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Showing posts from August 22, 2004

How, exactly, does a cyclist endanger a motorist?

Thousands of cyclists converged on Madison Square Garden last night in a huge protest against El Busho. So the police arrested 250 of them for "protesting". The most curious quote came from NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, who said the riders had caused "massive disruptions" and endangered motorists trying to drive through the city . Exactly how Mr Browne, do cyclists on small bicycles, endanger people in 2-ton metal cages? Participants asserted that the ride was peaceful and said the arrests were an excessive show of force. Corporate MoFo has some great eyewitness accounts of the demonstration.

Yawn. Zzzzzzz.

Damn I'm just having one of those "can't get going" days. ... The deck is coming along. Most of the railing posts are up and half the balusters are done. Nearly there.....

http://www.impeachblair.org/

http://www.impeachblair.org/

BID TO IMPEACH TONY BLAIR!

YESSSS!!!!! At last! Because these sorts of stories vanish quickly, today's entry is a verbatim copy of the article in the New Scotsman: ( Here's a link to the same story on the BBC. ) AN AUDACIOUS bid to impeach Tony Blair for misleading Parliament over the reasons for the war in Iraq will be launched by MPs today. The cross-party group say they have rock-solid academic backing for their attempt to invoke an ancient mechanism that could unseat the Prime Minister. This latest assault on Mr Blair’s integrity is being led by the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalists together with a Conservative MP, but it is expected that other Tories and Liberal Democrats will sign up along with disaffected Labour backbenchers. The power of impeachment has not been used in Britain for 150 years, but it remains on the statute book despite an attempt to erase it in 1999. Alex Salmond, the SNP leader at Westminster and the favourite to succeed John Swinne

Don't look at anything! The MPAA will sue you!

The "Induce" Act is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. Remember that's the act that would outlaw any technology which could induce the user to make illegal copies of copyrighted work. That includes cameras, VCRs, PCs, DVD recorders, pens and paper, your eyeballs...... The act's proponents have emphasized that they only want to target 'rogue' P2P companies while leaving the Sony Betamax decision intact. Great. So the technology associations have drafted a bill that takes them at their word. Of course, the RIAA and MPAA will predictably complain that the language is too narrow, which will then beg the question -- who else did they want to target with this legislation? How many legitimate technology companies do they want swept up in the web of legal uncertainty created by this bill?

Trip. Fall. Sue bridge owner.

This is priceless: Nadia Hama, who dropped her infant daughter from the Capilano Suspension Bridge nearly five years ago, is pressing ahead with a suit against the operators of the privately owned tourist attraction. She claims the company was negligent in failing to warn the public not to carry children across the narrow bridge, that the bridge is "inherently unstable and dangerous" and that signs should be posted warning visitors to watch their step while crossing the bridge, which sways at times. Lawyers for the company on Monday asked the court to have the case - due for jury trial starting Nov. 15 - dismissed on grounds bridge operators were not negligent. In fact, they argued, it was Hama who was solely responsible for the incident. The interesting thing is that witnesses to the event said that Hama didn't slip, or trip, or fall. Instead they say they saw her baby fall "smoothly" from her mother's arms. Hama is seeking general, special and puni

Paul Hamm is NOT the silver medallist.

Who'd have thought gymnastics could be so exciting. There was almost a riot at the horizontal bar finals last night in Athens. Everyone was doing so-so, and the judges were awarding some bizarre points. And then the Russian, Alexei Nemov did his routine, including no less than six releases, four of which were extremely complex somersault-twist combinations. He made a small step on landing, which could have knocked off a little, but when the scores flashed up, he was only awarded 9.725. The crowd starting whistling and booing, and it went on from there. 5 minutes later, the crowd were on their feet, gesturing thumbs-down, booing, shouting, whistling, jeering and causing a hell of a racket. The chief Olympic scoring judge came out and had a huddle with the Canadian and Malaysian judges - the two who scored Nemov extremely low. They eventually revised the score, but only to 9.762. That made the situation worse. Those who weren't already standing in the crowd, stood up. Those who