Gardaí entitled to request Internet data for “public order offenses”.

Surely it should be “minimum custodial sentence”? Perhaps it’s just a transcription error. But isn’t this equivalent – or worse, in some cases – than the Gardaí being allowed to access your bank or medical records for the same offenses? For a minor assault?

ENN: The Irish Times says that the Government has broadened the range of criminal investigations for which the Garda are able to request e-mail and internet data retained by internet service providers. In the latest draft of the statutory instrument implementing European directives on data retention, “serious offences” would be defined as “any offence for which a person… could receive a maximum custodial sentence of six months”. Offences that could now be deemed “serious” include public order offences or minor assault.

Turn off fluorescents when you leave a room

I’ve ofter wondered about this. Turns out it’s a bit of an old wives tale.

Turns out, however, that power surge is so brief that its energy draw doesn’t amount to much: the equivalent of a few seconds or so of normal operation, according to U.S. Department of Energy estimates. In other words, from a strict energy-conservation standpoint, it’s almost always beneficial to shut off fluorescents when leaving the room—the start-up energy is offset by the power saved in even the briefest outages.