de Rioja: when someone dropped the f-bomb in plenary, she asked me to swear in 4 languages. Enjoy the rich silences between plosives www.youtube.com/watch?v=h83Z...

YouTube video by Lourdes De Rioja In a language you understand...

How to interpret 'fuck off' - and how YouTube seems to prefer the sound of 'f*ck off' and 'va te faire f*tre'. Featuring @madparrot.bsky.social.
#1nt #Trump
youtu.be/h83Z41u_LZU?...

Top Adrian Chiles Columns of 2025:

I’ve given up wild swimming. So why does my Volvo smell like mince?

Should I tell the postman he has halitosis? My first wife wouldn’t let me wear shorts.

I buried my father with my bare hands. It’s time we stopped talking about glamping. 1/3

Can’t help thinking how the French translation of the book he didn’t quite write is “L’Art de La Négociation”. Slippery, euphemistic language, English, isn’t it?

Excellent SCIC #InterpretingEurope with old friends & new- inc slam poet Leopoldo-Costa-prizewinner Annika Biedermann. "Do we understand processes of AI, Machine Translation, and human translation using Large Language Models? Or is it all ‘magic’ we can choose to believe in or not?”- Kilian Seeber

Yes! There’s something poetic about that. Similarly, I have long been obsessed with the idea of someone whose guts WERE garters.

Alsace is full of quirky traditions. Here we see the death-defying “Exterior Advent Calendar”. The chocolate treats and iron trinkets of the less nimble were redistributed among the survivors in a 19th century Prussian version of natural selection.

Before the 14th century Boar’s Head Gaudy with my fellow Queen’s matriculands, we visit the subterranean library extension. “Bit too brightly lit,” mutters a Lancashire voice. “You couldn’t get a decent kip in here.” 35 years have passed in a blink.

We're here to turn the Bluesky red and show you the interesting ways you can get from A to B in Europe (and some othe countries too...). Check out our bundle deals that include the Winter 2024/25 edition, published next month!

Part rave-in-a-field, advertised by flyer alone; part échangisme in a hangar- Saint-Ghislain has all you need for le train-train quotidien

This week I’ve been reading about machine translation algorithms, fake news causing a riot, AI bots turning on their makers, an overheating planet, absurd nuclear brinkmanship. All in this 1966 sci-fi short story compilation. (Here’s the language-barrier scene in Harry Harrison’s Final Encounter).

This is a criticism to level at tech companies, which intentionally obfuscated the differences--and branded stuff that is not intelligence as "AI" to begin with--so when you criticize e.g. Google search being filled with inaccurate results they can say "Oh so now you hate curing cancer!!!"

On a railtour, I just had a small plastic cup of freshly poured flat coke amid pounding techno music (at twice the price of the cold can from the vending machine)- for exactly this reason! It was a trip to the buffet! Woo hoo!

On a railtour tracing the Christmas 1944 battle which marked a turning point in WW2. Of course what this trainful of unfashionable middle-aged white men really needs is an all-day disco in the buffet car. Sous les pavés, la plage- under the anorak, my dancing trousers. The Battle Of The Bulge indeed

Thanks, Teams! Now you pop up telling me to have a chat with myself, on top of everything else

Just had an English Breakfast tea. God that was greasy.

Netflix is plugging me a "murder mystery in the Australian Alps". Presumably part of the mystery is how, when you're hiking from Krajnska Gora to the Laghi di Fusine via Arnoldstein on a perfectly clear day, if you take a wrong turn you can find yourself in Yarrangobilly.

Every day, I think “There can’t be another pun worse than that.” I love Belgium.

Here’s my Diddy story. My Mum used to listen to David Hamilton on Radio 2 when I was growing up. That’s it.

YouTube video by DGLINC Multilingual Cover of "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke | A Tribute to Linguistic Diversity

Sing along to my mad attempt to render Wonderful World in all 24 official languages (in order of accession) to round off our Summer of Languages at European Parliament Interpreters www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl6o... #1nt #TerpLove

Excited to be offering online workshops on Fri 27 Sep:
- 11:00 Ask Me Anything (in EN FR IT ES PT)
- 12:15 How I Became An Interpreter
- 14:45 Virtual Booth Visit
You can register at: visiting.europarl.europa.eu/en/event/bru...
See you there! #1nt #TerpLove

I told the passport officer I was grateful for their work because I collect stamps.
They replied “Philately will get you everywhere.”
And then I woke up wishing I could remember the joke.

The Italo Calvino of unreliable narrator stand-up has a TV special launching on Sat 20th on Sky and Now. Don’t miss it! You can see him play the room as it’s dealt here: youtube.com/watch?v=CoNb_b…

The Big Neapolitan Conspiracy: they tell you pizzas are flat, but actually they’re round.

My review of BE FUNNY OR DIE, by @gralefrit.bsky.social A new book on comedy with relevance for #xl8 and #1nt #TerpLove mattperret.wordpress.com/2024/04/04/a...

So busy thinking about how neither chilli peppers nor Sichuan peppers are peppers, and so excited to find 麻辣 in Brussels, that I order it in bad French. “Ce n’est pas le piment de Sichuan, monsieur. C’est le poivre.”

USA Bagpuss theme Ill-conceived remake of a children's classic

Apparently Bagpuss is 50 years old today!

Here's a link to the theme for the unmade American version Bagpuss USA.

😉

My recent interview with China Social Sciences Today, alongside the fabulous Maha El-Metwally, is on its way to me, old-style. Thanks, Madeline Weng- v interesting chat (for me at least!) English version here (try Safari or Firefox): csstoday.com/Item/12404.a... #1nt #TerpLove

Contrary to my years-old assumption, it turns out Elon Musk is not in a romantic relationship with ultra-conservative activist Darren Grimes. This new reality is going to take some getting used to.

Utterly joyful, giddying riff on what was already a highlight of a top show. (Also contains this week's best joke about Javier Pérez de Cuéllar)