General bits and pieces

New lifeline for Bletchley Park
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7710966.stm

Featured Book Review: Fast Ships, Black Sails
"Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake by Naomi Novik, which is the best story in the collection. In this wondrously written tale, Novik shows to what lengths the Lady Araminta will go to escape the constraints her future society have placed upon her life."
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/books/features/article_1439654.php/Featured_Book_Review_Fast_Ships_Black_Sails_

How useless is a Chocolate Teapot?
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/kitchen-science/exp/how-useless-is-a-chocolate-teapot/

Tolkien bits and pieces

Poole Tolkien Artifacts on Display Soon
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/11/05/30489-poole-tolkien-artifacts-on-display-soon/

Tolkien, Myth, and Fantasy: Verlyn Flieger Interview
http://journeytothesea.com/tolkien-flieger/

Writer's voices: listen to rare recordings from the British Library
"JRR Tolkien, interviewed in the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, has an amiably wheezy, pipe-smoking laugh, and is not nearly so much the old curmudgeon you might imagine."
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/audio_books/article5040417.ece

Relics from Cardinal Newman's grave go on show
"Worthy of JRR Tolkien, who was the schoolboy ward of an oratory priest and may have taken the name of his Elvish haven Rivendell from Rednal"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/01/catholicism-religion-cardinal-newman-sainthood

ETA: john_rateliff on "A Brief History of Tolkien RPGs"
http://syndicated.livejournal.com/john_rateliff/36367.html
http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2008/11/brief-history-of-tolkien-rpgs.html

More on the "Born of Hope" film
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Born-of-Hope-Lord-Of-The-Rings-New-Film-Inspired-By-Trilogy-Being-Made/Article/200811115145251?lpos=Showbiz_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15145251_Born_of_Hope%3A_Lord_Of_The_Rings%3A_New_Film_Inspired_By_Trilogy_Being_Made