Woolwich attack: When killers strike, should we listen to what they say? | Jonathan Freedland

Just as Breivik's views on Islam did not deserve a hearing by the right, so the left should not use Woolwich to make its case on foreign policyThe killers got their bloody hands on the front page first, but they struggled to keep the public's attention. On Friday, the focus moved to Lee Rigby, the man they killed, and the family he left behind. It was his face that stared from page one, the sobbing of his wife heard on the radio news.Even on the previous day, when the victim was still nameless,... [continue]

Top 10 budget hotels, B&Bs and hostels in Portland, Oregon

Portland's budget hotels include a former bathhouse with a rock'n'roll vibe, art-stuffed B&Bs, and a bike-friendly hostelJupiter HotelThis mid-century motor inn has been turned into a boutique hotel in the heart of Portland – think classic motel with ultra-modern glass and steel facelift somewhere between Twin Peaks and a cosmopolitan truck stop – and is just minutes from downtown. The 80 minimalist rooms have murals ranging from forest scenes to Spider-Man and John Lennon. It's a... [continue]

The rot has set into the high street as we opt for Tesco over local grocers | Deborah Orr

Buy something locally and the money stays put, but opt for a chain supermarket and profits go elsewherePeople in Britain are purchasing less food than they have for 10 years, according to the Office for National Statistics. Prior to the financial crash, food sales had been rising steadily for a generation. This statistic may sound bleak. The rise of food banks confirms that people in this country are going hungry. But the main reason for the decline in food sales is much more likely to be that... [continue]

Lohengrin – review

Wales Millennium Centre, CardiffWelsh National Opera is building its summer season around the Wagner bicentenary. Next week it gives the British stage premiere of Jonathan Harvey's final opera, Wagner Dream, but most of its resources have gone into a new production of Lohengrin, directed and designed by Antony McDonald and conducted by the company's music director, Lothar Koenigs.It is a solidly impressive, if slightly circumscribed, achievement. McDonald has transplanted the action to a hazily... [continue]

US laws criminalizing sex between 18 and 14-year-olds are ridiculous | Nancy Goldstein

People are rightly outraged that a young Florida woman is charged with breaking the law for dating a 14-year-old girlHere's an inconvenient truth about the Kaitlyn Hunt case — the one in Florida where an 18-year-old faces a "lewd and lascivious battery" felony charge for having had a consensual sexual relationship with her 14-year-old girlfriend. Note that it's also routine for 18-year-olds to be charged with "L&L" for having heterosexual sex with their 14-year-old partners in Florida and... [continue]

Neuroscience v rocket science: which is biggest and best? | Dean Burnett

When people emphasise how complicated something is, they often compare it to either one or the other, but which one wins?If someone wants to emphasise the simplicity of a task or process, a common tactic is to compare it to either brain surgery or rocket science. So, it appears that being a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist is considered equal in terms of complexity and achievement. Is this fair? What are the odds that two completely different disciplines with totally different goals and aims... [continue]

Link: Mozilla Developer Network: DOM Developer Guide

The Document Object Model is an API for HTML and XML documents. It provides a structural representation of the document, enabling the developer to modify its content and visual presentation. Essentially, it connects web pages to scripts or programming languages. [continue]

Boards of Canada: Reach for the Dead (from "Tomorrow's Harvest," 2013)

A first music video from the long-awaited new album 'Tomorrow's Harvest' by Boards of Canada.     [continue]

What is your "most outdated device"

Rob Walker says: "For Yahoo News, I asked a bunch of smart tech writers (Kevin Kelly, Alexis Madrigal, Jenna Wortham, Douglas Rushkoff, etc.) to reveal their 'most outdated' device. Readers are offering some amusing responses of their own." (Shown here: Kevin Kelly's phone.)     [continue]

Behind the Candelabra proves it: our greatest romances are gay | Tom Shone

As Soderbergh's Liberace biopic hits our screens, why is it that homosexual love stories now work so much better than hetero?I know where I'll be Sunday night. The reviews coming out of Cannes for Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, which airs on HBO on Sunday night, have turned it into must-see TV. We might have been able to guess that Soderbergh's take on the kitsch-addicted superstar would turn out to be "mesmeric, riskily incorrect, outrageously watchable and simply... [continue]