Sitting on board the Maersk Delft, waiting to depart Dover docks, passengers stare as the huge MSC Armonia glides into dock, flash bulbs glinting as passengers get the obligatory shot of the not-so-white Cliffs of Dover. As the ferry finally moves off from the quay, only a few minutes late, some wag plays Ride of the Valkyries on the entertainment system. Hmm, slightly fanciful thinking, I feel.

• BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Proton set for return to flight
  Just looking at the photos shows what separates Soviet (and now Russian) space technology from NASA's and ESA's equivalents - no frills. Less bells and whistles means less to go wrong, although that doesn't make them infallible.
  (tags: Proton space rocket news)
• BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Spain sweats amid 'water wars'
  This could be an issue that directly impacts my business, particularly as I'm currently exploring a joint venture with a business based in Barcelona.
  (tags: water environment Spain Barcelona politics)

• Heart Attack
  British Heart Foundation video on heart attacks. Watch it - it's two minutes that might save your life.
  (tags: health heart video advice)

• BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Inflatable faeces raises a stink
  A rare opportunity to see the words faeces, turd and shit all in the same BBC News item.
  (tags: news art Switzerland)
• Shanghai Voodoo: Fraud
  Hmm. Well, it seems it is a fraud, or at least a deception, as I suspected. Might just claim the .asia and .cn forms of my domain now, just for safe keeping.
  (tags: domain internet spam)
• Be careful about scam from Shanghai IDC - Page 1
  I've just received one of these emails. Now what should I do? I already own .com, .co.uk, .eu, .nl and .be flavours of my work domain, as well as some variant spellings for .co.uk
  (tags: spam domain internet China)

• News Dutch scientists discover new plant hormone - News from The Netherlands - Expatica
  With increasing pressure to limit or even end the use of growth regulators on ornamental crops, this sort of thing could become very important. And, as a hormone therapy rather than genetic modification, it should be possible to use in controlled conditions without too much legal restriction.
  (tags: science plants hormone Netherlands)