Although the other hard-working members of the TidBITS staff will continue to be writing and editing articles over the next few weeks, Tonya and I will be taking some time for - gasp! - a summer vacation. We've heard that these "vacations" are all the rage, and we've been curious to see what they're like, so we'll be wrapping up this week and then spending the next few weeks peregrinating around in the UK. We'll mostly be visiting castles in Wales, since Tristan is a major Welsh castle buff and has planned much of our itinerary around his favorites, with a few days in Portsmouth to see Admiral Nelson's ship HMS Victory. (Several years ago, when he was engrossed in naval history, Tristan dressed as Admiral Nelson for Halloween, a costume that required constant explanation, given how few Americans know of Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.)

The practical upshot of this family vacation is that there will be no email issue of TidBITS on 07-Jul-08, since I'll be on a plane, and Glenn and Joe and Jeff can use a break from the extra effort of putting out the issue after all the ebooks they've written and edited over the last few weeks. They'll still be posting articles on our Web site, though, and assuming all goes well, the next email issue should appear on 14-Jul-08. Tonya and I should have sporadic email access while we're away, but don't expect much in the way of quick replies until the week of July 21st, when I'll start digging out.