Bhagvad Gita

I have read the Bhagvad Gita. Strangely enough, I was at a yoga workshop this weekend on the yamas and niyamas, and the book was referenced, as well as given as a focus of study: "Read a translation and write down five things you have learnt." Clearly, it's time to read it again. I found it on my bookcase, which arranged more by size and kind than subject: hardbound, oversized books on the bottom shelves, mostly art, some photography; medium-sized hardbound and thick paperbacks on the middle shelves, a mix of yoga, religious texts, homeopathy, novels, design; and small paperbacks on the tops shelves, predominantly novels but also some subjects already mentioned. I have a few other books in places around the house, but would like a larger shelf so they can all be together.

Why do you think they call them 'Murder Inc'?

Abuse worse than under Saddam, says Iraqi leader · Allawi in damning indictment of new regime · Bush prepares way for US troop pull-out Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor Sunday November 27, 2005 The Observer Human rights abuses in Iraq are now as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein and are even in danger of eclipsing his record, according to the country's first Prime Minister after the fall of Saddam's regime.

'People are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse,' Ayad Allawi told The Observer. 'It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things.'

In a damning and wide-ranging indictment of Iraq's escalating human rights catastrophe, Allawi accused fellow Shias in the government of being responsible for death squads and secret torture centres. The brutality of elements in the new security forces rivals that of Saddam's secret police, he said.

Allawi, who was a strong ally of the US-led coalition forces and was prime minister until this April, made his remarks as further hints emerged yesterday that President George Bush is planning to withdraw up to 40,000 US troops from the country next year, when Iraqi forces will be capable of taking over.

Allawi's bleak assessment is likely to undermine any attempt to suggest that conditions in Iraq are markedly improving.

'We are hearing about secret police, secret bunkers where people are being interrogated,' he added. 'A lot of Iraqis are being tortured or killed in the course of interrogations. We are even witnessing Sharia courts based on Islamic law that are trying people and executing them.' [...]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1651789,00.html

This surprises who exactly?

The CIA are running secret torture prisons WORLD WIDE...obviously their crimes are the greatest in the world, always have been, and will be very hard to eclipse.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

J. Robert Oppenheimer, (1904–1967) the Supervising Scientist of the Manhattan Project was giving a lecture at Rochester University seven years after the first atomic weapon was successfully detonated. After his lecture he opened the floor to a period of questions and answers.

One student asked: “Was the bomb exploded at Alamogordo during the Manhattan Project the first one to be detonated?”

Dr. Oppenheimer’s answer was short but extremely telling. Dr. Oppenheimer said: “Well – yes. In modern times, of course.”

Dr. Oppenheimer years earlier had described what he was thinking when he witnessed the first modern atomic explosion. His thoughts had gone to the Hindu Bhagvad Gita which states:

"Of a thousand suns in the sky if suddenly should burst forth the light, it would be like unto the light of that Exalted One.” (Bhagvad Gita XI, 12)

“Death am I, cause of destruction of the worlds, matured and set out to gather in the worlds there." (Bhagvad Gita XI, 32)

However, in answering the question Dr. Oppenheimer was not referring to the Hindu Bhagvad Gita but rather an ancient Indian text known as the Mahabharata. That which had occurred in Japan in 1945 was reminiscent of a far more ancient episode, one as early as 2450 BC in the regions of the upper Ganges.

The text reads:

...a single projectile charged with all the power of the universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as ten thousand suns rose in all its splendor......it was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas....the corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. Their hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent cause, and the birds turned white. After a few hours all foodstuffs were infected......To escape from this fire. The soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment... [...] http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/case8.html

Have you read the Bhagvad Gita? It is very beautiful...

A Free Mars

On May 19th, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera (Pancam) mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover's 489th martian day, or sol. Spirit was commanded to stay awake briefly after sending that sol's data to the Mars Odyssey orbiter just before sunset. This small panorama of the western sky was obtained using Pancam's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer color filters. This filter combination allows false color images to be generated that are similar to what a human would see, but with the colors slightly exaggerated. In this image, the bluish glow in the sky above the Sun would be visible to us if we were there, but an artifact of the Pancam's infrared imaging capabilities is that with this filter combination the redness of the sky farther from the sunset is exaggerated compared to the daytime colors of the martian sky. Because Mars is farther from the Sun than the Earth is, the Sun appears only about two-thirds the size that it appears in a sunset seen from the Earth. The terrain in the foreground is the rock outcrop "Jibsheet", a feature that Spirit has been investigating for several weeks (rover tracks are dimly visible leading up to "Jibsheet"). The floor of Gusev crater is visible in the distance, and the Sun is setting behind the wall of Gusev some 80 km (50 miles) in the distance. [...] http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07997

that snow

that snow looks like it would make a fat squeaking noise when you walk on it, as all the air is pressed out leaving large clumping foot prints. that snow looks perfect for constructing snowmen, amassing a large armament of snow balls, or perhaps packed into a frozen carapace for tiny tealights ...

The Lords intone

Lord Stoddart said: "I believe that we are now getting very far beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four. I do not think George Orwell, the other Blair, could even have contemplated the uses to which an individual’s personal property—that is, DNA—was going to be used to put him under control and surveillance. I know that this is rapidly ceasing to be a free country where the individual matters, but those of us who believe in individual freedom must, I think, stand up for the principle that we belong to ourselves, not to this or any other state." [...] List of amendments at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldbills/028/amend/ml028-iii.htm Read transcripts of the debates at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/pdvn/home.htm Watch the debates at : http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Archive.aspx (Debates were in the House of Lords on the 15th, 16th and 23rd November) From the No2ID mailout. So, even The Lords understand that this busineess makes people into property (merchandise). How can it possibly suceed? 'How' he says!

Order for order

All of my books touch each other. All my Mobeus books are together, in tome order, next to the complete 2000AD set. All the maths books are together, which are next to the philosophy. All my shortwave books are together, to the right of politics and modern music. Then come all my graphic design books. Novels are all on one shelf. Half of all the programming books are all together on one shelf, the other half on a chair next to where I work permanently. Anyone who licks their fingers before turning a page in a book should be hung by the neck till they are dead. The same goes for peope who 'dog ear' a book, (except a cook book or other such 'working book' which are there to be used brutally). I use pink silk ribbons for bookmarks. In work books, I glue these into the book, usually under the binding. In other books, I drape them. My records are 'organized' differently. I know where they all are, and its a mixture of date / artist / type / origin. All the jazz I got from my mother are together. All the weather report I bought myself are separate, for example.

