• Clive Thompson on the New Literacy – Maybe the Internet isn’t the end of literacy after all…
• Galileo’s telescope reaches 400th anniversary – “Exactly 400 years ago today, on 25 August 1609, the Italian astronomer and philosopher Galilei Galileo showed Venetian merchants his new creation, a telescope – the instrument that was to bring him both scientific immortality and, more immediately, a whole lot of trouble.”
• Creationists, now they’re coming for your children – “The Greatest Show on Earth is a book about the positive evidence that evolution is a fact. It is not intended as an antireligious book. I’ve done that, it’s another T-shirt, this is not the place to wear it again. Bishops and theologians who have attended to the evidence for evolution have given up the struggle against it.”

I was going to say that it was second time lucky with the weather but really that’s the difference between going to Brighton in April and going in August. Certainly, there was no-one grilling sausages on the beach last year.

In the late afternoon we walked all the way to the Marina and back, which meant shooting straight into the sun to get an image of the iconic pier.

• Apple Answers the FCC’s Questions – A few interesting tidbits, including the fact that two reviewers look at every update, but I’d say that there was little of real substance here.
• The brutal truth about America’s healthcare – “But the truth is that the rich, and the insurance firms, just don’t realise what we are going through, or simply don’t care. Look around this room and tell me that America’s healthcare don’t need fixing.” Still finding the whole debate quite bizarre.

Welcome to ZX81.org.uk’s new host. It may look the same as the old one but will hopefully be more reliable!

If you missed the full story, here’s how I reported it on the old server:

If you came here a day or two ago you probably found that ZX81.org.uk was missing.

It turns out that this was not just an extended outage but a planned maintenance activity where they moved my account from one server to another.

This image is sunrise from the top of Mount Sinai after a night climb with people of all ages, Young and Old. This is not just a coincidence as this is this weeks PhotoFriday theme.

Please also vote for the previous challenge¹, “Cameraphone Shot.” I’m entry number 95.

• Mind the staff – A photo of a member of staff at every London Underground station. Neat idea.
• The Pain of Being a Redhead – Green is not the only colour that it’s not easy being…
• Government rubbishes ID card hack report – “This story is rubbish.” A not very reassuring response to yesterdays story that it was possible to both clone and change the details on the new ID cards.

There’s no PhotoFriday this week but I thought I’d post an picture anyway. This one was taken in August 2001 and is from Sirmeone looking back down the peninsula towards Colombare. It was this holiday, in Northern Italy, when I first started getting into photography more seriously. I went to Desenzano with no plans and a stack of different types of film. I’d read a lot about Velvia 50 and really wanted to like it but I ended up sticking to Sensia which tended to work better for me and was significantly cheaper!

• UK ID Card Technology Cloned… – “… in 12 minutes.” Wonder when the government will get the message that ID cards are a bad idea. Oh, and there’s no such thing as unforgeable.
• The hidden truth behind drug company profits – “The idea of ring-fencing life-saving medical knowledge so a few people can profit from it is one of the great grotesqueries of our age. We have to tear down this sick system – so the sick can live.” Big companies and the patent system effectively kill the poorest and most vulnerable people.
• Bodega – Interesting idea: an app store for the Mac. Not run by Apple and hence no crazy review process!

• In pictures: Satellite eye on Earth – July – Awesome images.
• Amber Ale: Brewing Beer From 45-Million-Year-Old Yeast – Science, history and beer, and all in one story. How could I not bookmark this article?
• Microsoft’s Long, Slow Decline – “The evidence is staring Microsoft’s leadership in the face that they have lost the most lucrative segment of the market, but, judged by their actions and public remarks, they seem to think it’s all a big joke. They should be sweating this but they’re laughing it off.”

In fact this isn’t the first “Cameraphone Shot” that I’ve entered as an entry to PhotoFriday. This shot isn’t perfect but I think it makes good use of the available light. It kind of goes back to the old adage that the best camera is the one that you have with you. I could have done better with my 50D but that was at home.