May 28 2008

Scientology IS A Cult

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 11:58 pm

And a dangerous one at that…

For expressing this opinion (which some country’s courts (including Britain’s) have confirmed is a valid statement), a 15 year old boy was threatened with court action by the City of London’s police force (not to be confused with the larger Metropolitan Police Service). Because he refused to remove the word ‘cult’ from his poster at a demonstration, the police decided he had broken the law, specifically Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 (harassment, alarm or distress”). They took his placard, gave him a summons, and thought that would be the end of it.
It would appear that he had done his research beforehand, as he quoted a Judge’s ruling that the CoS was a corrupt, sinister and dangerous cult, and therefore his “Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult” poster broke no laws. The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) advised the City Of London Police Force that they were wrong, and should approach these demonstrations in a different manner in the future. This may have disgruntled those officers who are known members of the Church of Scientology, but at least there is now one less avenue for them to try and curtail legal demonstations. Check out the WikiNews article for more information…

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May 28 2008

(Un?)Lucky Traveller

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 12:02 am

One passenger who arrived in Japan’s Narita airport left with a little present from customs in their luggage – just over five ounces of weed! Before any friends start making travel plans, I should point out that this was a mistake, not some sort of bizarre lottery. The story is that a customs official placed the cannabis (no one seems to know what strain it was) in a member of the public’s suitcase; normally this is done with dummy suitcases, to check that the sniffer dogs were capable of detecting narcotics.
Unfortunately, the dog on patrol did not notice the marijuana, and as the drug had been wrongly placed in a ‘live’ suitcase, rather than the normal airport’s own property, it left the airport.

Sad Dog

Some sources have placed the value of the drugs at £5000, though this seems as though the press are doing their normal no-clue guesstimate, as this would mean each Oz was worth £1000. This would mean an eighth cost £125 – not even premium bud comes anywhere near that value, unless Japan has a truly horrendous mark up on their grass.

[edit]
Wow, turns out that price may not have been so unrealistic – IF they sold it in teenths, rather than bulk…

Japan Overpriced Weed

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May 27 2008

Not An Outer Limits Episode…

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 3:04 am

The Academy of Medical Sciences has issued a warning that the academic organizations may soon need to start considering the use of drug testing, to ensure that some pupils are not abusing prescription drugs in an attempt to improve their memory. Although ten or fifteen years ago this would have sounded more like an episode of some SciFi type program, the startling reality, according a report over at the BBC news site, is that such abuse of cognitive enhancers was already taking place. The idea of people using strong black coffee, Pro Plus or Red Bull to aid in last minute cramming is hardly new, but ritalin, modafinil and aricept are allegedly already being used by some. I particularly liked the spokesmen for companies involved in the legal production of these drugs, who stated “These drugs are prescription drugs and therefore you need to go to the doctor to get them. I don’t think the system is that open to abuse”. Because everyone knows that prescription drugs don’t get abused already??? Idiot.

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May 27 2008

Polly Wanted To Go Home

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 2:11 am

The BBC have a story on a parrot in Japan that went missing. Luckily, it is an African Grey Parrot, which are apparently renowned for their comparative intelligence and ability to learn multiple phrases.
Its owner had taught the bird (Yosuke) to recite the name and address of where they lived (amongst other party pieces, like pop songs!), so when police caught the bird, it began talking to the vet it was entrusted to. A little research later, and they discovered the pet’s owner, and reunited them. Awwww 🙂

Parrot

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May 23 2008

Tables Turned

Category: In The Media,Internet Connections — ChrisM @ 10:11 am

Long term readers/’real life’ friends will remember that Irina and I used to live in a cottage out in Bourton on the Water, a real picture postcard village in the Cotswolds. At the time, there was no chance of getting ADSL at all, which led to us having two phone lines. One was for normal voice calls, and the other was permanently (24/7) connected to Freeserve on one of their 0808 numbers. Whilst this was never faster than 51.2 Kbps, it still gave me the possibility to leave the PC downloading all day and night, and traffic shaping never seemed to hit their dial up services. Anyway, according to a BBC report, the ratio of broadband:non-broadband customers in the country has swung so far that city dwellers are now statistically less likely to have a broadband connection than their rural brethren!
The section that particularly caught my attention was:

There has been a major drive to bring broadband to every corner of Scotland, partly to sustain the economies of isolated communities where many residents can now work from home.

