Dr Laura James's writings

It's Ada Lovelace day today, and just like last year , I am pondering whom to blog about. On the CARET blog , today we've featured our wonderful technical women, and I'm proud that without any positive discrimination our small department has managed to hire so many. If you've been wondering why we celebrate Ada Lovelace, there is history on the Finding Ada site. But in recent weeks I have been reading the wonderful stories of Sydney Padua , who is crafting splendid comics from the real history of Lovelace and Babbage, and giving them exciting lives in a parallel universe where they succeeded in realising their early potential. Their true histories shine through, though, in scholarly footnotes, from Babbage's real anecdote about cheese to economic commentary . So, which woman working with technology will I blog about this Ada Lovelace day? I shall go off the beaten track, here, and nominate my mother . (Hi Mum!) Mum is not only on FaceBook, twittering ...

Yesterday was my friend Robert Priddey's funeral. He was only 34, and his sudden death in hospital was a huge shock. Funeral services are always hard, and for someone who has died with so much unrealised potential even more so. Robert's family had done an incredible job during the worst of times to pull together a lovely service, punctuated with Robert's own poetry and music compositions, as well as moving tributes. It was particularly special to hear more of his music, including the startlingly beautiful Tinnitus Siderium, the pianola track produced by converting the layout of stars of the night sky directly into a score, and the only composition of his I had heard before. There were many periods of silence, as even when filtering in and out of the crematorium, it seemed like the crowd had no words to fill the gaps. And it was a crowd - every seat was taken - and rightfully so, as even a hall packed with weeping women could not have done justice to Robert's wonderful ...

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