Fun Babbage fact: his brain is on display in two locations. The right side is on display in the Science Museum in London, while the left side is in the collection of the Hunterian Museum (of the Royal College of Surgeons), also in London. (his body is in Kensal Green Cemetery)

That’s an interesting picture at the 1m mark of the Vostok payload shroud, but with a finned skirt; I wonder whether that was a British guess, or Soviet misinformation.

Come to Southampton, where we have the best of both worlds with our medieval Bargate.

There’s famously the *other* game designer called Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games).

Specifically, he seems to confuse NASA’s adoption of the IBM 4Pi for Skylab and Shuttle with its digital fly-by-wire project of the early 70s, which instead used a modified Apollo Guidance Computer.

“(if there’s space)” *laughs hysterically*

To add insult to injury, we’d booked tickets in advance for the Peak-to-Peak gondola in Whistler, having heard how great the views were. This is what we got instead.

We visited friends in BC in the summer of 2017. These photos of Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver were taken eight days apart. The fires were out beyond Kamloops - at least 400km away.

I can heartily recommend buying a cheap telescope - Celestron do an entry-level 3” reflector with a alt-azimuth mount for less than £70. Good enough for basic observations of the moon and things like the moons of Jupiter; see the photo I took with my phone through that telescope a while back.

I took it over directly from Andy; I got my lectureship in 2003, and Andy and I shared the PL role for much of (I think) AY2005-06. The earliest dated programme spec I have in my archive is from April 2006, which would bear that out. re: student number growth, I offer this without comment:

Red Dog Saloon thought that it was trendy and edgy to name a burger after General Pinochet. I guess it’s okay if you’re a big fan of torture, murders and Operation Condor.

Not forgetting the phrase "this page best viewed in" and a browser button to indicate your allegiance. More elegant images for a more civilised age.

Reminds me of this hoarding seen locally last year. What does "AWE" stand for? What's a "nuclear security technology"? How do they "keep the nation safe"?

This gives a good sense of how hemmed in it is. There used to be a 1300MW coal-fired power station to the southwest of the church - off the bottom of the aerial photograph - but that was demolished after it was decommissioned in 1993.

Apropos of nothing, I was here at the weekend: (the church of the funeral in Four Weddings - St Clement in South Essex)

Looking at the note on the DGP book, there’s no assertion of trademark in the title, so it’s very unlikely that they registered one (which would cost money and effort).

Me, packing my bag before leaving the house for work: there’s no point lugging around an umbrella today, is there?

The mature lime tree outside our house is now in full bloom. Not only is the air full of its scent, but there’s also a pronounced hum from the hundreds and hundreds of bees that are harvesting nectar from it.

Tired: Who would win - the Hulk or the Thing? Wired: Who would win - Mr Blobby or Gritty?

Protestors don’t leave the scene looking like this: (some of my friends were out sweeping up the debris last night)

Apart from knocking over a stack of sorted scripts, Steph has been remarkably uninterested in my marking.

Took a break from marking to dabble in a first attempt at leatherworking. Quite pleased with the results.

There’s been much criticism of the NYT for its reporting of SpaceX’s latest flight, but I think that we should just acknowledge that the rocket made “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm” and then move on.

Yes, definitely the Intrepid Fox - see this 2008 photo from Streetview. Centre Point is just visible on the left. The signing was in the the glassed area at the front.

Yes, but:

This place is not a place of honour. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

Jellied eels. Believe me, I’ve tried. I like the taste of the eels, but the texture is a bit too much, and there’s an awful lot of bone for not much meat. Just as well they’re critically endangered.

You’ve seen our “pivot to AI”, I assume? This is the current university homepage.

Amongst the very many reasons to miss the late great David Barron is his way with a good epigram. (this from his 1977 book An Introduction to the Study of Programming Languages, published by Cambridge University Press)

This is possibly the most heartbreaking film-related image I’ve seen.