How can you easily spot religion in science clothing? According to New Scientist book review editor Amanda Gefter, look for these code words:
Here's what often happens when you videotape police. The priest who tried to videotape this incident eventually got his camera back, which is more than you can say for many other folks who have tried to photograph law enforcement officers in public places. Here's a related post dealing with threats of arrest for taking photos in public places. And be careful when you consider blogging about your First Amendment rights, especially when arrogant judges get wind of it.
Have you ever wondered what it is like to learn how to run a prison, you should check out this video: This Bureau of Prisons video has become public in an unusual way. It was part of a huge grab of "free" public records that was obtained then made much more accessible by two activists. The story is told here, and is close to my heart because it involves criticism of the enormously clunky PACER system, which contains all federal case filings. The activists decided to download all of the recent cases on PACER in order to make them more accessible. They were in the process of doing that when the federal courts shut them down. Fascinating stuff. They also obtained government videos that they've collected into "FedFlix,"
a growing archive of many films originally produced by the federal government, which he’s been uploading to the Internet Archive and a YouTube channel.
The 524 films in the FedFlix catalogue so far include such gems as “Sludge Management,” “Welcome to the Bureau of Prisons!” “Foreign Lottery Scams,” “(Motorola Presents) Atomic Attack,” battle footage and training films from World War II and Vietnam, and the Cold War classic “Duck and Cover” [starring "Bert the Turtle"].
Does the word "propaganda" come to mind when you're viewing any of these? For a lot more information, visit the activists' website, Public Resource.I've previously read accounts of photographers being harassed. This smart guy turned on his camera's video function and recorded the outrageous conversation with a security guard. She was pleasant, but instructed him about a "policy" that is utterly bizarre (because this policy, to my knowledge, doesn't really exist in the law). Keep in mind that, according to this security guard, it's illegal for a tourist to snap any photos of the historic buildings in Washington D.C. without special clearance. I'd like to reserve this post as a place for anyone else to post comments if they or someone they know has been warned to not take photos in public spaces, prevented from taking such photos or had their camera(s) confiscated.
Why indeed? Please read this excellent article by Johann Hari at the Independent, detailing the tragic hijacking of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights by religious bigots. Here's a taste: Starting in 1999, a coalition of Islamist tyrants, led by Saudi Arabia, demanded the rules be rewritten. The demand for everyone to…