From the Orient

The only half-decent picture I got from my trip to Old Trafford earlier this month.

Came via email not sure of the source

UPDATE: I’ve lost the stick man image If anyone has a copy, please email me.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo has gone from strength to strength over the last three years and true to my prediction in the comments, has become a world class player and indeed the best player in the Premiership.

LugRadio 3 is out. Very much lol at many points.

Glad to see Aq has brought the pronunciation thread to lugradio. If you want a crap tagline, “it kept me awake”. Nice mixture of seriousness and humour. Okay, mostly humour, but it touches on serious issues like DHCP.

[Listening to: Getting Better (and longer) - The Beatles - (2:47)]

I’m having trouble staying awake. I’m sure this is what management had in mind when they made me start so early. They will break my mind until I agree to work a night shift. But, I will be off ill, too tired to type.

I’ve just finished reading “Fitzroy”:http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0755311817/qid=1079522716/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_11_4/026-4426532-5464450, a book about the captain of the Beagle when Charles Darwin made his famous voyage. An absolutely fascinating read.

Robert Fitzroy was much more than “Darwin’s captain”, a great navigator/surveyor, a popular navy captain, a Member of Parliament, an ill-fated Governor of New Zealand, and the first Head of the British Meteorological Office. He effectively invented weather forecasts, and storm warnings.

One of the great ironies of Robert Fitzroy’s life and death revolves around Darwin however. The previous captain of the Beagle killed himself in a depression, and Fitzroy hired Darwin as a companion to stop him doing the same. However, Fitzroy was a devoted Christian and found his role in helping Darwin create his theory troubled him greatly. In combination with the criticism he received from the perceived poor weather forecasts he made, he became ill through overwork and took his life.

I think Fitzroy was perceived by history as a failure, but this book reveals he was a humanitarian, far in advance of the age he lived in. For instance, his treatment of the Maori’s was far too fair for his employers, the British Government and the white settlers. His weather forecasts were derided in public and in parliament which considered a waste of time, yet the storm warnings were based on science still used to this day, and very much worked saving many sailors lives.

“BoingBoing”:http://www.boingboing.net/2004/03/12/transparent_briefcas.html linked to a transparent “Secret Agent” PC-case.

I just think how much cooler it would be to make an “Orac”:http://www.blakes-7.co.uk/chars/orac/orac.shtml mod. This, I would do myself, especially if you could turn it on and off by pluggin in the little chip that Avon used.