Archive for August, 2006
If you need exemptions, the whole thing’s bollocks
Mr Eugenides is angry about the government’s plans for a children’s database, which will track every single child in the country. Today, it’s because of the news that the super-secure, uncrackable database will have special exemptions for kids of celebrities, because otherwise there’s a risk of kidnapping. As he quite rightly points out:
If this database is so secure, why do certain extra-special moppets’ records need to be roped off from the rest of them? Because it won’t be secure at all.
And of course, the database - which will specifically identify vulnerable children - will be a fantastic tool for kiddie-fiddlers. Mr Eugenides quotes Professor Ross Anderson:
“There will always be bent insiders. If you connect all these systems up and if you’ve got over a million professionals needing to access this every day it will all get out. Paedophiles for example can use the database to find out which children in their neighbourhood are vulnerable and where they live.”
I’ve written about database nonsense before, but here’s a quick summary: whenever there’s a big database of personal data, it’s abused. Here’s an example from 2004:
Misuse of the Police National Computer (PNC) by officers is undermining public confidence in the police’s ability to handle data, according to the deputy chair of the police complaints commission.
Speaking on 15 July, 2004, John Wadham said that the failure to retain and pass on data is a “misconduct” issue for police, as much as the misuse of PNC data which has been a “consistent problem” over the last 20 years.
Wadham referred to cases where officers have misused the PNC to find information on a partner’s estranged husband, to check out a daughter’s boyfriend or to gain evidence for civil proceedings. He said there is a “perennial problem of data being sold to private detectives”.
Buried under Deadline Mountain
Back soon.
Slow news day
As you’ve probably spotted, I’m fascinated by some of the non-stories in the Evening Times. And this is a particularly good example:
FAVOURITE TV crime thriller Rebus has asked a Scots firm to help out behind the scenes with their latest series.
Products made by Rearo Laminates, of Govan, are being used to brighten sets of the latest production of the show which is currently being filmed… And viewers with an eye for detail will be able to see Rearo’s products dotted throughout scenes.
Rearo managing director Graham Mercer said: “Recently our branch in south west England was asked to supply panels to make realistic toilet cubicles for an episode of Casualty. I can only suppose they came to us because we had previously supplied wall lining systems for Bristol Royal Infirmary.”
… Sue Morrison production buyer for Rebus said: “We went to Rearo Laminates for some surfacing for the walls and doors of one of our Glasgow sets.”
And to think, I’d have missed the story altogether if I’d bought another newspaper! Thank you, Evening Times!
As unhappy as a man with two dicks
An Indian businessman born with two penises wants one of them removed surgically as he wants to marry and lead a normal sexual life, a newspaper report said Saturday.
[Reuters, via MetaFilter]
Ban this sick filth (in hotels)
According to Associated Press, a coalition of US conservative groups is lobbying the FBI to investigate hotel porn.
They reckon it’s far too expensive*.
[Via Digg]
* That may be a lie
Gig-a-gig, ahhh
Off to Edinburgh to see Radiohead, with two utterly predictable results: Radiohead were great, and the experience of going to a gig sucked.
I’ve written before about the sheer arsery of live music, but it’s particularly pronounced at bigger gigs: there’s the hassle of getting the tickets in the first place, the joy of ridiculous booking fees, the pain (and cost) of getting there, the nightmare of getting home again (particularly bad last night: Scotrail decided that the combination of a 20,000-capacity stadium gig and the Edinburgh Festival didn’t require any additional train carriages until faced with thousands of pissed Glaswegians at Waverley station), the bad food, the overpriced drinks, the dodgy sound, the sore back you get from standing up for hours… but for me the real problem is the people.
I’m the first to admit that I’m a tad misanthropic, but I’ve talked to others about this and it seems I’m not the only one who thinks there’s an increasingly ned-ish element to gig audiences, especially stadium ones. I don’t subscribe to the true fans vs casual fans argument, but after several hours of being barged into and of being deafened by mindless bellowing from people who spent the entire gig shouting at their mates (either in person or into a mobile) with the occasional break to sing the three words of the chorus of the two songs they actually know, I can’t help but think I’m getting too old for this shit.
When you spend more time entertaining gleeful fantasies about stabbing your fellow punters than listening to the tunes, it’s probably a sign that stadium rock’s losing its appeal.
Pity it’s so expensive. I’ve got tickets to see Muse on Thursday at the same venue, and while I love Muse and reckon they’re probably one of the best live bands on the planet, I’d rather go to the dentist than endure a second stadium show this week. That’s another sixty quid down the drain, then.
Update
I’ve been talked into going to the Muse gig after all. But I’m taking a gun.
Update, again
Muse were great. But blimey, My Chemical Romance are possibly the worst band in the whole world (and made me think of the gag, “I wish my grass was emo. Then it’d cut itself”). I’m saying “possibly” because there’s a very remote chance there’s a worse band out there, although I very much doubt it. Put it this way: the band doing The Final Countdown (linked a few posts back) are much, much better.
The Final Countdown
Sometimes, cover versions are better than the original.
[Youtube. Via Fark]
Mac DJ
[photopress:djay.jpg,full,pp_image]
djay is a DJ application for the Mac, and it sounds quite nifty. It’d be particularly good on a tablet Mac, if such a thing ever appears. Seems to be free, too… here’s an edited feature list via the Unofficial Apple Weblog:
- Real-time audio mix transmission over Bonjour network
- Real-time audio mix recording
- iTunes Integration
- Automatic artwork image loading on both turntables
- Time-Stretching
- Pitch-Shifting with amazing blend effect
- Audio Unit Effects Support
- Pre-Cueing (requires multichannel sound card)
- Crossfade automation
- Magnetic tempo slider for precise beat matching
- GarageBand instruments integration via network
- AppleScriptability for mixing automation
An interesting site for illustrators
Amateur Illustrator launched yesterday, and it’s pretty nifty. As TechCrunch explains:
It’s a place for amateur illustrators to share their art, vote on each others’ work and communicate. The site is very well designed - perhaps unsurprising given the developers’ backgrounds as artists, it’s beautiful to look at. Nick Franklin and an unnamed collaborator created the site while studying illustration at the University of Lincoln.
Scotland.come off it
Christ on a bike, if these are the best Scots sites the Sunday Mail could come up with then the country’s in worse shape than I thought.
The Sunday Mail couldn’t resist the temptation to put their own site in the list, presumably because it’s the only way anyone will say anything nice about it. It’s a truly horrible, unfriendly disaster that I’d suggest was the work of blind, crack-addled baboons if such a claim wasn’t unfair to blind, crack-addled baboons.
Anybody want to suggest scots sites that *don’t* suck? I’ll offer Hidden Glasgow for starters.