Up first, it seems the Brits are all abuzz over finding Richard III’s corpse. We Yanks shouldn’t be surprised, remember the Princess Diana crap? As if she really did anything to make the UK a better place or defeat a vicious enemy like Churchill or King Arthur. Through actual Brits and Terry Jones’ shows about the Middle Ages, I’ve learned that Richard was mostly demonized by Shakespeare who was prone to writing pro-Tudor propaganda. Despite his brief rule (two years), this king brought many reforms which endeared him to the poor. Gives me mixed feelings about Richard being the last Plantagenet; I always found his ancestors to egregious rulers, especially Richard the Lionhearted. The UK press had some good editorials too. Economist did an obituary saying he was the last king to die in battle (learned something there). Makes sense though, the successors, namely Henry VIII, were slowly eaten away by syphilis or America divorcees. The Guardian had a historian saying the body’s discovery won’t end the debate between those who put Richard III on a pedestal versus the camp saying the former Lord Protector had his nephews murdered in the Tower of London to get the job. I do see some parallels in America. Henry VII, the winner at Bosworth and founder of the Tudor dynasty (a Medieval nouveau riche clan), went on to rule poorly, strapped the nation with debt and was a greedy SOB. I wonder if he also started two unfunded wars before he died. I will always enjoy Ian McKellan’s version, inaccuracy and all.
Yet another earth-like planet was found about 13 light years away. Whatever. The media has cried wolf too much to care and I didn’t bother to get the details because its mass is probably incapable of human life. Wake me when we have a confirmation of a earth-like world orbiting Alpha Centauri A, the best candidate to colonize/explore.
A new prime number was discovered. Now this was pretty cool. It’s over 17 million digits long and if you typed it out, the number would be a 23 MB file.