Ethanol-fueled - Slashdot User

LAPD Surveillance Cameras go to Waste-> 0

Submitted by

Ethanol-fueled

on Monday December 26, @01:52AM

Ethanol-fueled writes "Most of the surveillance cameras installed downtown and operated by the LAPD have not been working for two years, according to interviews and records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. Many of those broke and were never repaired, and six cameras allocated to the Little Tokyo section weren't even plugged into the LAPD's monitoring bank. In one case, a 53-year-old man died after being stabbed and beaten in Skid Row — right below one of the malfunctioned cameras. It probably also didn't help that the cameras themselves were prone to being coated with pigeon droppings and the system backend being stored in a room so small that overheating was frequent. One LAPD Deputy Chief compared the situation to buying a used car without an extended warranty — "We know the reasons it doesn't work. Now we're trying to make it work."

Is the panopticon really all it's chalked up to be in other cities as well?"
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Craigslist Congressman Cedes Chair -> 0

Submitted by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday February 09 2011, @09:30PM

Ethanol-fueled writes "Republican representative John "Chris" Lee, who voted against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act and in favor of the prohibition of federal funding of abortion, has now resigned his House seat following a report that he attempted to meet a mistress on Craigslist.

Lee, who is married and has a son, resigned after the website Gawker published an item reporting he corresponded with a woman who posted a Craigslist ad and allegedly sent her a bare-chested suitable-for-work photo of himself.

It goes without saying that our public officals are held to a higher moral standard than the rest of us are, but what if he weren't married with family? What if the ad were on Match.com instead of Craigslist? Should he still be admonished?"
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Black Techies Find their Niche Online-> 0

Submitted by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 01 2010, @06:35PM

Ethanol-fueled writes "Having created what is perhaps the first BET analog of Slashdot, Angela Benton is working to satisfy one of the many niches in the online marketplace of information with Black Web 2.0, a website designed for African-Americans engaged in technology and new media work.

While Black Web 2.0 has become something of a magnet for people who want to know how technology affects the black community, it also has general interest appeal. In addition to news, the site features stories on trends, gadgets and social networking and has tips for entrepreneurs. Directly addressing the target demographic of Black Web 2.0, Benton says that it attempts to write stories that are "culturally native" and that,

African-Americans "have a diverse, kind of rich kind of culture," Benton says. "So we still try to write that way even though we're writing about technology. And people think it's boring and it's geeky. Well, we don't really try to write it that way."

Does such an appeal do more harm than good by enabling segregationism, or is Black Web 2.0 a refreshing alternative where different perspectives would be welcome? Personally, I think it's about time that somebody serve us up some News with Attitude — Stuff That Matters."
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7.0 Earthquake Rocks Haiti-> 0

Submitted by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday January 12 2010, @10:16PM

Ethanol-fueled writes "Holy fugging shat! What could be considered the world's most worthless nation has finally suffered God's Wrath as punishment for practicing Voodoo and Santeria. Adding additional insult to injury, the epicenter, 5 miles deep, was only 15km from the capital city Port-Au Potty. Large numbers of uppity displaced inhabitants are blaming "The Man" for the mess while asking him for handounts and relief dollars."
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Court orders White House to preserve e-mails-> 0

Submitted by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday January 14 2009, @07:56PM

Ethanol-fueled writes "A federal judge has ordered the Bush White House to preserve its e-mails, just days before a new administration takes over. The issue has been a thorny legal and political one for outgoing Bush officials, who are in the process of transferring more than 300 million e-mail messages and 25,000 boxes of documents to the National Archives. U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy instructed officials to search all White House workstations "and to collect and preserve all e-mails sent or received between March 2003 and October 2005, but is this the first step toward digging up and prosecuting any misdeeds?
(More info is here and here among other places. The second link notes that the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame and the ensuing fiasco first raised the issue)"
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