Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Latest from Boing Boing

Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

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Azeri "donkey video" bloggers arrested

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 04:56 AM PDT

Two Azerbaijani bloggers have been arrested for uploading a video depicting a donkey giving a news-conference. The video was a parody of Azerbaijan's propaganda "news-conferences." The official charge is "hooliganism" and police say that the bloggers got involved in a "scuffle at a restaurant" but they deny having participated in any "scuffle" and insist that the arrest was political.

My father was born in a refugee camp in Azerbaijan, near Baku, but I've never had the urge to go back and look up the spot.

Speaking to the BBC, Elsa Vidal - Europe desk officer with Reporters Without Borders - said that press freedoms in Azerbaijan were almost non-existent, making it "one of the black spots of the former USSR".

"The situation is still severe and local public servants enjoy virtual immunity from an investigation from the press when they try and expose corruption," she said.

"There are no grounds for the bloggers to be prosecuted. They should be released and all accusations should be dropped.

"The authorities have more to lose in jailing the bloggers than in freeing them, but who knows what will actually be said at the trial?" she added.

The UN Human Rights Committee also raised concerns about the arrests, saying there were "extensive limitations to the right to freedom of expression" in Azerbaijan.

Jail threat for donkey bloggers
Previously:


Two-time turd-spelunker caught peering up from the bottom of pit latrines again

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 04:06 AM PDT

Portland's Gary Moody has been caught -- for a second time -- hiding inside a pit latrine at a campsite. The first time he claimed he'd dropped his wedding ring (authorities sieved the biomass and found no ring); this time he claimed he'd dropped his shirt. In an affidavit, he describes himself as having an "outhouse problem."
In October of 2005, Moody pleaded no contest to trespass. The judge imposed a 30-day jail sentence but suspended all of it in exchange for two years of probation.

Moody was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $700 restitution to the Forest Service for the cost of pumping out the toilet tank and screening the contents. He also was sentenced to 30 days in jail in Maine for violating conditions of his probation by leaving the state without permission. He had been on probation for a drunken-driving conviction.

"This gentleman has been subject to a great deal of media scrutiny and drawn to himself, should I say, notoriety. And a healthy share of bathroom humor, if you will," District Court Judge Pamela Albee said during the sentencing in New Hampshire.

Man accused of climbing into pit toilet - again (Thanks, Teena!)

(Image: Toilet seat in Cap-Haitien a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike image from le Korrigan's photostream)

Previously:


HOWTO make ice-cream gyoza

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 02:34 AM PDT

The Evil Mad Scientist Labs kitchen has a recipe for cookie-dough (eggless, if you're worried about salmonella) and ice-cream gyoza (Japanese dumplings). They look delicious.

Fold the plastic wrap over the slice of dough and roll it out until it is a little larger than your gyoza press.

Peel the plastic wrap off of one half of the circle of dough. Lay the thin dough over the press and gently push it into the center to make a depression for the ice cream.

Put a small spoonful of ice cream into the depression.

Ice Cream Gyoza
Previously:


Detroit houses being eaten by nature

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 11:24 PM PDT

Rachel Maddow interviews Tom Ridge on politicizing terror threat alerts

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 11:14 PM PDT

Video link (MSNBC), and YouTube link (for folks in places where the official source is region-blocked.)

This, my friends, is why we have television. Man, but Rachel Maddow kicks all kinds of ass. Here, she interviews former US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on revelations that the "Terror Threat Level" system was manipulated for political purposes during the Bush Administration.

As Jay Rosen aptly tweeted just now, "There are times when TV truly is an x-ray. Dissembling made visible. (...) To work himself out of the bind she had gotten him into, Ridge actually disavowed the jacket copy of his own book under Maddow's questioning."

Background: Ridge Claims That He Was Pressured to Elevate Threat Warning (Washington Post)

The Los Angeles fires, as seen from space.

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 09:10 PM PDT

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NASA image of the Los Angeles fires, as viewed from high above our planet.

The image was acquired mid-morning on Sunday -- the fire has since more than doubled in size, mind you! -- by the "backward (northward)-viewing camera of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite."

To give you a sense of scale, the image you see here covers an area 152 miles wide. Them's some big blazes.

