If the law is copyrighted, then how is the general public to know what laws to abide to and what not?
"I'm sorry, judge, I didn't know it was against the law to run a red light. I don't have free access to the law that forbade it."

Boingboing'ed?
When you go to markrayner.com you see a nice default "Plesk" page.

So he's anti-freedom?

BTW, great way of generating free publicity. Just take an impopular stance among geekdom in a publication catered to geeks, and voila instant free publicity.
I hadn't even known about a comic called Iron Man, though granted I don't care much for paper comics, just give me the ones on the web, more compelling than Marvel and DC.

Heh #19 Liszt, Geert Wilders just throws tantrums in parliament. And his movie Fitna was crap, and just meant to anger the Muslim society.

I apologize for Geert Wilders, and I distance myself from his beliefs. So do most people I know.

You don't have to register to send and receive PMs in IRC. That's just there so that no one will steal your nickname.

What is 1PM EST in CET? 8PM?

Actually Liszt, I do not care what Bill "Goatse" O'Reilly votes for, he's just a scumbag. For all I care he votes Obama, he's enough of a hypocrite to do just that.
And even me, a Dutchman, knows that he's a scumbag with a tendency to 'spin' (even in his 'no spin zone'), and no I'm not even living in the USA.

But I'm all for free speech, so he can spout his nonsense on the air, I just hope that more people will start thinking for themselves.

Now if only the artists would unite and confront the labels with this too. Even the RIAA can't have eat their cake and still have it either.

Direct link to blog post:
http://explodingmoose.blogspot.com/2008/03/three-artists-walk-in-to-bar.html

Too bad the story isn't complete.

The podiobook was originally called "Infection", that one seems to be pulled, but in its place you can now find 4 episodes of "Infected" comprising 10 chapters, and a message that says that the podiobook is in progress. (the latest MP3 is dated March 25th, so I think the entire book will be up there as a podiobook as well.)

http://podiobooks.com/title/infected

Un-f'ing-believable, and such characters run loan corporations and actually sell loans?

Unless that mother had explained her kid what those were, her kid probably wouldn't even have any sexual connotation to the shape of that straw.

Kids don't necessarily have sex on their minds, the way adults have.

I just donated 2 pounds to this cause. Every little bit helps.

But that's Wally from "Where's Wally"!

@#5 David
no, we have very little abuse from cops, here in NL. And if there is, usually there is pretty good protection against it.
And yes, that site is pretty much US-centric.

It seems to load just fine. BTW, wanna bet that this action by GoDaddy will make RateMyCop bigger? (because of the so-called 'Streisand effect', which we see happen a lot lately.)
I had never known about RMC before this. (have no need for it, since I'm not from the States, but still.)

Where does this sudden outbreak of common sense come from?
I mean, here we have someone advocating that someone actually play a game before banning it. (which seems like common sense to me)
We have audiobook publishers leaving the DRM game. (great news)
We have music labels leaving DRM on the wayside. (awesome)

All I can say is, wow. Keep it up, people! Apparently, all is not yet lost.

In other words:

*open door* *kicks it*

L337? FAIL!

btw, I fail too, because I've never had the chance of playing D&D; none of my fellow students were into it.

So basically they say: "We won't show you what we know, but you've gotta believe us if we tell that the threat is big"... right
The sky is falling, guys!
The day we start believing this crap, is the day the real terrorists have won.

@#10 Jeff
It should be a no brainer. You offer more formats, so there are more people to enjoy your work. People with ebook readers can grab your book, as well as people who want to stick to paper books.
Offer your customers choice which format they want, and they'll be able to enjoy it in the way they want best.
I know I have a number of books I'd rather get digitally. I've stopped buying paper books, because my book cases are already full. :)

As if Coca Cola Light ('Just for the taste of it, Coca Cola Light') is any better. I'm not sure what is put in there, but it does not taste like cola.

