Super-Earth

New 'super-Earth' found
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm

It's over 20 light-years away, but only 1.5 times size of Earth, and orbits close to its dim-bulb star (Gliese 581), inside the system's region where liquid water is a possibility, and life (as we know it) might exist. Certainly, this is one of the most fascinating astronomical discoveries yet!

Mr Benn

Here's a British politician who actually talks a bit of sense! I agree with some of Hilary Benn's moderate socialist views on government, applaud his eminently sensible comments on the so-called ‘war on terror’, and I’m impressed by his common-sense attitude to solving the problems of inequality, but I do think it is quite naïve to rely upon the benevolence of ‘filthy rich’ UK citizens.

If multi-millionaires (billionaires should be outlawed!) fail to offer public-spirited support to charitable causes and ignore encouragement for any significant acts of philanthropy, then – if only for the sake of preventing future social injustice alone - some kind of (discretionary?) ‘super-tax’ on the financial resources of the UK’s top 100 ‘fat cats’ would seem in order to begin the essential process of redistributing the wealth in this country.

Fridge & PC woes

Got a new fridge. Well, the old one's been struggling for while, since repeated knockabout from neighbouring appliance (Hotpoint washer routinely throws a wobbly during spin-cycle start), so I wasn't surprised it died last weekend. Instruction book advice includes a page on "Getting to know your refrigerator". I tried, but it was a one-sided chat.

On Wednesday 4 April, my computer packed up. It just went off, suddenly (no warning blue-screen of death), then wouldn't start. Thankfully, staff in local shop weren't too busy yesterday to fix it (turned out to a simple job, something to do with power supply and a faulty cooling-fan), and it's still under warranty, so that was a great relief.