gleans + BBCStuff + 2xaddenda at 2:40 AM MT, 3/29

Switzerland: a small country with a skilled workforce, booming exports, and enormous prosperity has become the envy of Europe... more»

Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More By DENNIS OVERBYE  Two men are pursuing a lawsuit to stop scientists from using a giant particle accelerator, claiming it could create a black hole that might eat up the Earth.

• Times Topics: CERN Particle Physics Laboratory

Newspapers suffer biggest ad revenue plunge in over 50 years
9.4% drop-off points to economic slowdown on top of secular challenges faced by industry
--Editor & Publisher

Adobe gets new users with free online version of Photoshop
Some analysts see launch of site as defensive play for premier photo-software firm
--San Jose Mercury News

 

'Nobody ever did want me' The story of an orphaned, talkative, red-headed 11-year-old sent to a remote farm by mistake, Anne of Green Gables was an instant success in 1908 and, a century later, is still loved by girls from Canada to Japan. Margaret Atwood salutes a childhood classic More from the Guardian Review

 

What is Wales?
Simon Jenkins salutes the compendious The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
More reference and languages

 

Dear Bill <== recommended
Stephen Bates enjoys an evocative, candid and affectionate life of a Fleet Street legend, portrayed in Stephen Robinson's The Remarkable Lives of Bill Deedes
More biography

 

Migration brings 'zero economic benefit'

Ten years of record immigration has produced virtually no economic benefits for Britain, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

Has immigration been good for Britain?

 

Rift between UK diplomats and Army in Basra

British forces are facing pressure to intervene in Basra after government efforts to defeat Shi'ite militias ground to a halt.

Maliki's war on Sadr is a gamble

Government's shameful silence on Basra

 

 

 

BBC Stuff

 

THE INTERVIEW

 Listen (26mins 30secs)

Last Updated: Saturday, 29 March 2008, 07:32 GMT

Ian Ayres is a number cruncher.

A man who says analysing vast amount of data provides a new way of looking at the future.

This week on The Interview he tells Owen Bennett-Jones why he thinks computers are better than humans at predicting everything from good wine to your favourite films. 

 

addenda #1 <== Thanks to RB-Bob

Subject: Obit of Interest

Date: Mar 28, 2008 10:00 PM

Robert Fagles, Translator of the Classics, Dies at 74

addenda #2

Subject: Re: Even Moore's Law has hung in there...

Date: Mar 28, 2008 8:09 PM

Circa 1982, mainframe guys defined a minicomupter as being rack mounted and having a negotiable price. I have no idea how they define themselves today - but I would think that a mainframe is anything with a S/370 instruction set (and generally requring a raised floor and airco). NB - in the old days, the AS/400 described itself as a Small Business System - today, it describes itself as a server - "they also serve who only stand and waite" John Milton. 1608–1674    318. On His Blindness    WHEN I consider how my light is spent     E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,     And that one Talent which is death to hide,     Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent   To serve therewith my Maker, and present          5   My true account, least he returning chide,     Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,     I fondly ask; But patience to prevent   That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need     Either man's work or his own gifts, who best   10   Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State   Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed     And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:     They also serve who only stand and waite.   -----Original Message----- From: DONELINGS@GMAIL.COM Sent: Mar 28, 2008 7:48 PM To: LJENDICOTT@EARTHLINK.NET Cc: GARY.SCHULTZ@VERIZON.NET Subject: Re: Even Moore's Law has hung in there... Cyril and I have discussed this before.... What is the definition of "mainframe" in 2008? Many computers in one large case? Beats the shit out of me.   The place where I work owns not a single "mainframe", but if you walked into our server room yer first words might be "oh my god".... The site of over 400 rack mounted servers with the related switches and routers is a bit impressive.         On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 3:28 PM, Cyril wrote: good one - thanks - I had seen the article but did not read until you sent -----Original Message----- From: Sent: Mar 27, 2008 2:18 PM To: Subject: Even Moore's Law has hung in there...    "The rise and fall of technologies is mainly about business and not technological determinism," said Richard S. Tedlow, a business historian at the Harvard Business School. Why Old Technologies Are Still Kicking