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The Charities Act 2006 brought in new rules, stating that a "charity" has to be operated for the public good, rather than merely being a non-profit organisation. This isn't specific to private schools, but also affects religious organisations etc. To many, it seems absurd that someone could gain charitable status for an organisation that is set up to only benefit certain racial, religious or social groups, and it is true that charitable status was being used by some as a blatant tax dodge.

"Under the 2006 Charities Act, for the first time all charities - including charities which advance education or religion, or relieve poverty - must show they are established for the public benefit. The Act gives the Commission, as the independent regulator, responsibility for raising awareness about the public benefit requirement and carrying out public benefit checks on charities" (Charity Commission, 2007, p.1).

It is hard to see how a school that generates an income of tens of millions of pounds a year from the wealthiest families in society, like Eton, is run for the public good. Certainly, it is hard to see why it should be given the same tax breaks as a real charity that, say, provides care and support for children with cancer.

And the changes aren't opposed by everyone in the private school system - "Jonathan Shephard, general secretary of the Independent Schools Council, said he could find 'no quarrel with the principles set out'". (source)

What exactly is wrong with a charity having to show that it does some work to benefit the public good? Otherwise there would be no difference between a charity and a NFP organisation, and every small business owner would be registering as a "charity" for the tax breaks (NFP status doesn't mean you can't pay employees whatever you wish, it just means the parent organisation should break even at the end of the year).

I don't know about the US, but in the UK a man diagnosed with prostate cancer has only one-quarter of the cash spent on research into his disease compared to the amount devoted to a womanâ(TM)s breast cancer, despite that the two diseases kill about the same number of people. There is also a national breast cancer screening system to catch it early, but no such scheme for prostate cancer. I don't begrudge the funding for breast cancer research, or wish to cut anything, it's a terrible disease - but I wish prostate cancer could also get some of the same media frenzy, big name support and government funding.

That said, as I understand it there's been some criticism of AIDS research that it's primarily concentrating on the varieties that affect westerners the most, as opposed to the strains most prevalent in Africa - where the infection rate utterly dominates that of the west.

See, that's why I specified we handfed. The ducks they use to make commercial foie-gras are fed by pneumatic pump and it inflates them like little feathery basketballs, leading to your "occasional stomach-bursting". Similarly, if you are just ramming a tube down their throat, it leads to esophageal tearing and infection.

But a funnel and a bucket of warm mash isn't any more torture than a beer bong to a college student. It just lets the goose eat as much as possible before their stomach registers "full". They can eat a whole fish without chewing, so you needn't be cruel like the commercial places are with ducks.

Wild geese by themselves will eat until they weigh 2 or 3 times normal in preparation for winter migration and by providing domestic geese with high-calorie food, their liver approaches the traditional size of foie gras. The French insist that what some call "humane" foie gras isn't "true" foie gras(see here), but it looks the same to me and, despite what your ignorance in comparing my geese to those pictures of factory ducks, it doesn't require any cruelty beyond that of raising free range birds for food.

Of course, if you are a rabid PETA vegan, you'll say any use of animals is cruelty, but otherwise those geese were better treated than any other meat product in your fridge. Unhappy geese are skinny geese. My geese didn't need to be caged to keep them from escaping, they came when I rang and wandered around the rest of the time.

what are their entirely specious or bizarre and untrue claims? sounds like you're just exhibiting a typical knee-jerk reaction to being told that something you use/enjoy is not perfect.

despite the inflammatory title on Gametrailers.com the Greenpeace commercial isn't railing against video games. in fact, they seem to be primarily trying to reach out to gamers and raise awareness about the environmental hazards involved in manufacturing electronics. the PTFE (teflon) and epoxy resin used in PCB manufacturing, and various dopants and other chemicals used in IC fabrication are in fact toxic and can be bad for the environment.

that doesn't mean you have to give up video games or throw away your computer, but disseminating such information encourages consumers to make more environmentally conscious decisions. and it's not just Greenpeace that's pushing for more sustainable development in the electronics industry. green computing is increasingly attracting the attention of more and more computer manufacturers.

thanks to Greenpeace, a lot of companies like Apple are starting to clean up their act and even taking the initiative to encourage more corporate responsibility regarding sustainable development.

but in the end, it's the consumers who have the most influence on manufacturers. it's only because consumers are demanding greener computers now that manufacturers are starting to pay attention to their environmental impact. so what's wrong with Greenpeace trying to encourage gamers to do the same? modern consoles are just very specialized gaming/media PCs. and pushing console manufacturers to be a little more environmentally conscious can only be a good thing.

