Month: April 2003

  • Guantanamo Bay

    As we learn that the Americans have caputered Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi deputy prime minister, we must begin to wonder where in the world he’s likely to be held. And Guantanamo Bay seems the likeliest destination. The front page of this morning’s Guardian carries a report that the Americans are shamefully holding children they captured…

  • Sugar

    Well I used a tablespoon and a half of it today in my (very successful) first attempt at breadmaking, but I need to ensure that I don’t let sugar exceed 10% of my diet according to a new report published jointly by the WHO and the FAO. This report has incensed the US sugar industry…

  • Music Collector

    I’ve just returned to a program that I first got interested in a couple of years ago – Music Collector. The idea is that it keeps a database of all my CD music (and indeed any other music that I have). The really clever part is that it can batch scan CD TOCs and then…

  • Breadmaking

    OK – I bit the bullet. I bought a breadmaker – a ridiculously cheap breadmaker. I got it from Woolies for �19.99. They’d reduced it successively from �39.99 to �29.99 to �24.99, until finally I deemed it cheap enought. I bought some flour, yeast and other bits and bobs, and as I type, I’m theoretically…

  • American TV to Iraq

    Just watched an entertaining piece about US efforts to present themselves to the Iraqis by rebroadcasting American news programming locally with Arabic voiceovers. The Guardian had a similar story this morning. Although ironically, ABC was showing an interview with The Dixie Chicks over their comments about the war and their feelings about Bush. (Incidentally, their…

  • The White Lioness

    I read this whilst studiously avoiding The Guardian’s review last Saturday, when I saw “Reviewers of thrillers usually remain tactfully reticent about plot details” in the first line. To be fair, when I came back to the review after reading the book, it wasn’t as bad as I thought in terms of giving away the…

  • Arsenal

    I’ve managed to avoid talking too much about Arsenal recently. It’s half-time just now, with Arsenal still drawing Middlesbrough 0-0 at the Riverside, while Man Utd are 2-1 up against Blackburn. The match on Wednesday night between the two was a tempestuous affair, and it was disappointing that we were unable to win it. Still…

  • Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA

    This was a wonderful book, that I’ve been looking forward to since it came out in hardback last year. I was a bit uncertain when I realised that the author, Brenda Maddox, publishes a new book every couple of years (her biog of Maggie Thatcher has just been published), but I needn’t have worried. Next…

  • The Aftermath of Iraq

    I simply don’t understand why it’s happening. I can understand a good deal of the looting of public buildings, palaces and the like. By why was the National Museum destroyed. Every so often I think about the works that were lost for all time in Library of Alexandria. Somehow the destruction of libraries and museums…

  • Harry Bowie

    And another small piece of news is the fact that I have a new nephew! Bobby and particularly Becky have just had a new baby. He was born last Wednesday at 3 something in the afternoon. He’s 7lb 13.5oz and 58cm long at birth. I went down to see him on Saturday, when poor Becky…

  • Jael and Andrew

    The majority of the 150+ photos I took are now available online at www.jaelandandrew.co.uk

  • More DNA

    Lots of DNA news happening at the moment. As I said, I’ve just started the Rosalind Franklin biography, someone I’ve been interested in ever since I saw Life Story back in 1987. There’s also the small fact that it’s the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the makeup of DNA. The full model has just…