My Web Comics...

I've been lifelong comic reader, starting with Peanuts, Giles and Thelwell but then graduating to the delights of The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County. In many ways they were as influential to me as all the conventional books I read as among their humour was much wisdom.

With such strong early influences it's little wonder that I've kept on reading cartoons though I've transferred my allegiance from the funny pages to the web comic. I think that this is because syndicated cartoons have lost their way - both as a result of lack of courage and the pressures of the modern newspaper business.

I now regularly read a number of web comics and I would recommend these whole heartedly to anyone:

• Butternutquash - Telling the tales of a group of friends that hang around a comic strip. It is far more cynical than you would expect but always funny. I love the Narcoleptic Dog.
• Ctrl+Alt+Del - A delightfully odd ball comic strip following the personal and imaginary life of a dedicated gamer.
• Diesel Sweeties - The life and loves of an assorted group of people, including a fading porn actress her sometime boyfriend - a robot, a chronic hipster, a Canadian, a very disturbing furry and the list goes on. This comic strip has resulted in some of my favourite T-Shirts.
• Girl Genius - A gloriously drawn story of an orphaned. young woman who discovers that she has inherited the 'Spark' from her parents; the ability to build amazing steam-punk devices. This is a complex and involving tale set in a richly realised world.
• Gunnerkrigg Court - I only discovered this recently - A comic that becomes more beautiful as the artist develops his skill. telling the story of a conflict between science and magic through the eyes of a young girl thrown into the middle.
• Kukuburi - By the artist of Butternutsquash. Again a fabulously beautiful comic strip set in a seemingly dream world. Now sadly on hiatus but well worth reading.
• Orneryboy - A richly humorous gothic story about a couple who live with Brian the Zombie and three cats, one of whom is a ghost.
• Penny Arcade - A pure geek gamers comic strip but highly entertaining if you get the jokes. I'm a particular fan of Catsby and Twisp who crop up from time to time.
• PvP - The Godfather of web comics. Many web cartoonists cite Scott Kurtz as their influence both artistically and professionally. He is credited with pioneering making web cartooning a viable career. The comic itself follows the adventures of a bunch of journalists working at a games magazine.
• Scary-Go-Round - A very British comic strip and all the better for it. Over the years it has mutated but always centres around ordinary people living very un-ordinary lives.
• Sluggy Freelance - For a comic strip that started as a little story about a group of house mates this has developed into one of the richest and most perpetually rewarding comic strips that I read. Dimension hopping, big guns and humour make this a firm favourite. One character in particular should always be mentioned: Bun-Bun a psychotic dwarf lop rabbit with a flick-knife.
• The Abominable Charles Christopher - Tough to describe as it follows the perambulations of a perpetually innocent hairy beast that is largely man-shaped. He says nothing but still converses freely with the animals of the forest. Just before the summer break he has found himself face to face with a human town. I love it for the art and the crazy animal characters.
• User Friendly - One of the oldest web comics. I was introduced to this many years ago by my friend Neil. Gloriously anarchic tales told of an Internet Service Provider's support team with occasional visits by characters of the Cthulhu pantheon.

I have read many more over the years but these are particular favourites. What web comics do you read and if not why not?

Some New Social Networking Infrastructure

I'm a long time Facebook and LinkedIn user but as part of my involvement in developing Cazcade I've had to get my feet wet with Twitter.

I've been running FlipBoard for a while and I've found an outlet for sharing what I find on it by adding my Twitter account. I've now joined my blog to my Twitter account by using TwitterFeed and this post will test the whole process.

Twittering is very addictive and I suspect that I will begin to make more and more use of Twitter both to publish and consume content. Certainly Twitter together with FlipBoard makes consumption entirely easy and pleasurable. I'm very keen to bring together a number of my favourite RSS feeds in one place and read them in FlipBoard which has yet to have direct RSS support so TwitterFeed will be further utilised to aggregate them into one Twitter account.