Well, since you mentioned, here are, imho, the problems with each of your alternatives:

1) Pass on the money while they still live, giving gifts to family/friends under the tax limits each year for many years.

This alternative invalidates your alternative #4. In fact, it is exactly what my grandfather did before he passed away in order to avoid inheritance tax: he transfered what he had to the name of his children. Of course then the children would have to register that income and pay taxes over that. But their tax bracket would be much lower than your proposed 90% tax. What, you think you could place limits on how much he could transfer? Watch Mickey Blue Eyes.

2) Pass on the money while they still live, giving it to charity with no limits.

Well, this point is really number (3) below. Except it happens before you die.

3) Allow the money to go to charity when they die, with no limits.

How fair or efficient is that? You could be perpetuating a rich person's eccentricity. In fact, just recently there was a very interesting debate around a rich woman who donated millions of her money to a charity to support... her dog! (see Rich Bitch). Her white maltese (called "Trouble") will get her own, tax-free, trust fund.

4) Have the government take most of it.

Would be a good idea, if the government were such a perfect agent for our society's welfare. Do you really trust the government to spend that money well? Think US$700bn, think US$25bn, think of the cost of the Iraq War. Then think about how much ($20k, $100k?) you parents will be leaving for you.

If you think your parents would leave a larger sum, you may have less to worry. As Warren Buffet, the 3rd richest man in the world, told us about, the tax system tends to be lighter on the rich.... The rich often pay less taxes, have good lawyers, creative accountants, resourceful private bankers...

A favorite Murphy Law states: Hard Problems have solutions that are simple, elegant, and wrong. But I am with you: it should be discussed...

I seriously doubt that a Q-Ship armed to the hilt and crewed by experienced naval personnel would fall into pirate hands. These guys are attacking with fishing boats for crying out loud! The problem isn't that our ships can't hold their own against the pirates. That much is stupidly simple. It's finding the pirates that's the problem. And these guys are even less sophisticated than other piracy organizations equipped with speedboats and cutters.

I mean, take a look at these guys. If someone would arm our merchies with a few mortars and sniper rifles, these pirates wouldn't be able to get their assault rifles within weapons range. But for some reason, today's governments think that armed merchies are a bad idea. So... Q-Ships. They'd kick ass. :-)

That article from the BBC is from 2005 - three years ago when the cameras were still quite new.

Here's an article from the Times: Drivers will have no escape from new speed cameras. It's not the one from the BBC from a few months ago that I was looking for, but it makes the point. One penalty per 10000 drivers is near 100 per cent compliance in my book.

Here's another article: Speed Really Does Kill. As the article acknowledges, people don't like the evidence, but

On a section of the M1 with a contraflow system in place casualty numbers fell by half when a simple pairing of average speed cameras - the precursor to the new system - was installed.

In Nottingham, average speed cameras appear to have delivered a 53 per cent long-term reduction in deaths and serious injuries on one stretch of dual carriageway, and a 75 per cent casualty reduction on another. Data from similar projects in Northampton and South Yorkshire are even more impressive.

But for those still unconvinced, there is some consolation. Where average speed cameras have been tried, compliance is so high that the revenue to local authorities from fines is virtually nil.

That article from the BBC is from 2005 - three years ago when the cameras were still quite new.

Here's an article from the Times: Drivers will have no escape from new speed cameras. It's not the one from the BBC from a few months ago that I was looking for, but it makes the point. One penalty per 10000 drivers is near 100 per cent compliance in my book.

Here's another article: Speed Really Does Kill. As the article acknowledges, people don't like the evidence, but

On a section of the M1 with a contraflow system in place casualty numbers fell by half when a simple pairing of average speed cameras - the precursor to the new system - was installed.

In Nottingham, average speed cameras appear to have delivered a 53 per cent long-term reduction in deaths and serious injuries on one stretch of dual carriageway, and a 75 per cent casualty reduction on another. Data from similar projects in Northampton and South Yorkshire are even more impressive.

But for those still unconvinced, there is some consolation. Where average speed cameras have been tried, compliance is so high that the revenue to local authorities from fines is virtually nil.

This recent Slashdot thread (and the accomplishing article) discussed the effectiveness of brain training games.

In that thread, I pointed to Brain Workshop, an open source version of the game used in this study by Susanne Jaeggi, a psychologist at the University of Michigan. The study deals with improving "fluid intelligence" - the part of your mind that deals directly with the raw newness of experience or, as defined by Jaeggi, "the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge."