Its Double Talk Time Again

EU warns Iran over nuclear arms

AP

Published: 24 November 2005

The European Union will today accuse Iran of having documents that serve no other purpose than making nuclear arms and will warn it of possible future referral to the UN Security Council at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A press statement, made available before planned delivery later in the day, was described by a diplomat as a summary of what Britain, France and Germany would tell a closed session of the IAEA board, which started meeting today. It criticises Tehran for possessing suspicious documents that "have no other application than the production of nuclear weapons".

The statement offered new negotiations meant to defuse tensions over Tehran's insistence that it be in full control of uranium enrichment - a possible pathway to nuclear arms.

"Failure to make progress" on easing international concerns about Iran's nuclear program "will hasten the day when the board decides that a report to the Security Council must be made," said the statement,

The European Union also reserves the right to call an emergency board meeting before the next scheduled gathering in March - for possible Security Council referral - "if Iranian behaviour makes it necessary."

The statement alluded to new revelations of concern contained in a report drawn up for the board meeting by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei, including a finding showing the Iranians in possession of what appeared to be drawings of the core of an atomic warhead.

But the main issue is Iran's refusal to give up its right to enrichment, which can be used to generate power, but also to make weapons-grade material for nuclear warheads. Iran says it wants only to make fuel, but international concern is growing that the program could be misused.

A plan floated in recent weeks foresees moving any Iranian enrichment plan to Russia. There, in theory, Moscow would supervise the process to make sure enrichment is only to fuel levels.

But Iran insists it wants to master the complete fuel cycle domestically. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran yesterday that, while his country was willing to resume formal talks with key European powers on its nuclear program, "naturally we aim to have enrichment on Iran's territory".

The European Union will today accuse Iran of having documents that serve no other purpose than making nuclear arms and will warn it of possible future referral to the UN Security Council at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A press statement, made available before planned delivery later in the day, was described by a diplomat as a summary of what Britain, France and Germany would tell a closed session of the IAEA board, which started meeting today. It criticises Tehran for possessing suspicious documents that "have no other application than the production of nuclear weapons". [...]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article329093.ece

Wow.

How can an entire nation be accused of 'having documents'?

You could accuse an individual of 'having documents' (though not in a free country) but to threaten a whole government and nation of such a made up and absurd 'crime' is beyond infinetly ridiculous.

It needs to be said also that documents don't make nuclear weapons, and neither can you make a nuclear weapon out of a document. They might tell you how to make one, but that is all that they can do, and this information is widely available, in the greatest detail.

Once again, a newspaper reprints a propaganda release unchallenged. Shame on The Independent, who will cry crocodile tears as soon as an illegal and insane invasion of Iran begins.

You FOOLS. The momentum that is gathering around this needs to have friction added to the equation early in the process, i.e., by not allowing these absurd statements to be printed in your wide format toilet paper without so much as a 'wtf'

Phallic Stinkhorn Fungi

Fig 3. (Left). A stinkhorn that has lost all of its slime. Again, note the swollen, egg-like base and the gelatinous remains of the egg. Fig 4. (Right): Even after all the spore-containing slime has been removed, a stinkhorn can remain strongly attractive to flies and beetles for a several days. [© Jim Deacon]

http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/FungalBiology/profiles.htm#top

Repulsive and delicious.

THE PAOMNNEHAL PWEOR OF THE HMUAN MNID

THE PAOMNNEHAL PWEOR OF THE HMUAN MNID Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

very nice!

I like your font, Claus. I've had to look up typographic terminology, to know the bits and pieces.

There is a correlation

Go here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/4447082.stm And compare inflation with unemployment. Clegso, have you ever seen David Carson's work? Type to make your blood race... or run, depending on if you are making it or consuming it... http://www.davidcarsondesign.com/

Tech Support Responds

Hello, Thank you for your message. Gmail has a number of sending limits in place to prevent abuse of our system, and to help fight spam. If you reach one of Gmail's limits, you'll be temporarily unable to send mail. Some common reasons users reach their sending limits include: - Sending a message to more than 500 recipients You can send a single message to a maximum of 500 recipients. Their email addresses can be distributed among the 'To:,' 'Cc:,' and 'Bcc:' fields. - Sending a large number of undeliverable messages * We suggest verifying your contacts' email addresses. Make sure the email addresses you're sending mail to are valid. It's also important that everyone you are sending mail to is willing to receive it. If you'd like to learn more about best practices for sending a large amount of mail through Gmail, please visit: http://www.google.com/gmail/help/bulk_mail.html. Sincerely, The Gmail Team [...] And there you have it, from the horses mouth.

The means of production

Maybe anyone that busy shouldn't be relying on a freebie webmail app for their work email. The idea that you can't get useful work out of something free is a little antiquated. There is no reason whasoever (yes 'whasoever') why a free service can't be as useful as a for pay one. Welcome to the 21st century. Its that kind of thinking....well, expression, that stops the adoption of linux over windoze "how can something that is free possibly be better than something that you pay for?" is the line people take....'you get what you pay for'.... We of course, know better. My complaint in this case, and it is not really a complaint, it is an observation and a warning, is that the full facts about how the service works was not laid out in full in advance of us embarking on setting the account up. There is no reason why you should not be able to do all of your work productively with Gmail, and never pay a penny for it. This person was an AOLER. Anyone with experience of an AOLER knows that they are amongst the most computer illiterate people on the planet, with a phobia of technology that drives them to simplified services. Gmail is simple and powerful and open. It doesnt lock your address book in for example. You can forward incoming mail to any address...you know the score. This person did not want to (and didnt even understand what was involved in) having her own domain. She just wanted to get off of AOL, mostly because people were not taking her seriously. Im not making this up. Gmail doesnt have the same lamer connotations as hotmail, yahoo mail and AOL, and the latter is synonymous with 'ultimate lamer'. Aaannnnyway. The final answer is YES people should rely on 'freebie' webmail services for their work. If the service has all the features you need (and you can only know this if they describe all the limitations in advance) then you can use it just like any other tool. The cost is irrelevant. Didnt I already say this? I think I did!

