04 Jan 2007
Labelling cheese as junk food

I suppose it's small consolation, but it's not just America that's suffering from a overdose of regulatory insanity.

Under the nutrient profiling model used to distinguish junk food from "healthy" food, cheese is officially labelled as more unhealthy than sugary cereals, cheeseburgers, double chocolate chip cake and full fat crisps.

(link) [The Telegraph]

20:26 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Detecting computer-generated porn?

The judge rightly laughed this idiotic claim out of court. But this case has implications far beyond prosecuting perverts: the veracity of all photographic evidence is being called into question. Think security videos, where images are often "enhanced" ("Photoshopped")to give the police a leg up on identification. Should such things be allowed into court as evidence? Can we trust the camera any more? Could we ever, really?

In this week's installment, the FBI claims that one of its analysts can spot computer-generated images just by looking at them.

(link) [CNET News.com]

07:04 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link