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Monthly Archives: December 2004

Polite But Firm” motto of the Kerala Police, India.


The power of pressure groups

In the UK spoil-sports and busy-bodies use the forces of the compensation culture (the fear of being sued) and those stormtroopers of humourless jobsworthyness - Health and Safety Officer (those with a vested interest in finding and regulating “danger”) – to ruin everything from unprotected sex with teenage secretaries in the server room to lighting the bosses [...]

Modest Needs [Modest Needs]

 Via Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools newsletter:

“Has someone ever helped you get you out of a hard place with an act of kindness? If so, you should consider passing that gift onto someone else. You can dispense a few $10 bills from your ATM to the homeless in your area; or you can employ this [...]

Interview with Steven Pinker on his favourite books

From an interview in American Scientist
What books are you currently reading (or have you just finished reading) for your work or for pleasure? Why did you choose them, and what do you think of them?
The History of Force, by James Payne (Lytton, 2003), an obscure but fascinating book which documents how—contrary to popular opinion—violence [...]

How to find science debates in London

In May this year I posted on “How to Find A Lecture in the UK”. I discussed the wonderful Lecturelist.org, a website that tracks lectures across the UK.
Since posting that I have gone off lectures somewhat. The reason is that I find them as boring as polishing telescope mirrors.
Some of the hundreds of lectures [...]

Homefile Organizer Kits [Homefile.net]

Useful for those who do not even know where to begin with a filing system:
“Homefile Organizer Kits work whether you are just starting out or have been saving papers for many years. Each kit is easy to set up and use. Simplify your life with these inexpensive tools.
Learn which papers to toss, which papers to [...]

THE END OF SUBURBIA: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream [TEOS]

The Oil Shock is here and way of life in the West is about to be radically transformed:
“Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past [...]

Electrical Armour - not an urban legend [DSTL]

From the  Defence Science and Technology Laboratory:
New age electric armour tough enough to face modern threats
“Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) are the most prolific ground launched threat to British and Allied armoured fighting vehicles world-wide. To combat this very real and dangerous threat the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, Dstl, has developed an ‘Electric Armour’ [...]

Scream break [Guardian]

Close-up … disturbing still from a public information film about unlicensed cabs

“Each Christmas new TV adverts seek to shock us into behaving responsibly. They’re scary all right, but how do they rate as horror movies? Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw reviews the latest crop”

Tools of totalitarians

This evening I was reading one of my favorite weblogs - Belmont Club - and came across a striking passage in which Wretchard is commenting on Al Franken labeling life long civil right campaigner David Horowitz a “racist”:
At first David Horowitz’s A Look at Al Franken’s Liberalism, Fair and Balanced had a kind of grim [...]