The British government (aka the US’s very own Mini-Me) has taken to intimidating the *friends and family* of disruptive journalists! This appalling, abusive violation of free speech resembles the very worst from repressive democracies like Russia! So, when's our first gulag opening?

There is no question that child abductions are tragic, and that Amber Alert phone notifications (part of the national Emergency Alerts System) are a great idea. But the implementation of this notification program is terrible! iPhone users were jolted awake several times last night by their phone's "Alarm" ringtone, which is designed to sound like a 1950s military base under threat of imminent attack. On iPhones, the Amber Alert system uses this specific ringtone at full volume, even when in Silent Mode or Do Not Disturb is activated. Unless a tsunami is about to wash Los Angeles into the ocean, common sense tells us that particular sound is not necessary or appropriate, especially since it can be triggered in the middle of the night while people are sleeping. It's an all-or-nothing design, where the only option one has is to opt-out entirely. Given the ringtone choice, it wouldn't be surprising if many people did opt out. The poor decision to use this particular ringtone is a lesson in the importance of getting the details right.

Even if indie electronic is your thing, it's hard to deny The Naked and Famous create with consistent focus and detail, as they have again exemplified.

We the >new-yorkers believe it's time the NYPD started enforcing the law in the Lower East Side no man's land known as "Hell Square"! And, no, closing the streets does not count! The NYPD presents the street closures as a necessary evil, but it creates a lose-lose situation for LES residents. It does not reduce noise--drunken, aggressive shouting at all hours is no better than honking cars or garbage trucks--but it does provide a safe, *inviting* space for transitory bar patrons to lose all sense of responsibility, awareness, and respect for residents. Closing the streets and setting up a weekly petting zoo for NYPD horses is worse than security theater--it's security mockery. There have to be better solutions. Why not leave the streets open but scale up foot patrols, to issue citations *left and right* to unruly members of the public, non-compliant bars, and road violators? You know, to actually enforce the law rather than turning their backs on the neighborhood!

As much as we love Arrested Development, we just can't get that into the new stuff due to its... disjointed development. Digital delivery holds the promise of bringing small time, lower budget productions to large audiences, but those productions also tend to be edgier, riskier, and more adventurous. Combine that edginess with the wide-open possibilities of the on-demand digital frontier, and you risk a level of self-indulgence that would make Lindsay Fünke blush. It's a match made in Sudden Valley. In the case of A.D., they started down the zany path of "watch 'em in any order" only to abandon that at the last minute. That sounds like something the Bluth family might do, and while we applaud the show creators' efforts to feel their characters, we wished they didn't. That ever-tumbling plot-orientation of yesterday's A.D. was replaced with an explosion of disconnected mini-biopics. They each go in their own direction and leave us not with a burning desire to find out WHAT THE HELL WILL HAPPEN NEXT?! but with a burning desire to shrug and shake our heads. Netflix, next time you take on a gifted show, make sure you don't let your new media strangeness mess with their mojo.