My first ever bad experience with Google

Today I tried to help a friend migrate from AOL to Gmail. We exported all her contacts from AOL (a story in itself) cleaned them up and then did a BCC to all of them from her new gmail account to let everyone know she was off AOL. There were 735 contacts. Gmail threw up an error saying that you cannot send more than 400 mails in one batch, so we split the list into two and then they all went off. Everything was fine. No more AOHELL. A new account on the best webmail service out there. Or so we thought. As the new account started to kick in, which was almost instantly since this person is very busy, we started to get an error every time she tried to send a message.... "Oops, the system is unable to complete your operation... Please try again in a few seconds..." This error has persisted since around 1PM today. Subsequently (after Googling around for an answer) it transpires that there is an undocumented limit and severe penalty for sending too many messages at once from your gmail account. Obviously, had we known of this limit, we would never have sent this notification via Gmail, we would have done it from a service without such a limitation...AOL. here is the thread that I found with the facts about this secret limitation and penalty:

1. Quarky Apr 28, 3:25 pm show options From: Quarky - Find messages by this author Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:25:34 -0000 Local: Thurs, Apr 28 2005 3:25 pm Subject: Oops... system unable to complete your operation... Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Report Abuse So yesterday I sent out an email to a mailing list that I maintain for a local LAN party. I sent it in batches of 100 addresses (the limit with gmail) and I needed to send it about 7 times. After the fifth email I got this error message: "Oops, the system is unable to complete your operation... Please try again in a few seconds..." My friend told me that its a spam prevention thing, and that it would block me from sending anything for 1 hour. I've been getting that message anytime I try to send anything since yesterday morning. I couldn't even reply to the gmail support email that was generated when I went through gmail help. Anyone know if there is anything I can do?

2. shicaca Apr 28, 3:44 pm show options From: shicaca - Find messages by this author Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:44:17 -0000 Local: Thurs, Apr 28 2005 3:44 pm Subject: Re: Oops... system unable to complete your operation... Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Report Abuse - Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Quarky wrote: > So yesterday I sent out an email to a mailing list that I maintain for > a local LAN party. I sent it in batches of 100 addresses (the limit > with gmail) and I needed to send it about 7 times. After the fifth > email I got this error message: "Oops, the system is unable to complete > your operation... Please try again in a few seconds..." My friend told > me that its a spam prevention thing, and that it would block me from > sending anything for 1 hour. > I've been getting that message anytime I try to send anything since > yesterday morning. I couldn't even reply to the gmail support email > that was generated when I went through gmail help. > Anyone know if there is anything I can do? I'm sure it's nothing to do with you sending out e-mail, but moreso probably just the service going up and down. Remember: It is still a beta and therefore is not completely finished. They may take a server down for a bit to do some service to it or take the entire thing down to add functionality. You never know.

3. Quarky Apr 28, 3:47 pm show options From: Quarky - Find messages by this author Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:47:42 -0000 Local: Thurs, Apr 28 2005 3:47 pm Subject: Re: Oops... system unable to complete your operation... Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Report Abuse well I think I got it fixed. apparently its a fairly common problem that gmail refuses to document. all i had to do was enable snippets, and then disable them again. why it works I'll never know -- but it did.

4. jeandiata Apr 28, 4:59 pm show options From: jeandiata - Find messages by this author Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 11:59:47 -0400 Local: Thurs, Apr 28 2005 4:59 pm Subject: Re: [Gmail-Help-Discussion] Re: Oops... system unable to complete your operation... Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Report Abuse No - gmail does seem to have a limit of 400 contacts a day to prevent gmail from being used by spammers. If you're not a spammer and need to send out mass mailing - you may want to consider setting up a Google Group. Google actually seems to encourage using groups as mailing lists. :o) On 4/28/05, shicaca <[email address]> wrote: - Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - > Quarky wrote: > > So yesterday I sent out an email to a mailing list that I maintain > for > > a local LAN party. I sent it in batches of 100 addresses (the limit > > with gmail) and I needed to send it about 7 times. After the fifth > > email I got this error message: "Oops, the system is unable to > complete > > your operation... Please try again in a few seconds..." My friend > told > > me that its a spam prevention thing, and that it would block me from > > sending anything for 1 hour. > > I've been getting that message anytime I try to send anything since > > yesterday morning. I couldn't even reply to the gmail support email > > that was generated when I went through gmail help. > > Anyone know if there is anything I can do? > I'm sure it's nothing to do with you sending out e-mail, but moreso > probably just the service going up and down. Remember: It is still a > beta and therefore is not completely finished. They may take a server > down for a bit to do some service to it or take the entire thing down > to add functionality. You never know. -- Don't forget to "Search this Group" for your Answers! "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer" ~Einstein

5. Quigi Apr 28, 3:52 pm show options From: Quigi - Find messages by this author Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:52:41 -0000 Local: Thurs, Apr 28 2005 3:52 pm Subject: Re: Oops... system unable to complete your operation... Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Report Abuse I think all you can do is wait, or open a second Gmail account. Gmail has limits on how much mail you can send (or receive). If you hit the limit you (or others mailing you) are blocked for some time. I contacted support, but they don't disclose anything. They don't even admit there are such limits (but many users have experienced them). It would be useful to know what the limits are (e.g., how many messages in what timespan), and how long the suspension lasts. Your friend says 1 hour, but apparently it's more.

It is completely reasonable to have a limit on the number of emails that can be sent from a service like this. What is unreasonable is that this limit is not documented, and that the subsequent penalty is not documented either. Now this person has told all her contacts she has a new gmail account, and she cannot conduct her business with this address. We could haved just as easily been warned that, "sending this many emails may cause your account to be deactivated" when we tried to send 735 emails. We were told that gmail had a limit on the number of emails going out at one time, so why not tell the whole story and warn that the account would be disabled? I cant reccomend gmail anyore; who knows what other secret restrictions are lurking in there to bite you in the ass when you are trying to get work done? Its a pity, because gmail, when it works, is very good, but clearly its not for people who send alot of email as a part of their work.

Astonishing all round condemnation

'ID cards won't make us safer' Peter Kingston Wednesday November 16, 2005

Former MI5 chief Stella Rimington. Photograph: PA

Identity cards would not make Britain a safer place and nobody in the secret intelligence services supports their introduction, according to the former head of MI5.

Asked at a further education conference whether she thought ID cards would make the country safer, Dame Stella Rimington replied: "No is the very simple answer, although ID cards have possibly some purpose.

