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...and those darn "corporate jets" that Obama complains about right before he gets on Air Force One for Martha's Vineyard to hob nob with the Democractic corporate jet owners who must fly using recycled McDonald's oil and glitter. So hypocritical but I digress. To relive two weeks ago...add this to the list of crap that newly discovered anti-matter belt around the Earth will have to protect us from. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14405122

For more irony, there are plenty of examples of the music industry ripping each other off left, right and centre (well, when they can get away with it). They're not against copying, they're against copying that they don't get a chunk of cash from.

Yes, curse those big businesses.

According to this, Harrison Ford is unlikely to return in his role as Deckard.

Some from Cambridge, some from Oxford:

Oxford men Terry Jones and Michael Palin were taking a similar root to their future Python compatriots.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/10/99/monty_python/455585.stm

IBM produces first 'brain chips'

Bonus geek points for spotting the error on this page.

No it worked for Joshua Moulinie in this riot.
They didn't even charge him, just asked him to write an apology letter to the targeted business.

"Your last paragraph is a bit of a joke as well, it's nothing like that over here. Yes we're cutting now because of the global financial crisis, but we did very well for the last decade, making a significant amount of money through financial services which is one reason that we were hit quite hard by the financial crisis."

The financial crisis is only half the story. The UK has gone from a net exporter to a net importer of oil. This was a long time coming as the North Sea fields were dwindling away, but there was piss poor planning for the eventual impact this would have on the overall economy of the country. It amounts to billions of pounds leaving the country whereas before there were billions coming in. In previous years it was all "spend while you have it" with little regard for the reckoning that would come as that revenue dried up. The financial crisis merely piled on top of a deeper problem that was already there, rather like the ever-growing deficits and insane military spending in the USA through the same time period.

None of this explains or excuses the riots, but it does show how badly managed these two countries have been, even though many of the economic problems were foreseeable for years. Now it's time to pay the credit card bill, but it won't be the lords and captains of industry doing so. They've been bailed out when necessary in the economic interests of the country and already gotten lower personal and corporate tax rates. It'll be the rest of us paying these bills.

Theoretically you can't but in practice this clearly happens and can depend on political pressure, the mood of the public or even just the personal bias of the judge. For instance, in another case the sentence was a 3 month curfew and a 12 month social network site ban for inciting riots. Ah England. Not only is our health care, housing and welfare system pretty much a huge lottery, it seems our sentencing policy is too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13374048

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13374048

My impression of India from the Indians I have met is that Pakistan seceding wasn't that big of an issue, now granted both of them want all of Kashmir, but there were issues with the majority Muslim Pakistan majority Hindu India. As far as Indian and their forces they have some rather impressive units that have served well throughout history. The two most notable ones are the Gurkahs and the Sikh. Now the Gurkahs are not Indians, but from Nepal, but still serve in the British, and Indian armies. From what I have read the Gurkahs (the most recent example I am aware of) are pretty bad ass warriors as are the Sikhs.

Then Google would be a late comer to an already existing market, like the Somalian market that uses phones for almost all payments.

Yes, that very Somalia that everybody wants the Libertarians to move to - they have. That's why it has the fastest government free market with the most innovation in payment technology. Of-course it's the most competitive way to do payments there outside of cash, because there aren't many bank outlets around.

Valletta (Malta), Falmouth (Cornwall, England) and Glasgow (Scotland) appear to be the filming sites of World War Z (the Brad Pitt Zombie Movie). Source

The film is set in Philadelphia, so it would appear that half of the headline is true - the US Zombies obviously demand top dollar, the UK ones less so, as Glasgow is being transformed into Philadelphia for the next fortnight.

Yup - starting with Australia and then on to Europe,

these things need to be told to your doctor, not a facebook page. your doctor will then report this to the company and the government along with some data about you so that scientists can try to make a theory or find some common elements between people complaining about side effects.

I've tried this, when I was suffering from side-effects years ago. It doesn't work. Programmes such as this certainly help when no doctor wants to listen; as do support groups. That's not to say you shouldn't tell your doctor, just often they aren't the most experienced in your problems.

I think having a support group on the companies' facebook page could be a massive marketing opportunity - if these drugs worked the way they're advertised; but they don't, hence the complaints.

What's the probability of these hitting the ISS?

Pretty low. Its kind of like incoming artillery, the ones you see are not the ones to worry about (classical, not NBC). Worry about the tiny little dot headed right towards you...

It would be less of a problem if the Chinese would stop blowing shit up in orbit.

