tech@vedella

Chris sez, "Here's the latest issue of the journal Surveillance and Society, including an article that I wrote on the earliest use of film surveillance by British police, in 1935. Five minutes from the film itself is available through the Blip TV feed from that page, or through a link alongside the actual article. The other articles in the issue (notably Dietmar Kammerer's on the history of CCTV in Germany) are also worth a read, mind." Table of Contents (Thanks, Chris!)...

A couple of day ago I wrote about how I foolishly and unwittingly signed up for freecreditreport.com's $14.95 monthly credit monitoring service. One of the commenters, Creeto, pointed to this funny video song by Dan Louisell, who wrote: "What really happens when you use freecreditreport.com? This was for a contest to either cover one of the songs from the commercials or write your own jingle. Being that this isn't very flattering to the website, I bet I won't win. :)"...

Last week, I had lunch with my friend, Hugh Spencer, a writer and designer of museum and public educational exhibitions. He told me an amazing story about his son and games, and I asked him to write it up for Boing Boing: This is a picture of my amazing youngest son Evan. He's 13, he's holding a game controller and looking at a glowing screen and he's doing what he does a lot of -- diving into digital realms of adventure. His latest favourite game is Call of Duty - which he plays on-line with his friends. Evan's wanting to play C of D was something of a challenge for us. It's rated T and he's only just a teenager and point and shoot first person games worry me some. Evan is relentlessly reasonable sometimes -- he outlined why he wanted to play the game and he was pretty upfront why he knew my "parent-sense" would start tingling. So I had to be reasonable too. I looked at the game. I've done a lot of research for military museums so I could tell that the content was accurate -- but there was lots of shooting and blowing things up. But there was a fair bit of that during World War II. So it was undeniable that Evan was experiencing history and there was this teamwork factor... So we compromised. Well, sort of. I asked Evan to google the Geneva Convention. Then he had to read it and then we had to discuss it. This we did. So the deal is that Evan has to fight according to the rules of the Geneva Convention. If his team-mates violate the Convention then play stops and Call of Duty goes away for a while. We'll see how it goes, but Evan keeps his word. Especially about his games. Geneva Conventions...

The United Arab Emirates is considering legislation that would criminalize publication of anything that would "harm the economy." Already, the local press is pulling back from their coverage of the steep decline in Dubai property values and the rise in deportations, voluntary departure, and abandonment of unsaleable assets, such as cars. Instead of moving toward greater transparency, the emirates seem to be moving in the other direction. A new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country’s reputation or economy, punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (about $272,000). Some say it is already having a chilling effect on reporting about the crisis. Last month, local newspapers reported that Dubai was canceling 1,500 work visas every day, citing unnamed government officials. Asked about the number, Humaid bin Dimas, a spokesman for Dubai’s Labor Ministry, said he would not confirm or deny it and refused to comment further. Some say the true figure is much higher. “At the moment there is a readiness to believe the worst,” said Simon Williams, HSBC bank’s chief economist in Dubai. “And the limits on data make it difficult to counter the rumors.” Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down Previously:People are pouring out of Dubai - Boing Boing Dubai airport clogged with cars abandoned by fleeing construction ......

Don't worry if you show up for your domestic UK EasyJet flight without the mandatory photo ID the airline now requires; the helpful check-in clerks will direct you to the nearby train station where they'll make you up a free photo-card to go with a rail-pass, should you ever decide to buy one. Ah, security. "They suggested I go to the railway station within the terminal, buy a season ticket and with it get a photocard, which they'd then accept as ID," Wilson said. "In fact, it was even easier and didn't cost a penny. Southern Rail gave me a photocard and sent me upstairs to the public photo booth. I asked if I needed to come back to the ticket office with the photos; they said, no, I should just fill in the card myself then seal down the plastic covering." Photo ID - how about this one I made earlier?...

