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Submission + - Animated Infographic about Lessig's New Hampshire Rebellion & Corruption (youtube.com)

Submitted by Funksaw
Funksaw writes: Lawrence Lessig, former EFF board member, chair of the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, founder of the Center for Internet and Society, founding board member of Creative Commons, and former board member of the Free Software Foundation is taking on a new project — walking across New Hampshire.

The idea is to raise awareness of the massive amount of political corruption in the American democratic system, and make it the #1 issue in New Hampshire in time for the 2016 Presidential Primaries. This three-minute video (from the guy who did the Windows 8 and Data Caps animations) explains the project, called the New Hampshire Rebellion, in cartoon form.

Submission + - Why We Need Election Reform (boykotx.org)

Submitted by Funksaw
Funksaw writes: "Geek for State Rep," Slashdotter Brian Boyko writes an op-ed about a topic that most don't consider: Election Reform. Most people in the U.S. literally do not know that election reform options exist — certainly not most politicians. Currently, all voting in the U.S. on the State and Federal level is "winner-take-all," a system that wastes more than half — a majority — of all the votes wasted. This has enabled gerrymandering of such a degree that in some states, it takes three times as many votes to elect a Democrat as a Republican (and in other states, vice versa.)

Boyko is pushing for "Single Transferable Vote," a type of choice-voting system. The ballot is similar to Instant Runoff Voting but the similarities end there, with "STV" producing a far more proportional result. It makes every vote count, makes states gerrymander-proof, and provides better representation for women and minorities. Why isn't anyone talking about it?

Submission + - Why Are Some Hell-Bent on Intelligent Design? (boykotx.org)

Submitted by Funksaw
Funksaw writes: An Op-Ed by first-time politician, long-time Slashdotter Brian Boyko, where he talks about his experiences testifying at the Texas Board of Education in favor of actually having real science in science textbooks. But beyond that, he also tries to examine, philosophically, why there is such hardened resistance to the idea of evolution in Texas.

From the article:

[W]hat is true is that evolution tests faith. The fact of evolution is incontrovertible and supported by mounds of empirical evidence. Faith, on the other hand, is fragile. It is supported only by the strength of human will. And this is where it gets tricky. Because to many believers, faith, not works, is the only guarantee that one can pass God’s litmus test and gain access to His divine kingdom. To lose one’s faith is to literally damn oneself. So tests to that faith must be avoided at all costs. Better to be a philosophical coward than a theological failure.

Submission + - Why you can't play Texas Holdem in Texas (boykotx.org)

Submitted by Funksaw
Funksaw writes: The follow up to "How Car Dealership Lobbyists Successfully Banned Tesla Motors From Texas," Brian Boyko (candidate for State Rep in Texas) continues with another Op-Ed, this time, "Why you can’t play Texas Holdem in Texas." From the article:

...The tenth highest contributor to political campaigns in Texas was the Chickasaw Nation, which gave $830,000 to Texas state-level candidates and elected officials... [and the] Chickasaw Nation is also the #1 contributor to campaigns in state races in Oklahoma. But the Chickasaw nation gave only $398,100 to candidates and elected officials in Oklahoma, where they’re based. They gave more than twice as much money to Texas candidates and elected officials, even though they don’t operate a business there.

The Chickasaw Nation has a vested interest in keeping poker illegal in Texas. The Chickasaw nation gave $830,000 to Texas politicians. Poker is currently illegal in Texas.

My “common sense” is tingling.

It would be easy for me to insinuate that this is a problem of ... the Texas Republicans. But I can’t. First, the Chickasaw nation gives money to almost every state-level official in Texas, including moderate Republicans and Democrats I know to be great, upstanding people.

Submission + - How Car Dealership Lobbyists Successfully Banned Tesla Motors from Texas (boykotx.org)

Submitted by Funksaw
Funksaw writes: In a political op-ed on his blog, long time Slashdot reader and contributor Brian Boyko (the guy who did that animated Windows 8 video) — now a candidate for state representative — explains how lobbyists from car dealerships successfully banned Tesla Motors from selling cars in Texas. From the Article:

Tesla Motors doesn't just present a case study of why a lack of campaign finance reform blocks meaningful reform on the issues that Democrats care about, like climate change and health care. A lack of campaign finance reform blocks reforms on both the Left and the Right. Here’s the big elephant in the room I'd like to point out to all the “elephants” in the room: With a Republican-controlled legislature, a Republican executive, and many conservatives in our judiciary, why the hell don’t we have free markets in Texas? Isn't it the very core of economic-conservative theory that the invisible hand of the free market determines who gets what resources? Doesn't the free market have the ability to direct resources to where they can most efficiently be used? I’m not saying the conservatives are right in these assumptions; but I am saying that our broken campaign finance system makes a mockery of them.

