Thank you. For what the scum in both these cases did, I think that even 18 years (with time off for "good behavior") shows remarkable leniency. Thank you for the information.

A terrible story, Graham, and thank you for sharing. By the way, The Washington Post of October 20 (page A6) identified the gang's ringleader as Amere Singh Dhaliwal, which would make him a Sikh from India.

Don't go near it.

I just returned from a trip to Pakistan and Egypt. Temperatures in some cities were 105-114. Farmers, construction and other workers were working full days, and because it was Ramadan (month of fasting) they were neither eating nor drinking anything (including water) from sunrise to sunset.

I have used Dragon NaturallySpeaking for several years professionally (development banking) and personally (emails, etc.). The program in its Windows version is excellent; I dictated a 370 page book published about five years ago and a 445 page book published about one month ago using the program. These books contained several tables and diagrams, the data for which were also dictated using the program. The Mac version has improved a lot, but even the most recent is not equal to the Windows version. The learning curve has become easier, and for most letters, emails and so forth the program can pretty much be used out of the box with only about 10-15 minutes of training. You can get about 95 percent accuracy almost straight away. I normally expect about 98-99 percent accuracy. The few errors do not matter because one revises any serious piece of work – – my Cambridge University tutor used to say that "there's no such thing as good writing; only good rewriting"– – and the errors can be fixed at that stage. Incidentally, the present piece was dictated with the program making only a single error. The program is frequently on sale; it is worthwhile to wait for that.

I wouldn't buy it because I couldn't attach it to my point and shoot body. Another marketing mistake by Nikon

After a number of such trips to the areas that you mentioned, I found that the most practical suggestion is to take a single camera with a lens that goes from wide-angle (say, at least 24 MM) to something like 500 MM. The idea is to enjoy the trip. I have not used the SX50, but from what I have read it would appear to fit the bill. There may be several other cameras made by Sony, Nikon, etc. that are equally good. In my own case, the best trip was with in Nikon 500 and a Tamron 16-300 MM lens (effectively 24-450 MM). You do not want to be lugging the weight of all the equipment that you have listed, and you probably won't have time on sightseeing excursions to be continually changing lenses. If you try that, the other tour members are likely to get quite annoyed that you are holding them up. If you do want a backup, take a pocket-sized point-and-shoot; I had one made by Panasonic that went from 24-600 MM. It produced perfectly adequate pictures when I used it (but admittedly, my standards are a bit short of Ansell Adam's). Have fun, eat a lot of really good food, and enjoy yourself. Best wishes.

Ken, you appear to have been a fantastic source of support for Lillian. May God give you the strength to carry on doing that. Best wishes to both of you from a Pakistani member of UHH.

Very sorry to hear about your wife. I think this bit about the money is a scam; I have never heard of it.

If you are concentrating on the elephants, then the 70-200 zoom with the 1.4 extender should perhaps be your "go to" lens.

A truly moving, wonderful tribute to a great man. Many thanks for posting it.

Thanks, Graham. Good to read the poem once again. Incidentally, my Cambridge tutor used to recite a version that began: "if you can keep your head when all those around you are losing theirs/ you don't understand the situation, my son." Regrettably, I don't recall the rest of the parody. If you should find yourself in Lahore (Pakistan) sometime, you can still see "Kim's gun" in front of the museum. That's the gun on which Kim, in the Rudyard Kipling story, used to play. Thanks once again, Graham.

Striking picture! Congratulations.

I would not take this review too seriously. Consumer Reports probably tests only a single camera and, statistically speaking, a sample of one proves virtually nothing.

Fantastic picture, congratulations! The vehicle provides the picture a wonderful perspective.