Last night we went to see Dylan Moran do stand-up comedy at the Hammersmith Apollo here in London.

Here in the UK he is probably most famous for his role in the sit-com Black Books where he plays, well, pretty much himself it turns out. It’s a version of Moran who works in a book store with Manny (Bill Bailey).

It’s difficult to say much about his show as he doesn’t really tell jokes as such, more a stream of observations. A couple of years ago when I first saw him live his most memorable line was “Children are just small drunks.” This time it was about relationships: “The first time you meet your partner you are generally drunk. Why would you do that? You wouldn’t buy a toaster drunk. It’s too important a decision.”

This weeks PhotoFriday theme is Bright. My entry is number 447. Here the bright, morning sun is shielded by the trees. It was taken in Oslo, Norway.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks competition, Boy. I’m entry 419 (“–> Stephen <–").

Today marks the 50th anniverary of IBM’s introduction of the first hard disk.

Of course things have moved on since then. Not only are they physically smaller, cheaper and more reliable, but, according to Steven Levy, their capacity has increased considerably:

The total amount of information stored [was] not quite enough to hold two MP3 copies of Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog.”

Would Apple’s iPod adverts have been quite so successful if it had only been “nearly two songs in your pocket”?

This weeks PhotoFriday theme is Boy. My entry was taken in Vietnam. A whole group of kids came out to see us. I don’t think they see many foreigners in this area.

Please also vote my my entry in last weeks competition, Silver. I’m entry 244 (“–> Stephen <–").

It turns out that 2006 is a big year for weddings. I got married in April, a friend of my wife got married in May and my friends P and I had a Civil Partnership Ceremony yesterday.

Despite the poor weather, it was a great day for everyone. They tied the knot in Wandsworth Registry Office with nearly twenty people present. It was a short but touching ceremony. They said their vows and exchanged rings.

I was introduced to the strange world of Geocaching over Christmas last year.

For the uninitiated, geocaching is, basically, a high-tech scavenger hunt. People hide things all over the world, typically Tupperware boxes containing various goodies, and post the co-ordinates on a website. Other people then enter the details into their GPS systems and try to find them. It sounds simple, silly even, but it can give you a good excuse to look around an old and familiar area with a new perspective.

Bruce Schneider again talks some sense about the recent unsuccessful terror attacks.

Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic.

If the security services did most of their work in the back-ground, without people knowing about it, then the public wouldn’t be in a state of terror. And — from the point of view of the police — working behind the scenes never did James Bond’s reputation any harm…

Introducing two new additions to the Darlington household…

Bob:

And Cornelius Maximus Wilmington the 4th:

Blame B for the names!

Friends, leaning against a car chatting. This was in Trinidad, Cuba in 2004. Taken on my Canon EOS300D with 18-55mm lens. Come back next week and vote for me, I’m entry 432.

Please vote for my entry in last weeks “Four” competition! I’m entry 494 (–> Stephen <–).

What right-wingers see when they read The New York Times.

If you’re in the UK, you can just buy a copy of the Daily Mail.