Unintended side-effects of speed cameras

In Montgomery County, Maryland, teens have found a new use for speed cameras--getting revenge on people they don't like or who have wronged them. Since the tickets from photo radar cameras are issued to the owners of the cars whose license plates are captured, they print out fake license plates on glossy photo paper, stick them over their own license plates, and then go out speeding.

This shows yet another flaw in the photo radar ticket process. I've speculated that registering your cars in the name of an LLC or trust is probably sufficient to make it difficult to assign individual responsibility to a speeding incident.

UPDATE (December 23, 2008): In Australia, an even more creative revenge against a mobile speed camera--have it issue tickets to itself! They could have just noted the plate number and followed the example of the Maryland teens, rather than stealing the actual plate... (Thanks, Adam, for the link.)

Diskeeper sued for Scientology indoctrination

Two ex-employees of Diskeeper Corporation have filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court after being fired, charging that the company makes Scientology training a mandatory condition of employment. Diskeeper founder and CEO Craig Jensen is a high-level Scientologist (OT VIII) and member of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE), which means that he follows Hubbard "management technology" in how he runs his businesses and donates a portion of revenues to the Church of Scientology.

UPDATE (December 25, 2008): Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars has more.

Arpaio foes arrested for clapping

Four people associated with the anti-Arpaio group Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability, were arrested on Wednesday for standing and applauding a speaker at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting. The East Valley Tribune notes that:

A double standard clearly was in effect during the Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday. At one point, public-transit advocate Blue Crowley used part of his public-comment time allotment to sing a birthday song to [MCBoS chairman Andy] Kunasek. Kunasek blushed and several people applauded, but none was ordered to leave or threatened with arrest.

However, Kunasek, deputies and security officers refused to tolerate applause after the anti-Arpaio speech minutes later.

The criminal clappers were charged with "suspicion of disorderly conduct and trespassing."

This brings the arrests of MCSA members to eight for the week and nine for the last four months.

Four other members of MCSA were arrested on Monday, after a group of 20 went to Andy Kunasek's office to talk with him and he refused to meet with them. Sheriff's deputies asked them to leave and arrested the four who refused.

The other arrest was MCSA co-founder Randy Parrez, who was arrested on September 29 outside a Board of Supervisors meeting on similar charges--suspicion of trespassing and disorderly conduct.

All but one of the members of the Board of Supervisors are Republicans. The Tribune article quotes Supervisor Max Wilson (R-District 4) as saying, "I don’t tell the police how to do their job. I don’t instruct them to do it or when to do it. They’re professionals at it and that’s the way they handle it." The lone Democrat, Mary Rose Wilcox (D-District 5), however, stated that she thought the arrests were excessive and that she would talk to security about it.

PATRIOT Act NSL gag order unconstitutional

For a second time, a U.S. appeals court has found unconstitutional the provision of the USA PATRIOT Act which forbids recipients of National Security Letters from disclosing that they have received them. After the first time around, Congress amended the law to introduce some minimal judicial review, but maintained the burden of proof on the recipient if the government claimed there were national security reasons for the NSL to remain secret. The courts have ruled that this burden needs to fall on the government.

If this continues to stand, then perhaps the rsync.net warrant canary will become superfluous.

Credit Suisse helps solve the toxic debt problem

In a fiendishly clever plan, Credit Suisse Group AG has found a way to reduce its exposure to toxic securities and transfer risk off its balance sheets--it's paying senior executives' bonuses with them.

Managing directors and directors, the two highest ranks at the Zurich-based company, will be paid year-end bonuses in its most illiquid loans and debt. Those assets will be transferred to a "Partner Asset Facility," and those directors will receive shares of ownership in the facility. Those assets will make semi-annual payments to the owners, with the full value only to be known as the assets mature or default.

A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant

Last night Einzige, frequent commenter Schtacky, and I went to see "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant" in Tempe, put on by the Stray Cat Theatre. By lucky coincidence, local Scientology expert and critic Jeff Jacobsen was also attending (see his recent article), and we sat with him in the front row for what proved to be a very enjoyable performance.

On the way to work this morning, I heard Robrt Pela of Phoenix's New Times reading his review on the local NPR station, and his review describes our experience quite well:

About three minutes into Stray Cat Theatre's newest production, I found myself thinking: This can't be really happening. When you go to see it — and you must, if you do nothing else this holiday season, go see this astonishing stage production — you will almost certainly experience the same sense of delighted confusion. ... I rarely stopped laughing during this barely-hour-long show, and my single complaint about A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant is that it ended too soon.

The play was a special treat for those of us who already know something about Scientology and the life of L. Ron Hubbard.

The production tells the story of L. Ron Hubbard's life ("writer, explorer, nuclear physicist ...") and how he came to develop Dianetics and Scientology, in the form of a children's holiday pageant. Cheesy props and frequent costume changes are used to portray rapid changes of location, from Hawaii to New York to China. Much of what is presented is accurate--Hubbard's birthplace, some of his claims about his life, and especially the content of Dianetics and Scientology. A few liberties are taken in the story of his life, though fewer than Hubbard himself and contemporary Scientologists take in describing his achievements. While there are countless amusing and disturbing events of Hubbard's actual life that could have been used for comic relief but were omitted, we were surprised at how much they managed to pack into a short show. If you want the longer version, you can read Russell Miller's biography of Hubbard, Bare-Faced Messiah, online, complete with supporting documentation including paperwork from his FBI files.

The show continues tonight and tomorrow--if you have the opportunity to see it, take it, and you'll be very glad you went.

Bank slogans as signals to depositors

The traditional bank lobby, filled with expensive marble and and furnishings, is designed to signal to the customer that the bank is stable and isn't going anywhere.

Some recent failed banks have used advertising slogans also designed to inspire confidence, such as IndyMac's "you can count on us."

Others, however, should perhaps have been recognized as clues of impending problems:

Dexia: "The short term has no future."
Fortis: "Here today, where tomorrow?"
Countrywide: "[A] lender that actually finds ways to make loans."
Fannie Mae: "As the American dream grows, so do we."
Washington Mutual: "Whoo hoo!"

(Via The Economist, October 2, 2008.)

Sean Hannity: Media Matters' Misinformer of the Year for 2008

The award appears to be well-deserved.

(Hat tip to Schtacky.)

Jeff Jacobsen article on Anonymous protests against Scientology

Jeff Jacobsen has written a detailed article about the Anonymous protests against Scientology, which brings the reader up-to-date on Internet-supported counter-Scientology protesting since the article we wrote for Skeptic in 1995, "Scientology v. the Internet: Free Speech and Copyright Infringement on the Information Superhighway."

The new article is called "We Are Legion: Anonymous and the War on Scientology." Check it out.

Wine accelerator from SkyMall

If there was any doubt that the SkyMall catalog is full of bogus products that are complete ripoffs for idiots, that should be removed by this product--a "wine and liquor accelerator" that "surrounds the beverage with a powerful triangular-shaped magnetic field, and in just 10 seconds, you'll taste a premium drink's smooth, mellow flavor equal to years of traditional slow aging."

And here, Alex Chiu has been telling us that magnetic devices slow aging, not speed it up.

Not to mention that aging is not something that tends to improve the quality of wine.