Regarded as the father of modern computing, incredibly influential in the allies winning World War II and scientist of note - Alan Turing was a man who, rightfully, deserves a place in history and the gratitude of Britain - indeed the world.

Unfortunately, due to the un-enlightened attitudes that prevailed at the time, when Turing was revealed to be homosexual and subsequently pilloried, he resorted to suicide in 1954.  The ignominious end that Turing met has always seemed, enormously, out of kilter with his achievements and - many have long believed that he was very badly treated by Britain, it's government and the legal system.

In an attempt to right this perceived wrong, there is currently a petition to the UK government online, worded:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to apologize for the prosecution of Alan Turing that led to his untimely death"

Notwithstanding the american spelling of apologise this is a fantastic idea and I would ask you to sign it - it takes just a moment.  Whilst obviously too late for Turing himself - far better be be remembered and recognised for his enormous contributions, than his sexual preferences,

The petition has been organised by John Graham-Cumming and has elicited a great deal of media interest as well as a great response, in terms of signees.  BBC news cover the petition here.

If you're not familiar with the work of Alan Turing there is a short biography by Andrew Hodges here (don't be put off by the layout).  The Wikipedia Turing entry is here.

Again I would you ask you to sign this petition. It will be available until the 20th of January 2010.

Please let this be the end of the road for the career of Davina McCall...though somehow I think not.

Channel 4 axes Big Brother after 10 years - Channel 4 has announced today that it is ditching Big Brother, ending a decade in which the reality television show has dominated summer viewing.

 [the times]

According to this article Google is now indexing so-called 'Breadcrumbs' on websites that it crawls.  This can only be a good thing - especially for those sites with wide and diverse contents.

WebPronews article

Bounce rate is an important (and sometimes overlooked) SEO factor - this will help immeasurably.

I do not agree with the way children are molly-coddled nowadays.  Children should be allowed the freedom to enjoy themselves, experiment and thereby learn.

I am sure that there are no 'suspicious' circumstances surrounding this tragic death, and that there was no malicious intent when the fatal shot was fired.

Jonathan Cooke, 5, dies after being shot by air rifle while playing  - Times Online

But, how on earth had it been deemed sensible to have a 5 year-old boy anywhere near an air rifle?  Having placed their child in the hands of, supposedly, responsible adults the parents should have been able to rest-assured that he would not have been shot - shouldn't they?  Sure, come home with a broken limb, having fallen from a tree.  Have some cuts and bruises, having fallen off a bike.  But killed in an accident with a weapon?

Very tragic - but eminently avoidable.  I am certain that the adults responsible feel guilty, however, in my opinion - they cannot feel guilty enough.

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