19 August 2008
Swedish pedestrian signs carry message from God
“Anyone living in Sweden or the Nordic countries will almost certainly have seen the image of a hand pointing upwards to encourage pedestrians to press the button before crossing the road. Prisma Teknik AB, the Swedish company behind the pedestrian signals, has now admitted that the hand is meant as a hidden symbol for God. [...] ‘We want to show that there is only one way to reach God and that is up and through Jesus”, CEO Jan Lund told The Local.’”
See also: Prisma Teknik AB
18 August 2008
Pandora can’t make money, may pull the plug
“Despite being one of the most popular Internet radio services, the company still isn’t making money, and its founder, Tim Westergren, says it can’t last beyond its first payment of the higher royalties. SoundExchange offered a potential reprieve from the royalty hikes, but that turned out to be a red herring to sneak DRM onto web radio. In the end, SoundExchange was able to initiate a massive (and retroactive) royalty hike on Internet radio stations, imposing per-user fees for each song.”
Britain’s spy service seeking to hire gays
“After shunning them for decades over worries of blackmail, MI5 is now asking gay and lesbian people to consider a career as a spy, promising the chance to fight terrorists, protect their country — and earn a decent salary, plus benefits.”
Sexual acts between two adult males, with no other people present, were made legal in England and Wales in 1967.
Jan Guillous nya roman kretsar kring kriget mot terrorismen
“När det gäller FRA-lagen, som i princip är samma sak som det som Bodström tidigare drivit igenom utan protester, så upptäckte först journalisterna att “va, de kan avlyssna oss, vita journalister?”. Och då blev journalisterna upprörda och började skriva och då fick allmänheten klart för sig att de kan avlyssna oss vita också.”
16 August 2008
Crime-ridden Arkansas town expands 24-hour curfew
“As far as I’m concerned, at 3 o’clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law,” Councilman Eugene “Red” Johnson said. “Anyone out at 3 o’clock shouldn’t be out on the street, unless you’re going to the hospital.”
[via:mummila]
GITMO simulation at Coney Island amusement park
“If you climb up a few cinderblock steps to the small window, you can look through the bars at a scene meant to invoke a Guantánamo Bay interrogation. A lifesize figure in a dark sweatshirt, the hood drawn low over his face, leans over another figure in an orange jumpsuit, his face covered by a towel and his body strapped down on a tilted surface.”
[via:Metafilter]
15 August 2008
SA Photoshop Phriday: “Spice Up the Olympics”
This one definitely breaks the curse of two months or so of pretty boring Phridays.
