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Comment They're required to give notice (Score 1) 632

"They gave me no notice, they can't prove that I received any overpayment"

From here

(a)After trying to collect a claim from a person under section 3711(a) of this title, the head of an executive, judicial, or legislative agency may collect the claim by administrative offset. The head of the agency may collect by administrative offset only after giving the debtor-

(1)written notice of the type and amount of the claim, the intention of the head of the agency to collect the claim by administrative offset, and an explanation of the rights of the debtor under this section;

(2)an opportunity to inspect and copy the records of the agency related to the claim;

(3)an opportunity for a review within the agency of the decision of the agency related to the claim; and

(4)an opportunity to make a written agreement with the head of the agency to repay the amount of the claim.

Comment The last line of the article (Score 1) 609

The last line: "The recent court order suggests that the collection has continued or at least resumed under the Obama administration." How does that make sense? If it is a 'recent' court order then it doesn't 'suggest' anything. It is a clear indication. And the wired article's main source is a guardian article that I can't pull up at the moment. Is it too much to ask for 'journalists' to use their own sources and to reference the original documents instead of writing an article about an article?

Comment Re:Why is this on Slashdot? (Score 1) 511

I think you’re comparison between the two statements is a false equivalency. If you know a little about American history, then you should know that black Americans are more likely to share common interests, if for no other reason than the long history of racism in the US. ‘White people’ are less likely to have common interests because that is a much broader group. And it is in a lot of ways a sad reminder of what was lost to African Americans when I can identify as not just a descendant of Europeans, but can say that I have French and Scottish roots, and whereas many other white Americans can say they’re Italian or German or Irish, etc. When an influx of Irish immigrated to the north east in the 19th century, would it have been fair to assume that an Irish alderman would likely represent Irish constituents better? Maybe or maybe not, but I wouldn’t consider such an assumption to be bigoted. Or would it be fair to assume that a Jewish council member would better represent a predominantly Jewish ward better? Maybe or maybe not, but again I wouldn’t consider that bigoted. Black American’s interests are aligned with each other to some degree exactly because they are black, and this is in response to the way they’ve been treated over the years. I feel that in the near future this will no longer be the case and the argument that some of you are trying to make will actually have some merit at that point, but for now it’s still bunk.

Comment Re:Why is this on Slashdot? (Score 4, Interesting) 511

Not necessarily. Blacks tend to support Democrats in national elections. There may have been an assumption that because Obama was black and a Democrat he would represent the interests of black Americans better, but I wouldn’t call that racism. Had Obama ran as a Republican would he have got the same support? Did Herman Cain have a strong following among black people? It is amazing for me to recall how black people in Alabama supported George Wallace. The last time he served as Governor he got 90% of the black vote. Black voters in Alabama supported Wallace because of the choices they had, Wallace represented their interests more than other candidates (his support of public schools at the top of the list, which are always under attack by certain political forces in the state).

Comment Oh no, Java scary! (Score 3, Informative) 98

As the article points out this is a known vulnerability. And there has been a patch available since October 2011.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/javacpuoct2011-443431.html

The infoworld article mentions that the applet used a "rogue" DLL. Where did that come from? If it didn't install any files on the system, why is there a "rogue" DLL on the system? Did it just "install" that DLL into memory also? And if the malicious applet code managed to get escalated privileges, why didn't it install something on the drive? And isn’t the term “install” being misused in the article? In fact, isn’t it true Mr. Infoworld Article person, that the alleged malware was merely “loaded” into memory? The truth is there was no flight leaving Guantanamo Bay, you doctored the flight logs, you ordered the code red, you framed OJ Simpson
Science

Submission + - Oyster Mushrooms Could Break Down Diapers in month (inhabitots.com) 3

greenerd writes: Disposable diapers are one of the biggest contributors to overflowing landfills, piling up at a rate of 1 ton of trash per kid per year — and they take 500 years to decompose. But now, a scientist named Alethia Vázquez-Morillas from the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City has found a way to turn that 500-year span to a mere 4 months, by using oyster mushrooms to accelerate the breakdown.
Censorship

Submission + - US Citizen Arrested while in Thailand for Blog (asiancorrespondent.com)

societyofrobots writes: A US citizen, upon visiting Thailand for medical treatment, was arrested for lese majeste (insulting the king) and computer crimes ("entering false information into a computer system"). He is charged for posting a link on his blog to a banned book, The King Never Smiles, and for translating excerpts of it. He made the posting four years ago in 2007, while in the US. Trials for lese majeste are traditionally held in secret, for reasons of 'national security'. AFP has more information.
Science

Submission + - Djedi Explores Secret Chambers in Great Pyramid

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "CNN reports that the Djedi robot explorer has discovered ancient markings inside a secret chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza which have lain unseen for 4,500 years. The markings take the form of hieroglyphic symbols in red paint as well as lines in the stone that may have been made by masons when the chamber was being built. "The big question is the purpose of these tunnels," says Peter Der Manuelian, Professor of Egyptology at Harvard University. "There are architectural explanations, symbolic explanations, religious explanations — even ones relating to the alignment of the stars — but the final word on them is yet to be written. The challenge is that no human can fit inside these channels so the only way to do this exploration is with robots." The robot explorer that took the images is named Djedi, after the magician whom Pharaoh Khufu consulted when planning the layout of the Great Pyramid and was designed and built by engineers at the University of Leeds, in collaboration with Scoutek UK and Dassault Systemes, France. To reach the secret chamber Djedi had to climb 213 feet up an 8-inch shaft in the heart of the pyramid where the robot came to a stop in front of a mysterious limestone slab adorned with two copper pins. "I dedicated my whole life to study the secrets of the Great Pyramid," says Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs. "My goal is to finally find out what’s behind these secret doors.""

Submission + - Was LinkedIn Scammed? (nytimes.com)

chriscappuccio writes: If there’s one thing we’ve all learned in the aftermath of the financial crisis, it’s that stiffing your client is not a crime. Not if you’re an investment bank.

Suppose, he wrote, your trusted real estate agent persuaded you to sell your house for $1 million. Then, the next day, the same agent sold the same house for the new owner for $2 million. “How would you feel if your agent did that?” he asked. That, he concluded, is what Merrill and Morgan did to LinkedIn.

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