• US switch to new lethal injection scrutinised – However you do it, killing people is a cruel and unusual punishment.
• Rudiments of Language Discovered in Monkeys – "Lemasson … suspects that a dense jungle environment drove the evolution of syntax. Since the monkeys had trouble seeing each other, they compensated by talking."
• Google DNS – Why would Google make their own DNS service if there's no direct way to sell advertising from it?

• After 1,100 miles and 52 days, Eddie Izzard has finishing line in sight – Awesome achievement. And I don't mean "awesome" as in an "awesome hot dog."
• John Marcotte, Author of the 2010 California Protection of Marriage Act – Marcotte is trying to get divorce banned. "People who supported Prop 8 weren't trying to take rights away from gays, they just wanted to protect traditional marriage. That's why I'm confident that they will support this initiative, even though this time it will be their rights that are diminished. To not support it would be hypocritical. "
• PM apology after Turing petition – About time too!

• Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty – I find that there are many convincing arguments against capital punishment but maybe it's the emotional one that works in the end. It could be you?
• Why do some countries drive on the right and others on the left? – Fascinating look at why (and where) we drive on which side of the road.
• Hidden Developer Gems in Snow Leopard – I know it's geeky but I'm more excited about the new APIs in Snow Leopard than any of the new stuff or even, to a certain extent, the performance improvements.

Despite Californian voters failing to reject Prop 8, the graffiti in Los Angeles shows that not everyone agrees: Post No Bills Prop.

• Apple drawing 3.0 line in the sand for iPhone developers – This can only mean that the release is getting pretty close. And, significantly, that the APIs are stabilising — I had to rewrite almost everything I did with the first beta when the latest version of the developer kit came out.
• DNA Database Doublecross – "Yet again this government shows its deep contempt for international courts, and demonstrates its profoundly cynical belief that the innocent simply haven't been proved guilty yet."
• Jacqui Smith enlists high street help for ID cards scheme – Doesn't using high street shops to make ID cards make it substantially less secure? Wasn't the whole point that ID cards were an unbreakable scheme? This just gets worse and worse.

• Three Cheers for Afghan Women – it's a little depressing to think that, as the article notes, this is actually progress.
• Audio slideshow: Sir Clement Freud – I only really know Clement Freud for his contribution to Just A Minute. I remember that I wasn't sure what to make of him when I first heard his lists and slow, deliberate delivery, but that changed pretty quickly. It won't be the same without him.
• Laptop Hunters: Homeless Frank – If you've not seen Microsoft's new adverts this probably won't make much sense. If you have, you'll realise that Frank's analysis of the PCs is more nuanced that the supposedly "real" people in the original videos.