They Called It "Enhanced Interrogation"

At the risk of having Godwin invoked, Andew Sullivan has written an ugly but relevant article on Nazi torture. Initially, waterboarding and hypothermia were prohibited as torture, but later added to their repertoire. Is it purely coincidental that the US also uses the euphemism Enhanced Interrogation?

Jim

Big Brother IS Watching

Where you go. Your cell phone has a GPS device that tells the world where you are.

Jim

Orwell's Vision Come True

It's estimated that in Britain, the average citizen is caught on surveillance camera 300 times per day. I can't find the reference, but have seen estimates of 100/day for the US, and 200/day for NYC.

Big Brother IS watching.

One more link to the folks at EPIC about the state of things in the US.

Jim

Stupidity in Slate

Caught this amazing article on incandescents vs. CFLs: In Defense of Incandescence.

"Yes, fluorescents. Buzzing, flickering, able to cause epileptic seizures in the susceptible, in addition to headaches and other neurological symptoms."

There's so much wrong in the article that it's not worth dissecting. CFLs do NOT perceptibly flicker, so they don't cause epileptic seizures. There's nothing particularly right about the color of incandescents - they give a reddish/yellow glow - and good CFLs are color-adjusted to match the lousy color temperature of incandescents. CFL disposal is an issue. They need to be taken back to the local hardware store.

But they save energy. A lot of energy. Decisions should be made on facts, not irrelevant comparisons to the "flare of a match lighting a cigarette in a film noir" Ugh.

Jim