I recently saw the movie Children of Men, and found it thoroughly enjoyable. It’s a dystopian, near-future sci-fi flick set in a world with no children because all the women became infertile about 18 years ago.

It’s basically a left-wing film: most of the main characters are ageing hippies, or former leftie demo attending types grown up a bit. But everything in the movie is about personal freedom, the main theme being the plight of illegal immigrants, but Michael Caine’s character even complains that cannabis is still illegal. There is nothing in the movie about economic control and no anti-capitalism talk, so the libertarian in me found it quite acceptable. The world *is* depicted as somewhat smog-ridden, but this is easily dismissed as a stylistic choice rather than comment on the excesses of capitalism, and pollution is named as only one of several possible causes for the infertility because the real cause is not known.

So having established that this is a pro-freedom film, what am I getting at? Well, it’s set in the UK, and it’s very much a depiction of one of the directions the UK could be heading if we’re not careful. People have to apply for transit papers to make journeys, and there are check-points at railway stations with signs asking people to have their ID cards ready. It’s an anti-ID card film!

The warning is that if we introduce ID cards and the national database now, when everything is fine and dandy and of course the cards are used only for “legitimate” purposes like preventing benefit fraud, it only takes one big disaster or a series of small disasters over the next fifty years or so to justify this or that “important measure”, and before you know it, you *do* have to justify every aspect of your life to the government. The people of Children of Men’s UK are not in any sense free people: fomerly legal immigrants are declared illegal and hounded; British subjects are treated with suspicion; everyone is controlled by a highly armed police force. All this is made possible and convenient by ID cards.

I should also mention that it’s a top notch action film, too. There are a few sublime sequences done entirely in one shot where the superb sound and camera-work make for a completely immersive experience. It’s an unmissable film for that reason alone.

Posted by Rob Fisher as Civil Liberties at 11:52 AM EDT

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Not much time to post.  But No2ID have news about plans designed to allow government departments to freely share information.  There is a BBC news story about it.  One phrase struck me as odd:

Data-sharing would also allow council tax inspectors to “raid” other databases such as the Land Registry to build up detailed records of every home, including taxable features such as scenic views and gardens.

A quick Google turned up the website of Hugo Swire, MP.  Sure enough, there are plans to tax people based on their house prices, and the government gets to decide how much your house is worth.

Taxed for your view: Under the new system, homes with scenic or ‘premium views’, adjoining parks or green spaces, or in Conservation Areas will pay higher taxes. Ordnance Survey maps and councils’ planning departments will be used to identify these features.
• 21st Century window tax: The internal and external specifications of the property will affect the tax bill. Patios, garden sheds, double-glazing, conservatories or extensions are ‘site positive’ features that will hike bills.
• House price tax: Tax bills will be based on the house price of the property, and be unlimited, unlike the present ‘banded’ system of council tax. Local residents will be charged 0.78% of their home’s value each year - local councils can vary the precise rate. In East Devon, this would mean a tax increase of £576 per year for the average home. Only Labour heartlands – like Tony Blair’s Sedgefield and John Prescott’s Hull may pay less.

Take a minute to imagine just how intrusive that is.

Posted by Rob Fisher as Authorised Theft, Civil Liberties at 5:30 PM EDT

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I saw this at Waterloo station:

No, Ken. Londoners are not “one” or whatever it is you mean by this sinister propaganda. The people living in London are individuals, some of whom don’t like you stealing their money and using it to “educate” them.

Update: Thanks to commenter Jonathan for pointing out that the poster is part of a We are Londoners campaign.  Despite sponsorship from British Gas and Capital Radio, the cost of that campaign to taxpayers will be £1,637,840.

Posted by Rob Fisher as Authorised Theft at 8:17 PM EDT

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HDR stands for high dynamic range and in photography this refers to the range between the darkest and lightest parts of a scene. The dynamic range of film (also known as exposure latitude) is typically around 300:1, meaning that the brightest areas of the image are 300 times brighter than the darkest. Now that digital has caught up with film in terms of image resolution, the next frontier is likely to be dynamic range. Fuji already have a new sensor that boasts extended dynamic range. Meanwhile, to display images with a high dynamic range, a company called Brightside has developed a HDR display.

All well and good, but what does a HDR image look like? Well, it sort of depends how you convert it to be displayed on a conventional display or how you print it out, but the idea is that details can still be resolved in the darkest and the brightest areas, unlike a photograph where a bright area becomes just a patch of solid white. This can be done with a conventional digital camera by taking multiple images at different exposures and then combining them together with special software. This can be done in Photoshop CS2 with the Merge to HDR tool.

As for the results, Trent Ratcliffe has some amazing HDR images which I found via a Samizdata post by Jonathan Pearce. The HDR group on Flickr is also well worth a look.

I like playing with photography, and have Photoshop CS2, so I’m keen to try out this technique and I’ll post the results.

Posted by Rob Fisher as Geekism at 7:48 PM EDT

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