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Jordanian Mayor Angry Over "Alien Invasion" Prank 217

Posted by samzenpus
from the war-of-the-worlds dept.
krou writes "Jordanian mayor Mohammed Mleihan has taken a dim view of local newspaper Al-Ghad's April Fools prank, which saw a front page story claiming that 'flying saucers flown by 3m (10ft) creatures had landed in the desert town of Jafr.' The paper claimed that communication networks had gone down, and people were fleeing the area. The mayor called the local security authorities, who combed the area, but they were unable to find any evidence of the aliens. Mr Mleihan is now considering suing because of the distress it caused to residents: 'Students didn't go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town's 13,000 residents. People were scared that aliens would attack them.'" I guess they've never heard of Orson Welles in Jordan.
Apple

iPad teardown photographs leaked by FCC

Submitted by TACD
TACD writes "iFixit has laid its hands on some photos of the iPad's internals that were apparently leaked by the FCC. It looks like they're still poring over the pictures to glean as much information as possible but there's already some interesting information available. For one thing, the shots were supposed to stay under wraps until August 17th. Whoops!"

Comment: It only took a decade or so... (Score 4, Insightful) 362

by TACD (#31536882) Attached to: UMG To Price New CDs Under $10

You'd think the music companies would have at least one economist on staff who could explain to them, slowly and gently, that under certain circumstances it is actually possible to make more money when each individual unit is priced lower. It really takes some stubborn failure of logic to prioritise your sale price above your actual monetary returns.

Of course, it's also possible that the music quality will just decline to compensate for the drop in price.

Comment: Re:umm (Score 1) 213

by TACD (#31251758) Attached to: Simon Singh To Appeal In UK Court Today

(that even America is making moves to protect its citizens against) Why the "even"?

Because America and Britain are supposedly so very close and buddy-buddy, it's more shocking to hear that America is this repelled by British libel law. If it was some middle-eastern country that hates us nobody would be surprised, but it's a point of note and shameful fact to politicians over here that our laws are bad enough that you guys can't even ignore them, but have to actively seek ways to protect yourselves from them.

Comment: Re:Summary writer is a full blown moron (Score 1, Informative) 213

by TACD (#31251372) Attached to: Simon Singh To Appeal In UK Court Today

Seriously, anyone who can claim with a straight face that Britain has less freedom of speech than China (and hence is only beginning to take steps to elevate above it) is living in a fantasy world.

"When it comes to censoring publications and blocking online content, it is arguable that Britain has an even worse record than China." - Simon Singh, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/7294539/Simon-Singh-it-is-too-late-for-me-but-libel-laws-must-change-for-the-public-good.html

But yes, there may have been a trace of hyperbole in my post, on the internet. Gold star!

Comment: Re:Summary writer is a full blown moron (Score 1) 213

by TACD (#31251070) Attached to: Simon Singh To Appeal In UK Court Today

Seriously, anyone who can claim with a straight face that Britain has less freedom of speech than China (and hence is only beginning to take steps to elevate above it) is living in a fantasy world.

"When it comes to censoring publications and blocking online content, it is arguable that Britain has an even worse record than China." - from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/7294539/Simon-Singh-it-is-too-late-for-me-but-libel-laws-must-change-for-the-public-good.html

However, yes, there may have been a trace of hyperbole in this post, on the internet. Gold star!

Comment: Re:Judge not impressed (Score 2, Informative) 213

by TACD (#31250946) Attached to: Simon Singh To Appeal In UK Court Today

Well, given that it is now approaching 9PM in the UK, it is more correct to say Simon Singh was in court today. And so far things look promising – Lord Judge is less than impressed by BCA's case. See http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2010/02/simon-singh-chiropractic-bca-libel-appeal

You got to posting the important link before me, so let me instead say that even if Simon wins this round there is still a whole lot more work to be done; firstly, this is only the appeal against the previous judge's decision of what was meant by his use of the word 'bogus', and a win here will just make the rest of the case easier to fight. Secondly, Britain still lacks a proper 'public interest' defense in these sorts of cases, and that is why it is important to support full and considered libel reform so that this ridiculous charade does not have to be repeated, at enormous expense, for every individual who would reasonably criticise his peers.

"'Tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true." -- Poloniouius, in Willie the Shake's _Hamlet, Prince of Darkness_

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