What's interesting to me is how Cazcade fits into all of this. FlipBoard provides a brilliant mechanism for consuming and re-tweeting individual pieces of information. The limitation is that this is a piecemeal mechanism, you can only present one piece of information at a time. Cazcade's analogy by contrast allows you to accumulate various sources (web pages, videos, images and Twitter) into pools and present the information as a wider vision or argument and then pass them on via Twitter.

Cazcade is attempting to provide a mechanism above and beyond the current transient social network conversations.

The question I am asking myself is whether this will meet an unsatisfied need. Only time will tell.

Lyrical Ambiguity in the Kinks' Lola

I greatly enjoy a number of the Kinks songs, they were a brilliant group that created a number of classics that still resonate today.

One thing that always makes me stop and wonder is how many people believe firmly that they know the gender of Lola.

To me it seems that they have missed the brilliance of the lyrical ambiguity. The lines that really seem to be misunderstood are: "But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man and so is Lola.". Most people I talk to who have yet to get it believe firmly that the lines indicate that Lola is a man.

This interpretation arises from the belief that "so is Lola" refers to the fragment "I'm a man". This is a perfectly valid interpretation of the lyric but ignores another equally valid interpretation.

There is another fragment that could be referred to by "so is Lola"; "I'm glad I'm a man". If this is the reference then the interpretation would be that Lola is also glad that the protagonist is a man thus leaving Lola's gender entirely unstated.

In many ways this is the aural equivalent of the face/vase illusion where you can see either the faces or the vase but not both.

Whatever else it is, it is a brilliant song with brilliant lyrics.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

iPhone 4 has arrived...

Faced a rather unique problem... I got two iPhones in my package rather than the one I expected. The nice young customer service rep nearly fell off her seat when I called and told her about it. The first time they had heard of that happening.

I think that I slightly restored her faith in humanity as she thought that no one would have called up and would have just stayed quiet about it. She asked me to drop off the extra to a store and gave me a nice in-store credit.

I'm now on my way to London waiting for the new SIM to activate and just using the iPhone as an iPod. I'm hoping that the rest of the experience is as painless as the iPad was.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Stoats Nest Rd,Croydon,United Kingdom

My First Track day...

On Monday I took my life into my hands and went on a track day at Bedford Autodrome with EasyTrack.co.uk.

I had a blast! The track was ideal for a novice and my car (an Audi TT RS) proved more than capable. I had asked for a session with an instructor and I got a great guy named Steve. In the end I took a second session in the afternoon. As a result I went from being slowest on the track to not being the slowest by a decent margin. There were some fabulous drivers on the track that day, the two sticking in my mind included one in a GT3 RS and an utter genius in a bog standard MX5.

I've included a photo that was taken by TrackPhoto.co.uk.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Height of Geekery

Well, here I am at my favourite cafe for breakfast with my iPad. I'm trying the whole blogging from my iPad thing with an app called BlogPress.

It's really interesting to see how modern integrated technology is making it feasible to do things that would have been awkward if not impossible a few years ago. The opportunities in this space are endless.

The excitement about the potential for location based services is well known. Unfortunately the excitement can obscure the real win. Location-less Services. The fact that I can start doing this kind of thing truly independently of my location is what's exciting. There have been some early mis-fires with the excitement of being able to take a laptop with you on holiday. Lugging a laptop though is really pretty hard work. We're on the cusp of being able to access and interact with the "datasphere" anywhere in the world.

This is where reading science fiction is a great advantage. Writers have been exploring how to use this for years. I feel that I am ready to make use of this and build on their thinking to go places that people who have not been reading will never think of.

How about you?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Cliffe High St,Lewes,United Kingdom

The problem with modern 3D films

What are the problems and limitations of modern 3D? I'm not going to claim any particular expertise in this subject past a decent familiarity with 3D computer graphics. However I do think that there are a couple of key points that are passing people by in the recent excitement about 3D cinema. The pedant in me wants to go on record ;-).

