Comment Did they name the director? (Score 2, Insightful) 236
Did they name the director that ordered the two engineers to cover up the change? There's no way the engineers decided to do that on their own volition.
Comment Re:It's not a license to speed (Score 1) 325
Oh there's no question as to whether we have a justice system here. We do not, and have not in a looooong time.
Comment It's not a license to speed (Score 5, Insightful) 325
It's the cops extorting money. It's not just speeding. This creates the appearance that, if you do not buy the membership, you'll be stopped and shown absolutely no mercy, and may even have charges trumped up against you - or otherwise be punished.
This is tantamount to soliciting bribes.
Can You Buy a License To Speed In California? 325
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: "Alex Mayyasi reports that in the parking lots of Silicon Valley's venture capital firms, expensive cars gleam in the California sun and a closer look reveals that the cars share a mysterious detail: they nearly all have a custom license plate frame that reads, 'Member. 11-99 Foundation.' Are the Bay Area's wealthy all part of some sort of illuminati group that identifies each other by license plate instead of secret handshakes? The answer is the state highway patrol — the men and women that most people interact with only when getting ticketed for speeding. A number of the frames read 'CHP 11-99 Foundation,' which is the full name of a charitable organization that supports California Highway Patrol officers and their families in times of crisis. Donors receive one license plate as part of a $2,500 'Classic' level donation, or two as part of a bronze, silver, or gold level donation of $5,000, $10,000, or $25,000. Rumor has it, according to Mayyasi, that the license plate frames come with a lucrative return on investment. As one member of a Mercedes-Benz owners community wrote online back in 2002: 'I have the ultimate speeding ticket solution. I paid $1800 for a lifetime membership into the 11-99 foundation. My only goal was to get the infamous 'get out of jail' free license plate frame.'
The 11-99 Foundation has sold license plate frames for most of its 32 year existence, and drivers have been aware of the potential benefits since at least the late 1990s. But attention to the issue in 2006-2008 led the foundation to stop giving out the frames. An article in the LA Times asked 'Can Drivers Buy CHP Leniency?' and began by describing a young man zipping around traffic — including a police cruiser — and telling the Times that he believed his 11-99 frames kept him from receiving a ticket. But the decision was almost irrelevant to another thriving market: the production and sale of fake 11-99 license plate frames. But wait — the CHP 11-99 Foundation also gives out membership cards to big donors. 'Unless you have the I.D. in hand when (not if) I stop you,' says one cop, 'no love will be shown.'"
The 11-99 Foundation has sold license plate frames for most of its 32 year existence, and drivers have been aware of the potential benefits since at least the late 1990s. But attention to the issue in 2006-2008 led the foundation to stop giving out the frames. An article in the LA Times asked 'Can Drivers Buy CHP Leniency?' and began by describing a young man zipping around traffic — including a police cruiser — and telling the Times that he believed his 11-99 frames kept him from receiving a ticket. But the decision was almost irrelevant to another thriving market: the production and sale of fake 11-99 license plate frames. But wait — the CHP 11-99 Foundation also gives out membership cards to big donors. 'Unless you have the I.D. in hand when (not if) I stop you,' says one cop, 'no love will be shown.'"
Comment Dice Market Research Poll (Score 1) 240
Nice....
Cost Skyrockets For United States' Share of ITER Fusion Project 174
sciencehabit writes: "ITER, the international fusion experiment under construction in Cadarache, France, aims to prove that nuclear fusion is a viable power source by creating a 'burning plasma' that produces more energy than the machine itself consumes. Although that goal is at least 20 years away, ITER is already burning through money at a prodigious pace. The United States is only a minor partner in the project, which began construction in 2008. But the U.S. contribution to ITER will total $3.9 billion — roughly four times as much as originally estimated — according to a new cost estimate released yesterday. That is about $1.4 billion higher than a 2011 cost estimate, and the numbers are likely to intensify doubts among some members of Congress about continuing the U.S. involvement in the project."
Comment NSA put the bug there, of course they exploited it (Score 1) 149
We need to find out if the author of this bug is or was on the NSA payroll. It would not be surprising to find out he was paid to put it there.
Comment But, in a slight to the tech industry (Score 1) 581
I would call it more of a slight against coal miners...
Comment The change was logged on New Year's Eve 2011 (Score 1) 447
Don't drink and code!
Comment Re:"Obamacare Enrollment"? (Score 5, Insightful) 723
It's not sloppy or lazy language. It's deceitful language.
They know full well that there are not 7.1 million newly insured people who are previously uninsured, which is basically what Carney claimed in a press conference yesterday.
About 5 million of those people are those who had their policies canceled, and about 2 million are previously-uninsured/uninsurable people who signed up. The number of people who have actually paid, out of these 7 million, remains a closely-guarded secret.
Comment Re:I order you to be an unproductive country! (Score 1) 477
"How will those French IT workers live "the sweet life" when they are too poor to afford their wine and cheese since they are unemployed?"
There's an app^H^H^Hentitlement for that.
Comment Re:How about ... (Score 2) 301
He's just trying to be a bigger dick than Linus..
Comment I order you to be an unproductive country! (Score 1) 477
I would despise living under a regime that prohibited me working if that's what I wanted to do.
Comment You really can't be serious (Score 5, Interesting) 510
What a travesty! We can't allow deaf people to hear! It will destroy their culture!
Why don't you tell this woman you want her to be deaf again and see what she says:
Comment Holy shit (Score 1) 630
23lb = 10.43kg
5000mph = 2235m/s
1/2 * m * v^2 > 26 MJ
Put into perspective, 26MJ / 3600s ~= 7.2kWh, or about $1 worth of electricity.
How much does 100lbs of black powder cost? (or however much they use to launch shells from battleships?)
I see a huge cost saving for the military depending on how many shells they fire every year in training.
