Category: Uncategorized

Imagine what would happen to Pulp Fiction if when Jules looked into the briefcase, he "woke up" in mid-scene

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 18, 2008

– imagine what would happen to Pulp Fiction if, when the character of Jules looked into the briefcase, he “woke up” in mid-scene and not only realized that he was a character in a movie, but also realized that he “was” also Mace Windu and Shaft and a bunch of other characters in realities he can scarcely comprehend, while also glimpsing an uber-reality where all of those realities are just movies and he’s an actor called Samuel L. Jackson.- dizfactor

I think this is a brilliant concept and is as good as any description for what Grant Morrison is trying to portray in The Invisibles and The Filth.

Tags cool

Security Uncategorized

Reconceptualizing Security – Talk by Bruce Schneier

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 11, 2008

Security expert Bruce Schneier gave a talk last month at InfoSecurity Europe in London which was a follow-on to his work on the psychology of security.

The full talk can be viewed online here. (43 mins)

Great talk and very much worth watching if wish to understand the pros and cons of security theatre and how security threats are presented by the media.

Tags security, video

Uncategorized

Getting drunk to have sex.

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 9, 2008

BMC Public Health has published a study that reveals according to BBC News that Europeans get drunk ‘to have sex’

The UK has one of the worst reputations for binge drinking and underage sex but there are striking similarities between countries, a study found.

A third of 16 to 35-year-old men and 23% of women questioned said they drank to increase their chance of sex.

Seems like common sense to me and so is just a confirmation of what we all know, alcohol is a great disinhibitor.

Uncategorized

Chinese firms bargain hunting in U.S.

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 8, 2008

Chinese firms bargain hunting in U.S.

With the collapse in the value of the US dollar and introduction of state’s subsidies for foreign investment the normal direction of Globalisation has pulled a reversal and the Chinese are starting to outsource to the US.

DONGGUAN, CHINA — Liu Keli couldn’t tell you much about South Carolina, not even where it is in the United States. It’s as obscure to him as his home region, Shanxi province, is to most Americans.

But Liu is investing $10 million in the Palmetto State, building a printing-plate factory that will open this fall and hire 120 workers. His main aim is to tap the large American market, but when his finance staff penciled out the costs, he was stunned to learn how they compared with those in China.

Liu spent about $500,000 for seven acres in Spartanburg — less than one-fourth what it would cost to buy the same amount of land in Dongguan, a city in southeast China where he runs three plants. U.S. electricity rates are about 75% lower, and in South Carolina, Liu doesn’t have to put up with frequent blackouts.

This is an interesting turn of events and is likely to be a continuing trend.

Tags economics

Surveillance Uncategorized

The increase in CCTV has not caused a siginificant decrease in crime

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 6, 2008

Owen Bowcott reports in The Guardian that CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, say police.

A senior police officer confirms what I’ve suspected for a long while that the massive increase in the number of CCTV cameras has not seen a corresponding decrease in crime.

Use of CCTV images for court evidence has so far been very poor, according to Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, the officer in charge of the Metropolitan police unit. “CCTV was originally seen as a preventative measure,” Neville told the Security Document World Conference in London. “Billions of pounds has been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court. It’s been an utter fiasco: only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV. There’s no fear of CCTV. Why don’t people fear it? [They think] the cameras are not working.”

Presumably the criminals think the cameras do not work because they are able to get away with their crimes in full view of them. However the general public have a great deal of faith in the ability of CCTV to cut crime because they have been sold on the idea by the politicians and the police.

With the differing perception of the effect of CCTV the increase in number might have an effect to increase crime because people become more complacent in a heavily surveilled area believing they are safe from criminals.

Tags surveillance

Politics Uncategorized

If the US electorate voted based on personal economics.

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 5, 2008

According to the New York Times. Over the last six decades, the real incomes of middle-class families grew twice as fast under Democratic presidents as they did under Republican presidents. The real incomes of working-poor families grew six times as fast under Democratic presidents. [via]

The incomes of affluent families were relatively impervious to partisan politics, growing robustly under Democrats and Republicans alike.

Tags economics, politics

Uncategorized

Freedom graffiti

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 1, 2008

windmill hill graffiti, originally uploaded by pshab.

“go to work, send your kids to school
follow fashion, act normal
walk on the pavements, watch T.V.
save for your old age, obey the law
Repeat after me: I am free”

Tags liberty

Security Uncategorized

Pupils posing as paedophiles

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date May 1, 2008

Pupils posing as paedophiles in cyber-bullying, police warn [via]

Children as young as 10 may be posing as predatory paedophiles on internet networking sites to frighten boys and girls they have fallen out with, police revealed yesterday. Officers have warned parents and children to be vigilant after as many as nine youngsters in Padstow, Cornwall, were targeted through the networking sites Bebo and MSN.

Seems inevitable to me that something like this would happen given the British tabloids obsession with the threat of paedophiles to the nation’s children that kids would pick up on this and use the fear of paedophiles as a way to scare and bully their victims.

Tags security

Uncategorized

Richer than Croesus?

Post author By Matt Wharton
Post date April 27, 2008

The Sunday Times have published the 2008 edition of their annual Rich List. The full list of the 1000 wealthiest people in Britain is not online yet but they have published a list of the top 150 (pdf). So now you’re richer than Croesus what do you spend your wealth on?

Not apparently on Updown Court the most expensive house in Britain, which despite being a very reasonable GBP 70 million is still unsold since going on the market in 2005. And not on prostitutes if they have learned the lesson from last year’s exposé of the Duke of Westminster.

Or how about a USD 300 000 watch that doesn’t tell time?