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Comment Re:Legally questionable, doomed to fail! (Score 1) 427

Here in Houston, that is accomplished with a paper receipt that you put on your dashboard for the meter cops to inspect. On at least one occasion, as I was leaving my spot, and saw a new driver arrive and head toward the kiosk, I interrupted him and handed him my slip of paper showing an hour of time remaining. The concept of *selling* this time, especially in a city as packed as SF, is abhorrent.

Submission + - Why Only One Top Banker Went to Jail for the Financial Crisis

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: After the savings-and-loan scandals of the 1980s, the FBI opened 5,490 criminal investigations, 1,100 people were prosecuted, and 839 were convicted, including top executives at many of the largest failed banks. But Jesse Eisinger writes in the NYT that the largest man-made economic catastrophe since the Depression resulted in the jailing of a single investment banker, Kareem Serageldin, to 30 months in jail. Many assume that federal authorities simply lacked the guts to go after powerful Wall Street bankers but according to Eisinger, the truth is more complicated. "During the past decade, the Justice Department suffered a series of corporate prosecutorial fiascos, which led to critical changes in how it approached white-collar crime. The department began to focus on reaching settlements rather than seeking prison sentences, which over time unintentionally deprived its ranks of the experience needed to win trials against the most formidable law firms."

From 2004 to 2012, the Justice Department reached 242 deferred and nonprosecution agreements with corporations, compared with 26 in the previous 12 years, and while companies paid huge sums in the settlements, several veteran Justice Department officials say that these settlements emboldened defense lawyers. More crucially, they allowed the Justice Department’s lawyers to “succeed” without learning how to develop important prosecutorial skills. The erosion of the department’s actual trial skills soon became apparent. In November 2009, the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn lost the first criminal case of the crisis against two Bear Stearns executives accused of misleading investors. The prosecutors rushed into trial, failing to prepare for the exculpatory emails uncovered by the defense team. After two days, the jury acquitted the two money managers. “For sure, it put a chill” on investigations says one former prosecutor. “Politicos care about winning and losing.” Federal prosecutors have their own explanation for how only one Wall Street executive landed in jail in the wake of the financial crisis, says Eisinger. "The cases were complex to investigate and would have been infernally difficult to explain to juries."

Comment Re:I'm thinking DVDs.. (Score 1) 865

Haven't you seen today's other headline? "Sony Warns Demand For Blu-Ray Diminishing Faster Than Expected" Streaming downloads are killing it off. My DVD collection is just fine quality for me. The only things I'm buying on Blu-Ray are epics that were originally filmed in 70mm, and for which my 120 Hz TV makes it possible to view in the original 24 fps (Blade Runner, 2001, Lawrence of Arabia).

Comment Re:If not... (Score 1) 865

The whole reason why you don't see the ignition in the dash anymore is because it was outlawed, I believe sometime around 1970 for cars (trucks and vans came later). The reason is that they considered it a safety issue to have a key sticking out of the dash where it could injure someone in an accident. Of course, you didn't have to put the ignition in the column, but that's what most manufacturers did . However, Saab is notable for putting the ignition in the console or between the seats in a lot of their cars.

Nope--I just sold my 1998 Honda CR-V. Ignition key slot in dash. http://images.gtcarlot.com/pic...

Comment Re:The actual technical fault. (Score 1) 865

Sure, carbs are easier to repair. I had to clean or repair mine, along with the points, every six months or so, in the first decade I drove a car. Since converting to fuel injection and electronic ignition, I've NEVER had to repair either in TWO decades of driving.

Comment Re:it's true (Score 3, Interesting) 253

And it seems like the more scientific / theoretical the character's field is, the more antisocial they are. The closer they are to engineering, the more socially redeeming qualities and access to romantic partners they have. I mean, they made Sheldon downright asexual.

You're kidding, right? In what universe does asexual==antisocial? On that show, Howard (the engineer) is by far the creepiest character, mostly due to his (early season) sexually deviant behavior. In the circle of geeks where I live, his morality would make him FAR more antisocial than someone who is asexual. The show's writers really took creative liberties in making it that somehow he is the most "marriageable" of the main characters. By they way, that circle is at the NASA Johnson Space Center. I have four very close male friends who are heterosexual, but confirmed bachelors at ages ranging from 40-55, and they are all quite sociable. Howard is by far the character that requires the most suspension of disbelief. If in the real world, you got to visit the ISS to participate in the installation of a piece of equipment you designed, most of us would have gone multiple times by now...

Comment Re:Most unlikely technology in 1981: Handheld GPS (Score 1) 276

Actually, to me, most impressive of all was the fact that something *in my lifetime* actually has to account for both special and general relativity. I remember studying them in my college sophomore physics class and having the standard student complaint, "When am I ever going to need to use THIS?" (By the way Mrs Morton, I still have not diagrammed a sentence in real life).

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