The Null Device
2000/9/27
The Victoria Police is having a huge recruitment drive, and the Chief Commissioner says that the recent police action against the S11 protesters will encourage young people to join. Hmmm; I can see the recruiting slogans now: "Join the Victoria Police. Go all around the state, meet ferals and beat the shit out of them." Or maybe not.
While some would like to see Canada face charges of crimes against humanity for the abomination that is Celine Dion, the Chinese government formally petitioned the Canadian heritage minister to get her to tour the mainland.
An interesting piece on director Chris Cunningham, who created some impressive music videos for Aphex Twin and Bjork (among others), and will be directing a film adaptation of William Gibson's Neuromancer:
'I'm freaked out by the body. I used to pretend that I was hollow, because I couldn't stand the idea of having all those organs inside, it made me feel sick.'
In Hell, Michigan, it's Halloween every day. Local businesses have spooky themes, and tourists come to post letters, just to get the "HELL" postmark.
US hospitals are reporting an 18% increase in births in September; possibly a result of frolics in Y2K survival shelters before the all-clear came through.
I agree with webtype.org: people should use typefaces with old-style numerals more often. (In fact, I started handwriting my numerals old-style some years ago.)
More children in the US are being diagnosed with youthful tendency disorder, a neurological condition characterised by running, jumping and fantasy play. Fortunately, there will soon be drugs on the market to control this condition.
Taking equal opportunity to a new level, a lapdancing club in the UK wants to allow blind patrons to touch the dancers, something which is forbidden. (via Leviathan)
Slashdot has a review of a classic scifi/social commentary book, John Brunner's The Shockwave Rider. (Of no relation to a less than inspiring Commodore 64 game with a similar title.)
Someone is working on a ProTools-like audio package for Linux; though it seems to be in the very early stages of development so far.
The latest round of the Civil Disobedience Olympics in Prague appears to have exploded into ultra-violence, despite the best effort of the Czech government, which, ironically, drew on Communist-era practices to keep the lefties out.