I’m not at all surprised that someone with the sort of commitment and passion for his subject as Patrick is also using some of the newest technologies to communicate.

Work No 850 is the latest piece by Martin Creed, who has been commissioned to fill the long space known as the Duveen Galleries. For the next four months, people will sprint as fast as they can through the gallery at 30-second intervals. Fifty amateurs are each being paid £10 an hour to dash through the Tate – each sprint lasts about 15 seconds.

How very original…

(to anyone not familiar, that’s Godard’s Bande a Parte which was made over 40 years ago).

Pub closures are running at 27 a week, according to the BBPA, amounting to some 1,200 that have been forced out of business over the last 12 months.

From a purely utilitarian point of view, what’s that in job terms? OK - you’ve got the publican, his wife, probably a couple more bar staff and the cleaner. Then, there’s the jobs supporting the pub - The people who brew the beer, the people who make jars of pickled eggs, refurbish it occassionally.

So, let’s say 5 people per pub?

So, for the sake of the 52 bar workers a year who are estimated to die from passive smoking (Imperial College), the government has destroyed the livelihood of 6,000 people (and of course, some of those 6,000 will expose themselves to different risks).

London will host a free party in the Mall on 24 August to celebrate the handover of the Olympic Games from Beijing to London, the 2012 hosts.

…

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “I’m suspicious of any state-sponsored effort to encourage any national mood of euphoria, but looking at what’s going to be in store for us on the 24th I can say it will be a great party.

Boris normally manages to keep his statements opposing the nanny state separate from his actions supporting it’s growth, but in this case he’s truly excelled himself and managed to put them together in one sentence.

The tories are already having a field day over this.

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Is this a good idea?

Asus have just released a new, faster Eee PC. MSI have their Wind PC. HP have the Mini-note, and Dell seem to have a rather smart looking PC in development.

Another thing about these machines is that they seem to be offering a choice of operating systems in a more upfront manner than these manufacturers have previously done. In the past, the Linux choice could be had, but was tucked away. These machines seem to be far more willing to show the choice.

I think that because consumers won’t see them as their prime machine, and more as something for travelling, checking email and so on, they’ll view them more as hard-wired computers in the same way that an iPod or mobile phone is. OpenOffice.org will be there, a browser will be there, email will be there. And this means that there won’t be quite the same expectation of Windows-compatibility. Windows will also be a large ratio on the price, so you’ll get more from the Linux model.

Would you buy one of these PCs as a main machine, or maybe as a second one?

It is also a huge responsibility for the World Anti-Doping Agency, because many of the athletes who have now had to admit to using banned substances never tested positive.

It’s a good read. When someone of the stature of Michael Johnson admits that he was naive about the level of doping in the sport, it should be a wake up call to everyone with a love of athletics.