More about the image here, and larger sizes. And here's more, from scientists at NASA JPL. Robert Mackey at the NYT has a related item. I cringe at linking to the Daily Mail, but hold your nose and click on this image: an annotated version of this same NASA shot that shows you where various parts of LA are located. I am happy to report that I am safely near the edge of the blue stuff, and not downwind of those huge, nasty smoke plumes.

Previously:


Laura Ling and Euna Lee's first statement on their North Korea capture

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 08:12 PM PDT

While covering human trafficking between North Korea and China, Current TV employees Laura Ling and Euna Lee were captured and detained by North Korea. They were sentenced to 12 years hard labor, but released 140 days later after extensive efforts to negotiate their freedom. Here is a snip from the journalists' first public statement since their return to the United States:
Picture 40.jpgWhen we set out, we had no intention of leaving China, but when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we did, eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side. He pointed out a small village in the distance where he told us that North Koreans waited in safe houses to be smuggled into China via a well-established network that has escorted tens of thousands across the porous border.

Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.

We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained. Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

Hostages in the Hermit Kingdom (Current)
Related video: Thank You From Laura and Euna (Current)

Previously:


Baby chicks ground up alive: animal rights video goes viral

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 07:27 PM PDT

(Warning: video is totally gross). Via this SF Gate item, a Chicago-based animal rights group called Mercy for Animals shot the video above of baby chicks being ground up alive at an Iowa chicken processing factory. It's pretty disgusting, and reinforces a personal decision I made to avoid consuming eggs that come from this sort of place:

Hy-Line admitted to the Associated Press that "instantaneous euthanasia" (e.g. grinding up male chicks) is a standard practice and claims that it is also supported by the animal veterinary and scientific community. (Male chicks are less valuable because they can't lay eggs or be raised quickly enough for meat.) Mercy for Animals estimates that 200 million male chicks are killed annually and United Egg Producers confirmed this figure.
I'll take the happy kind of eggs Mark grows in his back yard, or none at all, yo. (Thanks, Brian Lam)

Big-ass flying boats full of water save LA from fiery doom!

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 07:43 PM PDT

2.jpg A ginormous amphibious air tanker called the Martin Mars just made a massive water drop over Mount Wilson, the hill northeast of Los Angeles where the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory and nearby TV, radio and cell phone towers are all located. The World War II-era flying boat literally water-bombed the peak today to douse flames from the Station Fire, which has burned 127,000 acres (the largest in LA County history).

Here's an LA Times pic of this bad boy in action over Mt. Wilson. Snip from the accompanying story:

Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Martin said, "We are going to burn, cut, foam and gel. And if that doesn't work, we're going to pray. This place is worth a lot, but it's not worth dying for. "

In a worst-case scenario, firefighters were expected to retreat to the safety of the observatory parking lot or seek refuge in the concrete and steel basement of the 105-year-old, 100-inch telescope observatory. A Martin Mars air tanker, also known as a Super Scooper, dropped 7,500 gallons of water on Mt. Wilson.

In previous BB posts about the LA fires, I mentioned these giant 747s that have also been spurting water from the sky, to extinguish the blaze. Wired has a nice photo gallery of those guys in action here. And Popular Science has some interior shots of the 747s. Spoiler: they are friggin huge inside.

The managers of the observatory are now very optimistic that the historic site will make it okay.

Below: Astronomer Mike Brown has been tweeting while the area around the Mt. Wilson Observatory burns, and he spotted the WWII flying boat in action.

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Previously:


Alan Graham's automatic chicken door

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 04:05 PM PDT


Alan Graham's home made automatic chicken door has mine beat by a country mile, because he can run it from his iPhone. His hens sure are cute.

Video of paging through R. Crumb's illustrated Book of Genesis

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 03:42 PM PDT


The publisher of the forthcoming Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb sent me this exclusive video of an unknown person thumbing through an advance copy of what promises to be the graphic novel sensation of the year. It looks great!

(I have an advance reader's copy, which is watermarked with repeating gray logos on every page. I found it to be as distracting as trying to listen to music with static added to it. I could only read a few pages of it before I decided I should wait and read a real copy of the book when it comes out.)

