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Submission + - Scientific Publishing is a Joke (theatlantic.com) 1

Submitted by shanen
shanen writes: Hilarious new meme. I wish I could take the blame, but I was retired from the racket some years ago. But I thought it was getting worse and worse at the time...

The generator for new ones is especially impressive. Unfortunately, I'm too shallow and humor-impaired to generate one.

Comment The answer in one comic strip! (Score 2) 340

by SysKoll (#55756163) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Can Programmers Explain Their Work To Non-Programmers?

This is an age-old question. Engineers always seem to be hard-pressed to explain what they are doing all day long.

This can lead to problems when the people asking the question are non-technical AND have the power to defund projects or departments they don't understand.

My favorite comic strip on the topic (oldie but goldie): http://revoltingregulations.bl...
Transportation

Hacking Internet-Connected Trucks and Buses 31

Posted by timothy from the kitt-would-be-most-displeased dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Among the things one can find with Shodan, the search engine for the Internet of Things, are trucks, buses and delivery vans that have been equipped with the Telematics Gateway Unit device and a modem to connect to the Internet. What's more, security researcher Jose Carlos Norte says that this setup can be misused by malicious individuals to monitor and control these vehicles -- to discover their position, their speed, and so on, as well as to change some of those parameters, e.g. change the vehicle's route, or put up a geo-fence for it (he says he does not know what such a change would cause).

Comment Re: Not sure I trust it. (Score 1) 558

by SysKoll (#51567891) Attached to: It's Time To Kill the $100 Bill, Says Larry Summers

Take my neighbor. He retired. He has a very small social security, some stock that has declined sharply, and a sizeable savings account that produces currently almost no interest.

How exactly could that person spend his money on "durable and valuable goods"? What kind of goods, and how will he still be able to pay the bills?

The elderly would be the first victims of such a stupid policy, just like inflation victimized them in the 70s.

Comment Re: Not sure I trust it. (Score 1) 558

by SysKoll (#51566437) Attached to: It's Time To Kill the $100 Bill, Says Larry Summers

Who says individuals don't get charged? That's the whole point of negative-interest rate policies. Bank accounts above a certain amount are already charged negative interest in Switzerland, for example.

As for Japan, there is currently a quiet run on banks due to negative interest. Japanese people hoard cash and buy safes.

Of course it will backfire. People will have to save more fore retirement since they cannot count on positive interest to produce gains. Hence consumption and growth will decrease further.

That's why these bozos want to ban most cash. They don't want you to withdraw your cash when the negative interest policy hits.

Submission + - Judge wipes out Safe Harbor provision in DMCA, makes Cox accomplice of piracy

Submitted by SysKoll
SysKoll writes: The DMCA is well-known for giving exorbitant powers to copyright holders, such as taking down a page or a whole web site without a court order. Media companies buy services from vendors like Rightscorp, a shake-down outfit that issues thousands of robot-generated take-down notices and issues threats against ISPs and sites ignoring them.

Cox, like a lot of ISP, is inundated with abusive take-down notices, in particular from Rightscorp. Now, BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music are suing Cox for refusing to shut off the Internet access of subscribers that Rightscorp accused of downloading music via BitTorrent. Cox argues that as an ISP, they benefit from the Safe Harbor provision that shields access providers from subscribers' misbehavior.

Not so, says US District Judge Liam O'Grady. The judge sided with the media companies ahead of trial, saying Cox should have terminated the repeat offenders accused by Rightscorp. Cox's response is quite entertaining for a legal document: its description of Rightscorp includes the term "shady", "shake-down", and "pay no attention to the facts"

O'Grady also derided the Electronic Frontier Foundations's attempt to file an amicus brief supporting Cox, calling them hysterical crybabies.

This case will be closely watched and can be very damaging for the Internet industry.

