IN SPACE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU FILE A MOTION TO DISMISS

ITEM: A course on law and the legal system in space will be included as an option for students starting at Sunderland University in the UK in September.

Topics already arising in the field include gaps in health and safety for potential space tourists, and damage to satellites from other objects orbiting the Earth. Looking further ahead, some lawyers have raised questions about land titles on the moon or other planets.

This isn’t a bad idea, if only because President Junior Bush once unilaterally declared the universe to be the default property and jurisdiction of the United States Of America. Yes, I know, Bush said a lot of things that probably sounded good to him at the time. But you know as well as I do that some US president in the near future is going to invoke that claim the moment China, Russia or India manages to put someone on the moon.

So it’d be good to start having some thought exercises now on who has the right to go into space. Because otherwise, you know how this is going to end.

"The Village Stompers- 1963 - Washington Square-" (Watch on YouTube)

This solar system ain’t big enough for the two of us,

This is dF

WE CAN BEAT JAPAN, MR PRESIDENT! WE CAN BEAT THEM WITH SCIENCE! AND VOLCANOES!

ITEM [via Pink Tentacle]: Popular Science has put its entire 137-year archive online – including an article by an eminent geologist who proposed bombing Japan’s volcanoes as a strategy for winning the war.

Given Japan’s seismic instability and the explosive nature of volcanoes, dropping bombs into volcanic craters might, in the words of the author, “cause such a vomiting of lava and ash as to hasten the day of unconditional surrender.”

And you laughed when Hugo Chavez said the US had the technology to build earthquake weapons.

Hot lava,

This is dF

INSERT “RUTHLESS BLOODSUCKER IN WASHINGTON” JOKE HERE

The best political news story you will see today:



Sure, you say, he hasn’t got a chance, and not just because of the vampire thing:

He's accused of "brainwashing" a 16-year-old in Minnesota. The two were engaged until last month. Her family now has a restraining order against Sharkey and claims his texts to her violate it.

He reportedly admitted to harassing another 16-year-old Minnesota girl online in 2009.

He was arrested in Tennessee several years ago and is currently on probation from Indiana after he was found guilty in 2009 of intimidating a judge. He served six months in a Marion Co. jail before his release. Sources confirm the Secret Service has had to keep him on its radar, since he moves around the country.

But c’mon ... if all of that was a hindrance to running for office, Congress would have an occupancy rate of 38%.

I hope he at least makes it to the primary. I’d love to see him debate Sarah Palin. You would too. Admit it. At this point in US political history, would it really make a difference compared to what passes for rational debate on the issues now?

Bite me,

This is dF

GREAT MOMENTS IN MARKETING: SLEEP DEP TORTURE FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

ITEM: Warner Bros has been promoting the upcoming remake/reboot of A Nightmare On Elm Street online with an interactive game called Keep Her Awake. The object: making sure a nubile blond teenager keeps herself awake so that Freddy Kreuger doesn’t kill her.

You get to select the manner in which she stays awake – to include cutting herself up with a knife or burning herself with a cigarette lighter.



All for yr entertainment.

Whee.

Horror movie fans might accuse me of not having a sense of humor, and I’ll fully admit that the torture-porn sub-genre of horror films (Saw, Hostel, etc) do absolutely nothing for me. I also realize that the “torture” (both in the films and this game) isn’t real.

But like Susanna Breslin and others, it’s hard for me to watch this and NOT think about the wider political discussion of justified torture, especially given the primary role of sleep deprivation as a staple tactic. Granted, the CIA doesn’t resort to knives and lighters to keep suspects awake (as far as we know). But the spirit is there. And they have been known to kill people that way.

I suppose what bugs me about this is that not nearly enough people are making that connection ... that we have somehow taken the torture debate and distilled it to a silly interactive online game to promote a Hollywood movie. Because why not? The last presidential admin did it and no one gave a fuck, so why should you?

But then I’m not really crazy about a remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street – a horror classic that, like Friday The 13th, did not need remaking – so I would say that, wouldn’t I?

NOTE: The game is now gone, and has been replaced with the official movie site + trailer. Which may mean Warner Bros may have gotten one unhappy phone call too many about this.

DISCLAIMER: Just so we’re clear, I am a fan of horror movies, though not as much as I used to be. And while I didn’t really care for the slasher genre (apart from the original Halloween film, which is still great and which no one ever really surpassed), I thought Freddy Kreuger was one of the great horror villains. He wore out his welcome after the first few films, but the concept is great.

Which is why I’m not big on a remake. Though if you have to do a remake, you could do worse than Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy. Still, I’m not interested.

Don’t fall asleep,

This is dF