"But I don't think anybody in the intelligence services - not in my former service - will be pressing for ID cards."

---

---

Her own opinion was that ID cards would be of use "but only if they can be made unforgeable".

She added: "If we had ID cards at great expense and people can go into back rooms and forge them they will not make us any safer."

Tony Blair has long argued that ID cards would help in the fight against crime, benefit fraud, illegal immigration and terrorism. [...] ???!!!

She had sought to reassure one principal, worried that the intelligence services would treat all foreigners - particularly Muslims - among his student body as potential terrorists, that there would be no question of blanket treatment of ethnic minority groups.

For one thing, she said, there simply were not enough resources to take such an approach. [...]

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1643987,00.html

Thats the wrong reason stella. Do you mean to say that if you had the resources, that you WOULD DO IT?!

And you were doing so well!!!!!

DigiIliterates to the fore

Bob Geldof rails against letter writing

By Martin Shankleman BBC Radio 2 business presenter

I don't like the postman: Sir Bob

Live8 organiser Sir Bob Geldof has revealed his contempt for letter writing, blaming it for tying up people's time and stopping genuine action.

Sir Bob told a conference in London that letters and the post "give a feeling of action, which is a mistake".

He told delegates that what workers achieve each day will be linked to the number of letters they ignore.

He explained that the "doing part" of a job is proportionate to the amount of post you do not open.

"letters get in the way of serious consideration of what you want to do," Sir Bob said.

An ill-considered letter can destroy a deal Sir Bob Geldof

At the conference, organised by the innovation firm ?So What! , Sir Bob said he dreaded seeing lots of post in his inbox, as they imposed an agenda on him, and disrupted his own plans for the day.

A successful businessman as well as social activist, Sir Bob also warned of the perils of a badly-phrased writing, which he said he knows from personal experience can cause serious commercial harm.

"The tone can be wrong", he explained. "An ill-considered letter can destroy a deal."

His advice to delegates at the conference in the Brick Lane area of London was blunt.

"Don't do letters." [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4440768.stm

Geldork, you is tex sux0rz!

Yet in this insane and rather sad rant, he clearly smells the stink of the real idea that is causing all of our problems today, and its something we have written about on BLOGDIAL again and again. If you are going to take some sort of action, it must not be an action that does not have a specific desired result, and also, it must not be an action that is a repeat of anothter, previously failed action; ie, no more marches on London, since that doesnt work (Stop War failure addicts NB.). No more signing petitions that are to be delivered to No.10, because they are simply thrown in the garbage. No more conferences, meeting with politicians - all of them do absolutely nothing.

The No2ID campaign on pledgebank and indeed, the whole concept of pledgebank is an example of moving away from things that dont work, into new effective actions. These are all organized by email of course...... Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Loonies on parade

Check out these two accounts of a loony tune writer and a hooded priestess: Sharon Begley and Susan Clancey respectively....

...Recently I appeared on "Larry King Live," along with Clancy and several others, when one of the guests showed a blow-up of the world-famous Trent UFO photographs from McMinnville, Oregon, arguably the best-known UFO photos in existence. They were prominently featured in "Life" magazine in 1950, and have been reproduced hundreds of times since in many publications. What's more, in 1969, after careful analysis, an investigator for the skeptical Condon Committee described the McMinnville photo case this way: "This is one of the few UFO reports in which all factors investigated, geometric, psychological, and physical, appear to be consistent with the assertion that an extraordinary flying object, silvery, metallic, disc-shaped, tens of meters in diameter, and evidently artificial, flew within sight of two witnesses." Optical physicist Dr. Bruce Maccabee has investigated this case thoroughly, flying to McMinneville, interviewing the Trents, their family and neighbors, taking his own test photos from the same location, and carrying out literally months of optical analysis of the original pictures. Maccabee's work has been published widely, but the photos themselves should be familiar to anyone with even a cursory involvement in UFO study and research. Yet, during the Larry King program, abduction authority Susan Clancy glanced at the photos on the monitor and said something like this: "that could be anything...someone who threw up a hubcap or a Frisbee or something." [...]

http://www.intrudersfoundation.org/faith_based.html and this is a priceless stream of pure illogic:

..."Maybe it was a hoax," she answered, whereupon I informed her that all six passed lie detector tests - twice - concerning their account of the UFO and the onset of Walton's abduction. "That's because they believed it!" she said triumphantly. "But," I explained, "If they were perpetrating a hoax, then they didn't believe it." "No," she argued, "you can believe in a hoax and that means you can pass a lie detector test. It's like a delusion." I tried to explain that the very definition of a hoax was that it represented a deliberate, conscious effort to deceive. [...]

http://www.intrudersfoundation.org/wall_street_journal.html

Water torture

Thank heavens there are SOME people who have some sense, and have made this very important pledge. I know lots of people who have gone to the USA, who mention nothing about being fingerprinted upon their return, and when asked about it, have nothing to say. Maybe they are responding like shamed people who don't like to talk about a humiliation happened to them. When someone makes a pledge like this, it has tremendous signifigance. When decent people have had enough, when there are lots of them, the effect is overwhelmingly powerful, and just the sort of thing that we want. It is the individual refusing to pay and play, the individual raindrop with all of her siblings that can wash away a whole village in an hour. The poll tax died because of it, USVISIT can be destroyed by it. Violence against middle east countries can be permanently derailed by it. All it takes is the will to say 'no', and the reasoning to be communicated between people on a personal level. Sadly, many of the people I know don't value their dignity...but this is about more than dignity. This is about not putting your hand into a fire after you have been warned that fire is hot and will burn you. I for one am not willing to wait 70 years like the Soviets did just to be able to read books listen to music, travel freely and make phone calls. Im not willing to sit around and take the sort of crap that Bliar and his filty dogs want to dish out. Now we hear that they are planning to randomly search people going onto the underground. If the dare do this, I will boycott London Transport. It is not acceptable that decent people should jump through these hoops at the behest of iinsane men. Searching people on the underground is pointless and vile, and London Underground should be punished by a mass stay away should they dare try and impliment such a thing. You might grumble that such a pledge is without power, but that would be a (nother) failure of your imagination. Your refusal to move is the most powerful nonweapon you have at your disposal. Coupled with millions of others spontaneously coalescing into a no deluge, what we want becomes what we get; the washing away of all the bad stuff.

Bringing it home.

