Events

One of the few remaining British Airways Concorde airplanes is parked on the east side of Heathrow, and last Sunday my plane taxied right past it: I remember, going to school outside New York, watching that thing fly over campus at 9am after leaving London at noon. That was cool.

One of my more scientific friends has identified yesterday's spider as Araneus Diadematus, literally a garden-variety orb weaver, and named her Gladys Weaver. Happy hunting, Gladys.

Saw this about two hours ago in my neighborhood. Can anyone identify the species? She was about 70 mm across, with a 25 mm body. Not something I'd want to discover in my kitchen.

I meant to post this a couple of days ago, but time got away from me:

After struggling for almost two weeks to learn AngularJS and other technologies, I've gotten BlogEngine.NET (which will replace DasBlog as the Daily Parker's platform) to do geography and time zones the way I want them. (Notice the time stamp and globe icon at the bottom of this post.) Specifically, last night I got the clickable Google Map on the Edit Post page to work. Sometimes I like learning new technology. This was a lot less painful than some I've taken up, with only a couple of blind alleys and...

Senate Democrats blocked a Republican move to kill the Iran nuclear deal, meaning it's pretty much done: The outcome means the disapproval resolution will not reach Obama's desk, and the nuclear deal will move forward unchecked by Congress. Senate Republicans are vowing they'll keep on fighting. House Republicans also are still maneuvering to find a way to stop the international agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program. But those efforts seem unlikely to produce results. The deal, which Israel's...

I lost my Kindle on the flight to London last week, and only just got its replacement yesterday afternoon. Good thing, too, because I'm loading it up with articles I can't read until later: Anthropologists have discovered a new human species and it's weird. A Federal investigation into New Jersey politics that led to United Airlines' CEO resigning started with an unprofitable weekly flight that the airline allegedly scheduled to bribe an official. (Aviation, politics, and corrupt Republicans...total...

Today, Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, has just moments ago become the longest-reigning monarch in British English history: At exactly what time Her Majesty out-reigns her great-great grandmother is not precise, due to the uncertainty of the timing of the death of her father, George VI, who died in his sleep. But Buckingham Palace has estimated, to be absolutely safe, she will pass...

First, here's the view from The Black Rabbit in Arundel: Second, here's how you can park a Mini in London: All for now; first day back at work after the holiday.

Long-time readers may remember my shaky association with South Downs livestock, in particular the time I got run off a public footpath by several tons of angry beef. Yesterday, I put to test what my more agriculturally-minded friends have told me often: cows are easily intimidated. Yesterday's walk through West Sussex included sections of public footpaths on which many enormous animals were grazing. In particular, one section of the walk went about 200 m straight across an open field with absolutely no...