Jacqui Smith, the surveillance-crazed Home Secretary of the UK, has been caught making extremely dubious expense claims for her government-paid "second residence" in London -- caught by neighbours who ratted her out for what they perceive as a kind of "benefits fraud" on a grand scale. Ironically, Smith's Home Office has put an enormous amount of energy into inveigling Britons to fink out their neighbours for the cheaper, smaller-scale benefits fraud and potential terrorist, launching tiplines for people who think their neighbours have too many mobile phones (a sure sign of terrorism!), and running ads that say "We're closing in with hidden cameras. We're closing in with every means at our disposal." Live by the snitch, die by the snitch. If you want to rat out your neighbours, allow the home secretary to enumerate the ways. Do you know someone who claims more from the state than they're entitled to? Who is "picking the pockets of law-abiding taxpayers"? Not politicians over-egging their allowances, obviously, but "benefit thieves". If so, call 0800 854 440 now. "We're closing in with hidden cameras. We're closing in with every means at our disposal." Do they own more than one mobile phone? Then call 0800 789 321. "Terrorists need communication. They often collect and use many pay-as-you-go mobile phones, as well as swapping Sim cards and handsets." No mobile phones? What about if they're "hanging around"? Or, as the Home Office-funded radio advertisement puts it: "How can you tell if they're a normal everyday person or a terrorist? The answer is that you don't have to. If you call the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321, the specialist officers you speak to will analyse the information. They'll decide if and how to follow it up. You don't have to be sure. If you suspect it, report it." It's such a lovely turn of phrase, that. If you suspect it, report it. Don't wait for evidence. Or question your own prejudices. If someone's not a "normal everyday person" exactly like you, then they could well be a member of al-Qaida. What flawless logic that is. What a perfect revenge on the arch snooper...

Patrick Costello, the travelling open-source banjo instructor, sez, "A visually impaired banjo player in the Netherlands contacted me the other day asking for help. He wanted a way to use banjo tab with his Braille display. Tab, or tabulature, is different from music notation in that tab gives the user specific mechanical instructions -- literally, 'put your fingers here'. With a folk banjo style like frailing students usually learn the mechanics of playing long before they dive into music theory so access to tab is a big deal for beginners. With some input from Ruud I was able to come up with a simple system that he would make sense in Braille. I posted information on the new tab system on my web site, and musicians from all over have started to transpose frailing banjo songs and exercises into this new format." Braille-Friendly Banjo TAB (Thanks, Patrick!) Previously:Baby bounces gleefully to mom's banjo playing - Boing Boing More CC-licensed banjo manuals - Boing Boing Old timey banjo instruction books released under a Creative ... Banjo lessons via podcast - Boing Boing Teach Yourself Banjo book under CC license - Boing Boing Free "CC-licensed" banjo lessons from famous banjo author - Boing ......

Alan Feng's lecture on the theory of war as conducted in Starcraft is part Sun Tzu, part Von Clausewitz, part Leibniz: "This course will go in-depth in the theory of how war is conducted within the confines of the game Starcraft. There will be lecture on various aspects of the game, from the viewpoint of pure theory to the more computational aspects of how exactly battles are conducted. Calculus and Differential Equations are highly recommended for full understanding of the course." Introduction to Starcraft and Competitive Gaming (Thanks, Buffalo Danger!)...

This squeaky cabinet door sounds so much like Chewbacca's plaintive wail that I'm left wondering if it isn't the source of the original foley effect. Guys Cabinet Door Sounds Exactly like Chewbacca! (via Neatorama)...

Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture - he also works part time for the empire. What day of the week do you dislike the most? I ask folks this question from time to time and more often than not, the reply is usually "Monday." When asked the reason, most would say "because I have to go back to work or school." Typical answer yet interesting. If one dislikes Monday because of school or work then why does one continue to go back to work or school? I believe that folks like this are probably in the wrong job or studying the wrong course and probably should look for something that enables them to enjoy Mondays - and every other day for that matter. Those who genuinely enjoy work or school probably wont give "Work or School" as the reasons they dislike Monday. Quality Not Quantity I watched an extremely moving documentary about a girl called ashley who had a medical condition called Progeria where her body aged 13 times faster than a normal human being. The condition is said to affect 1 in 8 million newborns. A person with the condition normally dies at the age of 13. She just had her 14th birthday and she knew that she was going to die any day. She said that she was prepared to die and that she had lead a great life up until now - it was all about her experiences, the friends she was able to meet and being happy. Living a longer life was not important. The quality of life over quantity was more important. Death Is A Reality We watch the news and see people dying left right and center - people being stabbed, run over or just plain dying in everyday accidents. Many folks who see/read about others dying don't usually think much about it - and the folks who died probably didn't think too much about it either. I was talking to my estate agent at the time we purchased our house - I asked him how I should go about writing my will - he looked at me as if I started to grow horns and said that people don't usually write their will until they are about 60. I was thinking to myself "apart from being a liar, this estate agent is an idiot too." This may seem the obvious but the thing is, none of us have been given a guarantee that we are going to live until we are golden. One could live in the "safest" part of the world, be healthy and still have their life cut short by a knife, bullet or drunken driver. None of us know when we are going to die but there is one thing that we do know for sure - we all will die someday - could be in another 30 years time, could be tomorrow morning. Death is a reality that we must all understand - its the final piece of our jigsaw puzzle that we all will collect. (more after the jump) dannychoo...

