h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

More detail on Dieselgate http://jalopnik.com/your-guide-to-dieselgate-volkswagens-diesel-cheating-c-1731857018

Nothing new here - a statistical analysis of gun crime in the US:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34424385

I found the final chart the most revealing - a comparison between gun-related and terrorism-related deaths.

I know it's the Onion, but this writes itself http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-36131

Good to see parasitologists winning the Nobel Prize.

Good to see an Irishman among them, too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34441744

A cure for malaria will make a huge difference; it is one of the biggest killers still.

One for science photography fans: the shortlist for the The Royal Society of Biology's Photographer of the Year award.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34428966

Don't miss the snails infected with parasitic flatworms...

I think this is the most horrifying thing I've read since 1984.

http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/chinas-nightmarish-citizen-scores-are-warning-americans

That is truly shocking.

So is this

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/07/david-cameron-accuses-jeremy-corbyn-of-britain-hating-ideology

I watched, retching, as David Cameron made his personal attack on Jeremy Corbyn yesterday. The reporter said afterwards 'he seems almost overcome with emotion'. Too much to hope it was consciousness of his egregious malicious falsehood.

Here's a good response: Why is Corbyn reviled for making the same bin Laden comments as Boris Johnson?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-ridley/jeremy-corbyn-osama-bin-laden-boris-johnson_b_8263040.html

A lot of other people are posting pictures of Cameron saying "The death of bin Laden was a tragedy." Well, yes, he did say it. Who needs context when you have a killer quote?

Henry V's warship discovered beneath the mud of a Hampshire river:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-34503044

I don't think this is a particularly new story - Time Team dug it a few years ago - but maybe the identification has been confirmed.

I didn't read the link yet but as far as I read on an Austrian news page they now found a different one very close to the first.

More photography - this time the Wildlife Photographer of the Year:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34520185

Is it me, or has it got a lot more artistic at the expense of the science?

Stephen Fry steps down as QI host:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34528586

BBCAmerica ran all of maybe two episodes of QI before they cancelled it earlier this year.

I have to rely on finding episodes on the YouTubes before they go away.

At least now I have a finite number to watch. While I like Sandi Toksvig, that's enough of a shark jump that I'll probably not continue after her takeover.

I don't really see Sandi Toksvig as a natural replacement for Stephen Fry. I guess time will tell.

I don't think there exists a natural replacement for SF.

Sandi T's very personable, and brainy, too, so she should be able to deal with the mechanics of the show. I think it'll still be watchable.

Sandi is the best candidate. She can carry the role of genial know-all so well, we won't notice the earpiece feeding the stream of scintillating extra facts.

It must have become painful for Stephen and Alan Davies to carry on the roles of Sir and Cheeky Schoolboy so long.

Parents who take children on holiday in term time have "nothing to fear", a man at the centre of a legal battle says.

Jon Platt, from the Isle of Wight, was taken to court after refusing to pay a £120 fine for taking his six-year-old daughter to Florida in April, but the case was thrown out by magistrates.

Mr Platt argued the law only requires children to attend school regularly.

Isle of Wight Council said it was following government guidance and was reviewing the outcome of the case.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-34543101?SThisFB

You can attend school every day that it's open, and still have a bad education.

You can have a few holidays mid-term, apply yourself when you are there, and get a good education.

The problem here isn't the (non)attendance, it's the poor attempt to legislate learning.

My family did for a visit to Yosemite to see the ice breaking up on the Merced River spring of 1963.

There was a requirement that tbe kids keep up on their reading and homework.

I returned to find I was 4 weeks ahead of the class.