February 2012
Rumblefish claims to own copyright to ambient... →
‘Rumblefish, a company notorious for sending copyright takedown notices to YouTube alleging copyright violations in videos’ soundtracks, demanded removal of a video whose audio consists entirely of ambient birdsong recorded during a walk in the woods.’
FBI shuts off thousands of GPS devices after... →
Father Jailed Because Daughter Drew a Picture of a... →
Underground ghost station explorers spook the... →
‘They entered through Russell Square station. For 10 minutes, the four of them sprinted along the tracks of the Piccadilly line towards a disused tunnel at Holborn. Their prize: a sight of one of the great trophies of London’s urban exploration scene – the abandoned platforms of Aldwych tube station.’
‘Last month TfL applied to issue anti-social behaviour orders which...
MPAA Rates Documentary About... →
Dolphins Reported Talking Whale in Their Sleep |... →
‘News has come from France that some captive-born dolphins there have been recorded “talking in their sleep” — and talking in Whale, no less, not Dolphinese.
The scientists involved say this would be the first time that dolphins have been recorded mimicking sounds a significant period of time after hearing them.
But there’s also the intriguing possibility that these sounds — virtually...
Amazon.com's many bots feud over book-prices |... →
‘Before I talk about my own troubles, let me tell you about another book, “Computer Game Bot Turing Test”. It’s one of over 100,000 “books” “written” by a Markov chain running over random Wikipedia articles, bundled up and sold online for a ridiculous price. The publisher, Betascript, is notorious for this kind of thing.
It gets better. There are whole species of other bots that...
BBC: 49% of British homes get less than the... →
Police hunt sheep butcher who kills animals for... →
‘Police are hunting a “professional butcher” who killed five sleep at a nature reserve before removing the best cuts under cover of darkness. ‘
“I don’t like ass kissers, flag wavers or team players. I like people who buck...”
– — George Carlin
(via Beware Of Unreal Things)
Dereck Chisora facing jail threat as David Haye... →
A boxer hits another boxer at a boxing match.
‘The German boxing federation confirmed on Monday it was withholding $100,000 (£63,100) of Chisora’s purse from his world title bout with Vitali Klitschko at the Olympiahalle, pending a police investigation into the fracas, and the British Boxing Board of Control has ordered the London heavyweight to attend a disciplinary hearing on 14...
Canadian tweeps bare all for spying MP | Boing... →
‘Canadians are giving MP Toews what he wants: on Twitter, Canadians are flooding his account with the hashtag TellVicEverything, spilling the intimate secrets of their lives: “Had impure thought,” […]’
Goats 'can develop their own accents' | Telegraph →
Hiya pupils, please avoid slang, ta | The Guardian →
‘Sheffield Springs academy, which is based in one of the most deprived parts of the city, asks students to use standard English inside the school gates.
The United Learning Trust (ULT), a charity that runs the school, said the policy had been introduced so that pupils could recognise what kind of language was acceptable between friends and what would be suitable in more formal...
The vertical fossil and the exploding dinosaur... →
‘Seagoing dinosaurs did not explode nearly as often as scientists believed, according to a new study […]’
FBI says paying cash for coffee is a sign of... →
White grandfather detained, cuffed in Austin while... →
‘At its core, “see something, say something” isn’t about a war on crime, it’s a war on surprises, whose core premise is to mistrust and fear things you can’t understand. ‘
Scientists Had Humans and Monkeys Watch a Clint... →
French min deletes stay indoors tip for homeless |... →
‘Junior minister Nora Berra was ridiculed on the Internet for writing a blog at the weekend saying toddlers, old people, the sick and homeless were particularly vulnerable in times of extreme cold and should “avoid going outdoors.”’
Muslim: Quip led to terror probe | The Chronicle... →
‘MONTREAL — A casual text message to work colleagues encouraging them to “blow away” the competition at a trade show allegedly plunged a Muslim man into a terrorism probe.
Telecommunications sales manager Saad Allami says the innocent message, aimed at pumping up his staff, has had devastating consequences on his life.
The Quebec man says he was arrested by provincial police...
GM food banned in Monsanto canteen | The... →
‘The firm running the canteen at Monsanto’s pharmaceuticals factory at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, serves only GM-free meals, Friends of the Earth said. In a notice in the canteen, Sutcliffe Catering, owned by the Granada Group, said it had taken the decision “to remove, as far as practicable, GM soya and maize from all food products served in our restaurant. We have taken the...
Site Helps Icelanders Avoid Incest | The Mary Sue →
‘But, apparently, it’s not that unusual to find yourself dating your own third or fourth cousin, and some Icelanders are finding that a bit too close for comfort.’
Mr Men hired to switch on Christmas lights... →
Son-of-ACTA, the TPP, wants to legislate buffers |... →
‘Now, this is a secret treaty, so we don’t know most of what’s going on in the room, but one jaw-dropping leak is that that the treaty contemplates requiring licenses for ephemeral copies made in a computer’s buffer. That means that every buffer in your machine would need a separate, negotiated license for every playback of copyrighted works, and buffer designs that the...
5th Grader Discovers New Molecule | The Mary Sue →
‘Kenneth Boehr wasn’t expecting more than the usual from his ten-year-old students when he started a lesson on the Periodic table and handed out the molecule modeling kits. Then Clara Lazen handed him a model constructed from oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon atoms, and asked if she’d made a real chemical or not.’
Indiana Assemblyman withdraws urine-testing for... →
Republican proposes bill: mandatory drug-testing for everyone on welfare.
Democrat passes an amendment adding mandatory drug-testing for all politicians in the state.
Republican gets upset and withdraws bill.