Comment Tradition of small government? (Score 1) 23
Two and a half centuries is an experiment, not a tradition- and one that is either failing or failed.
Comment Re:For the same reason many American Conservatives (Score 1) 124
I do my best to buy local only. I see no reason to support the exploitation of foreign people if I can help it.
Comment Re:I missed that bit of racism (Score 1) 40
The last names comment.
Comment Re:For the same reason many American Conservatives (Score 1) 124
If it is their wish, individual sovereignty means you do have to let their dog pee on the petunias. Just as it is your right to then shoot their dog.
Comment yeah, going with not creepy. (Score 2) 130
I actually like the idea - having been on an overnight flight landing on 9/11, I remember quite a few online contacts wanting to check I was OK. Of course, with Facebook a simple status update would have done the trick, no need for any special tool - and if I'd been offline, a friend could probably have posted that on my page on my behalf. (The gap between "can phone a friend" and "can get online" is pretty slim these days, too: much more so now than it was then.)
Comment Bollocks. (Score 2) 350
...we don't have a way to ignite and sustain that reaction without needing to input more energy than we can extract in a usable fashion from the fusion that occurs
Bollocks. The break-even point was passed this year. Sure it's not reached a point of economy-of-scale, but it was a critical change in the fusion story.
As Prison Population Sinks, Jails Are a Steal 407
HughPickens.com writes After rising rapidly for decades, the number of people behind bars peaked at 1.62 Million in 2009, has been mostly falling ever since down, and many justice experts believe the incarceration rate will continue on a downward trajectory for many years. New York, for example, saw an 8.8% decline in federal and state inmates, and California, saw a 20.6% drop. Now the WSJ reports on an awkward byproduct of the declining U.S. inmate population: empty or under-utilized prisons and jails that must be cared for but can't be easily sold or repurposed. New York state has closed 17 prisons and juvenile-justice facilities since 2011, following the rollback of the 1970s-era Rockefeller drug laws, which mandated lengthy sentences for low-level offenders. So far, the state has found buyers for 10 of them, at prices that range from less than $250,000 to about $8 million for a facility in Staten Island, often a fraction of what they cost to build. "There's a prisoner shortage," says Mike Arismendez, city manager for Littlefield, Texas, home of an empty five-building complex that sleeps 383 inmates and comes with a gym, maintenence shed, armory, and parking lot . "Everybody finds it hard to believe."
The incarceration rate is declining largely because crime has fallen significantly in the past generation. In addition, many states have relaxed harsh sentencing laws passed during the tough-on-crime 1980s and 1990s, and have backed rehabilitation programs, resulting in fewer low-level offenders being locked up. States from Michigan to New Jersey have changed parole processes, leading more prisoners to leave earlier. On a federal level, the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder has pushed to reduce sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. Before 2010, the U.S. prison population increased every year for 30 years, from 307,276 in 1978 to a high of 1,615,487 in 2009. "This is the beginning of the end of mass incarceration," says Natasha Frost. "People don't care so much about crime, and it's less of a political focus."
The incarceration rate is declining largely because crime has fallen significantly in the past generation. In addition, many states have relaxed harsh sentencing laws passed during the tough-on-crime 1980s and 1990s, and have backed rehabilitation programs, resulting in fewer low-level offenders being locked up. States from Michigan to New Jersey have changed parole processes, leading more prisoners to leave earlier. On a federal level, the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder has pushed to reduce sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. Before 2010, the U.S. prison population increased every year for 30 years, from 307,276 in 1978 to a high of 1,615,487 in 2009. "This is the beginning of the end of mass incarceration," says Natasha Frost. "People don't care so much about crime, and it's less of a political focus."
Making Best Use of Data Center Space: Density Vs. Isolation 56
jfruh writes The ability to cram multiple virtual servers on a single physical computer is tempting — so tempting that many shops overlook the downsides of having so many important systems subject to a single point of physical failure. But how can you isolate your servers physically but still take up less room? Matthew Mobrea takes a look at the options, including new server platforms that offer what he calls "dense isolation."
