Cory Doctorow at 10:16 PM March 11, 2010

The Olympics are coming to London, so our civil liberties are going out the window: because nothing epitomises the spirit of global competition and cooperation like corporate bullying and unfettered truncheon-waving.

Police will have powers to enter private homes and seize posters, and will be able to stop people carrying non-sponsor items to sporting events.

"I think there will be lots of people doing things completely innocently who are going to be caught by this, and some people will be prosecuted, while others will be so angry about it that they will start complaining about civil liberties issues," Chadwick said.

"I think what it will potentially do is to prompt a debate about the commercial nature of the Games. Do big sponsors have too much influence over the Games?"

Eyes turn to "value for money" London 2012 (Thanks, Bobby!)

(Image: More Riot Police a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Kashklick's photostream)

This Christmas tree in London is made out of recycled bicycle wheels, donated by a non-profit that ships bike parts to Africa to help with health care transportation in rural areas. A neat idea executed by a cool architecture firm, even though I don't think it really looks like a Christmas tree.

[Architects Journal via Inhabitat]

"These shadows all point towards the West side of Westminster Bridge, the Houses of Parliament side.."

By Michael Conroy | 30 October 2009

The BT Tower has been crowned with Europe's biggest LED screen, as part of the build-up to the 2012 Olympics. Floors 36 and 37 are now wrapped in a 59-metre-long screen built from more than half a million individual LEDs spread over an area of 280 square metres.

The screen is so luminous it can be seen from space at full brightness, the organisers say, and the words it displays will be legible throughout the city's West End.

The architects behind the project, Imagination, used a lightweight design that houses the LEDs in hundreds of rods spaced about 10cm apart. Had they used a solid screen construction, the weight would have affected the balance of the building, which wouldn't have been a great start to the countdown...

The "1000 Days" campaign kicks off tomorrow night at 8.45pm, when the screen will be switched on with much pomp and pyrotechnics. The tower will then count down each day to the Olympics, and broadcast various inspirational messages intended to excite the public in the run-up to the Games.

Wired.co.uk has also been assured to be on the look out for "something quite special" unveiling involving plenty of colour and movement, obviously intended to show of the vibrant new screen.

But we know what you're thinking: can I send it a tweet? Not yet, but the BT Tower's new clothes are permanent, and the management team want to rally London around the iconic landmark. So in their own words: watch this space.

Construction of the screen has involved:

 – 2,700 separate trips in the lift to transport materials to the top of the tower 
 – Designing the scaffolding by computer and erecting more than seven miles of scaffolding components
 – Installing nearly 2.5 miles of power, lighting and electrical cable
 – 11,000 scaffold components
 – Making nearly 1,500 wind checks, as no installation work could take place in winds of more than 15 knots
 – 114 construction workers and engineers
 – A total of 30,600 man hours to complete the work
 – 11 weeks of construction