Others pointed out there's also a Javascipt version that's much more light-weight.

The original source for this story appears to be a Times article with comments from "Sundar Pichai, Google Vice President, Product Management".

Some style-guides' guidance on apostrophes: The Economist, The Times, The American Heritage Book of English Usage.

The Guardian and the Emory Writing Center are more tolerant and admit your way of doing it, albeit as a less common alternative.

And that's just the links on the relevant Wikipedia article. Please inform yourself before dictating dogma.

on nov 19, a 19 yo guy committed suicide live on webcam

1,500 people watched, with LOLs and hahaha and "go ahead and do it, faggot"

sometimes, humanity is a pretty heady combination of disgusting and low iq

my disgust is such that i fantasize right now of faking a videofeed of a suicide, tracking the ip of anyone who LOLs at it, finding them, and peeling their skin off with a razor blade. such is my disgust at such utterly fucktarded trolls. finding and doing greivous bodily harm to these assholes is the only wat i feel i can be assuaged

if you give up your humanity for your fellow human beings, aren't you pretty much nullifying our responsibility to respect you, in any way?

"I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never change or never improve," Biggs apparently wrote in the posting. "I am in love with a girl and I know that I am not good enough for her. I have come to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I keep failing. I have thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past." ...

On a blog where Biggs wrote about his suicidal thoughts, which has also since been removed, commenters wrote, "hahaha hahahahha hahahahahah ahhaha." Wired reports that someone else wrote: "Instant Darwinism..." to which a fellow commenter wrote: "f**king a nicely put." Others called the teen a "coward," "faggot" and a "dick."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5203176.ece

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/MindMoodNews/story?id=6306126&page=1

This happened quite recently with Kim Jong Il as well http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5101905.ece although his was slightly more of a faked photo than just altering the background and touching up her skin. I personally dont have an objection to the photo of General Ann Dunwoody, It is a much better image to have in the press than the original one, but if we do allow it where do we draw the mark so as to have a completely faked photo like the one of Kim Jong Il. Perhaps we need Team America to sort out this issue!

As a HAM, I have met a few who have nifty gear able to tune into cell phones and their 'pings' or tower replies (from post-911 US cellphones) and a few of them have told me that there seems to be more than just pinging or tickling the towers going on. More than is needed to keep up the TX/RX channels open or for simply switching towers based on cell tower capacity and range to the handset.
Others hinted that the removal of the battery does not fully prevent (post-911 US cellphones) from receiving radio frequency energy and replying uniquely (just like RFID tags do but cell phones have Much better antennas).
Links that touch some on this topic:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=8068
http://jya.com/cell-track.htm
http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/37748res20081112.html
http://allgpstracking.net/gpstracking/index.php/gpstracking/2006/03/12/how_gps_works_gps_tracking
http://ezinearticles.com/?Cell-Phone-Location-Tracking-Information&id=782355
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21442821-Cell-phone-location-tracking-without-telcos-help
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081116-foia-docs-show-feds-can-lojack-mobiles-without-telco-help.html
http://www.danbrown.com/secrets/digital_fortress/cell_phones.html
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3945496.ece
Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but because RFID tags cost only a few cents each, why would similar capability NOT be incorporated into the chips of modern cell phones. Tear down an RFID tag, it is just a very very small semiconductor chip paired to a set of antennas between layers of opaque plastic tape an a sticker backing.
(NOTE: In college, we had fun by carefully removing discovered RFID tags and 'repatriating' them onto different and unrelated merchandise at our local Wal-Mart Supercenter... good times..... not to be confused with the old tried and true bi-metallic strips that loss control departments use which set off the door antenna loops that we all walk through. But sticking one of those to your buddy's jacket made for a good laugh...)

This is using the Path Intelligence mini cell box.

Customers in shopping centres are having their every move tracked by a new type of surveillance that listens in on the whisperings of their mobile phones.

