Peter Feigenbaum crafts model trains passing through neglected neigbourhoods, complete with graffiti on the walls.

Using photographs he takes during his train journeys, Feigenbaum mixes buildings and streetscapes from different areas to create a 3D pastiche.

Gallery of images.
Via Icon and Vestal Virgin.

Shoppers in Paisley (Scotland) have been banned from entering some retail outlets wearing hoods and baseball caps.

Police said the measure could help them catch or discourage shoplifters who used hats to conceal their faces from CCTV cameras. A number of shops now display signs warning customers: "Please note this store operates a hats off, hoods down policy."

Strathclyde Police have also stepped up officer patrols in the area over the festive season and officers have been giving advice to shops on how to deal with people wearing either caps or hooded tops.

Via BBC News. Picture from Gilbert and George (more images.)

More hoodie bans: in internet cafes, school, malls, etc.

Related: Asbos - anti-social behaviour orders.

Two Chinese policemen patrolling in Pekín, where temperatures have dropped well below zero.

Via 20 minutos (if the picture is not there when you try, this one should work).

For the last decade, police in Tokyo -and now in Osaka- have been using forensic techniques to nab men who grope women on crowded trains (when women-only train cars are not enough). The technique, usually used to comb crime and accident scenes, allows to to lift tiny traces of fabric fibers from a suspect's palm and match them with the victim's clothes.

A sticky film is pressed on the suspect's palm. The film can pick up micro-fibers about a hundredth of a millimeter in length. The particles are then compared to fiber samples from the victim's clothes. Both are put through a microspectrophotometer, a super-powerful microscope that measures light waves. If the fibers match, it proves that the suspect's hand had come into contact with the woman's clothes. A hand casually brushing against someone's clothes would not leave fiber residue, police said.

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, since 1995 the police have been applying forensic screening to about 150 molestation cases a year.

Via news3yen < Asia news.

Vote Chris Christmas Rodriguez.

Via the apt.

Two Buddhist monks pray in the Wat Tham Yod Thong temple, in the Ratchaburi province, Thailand. Their helmets protecting them in case of falling rocks.

Via 20 minutos.