.foXinternet

Prosecution for failing to report treasure

2010-02-28T12:37:00.006Z

It seems to me that the mistake that led to the prosecution was reporting it, albeit to the museum rather than the coroner! The moral being, if you want to keep it, don�t tell anyone!The rules on treasure are in essence that it belongs to the Crown, although there is a regime to reward finders and landowners (subject to abatement for bad behaviour). I wonder whether there was any reward paid in

Beyonce

2010-02-04T11:23:00.004Z

I have just noticed the picture of Beyonce �stealing the show� at the Grammy awards, on the same page as the article linked below in relation to Men at Work.Looks like she is indicating what she thinks about the show to me�

Men at Work

2010-02-04T08:51:00.001Z

I appreciate that this is like when you say your goodbyes at the hotel check out and then bump into one another again in the carpark. But I am going to make another post notwithstanding yesterday�s portentous farewell, because this is important news:Men at Work have apparently been successfully sued for copyright infringement. I had always assumed that the flute hook in �Down Under� was an

Is this the end?

2010-02-02T18:12:00.002Z

No more FTP support by Blogger after the end of March, apparently. I know that .foXinternet has not exactly been regularly updated lately, but is this finally the end�? Am I realistically going to find another way of publishing to this site? If this is my last post, it has been nice knowing you all over the last (nearly) nine years since .foXinternet started in June 2001. Be excellent to each

Skeptics

2009-11-18T17:47:00.004Z

Clever bloke, and I enjoyed all of his books that I have read, but Richard Dawkins has a lot to answer for. I mean, they may have a point about the whole God not existing thing, but I have been thinking for a while that some of the soi�disant �skeptics� movement really are a bunch of very annoyingly superior smart�arses, as many of the comments on this article about the BBC declining to allow

Nanny State

2009-10-29T19:31:00.005Z

This is brilliant. A few weeks ago, we had the story that two policewomen were in trouble with OFSTED for babysitting each other�s children without being officially registered as childminders. Now, parents have apparently been banned from supervising their own children at public playgrounds in Watford. Instead, parents will be barred from the playgrounds and expected to leave their kids in the

Proceeds of Crime Act extension

2009-10-28T09:12:00.005Z

The Times reports that Alan Johnson has pushed through a Statutory Instrument extending confiscation powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2003 to civilian investigators. It comes into force next week. Another great example of mission creep. Powers brought in to hit mafia godfathers being made available to hit those who are in arrears with their council tax. How many Terrorism Act 2000 searches

Geert Wilders

2009-10-16T12:49:00.005Z

I can�t help thinking that Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation has slightly misunderstood the idea behind the prohibition on inciting religious violence and its interface with concepts of freedom of speech. While acknowledging that British ideas about the latter mean that Geert Wilders should not be banned from entering the UK because of his views about Islam, Mr Shafiq has apparently

Buell

2009-10-16T09:10:00.003Z

Having owned and enjoyed a Buell Lightning City�X for a couple of years until trading it for the Aprilia recently, I am sorry to hear that Harley Davidson have pulled the plug on Buell and that the company will not be continuing to make motorcycles in the future.

Got any change guv?

2009-09-30T09:12:00.008Z

The big theme at the conferences of both the Lib Dems and Labour appears to be the desperate need for �radical change�. We don�t need radical change. It�ll only screw everything up more. What we need is sensible, steady government that tries to intrude as little as reasonably possible into the lives of decent hard�working people and tries to keep waste to a

2009-09-30T09:05:00.002Z

Someone sent me a text. All it said was 'A' 'G' 'N' 'B'. I think it�s bang out of order.

War on Terror

2009-09-24T08:18:00.004Z

There has been an important watershed in the War on Terror with the conviction of Bartholomew J. �Bart� Simpson, who has been found guilty of 25 sample counts of terrorist offences across various states of the USA, for which Mr Simpson has been given 25 life sentences. Prior to the long trial that ended in his conviction yesterday, Mr Simpson had freely admitted that he was accustomed to �

Chas and Dave

2009-09-23T08:10:00.002Z

It was reported yesterday that following the death of his wife, Dave, one half of �Chas and Dave�, has decided to retire from the music business, bringing to an end 30�odd years of Chas and Dave. Sad news. I went to see them a couple of years ago at the 100 Club and it was a bloody good night out. I am sorry that I didn�t get down to another gig before now to see them again.

Restive newborn

2009-09-13T22:26:00.004Z

Should I feed my 5�day old baby hamster milk? I know it sounds extreme but if he doesn�t settle down soon, we may have to get radical. Now where does one get hamster milk?

Congratulations to the family Tucola

2009-09-10T10:35:00.002Z

Thought I would resurrect my limited internet skills to post this message of congratulations to Tucola and his new family. I give it two months before you sell the bike.

IE7

2009-08-25T16:38:00.003Z

I just realised that my two alternative stylesheets (work and original) are broken in IE7. The default (new style) seems to be OK. There also seems to be a script error on the main page. Lame.

Innocence is no defence

2009-08-21T14:30:00.006Z

An extraordinary quote from an (admittedly dissenting) judgment on a habeas corpus writ in the US Supreme Court this week (In re Davis, 08-1443), from Justice Scalia:�This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is �actually� innocent. Quite to the contrary, we

New toy

2009-08-17T14:11:00.000Z

Virgin Media

2009-08-10T09:04:00.004Z

It would be nice to have digital television, like everyone else in the country. However, it appears that rolling it out to the small hamlet of London where I reside is not a top priority for my current cable TV provider. It is touching that they appear to assume that I am presumably so impressed with their current analogue service that I will happily wait 3 years for their even better digital

Public service announcement

2009-08-05T16:22:00.003Z

Earlier, we were trying to remember the background music that is always used to accompany documentaries about the industrial revolution. It turned out to be quite a hard thing to google. No longer, I hope (Prokofiev�s Dance of the Knights, in case you were wondering�).

Amy Winehouse in "not dead" shocker

2009-07-27T08:37:00.005Z

You know how when something appears in the news, then you get several more stories in quick succession about the same thing so it looks like an epidemic? Then it quietly slips off the agenda, leaving you to wonder whether the whole thing was basically manufactured by the media?Knife crime is a good example. After a high�profile stabbing, a week will go by where someone is in the newspapers and on

Lakes

2009-07-25T13:53:00.001Z

I spent a rather wet but nevertheless enjoyable week in the Lake District the week before last. Some pictures here.

Jimmy Buffett - SummerZcool Tour 2009

2009-07-06T08:34:00.006Z

Went to see Jimmy Buffett at the Shepherds� Bush Empire last night. Not exactly my cup of tea, but a fun night nevertheless. He performed well, with lots of energy and came across as a nice guy. Seemed genuinely happy to be there and played a good long encore to a rapturous reception. Crowd were mostly Jimmy Buffett die�hards who had been waiting 39 years for Jimmy to gig in the UK and who knew

Chartwell

2009-07-03T14:28:00.006Z

The House of Lords has just handed down an important decision on contractual interpretation and I have been perusing it, as you do. The Court declines to revisit the rule in Prenn v Simmonds [1971] 1 WLR 1381, being the rule that you should not look to pre-contractual negotiations between the parties to a written contract for the purposes of drawing inferences about what the written document

Labour heavyweights

2009-06-07T21:12:00.002Z

Saw Andrew Marr interviewing Peter Mandelson this morning. Mandelson is very quick�witted and intelligent and very good at dealing with questions and fencing with an interviewer, but he doesn�t come across as likeable in the least. He certainly is not the man to overcome the perception of a stark divide between �political elite� versus �man in the street�. By contrast, Alan Johnson, who was