The technology can tell when people enter a shopping centre, what stores they visit, how long they remain there, and what route they take as they walked around.
The device cannot access personal details about a person's identity or contacts, but privacy campaigners expressed concern about potential intrusion should the data fall into the wrong hands.
The surveillance mechanism works by monitoring the signals produced by mobile handsets and then locating the phone by triangulation - measuring the phone's distance from three receivers. It has already been installed in two shopping centres, including Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, and three more centres will begin using it next month, Times Online has learnt.
The company that makes the dishes, which measure 30cm (12 inches) square and are placed on walls around the centre, said that they were useful to centres that wanted to learn more about the way their customers used the store.
A shopping mall could, for example, find out that 10,000 people were still in the store at 6pm, helping to make a case for longer opening hours, or that a majority of customers who visited Gap also went to Next, which could useful for marketing purposes.
In the case of Gunwharf Quays, managers were surprised to discover that an unusually high percentage of visitors were German - the receivers can tell in which country each phone is registered - which led to the management translating the instructions in the car park.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) expressed cautious approval of the technology, which does not identify the owner of the phone but rather the handset's IMEI code - a unique number given to every device so that the network can recognise it.
But an ICO spokesman said, "we would be very worried if this technology was used in connection with other systems that contain personal information, if the intention was to provide more detailed profiles about identifiable individuals and their shopping habits."
Only the phone network can match a handset's IMEI number to the personal details of a customer.
Path Intelligence, the Portsmouth-based company which developed the technology, said its equipment was just a tool for market research. "There's absolutely no way we can link the information we gather back to the individual," a spokeswoman said. "There's nothing personal in the data."
Liberty, the campaign group, said that although the data do not meet the legal definition of 'personal information', it "had the potential" to identify particular individuals' shopping habits by referencing information held by the phone networks.
The receivers together cost about £20,000 to rent per month. About 20 the units, which are unobtrusive, cream-coloured boxes about the size of a satellite dish, would be needed to cover the Bluewater shopping centre.
Bluewater, in Kent, said it had no plans to deploy the equipment. A spokesman for Gunwharf Quays was not available for comment.
Owners of large buildings currently have to rely on manual surveys to find out how customers use the space, which can be relevant to questions of design such as where the toilets should be located or which stores should be placed next to one another.
Other types of wireless technology, such as wi-fi and Bluetooth, can be used to locate devices, but the regular phone network signal is preferable because it is much more powerful and fewer receivers are needed to monitor a given

... Maybe we should just encourage people in violence-based parts of the world (like India, Russia, and the minority communities of the USA) to use pirated Microsoft and other proprietary software.

So-called piracy only helps M$ against FOSS. See this 2006 LA Times article:

"And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. Theyâ(TM)ll get sort of addicted, and then weâ(TM)ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."
-- Gates, circa 1998

Advocating piracy in order to undercut competitors has carried M$ through the decades even now:

"It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not"
-- Gates, circa 2007

The only way for the market situation to get better is to avoid any and all use of M$Âproducts, including "pirated" ones.

Here's a real flying car. At 80mph, it doesn't have the airspeed that DARPA is looking for but it does hit all the other check items and supposedly it's easy to fly.

This bit makes no sense at all.

It has also been revealed the National Identity Register Number (Nirno) will now not appear on the card or its embedded chip.

This sounds like having a credit card without putting the account number on the card ... I can't see how it would work. Unless the card contained enough other information, like national health number, driving license number, name and date of birth, which you could lookup in the central database .... and get the Niro number. And of course, only authorized people would be allowed to do that. Like the police, immigration, the local council, high street banks .... mobile phone shops, car hire companies, and the big supermarket chains (Tesco offers banking and financial services).

Director of Privacy International Simon Davies welcomed the removal of the Nirno, following concerns it could be cross referenced across multiple transactions - such as proof of age purchases or opening a bank account - to track a person's everyday activities.

I kind of thought that was the whole reason for the system. A method of establishing a persons identity so that you could look up their details in the database. How long before commercial companies realize that if they take all the data that is easily accessible on the card (name, date of birth etc) and create a hash value, then that itself becomes a unique identifier that they can use. Combine the hash with the persons full name (from the card) and the chances of collision are fairly remote ... creating a unique identifier for every person in the UK based on the data from their ID card, which can be used "to track a person's everyday activities".

You forgot to mention the pork barrel politics..

If you want unbiased though you need to go to BBC I think.

Having lived in London recently for a few years I can categorically state that the BBC is heavily left-biased. When any racial attacks occur in London (and they happen more frequently than any Brit would admit) the colour of the perpetrator is rarely, if ever, mentioned if it wasn't white.

I frequently found The Times had more accurate detail about any situation and was far less censored.

Considering the recent American election was largely about race (very few articles fail to point out how historic and significant the skin colour of the president-elect is) the last thing you want is to put much stock in an anti-Caucasian organisation like the BBC.

Gordon Brown has made a frank admission that government cannot promise the safety of personal data entrusted by the public. The Prime Minister was speaking hours after it emerged that a memory stick containing the passwords to a government website used submit online tax returns had been lost.