On a previous trip to the US, my parents found upon their return that several small holes had been drilled into their hard cases, and no apology or even recognition of the fact given. A previous trip? So they have been done over twice? People must say no. The easiest way to do this is not to travel to the US. Do not trade with the US, do not give them your business. Money is the only language these people understand. There are plenty of other places in the world to visit, where you will be welcomed as a guest rather than as a potential felon. You forgot to mention that their credit card details, home address, iteniary, name, etc were forwarded to uncle sham before they ever boarded the plane. People just don't care about being mistreated; they only want convenience and fun. Your parents changed the locks on their cases to accomodate the us government. This is the exact opposite of the sort of behaviour that we need. Yesterday, old men marched to remember their fallen colleagues. The narators all talked about how they sacrificed their lives for peace. I seem to remember in previous years that the narrators spoke of how these fallen men sacrificed thier lives for freedom. Hmmm when did this all change?! But I go 'OT'. You can tell people until you are blue in the face about this and they will not listen. Even when it happens to them, they are more than willing to go for another taste. This is the sort of world we are living in, and anyone that participates in it by going on holiday to these terrible places or supporting 'democracy' are guilty of keeping the sham going. Is it not strange how it hurts more when it happens to someone you know? This is part of the problem, not only with the absurd USVISIT, but with anything that involves someone else getting hurt. The number of bombs that have gone off all over the world since the small time events that happened in London have been many. Over one hundred people have been killed, and yet, there is no sympathy for them, no bowing of heads no speeches or special dates dedicated to them....why? Because they are 'not us', and people do not have the capacity to empathize with anyone that is not dying right in front of their eyes. This works on any scale. Someone else is being abused by USVISIT, a grumble. When its someone you know, when you can see the broken locks yourself, when the holes are in the suitcases of someone you know, well, then its a different story...a real story, something to get mad at. People blown to pieces by the us airforce in Iraq; ' a necessary loss' or 'collateral damage'. 50 people blown up in London, its reason to dismantle 1000 years of civil liberties on the spot. The same goes for the 29,000 people who have been stopped under the new 'anti-terror' legislation. Not a peep from anyone about it. That silence is, to me, even more disturbing than the stops themselvs. Its exactly this sort of silence that allowed people to be rounded up and incinerated en masse. Everyone is too quiet, too obedient and frankly, too stupid for my tastes.

The cracks finally begin to show

such fools. I hope that now, after the 'humiliating defeat' over the 90 days outrage that the upper house shows some bottle and throws out the ID cards bill in its entirety. Amazingly Bliar, the (wannabe) master of deception, said today:

Bliar says MPs are out of touch

Tony Blair reaction

Tony Blair has accused some MPs of being out of touch with the public and of failing to face the terror threat.

Mr Blair met his Cabinet after a vote on anti-terror plans brought his first Commons defeat as prime minister.

He told ministers there was a "worrying gap between parts of Parliament and the reality of the terrorist threat and public opinion".

MPs on Wednesday rejected plans to allow police to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge.

The plans were defeated by 31 votes, with 49 Labour MPs rebelling against the government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4423678.stm

[...] for the thousandth time, wtf? When two million marched in an unprecedented parade of discontent with government policy, Bliar and almost every single MP IGNORED public opinion AGAINST the invasion of Iraq, and did it anyway. The worrying gap between the cause for the invasion and THE FACTS are what the public are concerned about, and the causal relationship between that illegal immoral invasion and the 'terrorist threat' are what the public are concerned about. Bliar harped on ad nauseum about how 'he made a decision to go to war and you either agree with it or not' etc etc, but now that a 'decision' and a 'determination' and an outcome has been made that is different to the one that he wants all of a sudden its accusations of being 'out of touch'. What a pile of steaming bullshit. This is a blantant, and I MEAN blantant example of the hypocricy that is the absolute nature of Bliar, the most venal prime minister ever to grace the lower house.

The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris

In it's entirety, a must read article, a prescient prediction written by Theodore Dalrymple for CITY Journal in the Autumn of 2002. Any of you, read it all now or again: The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris.

The Last of England

Many years ago, it seems like a lifetime - and in some countries with populations that have a short life expectancy, it would be a lifetime - I knew some truely brilliant people. They made me laugh more than I had ever laughed in my life, and I have never laughed so much since. It was revealed to me this morning that one of these priceless men has a blog!

Mort pour rien

Mort pour rien - Dead for nothing

Bouna et Zaid

Members of Paris’s African community have been rioting in the streets of Paris for the past 9 days. The riots were triggered by the death of two youths of African decent, Bouna Traore, aged 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, were electrocuted at an electricity sub-station in Clichy-sous-Bois as they ran from the police. A third youth who escaped death, said they panicked and ran because they found themselves near the scene of a break-in incident where police began to arrive. The police of course deny any involvement in the boys death. It should be noted that these young people are not immigrants. Their grandparents and possibly their parents are but they are born in France and are French citizens. Constantly referring to them as "immigrants" is a problem in itself and reinforces their exclusion from mainstream French society.

The boys did not have criminal records nor were they known to the police so why did they run. The explanation given in Indymedia Paris by Laurent Levy is very plausible given the appalling racist record of the French police. They knew what would happen to them if they were stopped for an ID check. They would risk being detained and spending several hours being humiliated at the police station - you do not have to have much of an imagination to know the kind of taunts the boys would be subjected to. It was late and they wanted to get home where they were expected by their families. Levy also asks why the Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy had to say that this drama took place after a burglary attempt implying the boys were invovled or boys "like them" ie Africans and Arabs. [...]

http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/

My emphasis. Do I need to spell it out? Britain is next for this type of outbreak, should all the correct conditions be met; ID cards, profiling, mass stop and search of individuals....

Notice how the BBQ is spinning this; the sympathetic language that is being used to explain and justify these riots compared to the unsympathetic language used to describe the 'insurgents' in Bhagdad. In france they saying that,"... the riots are an outpouring of anger caused by many years of living as France's second class citizens", wheras in Iraq the insurgents are just 'terrorists'.

Think about this; if a single explosion destroyed 4500 cars, it would be a huge international event. Spread out over 11 days, its a rolling national crisis for the government, barely registering in foreign news. This should be a huge revelation to all those wannabe self immolators. Nationwide riots, distributed disruption, molotov cocktails; these are all far more effective at damaging governments than doing single event outrages.

