This is annoying as hell. There is no reason a “default password” should persist once a guest has entered a locking password. If the guest forgets, the hotel should have a physical key (in a secured place) that can be used if necessary; but a default password that any chimp can guess is ridiculous.
Time once again for Friday Finds. This time, three bands I hadn’t heard of until very recently (and of course, one of them has already gone the way of the dodo – it is my lot in life to learn about bands I like soon after they disintegrate). These three are linked not only by being new discoveries for me, but by their country of origin. I wouldn’t normally think of Israel as a springboard for cool music, but I am apparently a provincial boor. I suppose it’s not really surprising – Israel is a modern, sophisticated country; why wouldn’t the music scene reflect that? Anyway, after the jump, three Israeli artists of whom I have recently developed an appreciation.
Continue reading “Friday Finds – Israeli Invasion!”
Hot on the heels of the First Circuit Court of Appeals decision that citizens have an absolute constitutional right to record the police in public, we find that a guy in a town in downstate Illinois, about 200 miles south of Chicago, is facing five counts of Class One felony “eavesdropping” for doing just that, with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison per count – i.e., up to 75 years in prison. The Illinois AG has told the judge in a hearing that there is no constitutional right to record the police.
The guy is being represented gratis by an ACLU lawyer, and he has refused a plea deal that would have given him probation on a lesser count. (He refused in part because he would have to give up a separate, but related, lawsuit against the city he lives in.)
I am all in favor of police being able to control the scene, and people (journalists, civilians) not interfering with police activity. But it is absolutely clear that laws such as this, as broadly applied as they tend to be where they are still on the books, are used to intimidate citizens and cover up law enforcement errors and excesses. I hope this thing eventually goes up to the Seventh Circuit and they come down in line with the First Circuit.
This is just pretty damn cool. Thirteen billion years compressed into less than three minutes of video, and it supports some interesting theories of how the universe got to be the way it is.
Science rocks.
This is a fascinating concept. Filmmaker makes a music video with the band’s permission, but as it begins to get popular on the Internet, the band yanks its permission and asks her to take the video down. She does, of course, but then releases the (soundless) video and invites the world to remix it.
I have no video editing tools (or skills) whatsoever, but I am interested to see what people come up with. I also wonder if the original band will regret their decision.
Click the image to get to the site and find out more.
Someone's Got To Say It 