Submission + - Disney IT workers prepare to sue over foreign replacements (computerworld.com)

Submitted by JustAnotherOldGuy
JustAnotherOldGuy writes: At least 23 former Disney IT workers have filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over the loss of their jobs to foreign replacements. This federal filing is a first step to filing a lawsuit alleging discrimination. These employees are arguing that they are victims of national origin discrimination, a complaint increasingly raised by U.S. workers who have lost their jobs to foreign workers on H-1B and other temporary visas. Disney's layoff last January followed agreements with IT services contractors that use foreign labor, mostly from India. Some former Disney workers have begun to go public over the displacement process

Submission + - Understanding a 2,000 year old Greek computer (hackaday.com)

Submitted by szczys
szczys writes: We attribute great thinking to ancient Greece. This is exemplified by the Antikythera Mechanism. Fragments of the mechanism were found in a shipwreck first discovered in 1900 and visited by researchers several times over the next century. It is believed to be a method of tracking the calendar and is the first known example of what are now common-yet-complicated engineering mechanisms like the differential gear. A few working reproductions have been produced and make it clear that whomever designed this had an advanced understanding of complex gear ratios and their ability to track the passage of time and celestial bodies.
Earth

A Call To RICO Climate Change Science Deniers 737

Posted by timothy from the well-that-escalated-quickly dept.
GregLaden writes: The argument could be made that the organized effort to disrupt climate change science and the development of effective policies to address climate change is criminal, costing life and property. The effort is known to be generally funded by various actors and there are people and organizations that certainly make money on this seemingly nefarious activity. A group of prominent scientists have written a letter to President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, and OSTP Director Holdren asking for this to be investigated under RICO laws, which were originally designed to address organized crime.
Medicine

Computer Modeling Failed During the Ebola Outbreak 193

Posted by samzenpus from the who's-to-blame dept.
the_newsbeagle writes: Last fall, the trajectory of the Ebola outbreak looked downright terrifying: Computational epidemiologists at Virginia Tech predicted 175,000 cases in Liberia by the end of 2014, while the CDC predicted 1.4 million cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone. They were way off. The actual tally as of January 2015: A total of 20,712 cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone combined, and in all three countries, the epidemic was dying down. But the modelers argue that this really wasn't a failure, because their predictions served as worst-case scenarios that mobilized international efforts.

Comment Unicomp makes quality keyboards (Score 1) 147

by SysKoll (#49702683) Attached to: Mechanical 'Clicky' Keyboards Still Have Followers (Video)
I agree, Unicomp keyboards are hard to beat thanks to their buckling spring switches. And the price is awesome: $80 or so for a keyboard that feels *solid*. Compare to at least $120 for most Cherry-based keyboards. I use mine in a software development office (cubicles) and I don't have complains. To the contrary, other developers and sysadmins have bought their own Unicomp after typing a few test lines. Too bad the poster posted as AC, this is a very thoughtful post.
Crime

Obama: Maybe It's Time For Mandatory Voting In US 1089

Posted by timothy from the if-there-weren't-all-those-pesky-rights dept.
HughPickens.com writes CNN reports that when asked how to offset the influence of big money in politics, President Barack Obama suggested it's time to make voting a requirement. "Other countries have mandatory voting," said Obama "It would be transformative if everybody voted — that would counteract money more than anything," he said, adding it was the first time he had shared the idea publicly. "The people who tend not to vote are young, they're lower income, they're skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups. There's a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls." At least 26 countries have compulsory voting, according to the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Failure to vote is punishable by a fine in countries such as Australia and Belgium; if you fail to pay your fine in Belgium, you could go to prison. Less than 37% of eligible voters actually voted in the 2014 midterm elections, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts. That means about 144 million Americans — more than the population of Russia — skipped out. Critics of mandatory voting have questioned the practicality of passing and enforcing such a requirement; others say that freedom also means the freedom not to do something.
Encryption

Obama Says He's 'A Strong Believer In Strong Encryption' 220

Posted by Soulskill from the except-when-it-helps-the-terrists dept.
An anonymous reader writes: U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Re/code recently on a variety of topics relating to technology. The talk included the president's thoughts on encryption, which has been a controversial subject in tech circles lately after government officials (including Obama himself) have publicly complained about default encryption in modern communication tools. In the interview, he says he's a "strong believer in strong encryption," adding, "I lean probably further on side of strong encryption than some in law enforcement." Obama puts it another way, more bluntly: "There's no scenario in which we don't want really strong encryption." However, the president says the public itself is driving concern for leaving law enforcement a way in: "The first time that an attack takes place in which it turns out that we had a lead and we couldn't follow up on it, the public's going to demand answers."

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