A single event outrage produces massive psychological shockwaves but they also bolster the very governments that the perpetrators want to damage, simultaneously giving these very same governments carte blanche to make whatever new and bad law they want which represses everyone.

Rolling destruction, nightly riots, like burning peat is harder to control, effective at discrediting and disrupting authority and, up till now, not associated with 'terrorism', even though its the very 'same' people who are doing the work.

Britain, you have been warned!

Not the answer

Mehmet Altun, 15

The police come and hassle us all the time. They ask us for our papers 10 times a day.

They treat us like delinquents - especially [Interior Minister Nicolas] Sarkozy. That's not the answer.

It would be good to have youth clubs and other places to go - then there would be less trouble.

It's not good to burn cars but that's one way of getting attention, so people can come and solve our problems. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/0l/6.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4411192.stm

My emphasis.

If the British are STUPID enough to introduce ID cards here, this will be the inevitable result; riots sparked by the useless "routine checks" triggered purely by "race".

This is a PROMISE not a threat.

pipes

I've been enjoying the vocal musings of Feist of late ... she has a lovely voice. In concert a few weeks back, she sang songs alone, with a sampler, and created some beautiful harmonies, looping her voice and her guitar in layers. She makes the pouring rain at least bearable.

Cool stuff for the weekend

Stuff thats just too cool: Salling Clicker: http://www.salling.com/Clicker/mac/ When you combine that with Front Row on your mac, you get this. Which is very very cool indeed. And related... A new phrase to take over the world, to be said in response WHENEVER someone has computer problems AND is running Windoze: "First of all, why on earth are you running windows?" You can then solve their problem. Or not.

OBEX

12/08/2005 9:35:21 pm  No more devices found
17/08/2005 5:18:48 pm  Dark Knight - Found device
17/08/2005 5:19:56 pm  SGH-E720 - Found device
17/08/2005 5:20:49 pm  Cynth - Found device
17/08/2005 8:30:48 pm  Nokia 6630 - Found device
17/08/2005 8:31:46 pm   - Found device
29/08/2005 8:07:10 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - Found device
29/08/2005 8:07:23 pm  No more devices found
29/08/2005 8:07:27 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - OBEX search error -6410
29/08/2005 8:13:50 pm  M@ - Found device
29/08/2005 8:13:53 pm  Keyur - Found device
29/08/2005 8:43:20 pm  Nokia 6680 - Found device
29/08/2005 8:43:20 pm  Nokia 6230i - Found device
29/08/2005 10:08:11 pm  easy veezy - Found device
29/08/2005 10:08:24 pm  No more devices found
30/08/2005 12:17:57 pm  No more devices found
30/08/2005 4:30:33 pm  No more devices found
26/09/2005 2:10:15 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - Found device
26/09/2005 2:10:35 pm  Nokia 8800 - Found device
26/09/2005 2:10:53 pm   - Found device
26/09/2005 2:10:53 pm  No more devices found
26/09/2005 2:11:01 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - OBEX search error -6410
26/09/2005 2:11:02 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - OBEX search error -6410
26/09/2005 2:13:31 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - Found device
26/09/2005 2:13:40 pm  No more devices found
26/09/2005 2:13:53 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - OBEX search error -6410
26/09/2005 2:13:54 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - OBEX search error -6410
26/09/2005 2:24:43 pm  Nokia 6680 - Found device
26/09/2005 2:24:56 pm  No more devices found
26/09/2005 2:46:56 pm  fuck u. - Found device
26/09/2005 2:46:57 pm  No more devices found
26/09/2005 3:11:51 pm  D750i Marthijn - Found device
26/09/2005 3:11:52 pm  No more devices found
31/10/2005 5:25:18 pm  Nokia 6230 - Found device
31/10/2005 5:25:29 pm  Nokia 6310i - Found device
31/10/2005 5:27:12 pm  Nokia 6310i - Found device
31/10/2005 5:27:16 pm  No more devices found
31/10/2005 5:31:46 pm  Nokia 6230 - Found device
31/10/2005 5:34:39 pm  fat bastard - Found device
31/10/2005 5:34:50 pm  (BIG MAN) - Found device
31/10/2005 5:35:04 pm  Miss B.Haven - Found device
31/10/2005 5:35:12 pm  Maniak - Found device
31/10/2005 5:35:29 pm  lauren - Found device
