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Education

U.S. Students/Grads Carrying Over $1 Trillion In Debt 538

Posted by Soulskill from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Time reports that American students and grads were carrying $1.08 trillion in student loan debt at the end of 2013. This compares to just $253 billion a decade earlier. Aggregate debt grew 10% in the past year alone. 'By comparison, overall debt grew just 43% in the last decade and 1.6% over the past year.' About 70% of students graduate with some amount of debt, and the average amount owed is $29,400. 'Delinquencies on student loans have risen dramatically over the past decade: 11.5 percent of graduates were at least 90 days late on paying back their loans at the end of 2013, compared with 6.2 percent delinquencies on student loans in 2003. Moreover, the Fed's figures on delinquencies hide more stark data: nearly half of all students with debt aren't currently in repayment thanks to deferments and forbearances and the fact that students are not expected to pay while they're in school.' An attached graph shows an alarming spike in delinquent loans that looks a bit like mortgage delinquencies did at the beginning of the sub-prime crisis."
Privacy

Supreme Court Ruling Relaxes Warrant Requirements For Home Searches 500

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the arrest-everyone-until-someone-consents dept.
cold fjord writes with news that the Supreme Court has expanded the ability of police officers to search a home without needing a warrant, quoting the LA Times: "Police officers may enter and search a home without a warrant as long as one occupant consents, even if another resident has previously objected, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday ... The 6-3 ruling ... gives authorities more leeway to search homes without obtaining a warrant, even when there is no emergency. The majority ... said police need not take the time to get a magistrate's approval before entering a home in such cases. But dissenters ... warned that the decision would erode protections against warrantless home searches." In this case, one person objected to the search and was arrested followed by the police returning and receiving the consent of the remaining occupant.

Comment I am a sculptor (Score 0) 917

by EmagGeek (#46344493) Attached to: Apple Urges Arizona Governor To Veto Anti-Gay Legislation

I do sculptures in ice, limestone, clay, and other materials. If this Law passes, I would be forced by government to comply with a request I recently turned away.

That request was for a piece of art - a limestone sculpture of a young boy, but with an erect penis (customer also specified he wanted the erect penis to be 7-8" in length and 1.5-2" in diameter). I immediately said "no way" but the customer, who was openly, of not obviously gay, argued that the erect penis was a legitimate artistic expression of the sexual angst and tension young boys feel as they go through puberty. Yeah, right, with such exact size specifications.

So yeah, the government wants to compel me under threat of force to sculpt young boys with oversized erect penises for gay customers.

Sorry, but fuck you. I'm still not doing it.

Comment Re:The use if force (Score 1) 917

by EmagGeek (#46344275) Attached to: Apple Urges Arizona Governor To Veto Anti-Gay Legislation

That's about the size of it. The lesson here is that you must provide your services under threat of force from government.

If this law does NOT get passed, it will become commonplace to get sued for turning away business, for whatever reason? Schedule already booked up? Too bad, go to court accused of discrimination. Going on vacation that week? Too bad, go to court accused of discrimination. Don't want to bake a swastika cake for the local neo-nazi ball? Too bad, go to court accused of discrimination.

Comment For those of you calling for Ham Radio's head (Score 4, Informative) 105

by EmagGeek (#46344213) Attached to: Crowded US Airwaves Desperately In Search of Spectrum Breathing Room

Please take a look here:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/...

Every block where you see "Amateur" _not_ in all CAPS, Amateur Radio is a secondary use and not the primary licensee. You can see that there are no blocks that are allocated primarily to Amateur use that would be useful to cellular carriers.

420-450, 902-928, 1240-1300 are all government property that Amateurs are allowed to use provided they do not cause interference to the primary licensee.

If government didn't have a use for that spectrum, it certainly would have been sold already - certainly before going through all the trouble to move OTA TV to HD and reclaiming that spectrum.

Seriously, think logically for a minute. If the government could have opened up over 100Mhz of spectrum to cellular carriers by simply displacing a few hams, rather than upending the entire broadcast TV industry, that's the way it would have been done.
Transportation

Video Electric Bikes Get More Elegant Every Year (Video) 164

Posted by Roblimo from the he-huffed-and-he-puffed-his-way-up-the-hill-because-he-forgot-he-was-riding-an-electric-bike dept.
Tim Lord first saw Faraday Bicycles at CES, where their bikes drew plenty of attention and a fair amount of media interest. The company ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012, and 2014 is when they are starting to ship their pre-ordered bicycles and hope to get new orders for lots more. Tim's travels later took him to San Francisco, where he had a chance to visit the shop where Faraday bikes are made, and to talk with some of the people who are designing and making them. (If you don't see the video below, please use this link.)

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