Simon Butcher

One thing about taking public transport is the unfortunate amount of anti-social behaviour you have to exhibit to make the journey a smooth one. If you seem too sociable, you wind up attracting undesirables: Smelly buskers, smelly beggars, and not-so-smelly emissaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently arrived from Canada and unaware that Belgians really don't want to talk to them.

Since many people I know don't take public transport, it might be time to explain what they're missing.

Winter has finally arrived in Western Europe. Not bad really, considering it's just over a month late. To be honest, I was starting to have my doubts about seeing winter at all until the end of the year, but it took a large violent storm to force some semblance of balance back into place.

This time last week, we were only just starting to see the start of strong gusts of wind that really took hold on Thursday, causing vast property damage, even to the point of rotating traffic lights 90° on the boulevard in front of the office. Here in Belgium, we only topped wind speeds of around 100km/h, however this was a mere breeze compared to other countries such as Germany and Austria where gusts peaked to around 170km/h.

If you haven't yet noticed because you're too busy living under your rock, the weather is completely stuffed, worldwide.

Many people have asked me to make my version of a Toblerone Cheesecake recipe public. I like keeping recipes quiet, but too many people have asked. My version requires no baking - you just pop it in the fridge once you're done.

Most people are suspicious of a chocolate cheesecake because they usually picture Cadbury's mixed with cheddar. That's a revolting prospect, I agree. Instead, this cake has a rich, creamy flavour that's always proven popular.

Or maybe people were just being too polite.

Every man and his dog have been talking about the new iPhone, launched last week by Steve Jobs during his Macworld 2007 key-note speech. No this isn't the Linksys iPhone (that now pales in comparison); this is the long anticipated revolutionary product from Apple, the next in the line since the launch of the iPod in 2001.

This news has also marked the end of Apple Computer Inc. and the start of Apple Inc., a new name for what is no longer a computer company, but a mainstream consumer electronics company. This is possibly the biggest news from Apple, above and beyond the iPhone launch, since it shows a fundamental shift in the company's focus.

I've seen the keynote speech, and read so many articles, and it seems most points of view are partisan, either loving the new device, or hating it disparagingly. I don't feel either views are warranted, so I thought I'd share my thoughts.

Ego-searching (as I've always called it, before I found that Wikipedia uses the term Ego-surfing, probably because of egoSurf itself) has always been a interesting psychological phenomenon to me. So many people do it, and yet it's difficult to find people who will readily admit it.

The psychology behind it is essentially the same behind looking for your name in the White Pages, within the credits of a production you were involved in, or on a document you wrote. Ego-searching specifically involves plugging your name into Google, usually your full name in quotes, and hunting down matches that are relevant to yourself personally.

Welcome to two-thousand and seven. Are we all excited to be here? No? Well that's pretty normal. It seems like everyone has some form of New Years Blues today due to circumstances that would otherwise just be silently factored into a normal day. Western society is pressured into having a great time to celebrate the end of another ineffectual year and the birth of another repeat effort.