Pre-order The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb on Amazon for $16.47

Gorgeous line graph of sci-fi TV themes over past 4 decades

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 02:23 PM PDT

Annalee Newitz of science fiction blog io9 points to a neat post they've just published with...
thumb160x_tvthemes_01.jpgBeautiful infoporn, showing the rise and fall of 5 major scifi themes (robots, aliens, time travel, etc.) since 1970, from io9's graphic designer Steph Fox. Now we just need somebody to interpret the data! Why is there a rise in shows about magic, and a fall in shows about space travel, right at the start of the Bush Administration?"
At Last, A Graph That Explains Scifi TV After Star Trek (io9)

Best iPhone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 01:16 PM PDT

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I had a blast browsing through this full-color, 228-page book about the very best iPhone applications. I only knew about 25% of the titles recommended by author Josh Clark, who tested thousand of apps to pick his 200 favorite work and leisure related titles. Some of the apps are free (like TED, which lets you watch those amazing TED talks on your iPhone, and Mint, a personal finance snapshot application that pulls your data from your Mint.com account). Others cost money (like SoundCurtain, an ambient noise generator for $3.99, and Print&Share, which costs $6.99 and lets you print things on your iPhone to a printer).

Excerpt: 200909011313

Best App for When You Can't Hold It

SitOrSquat

Free

Version: 3.0

Densebrain

When nature calls, it's SitOrSquat to the rescue. The database of public restrooms steers you to the closest porcelain oasis, including photos and ratings from a network of concerned citizens. That includes you: Update listings with photos, store hours, and ratings, or add new toilets as you explore your town's powder rooms. A blog of toilet humor provides bathroom reading, too. It's a full-service porta-potty for your mobile phone.

RESTROOM RADAR: SitOrSquat's map shows you the closest points of relief. Green and red icons indicate open and closed businesses (yellow means the database doesn't have that info). Select a business to see complete details, including photos, comments, and whether the facilities are clean ("sit") or dirty ("squat").

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS: The Search screen shows results in list view, including photos, ratings and distance from your current location. Type a new location in the search box to find restrooms for another place, or filter results for cleanliness, business type, or a remarkable number of "features" (changing tables, handicap access, seat covers).

Best iPhone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders

Open design for a 67 TB array for $7867

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 01:03 PM PDT


Chris sez, "Online backup startup BackBlaze, disgusted with the outrageously overpriced offerings from EMC, NetApp and the like, has released an open-source hardware design showing you how to build a 4U, RAID-capable rack-mounted, Linux-based server using commodity parts that contains 67 terabytes at a material cost of $7,867. It's open-source hardware! Their blog states: 'Our hope is that by sharing, others can benefit and, ultimately, refine this concept and send improvements back to us. '"

Petabytes on a budget: How to build cheap cloud storage (Thanks, Chris!)

Steampunk Magazine issue 6

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 12:40 PM PDT


Allegra sez, "Issue #6 of Steampunk Magazine is now out, either for purchase in hard-copy for a mere $5 or for free download through our website under Creative Commons Licensing. In Issue #6 we have a selection of articles from how to build windmills and your very own steampunk sculptures to features on alchemy, the Luddites and Victorian martial arts, as well as an interview with British steampunk band 'Ghostfire'."

Issue #6 is here (at last!) (Thanks, Allegra!)

Previously:


1891 Proposal for a bullet ride dropped from the Eiffel Tower

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 12:24 PM PDT

On his science book blog John Ptak posted an entry entitled, "Dreaming of the 10-Ton Eiffel Tower Bullet, 1891," about a proposed fun ride in which people would sit inside a giant bullet and freefall from the top of the Eiffel Tower into a pool of water.
200909011154Physics of impact aside for the moment, M.Carron's bullet capsule would be released from the top of the interior of the Tower, about 1000 feet high, and released to fall into an excavated pool 150' across and 200' deep.  The idea was that in addition to the springs inside the capsule, the water would act as a "shock absorber", and so "the shock felt by the occupants on landing will be in no way unpleasant".   

