The America Senate is debating a bill to deal with internet piracy. I absolutely do not support piracy. I’ve had my photos and stories stolen, and I hate it. But this bill is a seriously dumb approach to the problem. It makes it far, far far too easy to shut down a site. Say someone else writes a book on the same topic as me, and they’re getting more sales….
I just dropped my son off at a camp on the other side of the island. He’ll only be gone for two nights, but it does mean that I don’t have to get home by 2 pm tomorrow or Friday. Of course I could fill the two days twenty times over, but I should manage a bit of exploring.
This photograph was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990. It’s called “The Pale Blue Dot“. The coloured streaks in this photo are reflections of the sun inside the camera. The Earth itself is the bright dot in the rightmost streak, about halfway up. One pixel. I’m one of seven billion people sharing that dot, and I’ve ridden it fifty times around the sun. Seeing it so very small makes me…
My ebook, “A Breathtaking Window on the Universe: a guide to the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory” will be on sale in few months. It explains why the observatory is on La Palma and how a telescope works, and gives details of each telescope, plus many anecdotes and over 60 photos. You can get full details on this site as soon as they’re available.
Tuesday 17th is the fiesta of San Antonio Abad (St. Anthony the Abbot) in Fuencaliente, and at midday the priest holds a special, traditional service to bless the animals in the church square. I went a couple of years ago, out of curiosity. I didn’t know whether to expect pets or farm animals, but there was a charnming selection of both. At twelve promptly, the priest came out, gave a…
Today I went to visit friends on the other side of the island. I took I took the jumper I’d knitted to little John. Luckily it fits perfectly, and both him and his Mum are pleased with it. Actually, I’m pleased with it too. I had a wonderful time playing with little John. Then I showed his Mum, Nikki, my new Kindle. One of the few books I’ve got on…