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Comment Re:Something else he should promise... (Score 2) 133

by nut (#46600905) Attached to: Kim Dotcom Launches Political Party In New Zealand

It's for exactly that reason that he gets any traction in public opinion in NZ. The first time he came to the attention of most Kiwis at all was when the NZ police raided his house with swat teams, helicopters and the works at the behest of US law enforcement. For ... copyright infringement.

Then it turned out that our intelligence services had been spying on him illegally, (along with 80 or so other foreign-born NZ residents) Some of our politicians had been taking political donations from him and later denying all knowledge, and our Prime Minister claimed to know nothing about the illegal spying despite being briefed on it 12 months earlier

In addition FBI agents in NZ sent copies of his personal files to the US despite the ruling of NZ courts.

In essence, our local politicians and law enforcement acted like such complete and total dickwads that they made even a guy like Kim Dotcom look the good guy by comparison. The let him into the country for his money, despite his convictions. Then when the US law enforcement came knocking they turned on him like a bunch of weasels.

In fact public opinion is starrting to swing against him. Kiwis typically aren't impressed by the kind of excess and showboating he is famous for. I don't think is party will get that many votes, but in a country the size of NZ, and due to the peculiarities of our version of MMP, a small party can sometimes gain a couple of seats and be in a position to act as kingmaker.

Comment Re:is it illegal? (Score 2) 137

by nut (#46559221) Attached to: Silicon Valley Anti-Poaching Cartel Went Beyond a Few Tech Firms

It is a restraint of trade. If it was built into a contract it would be unenforceable at the least, probably illegal in many jurisdictions, although some restrictions in employment contracts are enforceable provided they are, "reasonable."

It tells you something that it had to be a gentleman's agreement. I'm sure if they could have legally put it into employment contracts they would have.

Submission + - Slashdot creates beta site users express theirs dislike (slashdot.org) 4

Submitted by who_stole_my_kidneys
who_stole_my_kidneys writes: Slashdot started redirecting users in February to its newly revamped webpage and received a huge backlash from users. The majority of comments dislike the new site while some do offer solutions to make it better. The question is will Slashdot force the unwanted change on its users that clearly do not want change?

Submission + - Slashdot beta sucks 9

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Maybe some of the slashdot team should start listening to its users, most of which hate the new user interface. Thanks for ruining something that wasn't broken.

Submission + - New Type of Star Can Emerge From Inside Black Holes, Say Cosmologists (medium.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: Black holes form when a large star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own weight. Since there is no known force that can stop this collapse, astrophysicists have always assumed that it forms a singularity, a region of space that is infinitely dense. Now cosmologists think quantum gravity might prevent this complete collapse after all. They say that the same force that stops an electron spiralling into a nucleus might also cause the collapsing star to "bounce" at scales of around 10^-14cm. They're calling this new state a "Planck star" and say it's lifetime would match that of the black hole itself as it evaporates. That raises the possibility that the shrinking event horizon would eventually meet the expanding Planck star, which emerges with a sudden blast of gamma rays. That radiation would allow any information trapped in the black hole to escape, solving the infamous information paradox. If they're right, these gamma rays may already have been detected by space-based telescopes meaning that the evidence is already there for any enterprising astronomer to tease apart.

Submission + - Quarks Know Their Left From Their Right (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: How an electron interacts with other matter depends on which way it's spinning as it zips along—to the right like a football thrown by a right-handed quarterback or the left like a pigskin thrown by a lefty. Now, physicists have confirmed that quarks—the particles that join in trios to form the protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei—exhibit the same asymmetry.The result could give physics a new weapon in the grand hunt for new particles and forces. Or they can search for subtle hints of exotic new things beyond their tried-and-true standard model by studying familiar particles in great detail. In the latter approach, the new experiment gives physicists a way to probe for certain kinds of new forces.

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