The main thing that is not being said is that the 3D we are experiencing is solely 'Stereoscopic 3D' this means that everyone in the audience is seeing the same 2 images for every frame of the movie.

The best way of highlighting the limitations is to point out the differences in experience between real 3D (i.e. the world around us) and the 3D we experience in the cinemas.

While we do experience the world through two eyes those eyes do have to a degree the ability to sense distance individually through their focus - we do not completely rely on the stereoscopic effect to determine distance and so never lose the ability to determine how far away something is even if we were to lose an eye. This means that the illusion can never be complete as the focus in a 3D movie is determined by the director and camera departments. If something catches your eye that is not in the plane of focus then all you can ever see is a blur though your eyes may strain to focus it. This is both a blessing and a curse as it provides another tool to the director to direct your attention within the frame but can also wreck the illusion.

Another issue is that the stereoscopic effect is achieved by filming the scene from a fixed viewpoint. This means that the frames captured look best from a specific place in the cinema. The further away from that position the less effective the 3D effect is.

A related issue is that the illusion requires one orientation of the spectator. If you lean your head to one side the illusion starts to dissolve as instead of seeing the frames for the top eye and the bottom eye you will keep on seeing the frames for the left and right eyes. This gets worse if you were to continue the rotation as the eyes would then be reversed... Not many people will see the movie standing on their heads but couples leaning their heads on each other's shoulders will have a problem.

The final issue is that of movement. In dealing with a 3D world we are used to moving around it and seeing different perspectives. Despite the fact that we are largely fixed in our seats in a cinema we still have the impulse to crane up or slump down, lean left or lean right just to see that little bit more. Unfortunately the Stereoscopic 3D effect cannot handle that behaviour.

It worries me a little that there is talk of bringing Stereoscopic 3D into the home as there may be an effect where people are trained to sit absolutely still in one orientation to maximise the effect. There are already concerns about how children sitting still in front of the traditional 2 D television and not fidgeting are contributing to the obesity epidemic, how much worse may it become with Stereoscopic 3D TV?

A First Attempt at Haiku

Normally I'm shy about my poetry but I think I can be brave enough to share 3 lines and 17 syllables.

Talking to my Project Manager last night, I said that a particularly gnarly problem would probably be solved by about 3 lines of code, but which 3 lines of code? He laughed and said that was going to be a piece of software haiku. He went to a neighbouring desk tossing out a line that he would like to see some haiku from me and this is what I produced in the 3 minutes he was away.

Code glows on white screen;

Incandescent thought laid bare,

Human to Machine.

I hope that you like it.

Octopussies...

Nope - I'm not referring to multiples of a James Bond Film - I'm referring instead to a family tradition.

My mother has for as long as I can remember given an 'Octopussy' to the young children of family and friends. An Octopussy is a friendly octopus crocheted out of wool:

To start the body:

• Make a chain of 6 or 7 stitches and then form a circle using whatever colour wool you have to hand..
• Using double crochet make a flat circle about 2 or 3 inches in diameter.
• Continue adding rows to the circle without increasing the number of stitches and this will form a cup shape.
• Change to white to continue in order to make a space for the eyes to be embroidered.
• Continue until you have a nice wide band for the eyes.

Now make 8 thick crochet legs as long as you like:

• Start trimming the edge with double crochet in a contrasting colour going through the middle of the chain.
• Continue down to one end and crochet in the long strands.
• Turn and do a second row of double crochet and turn again to give a 3 row 'foot'.
• Continue until you reach the end that you started with.
• Using the loose strands from each of the feet pull them through the flat circle at the base of the body and tie them off to attach the legs.

Finish the body;

• Embroider the eyes.
• Change colour from the white to whatever colour you like.
• Continue with crochet decreasing with each row.
• When you are close to the end stuff the body with a non-toxic filling (my mother uses a form of foam chips).
• finish the top of the body and pull final thread through to lose it in the body.
• Make a long chain with two or three strands of wool.
• Pull the chain halfway through the top of the Octopussy placing a knot so that it cannot be shifted.
• The chain can then be tied onto a convenient point so that the Octopussy cannot be thrown out of a pram or cot.

