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No terror arrests in 10,000 police stop-and-searches
More than 100,000 people were stopped and searched by police under counter-terrorism powers last year but none of them were arrested for terrorism-related offences, according to Home Office figures published today.
The statistics show that 504 people out of the 101,248 searches were arrested for any offence – an arrest rate of 0.5%, compared with an average 10% arrest rate for street searches under normal police powers.
The figures prompted the former Conservative home affairs spokesman David Davis to call for the controversial policy to be scrapped.
"This astonishing fact of no terrorism-related arrests, let alone prosecutions or convictions, in over 100,000 stop and searches, demonstrates what a massively counter-productive policy this is," said Davis.
Yet another silly photo contest / rights grab from the NYT
I was sent a link to a travel photo contest over the weekend – the New York Times’ annual Why We Travel competition. Great, thinks I, I am sure I have a photo or two which would fit the bill here. But a couple of things have stopped me in my tracks.
(Please limit your contributions to one or two photos, and do not submit photos that have been altered in any way.)
You are agreeing that we can use your submission in all manner and media of The New York Times and that we shall have the right to authorize third parties to do so.
Mortal Coil Blog affected by attack on Posterous
Overnight, the Mortal Coil Blog, like every other site on Posterous, was the victim of a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack against Posterous, the service which hosts this blog. The attack is continuing, but Posterous responded by changing its IP address to a different subnet and I had to follow suit by changing my DNS records as well. Which is pretty easy to do in real life, but not something I was expecting to have to do based on a hacker attack.
For more on the attack see the Official Posterous Blog post here.
Some Friday YouTube fun: 1 second of lightning at 9000 frames per second.
This is pretty epic stuff. Amazing to see that even as slowed down as it is, there is still more happening during a lightning strike than we'll ever be able to perceive.
Some professionals shoot Glastonbury 2010
In advance of my last, decidedly amateur set of photos being blogged here, I want to point towards some photos taken by actual jobbing photogs, some of which are just stunning.
Great article from David Bergman about mastering event photography
This is very good advice for any current or aspiring photographers, on how to adopt general attitude of trying to separate yourself from the herd when photographing events. I’ve been confronted with the very same issues before and have had to go out on a limb to get different shots from the pack…
At most of the events I cover, there are a lot of other photographers. The wire services and local newspaper shooters always do a great job covering the event. So what can I bring to the table? If I just shoot the same images as everyone else, there’s no reason for me to be there.
The easiest way to separate myself is to literally move away from the other photographers. I try to take chances and go for the high risk shot. It doesn’t always pay off, but when it does, it’s worth it.
John Nack on Adobe: Video: Sneak peek of Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop
Wow, this is absolutely mind blowing functionality that should make it into a future version of Photoshop. I am sure it will be misused and abused, but it’s still impressive as hell.
World Water Day – The Big Picture
Fantastic shots – as usual – as the Big Picture celebrates World Water Day, courtesy of National Geographic.
TIME Magazine issues The Year in Pictures 2009
TIME Magazine have released their 2009 Pictures of the Year. Understandably dominated by Obama, Afghanistan, and Iran. The Obama inauguration shot is ever-so-slightly messianic.
(Mostly) Amazing 3-D fly-through of London from Skrape
- A few of the “marquee” models, especially Buckingham Palace, could benefit from some more detailed modelling on their shapes. The flying buttresses of Westminster Abbey are correct and present, but the flat front of Bucks Palace looks like one of those drape-over jobs they put on buildings in Europe when they’re being renovated. It spoils the illusion somewhat.
- (very anal) The closeup “helicopter shot” around Big Ben shows two different clock faces simultaneously – and they are showing different times. Doh!
Mortal Coil 