Even more worrying considering government rhetoric on the £20bn ID cards they want:

From 2010, the government will target young people to get an identity card on a voluntary basis "to assist them in proving their identity as they start their independent life in society", with full roll-out to all British citizens starting from 2011. "The government are kidding themselves if they think ID cards for foreign nationals will protect against illegal immigration or terrorism - since they don't apply to those coming here for less than three months. "ID cards are an expensive white elephant that risk making us less - not more - safe. It is high time the government scrapped this ill-fated project." The Liberal Democrats said the cards' "fancy design" did not detract from the fact that they remained an intrusion into people's liberty. Chris Huhne, the party's home affairs spokesman, said: "It does not matter how fancy the design of ID cards is, they remain a grotesque intrusion on the liberty of the British people. "The government is using vulnerable members of our society, like foreign nationals who do not have the vote, as guinea pigs for a deeply unpopular and unworkable policy. When voting adults are forced to carry ID cards, this scheme will prove to be a laminated poll tax."

And from the government mouthpiece the BBC:

SNP Home Affairs spokesman Pete Wishart MP said his party had opposed ID cards from the outset but the government's "abysmal record on data protection" was reason enough to cancel them. He said the government looked "absurd" for pushing ahead with such a costly project. "These cards will not make our communities more secure, they will not reduce the terrorist threat and they will not make public services more efficient," said Mr Wishart. Phil Booth, head of the national No2ID campaign group, attacked the roll-out of the cards as a "softening-up exercise". "The Home Office is trying to salami slice the population to get this scheme going in any way they can," Mr Booth told the BBC. "Once they get some people to take the card it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. "The volume of foreign nationals involved is minuscule so it won't do anything to tackle illegal immigration."

It's some shit I made up - kind of. We do know that at least 24% of female inductees to one academy were raped, we also know that only a tiny percentage of rape allegations are false and that rape is underreported. Meanwhile, there have been many charges of rape and murder against US soldiers, and many US servicewomen in the mideast have been going mysteriously missing with no explanations offered as to the reasons for their disappearance.

In addition, the military is getting desperate. Drug crime conviction rates have been going steadily up since the Clinton days - specifically among the 18-35 set. These "criminals" are increasingly offered suspended or even revoked sentences for entering the military. Pretty typical. More worrying however is that induction standards have generally fallen off across the board; the military has increasingly been willing to knowingly recruit white supremacists, and white supremacists are actually recruiting current and ex-military as well! When you train people to violence, they become more violent. Does this sound like a good idea to you?

What part of PERCENT don't you understand?

What part of it do you not understand?

If I make $2000 per month and I have to give up 20% of it for taxes, I am left with $1600. Food, gas, energy, mortgage is at $1200. I'm left with $400 or so.

If I make $6000 per month and I have to give up 20% of it (the same percentage), I've got $4800 left. If I'd live frugally like mr. $2K, I'd have $3600 left, which is 9 times as much as mr. $2K. Even if I am taxed 40% and I'd live frugal, I'd have $2400 left - 6 times as much as mr. $2K, while I earn 3 times what he does.

Furthermore, a corporation can earn, spend, and pay taxes over the remainder. If you have a job, you get taxed on what you earn.

Fact is that minimum living standards simply cost a certain amount of money, and this hits lower income brackets harder than higher ones. If mr. $2K's car breaks down, he's got a far bigger problem than mr. $6K.

Also you make the HUGE assumption that the government will do "good" with the taxes it receives and be very efficient with it.

You make the huge assumption corporations will do good with it, while laying off people and letting CEOs escape with golden parachutes.

Again, it bears in mind that you also assume the government is efficient.

A single system as opposed to 4 or 5 privatized ones with vastly different forms and workflows that all cause more paperwork? If you want to make the corporate solution shine, force only a single thing from the government on them - standardization, developed in tandem with these corporations.

Nope, pirated windows isn't a threat in Africa, South America, China, or else-where, even if it's common: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2098235.ece If you start out w/ pirated windows, you still accustom yourself to the UI and how the OS works, it makes it a default choice for you. I think that Microsoft will probably find some way to make money off pirated windows. They CAN'T make money off linux. As regards linux on the desktop: Linux works for my desktop. Post-install, I don't think it takes more training to use gnome/kde vs. windows as a UI. Application switch over? Not a problem, your students don't know how to use ANY applications! Tech / Support hardware support? Linux is generally pretty good on legacy hardware, and that's something you'll see a lot of in Africa, they can't AFFORD new fancy stuff that won't work. And netbooks, well, linux is definately in the game there. Linux HAS good wireless support NOW if you buy the right card. I assume people in African government agencies are smart enough to research hardware before purchasing it. The way I see it, you probably don't have a whole lot of trained IT support people in Africa familiar with ANY OS, and I don't really think it's more work to learn how to support linux than windows if you're starting from a blank slate. I bet the reason why MS is pushing windows so hard in Africa is that pirated windows ISN'T catching on and Linux IS catching on in schools. And in a decade or so, when African students graduate, the ones fortunate enough to afford a computer (which will probably cost the same as a decent pair of shoes by then) will not see Windows as the default choice.

