Category Archives: Uncategorized

US university settles religious discrimination case

At Physics World:

A settlement has been reached in a case brought against the University of Kentucky by astrophysicist Martin Gaskell over his claim that the university illegally denied him a staff position on the basis of his evangelical Christian faith. The settlement now requires the university to pay $125,000 to Gaskell and his lawyers, who claimed that the decision meant Gaskell lost income and caused him “emotional distress”. The university admits no wrongdoing in the case, which was due to go to trial on 8 February. Meanwhile, Gaskell has taken a job at Chile’s University of Valparaiso, which he will start in March.

Following up on the Gaskell affair.

“Lady Betty”

From Hangwomen.

It is reputed that in 1780 a middle aged woman from Co. Kerry called Elizabeth Dolan or McDermott was sentenced to death at Roscommon for the murder of her son. The town’s normal hangman did not turn up for the execution of Elizabeth and her 24 fellow condemned prisoners who were members of the “White Boys” so Elizabeth is reputed to have said to the sheriff “Spare me, yer Honour, spare me and I’ll hang them all.” As in law he would have had to have performed the task himself if no one else could be found, the sheriff agreed. Elizabeth executed her fellow criminals and was appointed Roscommon’s hang-woman and given a room of her own in the goal. She is thought to have operated there from about 1780 until her death in 1807. Her own death sentence was commuted in 1802.

Via Beachcombing’s Bizarre History.

Rogue Facebook apps can now access your home address and mobile phone number

At Naked Security

Facebook has announced that developers of Facebook apps can now gather the personal contact information from their users.

Via Slashdot. As an old friend wrote about Facebook and other internet powers:

We don’t use the internet anymore: it is using us.

And also

If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer: you’re the product being sold.

How Amazon Saved The Kindle

…. from the threat posed by the iPad. At Business Insider

Essentially what I posted back in September. A further point is that Apple historically does not compete on price. It sell premium products (good premium products) at premium prices. But for Amazon (and Barnes & Noble) discounting is a way of life. Apple cannot compete with them on price, and has no reason to: There are lots of people quite happy to pay Apple’s current prices. These are just different business models