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Comment Re:Seriously? (Score 1) 71

by jwarnick (#49880841) Attached to: Microsoft Will Help Iowa Caucuses Go High-Tech

How do the other conventions differ greatly?
They all follow the same process. If you want something else, move to a caucus state, join a party, go to caucus. It really works to follow the process in caucus states. This is why the bosses are trying to end caucus in general - Nevada GOP recently tried to end it, but the grassroots kept it.

Sure, I thought caucus looked totally corrupt and made for the insiders. And it is! I learned the rules, showed up with dozens of friends, and we controlled a block of delegates at the state convention. Caucus really works if you get involved and work the rules.

Comment Re:Seriously? (Score 1) 71

by jwarnick (#49880819) Attached to: Microsoft Will Help Iowa Caucuses Go High-Tech

"Why do we let ..."

The state order is controlled by the bosses. It does change a little every cycle. For example, GOP bosses changed the order of states to put Romney's strongest states first and his weakest states last, in an effort to make it look "inevitable" that he would be the GOP candidate. Democrats also manipulate the state line-up to favor the corporate-controlled darling of the year.

Comment Expand Size of House of Representatives (Score 3, Interesting) 308

by jwarnick (#47319735) Attached to: Interviews: Ask Lawrence Lessig About His Mayday PAC

INTRO: Money and lobbyists in politics is the symptom, not the solution.
Federal Constitution specifies a census to count people to expand the number of seats in House of Representatives. This was capped in 1913, which allowed lobbyists and money to increase influence. We should have ~80,000 or less people per representative, so each person could conceivably have a group lunch with their rep. Now there are over 1 million people per representative, so only those with money (lobbyists) get access.

QUESTION: Instead of focusing on the symptom of money in politics, why not focus on returning to representative government by allowing the House to grow with population?

RESEARCH LINKS:
424 seats in small state of New Hampshire https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F...
Federal House seats capped in 1913 https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F...
435 Representatives Can Not Faithfully Represent 300 Million Americans http://www.thirty-thousand.org...

Before smart-guys-and-gals say "30,000 people won't fit", consider meeting in a stadium once a year with tele-conferences the remainder of the sessions. Real representation, and the follow-on impotency of money and lobbyists, is worth the additional cost of paying 30,000 representatives.
The Military

Scientists Turn T-Shirts Into Body Armor 213

Posted by timothy from the will-stick-with-the-regular-kind-for-now dept.
separsons writes "Scientists at the University of South Carolina recently transformed ordinary T-shirts into bulletproof armor. By splicing cotton with boron, the third hardest material on the planet, scientists created a shirt that was super elastic but also strong enough to deflect bullets. Xiaodong Li, lead researcher on the project, says the same tech may eventually be used to create lightweight, fuel-efficient cars and aircrafts."
Security

Adobe Download Manager Installing Software Without Consent 98

Posted by timothy from the plus-one-invitation dept.
"Not all is worth cheering about as Adobe turns 20," writes reader adeelarshad82, who excerpts from a story at PC Magazine's Security Watch: "Researcher Aviv Raff has found a problem in ADM (Adobe Download Manager) and the method through which it is delivered from adobe.com. The net effect of the problem is that a user can be tricked into downloading and installing software using ADM without actual consent. Tonight Adobe acknowledged the report and said they were working on the issue with Raff and NOS Microsystems, the company that wrote ADM."
Power

Tiny ARM-Based Sensor System Makes Battery Replacement Obsolete 96

Posted by timothy from the transcend-batteries dept.
An anonymous reader writes "University of Michigan researchers have crammed an ARM Cortex microcontroller, a thin-film battery, and a solar cell into a package that is only 9 cubic millimeters in volume. The system is able to run perpetually by periodically recharging the on-board battery with a solar cell (neglecting physical wear-out of the system)."
Science

Why Time Flies By As You Get Older 252

Posted by kdawson from the like-a-banana dept.
Ant notes a piece up on WBUR Boston addressing theories to explain the universal human experience that time seems to pass faster as you get older. Here's the 9-minute audio (MP3). Several explanations are tried out: that brains lay down more information for novel experiences; that the "clock" for nerve impulses in aging brains runs slower; and that each interval of time represents a diminishing fraction of life as we age.
Image

Man Sues Neighbor For Not Turning Off His Wi-Fi 428

Posted by samzenpus from the have-you-never-wondered-why-I-drink-only-distilled-water-or-rain-water-and-only-pure-grain-alcohol dept.
Scyth3 writes "A man is suing his neighbor for not turning off his cell phone or wireless router. He claims it affects his 'electromagnetic allergies,' and has resorted to being homeless. So, why doesn't he check into a hotel? Because hotels typically have wireless internet for free. I wonder if a tinfoil hat would help his cause?"
Science

Antarctic's First Plane, Found In Ice 110

Posted by timothy from the ice-tractor-cometh dept.
Arvisp writes "In 1912 Australian explorer Douglas Mawson planned to fly over the southern pole. His lost plane has now been found. The plane – the first off the Vickers production line in Britain – was built in 1911, only eight years after the Wright brothers executed the first powered flight. For the past three years, a team of Australian explorers has been engaged in a fruitless search for the aircraft, last seen in 1975. Then on Friday, a carpenter with the team, Mark Farrell, struck gold: wandering along the icy shore near the team's camp, he noticed large fragments of metal sitting among the rocks, just a few inches beneath the water."

Comment Re:Experience from academia (Score 1) 1259

by jwarnick (#29790275) Attached to: Student Loan Interest Rankles College Grads
The rise in tuition rates are the big issue. Without gov't sponsored loans, colleges wouldn't have as many customers who could pay the bills. The loans allow college prices to rise much faster than general inflation.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a.VIge7LL0e0&refer=us College Tuition Rises Faster Than Inflation Yet Again "Costs rose 5.9 percent this year at private four-year colleges in the U.S., outpacing the biggest gain in inflation in 17 years and increasing the demand for financial aid."
The entire loan program is riddled with fraudulent activity including payoffs and kickbacks for the schools, school administrators, and alumni groups. This fraud is real, as detailed in a hundred page sealed indictment against some of the lenders for "defrauding the United States government". http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Sealed_complaint_against_JP_Morgan_Chase,_Citigroup_and_Nelnet_for_defrauding_the_United_States_government,_19_May_2008

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