Derren Brown The Events Trailer
Airs tonight after Big Bro and befoRe Ugly BEtty on Ch4. I wonder Which ones of you wIll be watchiNg closely enough to let us know if you Did see anything.
Ghost Stories : Lyric Theatre
It had to happen as some point – but Andy Nyman (the man behind Derren Brown’s shows) and Jeremy Dyson (the twisted and perverse mind responsible for The League of Gentlemen) finally teamed up. What they have created is an evening of terrifying tales that I’m sure will frighten the toughest of you and simply scare the crap out of the rest of us.
Also there’s this to follow up.
India Schools BAN RISKY STUNTS
In the safety obsessed culture that defines the modern American parenting experience — organic-only baby food, locks on toilets, GPS tracking devices on baby shoes — we can’t help but shriek anytime we hear about parents shunning a lifestyle of caution.
That was our initial response to British news reports about parents insisting schools in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu stage “risky” stunts in honor of the centennial of the founder of the state’s modern education system.
To wit, at one school, a martial-arts trainer drove a motorcycle over students’ outstretched hands. Another stunt involved a motorcycle zooming over a plank placed on top of a girl. Parents thought death-defying motorcycle tricks would be the perfect way to show off their children’s physicality, developed from karate lessons. Forget our show-offy, lame tournaments. The Tamil Nadus are some badass teachers.
Parent_dish (Thanks Ned-de-de-dah)
Apparently shop lifters don’t like being outed
A retail chain was today accused of ‘vigilantism’ after posting pictures of suspected shoplifters in its store windows and on the company website.
TJ Morris, which owns the Home Bargains brand of stores, said it had taken the ‘hardline’ approach after losing an estimated £6 million a year to in-store theft.
But a human rights expert warned that the company was breaking the law by branding the suspects as guilty without having had a fair trial.
Simon Davies, director of the human rights organisation Privacy International, said: ‘You can’t just bring your own system of vigilante justice.
‘The whole exercise is wrong-footed legally, it flouts the entire justice system.’
Mr Davies said the company was potentially libeling the people shown in the photos, and that those identified could also bring action under data protection laws.
Charlie Brooker
Charlie’s ‘You Have Been Watching’ from last night’s C4. Some hysterical, terrifying, priceless lookings at religious programming – take a look from 19 mins 30. Jesus would be so proud.
dx
“Armadillo” truck helps cut crime
One summer night, Chief Settingsgaard was pulling out of police headquarters when he did a double take. Rusting in a corner of the police parking lot was a hulking Brink’s truck. It had been purchased — for a dollar — to use in emergencies but had yet to be pressed into service. The chief thought it could be the perfect nuisance-deterrence vehicle, seemingly indestructible and inarguably an eyesore.
Over the next year, the 12,000 pounds of heavy metal got an extensive makeover, including about $10,000 in new equipment and repairs. It was outfitted with five infrared surveillance cameras, a padlocked hood, a locked gas cap, and protective screens over the head and tail lights.
A Peoria tire company installed foam-filled tires that can’t go flat. Decals that say “PEORIA POLICE Nuisance Property Surveillance Vehicle” were pasted on all four sides of the white truck.
“The ugliness of the Armadillo is what makes it unique,” says Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police. “A police car is not a particular stigma, but if people see that thing in front of your house, they know something bad is going on in there.”
Peoria police acknowledge that the truck sometimes just shifts crime from one area to another. But it can disrupt illegal activities temporarily. Citizens appear to like the idea, and police say they have a four-week waiting list of requests for the Armadillo.
WSJ
Memory exam as good as IQ test
“Scientists” are calling for a new way of testing intelligence. As the internet cuts the need for the brain to store facts, “working memory” – our ability to retain and juggle information for brief periods – could be as much a measure of modern mental abilities as traditional IQ tests.
For decades psychologists, teachers and employers have relied on IQ testing to assess people’s learning potential. The tests measure problem-solving ability and a person’s capacity for abstract reasoning.
Now, however, scientists are suggesting that short-term or working memory is a better and simpler measure of the skills modern youngsters will need in school and in their eventual careers. (*)
Tracy Alloway, director of the centre for memory and learning at Stirling University, is to release the latest research suggesting that tests of children’s working memory helped predict their grades more accurately than IQ tests.
Times Online (Thanks Paul)
Do we all have to go BACK in time?
“There is no time like the present”, or so the saying goes. But earlier today it turned out that the present isn’t what it used to be as scientists from the University of Edinburgh announced that our international time zones are actually 20 minutes fast.
The reason? A geographical mistake that pegged Britain’s position in the Atlantic some 240 miles too far east back when the original time zones were designed.
The mistake was discovered by post-doctoral Research Assistant Dr Tomas Domingues during routine historical analysis into how the horizon has shifted in regions of the United Kingdom over the millenia.
“I ran the numbers and it just didn’t add up”, says Dr Domnigues. “The equations wouldn’t balance unless I moved all of the British Isles 240 miles to the left. So I’m afraid I have no choice but to inform the world that we all need to adjust our clocks. Today, if possible.”
Dr Domingues’ paper, “Shifting Sands of Time: How the United Kingdom ended up in the wrong place”, lists a bewildering array of numbers that prove beyond a doubt his assertions are true. But why did no-one notice this before?
(*)
New theory over £40m jewel raid
The men who carried out a £40m raid on a jewellery store in central London had planned to carry out the robbery two days earlier, police say. New images have been released of the suspects approaching the store in New Bond Street at 1640 BST on Tuesday 4 August (two days before the robbery*).
Insurers have offered a £1m reward for information leading to the capture of those behind the robbery.
It is believed to be the biggest reward for such a crime. “We believe this was more than just a practice run, and that they were planning on committing the robbery on the 4 August,” said Det Ch Insp Pam Mace. “The stills clearly show the men outside Graff Jewellers, looking into the shop, and the blue BMW driving through New Bond Street.”
*The robbers walked into the premises on 6 August, threatening staff with handguns before leaving the shop with their haul and a female hostage. The woman was released outside the shop after the robbers fired a shot into the ground and left the scene in a blue BMW. No-one was injured.
The £40m haul is exceeded in the UK only by the £53m stolen in a raid on a Securitas depot in Kent in 2006.
A 50-year-old man who was arrested by officers in Ilford, east London, has been released on bail.(*)