[Okay, so the thing would hit at 178mph or so, and, assuming that the whole thing didn't get completely crushed on impact, I'm not so sure that 200' of depth is very much wiggle room for the thing to come to a halt (if it didn't deform). Also it would have to not have any wind deflection so as to not veer off its perfect entry into the water.  And so on.  Calculating the force of impact is difficult without knowing how far down the bullet would go, but hitting the water at 80 m/s and stopping at 30 meters would yield something like 28,600,000 KE and 1,274,000 N. There are lots of problems…]

200909011156 The thing is, though, the thing that made this so appealing, is that for the 20-francs that get a person a seat in the bullet, that they would each get to go twice as fast as any human had ever traveled before ( 65 miles per hour was about the speed of the fastest train constructed). 

Dreaming of the 10-Ton Eiffel Tower Bullet, 1891

Afghanistan: vodka "butt shots," group fondling, other pastimes of defense contractors guarding US embassy

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 12:31 PM PDT

Despite grotestque bacchanals that would make a True Blood maenad blush, some crazy, sadistic sickos guarding the US embassy in Kabul got their 5-year, 189 million dollar contract renewed for another year. The company involved: ArmorGroup North America (a subsidiary of Wackenhut, which is in turn owned by the security behemoth G4S). Your tax dollars at work, folks. Snip from Mother Jones article by Daniel Schulman:
camp-sullivan-kabul.300wide.271high.jpgGuards have come to POGO with allegations and photographic evidence that some supervisors and guards are engaging in near-weekly deviant hazing and humiliation of subordinates. Witnesses report that the highest levels of AGNA management in Kabul are aware of and have personally observed--or even engaged in--these activities, but have done nothing to stop them. Indeed, management has condoned this misconduct, declining to take disciplinary action against those responsible and allowing two of the worst offending supervisors to resign and allegedly move on to work on other U.S. contracts. The lewd and deviant behavior of approximately 30 supervisors and guards has resulted in complete distrust of leadership and a breakdown of the chain of command, compromising security.

Numerous emails, photographs, and videos portray a Lord of the Flies environment. One email from a current guard describes scenes in which guards and supervisors are "peeing on people, eating potato chips out of [buttock] cracks, vodka shots out of [buttock] cracks (there is video of that one), broken doors after drnken [sic] brawls, threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this activity...." Photograph after photograph shows guards--including supervisors--at parties in various stages of nudity, sometimes fondling each other. These parties take place just a few yards from the housing of other supervisors.

Animal House in Afghanistan (Mother Jones)

See also: Contractors Gone Wild, an article from 2008 about similar behavior from KBR employees in 2008. (Mother Jones)

Related: POGO Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding U.S. Embassy in Kabul (Project on Government Oversight)

Consumerist sued by Cash4Gold after critical blog posts

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 12:07 PM PDT

IANAL, but sure sounds like a SLAPP to me. Ben and Meg of Consumerist report that the consumer watchdog blog has been named in a lawsuit by an apparently allegedly reportedly purportedly sleazebag internet pawnshop. Above, all the proof you need: MC Hammer and Ed McMahon in the Cash4Gold Super Bowl ad. Snip:

The whistleblower's post appeared on ComplaintsBoard last November. We featured it this February, as part of our ongoing coverage of Cash4Gold, after the company raised its public profile with a multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad. The post was indeed written by an ex-employee, Michele Liberis, who is now being sued by the company for defamation. Recently, Cash4Gold added Consumerist and ComplaintsBoard as co-defendants in its lawsuits (PDF) against Liberis and another former employee, Vielka Nephew (PDF), in an attempt to force us to take the information down. Liberis and Nephew have chosen to stand up to Cash4Gold's legal attack, and so have we.

We believe citizens, consumers, and employees should be able to exercise their free-speech rights online - and journalists should be able to report on those efforts - without fear of intimidation. That belief is at the core of what makes Consumerist tick. And it's what keeps the internet from being just a brochure with hyperlinks. Inside, more about this episode and what goes on behind the public façade of a company that bills itself as "World's #1 Gold Buyer."

The Article Cash4Gold Doesn't Want You To Read (Consumerist via Brian Lam)

Previously:


Trailer for Scott Westerfeld's YA steampunk novel LEVIATHAN

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 11:01 AM PDT

Here's the book-trailer for Leviathan, the first volume of YA superstar Scott Westerfeld's kick-ass new steampunk alternate WWI series, featuring chimera-splicing Darwinist Brits fighting the clanking steam-mecha of the German side. Total gilliamfab!

