Roscoe's Public Notes

I took the afternoon off today to attend a symposium on Science Fiction as a Literary Genre at Gresham College. However, the main reason I went was because Neal Stephenson (author of Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, Quicksilver, etc) was the keynote speaker. Aside from being one of my favourite science fiction authors, Neal is also an excellent speaker. I last saw him give a talk at Trinity College in Cambridge a few years ago, and since he rarely makes public appearances, I was looking forward to today. …

[Neal Stephenson has long been one of my favorite authors, too. Chris's blog post offers a great review of Stephenson's speech titled, "The Fork: Science Fiction versus Mundane Culture". -R]

Hezbollah gunmen seized control of west Beirut on Friday after a third day of battles with pro-government foes in the Lebanese capital pushed the nation dangerously close to all-out civil war.

The sectarian fighting had eased by early afternoon as the army and police moved across areas now in the hands of Shiite opposition forces who routed Sunni militants loyal to the Western-backed government.

“There are no clashes anymore because no one is standing in the way of the opposition forces,” a security official said on condition of anonymity. …

Scientists at the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, have recently completed dissections of several enormous squids, including pieces of a colossal squid — the largest invertebrate ever caught. The female specimen weighs more than 1,000 pounds and measures 26 feet long.

[Lots of cool autopsy photos here. -R]

INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar racing’s biggest name was emotionally shaken Friday as Danica Patrick was involved in an incident on pit lane during Friday’s practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when her car hit a crew member from another team in pit lane.

Patrick, who gained fame as the first female driver ever to win in a major close-course racing series when the IndyCar driver drove to victory at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan on April 19, came into the pits and hit Charles (Chuck) Buckman, the chief mechanic for Brazilian driver Mario Moraes at Dale Coyne Racing. …

[A full read of the article indicates Danica did nothing wrong. Pit Lane was very congested and Buckman stepped right in front of her race car. -R]

May 9 (Bloomberg) — Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is struggling to attract money from some of the same industries that helped bankroll President George W. Bush’s record-setting fundraising.

Employees from the securities, construction, pharmaceutical and energy industries, who accounted for about a tenth of Bush’s money in 2004, are turned off by his record and giving more to his Democratic rivals, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

“A significant percentage of your base Republican support, whether financial or otherwise, are not fans of McCain because of various things he’s done or said or sponsored,” said Republican consultant Eddie Mahe, who is supporting the Arizona senator. “Many of them don’t see Mr. McCain as being a lot better” than the Democrats.

[You can count me as one of those Republicans who doesn't see McCain as being better Presidential material than the Democrat candidates. -R]