Ireland OKs EU Expansion Eastward [AP World News] Yet again an article suggesting this was the sole subject of the Irish vote and the reason the Nice Treaty was so hotly debated. Most of the time, it was not; most Irish people (correctly) accepted expansion would go forward regardless of the vote (I spoke to a senior US analyst who had been told this by top EU officials). The Guardian takes a similar angle: Europe project gets green light.
9:15:56 AM  #   your two cents []

For those interested in a write up of the rivetting Murray Gell-Mann lecture and the quaternion birthday celebration (noted below), Wired News should have my story up between today and Wed. or so. I liked this comment he made about 19th c. Irish mathematician, William Rowan Hamilton (the inspiration for the lecture): "Hamilton wrote masses of bad verse which he sent off to Wordsworth, who advised him to stick to mathematics, physics and astronomy."

9:08:41 AM  #   your two cents []

Douglas Adams. "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." [Quotes of the Day]
9:06:28 AM  #   your two cents []

Departure day for Durban, South Africa, armed with two guidebooks, my Powerpoint presentation, malaria tablets, and clothes to suit work, beach, safari and hiking all squished into a little roll-on suitcase. Don't ask how; I just hope there's an iron at the end of the road. I don't know if I'm more excited about game reserves or being on So Africa's 'Dolphin Coast' with its fantastic snorkelling and diving. Certainly I'm looking forward to learning more about this country, which I only know from news reports and literature.
9:05:48 AM  #   your two cents []