January 2012
Blizzard Removes “Homosexual,” “Transsexual” From... →
The Nose Hair Notification Service | Neatorama →
‘Chololi, the nose hair email notification service, will send an anonymous message to someone who needs a reminder.’
Pirate Bay branches out into physical objects |... →
‘We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.’
85-Year-Old Woman Rescues Husband From Moose With... →
I’m trying to resist asking how the moose got the shovel. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Can America Make the iPhone? | Neatorama →
‘Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.
A...
“In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting...”
– — Hunter S. Thompson
(I suspect I wrote this down after one of you posted it; I’m sorry I can’t credit you.)
NASA Won't Release First Sci-Fi Film Made in Space... →
‘Meet Richard Garriott — space tourist, video game designer, millionaire, filmmaker. While on board the International Space Station for some light sightseeing, he used his own money and spare time to produce an eight-minute short film, a sci-fi horror movie called Apogee of Fear. But NASA is refusing to let it see the light of day. Why? Because it’s chock full of NASA’s stuff, used without...
How long does the average share holding last? Just... →
‘The consensus suggest that investors dabbling shares should be in it for the long-term, yet the average holding is less than a minute thanks to computer driven ‘high frequency’ trading.’
"It shouldn't be a crime to insult someone" |... →
‘It’s not merely theoretical; many ludicrous cases have been prosecuted. The police arrested a student who held up a sign stating Scientology was a cult – surely a matter of opinion? Kyle Little, a 16-year-old from Newcastle, was fined £50 with £150 costs for saying “woof” to a labrador dog in front of police officers. Eventually the magistrates’ decision was...
State of Adversarial Stylometry: can you change... →
On Anonymouth, a tool that lets you evade being identified through your prose style.
‘During the Q&A, a questioner asked whether Anonymouth’s methods could be used by, say, fanfic authors to make their writing style match the author whose universe they’re dabbling in; the researchers thought this would be so. I instantly wondered if avid fans might make a JK-Rowlingifier...
“The big advantage of worshipping an actual glove puppet of course is that if...”
– — Alan More, Alternative Thought For The Day
(Via Eldafto Says.)
I apologise for my recent absence. There will now follow a bunch of stuff that I was too busy / lazy to post, in no special order. Thank you.
December 2011
Fingerprint evidence 'based on opinion rather than... →
So much for all the CSI I’ve been watching:
‘The report also said the misidentification of that print and another known as “Q12” which allegedly belonged to the victim Marion Ross, did “expose weaknesses in the methodology of fingerprint comparison and in particular where it involves complex marks”.
The report also contained 86 recommendations, including a...
UK tests "non-blinding" police lasers | Boing... →
‘My friend Sulka, who brought this to my attention, has some informed speculation about what “non-blinding” might mean. He notes that the UK is a signatory on the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (I didn’t know this existed, and I’m both glad and sad that it does), whose definition of blindness “is where your eyesight goes worse than 20/200, meaning you...
“If the government doesn’t trust the people, why doesn’t it dissolve...”
– — /usr/games/fortune
Lost Doctor Who Episodes From Space | The Mary Sue →
Dr Venn, of the Arecibo Observatory:
“I realised the signal was in the VHF Band and slap bang in the middle of 41-68 MHz. It was obviously old terrestrial television broadcasts, but they seemed to be originating from deep space. …
“They are signals that left the Earth about 50 years ago and have bounced off an object or more likely a field of objects some 25 light years away.”
“We now...
17-Year-Old Girl Won Science Competition With... →
November 2011
An Open Letter to Police on the Occasion of This... →
I recommend that you read the whole thing.
‘These camps, these collections of tarps and tents, are more than you see. They are the sweat and treasure of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people trying to learn how to take care of each other. The fucked-up kids, street kids and old homeless are as important as the community organizers and grad students.
They’ve all come to this place and...
From monotony to farce: my Fortnum and Mason’s... →
By one of the peaceful protesters who were tricked into giving themselves up for arrest. They were found guilty of “aggravated trespass” — so we can only hope that this account contains significant bias.
“people have this bizarre notion that the British justice system is based on some kind of mixture of legislation and logic” he would tell us. “Get that idea out of your head...
“By 287 BC, the economic condition of the average plebeian had become poor. The...”
– — Roman Republic | Wikipedia
I was doing some research in order to understand my offspring’s homework, and this little echo popped up. Wikipedia defines “secession” as “the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity” —...
“So I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain...”
– — From Obama’s statement on Egypt
(Via BoingBoing commenter RedMorlock)
Congress: pizza is a vegetable when it is fed to... →
‘After intense lobbying from frozen pizza makers, and the potato and salt industry, Congress is poised to pass a spending bill whose riders establish that pizza is a vegetable and can be served in school cafeterias in substitute for actual vegetables.’
UK Border Agency officials 'illegally targeting'... →
It’s illegal, apparently. The UK Borders Agency have no powers outside of the point of entry to the UK.
‘However British-born Pete Clark, 56, from Liverpool, has described that he had no idea who the officials were when they physically blocked him leaving a National Express coach travelling to the city from Leeds until the passengers revealed identification “deemed...
San Francisco clamps down on Naked Guys | The... →
‘The city’s supervisors - the equivalent of the local council - voted this week to ban the hitherto legal practice of going nude in restaurants and to make it mandatory for nudists to place a cover beneath their buttocks if they use public seating.’
‘Often the nudists wear only shoes and a hat, because they believe headwear “tips off people that you’re...
October 2011
Ford reintroduces the 1965 Mustang | Boing Boing →
‘Ford Motor Co. will soon sell brand-new 1965 Ford Mustangs for just $15,000 each. The only hitch: There’s some assembly required.’
