Serious Business

Benin City, the medieval capital now lost without trace. 100 African cities destroyed by Europeans.

In the capital of Europe. Written before the bombings of last week, which once again reminded me in the worst possible fashion that I’ve visited too many sites of subsequent terrorism. New York, Paris, London... Brussels.

Three-quarters of UK children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates.

Nothing to apologize for.

Teachers sent packing because they earn too little.

Netflix generates more traffic than the entire Internet.

The Bribe Factory.

Global warming’s terrifying new chemistry. Current temperatures are shocking even to climate scientists. Longest coral bleaching event on record. West Antarctic ice sheet could melt rapidly. Carbon emissions haven’t been this high since the dinosaurs.

31 March 2016 · Weblog

Shabba Me Whiskers

Many of the world’s lakes are vanishing. Greenland’s feedback loop. February breaks global temperature records by even more than January did.

A route to carbon-negative cars.

“These people are you and me”: Richard Flanagan meets Syrian refugees.

The most radioactive towel in history.

Frequency delinquency. !?,;:--.

Andy Stanton’s cult humour for kids. His Mr Gum books are some of the funniest I’ve read, to my son or otherwise. Andy Stanton at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Brian Six.

The funniest hacker stock photos and (better) the funniest hacker stock photos 2.0.

A musical instrument made from a badger badger badger badger thereminnn thereminnnnnn.

Grenade in microwave! [Link already dead, sadly.]

17 March 2016 · Weblog

And in the End

A belated farewell to the late George Martin. Apart from his monumental work with the Beatles, which I could hardly begin to go into here without taking all week, I’ll always remember his work on one of my favourite comedy records, Peter Sellers’ 1959 album Songs for Swingin’ Sellers. The Fabs themselves were fans of Martin’s comedy productions, which helped bond them in the early days. On one Sellers track in particular, “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”, Martin masterminded the Indian orchestral sounds that would come in handy on later Beatle tracks.

This sad event had happy consequences for Monday’s pub quiz. It meant that the bonus round was on the Fabs, and all those years of devouring Beatle biographies finally came in handy. Seventy loverly nicker.

17 March 2016 · People