More from the you-couldn’t-make-it-up department
A Manchester publican who is scared of flying has bought a decommissioned RAF Vulcan nuclear bomber on eBay.
He paid £15,102.03 and is going to park it outside his pub in the hope of er, drumming up custom. My daughter’s comment upon hearing this: “Wonder what the post and packaging charges were.” And did he pay by PayPal?
Donald Knuth’s letter to Condoleeza Rice
“[the following letter was mailed in September 2002; I’ve had no response]
Dear Condi,
I’m 99.99% sure that my writing this letter will have no effect, but my conscience tells me to write it anyway. Danziger’s cartoon has pushed me out of my lethargy.
[His cartoon shows her banging on a grand piano, saying “War! War! War!”]
When I knew you at Stanford I had the greatest admiration for your abilities and good sense. (And I was disappointed that we never were able to get together to play four-hands music.) But now I cannot help but express to you my chagrin that the warm feelings I once had have basically evaporated. I hope you can pause to try to understand why this might be the case.
Fundamentally I don’t see how the government of my country has done anything whatsoever to address and correct the root causes of international terrorism. Quite the contrary; every action I can see seems almost designed to have the opposite effect — as if orchestrated to maximize the finances of those who make armaments, by maximizing the number of people who now hate me personally for actions that I do not personally condone. How can I be a proud citizen of a country that unilaterally pulls out of widely accepted treaties, that refuses to accept a world court, that flouts fair trade with shameful policies regarding steel and agriculture, and that almost blindly supports Israel’s increasingly unjustifiable occupation?
And worst of all, I find that my leaders, including you, are calling for war against a sovereign nation that we suspect to be corrupt, thereby (even if our suspicions are correct) undermining all precedents against unilateral action by other countries who might in future decide that our own policies are wrong. If we peremptorily strike country X, why shouldn’t country X have a right to do the same to us, and to our children and grandchildren in future years?
On my trips to Europe all I can do is hope that my friends there can help their governments try to make somebody in my own government act responsibly.
Sincerely, Don Knuth
P.S. This is the second time in my life that I have written a letter to a U.S. government official. The first time was during the Vietnam war.
For readers outside the computing world who don’t know why Don Knuth is a revered figure, see here.
7:04:41 PM 
Ten by Ten…
… is an extraordinary website which collects 100 words and pictures summarising what three leading international news sources (BBC, Reuters and New York Times) are saying and showing and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10×10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, it is hoped will form “a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life”.
Each hour is presented as a picture postcard window, composed of 100 different frames, each of which holds the image of a single moment in time. Clicking on a single frame allows one to peer a bit deeper into the story that lies behind the image. It’s beautifully crafted web design and a lovely use of RSS.
Have a heart
Student collecting for the British Heart Foundation, Cambridge, November 2004.
Crossing the bar
Seen through a telephoto lens on a park-and-ride bus one rainy Saturday recently.
Gone phishing
My Observer column about a new form of phishing which exploits certain, ah, features of Microsoft Windows is here. Audio version coming soon.
Election response #7
From the Borowitz Report:
CANADA REPORTS HUGE JUMP IN IMMIGRATION
Over 55,000,000 Requests for Citizenship Since Tuesday Night
Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since late Tuesday night.
Of those fifty-five million requests, well over 99.99% of them came from U.S. citizens, the lion’s share residing in such states as New York, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that he was “flabbergasted” by the fifty-five-million-plus requests for Canadian citizenship, adding that it was difficult to pinpoint the precise reasons for the staggering increase.
“My only theory is that after many years of exposure in the U.S., hockey is finally starting to catch on,” Mr. Pettigrew said.
He cautioned, however, that it is impossible to know exactly what is sparking the sudden interest in America’s frozen neighbor to the north: “People answering our immigration hotline say that it is hard to understand many of the American callers because they are sobbing uncontrollably.”
In other news, President Bush used his acceptance speech Wednesday to reach out to supporters of Sen. John Kerry, telling them, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”
Election response #5
Email from an American friend, returning from voting in the US. “Still in state of shock. Have founded new country: Divided States of America (DSA). Two very different countries. Very scary. Very disappointing. Had John Kerry taken the Tablet or had read a little more Reinhold Niebuhr, he would be president.”