BBC did a study on how much google customizes search results recently, and found that it is substantially less than is commonly believed. In fact from person to person, they found very little actual customization, rather mostly just tweaking of searh result order. Country to country there was more differences in results, however even then the top 5 results were usually very similar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14155845

So the whole country will soon be remote then. There are no more pubs in the UK

Sea Turtles and Monitor Lizards can even get hundreds of pounds in weight yet none are warm blooded.

Apparently leatherback turtles are warm blooded:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v344/n6269/abs/344858a0.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch/meettheanimals/leatherback.shtml

There are warmblooded fish too, e.g. bluefin tuna and some sharks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_bluefin_tuna
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104543

C'mon, has everyone forgotten about Spider Goats? The progress has appeared slow (those articles are a decade apart), but that's possibly due to the more-military-than-civilian applications thus far.

Oh, I totally agree. The law has to cut both ways, and with public confidence in the police (up until the riots) at an all-time low something had to be done. Unfortunately this is all part of the backlash of 9/11 and 7/7 - in the wake of those events the security forces launched a huge grab for power that was given to them by a frightened populace and is only now being questioned.
The biggest repercussion of the riots? Personally I believe it is this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14459127 - the Police were handed a mandate to use rubber bullets on the mainland for the first time. Although they weren't actually used that barrier has been breached and it's now easier for the subject to be raised next time.
It's very easy to hand power over to authorities, much harder to roll it back. Beware the trap of legislation passed in fear or anger that would be unacceptable to cooler heads.

It didn't last for very long though. The process was halted back in June after multiple earthquakes, and the UK is pretty stable geologically - earthquakes strong enough to be felt usually make the national news - so a connection seems highly likely. Coverage at the BBC, FT and Independent.

NPR reported on the same sort of thing happening in Faulkner County, Ark. I think they later stopped the drills for a period to see if it stopped the small quakes and found that the quakes did stop.

It didn't last for very long though. The process was halted back in June after multiple earthquakes, and the UK is pretty stable geologically - earthquakes strong enough to be felt usually make the national news - so a connection seems highly likely. Coverage at the BBC, FT and Independent.

Still, it is good for a chuckle every now and again if you are a Galactica fan since journos keep using headlines starting with "Fracking Protesters..." until someone gets it changed. :)

Like this you mean?

They also don't like kissing.

Taking down people for organizing some store-burning though, no. Many of the rioters seem to be cowards who were only smashing and stealing because they assumed they could get away with it, or they were going with the crowd. I suspect a few arrests will send most of the rioters to cover.

It's more than that. The rioters are the first generation of young people to come of age after the News of the World inspired pedophile hysteria campaign, which made every adult in the western world afraid of children.

All these young people have ever known from adults is a cold apprehension. Even their teachers are afraid to discipline them or be too friendly. Hearing of millionare undergraduates and Olympic representatives taking part in the riots, I wonder if part of the cause of these riots is an entire generation of Social Genies, with the riots being some demented form of collective attention seeking.

I still think that the main cause is the public following the example from the top, but as the list of those accused becomes ever more bizzare, I can't help but wonder if these spontaneous riots are some form of emergent social response by an ostracised generation? How did these young people become feral anyway?

This reminds me of the ganglion photoreceptors in the eyes (not rods or cones) they have a lower wavelength absorption peak of ~480nm (blueish) and they are very few compared to the other receptors. They contribute to vision slightly, but their primary role is suspected to be other things like helping to regulate circadian rhythms (i.e. body clock).

There was an interesting BBC Horizon programme recently that touched on this subject, "Do You See What I See?", which was primarily exploring colour perception in general. One specific part (where they talk about ganglion cells), they show a bar who's "Light Designer" used blue light of timed intensity to make people more lively in the evening... this is thought to be because that wavelength of light activates the ganglion cells and alters the mood and alertness of people.

I suppose this could do the same if there were the same or similar types of cells in the ears or brain, but honestly... you could probably achieve more stimulating effects by closely staring at a 20 pence 470nm LED

So far I haven't heard anyone blame the Rock 'n Roll music

No, but it has been blamed on rap music (among other things)

Sharks, obviously.

No silly, sharks are for the Navy. The army uses badgers

Not cold from winter? Well, Britain doesn't have the coldest winters in the world, but what the hell are you talking about? Thousands more people die in the UK during cold winters. Study Dept of Health figures or any number of newspaper articles - even in the right wing papers - which regurgitate figures. Older people are of course more vulnerable because, well, they're older.

As for hunger, you're right, the one thing most first world countries have achieved is hardly anyone without an eating disorder dying from simply not having enough food available. Malnutrition, on the other hand, is a very real problem tackled with various advice for health professionals. The effects of malnutrition in youth are far more insidious.