The only thing sillier is the article itself.

Try googling it and see what you come up with. The results are even sadder.

There are no sources in any .jp domain, and every other reference appears to be a rewrite of the AP news release. Compare http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5002721.ece for example.

It was NOT reported in the Japan Times and I've usually found that to be a decent news source. And yes, I tried searching there first.

Sigh. True journalism is dead.

i probably shouldn't feed trolls, but i'll humor you...

• good Samaritan faces up to 10 years in prison for exposing security flaw in university's computer system.
• Schoolboy hacker faces 38 years in prison for changing his grades.
• an Asperger sufferer faces 60 years for looking for government info on UFOs on military computers.
• and let's not forget Kevin Mitnick who spent 5 years in prison and 8 months of it in solitary confinement.
• while a spam king who committed malicious acts against tens of millions of average computer users only gets 47 months after making millions.

seems like greed-driven malware writers, spammers, and other digital bottom-feeders go free with a slap to the wrist while harmless teenage hackers get the book thrown at them. from a ZDNet article, "US bill would treat all hackers as terrorists":

A major anti-terrorism bill now being considered by the US government has been criticised for disproportionately targeting low-level computer intruders, making small crimes punishable by a penalty of life in prison.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the main civil liberties group in the US focussing on the digital world, condemned parts of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) now in Congress, which would treat all computer trespass as terrorism. "Treating low-level computer crimes as terrorist acts is not an appropriate response to recent events," said EFF executive director Shari Steele in a statement. "A relatively harmless online prankster should not face a potential life sentence in prison." ...
In the US, the EFF criticised the portion of the new bill that adds low-level computer intrusion -- which could be something as innocuous as a teenager having a look around a commercial Web server -- to the list of "federal terrorism offences". Such offences carry penalties of up to life imprisonment, and give investigators broad powers of asset seizure, as well as threatening those who "harbour" offenders.

meanwhile violent offenders face much lighter sentences:

• Staff Sgt. Cardenas J. Alban convicted of killing severely wounded 16-year-old Iraqi during fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Sentenced to one year's confinement, demoted to private and given bad-conduct discharge.
• Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne Jr. pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder in same case as Alban. Sentenced to three years in prison, had rank reduced to private and given dishonorable discharge. Horne's prison sentence later reduced to one year.
• Cpl. Dustin Berg convicted and sentenced to 18 months in military prison for shooting death of Iraqi police officer.
• Spc. Rami Dajani convicted of making a false statement following fatal shooting of Iraqi translator. Sentenced to 18 months' confinement and given a reduction in rank and bad conduct discharge.
• Spc. Charley L. Hooser convicted of involuntary manslaughter in same case involving Dajani. Hooser sentenced to three years in prison and given a reduction in rank and bad conduct discharge.
• Capt. Rogelio "Roger" Maynulet convicted of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter in shooting death of wounded Iraqi. Dismissed from armed forces.
• Marine Maj. Clarke Paulus convicted of dereliction of duty and maltreatment in case stemming from death of Iraqi prisoner who was dragged out of holding cell by the

I'm not entirely sure of their ideals of governance, so I don't if the term "fascist" technically applies, but "unleashed atrocities against minorities" definitely does. I should qualify that, however. It relates to the RSS element of the BJP, not necessarily the BJP itself:

Extremist Hindu attacks on Christian Indians

"Gauri Prasad Rath, the president of the VHP in Orissa, said: 'I do not condemn the violence against Christians. I condemn the killing of Hindu sage Swami Laxmananda Saraswati ... Christians killed him.'"

This absurdity despite the fact that evidence points towards Maoist extremists, who have, in fact, claimed responsibility for the killing.

India is going to continue to have serious social and political problems until they get past their caste history.

