Posts by Breandan Goodall

Full-body scanner blind to bomb parts

A Waste of Our Time and Our Money

According to a number of reports on the scanners they are likely to take 30~40 seconds to scan each person, which is a significant increase from the 1~2 seconds it took to pass through the old scanners. If a 100 people (not so uncommon at peak times) people are ahead of you in the security line you'll end up spending the better part of an extra hour waiting, not in a bar or somewhere interesting, but in a queue trying to pass the time playing russian roulette strip poker where you try to guess how many items of clothing the security staff will ask you to remove.

Oh, we'll also be paying extra in airport fees in order to enjoy the privilege of wasting more of our lives on useless security.

Come on people, our politicians (both NuLies and NuCons) have exaggerated and made baseless claims about terrorist threats that are never backed up with any kind of detail. We were all smart enough to spot the bullshit behind the 45 min claim, so how come we don't see the bullshit behind the menace of the nappy bomber.

Anonymous digs ahead of more assaults on Scientology

"Aristotles..." ...legal question

Though I dread to imagine the UK's recent anti-sectarian/blasphemy legislation being employed here. I'd imagine that plain old copyright law is being used to prevent publication much as it helped JK Rowling in the recent past.

Brits 'a bunch of yellow bastards', says irate Yank

"Hey, this is Europe. We..."

Ah nu school civilisation versus old school civilization spats, time to drag the Ken MacLeod quote to play: (Source, sadly wikipedia, but it's probably all true)

"Hey, this is Europe. We took it from nobody; we won it from the bare soil that the ice left. The bones of our ancestors, and the stones of their works, are everywhere. Our liberties were won in wars and revolutions so terrible that we do not fear our governors: they fear us. Our children giggle and eat ice-cream in the palaces of past rulers. We snap our fingers at kings. We laugh at popes. When we have built up tyrants, we have brought them down. And we have nuclear *fucking* weapons." – Ken MacLeod posting to USENET rec.sf.arts.fandom 28 September 2000, in the discussion of Robert A. Heinlein's quote "The cowards never started and the weaklings died on the way."

Group Test: electronic book readers

#White Elephants on Parade#

Not purchased, but did get to see a demo unit for the Sony device in my local Whatarebooks and I was incredibly unimpressed with the quality of screen, which I think you can even tell from the pictures in the article. The contrast was bad, but having to put up with the far too obvious few millimeters of glass/plastic reminded me unfavorably of the old gamewatch handhelds. Other than the screen the Sony device does edge ahead in looks, but that's like saying Miss [insert Northern town name here] edged out her rivals.

Sorry for the mini-rant, but I'm more than a little bored with reviews covering the ebook devices and giving relative scores among devices. Next round-up I'd like to see how each device stacks up against the usability of the common book.

As much as anyone I'd love a great eBook device (and as Ian suggests "Don't Panic" on the cover would be nice), but manufacturers should try and improve on the original model. How about a built in dictionary/reference to allow the reader to improve their vocab and understanding while they read?

Apologies again. Rant over. I'll get me usual of the hook...

FBI issues prosthetic pregnant belly bomb alert

And this is where I get-off folks

Seriously. The will be more scares about threats that can't be mitigated, and more impractical travel restrictions, but this is the point at which I stop caring. I'll get me coat...

Disappointed Glastonbury fans spammed by rival festival

The Apology Email

Has anyone actually received the apology mentioned in the article? Like all-else, I received the spam no bother, but I'll be damned if a desperate desert wind ain't now blowing through my inbox. Ah well.