an egg-basket in a centrifuge

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages | McClatchy

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:43:48 +0000

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages | McClatchy:

‘But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

“This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.” ‘

Via corcarpemei.

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:49:05 +0000

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

Mandelson seeks to amend copyright law in new crackdown on filesharing | guardian.co.uk

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:48:36 +0000

Mandelson seeks to amend copyright law in new crackdown on filesharing | guardian.co.uk:

‘The proposed alteration to the Copyright Act would create a new offence of downloading material that infringes copyright laws, as well as giving new powers or rights to “protect” rights holders such as record companies and movie studios – and, controversially, conferring powers on “any person as may be specified” to help cut down online infringement of copyright.

The changes proposed seem small – but are enormously wideranging, given both the breadth of even minor copyright infringement online, where photographs and text are copied with little regard to ownership, and the complexity of ownership.’

UK lawyers fight to save nine-year-old boy from deportation to Iran | guardian.co.uk

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:47:14 +0000

UK lawyers fight to save nine-year-old boy from deportation to Iran | guardian.co.uk:

Reading between the lines, it would appear that the family are being denied asylum, not because there is no evidence that they are at risk in Iran, but because they did not request asylum at the point of entry.

They claim that they were on holiday in the UK when they received news that the Iranian authorities had issued a warrant for their arrest.

My (limited) understanding is that the UK authorities would turn down asylum even if that were proved to be true.

Gang 'killed victims to extract their fat' | The Guardian

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:40:53 +0000

Gang 'killed victims to extract their fat' | The Guardian:

‘Peruvian police have arrested a gang which allegedly killed scores of peasants, drained their bodies of fat and sold the liquid abroad as an anti-wrinkle cosmetic.’

Weird | Subnormality Click to read the whole strip.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:46:06 +0000

Weird | Subnormality

Click to read the whole strip.

Heavy petting at France's human hamster hotel | guardian.co.uk

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:43:56 +0000

Heavy petting at France's human hamster hotel | guardian.co.uk:

‘Were Franz Kafka alive today - and were he to have developed an uncharacteristic interest in European city breaks - it would be interesting to know what he made of the latest addition to France’s panoply of weekend getaway options.’

Not sure I’m terribly interested in the story. But I loved that line.

UK.gov hoovers up data on five-year-olds | The Register

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:41:26 +0000

UK.gov hoovers up data on five-year-olds | The Register:

‘The questionnaire – or School Entry Wellbeing Review – is a four-page tick-box opus, at present being piloted in Lincolnshire, requiring parents to supply over 100 different data points about their own and their offspring’s health. Previously, parents received a “Health Record” on the birth of a child, which contained around eight questions which needed to be answered when that child started school.

The Review asks parents to indicate whether their child often lies or cheats : whether they steal or bully; and how often they eat red meat, takeaway meals or fizzy drinks.

However, the interrogation is not limited to intimate details of a child’s health. Parents responding to the survey are asked to provide details about their health and their partner’s health, whether they or their partner are in paid employment, and even to own up to whether or not their child is upset when they the parent returns to a room.

Completing the review is, according to a spokeswoman for Lincolnshire Community Health Services CHS “entirely the choice of the parent”. However, the letter accompanying the review states: “Please complete the enclosed questionaire …and return it to school in the envelope provided within the next 7 days.” ‘

Real-life rolling stones creep across Death Valley in California...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:46:55 +0000

Real-life rolling stones creep across Death Valley in California | Telegraph

‘The rocks, some as heavy as 250lbs, move unaided in bizarre straight line patterns across the ultra-flat surface of the valley.’

The worst Christmas present ever? | The Guardian

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:37:38 +0000

The worst Christmas present ever? | The Guardian:

‘It is quite possibly the most depressing Christmas present ever devised, guaranteed to make you wish the giver had had the imagination and sense of occasion to get you an ironing board cover: thanks to the Good Gifts catalogue, your loved ones can now defray the national debt on your behalf, by making a donation to the Treasury in your name.’

Ordnance Survey maps to go free online | guardian.co.uk

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:01:08 +0000

Ordnance Survey maps to go free online | guardian.co.uk

Women banned from wearing trousers in Paris | Telegraph

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:47:36 +0000

Women banned from wearing trousers in Paris | Telegraph:

‘The rule banning women from dressing like men – namely by wearing trousers - was first introduced in 1800 by Paris’ police chief and has survived repeated attempts to repeal it.’

Lion opens family’s car door with his teeth | Telegraph

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:48:44 +0000

Lion opens family’s car door with his teeth | Telegraph

My Sentiments Exactly.

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:00:31 +0000

My Sentiments Exactly.

Brazilian police hunt blogger who exposes infidelity online | The Guardian

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:54:39 +0000

Brazilian police hunt blogger who exposes infidelity online | The Guardian:

‘So far the elusive blogger, from the small rural town of Lagoa da Prata in Minas Gerais state, has posted the names of 300 supposed cuckolds on the popular social networking site Orkut.’

‘“The military police are advising people to stay calm,” said Lieutenant Marcondes Couto, from Lagoa da Prata’s police force. “We are investigating and we will catch this criminal. Justice will be done.” ‘

I’m just wondering what his crime is.

Lawyer sacked from £150,000 job after DNA is wrongly put on national database | Mail Online

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:32:50 +0000

Lawyer sacked from £150,000 job after DNA is wrongly put on national database | Mail Online:

‘The mother-of-three today described her reputation as having been ‘tainted’ after she was dismissed from her post following the discovery of her DNA profile - despite never having been charged with an offence.’

‘Ms Elliott was just about to take up working on the government’s own national identity card scheme which required the routine checks to be made before she was ‘cleared’ for the role.’

(Via no2ID. Daily Mail warning. Can’t find this anywhere else.)

MS patent looks just like Unix command, critics howl | The Register

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:20:01 +0000

MS patent looks just like Unix command, critics howl | The Register:

‘To Linux defenders at Groklaw, the claims describe nothing more than the sudo command that’s been a core part of Unix since 1980 and dates back even earlier to the mainframe days. The feature, which has more recently been rolled into Linux and Mac OSes, is designed to prevent unauthorized commands from being issued by requiring users to enter a password before they can be run.’

Spanish region takes hands-on approach to sex education | guardian.co.uk

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:41:55 +0000

Spanish region takes hands-on approach to sex education | guardian.co.uk:

‘The region’s socialist government has launched a €14,000 (£12,600) campaign aimed at teaching young people how best to set about “sexual self-exploration and the discovery of self-pleasure” […]’

To the anonymous gay teen who asked for help in a Boing Boing comment thread | Boing Boing

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:40:32 +0000

To the anonymous gay teen who asked for help in a Boing Boing comment thread | Boing Boing:

Well worth reading all the comments on this one. Hardly anyone is calling fake on the original comment; almost everyone seems to get that giving advice is going to be helpful for more than one person reading this.

Meep! Nonsense Word Gets Students in Hot Water | ABC News

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:53:09 +0000

Meep! Nonsense Word Gets Students in Hot Water | ABC News:

‘But meeping doesn’t seem to be funny to Danvers High School Principal Thomas Murray, who threatened to suspend students caught meeping in school.

In an interview with the Salem News, Murray — who did not respond to e-mail or voice mail messages from ABCNews.com — said automated calls were made to parents, warning them of the possible punishment after administrators learned that students were conspiring online to mass-meep in one part of the school building.

“It has nothing to do with the word,” Murray told the Salem News. “It has to do with the conduct of the students. We wouldn’t just ban a word just to ban a word.” ‘

Via The Morning News.