Ben Teague was one of the great stalwarts on FLEFO in CompuServe, which I joined in 1994 or thereabouts. He translated physics, but his great passion was amateur theatre. His wife Fran taught/teaches literature at the university. His website gives some impression of all this.

Now I learn from Michael Wahlster, via Twitter, that Ben was shot dead on Saturday, when he was standing outside the theatre with two other people, by the husband of one of them. Here’s an article on the shooting, and here another with more information about Ben and a photo.

Police said Marie Bruce, Tom Tanner and Ben Teague were all outside the community theater when Bruce’s estranged husband came by with two hand guns and open fired.

“Marie was the president of this organization for many, many years that acted and directed, (and) has two beautiful children,” said victim’s friend Steve Elliott-Gower. “(Tom), like Ben, he was always down at the theater helping build somebody else’s set. Ben Teague was the life and soul of the organization — very talented guy. He must have put in tens of thousands of hours building and designing sets.

I must admit I thought of him as old, but he was only one year older than me. He probably just did more! I am sorry I didn’t meet Ben. The same goes for another Flefoid, Alicia Gordon, who was only 53 when she died.

Further links: a personal account by Ben’s step-brother (since his 92-year-old father married Ben’s mother) and by the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association.

The Bessere Mitte had wooden models of the shopping centre proposed by Sonae Sierra:#

and the alternative they propose.

The top model corresponds to the three white blocks in the bottom model, which leaves Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße open. This was at the Fürth Stadtfest yesterday. A couple talking to the campaigners felt that a 15,000 square metre shopping centre would be too small, and would not miss the listed buildings that would have to go (or be partly hidden).

I was pleased to hear recently that some of the independent shopkeepers have a parallel initiative. That shows that the opponents of the scheme aren’t just the few people who appeared on the stage at the civic hall meeting. That’s the Arbeitskreis kritische Einzelhändler Fürth.

I think they want us to stop running over cyclists here.

I don’t suppose we’ll have to wait long for Susan Boyle. They just have to cut some footage of listeners with Telekom devices.

This was a week ago, on Easter Sunday, when I got a closer shot of a muskrat (Bisamratte) while hiding behind a tree.

If this had been Detroit, it would have been very appropriate, as there is a rumour that Catholics there were permitted to classify the muskrat as a fish and eat it on Fridays in Lent.