The Octopussy contains only wool, thread and stuffing so there are no small hard parts that can be pulled off and cause a hazard. It is very robust to chewing and is fully washable.

It also has the advantage of leaving the child with a friendly view of Octopi!

I just thought that I would share with the world a little bit of my family history. I am a descendent of Samuel Boote (1844-1921) a reasonably well known Argentine photographer. One of our cousins kindly loaned me a copy of the genealogy tracing the descendents of Samuel's grandfather, also Samuel Boote (1788-1854). I've scanned the pages as images and felt that it would be a good idea to make them more widely available.

To that end I just want to post on my blog that I have these images available and publish the 3 pages that I feel that I can show without violating data protection laws as they only refer to the long-dead.

If anyone wishes to contact me regarding access to more of the genealogy please leave a comment.

Futurama: Bender's Game...

Last night Henry, Neil and Dimple joined me to watch the newest feature length Futurama: Bender's Game.

We all had similarly mixed feelings about it: We laughed at various points during the episode but on balance felt that it was not vintage Futurama.

Afterwards we looked on IMDB and saw a mix of reviews that reflected our thoughts. The review that best expressed my feelings was by 'howTVshouldbe'. His summary was 'It starts as a refreshing character comedy but when the "Game" portion kicks in the movie just curls up and dies under it's own nerdy indulgences'.

The writers evidently had so many jokes for the subject matter that they were unable to self-edit. Good comedy needs pacing so that the audience can react and digest the jokes. Bender's Game threw the jokes in so thick and fast that I barely had time to react to a joke before the next one was cracked. There didn't seem to be any attempt to create any recurring jokes to give the show structure and rhythm either.

I wonder whether the writers were trying to create a layered show that would bear re-watching. Unfortunately the gags were too obviously telegraphed.

Bender's Game for me was a disappointment. The Futurama writers may be better off under the time constraints of a series based episodic format.

Motormouths Anonymous

Hello, my name is Robert and I am a recovering motormouth...

Spare a thought for those of use who are born with verbal diarrhea, we have to work very hard not to monopolize any conversation and are typically very uncomfortable with silence.

My whole family seem to be motormouths, some recovering like me, other just keep talking. My father was famous in the family, he was late in learning to talk and my paternal grandmother was convinced that he was spending the rest of his life making up for lost time.

I have it largely under control. Every now and then I catch myself talking too much and deliberately stop talking. I can have actual conversations with people and learn things from them. A few things make me go off the wagon - I had a concussion recently and a friend had to put up with me talking non-stop for 4 hours straight. More everyday, I find myself having to avoid caffeine, a cup of coffee and I am off and 'talking for England'.

Being a motormouth has its advantages, to be one you have to have a brain capable of keeping up but on balance the disadvantages are too great.

Tumultuous Times

Been a bit busy of late, landing a role as the Enterprise Architect for NHSBT. As usual I intend to work myself out of the role, but for now my day is filled with learning a whole new business domain and fleshing out my skills with a few new ones.

I'm having to pinch myself, realising that Enterprise Architect is only one step down from board level. My self-belief and arrogance will really be put to the test.

The Death of my Great Great Grandfather. (8/8)

That's it. The End...

I'm really glad that I got this out and shared it. This is the final part of the tale as I have it.

"The Standard", June 10th., 1881

The Corrientes Murder
-

With much pleasure I make room for the following papers, which speak for themselves. We shall be only too glad to lend our poor aid to the object expressed in Mr. Budge's letter and receive subscriptions to help so merited a testimonial.

-

Concordia, June 5th., 1881

My Dear Mr. Clarke.

Since the dreadful murder of poor Macdonald and Guthrie we have had occasion to note and admire the conduct of Commandante Casco, Gefe Politico of Monte Caseros, for the zeal, energy and success with which he hunted down and captured the whole gang of assassins.