Leviathan Trailer (Thanks, Scott!)

Previously:


DHS photography guidelines

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 10:56 AM PDT


Erin sez, "As part of a back-and-forth regarding the harassment of photographers at U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, I've gotten my hands on the Homeland Security Department's official guidelines for photography of federal buildings. They're lame, to say the least, but I'm pretty sure they haven't been widely shared before now."

DOT response to the ACLU regarding photo harassment (Thanks, Erin!)

Previously:


Straight Outta Mordor: Notes from the LA Fires

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 11:36 AM PDT

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(Photo: Dave Bullock, more here, click image to enlarge). Yes, they come every year, but the 2009 fires are now being reported as the largest ever in LA County's history. 122,000 acres and counting (the land mass of San Francisco and Las Vegas combined, with room to spare). Watching the blaze from a seaside rooftop last night was like gazing out at a distant, roiling Mordor.

Two firefighters died. Today, a quick Twitter scan reveals ambient "air-fear," worries over E.T's house, gay porn stars vowing to soldier on while studios scorch; confusion between snow and ash; citizens afraid their cars have developed dandruff overnight, and cigarette smoking as training. The web yields many a moody video of "pyrocumulus" and slow-moving doomclouds, and abundant photosets.

The hundred-year-old Mt. Wilson observatory is a site of huge importance in astronomy history. It's seen its share of blazes. And last night, it was as if the observatory webcam had suddenly plopped down on the surface of the Sun. Communications towers nearby carry signals for every major TV channel in LA, as well as a number of radio frequencies. The site is still at risk.

Some of what I'm following: On Twitter, hashtag #stationfires. @LATimesfires is doing a nice job. And Load this KML in Google Earth for a comprehensive data set. Please share other resources of note in the comments.

Todd "Telstar Logistics" Lappin is wowed by the giant planes we're using to fight the fires. Snip:

6a00d834543b6069e20120a591f0ec970c-500wi.jpg Aviation history was made today as a Boeing 747 Supertanker made its debut drop on a live wildfire.

Tanker 979 is a specially modified Evergreen 747 configured to carry 20,500 gallons of retardant, enabling it to lay down a fire line as much as three miles long from an altitude of 300 to 600 feet.

Things are slowing down today, as temps ease and humidity rises. The fire chief just downgraded the Station Fire status from "angry" to "cranky." But containment is still only at 5%, and officials say the fires won't be fully controlled for two more weeks. For now, my advice for fellow LA residents? Don't inhale.

Previously:



Gallery of chicken coops

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 10:50 AM PDT

200909011040

"Beautiful coop built by Jeff Taylor and his granddaughter, Jayda, pictured."

My Pet Chicken (the place I ordered my baby Barred Plymouth Rocks hens from) has a gallery of chicken coops built from scratch.

Also, My Pet Chicken has a great "Cash for Cluckers" sale. They'll send you 25 chicks (all hens) for $41.50 with free shipping. That's a great deal, because the regular price is $100.

Chicken coops

Previously:


Anniversary of Le Voyage dans la lune

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 10:35 AM PDT



In 1902, Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) premiered in French theaters. In many ways, it is the first "science fiction" film. Of course, it has been referenced on Futurama and The Mighty Boosh, and was the basis for the Smashing Pumpkins video "Tonight." The director of the film, Georges Méliès, was a stage magician at the Theatre Robert-Houdin before becoming enchanted with cinema after seeing a demo of the Lumière brothers' camera technology. (via Wired)

One year walk/beard grow time lapse video

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 11:06 AM PDT


Christoph Rehage spent a year walking across China. On his way, he took photos of his face every day and made this time-lapse video. These kind of videos have been around for a long time, but Rehage's is the best I've seen, because of the interesting backgrounds and the way he integrates bits of moving video with the still images.

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse (Via VSL)

Gary McKinnon: Wanted, Dead or Alive (Guest opinion/Oxblood Ruffin)

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 09:30 AM PDT

Gary-&-Janis-2.jpg

Above: Gary McKinnon and his mother, Janis Sharp. Below, a guest opinion post by Oxblood Ruffin, a writer and human rights activist based in Munich, Germany.