Same for Coca Cola Black:
When I was in the States, I got a free bottle of Coca Cola Black, when visiting a mall, and me being a Dutch guy (we love our freebies), wanted very much to like it. But after just one sip I was cured of by thirst for decades to come. I took one more to be certain that I didn't like the stuff, and hey, it was free! :)
Then I threw away the bottle in a trash can that was overflowing with rather full bottles of Coca Cola Black.

@Jim Cowling, you cannot be required to show a receipt, it's still a voluntary task, they can _ask_ you to hand it over. Not force it from you.

And detainment is certainly not allowed, if there is NO reason to do so.

What exactly does this 'security theatre' measure stand to prove? Do you think it diminishes on shoplifting?

Are there also acceptable causes of death that need to be reported to the coroner?

It had me to tears at the end of it.
Silly old bear.

I ordered my EEEPC yesterday, I'm really curious what it can do for me.

What is that thing that both men are holding in their hands? Is that a whip?
What conflicting message this poster is giving me.

Hey! stop fighting, and you are all wrong anyway. As everyone knows, the internet is for pr0n.

@Jaybee,
Pre-approval is common sense?
Then I want European countries to do the same to the US-ians, because there are a lot of undesirables in the US as well.
The current US president comes to mind. (He is most certainly NOT welcome in my house)

BTW, the US already receives lists of people that are on board the flights to the US, what more could they want?

Dear leaders of the United States,

Stop pretending that you are rulers of the Earth.

yours sincerely,
a European

Are you kidding me? That's the bearded lady!
At least the head looks very female to me, were it not for the 'stache and the beard.

Very nicely coinciding with todays news story and comic over at CAD. ctrlaltdel-online.com

It just looks fake too. Why would girls even want to hang out with those creeps?

The bad spelling, and the bad sense of humour and the inane requests and complaints about nothing. Is that all these people worry about?

Oh and what about that person that sits their children in front of CSpan because those words will enter their ears and educate them.
And then complain that they didn't censor the F-bomb uttered by Jon Stewart, in such teaching their kids those words... As if they learned that from one instance on TV. Haha.

All I want to know is, what brand of camera? Are we talking the Red Camera? Then I can understand he's bleeding a little. :)

Trying to shove that in someones throat might hurt, yes.

@#17, one of the earlier songs presidential-candidate Hillary Clinton chose as campaign song was from an Air Canada ad. (made by a Canadian), and this song is indeed Dutch.
But meh, a lot of Americans think that we Dutchmen, all of us, wear wooden shoes all day, smoking pot, while working at windmills or farms all day.

Before the Euro, we also had Dutch Guilder bills be worthless because of this. (If you can't spend it anywhere, or only at limited places, it's worthless in my view.) Most notably, the 1000 Guilder bill, (and in some cases also the 500 guilder bill).

And in the Netherlands the small coins, 1 and 2 euro cent are no longer valid currency. At least most Dutch stores do not give them to you, making 3.99 essentially be 4.00, and stores don't have to accept them any more.

(btw, unrelated to this, on my end when I click "preview" here on the site I can't click post or edit my post, the input box is nowhere to be found, I have to go back and then edit/click post. (FF2 on a corporate WinXP box with 'NoScript' enabled but scripting allowed for Boingboing, Fmpub, Quantserv, Recaptcha and Hittail (though not Doubleclick, I don't trust that company, sorry).)

#3 and #4: And then they are surprised that the public has no trust for politicians...

Why do we need to keep fighting this? I mean, we say no to this now. Is that not clear enough? Is it not clear that we don't want that? Then why do they want to put it back on the table at a later date?
I really don't get it...

I've sent my two reps an email.

Let's hope that the European government still listens to the public.

I don't know about you guys, but I am sick and tired of these media moguls thinking they can trample all over our rights, if only to increase the copyright, and to 'protect' their ancient business models.

But I feel so powerless, the politicians (especially the European government ones) have a smell of corruption surrounding them, and the public is left standing in the corner.
No matter how hard we fight and how often we try to get these stupid ideas off the table, the big companies get it back on the table.

Just look at the theatre that is "software patents" in Europe. They even tried to have a commission on farming subsidies(!) have a vote on the matter.

