(no subject)

UK highest court rules that evidence obtained by torture is inadmissable, regardless of circumstance:

"The principles of the common law, standing alone, in my opinion compel the exclusion of third-party torture evidence as unreliable, unfair, offensive to ordinary standards of humanity and decency and incompatible with the principles which should animate a tribunal seeking to administer justice" -- Lord Bingham, former Lord Chief Justice and head of the panel that ruled on the subject.

(Stolen from autopope, whose "A Colder War" can never be pimped quite enough.)

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See her? That's "Christopher Robin" in Disney's new Pooh series.

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Miss snow? Have a webcam? Add snow to your webcam! The wind follows your cursor and the snow piles up on any "edges" it finds in the image.

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Need an alibi? Buy one! The Alibi network will provide corroborating evidence for the lies of your choice, for a $35 annual subscription.

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Has anyone else ever noticed the similarity between ontology and oncology, and thought about what that might mean in the right setting?

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Annoying Computer Things In Movies. A particular unfavourite is "A hacker can get into the most sensitive computer in the world before intermission and guess the secret password in two tries" - but that's because it's really true, because an idiot manager somewhere wrote the password down on his desk.

(no subject)

Labour MP ejected from the Commons (again) for declaring that the Tories are all cokeheads.

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Best comment ever on the 25th Anniversary of Lennon's death: "Damn. Now there's going to be another special edition of Catcher In the Rye, and I'll have to get this one, too."

Canadian Election news!

Just for aimisdirty, we have firearms news, as Paul Martin is expected to announce a proposed ban on handguns. Don't worry, Hal, they'll probably let you keep yours under some kind of "the Armed Forces *do* need to keep some guns" exception.

NDP promises election reform - byelections for party-jumpers, proportional representation in addition to constituency, and others

The CPC (the West-only, white-only, English-only party)'s campaign to get *something* in Quebec has kicked off: "The Bloc is like a brother-in-law. When things are good, he's there for you. But when you need help to solve a problem or build something, it's funny, he can't do anything for you."

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The Canadian Election FAQ

Finally, from the CBC Election Quotes File:
"What family doesn't look forward to a gathering together on Christmas, sipping on hot chocolate, and sharing the joy of seeing Stephen Harper appear as Scrooge on TV?"
— Liberal Leader Paul Martin on the timing of the election campaign.

NDP communications director Jamey Heath, explaining how if he were making Star Wars, he'd cast Harper as a Stormtrooper: "Lots of fire and brimstone, but in reality stumped by cuddly, two-foot-high Ewoks."

(no subject)

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"Baghdad Burning", the girl blogging from Iraq, is back

Well, not so much "back" as "the feed stopped updating a while back and I was afraid that she was dead. She's not, I just haven't seen her stuff for months."

Check it out - it's the Iraq war from the perspective of one of the natives who are supposedly being liberated.

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Advice on how to get your PhD.

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"Scientists believe they have worked out a formula to calculate how 'beer goggles' affect a drinker's vision."

(no subject)

(no subject)

Michigan cop tasers own partner in a dispute over whether or not to stop for a soda.

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Downtown Madrid.

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Sunset on Babylon. Click for big version.

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Hey! You! The locals dressed in black and moping around whining about your feeeelings!

Dance troupe puts on performance inspired by the work of Edward Gorey. Friday and Saturday, 7pm, Arts Court on Daly. $25, includes martinis, food, silent auction with MAC and other downtown boutiques contributing items and art, the performance itself, and entrance to the Mercury Lounge afterward.

(no subject)

Insurgents in Iraq are under the influence of chemical weapons - self-administered ones.

Apparently a large number of fighters during the battle of Fallujah were under the influence of BZ or "Agent Buzz" is the military name for 3-quinuclidinyl benzillate - an extremely powerful US-made weaponised hallicinogen.

"If anyone offers you any performance-enhancing substances with the words 'Dude, this is weapons grade'... Just Say No."

Yes, I really sent it. Yes, it's true. Primus are phone spammers. Fuck 'em.

Dear Primus Telecommunications,

I recently was offered the opportunity to switch to your service. This would seem to be perfectly reasonable, except for the manner in which the offer was delivered: to my home, via telephone, during my dinner. The long pause of dead air as your computerised dialler notified an agent that it had found a prospective target was a dead giveaway, but I chose to stay on the line regardless for one simple reason: to learn what company had such execrable taste as to be engaged in telemarketing.

When the agent finally picked up the phone, they immediately asked for someone who did not exist. When told that that person did not exist, they asked me if I was interested in switching to Primus service, and I told them no, I was not interested, thank you, please do not contact me in the future.

Your agent became belligerent, demanding to know why I didn't want to spend time listening to her spiel and informing me in no uncertain terms that I was making a horrible mistake. I again told her I was not interested, regardless of what she had to offer, because of the manner in which it was offered, and I would appreciate never being contacted in this way, for any reason, ever again.

Your agent then began desperately trying to explain the packages on offer, completely ignoring my statements, so I hung up on her.

I do not do business with telemarketers. I will never, ever purchase a service from a company that uses telemarketing, any more than I would do business with an email spammer or a man from Nigeria who wants to share some ill-gotten funds with me in exchange for helping him smuggle them out of the country. This policy is not up for negotiation, and never will be. Particularly rude telemarketers, like yours, merit special treatment - after receiving treatment like that, in addition to never purchasing any of your services, if I had been your customer I would no longer be, and I am currently telling as many people as possible to avoid your service due to your dishonest and patently offensive business practices.

Telemarketing is not tolerated, under any circumstances. Telemarketing of your particular sort simply generates extra resentment, and marks you for shunning in a way that I might have forgotten to do to someone who employed polite, reasonable people who listen to the "customers" on the other end of the phone.

Yours truly,
Me

(no subject)

Bill O'Reilly tries to claim that The Daily Show is part of the "War on Christmas" - by showing clips from last year. Jon Stewart responds.

This really eats the African Elephant.

Greatest cover band EVER.

flemco recommends Cuz I Got High. I really can't argue with that.

Ringse!