People don't want to simply be alive: they want to live. A handout of enough food and shelter to remain alive is not good enough. You can give that to any poorly treated animal in a cage.

And yet somehow this guy managed to obtain several firearms legally. I'd say our gun rights are still there.

They are there. However, you need a Firearms Certificate (FAC) and there are very strict requirements to meet before you can get one (and then you must have proper storage cabinets, etc). To get one, you have to have a good reason for owning a gun - either shooting for sport (eg target shooting as long as you are a full member of a club) or hunting/pest control (where you can prove you have access to land to shoot on). Even then, you can only have a rifle or a muzzle-loading pistol (no other handguns at all) and rifles can either be any caliber single shot or .22 rimfire semi-automatic.

I think the law should change to allow home defence or business defence as a reason for obtaining an FAC as long as the weapon did not leave the property it is registered at (ie no driving to the shops with a gun in the car).

Right, that's a very interesting little tale you've told.

So how do you square your little fairy tale against your drastically higher levels of gun crime, and drastically higher murder rates per head of population? Or do you prefer to keep things like "facts" out of your stories preferring to keep them purely fictional?

Oh and:

"We have the right to kill in self-defense. We use it. You don't. When a thug breaks into a home in the US, their death at the hands of a homeowner is usually met with approval as it should be."

You mean a bit like this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14248097

Difference is, we don't need guns to defend our homes, because when the sort of criminals who resort to crimes like burglary don't have guns, why would we need them? Or what, do you also believe burglars in the US don't have guns, when they know home owners do?

No, our police are wayto soft and stupid for that on this occasion.

Don't worry, I'll qualify this, I'm not trolling tonight, I'm deadly serious.

For years I've been filming and photographing peaceful demos here in Manchester (where it kicked off last night). When it was hippies, Green Party Comrades, and slightly biased press (count me in!), they used pyschological tactics like kettling, horse-trampling, and good planning, because we announce where we going and why well in advance (in accordance with our new Anti-Terrorist laws for peaceful protests - yes you read that right)

They had uniform photographers which were highly visible, and others cleverly hidden on roofs and in windows nearby. These guys were shooting top-end Canons with long 500mm lenses, yes I did chat to a few and they were specialists, not bobbies showing off nice SLRs to scare us.

Last night nothing like that was in evidence at all. They were charging anybody and everybody in their way (including me and other indie and staff journos hefting my SLRs), herding crowds of non-violent protesters along with the thugs, whilst completely ignoring looters. The above post just isn't accurate at all, and if anything they fought a losing battle again.

The BBC are totally in their pocket - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14470533 - it's the only way they can avoid having their cameras nicked. Our (indie) stuff isn't being broadcast anywhere yet, and the youths aren't bothering us, they're giving us a great show! A lot of them WANT to be photographed grinning. And a lot of them can articulate their political views very intelligently. And they're not copypasta ' ing each other either, they each have their own particular reasoning. They're human beings.

And on that note, I must relay a personal experience of mine last night. Staring down the eyepiece of a camera, I made eye contact with a "Robocop" riot officer looking at my camera and then rapidly side to side, and then at the camera again. I nearly cried, and I removed the camera from between with us and just bonded with him for a few seconds.

Nobody should be mixed up in a all this. "Them" or "Us" alike. Those police can end this right now by turning around, and enforcing the people's will on those who have caused these problems, since, well whenever. Those with the boot on the face of humanity.

I was just in the UK and in some of the suburbs in London there were signs up about SmartWater being used in the area. I think it was just being used to tag property but some of the other applications there seem interesting.
 
In a riot-like situation where there are too many people to feasibly make significant arrests it seems like it would be useful to have a way of "tagging" them and then pull them more of them in in the subsequent days.
 
A week ago I was also in Nottingham and walked past a police station was firebombed yesterday. When in Fulham I twice took my 9 month old baby to the swimming pool at Normand Park. I didn't perceive any sort of tension while I was there and it seems like the whole place just went mad between me getting on and off a plane back to Australia.

This is completely untrue. I'm from UK, on holiday from work at the moment and following the news all day on numerous formats.

It is true that technology, particularly social networks and Blackberry messenger are being cited as a reason why pockets are able to spring up and move around quickly (hence being difficult for the police to respond to). It is an explanation - an absolutely valid explanation - but an explanation for a phenomenon is quite different from assigning it blame.

Frankly local MPs and suchlike have come across as surprisingly knowledgeable. I got a schooling on Blackberries from a 50-something female MP from a fairly posh London borough this morning. I'd wager she knew more about these things and why they're popular amongst London youths than RIM's marketing department, she might be deserving of a commission on my next phone.