I almost prefer anarchy over these puppets.
Guy Bono, are you really that dim, to claim that this will in fact work?
The government should (ideally) be representatives of the public, but so far, I have seen none actually represent the public. (not in The Netherlands, not in the States and not in the European government)
And then the politicians are surprised when people don't show up to vote. What's the point, they are all in the pocket of large (mostly American) businesses anyway, and right after the election they all forget what they stood for during the election.

@#10, dculberson, right now, it's just a handful, but this hack could become so easy to do, that everyone could do it.
What the hack basically is, is make a clone copy of the pre-paid card. Then use it during transit, and later put the copy back, making the amount back to its original state, meaning you have a full card again.

The transport authority of Rotterdam 'RET' said in a statement today that the card will remain in use, despite all the complaints and the hacks.
That's either a show of guts, or sheer stupidity.

Also from the CPB came the statement that the travelling records (and more) of every traveller is stored for 7 years. Scary!

The Dutch transit pass is really getting hammered for the use of this MIFARE RFID chip. First the new national pass is now delayed because of the hack demonstrated at last years CCC.
And now this one-time transit pass is hacked.

It's time to see that firstly RFID is NOT the solution, and secondly security-through-obscurity is not the way to protect your system.

I will never watch "Forget about it".
You can forget about that, BJ Davis!
...What a maroon...

I screwed up with the link, here is the wiki page of Blockout:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockout

That looks a lot like Blockout. An amazing 3d version of Tetris, made originally in 1989.

Wow, such a lot of hate for the presenter of the world's most popular (and probably also most watched) car program.
Yes, he is a loudmouth, and yes he is misguided at some parts. But wow, I never knew people could hate some other person that much!

It's an ironic stunt indeed, what happened to him. And it's certainly good to see that he has changed his tune a little on this subject.
But I don't think that is a cause to pour out this much bile over him.
If you don't agree with his views, then either don't read his columns, or do try to educate him (if you are in the capacity to do so).
Don't spout your nastiness in some anonymous forum about how absolutely awful he is as a person when you don't even know him personally. After all, it could all be just an act.

The American Dream? More like the American Nightmare.

I hope that karma will bite the people responsible for these torture camps in their a**.
The same as with the people trying to soft-talk other torture methods, like waterboarding (US Congress AND Fox 'News', I'm looking at you)

stupid, both the rules and this guy.
I think I would have paid the extra luggage charge instead of drinking it on the spot. (Now he wasted a lot of precious vodka)

Second this rule does nothing to increase security. It's just some insane ruling against a phantom threat some year ago. (ie, a threat that never really existed and still doesn't exist!)

@#1 for not unknotting their shoelaces before one steps out of them? :)

I can't stand the denial from US senators and congress members, that this doesn't constitute as torture. I want them to experience it first and then still claim it wasn't torture!

FFS, use those grey cells in your minds, and think for once, congress-critters.

gah! Litigate first, think later?!
How about the other way around Corporate America?
How about actually using your brains before you send your lawyer sharks at people? Or don't you have even half a brain?

You know what? You sicken me... Get lost Best Buy.

This is exactly what you get when you let the legal division run your company, incredibly stupid decisions and a destroyed public image. Well done, Best Buy, reallly Well Done.

Cory, I do not want to be an ass here or anything, but is there a reason why the copyright notice was cropped from the comic you posted here?

If he's running scared on losing his job, why does he still persist on supporting this law?
As a representative of the public he has an obligation of defending his choices to the people that elected him, so him refusing to do so would be grounds of dismissal in my eyes.

If they tried and failed two times already, why do they keep trying? They sure are persistent, but don't they see that what they are doing is harming them? Or are these politicians only seeing dollar signs from the music and film industry associations?

Whose cellphone was it in the end? His own?

Respect mah autoritah!

I maded U a botnet, hope U liek it!

