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Government

Submission + - Laser pointers produce too much energy, pose risks for the careless (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Commercial grade green and red laser pointers emit energy far beyond what is safe, posing skin, eye and fire hazards. That was the conclusion of a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study on the properties of handheld laser devices that tested 122 of the devices and found that nearly 90% of green pointers and about 44% of red pointers tested were out of federal safety regulation compliance."
Programming

Submission + - CS Faculty and Students to Write a Creative Commons C++ Textbook

Submitted by Cynic
Cynic writes: Inspired by an earlier Slashdot story about Finnish teachers and students writing a math textbook, I pitched the idea of writing our own much cheaper/free C++ textbook to my programming students. They were incredibly positive, so I decided to move forward and started a Kickstarter project. We hope to release the textbook we produce under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and sell cheap hard copies to sustain the hosting and other production costs.
Government

Submission + - Cyber War Manual Proposes Online Geneva Convention (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "A new manual for cyber war has been compiled by international legal experts and published by NATO. The manual proposes that hospitals and dams should be off-limits for online warfare, and says that a conventional response is justified if an attack causes death or serious damage to property. The manual might get its first practical application today — South Korea's TV stations and banks have come under an attack which may well originate from North Korea."

Comment Re:The disenfranchised (Score 1) 126

I'm going to reiterate a question I posed last time that I don't feel was adequately addressed. The poor, the non tech-savvy, those without an internet connection, or those who are unable (through some mental or physical impairment) to operate a computer: How do you plan to make sure that these people still have a vote in this system.

A citizen sending me a letter saying "I am against X" is as good as a vote for it online. Similarly, submitting some sort of ballot at a citizens' meeting should count the same, too. I would then enter these "offline" votes and attribute them to the appropriate citizen (to avoid double voting). This is a component that I feel is an essential part to any system that seeks to empower citizens.

Jeremy Hansen

Comment Re:Time Frame Problem (Score 1) 126

This could be a problem, but the Vermont Legislature works sufficiently slowly that I don't believe this to be an issue in general. I expect to vote according to what I know of the attitudes of the citizens, and what I know of the legislation being presented.

I have to say, though, that I am a fan of what ganjadude and RobertLTux suggest here - we need to give everyone a reasonable chance to digest what's going on. Transparency is crucial.

Jeremy Hansen

Comment Re:21st Century Democracy - here to stay? (Score 1) 126

Jeremy Hansen here.

As I mentioned above, Phil Dodds is on the ballot for the House of Representatives in North Florida's 3rd District. He and I are collaborating on the software platform. Even if neither of us get elected, the software will be out there and available for anyone to use, whether as a representative or a citizen.
Government

Submission + - CS Professor Announces Run for VT State Senate on a Platform of Internet Polling (vermontelection.org)

Submitted by
Cynic
Cynic writes: "Having read pretty heavily on the topic, weighed the pros and cons, and seen a few relevant slashdot articles, I wondered why an elected representative couldn't use online and in-person polling of constituents to decide the way he or she votes. Though we are living in the "information age" and have rich communications media and opportunities for deep and accessible deliberation, we are getting by (poorly) with horse-and-buggy-era representation. In the spirit of science and because I think it's legitimately a better way of doing things, I recently announced my candidacy for Vermont's State Senate in Washington County."
Technology

Submission + - New Zealand Developers Building Open Source Code for Electric Cars (txchnologist.com)

Submitted by
MatthewVD
MatthewVD writes: "New Zealand electric racecar developer Greenstage is close to finishing an open source project called "Tumanako," that would allow electric cars and motorcycle owners to tweak the code in their vehicles. Electric vehicle gearheads grouse about proprietary code that keeps current, torque and speed within very conservative limits. "In racing, you need the system to push all those parameters to the limits. You only need the system to survive until just past the finish line,” says Bill Dube, the owner of the record-setting KillaCycle. Open source code could also be used to build any type of electric vehicle, from cars and submarines to motor-launched aerial gliders, from scratch. It's like Linux for your Chevy Volt."

Submission + - Best Buy Swipes Drivers License for Returns/Exchanges - Blocked for 90 Days (courant.com) 1

Submitted by
rullywowr
rullywowr writes: "A customer with a defective Blu-Ray disc returns to the Best Buy store where he purchased it. After scanning his driver's license into the system, he is now banned from returning/exchanging goods for 90 days. This is becoming one of the latest practices which big-box stores including Target, Best Buy, and Toys R Us are using to limit fraud and abuse of the return system. You know, the people who buy a big screen TV before the big game and then return it on Monday. Opponents feel that this return-limiting concept has this gone too far, including the harvesting of your personal data. What do you think?"
Security

Submission + - Heartland Security Breach Class Action Results: Victims $1925, Lawyers $600,000 (techdirt.com)

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes: "Back in 2007, Heartland had a security breach that resulted in a 130 million credit card details being lifted. A class action suit followed and many thought it would send a direct message to business to ensure proper security measures protecting their clients and customers. With the Heartland case now over and settlements paid out and divided up, the final breakdown is as follows: Class members $1925 (11 cases out of 290 filed were "valid"). Lawyers for the plaintiff class action $606,192. Non-Profits around $1,000,000 (The Court ruled a minimum of $1 million dollars in payouts). Heartland also paid its own lawyers around $2 million.

Eric Goldman (Law Professor) has additional commentary on his Law Blog: "The opinion indicates Heartland spent $1.5M to advertise the settlement. Thus, it appears they spent over $130,000 to generate each legitimate claim. Surprisingly, the court blithely treats the $1.5M expenditure as a cost of doing business, but I can't wrap my head around it. What an obscene waste of money! Add in the $270k spent on claims administration, and it appears that the parties spent $160k per legitimate claimant. The court isn't bothered by the $270k expenses either, even though that cost about $1k per tendered claim (remember, there were 290 total claims).""

Comment Re:Ah. Survival. (Score 2) 562

by Cynic (#35550896) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Prepared Are You For a Major Emergency?

>If none of the stuff you normally like keeps, you are not eating right.

Not to be picky, but eating fresh fruit and vegetables means someone is not eating right? (Yes, of course you're not going to be able to find these in a disaster) For what it's worth, the shelf life of Chunky Soup is 1-2 years, maybe a bit longer if it's in a cold root cellar most of the time.

>Real survivalists stock MRE's

I'd argue that real survivalists stock dehydrated foods, dry beans, rice, wheat, yeast, cooking oil (watch the shelf life on this) and the like. These items allow for a much greater flexibility in preparation over a long period of time (shelf life can be 10 years+ pretty easily), and don't result in the digestive "features" of MREs. (Not to mention, MREs are outrageously expensive in comparison and shelf life is supposed to be 5-7 years) You definitely don't want to live on them. For a day or two if you absolutely positively can't find any water or fuel, OK, but if you don't have those, you have bigger problems anyway.

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