I find it rather odd that /. posts a link to a tiny article (apologies if my adblock etc is cutting things out) on an American newspaper's site when there is a detailed discussion on the London-based BBC. I'll note the BBC carefully states "A number of politicians, media commentators and members of the police force have suggested that Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger, in particular, had a role to play." Again, having "a role to play" is quite different to being culpable or responsible, my impression is the BBC is responding to those misunderstanding the frequent references.

Oh yeah and technology is also being mentioned with the likes of "Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up" (again, not social media being credited but noted as a tool used for people worthy of praise).

This is completely untrue. I'm from UK, on holiday from work at the moment and following the news all day on numerous formats.

It is true that technology, particularly social networks and Blackberry messenger are being cited as a reason why pockets are able to spring up and move around quickly (hence being difficult for the police to respond to). It is an explanation - an absolutely valid explanation - but an explanation for a phenomenon is quite different from assigning it blame.

Frankly local MPs and suchlike have come across as surprisingly knowledgeable. I got a schooling on Blackberries from a 50-something female MP from a fairly posh London borough this morning. I'd wager she knew more about these things and why they're popular amongst London youths than RIM's marketing department, she might be deserving of a commission on my next phone.

I find it rather odd that /. posts a link to a tiny article (apologies if my adblock etc is cutting things out) on an American newspaper's site when there is a detailed discussion on the London-based BBC. I'll note the BBC carefully states "A number of politicians, media commentators and members of the police force have suggested that Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger, in particular, had a role to play." Again, having "a role to play" is quite different to being culpable or responsible, my impression is the BBC is responding to those misunderstanding the frequent references.

Oh yeah and technology is also being mentioned with the likes of "Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up" (again, not social media being credited but noted as a tool used for people worthy of praise).

If you meant Microsoft as the 'large US corporation which seems to know a thing or two about marketing" I can only refer you to the doctors who have a nice white coat with long arms for you.

This is the company that did the Bill Gates/Seinfeld wiggle advert.

Windows 7 parties.

The 'get teens to text nude pics of themselves" Kin adverts.

The 'really?' advert for WinPh7 that said everyone else's phones were so great you'd pick them up out of a puddle of piss but you wouldn't bother using your windows phone.

"Cloud Power"

and the infamous "racist" advert in Poland.

Rubbish, during these riots we've had only one reported death, the damage has mostly been been to property and wealth which really can be replaced. Taking up a weapon on your own only makes you a target for the criminals trying to take your property. The lesson I've taken from these riots is that were a community can organise itself in numbers it can protect itself and send a powerful message of defiance.

Rubbish, during these riots we've had only one reported death, the damage has mostly been been to property and wealth which really can be replaced. Taking up a weapon on your own only makes you a target for the criminals trying to take your property. The lesson I've taken from these riots is that were a community can organise itself in numbers it can protect itself and send a powerful message of defiance.

Hell, they just need to have saner self-defense laws. It's almost illegal to protect yourself in Britain, and it's almost universally illegal to protect your property. Note how it's just finally becoming explicitly protected to do so: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13957587

And yet somehow this guy managed to obtain several firearms legally. I'd say our gun rights are still there.

"CCTV does work"

No, it doesn't - ask all the researchers who did actual studies on behalf of the Home Office: CCTV systems 'fail to cut crime'

...or google 'home office study cctv'

People aged 18 or older are going to be able to enter into the necessary contracts to obtain the phones in the first place, but they'd be legally liable as adults for participating in the rioting.

There are plenty of over-18s in the riots, and in any case the age of criminal responsibility in England is 10. Treatment as an adult for crime starts at 17 (not sure why, I'd have expected 16 or 18).

with communications blackouts being threatened

It isn't (official statement that it isn't, which I can't find, but I've been reading updates every couple of hours all day). The only source for it is a suggestion by a single MP. This story is much more informative (lots of law cited) than the article.

Except that the poor appear to be taking on the poor. They're not running into the city and burning porsches, they're burning down small family businesses in their own neighbourhoods. Listen to this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14458424 and tell me that these people are making some kind of thought out protest against their oppressors.

Fortunately, this is being reported in the media as well. It's slowly worked its way up the BBC News front page today. The person who started is is allegedly Sam Duckworth aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

people marching down the street is in no way the same thing as hooligan assholes throwing rocks through windows and walking off with loot

in fact, protests around the world and throughout history, protests that in a different universe would move society and government to change policy for the better, have been ruined by hooligan assholes hijacking peaceful protests and using them as an excuse to commit simple crimes.

