Yes, I know it's bad form to reply to yourself, but I neglected to RTFOpinion... had I done so, I'd've seen that this case is a 1983 suit, and we're long past settlin' time. F*ck the Police!

Unless we're living in Bizarro World, the cop's not going to get charged with anything. Why would the DA punish one of his own thugs? A more likely scenario, if the law is eventually held unconstitutional, is that the cop in question might draw a civil suit under 42 USC 1983 (establishes civil liability for those who violate the civil rights of others "under color of law"), but it'd probably settle out for the cost of the phone stolen and Court costs incurred, which can be billed to the taxpayers. Either way, everyone's getting off essentially scot-free.

If you're fraking your significant other, I doubt that'll do any damage to the water table, unless you produce volume like Peter "Two Quarts" North, in which case there's a slight risk of organic contamination.

As for hydraulic fracturing, there is no such thing as "drinking-water-safe", just like there's no such thing as "clean coal". Cracks in the bedrock resulting from the frackage can propagate for thousands of feet above the well pipe, often unpredictably. That's kind of the point; the longer the cracks, the more gas-bearing rock is opened for collection in the well. Even if the well is drilled far below the water table, the cracks can still reach it, thus allowing hydrocarbon gases to enter and poison the water. Then there's the risk that the well casing can fail at the point where it crosses the water table, thus releasing gas and "frack fluid" (which is significantly more toxic than your "frack fluid" referenced above) into the environment.

Take this a step further and run an actual Pringles-can directional. Even if the cantenna doesn't work, the novelty factor of running one, or trying to, in order to overcome the white-noise like interference might draw extra foot traffic. "I see you're rolling bootleg. What else have you got?"

The fact that this was modded "Insightful" adds a sublime ridiculosity to the Slashdot Friday Night.

So basically, IP over something akin to CB or SSB? Sort of like a radio rig for a laptop?

I believe you've just described the derivative function of the waveform ... Slope of a function at a given point, if I remember my high school calc right.

It'd probably take longer for the machine to process it, but assuming you start at zero and go from there, it sounds possible ... I know nothing about codecs, but it's an interesting theory.

Depends on whether "reeking so badly of corruption as to blanket a mile radius with the stench" constitutes bad Behaviour on the part of a Federal judge (U.S. Const. Art. III Sec. 1) and whether two-thirds of the Senate agrees with the proposition. (Art. I Sec. 3 cl. 6). Yeah, that's... not gonna happen anytime soon.

Law is not a "Do as I say, not as I do" type thing.

When it's written by corporations, enacted by buffoons and sociopaths elected by those same corporations, enforced by hired thugs in both flak jackets and suits, and interpereted by judges who are bought, paid for, and traded like so many Goddamn stocks, yeah, it pretty much is. Just a question of how much it'll cost. Somehow, people seem to be okay with this. Some even consider it normal. I don't get it.

Not to mention a superstitious overreaction to ergot poisoning caused by eating infected rye grain.

Buffalo, N.Y., here. Currently looking into the eye of a blizzard. Not particularly worried, because the gas doesn't typically go out during a snowstorm, the lines being buried anyway, and you can always light the burners with a lighter if the piezoelectric starter won't work. Going to be cooking chili and drinking wine all day tomorrow with my lady-friend. That's okay in my book. Winter weather just means you've got to huddle together for warmth!

No, you can't sue the DHS, or the government in general, because of a most pernicious doctrine called "sovereign immunity." Since the government created the courts and endows them with legitimacy, you can't use its own courts against it, except in very limited circumstances. (It's like dividing by zero, sort of.)

However, if an agent of the government uses his/her position to commit a crime, you can sue the agent him/herself, but not their employer. (Of course, that's no guarantee that the suit won't get tossed, only that you can, in fact, proceed with it.) Also, if they use the apparatus of the government for purposes of racial discrimination, they can also be sued. But generally, no, you can't sue.

WIkipedia explains it in more detail: linky

Well, you can always launch a preemptive strike:

phoenix@olympus:~$ sudo nano /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 *.cn