January 2010
Tesco bans shopping for bananas in pyjamas ... or... →
‘Customers at a Welsh branch of Tesco have been banned from shopping in their pyjamas or bare feet.’
“Me, I’m celebrating — but I’m not going to tell you...”
– — Schneier on Security: World Privacy Day and the Madrid Privacy Declaration
WatchPietenpol’s DIY airplane: “a common man’s airplane” | Boing Boing
‘Bernard Pietenpol wanted to build “a plane that was affordable and easy to construct for home builders.” He designed and built the AirCamper which flew using an automobile engine… in 1928!’
Aussie man convicted for Simpsons smut | The... →
‘Kurt James Milner, 28, pleaded guilty to charges of possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to access child exploitation material. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for five years and must pay a $1,000 good behaviour bond. He was also put on the sex offenders register.’
It would appear that the ‘children’ that were...
“It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential...”
– — Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII, 1782. ME 2:224
(Via corcarpemei.)
Britain 'complicit in mistreatment and possible... →
‘In a report published today that will make difficult reading for ministers who repeatedly denied the UK’s involvement in torture, UN officials have indicated that there is clear evidence of the UK’s role in the secret detention overseas of several British Muslims.
The officials say that such secret imprisonment – or “proxy detentions” – not only facilitates...
Airline passengers have 'no right' to refuse naked... →
‘The option of having a full-body pat-down search instead, offered to passengers at US airports, will not be available despite warnings from the government’s Equality and Human Rights Commission that the scanners, which reveal naked bodies, breach privacy rules under the Human Rights Act.’
Youth council vows civil disobedience | HEYC →
The Home Educated Youth Council say they are “formed and is run entirely by home educated youth who […] intend to challenge the view of the DCSF that home educated children are simply mouthpieces for the views held by their parents.”
From their press release about their campaign against the new home education act:
‘As children themselves, HEYC is very concerned about...
No D&D for US prison inmate serving life | Boing... →
‘Singer was told by prison officials that he could not keep the materials because Dungeons & Dragons “promotes fantasy role playing, competitive hostility, violence, addictive escape behaviors, and possible gambling,” according to the ruling. The prison later developed a more comprehensive policy against all types of fantasy games, the court said.’
Naked airport scanner catches cellphone, misses... →
U.S. enables Chinese hacking of Google | CNN.com →
‘In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access.’
Via Schneier On Security.
“I took my three year old to see Up, and I also wept through the montage at the...”
– — CiF commenter AdamRutherford, here.
Driver parked in front of speed camera gets... →
On two seperate occasions.
Bornean orangutan acts as 'peacemaker' in Japan... →
‘Over 13 days of observations, another much older female called Chappy, thought to be 34 years old, became repeatedly aggressive toward Kiki, either chasing or physically attacking her on 28 separate occasions.
During 19 of these interactions, another orangutan intervened, physically stepping between the two squabbling apes to separate them.’
Click through for a video.
FBI 'fabricated terror emergencies to get phone... →
‘The FBI’s general counsel, Valerie Caproni, told the Washington Post that the agency violated privacy laws by inventing non-existent terrorist threats to justify collecting the phone records. “We should have stopped those requests from being made that way,” she said.’
Why the pink-footed goose is a CO2 villain | The... →
“…worse carbon footprint than a patio heater…”
US magazine claims Guantánamo inmates were killed... →
‘US government officials may have conspired to conceal evidence that three Guantánamo Bay inmates could have been murdered during interrogations, according to a six-month investigation by American journalists.’
Space Cannon (what more do I really have to say?)... →
‘Special deliveries for space could someday arrive via cannon, if physicist John Hunter has his way. His natural-gas powered Quicklauncher system could cut the cost of equipment transport from $5000 per pound, to about $250. The prototype is set to be tested next month.’
If the phrase “Space Cannon” doesn’t immediately excite your interest: the proposed device has a...
“This is the difference between truth and fiction: fiction has to make...”
– — Wilhelm Wexler
(via Eldafto Says).
