As you can see from this nice photograph, poor Quentin is slumming it in San Diego. (He’s speaking at the FiRE conference.) It’s tough work, but someone’s got to do it.
Murdered Blogger reveals identity of his killer
This was Simon Ng’s final entry on his Blog at 5:05pm on May 12….
“Today I missed my Japanese class again, since I have gotten a bad throat. I only went to the class once this week, so I am probably so far behind now. I will catch up in the summer tho so no worries hehe. Anyway today has been weird, at 3 some guy ringed the bell. I went down and recognized it was my sister’s former boyfriend. He told me he wants to get his fishing poles back. I told him to wait downstair while I get them for him. While I was searching them, he is already in the house. He is still here right now, smoking, walking all around the house with his shoes on which btw I just washed the floor 2 days ago!”
The guy wandering round the house stabbed him, then waited for his sister to return and then stabbed her to death. For the full story see this NY Newsday report.
On this day…
… in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to the public at 2:00 p.m. A total of 150,300 people crossed it on opening day, each paying one cent to cross. David McCullough wrote a wonderful book about its construction.
Windbreak
These trees just outside Dingle have always fascinated me. They’ve withstood Atlantic gales for as long as I can remember. I’ve always wanted to photograph them but never got round to it — until yesterday.
Rock pool
Photographed by Pete on the Dingle Peninsula, May 22.
On not believing everything you read on the Web
Last Sunday’s Observer column on the strange case of David Bellamy and the non-retreating glaciers.
Grand Prix
Philip Toynbee famously said that if an atomic bomb were dropped on Twickenham during the ‘Varsity (i.e. Oxford v. Cambridge) match then “the prospects of fascism in Britain would be set back by two generations”. I have similar feelings about the Monaco Grand Prix which takes place today, on the grounds that it’s a uniquely obnoxious combination of a corrupt sport and an unspeakable location. For ‘x’ read ‘cks’.
On this day…
… in 1935 T.E. Lawrence died after being injured in a motorbike crash. There was an interesting item on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme claiming that both US and UK troops in Iraq are reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom as a guide to Arab culture. (And no, I did not make that up!) It’s a bit like Tony Blair speed-reading the Koran after 9/11.
EU plans for software patents hit fresh obstacle
From yesterday’s Financial Times…
Plans to issue new European Union rules on patents for the software industry have hit a fresh obstacle, with a European parliament report urging changes to the law that would make it more difficult for many high-technology companies to register patents for their inventions.
The Beeb Shall Inherit the Earth
Nice column by Cory on why the BBC is doing so many things right just now.