@#1, why create new ones? When you can reuse what spammers also use. :)

#4, the main distinction between reality tv and other tv shows is that it's unscripted.
(which is handy for tv-networks during this writer strike)

How would the garden be a giant sundial, if you can't actually see it?
From the ground level you can't see the garden, so it acting a giant sundial is just marketing speak to make it look like they care about history.

This building looks hideous too. Absolutely not something I'd like to see in London. London's Ghurkin already pushes the limit a lot, if you ask me. (The egg shaped building in the back of the photo, not visible in the thumbnail here)

(there are 2 christmas channel on SoMa.fm, one family friendly one, and one... less so ;) )

It's a little early for Christmas on my side of the pond... Saint Nicholas hasn't even set foot on shore yet here in NL, but I just now had both channels on for a bit and for a laugh.

Thanks Rusty Hodge and crew! Hope you'll keep on playing great songs... Soma.fm is awesome!

That's it! I'm canceling my account with MLB.com. And will tell them why too.

@Automatt, how about a little trust to your paying customers? Why do you automatically think that they will misuse that trust?

A lot of people are honest (I'd say the majority of people, but I have no figures to back that up, just a hunch), and are willing to pay for something that they want.

I'd suggest not buying stuff at Wal-mart now, during Black Friday. Vote with your wallet, your money is best spent somewhere else that doesn't try to do this. (or perhaps not buying anything during Black Friday)
But alas, I'm not most people...

I own the copyright on the colour red (#ff0000). That law firm can expect a lawsuit any minute now.

(btw, they use tables for layout.)

I was pretty excited when Amazon went DRM-free... then they hit back with those awful Terms of Service. Who cares about fair use anyway, right?

I'm not falling for that trick again. Seeing is believing, and not a minute sooner. Yahoo had better do this right!

Fun fact. At my workplace Boing Boing isn't blocked, but the "Defeat censorware" page is blocked. :)

That's wonderful news. Too bad I can't seem to find the pricing of this service. The help section isn't exactly clear on that. In fact it isn't mentioned anywhere on the site.
I'm not signing up before the pricing/subscription scheme is made public.

Okay, fair enough Brian, I appreciate the explanation. And now also understand your post.

My history in religion isn't a overly good one either, but I don't see it as an evil force. It doesn't have to be a tool for dumbing people down and remove their critical thought. :)

I was baptised as a Protestant, went to a Catholic school and have a few Muslim friends. But I'm not really a believer in any form of those categories...

I agree that there are people that use faith as a blunt weapon to pound it into people, but in my experience, that's just a minority. (Although they can indeed be very pushy)

As long as 'the church' doesn't claim that the Bible (or whatever holy book they follow) is the only truth in life, and as long as they let people come to their own conclusions, (which many churches around here seem to do) I really can't see the harm in it.

I understand from what you said that you have had different experiences with religious people, and I can understand where you come from. But know this, not everyone is the same. :)

I am shocked by many of the reactions here.

I think it's a marvelous idea, and will most definitely attract children to the church.
If it's in England as bad as it is in The Netherlands, church-attendance is going down.
And ANY initiative to stop that trend and get more youth in churches should be applauded.
I wish more churches would be so forward thinking!

To Brian Boyko, why are you opposed to this, other than that you see this merely as a 'cheap marketing ploy'? You are judging merely on a blurb, you have no idea in what way they actually will incorporate Doctor Who into the service.
I'm sure it will be done to capture the imagination of the children and to teach them the word of God.

Disclaimer, I used to go to church, but haven't for a long time, because I think the message the churches here in NL are giving is old and not from this time. I could only wish more churches would pick up on modern times.

To put something into perspective, a few years back our local church organized a youth-service. A service set up entirely by the local (church-going) youth, and it was the most attended service of the year (apart from Christmas). The church was packed, there were people standing in the back, because there were no more seats available.
What they did was get a younger minister to lead the service, and have music in forms of a small band (made of church-goers). It was the talk of the town, and got more people in the church. Services after that were also attracting more visitors than before it. (And some of them stayed)

If it helps get more people interested in religion, I don't see the harm in this.