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Government

US Light Bulb Phase-Out's Next Step Begins Next Month 1146

Posted by timothy from the word-from-on-high dept.
SonicSpike writes "Light bulb manufacturers will cease making traditional 40 and 60-watt light bulbs — the most popular in the country — at the start of 2014. This comes after the controversial phasing out of incandescent 75 and 100-watt light bulbs at the beginning of 2013. In their place will be halogen bulbs, compact fluorescent bulbs, LED bulbs and high efficiency incandescents — which are just regular incandescents that have the filament wrapped in gas. All are significantly more expensive than traditional light bulbs, but offer significant energy and costs savings over the long run. (Some specialty incandescents — such as three-way bulbs — will still be available.) ... The rules were signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007. They are designed to address gross inefficiencies with old light bulbs — only 10% of the energy they use is converted into light, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which has a handy fact sheet about the changes. The rest is wasted as heat. But the rules have drawn fire from a number of circles — mainly conservatives and libertarians who are unhappy about the government telling people what light bulbs they can use. They argue that if the new ones really are so good, people will buy them on their own without being forced to do so."
Privacy

Belgium Investigates Suspected Cyber Spying By Foreign State 158

Posted by samzenpus from the usual-suspect dept.
First time accepted submitter julf writes "The Belgian newspaper De Standaard reports that in an internal investigation, Belgacom, the mostly state-owned telecoms operator in Belgium, discovered evidence that the NSA has been listening in (Dutch) on the Belgacom network since 2011. From the Reuters article: 'Belgium said on Monday it was investigating suspected foreign state espionage against its main telecoms company, which is the top carrier of voice traffic in Africa and the Middle East, and a newspaper pointed the finger at the United States. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the former state telecoms monopoly Belgacom had filed a complaint in July about the hacking of several servers and computers. "The inquiry has shown that the hacking was only possible by an intruder with significant financial and logistic means," they said.'"

Comment Re:Bitcoin. (Score 1) 443

by lexa1979 (#44765115) Attached to: PayPal Freezes MailPile's Account
use localbitcoin.com to buy/sell bitcoin directly, through SEPA payment (need a bit of trust) or cash while meeting the seller/buyer. no freaking delay to send or receive your money to/from Hong Kong or Bulgaria...

Comment Re:Ahhhhhhh.... (Score 1) 309

by lexa1979 (#43076781) Attached to: The Pirate Bay Claims It Is Now Hosting From North Korea
Adam Smith, Wealth of nations, p107, about the ones making profits: " The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it." http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38194/38194-h/38194-h.htm Why don't we listen ???

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