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.

Weather control

Inadvertently acquired the Island’s most efficient weather-control system. I turned off the central heating, first week of March, when the month’s outlook brightened considerably from a typically damp and chilly February. Next day, there was a cold snap, and the house’s low-temps gave me a bad case of morning sniffles. Switching the main radiators back on again, I found the sunshine returned, and everyone was going about the Village without coats. OK, so I turned the heating back off, again... and here comes the wind and rain, once more, and this cycle has been going on all month!

Day 5

The following took place between 16 March and 19 March...

Had a DVD blitz with season 5 boxset of TV series 24. Much less action and more drama than previous seasons. As ex-federal agent Jack Bauer, Keifer Sutherland still does his renegade action-man routine, but now the focus has changed noticeably, to examine the various professional motivations, personal struggles, and behind-the-scenes scheming of corrupt politicos, seemingly crazy 'patriots', ambitious or paranoid security guys, and the moral dilemmas faced by conscience-stricken heroes in the Counter-Terrorist Unit (so conveniently situated in Los Angeles, as is the US president's retreat).

It's often been said that 24 works exactly like a comic-book series, and that description applies perfectly to this season's fast-moving plots to release deadly nerve gas in crowded public areas (including a mall and a hospital). Having faked his own death last time around, Jack doesn't care much about breaking rules or laws, nowadays. On this fifth 'worst day' of his life, he even hijacks a plane. Of course, one of the signature facets of 24 is its keen satire of action-thriller cliches, and here there's a violent scene enacted in the seemingly-vulnerable presence of the president himself, and yet it's Jack who turns nasty when he threatens to torture and maim a suspected conspirator from the unidentified league of bad guys (ULoBaG).

This is the key to 24's comicbook narrative style. Criminal masterminds never make their presence known or felt until their sudden appearance or influence on the ongoing investigative storyline brings with it the delicious frisson of peeling away yet another layer of the onion. As a TV serial concept, the impact of ULoBaG on mystery-thriller plots works superbly every time in 24. There's always vital info withheld from viewers, and from our blindsided heroes, of course. We can rarely guess what will happen next, though we might suspect there's more going on, typically concealed in the background details, than is clear at first.

In the sinister drool of season 5, there's a lot of poisonous red herrings, barbed-narrative trapdoors, and auteur misdirection. And what's more, 24 is totally addictive television. How could fans of this show possibly tolerate any weeklong delays between episodes? I felt compelled to put another disc into the DVD player even after watching four episodes in a row. The utterly engrossing plotline, and its array of fascinating characters (even the patently absurd ones!), makes 24 one of the most compulsive viewing experiences yet.