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Below are the 22 most recent friends journal entries:

December 14th, 2009

03:17 pm
thedarkproject

[Link]

legal coverage censorship again, more absurd than before
"Dinah McNicol murder accused already jailed for killing".

"Peter Tobin, 63, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, denies the abduction and murder of Dinah McNicol.
Miss McNicol, 18, of Tillingham, Essex, vanished on her way back from a Hampshire music festival. Her remains were found in Margate, Kent, in 2007.
Mr Tobin was convicted last year of the murder of Vicky Hamilton, who was 15."

And just like last time, even though they are telling you about one person he was convicted of murdering, what they seemingly can't tell you is the other person he murdered, although you can easily do a Google search and find out. Or you can read all about it on Wikipedia and see the Talk page where various people across the world debate why they should remove information from the Internet to ensure this person gets a 'fair' trial. Although in truth, it's not so much about fairness and more about avoiding the chance of having his trial collapse. Yet this is absurd, because it supposes there are juries who will treat him fairly if they're told he's killed one person, but couldn't possibly treat him fairly if they knew he'd killed two. Huh?

There's a lot of talk about the media being to blame for hyping up crime problems and making them out to be worse than they really are. This problem is made worse when the media is apparently forced to pretend that 2 separate crimes are committed by different people when in fact it's the same person. Perhaps people would feel a bit safer if they knew there were actually fewer murderers and paedophiles on the streets than it appears.

Current Mood: grumpy
Tags: crime, law

(Leave a comment)

December 13th, 2009

08:23 pm
tyrannio

[Link]

Pre-Columbian Latkes

innerdoggie asked me what latkes were made with before the potato came to Ashkenaz. I realized I'd never thought about it, and guessed either turnips, or that some completely different food was the iconic Hanukkah dish (with the latter being more likely).

I then thought to check in Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish Food. She gives an "apple latke" recipe, which seems like the most likely candidate (the transition from sky apple to earth apple not being that difficult).

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

04:06 pm
tyrannio

[Link]

Ah, grasshopper
The Cameraman's Revenge, a stop-motion animated short using insect carcasses by Vladislav Starevich/Władysław Starewicz (Moscow, 1912).

(Leave a comment)

11:49 pm
thedarkproject

[Link]

musical disdain
I don't enjoy Christmas much. I have captured this lack of enjoyment in musical form, while practising playing the keyboard and experimenting with my new software synthesizer. The result is the short tune on my music page, titled Evil Christmas.

Not much else to say at the moment. The normal abnormal service will resume when I the motivation finds me.

Current Mood: awake
Tags: humour, music

(4 comments | Leave a comment)

03:30 pm
vespid_interest

[Link]

Iran tries to humiliate activist by putting him in a dress, backfires
This short news piece should be of interest to many of you as it touches on the Iranian protests, gender issues, and facebook.

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

December 12th, 2009

09:03 am
qwrrty

[Link]

ry, originally uploaded by qwrrty.

Not to copy moominmolly too much here, but her portrait treatment seemed to be the right approach for this shot of Ry.

(7 comments | Leave a comment)

December 11th, 2009

05:15 pm
qwrrty

[Link]

Writer's Block: My Favorite Movie Quote

What’s your favorite movie quote of all time?

Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad.

View 661 Answers

"Nobody, and I mean nobody, can talk a junkie out of using. You can talk to 'em for years but sooner or later they're gonna get ahold of something. Maybe it's not dope. Maybe it's booze, maybe it's glue, maybe it's gasoline. Maybe it's a gunshot to the head. But something. Something to relieve the pressures of their everyday life, like.... having to tie their shoes."

--Bob (Matt Dillon) in Drugstore Cowboy

Tags: avatar movie, favorite movie quote, movies, writer's block

(4 comments | Leave a comment)

02:09 pm
enf

[Link]

Once a sign geek, always a sign geek
I apparently drew these road signs when I was 7 or 8 years old:

Did no-U-turn signs really ever look like that?

Tags: street signs

(Leave a comment)

12:27 pm
qwrrty

[Link]

the little cinematographer
When Morgan went to Nature's Classroom in September, he took his point-and-shoot camera and extra memory cards I packed with him. He came back with about 800 pictures.

A lot of them were of things like his dinner and mashed-potato sculptures and his classmates doing goofy things. There were probably 100 pictures of the bonfire at the end of the week, taken valiantly in total darkness and coming out impossibly blurry.

But a lot of them came out well. And some of them really stunned me.

I think I could work with this guy.

Tags: family, kids, life, photography, pix

(5 comments | Leave a comment)

06:58 am
vsbooklady

[Link]

You have GOT to be shitting me.

State constitution cited by critics of Asheville's Cecil Bothwell

Jordan Schrader • and Dale Neal • December 7, 2009

ASHEVILLE — The way critics of Cecil Bothwell read the North Carolina constitution, Bothwell has no business serving on Asheville City Council.

Bothwell, whom voters elected to the council last month, is an avowed atheist.