It is worse than that. Germany is already enforcing its laws against Holocaust denial on websites that are not anywhere in Germany. See for example http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/02/secondworldwar.australia where someone who was never in Germany was arrested in Great Britain so they could be extradited to Germany. Holocaust denies are obviously shmucks but in the long run this is the same sort of behavior which allows any country to piss on the basic rights of people in other countries. How long until Thailand decides to extend its laws against criticizing the monarch to other countries? Or how long until Italy extends its laws against making mean comments about the Pope or the Italian Prime Minster? (see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4732048.ece ).

Somali pirates land Russian tanks in surprise haul

The pirates would hardly have been able to believe their eyes as they inspected the hold of their latest conquest, the Faina.
The Ukrainian vessel was heading for the Kenyan port of Mombasa loaded down with rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and 30 Russian T-72 tanks.

"They really hit the jackpot this time," said a regional arms expert. "There is not much they can do with the tanks, but the RPGs and the Zu-23 anti-aircraft guns will soon find their way into Somalia's arms markets.

"These are the sort of weapons that fighters in Somalia really like."

Almost 60 vessels have been attacked this year as armed gangs of pirates plunder the seas off Somalia.
Its 2,300-mile coastline offers rich pickings for the modern-day buccaneers, who use AK-47s and RPGs rather than the cutlasses and flintlock pistols of romantic imagination.

In a country already awash with weapons, yesterday's haul will only worsen a bloody conflict that has escalated in the past month as Islamist insurgents battle government troops and their Ethiopian allies.

An international coalition of navies has so far failed to stem the trade, which brings in as much as $1.5 million (£800,000) per ship.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said today that the Faina's captain had radioed maritime authorities to say that three cutters with armed men were approaching his vessel at high speed before communications were lost. Her cargo was destined for South Sudan's government.

It brings the number of ships held by the buccaneers to 14, with 300 crew members held hostage.

Sure: here. These laws were passed quickly "because of the threat of terrorism". As so often happens once these laws are rushed through the UK government says "they were never just for terrorists".

The National Counterintelligence Executive and Mission Manager for Counterintelligence Joel Brenner is the only source for the whole story. The Times of London writes: "The bugs transmit the information by wireless technology to Lahore, Pakistan, according to a senior American counter-intelligence official. (...) The fraud was revealed by Joel Brenner, the American government's top counter-intelligence officer." The British on the other hand say: Lahore is unconfirmed; Chinese link is unconfirmed, issues with chip and pin machines being compromised at the point of manufacture unconfirmed alltogether (see Times and Telegraph). A contradiction?

They used anti-terror laws against Iceland, who are not at all terrorists.

When? Do you have a cite on this?

In whose name they doing this? Is it to stop terrorists, or to make us think of the children?

Both!

Yes, really. Apparently.

In one of the most transparently stupid "LOOK! TERRORISTS!" stories to date, The Times has "exclusively" published a report claiming terrorists are hiding their secret terrorist messages inside child pornography.

OH MY GOD! Those long nights where I stared intently, deeply into into the Goatse image. I knew there was something else there. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

Yes, really. Apparently.

In one of the most transparently stupid "LOOK! TERRORISTS!" stories to date, The Times has "exclusively" published a report claiming terrorists are hiding their secret terrorist messages inside child pornography. Because, y'know, obviously you're going to hide your messages somewhere already illegal rather than in wedding photos or LOLcats.

I'm pleased to say that the commenters on the article - and UK newspaper online comments are one of the purest sources of raw stupid on the planet - are already condemning this as obvious Home Office press-release ware.

The Times has been spotted running press releases for the Home Office before with jawdroppingly stupid scare stories. Coincidentally, the Home Office's call for the police to be able to hold people 42 days without charge just got rejected. Obviously not linked.

I wrote a blog post on it, but I'm not sure it's obviously a parody of a stupid thing that someone actually tried to seriously push.

Well it is often assumed then sexual offenders must have a high re-offend rate. The figures shows the opposite.
Surprising isn't it?

Interesting example. Let me give you another one: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2907495.ece/
Imagine it is your child's personal information that is lost. Someone tracks her down to her school identify her, and god forbid, assaults her; so badly she can't have a child: ever.
Would you accept the fact that the Government can't be trusted to "monitor" people? Would you agree to a law that ensures government pays the ultimate price for leaking your daughter's personal information?
Would you love to keep the government's grubby hands from your information? Would you not demand the government be prevented from storing personal data about you, get out of your hair and lives, and pay a criminal price for its lapse?
There are two sides to every story my friend.
Compromising on your freedom to feel safe is also such a thing.

On a side note,
Richard Garriot, apart from being a successful video game writer, is in fact the son of a former NASA astronaut.

