Chris Lightfoot's Linklog

James Antill: HTTP for servers

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 10:41:42 GMT

Good rant.

Independent: Austin Mitchell: Treatment of model family makes me ashamed to be a Labour MP

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:49:32 GMT

Home Office now so full of wankers that even loyal Labour MPs are starting to notice.

Vanity Fair: Craig Unger: From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:43:00 GMT

Oh what a lovely war.

BBC: Woman gets 75,000 bank statements

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:05:50 GMT

"When Database Queries Attack". Apparently, the recipient of the statements "says she is considering changing banks"—no shit!

The Sun: Emma Parker Bowles: I-Spy some trouble ahead

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:02:36 GMT

Another nice example of motoring/civil-liberties convergence from the official journal of New Labour.

The Observer: Nuclear plans in chaos as Iran leader flounders

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 18:24:08 GMT

The Iranians can't make their centrifuge cascades work, allegedly. Or they want us to think that so that we don't bomb the crap out of them. Or the Americans want us to think that because they can't bomb the crap out of them until next year. I don't suppose it much matters which.

The Sunday Times: Reid to give sex offenders lie tests

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 17:49:53 GMT

Sigh.

Freedom to Tinker: AACS Decryption Code Released

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 12:43:29 GMT

First of a fun series of posts on the HD-DVD/BluRay copy-protection mechanism.

Ryszard Kapuscinski: When There is Talk of 1945

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:05:14 GMT

"We can't get lost, my mother warns. But I sense, even without her saying it, that the world has suddenly become dangerous, foreign and evil, and that one must be on one's guard. I walk with my sister next to the horse-drawn wagon; it is a simple wooden cart lined with hay, and high up on the hay, on a linen sheet, lies my grandfather. He is paralysed and cannot move. When an air raid starts, the panicked crowd, until then patiently trudging along, dives for the shelter of the ditches, hides in the bushes, drops down in the potato fields. On the empty, deserted road only the wagon remains, and on it my grandfather. He sees the planes coming towards him, sees them abruptly descending, sees them taking aim at the abandoned wagon, sees the fire of the on-board guns, hears the roar of the machines over his head. When the planes vanish, we return to the wagon and mother wipes my grandfather's perspiring face. Sometimes there are air raids several times a day. After each one, sweat trickles down my grandfather's exhausted face."

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that all exterior lights are shaded to direct their light downwards, so as to prevent light pollution obscuring the beauty of the night sky

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 16:03:00 GMT

Philip Allen: Brio Sucks

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:49:29 GMT

Good "connector conspiracy" rant.

Nature Newsblog: Mud volcano floods Java

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 14:57:18 GMT

Bloody hell. I hadn't even heard of this!

Clive Emsley: 'Mother, What Did Policemen Do When There Weren't Any Motors?' The Law, the Police and the Regulation of Motor Traffic in England, 1900–1939

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:42:56 GMT

Eric Schwitzgebel: Still More Data on the Theft of Ethics Books

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:26:58 GMT

This is a lovely observation.

Stunning pictures of comet McNaught

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 18:24:18 GMT

See also Wikipedia. Sadly it is only easily visible from the southern hemisphere, so even hopeless astronomers like me have an excuse for not having noticed it....

Jeffrey Lewis: Chinese Test ASAT?

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:26:31 GMT

Lots of detail on the ASAT thing (and timely too—should probably ArmsControlWonk to my RSS reader!).

BBC: Duck survives two days in fridge

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:13:32 GMT

After being shot by a hunter who thought it was dead and so put it away in the fridge to eat. Awwww!

Richard Gibbens: Road transport data and their uses

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:12:38 GMT

Talk on Wednesday at the Computer Lab. I'm unlikely to make it to this but it looks interesting.

Steve Hayes: The Banned Waggon

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:11:36 GMT

'During the apartheid era in South Africa many opponents of the National Party regime were "banned"—that is, restricted from being in (or away from) certain places, belonging to certain organizations, and doing certain things. Banning was used against many opposition political parties and groups. People who were banned included political prisoners who had served their sentences, trade union activists, and members of churches and NGOs, especially those whose activities brought them into contact with people belonging to differtent ethnic groups. Among those who were banned were many members of the Liberal Party of South Africa.'

Such bans would never happen here. We would call them "ASBOs".

The Sunday Telegraph: Honours probe police hacked No10 computers

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:09:39 GMT

RIP Act hilarity.

BBC: Home Office split 'within months'

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 11:21:39 GMT

But only into two bits. Really to protect us it should be split into so many parts that it is impractical for them to conspire together.

Michael B Wakin et al.: An Architecture for Compressive Imaging

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 10:56:46 GMT

That "Single Pixel Camera" Paper.

firstamendmentcenter.org: Washington school board restricts Gore's global-warming film

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:50:57 GMT

Top work!

Guardian: YouTube exposes torture in Egypt

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:35:30 GMT

Really, "brave person with mobile phone camera exposes torture in Egypt".

Belleville News-Democrat: East St. Louis man finds his home demolished

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:33:15 GMT

Madness.