Long arm
Proving that the law has a very long arm
indeed, an online edition of the Proceedings of the Old Bailey in London
from the late 17th century to the early 19th century was launched on the
web last week. The site features the original text as well as supporting
articles and bibliography, along with digital images of trial accounts as
they were published - including the ads.
The site - produced by academics from the universities of Hertfordshire
and Sheffield - contains information from 22,000 trials covering the
period from December 1714 to December 1759, with the release of the
remaining trials occurring in batches. The full archive is scheduled to be
available by next spring. There will eventually be accounts of more than
100,000 criminal trials, comprising more than 60,000 pages of original
text covering the period from 1674 to 1834.
If you'd like to witness more current proceedings of the world's most
famous court, a company is arranging tours.
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
http://www.old-bailey.com/
Top deck
Much has been made of the US government's "deck of
infamy" playing cards, handed out by the US military in Iraq to help track
down members of Saddam Hussein's regime. A number of satirists and peace
activists have followed suit and produced decks of their own, with one
targeting the French administration. By far the best is the deck produced
by a US pressure group, the Trade Regulation Organisation (TRO), calling
for a US regime change.
According to its press release: "The US governing regime is no longer
consistent with world peace or prosperity - the playing cards will show
the way to regime change and, eventually, large-scale war crimes
proceedings." So, Dick Cheney is the ace of spades. Tony Blair the queen
of hearts, while Murdoch is given the king of hearts. President Bush is
granted the lowly four of clubs. King of that suit? White House senior
adviser, Karl Rove.
www.gatt.org/regime
www.redrat.net/BUSH_WAR/cards
http://www.examineur.com/articles/
Clutter
Creative Mac users may love Clutter, the new
software device that grabs album info from a playing MP3 track, sends it
off to Amazon, and comes back with an image of the CD cover. You then
place these icons on your desktop and play them via your iTunes software.
Very messy, lots of fun.
http://www.sprote.com/clutter</B>
Which white?
Should The Beatles have released the White
Album as a single long player? George Martin thought so and many fans and
music critics agree. A number of them have listed their ideal single album
tracks at the Turn Me On Dead Man, a psychedelic music site. There's also
a software device that helps you select your favourite order. It even
works out the timings of the sides. Sony Music has launched a site that
lets you custom build a Bob Dylan CD. Other artists to follow soon, says
Sony.
http://www.turnmeondeadman.net/AWA/AWAAlternatives.html
http://www.custommixcd.com/
Up my street
House price information on any home sold in
England and Wales since April 2000 can now be accessed on the Land
Registry website. The government hopes that being able to discover price
differences in the same street might help rationalise the market. Unlike
UpMyStreet.com, which aggregates other local information, the service
costs £2 for details of each property.
http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/
http://www.upmystreet.com/
Big bird
A Norwegian artist is staging his own version of
Big Brother, with birds instead of people. Magne Klann has placed a webcam
inside a wooden bird house in a tree at Bogstad Gaard in Oslo. He's given
the blue tits that occupy the house some lamps, a TV and pictures. But,
says Klann, there will be no evictions.
http://www.piip-show.no/
New & noted
Japanese street fashion
http://www.japanesestreets.com/
Webby presentation
cancelled
http://www.webbyawards.com/main/press/press_releases/pr_042503.html
Canterbury Tales with glossary
www.librarius.com/cantales.htm
Anonymous
blogging
http://invisiblog.com/
Six of the best: Leonardo da Vinci
Renaissance man
www.mos.org/leonardo
The paintings
www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci
The
drawings
http://banzai.msi.umn.edu/leonardo/
The
Museum
www.leonet.it/comuni/vinci
BBC series
www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo
More links
www.kausal.com/leonardo/links.html