Mitch Benn's Proud of the BBC is great (thanks to bibliogirl for the first recommendation). Go watch it now ( Read more... )

Cool look at Diamond, the synchrotron at my workplace. The Blade Runner soundtrack led to wistful thoughts: where's my flying car? (Maybe that's how they took the aerial shots.) Why isn't RAL infested with killer sexbots? Why can't I find a better life offworld?

I don't travel much, except to the usual places (and not much of even that of late), Geneva and San Francisco. But today I'm at DESY in Hamburg, so here are a few trivial observations ( Read more... )

I like my role as an undecided voter in a marginal constituency. It almost feels like my decision will make a difference this time.

OK, I'm not entirely undecided, but I'm still allowing for the possibility that Andrew Smith can persuade me back into the Labour fold. That is hampered by the fact that I've never actually heard any of the Oxford ( Read more... )

I don't know exactly when his birthday is, but we were told that he was 13 weeks old when we got him, so he is about a year old now, and officially no longer a kitten but a grown up cat. He's certainly now a cat about town, a cat of the world, a cat who knows what's what. But even so, after a hard day's prowling the garden and environs, he still ( Read more... )

We only got our first physics data from the LHC on Tuesday, and they are already planning its successor!

Here's how we feel about all the beautiful collision data ATLAS has taken over the last few weeks.

( Read more... )

First beam splash events of 2009 have been recorded this evening in ATLAS (follow link to event displays). Woot ( Read more... )

I die! There is a great celebration in the land as news of my demise spreads. Workers up tools to dance in the streets, lighting bonfires to burn my effigy. Crops are not harvested, production lines grind to a halt, investments left to fail. As the cities burn and civilisation crumbles, starvation is not far behind. Cursing my name, all that I ( Read more... )

This seems like a good way to encourage people to make significant contributions to helping tackling poverty. The web site also has useful resources to help decide on the most effective charities.

Web site: Giving What We Can
BBC News article

Good work, Toby!