We've had nothing but peaceful protest for the last decade - we marched against the wars (both of them), we marched against the human rights violations (all of them), we marched against the public cuts, we marched against the illegal killing of innocents, we marched against the student fee's... we've marched against every single fucking cause of the last decade and it hasn't even raised an eyebrow in Westminster. Two nights of rioting has seen all police leave canceled and all the MP's recalled from their summer break (which btw is longer than teachers get and Mp's get twice the fucking pay :S).

Peaceful protesting is what you do to start with - but when the government restricts where and when you can protest (try marching within sight of Westminster and you'll be arrested under terrorism legislation), uses brutality such as horse charges and plain and simple beating of protesters who refused to be herded like cattle and completely ignores every single peaceful march - then you only have a few options left. One of which is put your fists up in anger and not just your voice.

There are many different ways of doing this, and rioting is no doubt the worst, but it's the most likely to happen in volatile situations like this. They could occupy buildings like they did during student protests, but all that served to do was bottle up the protesters so the police could scoop them up easily.

We take our lessons from the international community - sometimes violence is required. It was required from the French during the Great Revolution - it was required from the Americans during the Civil Rights struggle (we study this extensively during high school / college history, and the conclusion from all students and lecturers is that inevitably peaceful protests were never going to be enough) - it was required in Egypt to depose a leader that would not otherwise be removed. There are countless examples throughout the last 200 years where violence has been required - many of them from American history.

I was going to say that I can count the number of times peaceful protest has resulted in desired change, on one hand - but I cant actually think of a single example.... some try to count Martin Luther's note on a church door, but to many Brits that was only seen as the start of long and extremely bloody war.

So you tell me any examples you can of peaceful marching causing any actual change. I'll wait patiently and peacefully until you provide them. However since the result of this action has been to make parliament consider curfews and suspension of due process, it may that further action is required, even from those of us who would not riot.

Your reading skills are a tad poor, young grasshopper. There's a notion upthread, made explicit even, that proper channels be used. Instead of what the news seemed to say that they were about to assume police powers themselves. It's a lot of "if that's what they're doing then that's no good", but there you go.

Note though that your assumption it was the media that started the speculation appears to've been lacking solid base itself, as the "blackberry accusation" was at least reiterated by a police spokesman as a view of the police. This morning's bbc global news podcast contains suitable soundbites to that effect. Even if it required some reporter prompting, that is the plod are saying.

"All you need to know about rating agencies is that in May 2010 Moody’s still rated Greece triple-A." - Mark Steyn

I don't doubt that Mark Steyn said that, but what he said is false. In April 2010, Moody's lowered Greece's rating from A2 to A3, which is definitely not the same as Aaa. It is closer to "junk" rating than a triple-A rating. It is also worth noting that less than two months later, in June, Moody's cut the rating all the way to junk status, Ba1.

Sadly:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8026807.stm
"A car driver has crashed into crowds watching a Dutch royal parade, killing five people, in an attempted attack on the royal family, officials say."

The death toll might have been a lot higher if the person (who had lost a job and was about to be evicted, or something like that) had been targeting the crowd specifically and not the royal family.

Thanks for the tip, although I tend to feel that Atticus Finch is right, that in our society, "The easiest way to get shot is to carry a gun."

Although, I guess, that is changing, since the easiest way to get shot is probably now to have your robot carry your gun for you.
    http://slashdot.org/story/06/11/14/0132216/Machine-Gun-Sentry-Robot-Unveiled
    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/02/23/090223fa_fact_ratliff

Or:
    "Intrinsic/mutual security vs. extrinsic/unilateral"
        http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1783364&cid=33537044
        "If you see my other reply, you'll see that all this military technology is ironic and, essentially, making us less secure in the 21st century because it is designed from the wrong paradigm of extrinsic unilateral security (not intrinsic mutual security). For example, having a loaded self-propelled Howitzer cannon in your suburban backyard does not make you safer from home intrusion in a small community (or cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, the real killers of most US Americans) -- it makes you seen as a nutcase and your neighbors start talking about how to deal with you and get rid of it in case it went off accidentally or kids took it for a "joyride". But if you insulate your house to keep it warm at low cost, use the savings to put solar panels of the roof to power a fridge full of cool beers for passers-by, and then grown an organic garden producing abundant veggies you share with your neighbors, then you are going to have a lot more security and health and prosperity for both yourself and your community for a lot less cost than buying and maintaining a Howitzer in your backyard." [Some typos fixed]

Are school grades helping to create such a secure society?