Submission + - The 1040 as Web Application, Examined. (astonishdesign.com)

Submitted by Funksaw
Funksaw writes: It's Tax Day in America, and procrastinators are ruing the fact that lobbying by Intuit and H&R Block, among others, have prevented the U.S. from providing a pre-compiled tax return for them via the Web. Oh, if it wasn't for those meddling lobbyists! But what exactly would such a build entail? 124,892,051 taxpayers multiplied by 1165 different forms is one hell of a massive database. Maybe it's not a matter of political will,but of hard technical problems in big data.

Submission + - An animated examination on Why Data Caps Suck (youtube.com)

Submitted by
Funksaw
Funksaw writes: "Brian Boyko at Blogphilo.com (the guy who made that animated Windows 8 review) has put out an animation of why, exactly, mobile and broadband data caps suck. Not only going into why data caps stifle innovation and communication, but also looking into the reasons that broadband providers say they institute caps, and the reason that broadband providers actually institute caps. Some of the technical material has been oversimplified to appeal to a broader audience and to keep the running time under 12 minutes, but hopefully you'll find it entertaining. Or at the very least, you'll have fun debating in the comments about how badly Boyko screws up the technical details."

Comment Re:Not again... (Score 1) 1110

by Funksaw (#42357915) Attached to: 30 Days Is Too Long: Animated Rant About Windows 8
As it turns out, this account was my personal account made back in the 1990s. But in 2006, I took a job with NetQoS, and created a new account, boyko.at.netqos - to submit stories to slashdot (Basically, I wanted to make sure that Slashdot's editors knew my affiliations). When NetQoS was bought out by CA, I left the company, and left the account. So that's why you don't see a lot of activity on this account.
Windows

Submission + - Animated Rant about Windows 8 from former tech journalist. (youtube.com)

Submitted by
Funksaw
Funksaw writes: "Back in 2007, I wrote three articles on Ubuntu 6, MacOSX 10.4, and Windows Vista which were all featured on Slashdot. Now, with the release of Windows 8, I took a different tactic and produced an animated video. Those expecting me to bust out the performance tests and in-depth use of the OS are going to be dissapointed. Whilt that was my intention coming into the project, I couldn't even use Windows 8 long enough to get to the in-depth technical tests. In my opinion, Windows 8 is so horribly broken that it should be recalled."

Comment I didn't even know I needed this until.... (Score 1) 306

by Funksaw (#37381266) Attached to: Turnitin's Different Messages To Students, Teachers
I just finished the rough draft of my book. This is going to be a godsend. Let me explain. All the thoughts are original; the problem is that I'm referencing one or two books quite often; the worst of it is that I'm not sure if I've cited material correctly. Alot of the book was written in the hours between 3am and 6am, on weekends, when I couldn't sleep. I wouldn't be suprized if something bleary eyed came by without a footnote citing it. I just paid for the service, and I'm using it to make sure my book has all the proper citations before sending out proposals.

Comment Re:Interesting 7-2 division (Score 1) 458

by Funksaw (#36587424) Attached to: US Supreme Court: Video Games Qualify For First Amendment
Reading it, I can see why. Thomas believes that video games, by their "interactive" nature, are not protected speech, and doesn't agree with the idea that free speech automatically applies to new technologies. Thomas is an jerk, but we knew that. Breyer, on the other hand, makes the argument that games are protected by free speech, but that California's law doesn't prohibit the consumption of material to minors, only the sale of the material to minors. Viewed from that perspective, it places violent video games in the same category as Playboy magazine. Breyer doesn't make the argument that California has proven that games are harmful, he just makes the argument that it's not unconstitutional to restrict the commerce of goods from minors, and that the rules were not ambiguous or vague. Nor did it restrict consumption of speech - only the *sale* of it to a specific group. While I happen to agree with the court majority opinion, I can see Breyer's point.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Podcast & Text: Interview w/ Flying Car Invent (networkperformancedaily.com)

Submitted by
boyko.at.netqos
boyko.at.netqos writes: "NetworkPerformanceDaily.com & GeeksAreSexy.net jointly present this podcast and transcript, interviewing Dr. Paul Moller of Moller International, one of the inventors of the flying M200G Volantor air-car which will see production next year. NetworkPerformanceDaily.com's coverage (with added transcript) can be found here, and GeeksAreSexy.net's coverage and discussion can be found here.

From the Interview:

NPD/GAS: Theoretically, and I suppose anything's possible theoretically, but is there any concern that, say a home user might buy the M200G and then hack it, much like people do with iPods nowadays to get them to run on other networks, to surpass that ten foot limit.

Moller: Well, I think that's something that's possible, of course. You can hack anything, and you can break the law. We would obviously do everything that's required with the oversight of the FAA, to ensure that we've done whatever we can. If somebody hacks it, they're not going to kill themselves obviously doing it. They're just going to be violating the FAA airspace. If you violate the FAA airspace, then they get on your back, but frankly, I don't think the FAA gives a damn if you're flying a few hundred feet off the ground...
"

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