He himself worked night and day, and did not rest until he had succeeded. In view of this we have drawn up the enclosed subscription list in order to raise funds for the purchase of some sort of token as a recognition of his services.

As you have already taken the matter up, we trust you will still further use your influence, either publicly or otherwise, to receive the list of subscriptions: the proceeds of same can be forwarded to myself and handed to the secretary of the Committee.


Yours faithfully,

O. Budge.

-

LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE "CASCO" TESTIMONIAL
_____________________

W.G. Smart, F.C. Concordia 1-0-0
J. Carrol 1-0-0
C. Fair 0-10-0
John McCorquodale 1-0-0
F. Forkett 10-0
A.H. Coaker, Concordia 1-0-0
Philip A. Paye, Concordia 1-0-0
E. Tulbais 1-0-0
O. Budge 1-0-0
G. McLeod 1-0-0
Amadeo Bonibent 10-0
G. Brown 10-0
A. Parker, Concordia 1-0-0
Edward Ware, Salto 1-0-0
Edwards Morice 1-0-0
William Johnson 1-0-0
Robert Wilkinson, Salto 1-0-0
Hugo Lindsay 1-0-0
C. Tipper, Salto 10-0
Hume & Hardy 1-0-0
James Shaw 10-0
Revd. W.H. Shimield 15-0
W. Thompson 1-0-0
J. Perxy Clarke 10-0
John Armstrong 1-0-0
Edward Dickinson 1-0-0
J. Harris 1-0-0
G. Dickinson, Bs. Aires 1-0-0
John White 10-0
Thomas Ebrey 1-0-0
Thomas Taylor, Concordia 1-0-0
A.H. Caley 1-0-0
T.C. Clarke 1-0-0

The Death of my Great Great Grandfather. (7/8)

News of the murderers.

"The Standard", May 28th., 1881

The Murder in Corrientes
-

Naranjito, May 23rd., 1881

To the Editor of "The Standard"

Dear Sir,

I am happy to inform you that the last of the murderers of Macdonald and Guthrie passed up, well secured in the train to-day to Monte Caseros; he had the watch and ring of Macdonald, and also the recado of Guthrie, so that now the whole thing will come out.

I hope you will use your influence with the British Minister to hurry on the Government to do what is right, in having the men shot here and not sending them on to the capital, because if they are sent on there, then good-bye to justice as they in a short time will be back here again to do worse still.

Yours very sincerely,

Subscriber

The Death of my Great Great Grandfather. (6/8)

A slightly shorter update this time - The response from the Governor of Corrientes and a Mr. McCorquodale gives some details on the murderers.

Buenos Aires "Standard", April 26th, 1881

The Naranjito Murder

-

With much pleasure we publish the following telegram from the Governor of Corrientes to the President of the Republic, in reply to the President's message sent the moment His Excellency discovered that the crime was committed in Corrientes. The message in question is fully corroborated by two letters we give at foot, and for which we are much indebted to the kind attention of Mr. McCorquodale, station at Naranjito on the Eastern Argentine Railway.

-

Corrientes, 24th April, 1881

To the Most Excellent President of the Republic.

I have received Your Excellency's telegram; The Gefe Politico of Caseros announces the capture of one of the assassins of the British subjects, and is in active search of the others, as ordered by this Government the first moment it heard of the crime. I can assure your Excellency that I heartily condemn those crimes, and while I cannot possibly prevent them, I am determined to have them severely atoned for.

I fully appreciate our position and credit, and will leave no stone unturned to guarantee life and property.

I salute your Excellency

A.B. Gallino

-

Naranjito, Corrientes, April 22nd. 1881

To the Editor of "The Standard"

I have just seen in your paper of 19th April, where it is given out that the murder of Macdonald and Guthrie was in Entre Rios, it is not so, they lived in Corrientes.

It may be of some service to you from what I personally know, that the Gefe Politico in Monte Caseros, Sr. Casco, has exerted himself in every way possible and is still doing so, to find out the murderers; he has not left a moment day or night, since the murder, in searching every corner, and I learn that he has taken about thirty prisoners.