Comment Re:I don't get it... (Score 1) 187
Why so popular? Because the storyboarding and visuals are already sketched out by the original issues of the comics themselves.
Adapting a novel requires an imaginitive F/X team to create the F/X from mere text descriptions of the scenes and items to be depicted. Having existing pictures makes it cheap and easy to skip that creativity in the process.
There is also the fact that an awful lot of movies adapted from novels just tank at the box office because they don't express a vision that the readers of those novels had in mind. Even short stories tank. Take, for example, "Enemy Mine." It was a great short story, but kind of sucked as a movie.
I'd like to believe that a better job could be done by a competent team with a good budget, but then along comes something like "Ender's Game", which was so bad I gave up on watching it less than half an hour in. Yet I'd devotedly read the entire series of novels set in that world in my high school days, and enjoyed them thoroughly.
I've often wished they'd get around to adapting some of C. J. Cherryh's universe to a movie format, but I fear they'd butcher her excellent writing and characterization and leave us with yet another F/X fest that tanks at the box office and loses all the appeal of the novels.
The Guardian Reveals That Whisper App Tracks "Anonymous" Users 180
New submitter qqod writes this story at The Guardian that raises privacy concerns over the Whisper app. "The company behind Whisper, the social media app that promises users anonymity and claims to be the “the safest place on the internet”, is tracking the location of its users, including some who have specifically asked not to be followed. The practice of monitoring the whereabouts of Whisper users – including those who have expressly opted out of geolocation services – will alarm users, who are encouraged to disclose intimate details about their private and professional lives. Whisper is also sharing information with the US Department of Defense gleaned from smartphones it knows are used from military bases, and developing a version of its app to conform with Chinese censorship laws."
Trans-Pacific Partnership May Endanger World Health, Newly Leaked Chapter Shows 132
blottsie writes WikiLeaks has released an updated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) chapter on intellectual property. The new version of the texts, dated May 2014, show that little improvement has been made to sections critics say would hurt free speech online. Further, some of the TPP's stipulations could have dire consequences for healthcare in developing nations. The Daily Dot reports: "Nearly all of the changes proposed by the U.S. advantage corporate entities by expanding monopolies on knowledge goods, such as drug patents, and impose restrictive copyright policies worldwide. If it came into force, TPP would even allow pharmaceutical companies to sue the U.S. whenever changes to regulatory standards or judicial decisions affected their profits. Professor Brook K. Baker of Northeastern U. School of Law [said] that the latest version of the TPP will do nothing less than lengthen, broaden, and strengthen patent monopolies on vital medications."
Comment Re:I'm not convinced (Score 2) 387
Berating the stupid is being "professional" in my books.
Molllycoddling the incompetent just leads them to think they're better than they are.
Comment Wireless bandwidth is limited (Score 2) 38
Wireless bandwidth is limited by the allocated spectrum. With landlines, you can always drag more fiber or copper, hook it up, and expand your bandwidth. You can't do that with wireless.
But I expect to be modded down because I'm not jumping on the "everything should be unlimited" bandwagon.
Google Fiber To Launch In Austin, Texas In December 88
retroworks writes WSJ blog reports on Austin, the third city to get fiber-optic high speed internet networks laid down by Google (Kansas City and Provo, UT were the first and second). The service averages 1 gigabit per second, about 100X the average US household speed, and costs $70-120 per month (depending on television). Google promotes the roll-outs by holding "rallies" in small neighborhoods. The sign-up process starts in December, focusing on south and southeastern parts of Austin, a Google spokeswoman said Wednesday. It was announced that fiber was coming to Austin back in April.
Comment Re:The Actual Issue (Score 1) 323
Parents are and have always been responsible for the behaviour and expenses incurred by their children. If they go on a rampage of vandalism, the parents are responsible for the damages. If they steal a car and wreck it, the parents are responsible for the damages.
This is no different. The parents are being held responsible for the damages done by their children.
To hell with absentee parenting that lets children do whatever the hell they want with no restrictions or monitoring.
You bred your rug rats -- now bloody well take responsiblity for the results of your actions: raising and training your children!