i want candy name that candy bar nunu chocolates deep fried creme egg lollipop cat (shown above) mexican sugar skulls battenberg simulator cake wrecks tangerine sherbet liz wolfe previously on web zen candy zen Permalink for this edition. Web Zen is created and curated by Frank Davis, and re-posted here on Boing Boing with his kind permission. Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!)...

Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture - he also works part time for the empire. Been living in Japan for about 10 years now and love it. I'm surrounded by culture that I've been passionate about since a wee lad and despite the recession that we're supposed to be in, business for my start up is booming - couldn't ask for more. Apart from the smoking, there used to (but not anymore) be something that used to get on my nut - the fun and games of looking for an apartment. Upfront costs The upfront costs of renting an apartment is honestly not amusing at all. First up there exists something called "gratuity fee" or Reikin. Since the dark ages, citizens have been paying the landlord a gratuity fee for letting them live in the landlords apartment. This gratuity fee can be up to 2.5 times the monthly rent and to make the situation even more amusing - you don't get this money back - none of it, Sweet FA, absolute squat. Then there is key money known as Shikikin. Key money can be up to 3 times the monthly rent and is used as a deposit which the landlord uses to clean up the place when you leave. S/he usually tries to use as much of it as possible so when you move out so its like "thanks for staying with us for the years, here is a slap in the face and get out of here you stinking rat." Apart from the gratuity fee and key money, one has to not only pay the landlord an average of 2 months rent upfront, one also has to pay the estate agent up to a months rent for introducing the place too. So an average case recap on the costs presuming that the monthly rent for a cozy apartment is 200,000 yen or roughly 2000 USD. Gratuity fee: 4000 USD Key money: 4000 USD Upfront rent: 4000 USD Estate agent fee: 2000 USD Initial cost: 14,000 USD No foreigners or pets (more after the jump)...

Leo sez, "An international contest: Scientists dance in order to interpret a doctoral thesis by prancing about. One the winners was : 'Cerebral activation patterns induced by inflection of regular and irregular verbs with positron emission tomography. A comparison between single subject and group analysis'" The 2009 AAAS/Science Dance Contest (Thanks, Leo!)...

Diane Lacey from this year's Hugo Award committee sez, "The Hugo Awards, presented during Anticipation this year in Montreal, celebrate the best in the field of science fiction and fantasy. In order to participate in this year's nomination you must either be a member of Anticipation, registered by January 31st or have been a member of last year's Worldcon, Denvention. The Hugos awarded at Anticipation will be for works released in 2008. The nomination period will be closing at the end of February. Mailed nomination ballots must be postmarked no later that February 28, 2009. Nominations can also be made online." A list of likely eligible works is the Locus list (you can also vote for the Locus Award there). And hey, I've got several eligible works! Nominating Ballot for the 2009 Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award (Thanks, Diane!)...

Now this is a pretty promising step on the path to open government: the new stimulus bill has a requirement for RSS-based disclosure of funds dispersed: For each of the near term reporting requirements (major communications, formula block grant allocations, weekly reports) agencies are required to provide a feed (preferred: Atom 1.0, acceptable: RSS) of the information so that content can be delivered via subscription. Raw Thought: RSS Hits the Big Time...

