A giant of 20th century mathematics died on Friday, Benoît Mandelbrot, the man who gave prominence to the theory of fractal geometry.
(This item is my contribution to Blog Action Day 2010, whose topic this year is "Water".)
Australia is being confronted with a national dilemma which has a major impact on its society and the environment, and it will take a huge amount of wisdom, courage, co-operation and, yes, pain to reach a stable outcome.
Kenya's upset of the West Indies. Ireland's giant-killing of Pakistan. Moments in the sun for Canada, Bermuda, the Netherlands and others. Sri Lanka's rise from minnows to champions. Even Afghanistan's near-miss at joining the club. All these things could be consigned to the trashcan of history with the ICC approving a recommendation to downsize the Cricket World Cup.
Does the sporting world really need a Commonwealth Games every four years? Is it worth the trouble, the cost, the sporting overkill, the anachronistic vestages of empire? You can probably tell which way I'm leading these questions.