“I’m not saying that Cecil Bothwell is not a good man, but if he’s an atheist, he’s not eligible to serve in public office, according to the state constitution,” said H.K. Edgerton, a former Asheville NAACP president.

Article 6, section 8 of the state constitution says: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

But the federal courts have found that religious tests for public office are unlawful under the U.S. constitution.

A challenge based on the clause wouldn't hold up "since the U.S. Constitution trumps the North Carolina Constitution," said Bob Orr, executive director of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law.

"I think there’s any number of federal cases that would view this as an imposition of a religious qualification and violate separation of church and state," said Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice.

Edgerton - known for his years of promoting "Southern heritage" by standing on streets decked out in a Confederate soldier's uniform and holding a Confederate flag - maintains that City Council should hold off swearing Bothwell into office until the constitutional question can be resolved.

“If they go ahead, then the city of Asheville and the board of elections could be liable for a lawsuit,” Edgerton said.

Bothwell did not immediately reply to requests for comment, but he has said his spiritual beliefs focus on "the golden rule" as opposed to a deity.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20091207/POLITICS/91207026/1009

I note progress here, however; they're using "avowed atheist" (still weird) rather than "admitted atheist."

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

December 8th, 2009

05:47 pm
vsbooklady

[Link]

New PeptoBismal Donuts - for when the party lasts into the next day.

Tags: shot of the day

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

09:33 am
deskitty

[Link]

OM NOM NOM
Thank you, that is all.

-- Des

Current Location: Homebase
Current Mood: awake

(Leave a comment)

December 7th, 2009

08:24 pm
qwrrty

[Link]

Submitted without comment

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: kids, pix, via ljapp, xmas

(9 comments | Leave a comment)

December 6th, 2009

07:55 am
vsbooklady

[Link]

Paradolia

owl hides inside tire.

Tags: shot of the day

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

01:00 am
qwrrty

[Link]

first dates
First dates are odd enough, but it's even odder to have one with an ex.

Edit: just to be clear, it was a fabulous date. EVOO was a hit out of the park, we got to hang out for a bit with

inahandbasket (who did his best to entertain us when we found that

prosicated was at work), and stopped by

spike's for hilarious conversation and some delightful cocktails mixed by

aroraborealis.

And having a first date on the first snowfall of the year is.... sublime.

But it's a funny experience to be having a first date, a date which is explicitly designated a "first date", with someone who you know so well in some ways and yet in others are starting from scratch.

Current Mood: pleased
Tags: beth, relationships

(8 comments | Leave a comment)

December 5th, 2009

07:26 pm
thedarkproject

[Link]

UAF and EDL protests in Nottingham
Well, I figure that if you're going to have strong opinions on something, it's your duty to observe relevant things first hand. So that's what I did today, where the English Defence League were holding a rally in Nottingham, ostensibly to protest against Islamic extremists, and the 'Unite Against Fascism' group with their various affiliates were holding a counter-rally to "stop the fascist EDL marching in Nottingham".

I could say a lot but I'll keep it to bullet points. I didn't get to see the main EDL rally as that part was mostly off-limits and kept well away from the centre of town or the UAF gathering, but I did see the clashes in the city centre in the Market Square.

Apologies to anybody annoyed by my observations; you can comment below. However, I just say what I see. Also note that when I say UAF or EDL I am talking more about the 2 broad divisions since it's impossible to know if anybody is officially affiliated or not.

The UAF, instead of gathering at a time similar to the EDL's planned rally at 1pm, instead gathered in Market Square (against police request) at 10am, to coincide in both time and location with the homecoming parade for the 2nd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment from Afghanistan. Why?
The UAF and their associated groups was mostly the typical Socialist Worker and student group, but there were actually what seemed to be a fair few Communists there also.
The UAF didn't make much attempt to addess any stated EDL policies or aims, just tried very hard to portray them as Nazis or fascists or as being associated with the BNP.
Although both sides were provocative, the ones being verbally aggressive and offensive were the UAF side. The EDF were mostly chanting "Eng-er-lund, Eng-er-lund, Eng-er-lund" as you'd expect from an organisation formed by football supporters.
Missiles were thrown from the area of young Asian men towards the EDL. These were mostly sticks from holding up flags and placards, but also included plastic bottles and cans. Missiles going the other direction were much fewer in quantity.
I didn't see a single 'Seig Heil' gesture. The people I saw in the square do have a penchant for putting both hands in the air, the significance of which is lost on me. I did see one EDL guy with a raised fist though (1:05 in the last video below, on the far right - no pun intended), which bizarrely is a symbol with left-wing connotations. And one of the EDL people seemed to have a Northern Ireland Unionist flag. He might have just mistaken it for an England flag...
I only saw one non-white person on the EDL side; a black girl, who was with her white boyfriend.
At least 4 police forces were in attendance: Nottingham, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, and West Yorkshire. Policing seemed very even-handed to me, and even when I was kettled for just over an hour they were very polite and apologetic about it. The police horses were well-behaved, although the police dogs went mental whenever anybody else walked a dog past (which was quite often among the ranks of the socialist types).