Spent the early morning (as in 3-4 a.m. here in CA) being appalled by the UK cabinet changes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've never been to the UK, etc. But it was the country that was supposed to have made so much progress and where you didn't have to worry as much if something happened and you got sick or lost your job like you do here, and this government is like a bunch of bullies so hungry for power and control over others' lives that it will target them over and over again in hopes of destroying those lives just to show they can do it.

>:(

There have been numerous books about globalization and how it would eliminate borders. But I am unaware of a well-developed theory from that time about how the super-rich and the corporations they run would secede from the nation state.
[....]
Our plutocracy now lives like the British in colonial India: in the place and ruling it, but not of it. If one can afford private security, public safety is of no concern; if one owns a Gulfstream jet, crumbling bridges cause less apprehension--and viable public transportation doesn't even show up on the radar screen. With private doctors on call and a chartered plane to get to the Mayo Clinic, why worry about Medicare?

Being in the country but not of it is what gives the contemporary American super-rich their quality of being abstracted and clueless.

With intricate designs featuring landscapes, temples and even a giant cathedral, you'd think these masterpieces were on display in an art gallery.

But the incredible pieces are all made out of sand and were created on a beach by a master sculptor who painstakingly builds 12ft-high works of art.

Unfortunately for Joo Heng Tan, his detailed designs - some of which require 18 tonnes of sand - only last for hours or days before they are washed away.

In the ceremony scheduled for Sept. 8, McCartney will be made an officer of the Légion d'honneur, France's highest public distinction which has been awarded to the likes of actor Clint Eastwood and singer Liza Minnelli.

No one at McCartney's office was available for comment.

Created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, and symbolised by a red lapel thread, the Légion d'honneur has three grades, Chevalier, Officer and Commander.

The honour carries social status but no money, and recipients have to buy their own medal from a licensed jeweller, with prices ranging from 169 euros to 700 euros for the highest rank.

McDonald's facing Hindu protests over restaurants near holy sites - Telegraph

In a nod to religious and dietary sensitivities, the restaurants will be vegetarian. But the fast food giants' chosen locations are proving controversial regardless.

The first site, Katra in Jammu and Kashmir, is home to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, one of Hinduism's four holiest shrines and an unlikely haven for the chain that slaughters millions of cows, which are sacred to Indians, every year for its burgers, quarter-pounders and Big Macs.

The second vegetarian restaurant is planned for Amritsar, home of the Golden Temple, the centre of the Sikh religion in Punjab. Both form part of the fast food giant's aim to double its size in one of the world's fastest growing economies.

Although Sikhs are not forbidden from eating meat, their temples serve only free vegetarian food to pilgrims and visitors.

RT @Old_Holborn: How the Sun reported on the new fangled "Internet" in 1992 http://yfrog.com/mmc1ejsj

Hackers with the amorphous protest movement "Anonymous" and "AntiSec" said Monday night they caught the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) red-handed spying on Apple customers, and published over 1 million unique device identification numbers they allegedly pulled out of an FBI database.

In all, the hackers claimed that the FBI files they accessed had more than 12 million Apple UDIDs, the unique identifier associated with every iPhone and iPad that comes off the production line. They also said that most UDIDs in the FBI's database had names, cell phone numbers and addresses attached to them, which were edited out before publication. Apple has sold nearly 200 million iPhones and more than 50 million iPads since both devices' debut.

Apple has been phasing out the UDID standard, and recently made changes to prevent third-party applications from sending users' UDIDs to unknown parties. Apple told a congressional inquiry in 2010 that it cannot track iPhones in real time, but a hacker named Eric Smith noted that third party applications can transmit UDIDs, which could potentially be linked to the owner and used to track that person.

And that's precisely what hackers with Anonymous think the FBI was doing.

Was at the christening ceremony of a big new offshore wind installation vessel yesterday, am planning a full photo diary but am too tired tonight.

Wind power