scott_sanford

I was out walking the other day on an ordinary suburban street and I heard a soft quiet thump from just behind me. Puzzled, I looked back - nothing had been there a moment ago. Once I thought to look down all was explained; there was a small bird in the grass, on its back with its legs sticking up in an overly dramatic way. As I watch it twitched several times, getting less energetic over time. The situation was pretty obvious.

This shouldn't be too surprising, given the number of birds and their short average lifespan - but we rarely see it happen right in front of us.

Damn. It seems Dennis Ritchie passed away the other day.

* "Usenet is a strange place."
* "UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity."
* "C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success."
* C has "the power of assembly language and the convenience of... assembly language."

BBC: It is with much sadness that we can announce Elisabeth Sladen, the much-loved actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and CBBC's The Sarah Jane Adventures, passed away this morning. She was 63.

Today we lost Elizabeth Sladen, known to Whovians as Sarah Jane Smith. The BBC reports she had been fighting cancer some time. (Her recent work certainly didn't show it.) She traveled the universe with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker as one of the Doctor's longest running and most popular companions, and in later years met the 10th and 11th Doctors, and got her own spinoff show, the Sarah Jane Adventures.

You can also read reports at io9, the Tardis Wikia, and elsewhere.

It's a rare day when I have something to say to the world via LiveJournal, but today I'm missing Benoit Mandelbrot, recently departed into a more abstract mathematical realm via natural causes.
 
I'm sure his grave will have a finite area - but please don't ask me to measure the perimeter.