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."
Objectified – New documentary from the people that gave you Helvetica. Looks interesting.
Georgia recalls Soviet crackdown – I visited ten years after this. It's a really beautiful country and such a shame that it keeps descending into civil war or getting into a scuffle with its northern neighbour.
Odds of Dying in a Terrorist Attack – "You are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist." Maybe the government should start protecting us from the police instead? (via Kottke.org)
The League of Moveable Type – Most free or open source fonts I've seen have been pretty poor but these guys seem to have the right idea.
Government plans travel database – "When your travel plans, who you are travelling with, where you are going to and when are being recorded you have to ask yourself just how free is this country?"
NetNewsWire and iPhone-Sized Data – "Lesson learned: It’s not enough for an iPhone app to sport an iPhone-optimized user interface. It needs iPhone-sized data, too." I agree with this in principle but I've been thinking how I'd apply it to my iPhone application, Yummy, and coming up with a blank. How can you decide in advance which bookmarks you'll want to see? Most recent? Those with a particular tag? I can't think of an option other than 'all.'
Gordon Brown withdraws plan to keep details of MPs' expenses secret – "The PM said proposals for reforms of MPs' expenses would provide 'more transparency' than in most other parliaments around the world." I'm not convinced that this is a standard we should aspire to. Let's face it, our parliament is more open that North Korea and less tyrannical than Iran's but really that's not much of an achievement.
The True Cost of SMS Messages – “How come technology, communication, and infrastructure is getting cheaper while the costs of SMS messages are increasing exponentially? My theory: SMS messages are transfered over air made of solid gold.”
Photography, opinions and other random ramblings by Stephen Darlington