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio show As it Happens did a great job covering the new British law that makes it a crime to take a picture of a police officer or a building, where that picture might be useful in "planning an act of terrorism." First, they interviewed Peter Murray, Vice-President of the National Union of Journalists, who, predictably, worries that his members will find themselves with arrest-records as terrorists for violating the law. But then, they talked to Peter Smyth, Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, who also thinks the law is ridiculous -- and this is just stupendous. Smyth says that there's no evidence that terrorists use photographs to plan attacks, admits that this is an invitation for scared officers to abuse the law, and says that it will needlessly create conflict with journalists and the public. The program tried to locate someone -- anyone -- who supported the law, but no one was forthcoming. FEB 16, 2009 - As It Happens MP3 link My photos from the National Union of Journalists demonstration at New Scotland Yard Previously:UK Police seize amateur photographer's film - Boing Boing London cops declare war on photography - Boing Boing Current TV on photo bans in UK - Boing Boing UK to punish "publishing police info" with 10 years in jail ... Police warn UK man that taking photos of "hooded teenagers" is ... Londoners: rally today at Scotland Yard 11AM to preserve the right ... Brits: rally to save your right to photograph the police, Feb 16 ... UK Home Secretary green-lights harassment of photographers in ......

This week on Quirks and Quarks, the national science radio program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, there a fantastic segment on the neurology of gambling -- sticking the heads of gamblers in fMRIs and having them play games of chance illuminates an awful lot about why our brains make us gamble. It turns out that the reward system that lights up when we get a near-miss in a game of skill (which makes sense) gives us the same reward when we have a near-miss in a game of chance (but only if we get to make a choice in the game, such as picking our lotto numbers, even though this has no influence over the outcome of the game). One of the mysteries of gambling is that even when we should know we're going to lose, we somehow think we're going to win. Dr. Luke Clark, from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge, may have discovered one of the reasons why. Using MRI, he studied brain activity in people gambling, looking particularly at "near misses" in which a loss seems close to a win. He found that the brain activated the same reward system that is activated in a real win, despite the fact that people report that these near misses are unpleasant. Losers With Winners' Brains...

Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture - he also works part time for the empire. Apart from blogging about life in Tokyo, I also extensively cover Japanese subculture and give talks about this subject at conferences around the world. The first thing to learn are the definitions of a "3D Woman" (on the left of the screen) and a "2D Woman" (the two ladies on the right of the screen). As you can see, "3D" refers to humans while "2D" refers to 2 dimensional illustrations. While there are many folks who prefer warm blooded humans, some just prefer the 2 dimensional - so much in fact that they would rather marry one. A petition will be submitted to the Japanese government upon the collection of one million signatures asking for law to be passed making it legal to marry a 2 dimensional character. The petition is filled under Human Rights and can be seen online here. The online petition comes with the following blurb:- We don't have interest in the 3D world. If possible, I want to become the husband of a 2D character. Does not look like this matter can be solved with today's science and technology so at least make it legal to marry a 2D character. If this law is passed then I want to marry Asahina Mikuru. There are currently 41,000 blogs and sites that have covered this news but only 3,170 people have signed the petition... As for the 2 dimensional ladies on the screen - photo taken at one of the subculture or "otaku" events in Tokyo and you can see all previous event coverage in the Events category. And for folks wondering about the 3 dimensional lady - her name is Hiromi and you can see more photos that I took of her last year in the Japanese Idols category....

Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture - he also works part time for the empire. Why is the iPod in grave danger? Because you cant stick Lego men on top of it. During the Nuremberg Toy Fair I spotted the new version of the uber geek Lego Mindstorms NXT22 and some danish bricks gadgets like the Lego Camcorder, a colorful photo camera and this MP3 player. The cam and the photo camera seems ready to be marketed but seem that the Lego designers still got a lot of work to do on the MP3 player and its speakers… Via Modellismo Hobby Media...

Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture - he also works part time for the empire. Photo of a netted golf practice ground discovered in yet another uncharted evening after-dinner walk. Golf is a popular and yet expensive sport to play in Japan - I'm guessing that its due to popular demand that one has to pay a bladder and a spleen to get membership to a golf club. Meiji Golf is a site dedicated to the buying and selling of golf club memberships. They list a price of 65,000,000 yen (about 698,586 USD ) to be a member of the Koganei Country golf club. Folks who have just laughed at the piffling 65,000,000 yen should check the requirements before laughing - no women or foreigners allowed - only Japanese males over the age of 35. Folks here are so keen on the sport that you often see them practicing in public. You may want to read the rest of this article which has more photos and shows how balls get back to the vending machine in my Golf in Japan article....