31/10/2005 5:35:32 pm  K750i - Found device
31/10/2005 5:37:39 pm   - Found device
31/10/2005 5:38:50 pm  Timeout...
31/10/2005 5:40:10 pm  K750i - OBEX Put
31/10/2005 5:40:11 pm  K750i - Bluejacked!
01/11/2005 2:17:40 pm  Charlotte - Found device
01/11/2005 2:17:53 pm  No more devices found
01/11/2005 2:19:49 pm  entrance - Found device
01/11/2005 2:19:50 pm  No more devices found
01/11/2005 2:55:23 pm  Melanie - Found device
01/11/2005 2:55:26 pm  Bennyboy - Found device
01/11/2005 2:56:02 pm  Nokia 6630 - Found device
01/11/2005 6:44:50 pm  P910i - Found device
01/11/2005 6:44:50 pm  No more devices found
01/11/2005 6:45:32 pm  P910i - Found device
01/11/2005 6:45:36 pm  Rob 6310i - Found device
01/11/2005 6:45:58 pm  spv - Found device
01/11/2005 6:46:05 pm  T610 - Found device
01/11/2005 6:54:30 pm  Fuel - Found device
01/11/2005 6:54:35 pm  Mark - Found device
01/11/2005 6:55:31 pm   - Found device
01/11/2005 6:56:13 pm  Mark - OBEX Put
01/11/2005 7:09:50 pm  Nokia 6630 - Found device
01/11/2005 7:09:51 pm  BT GPS - Found device
01/11/2005 7:10:11 pm  Mahatma - Found device
01/11/2005 7:10:13 pm  No more devices found
01/11/2005 7:12:46 pm  Timeout...
01/11/2005 7:14:56 pm  Bik5 - Found device
01/11/2005 7:15:05 pm  Linda - Found device
01/11/2005 7:15:11 pm  Nokia 6820 - Found device
01/11/2005 7:17:34 pm  Cby2 - Found device
01/11/2005 7:18:08 pm   - Found device
02/11/2005 2:53:51 pm  Nokia 6230i - Found device
02/11/2005 2:59:30 pm  Nokia 6822 - Found device
02/11/2005 2:59:33 pm  Nokia 6230i - Found device
02/11/2005 2:59:34 pm  No more devices found
02/11/2005 3:01:43 pm  Nokia 6630 - Found device
02/11/2005 3:01:51 pm  Nokia 6310i - Found device
02/11/2005 3:02:04 pm  No more devices found
02/11/2005 3:18:41 pm  Nokia 6310i - Found device
02/11/2005 3:19:14 pm  Nokia 6600 - Found device
02/11/2005 3:19:14 pm  No more devices found
02/11/2005 3:19:17 pm  Nokia 6310i - OBEX Put
02/11/2005 4:41:23 pm  Pocket_PCJKM - Found device
02/11/2005 4:41:23 pm  SGH-E720 - Found device
02/11/2005 4:41:26 pm  Monkey nuts - Found device
02/11/2005 4:41:26 pm  No more devices found
02/11/2005 4:42:18 pm  Monkey nuts - OBEX search error -6410
02/11/2005 4:43:42 pm  Nokia 6680 - Found device
02/11/2005 4:43:43 pm  Nokia 6310i - Found device
02/11/2005 4:43:50 pm  GAVINGELAPUK - Found device
02/11/2005 4:43:55 pm  Nokia 6310i - Found device
02/11/2005 4:44:08 pm  HUNKY MAN - Found device
02/11/2005 4:44:14 pm  SGH-E720 - Found device
02/11/2005 4:44:35 pm  Owl - Found device
02/11/2005 5:00:52 pm  Telford - Found device
02/11/2005 5:00:59 pm  Cesar - Found device
02/11/2005 5:01:00 pm  SAMSUNG SGH-D500 - Found device
02/11/2005 5:01:46 pm  Cesar - OBEX Put
02/11/2005 5:21:08 pm  Il Quesso - Found device
02/11/2005 5:21:21 pm  No more devices found
03/11/2005 8:34:26 am  Nick Ward - Found device
03/11/2005 8:34:26 am  Thilaka - Found device
03/11/2005 8:34:29 am  Stephan's Nokia - Found device
03/11/2005 8:34:42 am  No more devices found
03/11/2005 8:34:45 am  Nick Ward - OBEX Put
03/11/2005 8:34:46 am  Nick Ward - Bluejacked!
03/11/2005 8:36:44 am  Stephan's Nokia - Found device
03/11/2005 8:36:44 am  Thilaka - Found device
03/11/2005 8:36:54 am  No more devices found
03/11/2005 8:37:56 am  Timeout...
03/11/2005 8:38:02 am  Thilaka - OBEX search error -6410
03/11/2005 8:48:19 am  70-1 - Found device
03/11/2005 8:53:31 am  T610 - Found device
03/11/2005 8:53:34 am  Stefano - Found device
03/11/2005 8:53:50 am  NOokia 6310i - Found device
03/11/2005 8:54:12 am  Nokia 8800 - Found device
03/11/2005 8:54:13 am  No more devices found
03/11/2005 8:54:16 am  T610 - OBEX Put
03/11/2005 8:56:14 am  T610 - Found device
03/11/2005 8:56:17 am  Stefano - Found device
03/11/2005 8:56:21 am  Nokia 6230ivec - Found device
03/11/2005 8:56:34 am  No more devices found
03/11/2005 8:57:36 am  Timeout...
03/11/2005 9:01:25 am  Steve - Found device
03/11/2005 9:01:38 am  Nokia 6230i - Found device
03/11/2005 9:13:14 am  Paul - Found device
03/11/2005 9:13:14 am  No more devices found
03/11/2005 9:13:26 am  Paul - OBEX search error -6312
03/11/2005 9:13:28 am  Paul - OBEX search error -6410
03/11/2005 9:33:13 am  Nokia 6230i - Found device
03/11/2005 9:33:19 am  Lincoln Brown - Found device
03/11/2005 9:33:30 am  K600i - Found device
03/11/2005 9:34:11 am   - Found device
03/11/2005 9:34:11 am  No more devices found
03/11/2005 9:34:39 am  Nokia 6230i - OBEX connect failure -36

