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He belonged to none of those numerous societies that proliferate in the English capital, from the Harmonic Society down to the Entomological Society, whose main purpose is the destruction of harmful insects.

Jules Verne

As the ship neared the tropics and the heat, boredom and gossip intensified, so too did the tensions, both alimentary and sexual. The filth in first class was as bad as it was in the third - from the shy newlyweds who kept half the ship awake by “reciting Spanish verbs” in their cabin at night, to the opera tenor who cruised the lower decks for peasant beauties, to the Swiss-Italian woman in black silk stockings who gaily betrayed her bookish husband with the Argentinian politician, the Tuscan adolescent and the opera tenor. As the old hunchback commented in despair, “Se ‘e porcaie pesassan, saiescimo zà a fondo”: “If filth was heavy, we’d be on the bottom already.”

John Dickie

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” or should that have been “One small step for a man”? Neil Armstrong has always said he thought that’s what he said […] so, rather than fluffing those famous lines, Neil Armstrong poetically, and perhaps perfectly, captured one of humanity’s most epic moments.

Three pairs of male penguins had been seen attempting to mate with each other and trying to hatch offspring from stones. The zoo flew in four females in a bid to get the endangered birds to reproduce - but quickly abandoned the scheme after causing outrage among gay rights activists.

Working with the artist comes first and making money is a happy accident that comes afterwards; hopefully.

Met Jonathan Ive, chief designer for Apple. Impressive, lovely man. It feels wrong to tweet about him on my Blackberry.