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After the recent purchase of Instadia by Omniture, I posted a little something on WebAnalytics.be blog which you may find interesting

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[EN] Omniture, the world’s leading Web Analytics solutions editor, just purchased Denmark-based Instadia.

Source: https://www.omniture.com/instadia

Full press release at https://www.omniture.com/press/313

[FR] A la surprise générale, Omniture, le leader des éditeurs de solutions Web Analytics vient de s’offrir les danois de Instadia.

Source: https://www.omniture.com/instadia

Communiqué de presse complet sur: https://www.omniture.com/press/313

Apart from the alliteration in ‘B’ in this catchy title, there is yet another reason to welcome Bulgaria  into the European Union 😉

Ananova has an article on Boza, a new Bulgarian beer that has alleged breast-boosting properties.

European men are flocking to Bulgaria to buy ‘breast-boosting beer’ after EU accession led to customs duties on the drink being abolished.

The millet-ale called Boza which is made from fermented wheat flour and yeast is being snapped up by bar owners, shopkeepers and shoppers from across Europe.

They are said to be keen for their wives and girlfriends to benefit from its reported ability to make women’s breasts grow.

Constantin Barbu crossed the Danube from Romania to buy Boza in the Bulgarian border town of Ruse.

He said: “I’ve bought a case for my wife to try out. I really hope I see an improvement.”

Links:

• Ananova
• Fox News (builds on Ananova story)

Christmas celebrations are over. We got spoiled and over-fed 😉

However, 2 weeks after Christmas, a telltale sign we’re in for another 360 ‘regular’ days starts showing in our streets : dead pine trees on the pavement. Yes, they’re waiting to be collected by the garbage truck.

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Whatever.

I guess I was naïve enough to believe that Belgian authorities would actually enforce their ban on smoking in all public places – including bars and restaurants – that was supposed to take effect on January 1st.

On New Year’s eve, Cécile and I were very unpleasantly surpised to see revelers light up, probably in a gesture of defiance, right before midnight. So yeah, thank you smokers, thanks so much for ruining my dessert and what could have been the conclusion of a perfect night out in Brussels. 🙁

[Version française dès que j’aurai le temps]

For those of you who may be oblivious to the concept, there is a (new) game out there in the blogosphere where you get to ‘tag’ 5 other bloggers you’d like to honor, or embarass – tick where applicable, by getting them to reveal 5 things about themselves in a blog post. These 5 bloggers get to tag 5 more people each, creating a snowball effect.

My Quebecer colleague and fellow Web Analytics enthusiast, Stéphane Hamel, probably decided I had dodged the tagging game long enough, and therefore tagged me.

I’ll play along so here goes:

1- I’m a polyglot, which usually means I speak more than 3 languages. While I speak English and French on a daily basis and on multiple registers, I still hold my own in Spanish and Portuguese, understand Italian and some Romanian, dabble in Japanese and Mandarin, understand bits and pieces of Greek, Russian, and Czech.

And of course, for professional reasons, I get to assimilate Dutch now 😉

Those who know me will avoid discussing how languages are learned, for fear to get me started on pragmatism versus academics 😀 Languages have always been a passion, up to a point where I feel I express myself better in languages other than French.

2- When I was about yea big (I’m 6’3″ now, must have been half that back then), I tripped on a garden hose while chasing my younger brother (he had it coming) and hurt my left arm falling down.

It took my parents 6 hours to acknowledge my claims as to whether my arm was broken, which – as it turns out – was indeed broken. Never mind the excruciating pain 😛

From that day, I sometimes feel that despite my best efforts to explain something as simply as possible, I always face a wall of denial. Kind of like these B-movies in which the hero tries to alert the authorities to impending doom, only to be met with scorn and disdain. “I told you so!” *cue squished-by-giant-alien sound*

Go figure. Bleh, I’m just a bitter 32-yr-old 😛

3- In 1996, during my ERASMUS year at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, I got involved in the Foreign Student Society. Soon I became society treasurer and was in charge of the organisation of field trips to places of interest in Scotland.
Read: scotch distilleries 😉

After visiting the Grant’s distillery for the 3rd time in the 1st semester (which is really just one quarter), I finally got nicknamed Glenfiddich – which also happens to be my favorite alcoholic drink.

Double, no ice, room temperature 😀

Strange thing, I still answer to ‘Glen’. Then again, I use the name as my online gaming handle so if you see a player by the name ‘glenfiddich’, don’t be a stranger: chances are it’s me!

4- Obligatory MBTI personality profile: ISFP (Intraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving)

“Quiet, friendly, sensitive, and kind. Enjoy the present moment, what’s going on around them. Like to have their own space and to work within their own time frame. Loyal and committed to their values and to people who are important to them. Dislike disagreements and conflicts, do not force their opinions or values on others.”

I cannot agree more with this evaluation.

5- I’m French therefore I cook, and it shows, but there are a few ingredients that will never make it past my mouth:

• Zucchini a.k.a courgettes. My mother lost track of how many different ways she tried to cook them for me to finally eat some.
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Oysters: I don’t care if it’s a fine food; if it’s not dead when set in my plate, I won’t eat it 😛

That pretty much covers the tagging game 😉

Oh wait, now I get to pick 5 victims! muhaha!

I therefore nominate:

• Denis Lafont (former Capgemini colleague and Opensource guru)
• Vicky Brock (Highland Business Research, Scotland)
• Adrien Naeem (Owner, web-analytique.com)
• Vincent Wautier (designer, OX2)
• Matt Wright (Web Analytics lead, HP.com)

For reference, here is the tagging breadcrumb trail so far:

Stéphane Hamel < June Li < Kathryn Lagden < Michael Seaton < Mitch Joel < Ana Farmery < Heidi Miller < Tom Vender Well < Drew McLellan < Liz Strauss < Phil Gerbyshak < Pam < Wendy Piersall < Holly < Kelly < Simran < D.T.Kelly < Dawno < Victoria Strauss < Cathy Clamp < Jackie Kessler < Heather Brewer < Erica Orloff < Sara Hantz < Alyssa Goodnight < Amanda Brice < Tara M.Leigh < Karen (as provided by Stéphane)

[Disclaimer: I no longer work for OX2]

there is your answer 😉

[youtube tnjx0PZJJG0]

but seriously, you can also visit Baobab, a humanitarian project aiming at helping the Senegalese village of Fandene.

So go on to https://www.maderniereheure.be (French and Dutch) and donate! 😀

Not sure what to think of this:

• Did she try to dry it after bath?
• Did she try to kill her baby?
• Scarier, did she try to cook the baby?

Story: CNN
Discuss but don’t try this at home 😉

The Nintendo Wii gaming console just launched very succesfully in Japan and North America at about $250.00 a pop. If you had not pre-ordered, you’re in for a long, cold, queue outside gaming outlets just to get one.

Once you get past the revolutionary control system – where you have to swing the controller as though wielding a tennis racket/sword/golf club/bowling ball, etc – you notice that the Wii includes the embedded version of the Opera web browser.

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My canadian colleague Stéphane Hamel just released a Firefox sidebar/extension to display web analytics vendor parameters present  in a given web page.

Enjoy! 😀

Link: WASP