Okay so it was kind of weird tuning into the debating that occurred yesterday, over the second reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill. It was one of those events with a mix of fine oratory and interesting points (on both sides of the debate) along with some truly touching moments, and a healthy dose of flat out bigotry from the opposition ( Read more... )

Well as some of you may have heard Oracle bought Sun Microsystems. Now apparently Oracle will be "examining" OpenOffice, to which Sun is the biggest contributor.

Now that's all the background out of the way here's why I think this may be good for OpenOffice. The rumours I hear is that Sun keep the codebase of OO.org horrifically complex and do ( Read more... )

Interesting after part of the EU determined the UK DNA database is a breach of human rights another part of it is authorising warrentless hacking of private computers by the state.

Apparently all it requires is: a senior officer says he “believes” that it is “proportionate” and necessary to prevent or detect serious crime - defined as any offence ( Read more... )

So this morning I heard that The Catholic Pope has suggested that "saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction" (also reuters article).

Dispite rumours that hes been an item with his secretary for yearsNow whilst I'm happy for this to be the case, and for him to keep ( Read more... )

Passport fail.

Although if they're using a public key directory for passports (and storing all the data on the passport itself) why are we getting sold an ID card scheme based on a giant central database again?

The To-Ken society of Great Britain have got a document posted which is the proposed amendment to the offensive weapons act 1988It seems that they're banning any curved sword 50cm or longer, you'll be able to import/buy/sell/loan/trade/lend/transport (I think all them, I need to re-read the original act) provided that one of the following is true ( Read more... )

There was once a far away land called Ruritania, and in Ruritania there was a strange phenonmenon -- all the trees that grew in Ruritainia were transparent. Now, in the days when people had lived in mud huts, this had not been a problem, but now high-tech wood technology had been developed, and in the new age of wood, everyone in Ruritania found ( Read more... )

Well Amnesty International have just released a new video as the start of their campaign to end the current crop of interrogation methods. Waiting for the Guards. They put a performance artist in a CIA approved "Stress position" (which means what exactly?) and filmed it... and it makes for really quite disturbing viewing.

The March 5 anti-Thaksin rally suggests it that there is a large mob attempting to oust the current government of Thailand.

The most interesting part of this is I think the excellent page showing "What Thailand Television is actually showing".

Which brings to mind the rather interesting point made by Gil Scott-HeronLegitimate news sources backing ( Read more... )