Laurel & Hardy

Like many other blogs, a mixture of book reviews, links I found interesting, comments on the day's news.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Tatooine found?


Astronomers find planet with 3 suns.

An artist's drawing of three suns and a Jupiter-sized planet from the perspective of a hypothetical moon orbiting the planet. The large sun is already halfway over the horizon, while the two other suns are still visible in the sky.

Astronomers have detected a planet outside our solar system with not one, but three suns, a finding that challenges astronomers' theories of planetary formation.

The planet, a gas giant slightly larger than Jupiter, orbits the main star of a triple-star system known as HD 188753 in the constellation Cygnus.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Excellent Austen adaptation

Saw Bride and Prejudice this weekend. An excellent movie - a sort of Westernized Bollywood interpretation of Pride and Prejudice by the director of Bend It LIke Beckham. While the 1995 miniseries version of P&P with Jennifer Ehrle and Colin Firth is still my favorite Austen movie, this is definitely my second-favorite.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

1066 and all that

Just finished 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry by Andrew Bridgeford. Very interesting book on the tapestry and the William the Conquerer's invasion of England. I have to admit my own knowledge of that period of history is pretty much limited to 1066 And All That, the old comedic history of England. Bridgeford's thesis is that the tapestry is not a celebration of the Conquest, but has a covert meaning - that it denies William's main claim to the throne and shows that he successed because God was pissed at the English after King Edward broke an oath. I would have to say that his thesis is not proven.

One thing I learned was how obsessed the Nazis, particularly Himmel, were by the Bayeux Tapestry.