How? Because said employee decided to burn two CDs with the unencrypted records of all these people, including full name, address, bank account details, National Insurance number and date of birth and then sent it in the mail, unregistered and untrackable, to the National Audit Office. And then those CDs never arrived. Apology letters are going out to 7 million families.

You just can’t make this stuff up. I’m sure this will go down in history as one of the most incredibly brilliant lessons in data security, ever.

I’m just astounded. In fact, so amused that I had to blog about it.

(Rest assured, when this makes it onto Facebook as an imported note, I will be traumatised by not being able to tag 25 million Britons in the note.)

The news coverage starts here: BBC News - UK’s families put on fraud alert

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Supposedly, anyway. But no matter how excited we are about ice cream (even really big cones), it obviously doesn’t come close to these guys who feature on the packaging for the You’ll Love Coles own-brand ice cream cones!

Lucy and I spotted these out shopping one night last year, and if I remember correctly, I just lost it and couldn’t stop giggling hysterically once I saw them. The fact that we were in a supermarket (with other people around) be damned.

Here’s the news story:
Ottawa Citizen: iPod prompts airport scare in Ottawa

And here’s the story from the poor guy involved:
WoW.com Forums: I played WoW, I became a terrorist (story!)

As usual, how I wish I lived in Japan or Europe where I could catch high-speed rail everywhere instead of having to put up with flying and bloody airport security.

(Thanks to Engadget.)

You can see more photos of this at Nathan’s website, along with his other pieces made out of LEGO.

(Thanks to Candy Addict, where I discovered this.)

Microsoft designs the iPod package

As much as I like a lot of Microsoft’s imaging and branding, it’s so true! Their packaging does feel seriously cluttered like there’s no tomorrow. I’m looking at a OneNote 2003 box at the moment and hey look! There’s one side blank… but it’s only the bottom.

I really do like the iPod boxes. The original origami-like ones were better than the later ones though, like my 30 GB iPod photo one. However, while they weren’t as exciting to open, they still looked good!

Nicely made clip too, the music was great — perfect comedic timing. Thanks Adam for the heads-up!

Sure, the traffic signal had been knocked down, but why should that stop it from continuing to work? I waited till there was no traffic and listened carefully. Sure enough you could just make out it’s pained cry… “Never say die!”

I passed by the same intersection today, and it had been restored to its former glory, upright once more, with some new concrete put into the median strip. I’m fairly sure it was the same set of traffic signals ‘cos I swear I heard some singing. “I get knocked down, but I get up again…”

A few minutes ago, I spotted a mosquito perched on a cupboard in the kitchen. Naturally (for me anyway), I thought I’d reach over to the fruit plate and pick up a big banana to whack the mosquito! After all, I thought a tissue or something isn’t anywhere near as solid as a good banana (as long as the banana isn’t over-ripe), and so the mosquito could have escaped!

So I took a swing, and… missed! You know, it’s actually quite hard since bananas are kind of narrow. Anyhow I quickly moved to hit it again, and although it had just took flight to attempt an escape, one deftly-executed, wonderfully satisfying thwack! later, the mosquito was officially smooshed and the banana was not. Yay!

Don’t worry, I rinsed the end of the banana under the tap and dried it (as you do) to make sure it was clean again.

The almighty lethal banana, 22.5 cm long. Naughty mosquitoes, just you wait!

That’s right, the rotting carcase of a snake was discovered in late September with the tail and hind legs of an alligator protruding from its ruptured stomach, as reported by numerous news sources including the Miami Herald. In another twist, the python’s head was missing.

The Times Online has the best picture I’ve yet found of this gruesome scene.

There are a number of theories for what happened, including the alligator struggling in the python’s stomach after being swallowed, puncturing the stomach with its claws. Another suggests the alligator may have been dead, but its reflexive twitching may have done the same thing. Alternatively, gases inside a rotting alligator may have caused it to explode inside the snake.

This is just bizarre… but apparently it’s not the first time it’s been spotted. Unwanted pet snakes being released into the Everglades are suspected of breeding to bring about this current threat to the established food chain.

Well if I’m reincarnated as a snake in my next life, I’ll be careful what I gobble!

It’s alien versus predator in Glades creature clash

(Thanks to Timmy at the COFA Forums for first spotting this.)