To-day I hear that he had staked out a man yesterday, and he confessed that the chief was a brother of the "capataz" of Macdonald and Guthrie; and this man the capataz they had discharged some weeks before: this has to be corroborated by further proofs yet, but Casco is labouring like a good Briton, in this affair, and also Juez de Paz of Monte Caseros told me that he would offer a reward of $500. to anyone who would discover who had been the assassins.

As you truly say, this crime comes at a bad moment, when Dean Dillon has just gone home to foment emigration to this country, and Macdonald and Guthrie told me that others were to follow them here to settle down, now this will put a scare on English coming here. The Province of Corrientes is a splendid one in rich camps, either for sheep or cattle, and a most magnificent one for agriculture.

If I learn anything new, and you should careto be acquainted with it, I shall be proud to let you know.

J.F.M.C.

P.S.

Naranjito, April 22nd. 1881

I forgot to mention in my letter that three days after the murder of our countrymen, within three or four squares a "Tropero" (Brazilian) was attempted to be assassinated also, by his own Peon, while lying down and serving mate.

The Peon gave him two shots behind and luckily that the Comisario was at the house of Macdonald and galloped over, if not the man was killed: the Peon was captured, but not before he was nearly hacked to pieces.

I have no more time, train hour.

Yours truly,

J.F. McCorquodale

The Death of my Great Great Grandfather. (5/8)

One of the murderers is caught in a very long piece
.

The Corrientes Murder
-
One Assassin Caught.
-

One of the best proofs of the generally improved state of affairs in this country, is the very decided action taken by the authorities in the case of the murder of the two Scotch farmers at Naranjito, Corrientes.

The very day the news reached this city, and the matter was brought to the attention of the National Government by Sir Horace Rumbold, who not only wrote a note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but took the note himself to the Minister. President Roca despatched a telegram to the Governor of Entre Rios, which telegram we have already published, as also the Governor's reply. President Roca, finding that the murder was committed in Corrientes and not in Entre Rios, at once despatched a fresh telegram to the Governor of Corrientes, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs received a reply on Friday night from the Governor, who stated that every step possible to catch the assassins had been taken, and that a telegram from the Gefe Político, at the Monte Caseros had just arrived announcing that one of the assassins had been caught. The Governor of Corrientes says in his message, that every step possible will be taken to bring the other murderers to justice, and we believe that the probabilities are that they will all be caught.

Steps have been taken by the British Minister to appoint a "curation" to look after the property of the murdered men, and Mr. Smart the Manager of the East Argentine Railway has been asked to designate the proper person as "Curator".

Of all the terrible murders it has been our melancholy task to record, we think that we may safely say this is the first instance where the authorities, one and all, have show a determination to catch the assassins. The British Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and even the President himself, have been duly in the receipt of telegrams on the subject, and let us hope now that when the assassins are caught, they will be at once tried, and if convicted, summarily executed. President Roca has expressed his determination to have full justice done in the matter. The following are the latest details of this terrible crime.

-

Salto, 20th. 1881

Dear G

I went up to Corrientes, as you already know, to learn some particulars of the said affair, and to see how things stood, &c. It appears that on the night of the 12th inst. about 8 o'clock more or less, two men called at Guthrie's and Macdonald's Estancia and asked for "Pasado" which was granted, they then unsaddled their horses, tied them out and came back to the house, and one of them took his boots off and put on slippers. This one was well dressed, silver "recado" stirrups &c., and talked "muy politico". The other was not so well dressed and appeared to be a peon. Guthrie asked them if they had eaten, and they said they had not, he then told his wife to make them an "asado" which she did, the peon eating in the kitchen and the other at the door of the house, and talking with Guthrie about camp, &c.

