That Day This year's goodwill story. Easter eggs are good for you:

"Researchers at Dundee University have found that eating dark chocolate can help prevent blood clots, which cause strokes and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). But the research is bad news for lovers of milk chocolate because the benefits are only contained in the dark variety."

Story headline: "Eggheads find reason to look on dark side"

Sport Jaw drops history rewritten:

"Ben Johnson's manager says the sprinter will pursue legal action following the revelation Carl Lewis was allowed to compete at the 1988 Olympics despite testing positive for a banned substance.

Morris Chrobotek told an Australian newspaper that Lewis should have his medal taken away just like Ben, and he should come out and say what really happened.

But would that mean Linford Christie would then win a gold medal for a race he ran fifteenish years ago?

Music Now Albums have only recently been introduced in the US, but for British children of the 1980s they were a cost effective way of getting decent recordings to replace the taped off the radio copies of popular chart tracks. I'm awash with nostalgia as I glance through TV Cream's survey of the first twenty; come on, surely you remember Men Without Hats and Fiction Factory?

War So the 'situation' has dropped like a stone from the news agenda; the embeds are coming home and it's all over literally bar the shouting. I was firmly against the war, and it does appear to have been a case of trying to get the job done as quickly as possible, no matter the sweat or casualties. It used to be there would be months or years of conflict. Now everything can be finished quicker than a film shoot. But unlike a movie, there is no moral. But as John Simpson says in the summing up page for the BBC Reporters blog:

"Everywhere you go in Iraq, people are increasingly saying the same thing: they are happy that Saddam is gone but they do not want American or British soldiers in their country."

Are we suddenly not able to let the country we liberated take care of itself?

Software I'm discovery the joys of Real One, or rather I'm trying out the Real player as my primary media software. So far, so good. The playlist section seems as flexible as iPod (or a close enough aproximation) and magically it can handle Apple .mov files and unlike their bit can actually play them full screen (not too much to ask surely). Being able to have everything on the disc by a particular artist or in a genre feels like magic to me. I do wish it had an auto update feature. Perhaps it does. Perhaps I've missed it. Do let me know.

[That post seems a bit clunky to me. It's been a few weeks since I've written anything here so I must be out of practice ...]

Maths



BBC Four might be a place to think, but it doesn't mean they can add up ...

Life I had planned to post at length today, but between the buttery hot cross buns and trying to get this other thing finished time just slipped away. If you really are starved for company you could look at this prize winning review (what again?) of the new comic book 'Miranda' at The Collective ...

Film Don't believe the rumours. Tobey Maguire is back for Spiderman 2 (at a cost of $17 million apparently). Here are the not so exciting photos to prove it. And the eye witness reports.

Photography I know it isn't much after an almost absense of almost a week, but ... Moby does The Mirror Project.

Life I am still about, but I'm working on another project which I'm trying to get completed before a deadline which is looming large on the horizon. I will recommend that next time someone tells you that you need to eat five pieces of fruit in a day it really isn't something to be attempted in one sitting. I was fine after the two apples, and the plum went down well, but I could only bare half a pear and the banana pretty much finished me off ... regular movements will begin again shortly ...