Dumpling in a Hanky

In response to my pitiful plea about RSS feeds from OPSI, Scott pointed out that they could be found here: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/whatsnew.htm So, I signed myself up for the 'All Legislation' feed, assuming it'd come in in the same format as on the Daily List, eg: 47 The Advice and Assistance (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2008 . - 2p.: 30 cm. - Enabling power: Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986, s. 12 (3). - Issued: 26.02.2008. Made: 20.02.2008. Laid before the Scottish Parliament: 21.02.2008. Coming into force: 07.04.2008. Effect: S.I. 1996/2447 amended. Territorial extent and classification: S. General. - £3.00 - 9780110815145. Order here Instead, they come in like this: The Advice and Assistance (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2008: Web Version By KENNY MACASKILL These Regulations amend the Advice and Assistance (Scotland) Regulations 1996 to provide that a solicitor’s right to prior payment of fees and outlays out of any property recovered or preserved ...

The Naked Ramber, Stephen Gough, has been found guilty of another breach of the peace for refusing to put clothes on, and faces another 4 months in jail, in addition to the 20 months he's already spent in jail. Quite a conundrum - the jails are crowded, he's not physically hurt anyone with his crime (although their eyes and mind might be traumatised by the sight of him!)...but he has committed a crime, and seems happy to continue to do so, until others agree that his habit of not wearing clothes is acceptable, which is highly unlikely to happen. When is he ever likely to be released? It's a battle of wills between the courts, and the Rambler...I wonder what the chances of him being released just over the Border, and everyone then turning their backs so they don't witness his 'crime' are? *wink*

I absolutely love this video by ImprovEverywhere, where people spontaneously (ish) freeze in place at the exact same moment, and stay that way for 5 mins, before all unfreezing at the same moment and walking off as if nothing has happened. And on Sunday, there was a Big Freeze in Edinburgh ...and I missed it! Gah.

In keeping with discussions on law.librarians of legal publisher RSS feeds, I have decided I want The Stationery Office to be nice to me and do an RSS feed of the Daily List. I already pick up the press releases of Government departments such as Defra, DCLG, DBERR, HM Treasury, the Scottish Government etc...it would be lovely to be able to have a feed of the Daily List in alongside them, to save my daily website visit for legislation. It would be even nicer if it was a feed for JUST legislation...I don't really need to know about Command Papers, House of Commons and House of Lords papers, the Parliamentary debates. We get that info from other sources if it's needed, but it's me that selects the legislation that's relevant to our core business, and uploads that material to our Current Awareness service. So if there were a feed for Bills / Acts, UK SIs, SSI, and SRs, I would be such a happy bunny!

It's illegal to melt down 1 cent / penny and 5 cent / nickel coins in America. And no leaving the country with more than $5 worth of them in your pocket! So, next time you're wandering about America, wondering what sort of things you can destroy with a kiln or a blow torch...step away from the coinage!!

The Scottish Government has announced plans to teach children about blogging and podcasting , as part of the Curriculum for Excellence. I'm particularly impressed they'll be teaching when text speak is appropriate, and when it isn't - it's hard to project yourself as educated or professional when it appears someone's been stealing half your vowels. But you'll only know that if someone teaches you! The whole plan sounds pretty good to me - I seem to be one of the 'assumed' generation. It was assumed when I arrived at that Uni I'd know how to touch / speed type (I don't, I fumble with a few fingers, while staring fixedly at the keyboard. I'm awaiting the development of RSI.), and word process (I didn't do secretarial studies at school, so that passed me by)...then it was assumed I'd know how to use email...and the internet...assess the relevancy and accuracy of the sites I found on the internet....then finding and using blogs, RSS feeds...

From Boing Boing , a library built into a staircase into a loft conversion. More pictures here WANT!!!

The Tinfoil + Raccoon blog owner Rochelle recently blogged about her experiences of testing the Kindle, specifically in relation to use in public libraries . She comes to the conclusion that it's not an efficient use of resources , and there's some interestingly vague user terms from Amazon which could prevent a library form lending a Kindle with any content loaded onto it, thereby pretty much defeating its entire purpose. Although they're not exactly the same, public and commercial libraries (such as my own) are likely to encounter similar problems with eReaders like this. I considered what effect it would be likely to have in law firm libraries back in September, with our very specific needs for authority (hey, if we have trouble getting judges to accept electronic versions of cases, just think of the fun we'll have with electronic, editable / underlineable versions!) and multiple copy licensing. Add to that the fact that, as we'd dispense these eReaders, we w...

…got her head chopped OFF! But the warrant (well, a copy of it) that Elizabeth I signed for her execution won't be leaving the UK, thanks to the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, and the help of heritage bodies donations. It's nice when a bit of history can be retained. It would be nice if they could find the funding to make an online version viewable too!

What do you get when you mix a blog, and lots of law librarians from around the world? This! Come on in, the water's lovely! :D

..as I was waffling about back in December , Luke Mitchell's appeal case is based on the belief that coverage of the case, and various reports relating to him, meant it was impossible for him to get a fair trial. I have to agree - I've never seen hysteria at the courts like it, and I think they'd be hard pushed to claim that they could have got an impartial jury!

So, I logged out of my internet banking service, and got a 'stop' icon on the right hand side of my toolbar, and a pop up box telling me that the site was a suspected web forgery. I was given the options of reading more, leaving the page - "Get me out of here!", "Ignore this warning", and "This isn't a web forgery". Since I'd just logged out of the secure area, I was pretty sure that it wasn't a phishing site, so decided to use the final option. This allowed me to submit a report anonymously, detailing why I didn't think it was a phishing page. So I did. And this is the report I got back: Google Safe Browsing for Firefox BETA Report Sent Thanks for sending a report to Google. Now that you've done your good deed for the day, feel free to: 1. Take a second to rejoice merrily for doing your part in making the web a safer place. 2. Call/email/write to a neighbor/frien...