Long arm
Proving that the law has a very long arm indeed, an online edition of the Proceedings of the Old Bailey in London from the late 17th century to the early 19th century was launched on the web last week. The site features the original text as well as supporting articles and bibliography, along with digital images of trial accounts as they were published - including the ads.
The site - produced by academics from the universities of Hertfordshire and Sheffield - contains information from 22,000 trials covering the period from December 1714 to December 1759, with the release of the remaining trials occurring in batches. The full archive is scheduled to be available by next spring. There will eventually be accounts of more than 100,000 criminal trials, comprising more than 60,000 pages of original text covering the period from 1674 to 1834.
If you'd like to witness more current proceedings of the world's most famous court, a company is arranging tours.
www.oldbaileyonline.org
www.old-bailey.com
Top deck
Much has been made of the US government's "deck of infamy" playing cards, handed out by the US military in Iraq to help track down members of Saddam Hussein's regime. A number of satirists and peace activists have followed suit and produced decks of their own, with one targeting the French administration. By far the best is the deck produced by a US pressure group, the Trade Regulation Organisation (TRO), calling for a US regime change.
According to its press release: "The US governing regime is no longer consistent with world peace or prosperity - the playing cards will show the way to regime change and, eventually, large-scale war crimes proceedings." So, Dick Cheney is the ace of spades. Tony Blair the queen of hearts, while Murdoch is given the king of hearts. President Bush is granted the lowly four of clubs. King of that suit? White House senior adviser, Karl Rove.
www.gatt.org/regime
www.redrat.net/BUSH_WAR/cards
www.examineur.com/articles
Clutter
Creative Mac users may love Clutter, the new software device that grabs album info from a playing MP3 track, sends it off to Amazon, and comes back with an image of the CD cover. You then place these icons on your desktop and play them via your iTunes software. Very messy, lots of fun.
<A HREF="http://www.sprote.com/clutter"" TARGET="_NEW">www.sprote.com/clutter
Which white?
Should The Beatles have released the White Album as a single long player? George Martin thought so and many fans and music critics agree. A number of them have listed their ideal single album tracks at the Turn Me On Dead Man, a psychedelic music site. There's also a software device that helps you select your favourite order. It even works out the timings of the sides. Sony Music has launched a site that lets you custom build a Bob Dylan CD. Other artists to follow soon, says Sony.
www.turnmeondeadman.net/AWA/AWAAlternatives.html
www.custommixcd.com
Up my street
House price information on any home sold in England and Wales since April 2000 can now be accessed on the Land Registry website. The government hopes that being able to discover price differences in the same street might help rationalise the market. Unlike UpMyStreet.com, which aggregates other local information, the service costs £2 for details of each property.
www.landregisteronline.gov.uk
www.upmystreet.com
Big bird
A Norwegian artist is staging his own version of Big Brother, with birds instead of people. Magne Klann has placed a webcam inside a wooden bird house in a tree at Bogstad Gaard in Oslo. He's given the blue tits that occupy the house some lamps, a TV and pictures. But, says Klann, there will be no evictions.
www.piip-show.no
New & noted
Japanese street fashion
Webby presentation cancelled
Canterbury Tales with glossary
www.librarius.com/cantales.htm
Anonymous blogging
Six of the best: Leonardo da Vinci
Renaissance man
www.mos.org/leonardo
The paintings
www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci
The drawings
http://banzai.msi.umn.edu/leonardo
The Museum
www.leonet.it/comuni/vinci
BBC series
www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo
More links
www.kausal.com/leonardo/links.html