After eating the roast Guthrie said to the man (if he can be called one) "You will please excuse me putting the bed outside as the house is so small", so he took out the "catre" and put it about 15 yards from the house, near a little "Remanada", and returned for a mattress to make up a bed, and when in the act of arranging the mattress, the fellow went behind him, caught him either by the hair or collar, and at the same time cut the poor fellow's throat from ear to ear, he fell instantly and half raised himself on one leg: seeing this, his wife got a revolver and was running out to Guthrie, when Macdonald took it from her, thinking that perhaps he could do more with it, or else to give it to Guthrie. Then the poor wife ran to poor Guthrie and got hold of him, when he fell dead covering her with his blood. She then ran into the house, took up her child and crossed into a wild "potrero" passing an Arroyo up to her neck in water to get to a house about four squares off. When Macdonald came out he may have been stabbed whilst passing the doorway, by the man in the kitchen, as the neighbour and wife say that eight shots were fired, if Macdonald fired them all, he fired without aim, as the night was as clear as day. If he was stabbed coming out of the house of course that would account for it, but still I don't think that he was, as José Maria Fonseca told me that he was stabbed under each breast and the wounds so large as to put your hand in either, and if he got them coming out of the house, he must have fallen at once, his head was almost severed from his body also; and between the thumb and first fore fingers there was a great gash, and it was supposed that Macdonald had caught one of their "facones". Next morning José M. Fonseca with the Comisario, Juez de Paz, &c., had the bodies put in coffins and sent them on to Monte Caseros, Fonseca attended to the taking of the inventory and all papers, &c., that were then in the room, and the door sealed.

A capataz and two peons are in charge of he sheep and cattle, there are 268 Sheep, 133 head of cattle, 23 horses and mares (17 Horses). Mrs. Guthrie is a Fonseca's, and wants him to look to her interests: but who is to represent Mr. Macdonald's family? Perhaps Mr. Clarke can; he may have Mr. Macdonald's will if he made one when in Buenos Aires, and wanted to give you a "Poder"; however tell Mr. Clarke what I say. The contract of the "Sociedad" may be with the papers in the house, or at Coll & Salda's, where Macdonald had money; I think Guthrie entered with $1,200., Guthrie to pay Macdonald 3% per annum for difference of capital and Macdonald to put $7,000., so as all the capital in stock is only what I say, all Guthrie's capital will have been invested: this the books ought to show, Guthrie to manage, &c., and gains on halves.

The capital in stock as you see is small, but the sooner something is done the better for all concerned, as the stock will get big, Juez expenses increase, &c., and the matter becomes more difficult to deal with. What I think best to be done is, if Mr. C. is not executor of any will Macdonald might have made, and there is no will existing, he might get a power to name somebody to represent Macdonald's interests, and signed by someone of influence in Buenos Aires.

This done, get the sheep passed into Entre Rios and sold on this side (as in Corrientes there are no buyers) report proceeds and see how things stand and arrange matters.

I don't know how much money there will be with Coll & Sarda's but this is all right. They were building a new house 16 by 12 vs.; it was ready to be thatched, the work was contracted for at $100. nothing paid on account, another man had received 300 sheep on shares some days ago also.

I went to the house with Felipe Fonseca to save sheep, &c., where Guthrie fell there was as much blood as if a sheep had been killed, where Macdonald fell there was not so much blood; probably from the stabs the blood would keep inwards, I believe that they had money, so Mrs. Guthrie says, sovereigns and condors in a bag. The murderers took Macdonald's gold watch and chain, his gold ring, revolvers, stirrups, &c.; Guthrie's "recado", black clothes, whips, shirts, &c., and cut mattresses open, took everything away they could, they left Macdonald's saddle.

A colder blooded affair than this could not have been done, the Fonsecas have done everything in their power, and are as sorry as if the deceased were their brothers, Mrs. Guthrie is staying there. THe Gefe Político of Monte Caseros, Jose Maria Casco, is after the fellows night and day: no man could possibly do more than he is doing, and he has taken 30 "Bandidos" prisoners, stretched them out &c., but has not got the thread yet, if they are to be found he is the man for it, I was with him at Fonseca's, Mrs. Guthrie gave me the description of the men, and this morning I gave same to Mr. Viera (Comisario); also description of Recado, Ring, &c. and English watch. Mr. Viera will advise all the Comisarios in case the murderers have passed over there.