Light Lords of Common Sense

The House of Lords last night gave the ID cards bill its second reading and moved it to committee stage. Here are some choice quotes from the debate, with some questions from me (Ian Brown of FIPR). Baroness Scotland: "the identity card scheme is first and foremost to provide individuals with a convenient method of proving their identity" -- so why will we be forced to get one? Baroness Anelay: "I thank the Minister for setting out the Government's case with such care and charm that, for one passing moment, it could seem the most reasonable thing in the world to believe that they were doing us all a big favour by bringing forward this Bill. But that moment passes rapidly and we return to reality." Lord Phillips: "What none of us wants—even the Government, I think—is a slippery slope, at the bottom of which broods an over-mighty state, where the privacy of the citizen is largely figmentary, the whole culture of freedom is undermined and the managerialist and corporatist values that now seem to dominate the public as well as private realms triumph." Lord Waddington: "In one case in 1951, Lord Goddard castigated the police for using powers passed to safeguard national security to require motorists to produce identity cards as a matter of routine whenever they were stopped on the road for whatever reason. In another case, two girls minded to spend the night in a hotel with men friends registered in false names and were prosecuted—mark you, prosecuted under a measure passed for reasons of national security. I do not think that anyone in the House today would be brave enough to say that under this scheme, such abuse would not take place... I do not argue that no national identification scheme could ever be justified, but when the Government present to Parliament a Bill that gives the Secretary of State power to make no less than 61 statutory instruments; when they ask for enormously wide powers to collect and store on a national identity register information about every person in the land and then allow that information to be accessed by a wide range of public bodies; when they seek power to require the citizen to have a card and to pay the cost of getting it, and keeping it up to date, it is surely up to the Government to show not just that some benefit may come of it all, but that the scheme is absolutely necessary to meet the threat that the country faces and that the cost in terms of individual liberty and money is absolutely justified. So far, the Government have done nothing of the sort." Lord Holme: "this Bill fundamentally adjusts the relationship between the citizen and the state. How could it be otherwise when it will put the state in possession of an unprecedented, consolidated file of information about every individual which it did not have before?" Lord Thomas: "The noble Lord, Lord Giddens, made huge claims for identity cards. They were apparently the answer to globalised crime, and would prevent terrorism, forgery and fraud. It seemed rather like saying that the possession of a driving licence would prevent road traffic offences... It is said that the Bill will protect my identity. I think that it hands over the control of my identity to a central government database. As my noble friend Lord Holme put it, it puts my identity at the disposal of the state. It is not just the basic information that will be on the database; it will be cross-referenced by numbers to my medical records, tax records, work records and—if I have them—criminal records. The history of this country is a struggle against authoritarian regimes such as those of Napoleon and Hitler, and against collective societies for individual freedom. Knowing the history of the party represented opposite, it strikes me as strange that it should set about creating an instrument that may be manipulated in future for authoritarian reasons. Knowledge is power, and we are putting power in the hands of a government who may in future have the most malign intentions... Surely a balance has to be struck. As a criminal practitioner, I do not see how the identity card will solve crime, dispose of terrorism and all the other things that are claimed for it. That is rubbish." Lord Bhattacharrya: "As a technologist, I have no doubt whatever about the security of the system... We must also remember that we are talking about an IT system and we must have an unprecedented level of security. It can be designed in such a way as to prevent failure and attacks in all forms" -- I would have hoped a technologist would pay more attention to the available evidence, such as the high failure rates found by the government's own studies. He obviously doesn't know much about computer security either if he thinks such high-value systems can be designed in a way to prevent all failures and attacks. However, his one insightful comment is that "I can see that there would be pressure to include on a successful identity system key medical questions, prescriptions, medical reports and, as we move towards genetic fingerprinting, our DNA." Lord Campbell-Savours: "why not let the public decide by giving them the option of offering DNA data for inclusion? Millions would volunteer. Some might say that it would be the wrong millions, but with a foot in the door it would soon become mandatory as part of the long-term exercise that we are engaged in." The Earl of Northesk: "there is a palpable sense in which the Government now perceive their responsibility to be to rule, rather than govern, us. The distinction is not merely semantic. I hold to the conviction that governments—all governments of whatever political hue—should be servants of the people. Yet the Bill will do much to deliver the reverse. It will move us inexorably towards being servants of the state. Bluntly, I am unconvinced, given the marginal nature of the potential benefits on offer, that this is a bargain that we should knowingly or willingly enter into." Lord Mayhew: "the devil does not inhabit merely the detail; he resides in many mansions, and from these he must be evicted by the processes at which this House excels. If he cannot be, the Bill deserves to fail. For example, there is the extraordinary feature that in no fewer than 60 instances the Secretary of State is given power to effect substantial legislative changes. This is virtually a skeletal enabling Bill, and I look forward with interest to see what the Select Committee has to say about it. These instances must be drastically reduced." Baroness Kennedy: "Even if the system of ID cards is really robust, the most that it will do is limit the use of forgeries to those with the funds: terrorists, foreign governments, high-end criminals such as fraudsters, gun-runners and drug importers—precisely the people of whom the noble Lord, Lord Giddens, has spoken. So those people will have no difficulty in forging or in obtaining forged documents. They will be unaffected by the system... What is misunderstood is the fundamental way in which identity cards change the relationship between the citizen and the state catastrophically and permanently. You will have to ask yourselves why most of the rest of Europe has at some time or another succumbed to fascism but we have not. Was that just luck? Was that something to do with the plucky British personality? No, the reason we are as a people the way we are is that we have had institutions and law built on an inherent scepticism of the state. And a good thing, too... My noble friend Lord Giddens said that the assertion of identity was a mechanism of freedom. A requirement to assert your identity is a mechanism of oppression, and that is why so many people in this country, when it is explained to them, will feel affronted by the idea that we are going to be the first common law country to carry identity cards." Baroness Seccombe: "I have seen many things in my time in politics, but I never thought that I would see the day when a Labour Government were made to look illiberal by Lord Goddard. Doubtless, the noble Baroness, when she next dines with her legal chums and remembers happier days when she had justice and liberty blowing wind in her sails rather than battling against her on Bill after Bill, will reflect on that... We need to know far more about the cost of this plan. There is too much creative accounting; too much laying off of expenses that would not otherwise have been incurred as if they had nothing in the world to do with the ID card scheme. Why otherwise are we going far beyond the level of biometrics in passports required by other nations?... The purpose of all this, as so many noble Lords have said, should be the first thing we get to probe in Committee. It will help us all to know that there is more reason for the freest country in the world building the world's most elaborate system of state registration of identity than a personal passion of one politician whose political life is ebbing away." http://www.bloglines.com/blog/ianbrown?id=7

Really Rather Odd

Curious Finns clamor for tax files

HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters) -- Care to find out what your neighbor earned last year, or how much your partner really has stashed in the bank? In Finland you can -- and a lot of people did on Wednesday.

Every November when the Nordic nation's tax records of the previous year become public, Finns indulge on a massive scale in satisfying their curiosity about each other's finances.

Newspapers were crammed with lists of the wealthiest and highest-earning men and women in 2004.

Veroporssi, a private firm which offers income details on everyone in Finland via mobile text message, said it was its busiest day of the year and had no time to comment.

Iltalehti tabloid devoted a 24-page supplement to juicy details on which celebrity earned what, while sports stars like Formula 1's Kimi Raikkonen and Liverpool footballer Sami Hyypia, who escape one of the world's highest tax takes by living abroad, were highlighted for being "zero-income millionaires."

"People have always been interested in taxation, because in Finland you don't talk about your income, it's considered very vulgar, and even more impolite is to ask what someone earns," said Reijo Ruokanen, managing editor of Iltalehti.

"This is your chance to see if you're keeping up with the Joneses."

In a country where keeping your head down and not sticking out has traditionally been considered a virtue, the tax and income publication is a chance to brag a bit, Ruokanen said.

"A lot of them don't like it when we publish their names, but for some it's a way to be known as wealthy people without having to say so for themselves."

So who's the richest man of the republic?

Aatos Erkko, the main owner of media house SanomaWSOY, topped the list with a personal fortune of 192 million euros ($230 million), while Olli Riikala, an executive of U.S. General Electric, was the top wage earner, making 5.3 million euros. [...]

Snarfed from CNN.

I wonder from whence such an idea comes....very odd.

Rootkittie kittie

There's been some recent developments in digital rights management systems (DRM) that have security implications. Some DRM systems have started to use rootkit technology. Rootkits are normally associated with malware but in this case a rootkit is used to enforce the copy control policies of audio CDs! Read: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far