Last night the BBC showed the first two episodes of Torchwood, its new Doctor Who spin-off. What did we think? Well, the word that mostly springs to mind is “derivative”. The whole idea of group of strange people investigating even stranger goings on looks a lot like Angel, the secret hideaway secreted behind a normal-looking… Continue reading Torchwood
Happy Birthday Earth
If you believe Bishop Ussher (and, of course, in these enlightened days only a handful of idiots do) then the Earth was created on 23rd October 4004BC, six thousand and ten years ago today. I’m just sorry that I missed marking the 6000th anniversary ten years ago, but I think I was busy on my… Continue reading Happy Birthday Earth
New Browsers
Last night I downloaded and installed two new browsers. Firstly I booted my laptop into Windows for the first time for months (it’s the only computer in the house that has Windows installed) and installed IE7. First reactions? A big “so what?” It’s (obviously) a vast improvement on IE6, but I can’t see anything that… Continue reading New Browsers
Lost on Sky One
Channel 4 have… er… lost the rights to broadcast the next series of Lost. They have been outbid by Sky One. It’s been a while since I’ve watched a US import drama on Sky One. The last one was probably when I got bored of Nip/Tuck halfway though the third series. Oh, no. Actually we… Continue reading Lost on Sky One
Flash on Linux
This probably isn’t big news for many of you (particularly as it came on the same day that IE7 was officially released) but Adobe have released a new beta version of Flash 9 and it includes support for Linux. Previously, the latest version of Flash available for Linux was version 7. This was fine for… Continue reading Flash on Linux
Sexism in IT
So overnight I was planning another entry that would explain further why I don’t think that “tequila slammer girls” are appropriate entertainment for a professional software conference. But this morning I read this and this. Pointing out the offence in what Russ Michaels is doing is one thing, but submitting his web server to denial… Continue reading Sexism in IT
Human Species ‘May Split in Two’
(The creationists are going to love this!) From the BBC (tho’ note that the research was carried out for the dodgy satellite channel Bravo – make of that what you will): Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years’ time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said. Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of… Continue reading Human Species ‘May Split in Two’
Time Travelling From London
This’ll annoy the people who don’t live in London. Giles Coren articulates something that has been nagging at me for years. My old mate and former Times colleague, Guy Walters […] has a theory: “For every ten miles you drive away from London”, says Guy, “you travel back one year in time.” He’s talking about… Continue reading Time Travelling From London
Richard Dawkins at the Institute of Education
Last night we went to see Richard Dawkins speaking at the Institute of Education. It wasn’t the most organised lecture I’ve ever attended and due to my wife’s knowledge of the building we accidently found ourselves in the foyer of the hall, past any ticket checks before I had picked up our tickets. I actually… Continue reading Richard Dawkins at the Institute of Education
Dawkins Speaking Tonight
This doesn’t seem to have been advertised particularly well, but Richard Dawkins is speaking at the Institute of Education this evening. I’ve just got tickets – which is pretty amazing given how impossible it was to get tickets the last time I tried. The talk at the LSE celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Selfish… Continue reading Dawkins Speaking Tonight