Archive for June, 2005
ID Cards One Step Closer
The government’s ID card bill was accepted in the commons yesterday with a majority of 31. This gives the government the legal right to introduce ID cards in this country. 20 Labour MPs voted against the bill and there was wirespread objected to it from the other parties.
We are still without any clear justification as [...]
‘Refuse’ Pledge Hits Half-Way
The Pledgebank ‘refuse’ pledge to donate £10 to a leval defense fund for those convicted of not carrying their ID cards has now reached over 5,000 signatures taking it past the half way mark.
RMS vs EU Software Patents
Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project, has written an editorial piece in the Guardian in which he illustrates the dangers of software patents by making a comparison to hypothetical literary patents – using the same example as Patrick Devedjian, who was until recently the French minister for industry. RMS illustrates that if literary patents [...]
The End of Trial By Jury?
An amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill will be announced today, which if accepted, will mean that prosecutors may ask for the trial to proceed without a jury. The jury would be replaced by a panel of ‘experts’ in complex fraud cases. I’m somewhat concerned by this move, which I’m quite sure won’t be limited [...]
New Music
Well OK, I’m quite sure they’re not exactly new to an awful lot of people, but today I stumbled across ‘Lacuna Coil’ on special sauce. I’m pretty impressed to be honest. They seem to fall somewhere between NIN and Garbage and I like them a lot from my first 30 minutes of listening. Anyone care [...]
Now Playing
I’ve rigged up a quick hack to put what song I currently have playing on XMMS at the bottom of every page on this site, using the XMMS songchange plugin and a bit of ssh trickery.
DIY Ioniser
There was just a thunderstorm here this evening, so the air’s nice and clear now after a few days of humid, oppressive air. It got me thinking though, about an old ioniser we used to have when I lived at home. I think I’ll build one this week. All you need is a Cockroft-Walton multipler [...]
Dishwashed Keyboard Update
Well, after a lot of drying out, the keyboard I put through the diswasher (still) works. Well, sort of. Before it went for it’s bath, many of the keys didn’t work – now it’s only a few. Maybe I’ll try it again but take it apart a little further this time.
Register your protest against the ID card
No2ID have set up a pledge list on pledgebank for people to protest against the national ID card scheme. Once 10,000 people sign up, you pledge to donate £10 to a legal defense fund. Add your name now!
Link
Double Royalties Please
Aparrently the music publishers think they’re entitled to double (or even triple) royalties for ‘copy protected’ audio CDs that have an extra copy of the music in some DRM’d format for playback on a computer. Heh, that’s funny! They shaft you out of the ability to play full CD quality music on your PC and [...]
Twitter: jamesholden
- on my way home after a good night with the @thinkvisibility team. Really looking fwd to Saturday
- http://twitpic.com/17ygmv - How did w do? Ummm... Your printing? Shite.
- i just crashed an atm!
- 5 minutes until beer o'clock