Excuse this long epistle, but it is necessary at times.

The Death of my Great Great Grandfather. (4/8)

With this posting it is revealed that Corrientes is in fact the province where the murders occurred so I've retitled the posts to date. I believe that this confusion is due to the high rate of immigration and settlement leading to some difficulties in administrating the country.

From the Buenos Aires Standard, April 21st, 1881.

The Murder of Messrs. Macdonald & Guthrie

President Roca received yesterday the following answer to his telegram to the Governor of Entre Rios, which we published yesterday. It appears, however, that the scene of the horrible crime 'Naranjito', is in Corrientes, and not in Entre Rios, and the President despatched yesterday an energetic telegram to the Governor, who will certainly do his utmost to catch the assassins.

-

To the Most Excellent President of the Republic.

I have this moment received your Excellency's telegram, which has astounded me, as up to this hour I have no news whatever of the murder of any British subjects in any part of this Province. I do not know either of any placein the Province of Entre Rios called Naranjito but there is a place so called in Corrientes, near the frontier.

Nevertheless, I will enquire at once, and if unfortunately this crime has been committed in the Province, I will set the police on the track of the criminals and have them judged with all the rigour of the law.

Your Excellency may rely on this: to-day I have dismissed from his post a Gefe Polítice for not having reported to the Government the murder of a Spanish subject.

José J. Autelo,
Governor.

The Death of my Great Great Grandfather. (3/8)

From the 'Buenos Aires Standard' April 20th 1881.

Abolition of Capital Punishment

With much pleasure we state that the announcement in one of the city papers of the intention of President Roca to propose to Congress the Abolition of Capital Punishment is utterly incorrect, and we are fully authorised to say that the President, so far from being in favour of any such measure, views with regret that so many assassins escape capital punishment, which the law of the country provides, and which it is the President's determination to use every effort to carry out.

In all the cases called "Alevoso" the National Government will use every effort to have the criminals, no matter in which province the crime may be committed, at once tried and on conviction executed. When the President received news of the terrible murder of the two Scotch Farmers in Entre Rios he was greatly shocked, expressed himself most strongly on the matter, and at once despatched a telegram to the Governor of Entre Rios, to urge the Provincial authorities to scour the whole country and to catch the assassins. It is most probable that they will be caught, and quite certain that if caught and convicted, they will be at once executed. The following copy of President Roca's telegram to the Governor of Entre Rios will show the British Residents of the Plate that the President is in earnest in the matter, that he is the right man in the right place, and instead of favouring the abolition of capital punishment, is fully resolved on the abolition of assassination in the Plate, which is only attainable by rigorously executing the criminals, and showing to murderers the same mercy they have shown to their unfortunate victims.

-

Buenos Aires, April 19th. 1881

To the Governor of Entre Rios.
Uruguay.

Several Englishmen have called on me to tell me that two of their countrymen most estimable and respectable persons, have been wilfully murdered ant Nranjit Province of Entre Rios.

I request therefore that you will use every exertion in your power, and adopt every possible measure to make an example of the criminals. Such crimes as this dishonour and injure us abroad; and it is for us a duty of morality, of justice, and even of self-interest, to put a stop to them.

Yours friend,

Julio A. Roca.

The Death of my Great Great Grandfather. (2/8)

Part two: I'm not sure who G.E. is.

Such a dreadful affair has happened near Monte Caseros, Macdonald and Guthrie, both of Salto, who had taken an Estancia in Corrientes have both been brutally murdered by a band of four assassins, whilst preparing to accommodate two of them. Macdonald lately went home to take his children there.

Full details have not yet reached us, they have been buried in Monte Caseros. The murderers so far have not been found. "Como siempre" robbery was the object.

G.E.