Gary McKinnon is a Scottish technical expert, or as he is referred to by US federal prosecutors, the perpetrator of "the greatest military hack of all time." This claim is "total fucking bullshit", a phrase common amongst information security professionals.

Although Mr. McKinnon has high name-recognition factor in the United Kingdom he is virtually unknown to the American public. He is a mentally challenged hacker who waltzed through ninety-seven US military Web sites before being caught. Mr. McKinnon was looking for evidence of UFOs. He has Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. It doesn't make him Rain Man but it does create a different perceptual framework.

Gary McKinnon was arrested in the UK in November 2002 after a thirteen month hacking spree into US military networks. He was eventually caught because he used his own email address to download a program called RemotelyAnywhere. Before the bust McKinnon had been under surveillance by Britain's High Tech Crime Unit. But then he did that, dare I say, retarded thing.

Gary McKinnon left his email address plus a number of taunting messages such as, "Your security is crap" on US military servers. Personally, I think the messages were on the polite side. America's military network security is the cyber equivalent of Swiss cheese. My granny could have pulled off McKinnon's hacks and she was well in the grave before they even transpired. Because remember, if you wanted to intrude into US military sites in 2001 all you had to do was key in: user = guest; password = hello.

And so Gary McKinnon was arrested by the High Tech Crime Unit in Britain. He detailed everything and confessed without an attorney being present. Now bear in mind, this is a guy who has Asperger and didn't fully comprehend the consequences of what he had done. Yet his confession was signed-off on, and the process began.

US Federal prosecutors told McKinnon's attorney that if he traveled to America and pleaded guilty that he'd only get eighteen months to three years in prison. McKinnon declined as the offer was not put in writing, although a similar offer was later filed in court papers. Accordingly, Mr. McKinnon was charged in the United States with seven counts of computer fraud at ten years per count [PDF Link] Then came the Lapdog Treaty.

In March 2003 - one year after Gary McKinnon was nabbed - David Blunkett (then home secretary to Tony Blair) secretly popped over to America to sign the 2003 Extradition Act. It was a legal arrangement between Britain and the US to fast track terrorists from one side of the Atlantic to the other. The terms of the agreement can most charitably be described as asymmetric. Legal scholars can have a wank-fest over the minutiae of the arrangement but it boils down to this. If America wants someone from the UK they need only apply reasonable suspicion. Whereas, if the UK wants someone from America then they must prove probable cause.

Reasonable suspicion is the standard to make an arrest; probable cause is the standard to indict.

In real terms, British prosecutors are required to surmount an evidential barrier that American defendants can contest before extradition to the UK. But American prosecutors can extradite any British citizen with substantially lower standards. Even if British citizens were not in the vicinity of a crime, they could not argue to the contrary. It's the law. Check it out on Google.

The sad fact is that it''s easier to extradite a British citizen to the US than it is to extradite a New York resident to California. If the 2003 Extradition Act were a two way street then one side would be a superhighway and the other side would be a dirt road, with potholes. Compounding this nonsense is that the treaty was intended to be applied to terrorists, and not utilized retroactively against mentally-challenged eccentrics.

From McKinnon's arrest in 2002 to date, his case has garnered an extraordinary amount of ink in the UK. It started with hysterical claims by US federal prosecutors; traversed the fact and fiction of the file; included McKinnon's diagnosis as an Asperger sufferer; circumnavigated the extent of the British judicial system; personified McKinnon as the victim of the Lapdog Treaty; saw famous musicians record a song in his support, and celebrities flock to his cause; and generally, piss off the British press and every sensible person in the United Kingdom. All of this was in no small measure due to the efforts of Janis Sharp, Gary McKinnon's mother. She is best described as a cross between the mother that everyone would love to have and the Archangel Michael. For the atheists out there, this equation represents an ocean of love mixed with a tidal wave of whup-ass.

Ms. Sharp has taken on a singular role in the defense of her son because the British Prime Minister, his cabinet, and the government as a whole would rather genuflect to Washington than protect one of its most vulnerable citizens. Despite the testimony of one of Britain's leading psychiatrists and autism experts that Gary McKinnon might commit suicide if extradited; regardless that Baroness Scotland - the UK's attorney general - does not hold the Extradition Act in high esteem; spiteful that a member of Parliament resigned in protest over the travesty; ignoring the direct opposition of the government's top anti-terror advisor; etc., etc., etc. In the face of all of this and more, the government is shambling about in a willful state of dislocation. They have clearly lost the plot.