According to the bankers, and the central bank, the bank's problem is with liquidity, not solvency.

And you believe them? It's all bullshit. They saw a golden opportunity to rob the man on the street with the excuse of economic disaster, and they and their cronies in irish government did so. Witness that Irish Nationwide email- that's what it was really about. Nicking Irish taxpayer money so powerful International B^HWankers can profit. Shoot them, I say - ultimately, it's the Irish way. They're skating on thin ice.

Facebookâ(TM)s Dublin headquarters will house the social networking websiteâ(TM)s technical, sales and operations staff. The move is expected to create about 70 jobs and will not affect the websiteâ(TM)s existing London base, which is a commercial, rather than operational, office. Staff in Dublin will cover Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while the rest of the world is covered from Facebookâ(TM)s global headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article4870354.ece

http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/lets-compare-dnc-protests-vs-rnc-protests/
http://donklephant.com/2008/09/01/violent-protests-disrupt-rnc/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4660503.ece

and racier too. Times article

Idiots.

It's up to you to believe that GW (don't you mean "climate change"?) will cause more intense hurricanes - that's one recent study. Other's claim the frequency will rise (which that one doesn't, however) - and some say there won't be any measurable difference at all.

"The main point that we want to emphasise is that there is no evidence in this study that we are seeing large greenhouse-gas-driven increases in Atlantic hurricane or tropical storm frequencies."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7404846.stm

(Just a while back a hurricane moving eastwards over the Atlantic was brought up as a sign of AGW - but then we realised ship's records from the 17th century detailed such storms ... )

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4449527.ece

You might find this interesting:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3367800.ece

Heh, actually, it's more energy efficient (factoring in the costs of obtaining and refining gas versus growing cows for burgers) to drive somewhere than to cycle somewhere, and even more efficient to use a motorcyle.

This order alone is 50% bigger than the entire OLPC project has managed to sell worldwide.

And guess who is to blame for OLPC failing to gain much traction? http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4472654.ece Yes, Intel mostly. Can't allow there to be so many AMD chips out there...

Oh, sheesh, slashdot. No, I wasn't thinking of faster downloads or gaming. I was thinking of some of that stuff WiReD promised us ten years ago: most office jobs done from home via telecommuting, equipment managed from home by telepresence.

Telecommuting didn't take off for the same reason we have business travel in a world of phones and faxes and E-mail: because people doing business want to connect personally. 80% of human communication, we're told, is in voice tones, facial expressions, body language. If we all had "VR" from multiple cameras on us at our home offices, each doing 1080p or better with CD-grade sound and zero latency, would that be tele-present enough to bridge the gap? Could you hold "meetings" between a dozen people and feel you were connecting to all of them in VR? I don't know, but only a nation with at least 100Mbps to the home is going to find out on any large scale.

A half-decent SF writer could probably think up more things, but telepresence alone would eliminate the need for hundreds of billions of dollars in transportation infrastructure; imagine the "rush hour" a thing of the past. The car completely changed the concept of the city from a very compact thing to one very spread out. Telepresence could be as big a change again, or larger. The effects on an industrial economy beggar the imagination.

And if it turns out not to be SF, you want to be left behind on it?

But now that I deliberately poked a stick into the American cage with the "not the greatest nation" comment, let me end on a happier thought. I just read a great article from (here's some irony) Britain, in today's "Times Online", by Justin Web.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4735147.ece

He was writing about the decline of "social conservatism" in America and what the voters seem to be hungering for now:

==
It's the infrastructure, stupid! The Reagan era (which predated Reagan and probably began with Nixon in 1968) had all manner of effects on the nation, but among the key long-lasting legacies has been a neuralgic reaction to taxation. Many Americans have allowed themselves to think you might be able to run a modern economy on the proceeds from slot machines. As Jim Callaghan once said, in a different context: "I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists!"

Americans hunger for mobile phone networks that work. For rapid transport that whizzes. For bridges that don't fall down. They do not hunger for government but they do hunger for efficiency, for a governing infrastructure that serves a modern economy; for a health system that delivers medicine without bankrupting companies and individuals. Both John McCain and Barack Obama know this. Each is under pressure to deliver.
==

Maybe one of them should promise fiber-to-the-home...

I wonder what will happen next? maybe they we a bit over the edge of legality with the FBI investigating potential for fraud.

And yet she believes judgment day is not far off...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4720440.ece

So why does she bother to "hide" using a non government email address when she believes the world will end within her lifetime? Makes you wonder which side of her mouth tells the truth doesn't it?