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Comment What's in it? (Score 5, Insightful) 1698

Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history.

I'm not from the US, but isn't that the main bit of you guys' healthcare system that's most in need of fixing?

In my country, pre-existing conditions just mean that you can't claim anything for 12 months after joining. It doesn't affect premiums or anything, and no health insurance provider can reject your application.

So, I guess, welcome to the 20th century!

Comment Bean Sprout Farming (Score 5, Insightful) 783

Seriously. You can start with one bag of seed and a few plastic buckets and sell to local businesses (especially organic businesses and asian stores since they sell larger quantities) and scale up from there. Inventory isn't a huge problem since it only takes 72 hours to grow the sprouts, and you can buy the seed by the 25kg bag.

Obviously, I'm simplifying things, but honestly it's a business that's incredibly easy to get into, resistant to non-local competition due to the perishability of the sprouts, and if you can 'get it right', you can definitely market on quality

Comment like hell it isn't (Score 4, Insightful) 129

This is not censorship: this is rating, like done with movies and so already.

Yes, but anything that is refused classification is unable to be sold. That's what censorship is. It's ironic that the predecessor to the OFLC was the Film Censorship Board, yet anything they didn't review was available to sell. i.e. they didn't censor.

Comment Update: full block list available on wikileaks (Score 4, Informative) 330

For those who are interested, the Sydney Morning herald reports that the full internet filter list has been leaked. It's pretty interesting - there's a lot of not-actually-illegal content on it (including a dentist's site?).

It's interesting to note that this is the minimum that will be blocked in Australia; the gov may (and will) add to this. This sounds like much more of a test of the censors than what TFA writes about...

Government

Submission + - Judge: Simpsons Cartoons are Child Porn (smh.com.au)

serps writes: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that

In a landmark finding, Justice Michael Adams today upheld a magistrate's decision convicting a man of possessing child pornography after the cartoons — depicting characters modelled on Bart, Lisa and Maggie engaging in sex acts — were found on his computer.


Power

Solar Cells — Made In a Pizza Oven 518

stylemessiah writes "The winner of several Eureka Science Awards in Australia is a crafty chick who devised a way to create solar cells cheaply using a pizza oven, nail polish and an inkjet printer. This was developed to address the high cost of cells and in particular for the world's poorest regions. She wanted to give the ~2 billion people around the world who don't have electricity the gift of light and cheap energy. This could have profound (and a good profound) implications for education and health in those in the poorest regions in the world. And it all started with her parents giving her a solar energy kit when she was 10..."
Businesses

Journal Journal: How The RIAA Is Like 17th Century French Button-Makers 150

Requiring permission to innovate? Feeling entitled to search others' property? Getting the power to act like law enforcement in order to fine or arrest those who are taking part in activities that challenge your business model? Don't these all sound quite familiar? Centuries from now (hopefully much, much sooner), the actions of the RIAA, MPAA and others that match these of the weavers and button-makers of 17th century France will
Desktops (Apple)

Submission + - The Learning Curve for iSwitching

Psychotic Venom writes: After trying for nearly 5 years to acclimate my wife to Linux, it still just isn't happening, so after nearly 2 decades of disdain for the Mac, I think I've finally come around to understanding the elegance and ease of use that Apple seems to put in every product. I am considering buying a 24" iMac and keeping my Linux box as a backup server — but I know noone that owns a Mac as their home PC! What kind of learning curve should I expect (for me, a tech geek)? Has anyone had a good experience with a heterogenous home network of Mac and Linux? What kind of learning curve should I expect for my wife (decidedly non-tech geek)? Are there people who made the switch for their family and wish they hadn't, especially considering the price?

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