Although most people accept that politicians steal candy from the same children they kiss for the cameras, the public draws the line at inhumanity. No government is allowed to play Russian roulette with a person's life. Because what is fundamental to this case, once you strain away Labour's craven mendacity, is that Gary McKinnon's life is at risk. He suffers from an anxiety-prone version of Asperger that is exacerbated by stress. And that is what the British public understands even if the government refuses to confront the truth. Does the Prime Minister actually want to hold a press conference several months from now and say, "I regret to inform you that Gary McKinnon took his own life in an American prison because we failed to act"?

The British public stopped asking for justice for Gary McKinnon some time ago. Now they're demanding it.

IMAGES: Below, photos taken at a McKinnon rally in August, 2009, provided by Gary's mother. Oxblood says, "The aubergine-hair-colored lady is Janis Sharp; the man with the angular face is Gary McKinnon; others = general protestors."

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Previously:


Banned books 08-09 from ALA/ABA

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 09:17 AM PDT

John sez, "This is an annual report but out by the American Booksellers' Association and the American Library Association. Hardly worth mentioning EXCEPT that, in its paragraph about Susanna Kaysen's novel, _Girl, Interrupted_, it mentions 'the left-leaning Boing Boing, the most widely read blog in the world'! Way to go!"

Technically, we are the mostly widely read blog named Boing Boing in the world, but there you go!

Books Challenged and Banned in 2008-2009 (PDF) (Thanks, John!)

Gordon "Violent Femmes" Gano's solo album "Under the Sun" is out!

Posted: 07 Jul 2009 10:40 PM PDT

Back in July, I wrote to tell you about the preview I'd gotten of Under the Sun, the forthcoming solo album from Gordon Gano, former frontman for Violent Femmes:

My boyhood chum Paul Simcoe emailed me last week to sing the praises of the new Gordon Gano and the Ryans album Under the Sun. Paul and I grew up together, raised on the Violent Femmes (Gano's earlier band), and now that Paul's running Toronto's most excellent Criminal Records, he's a real treasure-house of kick-ass music suggestions.

Though the album isn't due out until Sept 1, Yep Roc, Gano's label, was kind enough to send me the album in MP3 form, and I've been seriously rocking to it ever since. It reminds me most of the Violent Femmes' underrated third album, The Blind Leading the Naked, with its mix of jangly, upbeat pop songs, semi-serious religious themes, and a few slow numbers that are more reminiscent of the track Good Feelings from the Femmes' eponymous debut album.

My standouts from this disc are Man in the Sand, Oholah Oholibah, Red, and Wave and Water

Well, it's September 1 and the album's out!

Gordon Gano & The Ryans (Yep Roc)

(Thanks, Paul!)

If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay - parenting book full of things you don't need to worry about

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 05:58 AM PDT

When we found out Alice was pregnant, we wrote to all our friends who had recently had their first kids and said, "What's your one tip-top piece of advice for parents-to-be?" My second-favorite piece of advice came from Stewart Butterfield, who said "Buy one parenting book. Only one. It doesn't matter which." (My favorite piece came from John Henson, who said, "Agree with everything she says.")

If I had to choose just one book -- I cheated and read several -- I think it would be this one: If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency, by the paediatrician Lara Zibners.

Apart from a terrific title, the book has plenty going for it. Basically, Even if Your Kid Eats This Book is a detailed guide to everything you don't have to worry about. It has an orifice-by-orifice guide to detecting and removing Lego! A list of things under the sink that won't poison your kid! Sensible advice about how to get rid of dry skin! (Hot bath, then anything greasy from Crisco to Vaseline, then time).

And of course, there's also very clearly spelled-out, highly specific lists of what is worth calling your doctor or going to the emergency room for; along with details about why those things are scary and what the worst could be (it's usually not very bad).

There's nothing more soothing than a list of stuff you don't need to worry about. Yes, 12 Hours Sleep By 12 Weeks is more practical, but once the kid is sleeping OK, this one is indispensable.

If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency

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