Welcome to your New Year’s Day coffee. We’ll try to make it extra-strong for you.

	This has to be the greatest career move ever made: This guy quit his job, and started a business suing spammers.
Here is the New York Times, on why you should find it worrying that banks are shutting down payments to Wikileaks. No matter your personal opinions on Wikileaks or Assange, you ought to find it troubling.
	I’m not sure why I find this surprising — probably because, like everybody else, I just bought into the political rhetoric and media spin. In retrospect, it seems obvious. So, this just in: Suicide bombers are not religious fanatics. They are just suicidal, and looking for an acceptable means (according to their religion and culture) by which to end their life.
Tennessee, where suggesting a preference for “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” can put you on a terrorist watch list.
	During recent protest marches in London, with the exception of a handful of incidences, I have been rather sympathetic with the police. A significant portion of those marching have been destructive and violent, and while I disagree with kettling, it is easy to be sympathetic with the desire to avoid the violence and property destruction that accompanied the first march. But suggesting that marches be banned? We live in a democracy, sirs. The freedom to engage in such demonstrations is more than worth the “disorder” they cause.
All hail the singing mouse! I hope it wins the next X Factor.
	Have goats? Want more milk? Then you need some Mariah Carey.
Banks in America have been illegally foreclosing on customers who are up to date on mortgage payments, and even on non-customers who do not have a mortgage at all. There is a word for this — theft. And it’s nice to see an article that features people actually standing up to the banks for a change, rather than just being victimized by them.

We cannot help but notice that this week’s Weekend Coffee — the first in a month! — contains fewer silly pictures and more good photographs than usual.

You are therefore particularly encouraged to click on the pretty pictures. As is the norm with pretty pictures, they look better when viewed in larger formats.

	Bruce Schneier has written an excellent essay on terrorism, fear, and why the Washington Monument should be closed.
Something to think about the next time you read that music-industry profits are down: While that may be true for the record labels, the musicians themselves are making more money than ever. In fact, if you buy two songs (in MP3 format) directly from a musician these days, they make more money than they would if you bought an entire album on CD at HMV. In short, new distribution channels are endangering the norms of the industry surrounding the musicians, not the musicians themselves.
	Here is a short story of methane release from melting permafrost.
If you are asked to review your own book, be careful.
	Some of the best bits from the Bloggess come when she interacts with clueless and incompetent marketers. It’s so ridiculous that I think it must be fake. Until I realise that I sometimes get these e-mails too. I just ignore them.
Adding to the list of reasons why my next computer will not be built by Apple: Apple forces a company selling third-party Macbook Air updates to stop producing them. I might not be the sort of person who tends to buy third-party updates for their laptop. But I find it hard to support a company that doesn’t allow it. If I buy something, it’s mine.
	So … Canada has this new copyright legislation, that a lot of people don’t like. So … the guy that wrote it goes on TV to defend it … … and … … he ends up giving a good explanation of why it’s a bad piece of legislation. Why is Canada doing this, again?
If life hands you lemon bars … make lemonade.

I used to think that London police were targeting photographers and treating them like terrorists as some sort of strategy. It didn’t make sense, but there had to be something. Not any more.

London police detained two actors filming a children’s television show using anti-terrorist laws in London recently. The actors were suspicious because they were being followed by a camera crew while using children’s walkie-talkies and brandishing hair dryers.

I no longer think the police are out to get me. I think they have lost their minds.

We have no more words this morning. Instead, photos.