Blunt Cards...

This web site has an apparently endless supply of “blunt cards” (like the one at right) that you can just read, or that you can send to a friend (or whatever). Probably the site exists mainly to collect email addresses, but some of these blunt cards are quite funny just to read. Probably NSFW (just the words, not the imagery)...

Resurrecting Ancient Musical Intruments...

Now this is just plain cool – a project melding science and modern computer technology to digitally reconstruct the sound of ancient instruments known only from historical references. The result is a “concert” in which you can hear these instruments being “played” by a computer program.

Here's one sample of an instrument called an epigonion (and I have no idea how to pronounce that). But you really, really should go read about what these folks did. On their site you'll find many more samples.

Al Megrahi Release - More...

The Wall Street Journal is very suspicious about the motives for the recent release of Al Megrahi (the Lockerbie bomber):

But Mr. Straw's distinction is the real red-herring: Regardless of which legal fig-leaf Mr. MacAskill chose to employ in releasing Megrahi, the Brown government made clear to Edinburgh, repeatedly, that the issue of Megrahi was subordinate to the U.K.'s "overwhelming interests" in improving the relationship with the Gadhafis. We also know from Libyan officials that those "interests" included commercial oil contracts.

As Scottish Nationalists, Mr. MacAskill and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond might seem unlikely to bow to the British government's wishes. But then we don't know what Scottish "interests," if any, Mr Brown may have put into play to persuade the Scots. Or perhaps Mr. Straw figured that if he muttered "who will rid me of this turbulent prisoner" enough times, the Scots would get the message. Mr. Brown's blanket denials of any involvement by his government in the affair have already proven to be false, and the public deserves to know whether there was, or was not, a quid pro quo.

This is starting to look like a major flapadoodle in UK politics...