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Submission + - Congressman introduce bill to ban minting of trillion-dollar coin (politico.com)

Dainsanefh writes: Lawmakers are still positioning themselves for a debt ceiling fight in a few months, but one Republican congressman wants to snuff out a particular idea immediately: the U.S. Treasury minting $1 trillion platinum coins to avert a debt ceiling showdown.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) has introduced a bill to specifically ban President Barack Obama from minting the coins.

The trillion-dollar coin has been previously discussed on Slashdot:
http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/07/30/1351209/seigniorage-hack-could-resolve-debt-limit-crisis

Submission + - Is kiosk use similar to offshore outsourcing? (computerworld.com)

dcblogs writes: Elevators once had attendants. When elevator operators were replaced by buttons, did shoppers start using stairs in protest? They didn't, but going to the human cashier at a Safeway or Giant feels like an act of resistance. Automated, self-checkout kiosks are gaining usage. Replacing one cashier with four automated systems has its appeal. But will self-service kiosk technology be as disruptive as offshore outsourcing? It would be useful to know how many jobs were actually lost to offshoring, but there is no comprehensive data “on the number of production and services workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the movement of work outside U.S. borders,” said the Congressional Research Service in a recently updated report about offshoring and its impact on jobs. There may be a similar problem in calculating the impact of self-service kiosks on retail employment.
NASA

Submission + - LEGO announces a new MINDSTORMS EV3 platform (lego.com)

Barryke writes: Today LEGO announces the new mohawk (NASA's turf) sporting MINDSTORMS EV3 platform, press release:
http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/news-room/2013/january/new-smarter-stronger-lego-mindstorms-ev3/ (we all like the source)

And with details on its features and innards a story (dutch) at http://tweakers.net/nieuws/86473/lego-kondigt-nieuwe-mindstorms-robotkit-aan.html which in short comes down to:
"Its intelligent brick sports an ARM9-soc running Linux on 64MB RAM and 16MB storage memory, and supports SD cards. There are also four ports, which allow four other 'Bricks' can be connected. The intelligent brick can be reached by WiFi, USB and Bluetooth, and supports control via Android and iOS devices. It comes with 3 servo's, two touch sensors and an IR sensor to track other robots at upto six meters. It also includes 17 build plans, shown in 3D using Adobe Inventor Publisher."

Comment Re:obligatory (Score 1) 341

Considering that your "homemade independant move" has a projected revenue of Jack and Shit there is a huge difference.

Exactly my point. $=enforcement. Most likely outcome if I call the FBI about my movie? "Sorry, you'll have to call the local police department. They won't do anything either, but hey, it'll get you off the line."

If the police do not procecute ever such offence then the law becomes unenforceable.

Again, exactly my point. Same law, but one crime is important and has victimized 'real live movie stars', and the other is ignored and 'public cable access'.

Comment Re:obligatory (Score 1) 341

Funny, I think if "little bad guy" took my homemade independent movie and spread it around, he'd be facing two charges. Jack and Shit. No prosecutors, no FBI, no nothing. Same if the big movie studio stole my film. The reason this went anywhere is because the movie studio can afford endless lawyers, and can pull the strings that us 'mortals' can't.

We shouldn't prosecute any bad guy if the law is not equally enforced across the board.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 1) 284

Read the articles you linked to.


"Keeping up with their promise to make smartphones more root-friendly,"

"They didn't specify which handsets will receive the capability or when we can expect to see it, but the company promises to keep us updated "every few weeks.""

"Motorola said it plans to enable the unlockable/relockable bootloader currently found on Motorola XOOM across its portfolio of devices starting in late 2011, "where carriers and operators will allow it.""

What's funny is you lot sure like to drag out the 'reality distortion field' a lot.

Why was this modded down instead of up?

Government

Submission + - Congresswoman and Staff Gunned Down (npr.org) 1

tkprit writes: What a shame that a congresswoman makes herself available to her constituents and she and 6 of her staff are gunned down for the effort. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was gunned down at near point-blank range, along with her staff, for trying to hear the concerns of the people she represents.

Comment Re:Why would you refuse a breathalyzer? (Score 1) 1219

I just don't understand any legitimate concern to decline a breathalyzer test.

How about the fact that the evidence that is used to convict you rejoins the atmosphere, and there is no way for you to independently check the results?

DUI laws and enforcement are stacked in favor of the state, to a ridiculous degree. Even here in MN.

Censorship

Is Twitter Censoring Wikileaks Trends? 191

comforteagle writes "There are suspicions coming to the surface this morning that Twitter may be censoring WikiLeaks-related tweets from forming a trending topic. Why is still unclear at this point, as during Iranian protests a short while ago Twitter appeared to be in the fray of helping to spread the word. As of this morning it appears that Twitter may have some explaining to do. One of Twitter's engineers has chimed in over the weekend, but some aren't convinced."

Comment Re:Cue Bush Derangement Syndrome (Score 2, Interesting) 372

Maybe because they are using those tax dollars to do pointless things that waste the money and fail to do any good. If the U.S. government and the States can't keep things going with close to half the GDP of the richest nation in the world, isn't it time to think the people in charge are incompetent?

Like the TSA, DHS, Border Patrol, and the astronomical amount of defense spending? I look forward to the link to your comment pointing out these failures when Bush was the head cheese.

Blind faith in government is what's nuts.

We agree on something! We probably both like ice cream too!

Comment Re:Cue Bush Derangement Syndrome (Score 2, Informative) 372

Please, enlighten me. You said, "I've never heard anyone wish physical harm on him. I've never heard of people in the media fantasizing on the airwaves about his assassination or any of the many other reprehensible things that were directed towards Bush, and seemingly accepted as perfectly reasonable by people I would think are above all that."

I said, and I paraphrase, "WTF, dood. It's everywhere. Open remaining eye, and take spoon out of cup."

Comment Re:Cue Bush Derangement Syndrome (Score 1, Troll) 372

Tea Partiers might be perfectly sane, but when you're that willfully ignorant about *everything*, anybody's going to look crazy.

As strongly as people feel about President Obama, and there is as much _strong_ feelings against him as there ever were for President Bush, I've never heard anyone wish physical harm on him. I've never heard of people in the media fantasizing on the airwaves about his assassination or any of the many other reprehensible things that were directed towards Bush, and seemingly accepted as perfectly reasonable by people I would think are above all that.

Really? You've seen enough rage against Bush to name/quote an invented disorder about it, but 'just haven't seen any evidence' of the Right's ridiculous, over-the-top, impotent rage over having a black 'liberal' man as president? The Facebook pages, the chain emails, the snippets of AM talk radio, the hand-painted signs, the mass-produced bumper stickers, and completely context-free anti-Obama comments that just "pop-up" when talking about other, politics-free subjects, like say, the weather?

You lose your keys when they're in your hand, don't you?

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