Indian judge to rule on UK activist arrested for... →
‘Pag said he did not know he needed permission to have a satellite phone: “I was never asked anywhere while filling the visa forms about my satellite phone. Also, the officials at the Wagah border checked me and my van thoroughly and were aware of the phone but didn’t question me or ask for details.’
Candy-ass vice-principal calls the bomb squad over... →
German government warns against using MS Explorer... →
‘The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.’
Proposed Web video restrictions cause outrage in... →
‘New rules to be introduced by government decree will require people who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorization from the Communications Ministry similar to that required by television broadcasters, drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the Web, opposition lawmakers have warned.’
Via Cat.
New Labour bring old Nuremberg Laws to Britain |... →
‘A bizarre Looking Glass scenario opened up this week as the European Court of Human Rights, sitting in Strasbourg, finally ruled on the case of two protesters stopped and searched at the Defence Systems and Equipment International Exhibition in 2003 under the notorious s44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.’
‘In plain English: even if a particular law is “unlawful” an...
Chimpanzee Investor Outperforms Russian Bankers |... →
’ “She bought successfully and her portfolio grew almost three times. She did better than almost the whole of the rest of the market,” said editor of Russian Finance magazine Oleg Anisimov.’
“So, where once, in the nineteen-thirties when I was young, people felt that...”
– — Oliver Postgate, November 2005
English lessons for 'Polish' dog | BBC News →
‘But when they looked into his history they realised he came from a Polish family and so did not “speak” English.
So staff brushed up on Polish commands and, four months on, they say Cent is now bilingual and ready for a new home.’
“Photographers should carry identification where possible and be prepared to...”
– — City Police making up ID powers | No2ID (via earthman, come home).
France's anti-piracy goon squad pirates the font... →
‘It’s tempting to count coup here, but it’s more important to recognize that Hadopi has proved that the copyright minefield is an unnavigable mess and that the guillotine is too blunt an instrument to use in its policing. If an organization charged with policing copyright with absolute, unaccountable power can’t stop its employees from committing unwitting acts of...
All God's creatures | Comment is free →
‘Post-Rapture Tribulationists in the United States have a possible answer. Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA, is staffed by avowed atheists, also ineligible for Rapture. For a one-time charge of $110, they pledge to adopt your pet if you are Raptured within the next 10 years. Founded in June 2009, they now cover 22 states.’
‘Centre is emphatic that the offer is not a hoax....
Stop and search powers illegal, European court... →
Just the anti-terror ones.
Orson Welles Sketchbook 3 | Wellesnet →
Orson Welles on the police and privacy, 1955:
‘I’m willing to admit that the policeman has a difficult job, a very hard job, but it’s the essence of our society that the policeman’s job should be hard. He’s there to protect, protect the free citizen, not to chase criminals, that’s an incidental part of his job. The free citizen is always more of a nuisance to...
Myleene Klass warned after brandishing knife to... →
‘Klass was in the kitchen with her daughter upstairs when she spotted the youths in her garden just after midnight on Friday. She grabbed a knife and banged the windows before they ran away.
Hertfordshire police warned her she should not have used a knife to scare off the youths because carrying an “offensive weapon”, even in her own home, was illegal.’
This goes...
Cat Called for Jury Duty | Neatorama →
‘Anna filed for Sal’s disqualification of service. However, the jury commissioner was unmoved and denied the request.’
UK prosecutors drop 'tiger' sex video case | The... →
‘The CPS dropped a prosecution under the extreme porn law last week when it apparently accepted that the soundtrack on a clip of a tiger apparently having sex with a women rendered the video comical rather than pornographic.
Andrew Robert Holland of Coedpoeth near Wrexham appeared at Mold Crown Court on New Year’s Eve to answer two charges of possessing extreme porn. Both charges...
Air passenger held after security-test officials... →
‘The electrician, returning to Ireland where he has lived for four years, got on his flight undetected and unaware that he was in possession of enough explosive to blow up the plane mid-air. It was not until three days after he landed that the Irish police were informed by the Slovakian authorities of what had happened.
They immediately raided the man’s flat in an apartment block in...
“A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much...”
– — The Economist (via marco.org).