Dickie's Quickies

Bruce Schneier makes the case for needing to control your own data and that the problem is, in part, a legal one. That's the same argument I've made here and it is the same one made in The Digital Person - a book I read based on Schneier's recommendation.

Reason online has a story on gun control as it was implemented by white, conservative racists in the Southeast US following the Civil War. It's an interesting article that argues for less gun control. It follows the line of reasoning that a well-armed populace is the greatest protection against an oppressive government. I understand that argument and appreciate it, but in the days of missiles, I think it is a tad dated. I'd love to say I favor a ban on guns altogether, but that is a Utopian dream. Now that Pandora is out of the box, some reasonable buying limits are the best that I think we can hope for. What is really needed is a major societal change in the attitudes regarding reasonable gun use and that is a long term project.

Annanova reports that a baker in Belgium is being sued for selling erotic cakes which feature different sexual positions, but no genitals. From the article:

But the woman, a neigbour of the shop, says putting them in the window is like exposing children to pornography.

Finally, a Swedish woman found a penis in a new ketchup bottle. The short article contains such gems as the following quotes:

"It looked like a penis, of an adult if it's human, and medium sized," the mother told news agency AFP."

and:

"The object is currently being examined by police."