Turing Award

Authors of Green Dragon Book win Turing Award. Aho and Ullman were pioneers in compiler writing.

Democracy (or the lack of it) and Central America

Countries in Central America are largely under the control of a small number of families. But this is changing, not always for the better, as drug lords and corrupt politicians take over. These countries may or may not have the trappings of democracy, but with wealth concentrated in so few hands, they cannot have the substance of democracy. Eventually, though, maybe, the sheer number of members of the controlling clans gets so large that a more democratic governance becomes possible. Next stop: Saudi Arabia?