I really think this sort of thinking should be bought to the attention of decision makers in this country…

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May 23 2008

And Why Not?

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media — ChrisM @ 9:12 am

The brilliant UK govt. has released information on plans to create a huge database of phone calls and e-mails based in Britain. Quite aside from the civil liberties/govt. intelligence agencies powers angles, the fact that there have been multiple incidents involving lack of data security within the last year have led to many people being very unhappy with the proposal. Check out the BBC’s article for a little background info. If approved, it would effectively extend the range of the much hated RIPA that has had many journalists and bloggers up in arms already. Combine that with the fact that I’m pretty sure the intelligence agencies already have the capabilities to do this, on an international scale with the Echelon scheme. I suppose it is possible that if such legislation were bought in, it would legalise such schemes that are already quietly in place, and would make any such evidence admissible in a British court of law.

Echelon

PS To those of my friends that think I have paranoid tendencies, you could be right, but you need to be aware what is happening in your world. Close your eyes too long, and you lose the right to complain when things like this become public in years to come due to some shady circumstances etc.

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May 22 2008

Grote Broer Is Watching You!

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media — ChrisM @ 9:39 pm

This is definitely one of those cases where it is difficult to tell whether unfolding events are heading towards a better crime-free world, or simply Big Brother worming its way even further into our everyday, law-abiding lives… de Telegraaf (a Dutch newspaper) originally reported this issue, where the police will have access to live video feeds from security cameras in shops and some businesses. Check here for a little more detail. Basically, if an alarm is raised, police can easily tell whether a robbery is taking place, or perhaps a till operator has simply mistakenly nudged the button. However, the idea that such video feeds are now fed into a central system, means that should security services, and other government intelligence agencies can now follow our every day lives a lot more easily.
(Grote Broer? Dutch for Big Brother apparently.)

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May 22 2008

Skewed Priorities

Category: Friends,In The Media — ChrisM @ 9:02 pm

Beer Kids

Just in case you have not come across this well publicized report already, head on over to the BBC’s article detailing how an Australian man was caught by the police and subsequently fined for having alcohol in the car. No, not some USA-like charge of having an open container in a moving vehicle, this driver had decided it was more important to use the remaining seat belt in the back of his car to secure a crate of beer, rather than the five year old child! Whilst we’re on the topic of Australia, we won’t be seeing DavidG this week, as he is away, and also, don’t forget to check out AlexC’s blog – Dryad Musings. Recent posts have covered her photography project, the diverse range of nature around her, their new transport, and Australia’s flavour of Big Brother!

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May 22 2008

EDS To Be Bought?

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 8:25 pm

My last employer in the UK – EDS (Electronic Data Systems) looks like it may be bought by Hewlett Packard (HP). Given that HP is one of EDS’ biggest customers, this is an interesting move, though I have to admit I don’t quite understand the benefits that HP would reap with such a purchase.

As a world leading IT services provider (which is a slightly scary fact, having worked for them), EDS has a finger in a lot of pies globally, taking contracts with many different companies. If you get bored enough, you might find the PPrune (Professional Pilots’ Rumour Network) thread on the issues created by EDS’ taking over of the RAF’s payroll and admin services. It hasn’t been updated since the end of last year, so who knows, perhaps all the major goof ups have been sorted?

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May 13 2008

Wrinkly Teens Rejoicing

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 12:47 am

At least those that smoke and live in Japan they are…
The BBC have a report on how Japanese cigarette vending machine companies are coping with a new law. (Did you know you have to be over 20 to buy fags there?!?). Anyway, pretty soon, any companies responsible for selling tobacco products to under age consumers can be fined, even if the sale is automatic, rather than in a shop with a real live sales assistant.

Young Addict

The idea is that onboard cameras will check the face of the purchaser, and if they don’t have the right sags, wrinkles and facial structure of someone who is at least 20, the machine will ask for ID to approve the sale. This does raise the question of how the machine would ever know if one (old looking) person in a young group was to purchase multiple packs for their baby-faced friends, but it is a start…

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