FBI May Get Easier Access To Internet Activity

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/07/29/1311223/FBI-May-Get-Easier-Access-To-Internet-Activity

"It appears the White House would like to make it easier for the FBI to obtain records of a person's internet activities without a court order to do so, via the use of an NSL. While they have been able to this this for a long time, this may expand the type of information able to be gathered without a court order to include things like web browsing histories."

Nuclear Energy Now More Expensive Than Solar

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/07/29/0249234/Nuclear-Energy-Now-More-Expensive-Than-Solar

"According to an article on the New York Times, a historical cross-over has occurred because of the declining costs of solar vs. the increasing costs of nuclear energy: solar, hardly the cheapest of renewable technologies, is now cheaper than nuclear, at around 16 cents per kilowatt hour. Furthermore, the NY Times reports that financial markets will not finance the construction of nuclear power plants unless the risk of default (which is historically as high as 50 percent for the nuclear industry) is externalized to someone else through federal loan guarantees or ratepayer funding. The bottom line seems to be that nuclear is simply not competitive, and the push from the US government to subsidize it seems to be forcing the wrong choice on the market."

First off, the study doesn't read like much of a scientific study.  The PDF has lots of colors and select quotes.  It's a PR press release by a company called NC WARN who define their mission as:

NC WARN is a member-based nonprofit tackling the accelerating crisis posed by climate change – along with the various risks of nuclear power – by watch-dogging utility practices and working for a swift North Carolina transition to energy efficiency and clean power generation. In partnership with other citizen groups, NC WARN uses sound scientific research to inform and involve the public in key decisions regarding their wellbeing.

Still it's possible that they could have conducted an impartial study.  However, it's clear they did not.  It relies heavily on future projections, and includes a number of factors that are just silly.

Ten billion dollars has been expended over two decades to license the Yucca Mountain repository for used commercial fuel rods, but in 2010 the Obama administration is attempting to cancel the project. That wasted sum was accumulated through utility bills, so it was included in the kilowatt-hour cost of nuclear power. To date there are no credible plans or cost estimates for managing this highly radioactive waste for thousands of years, but much or all of the outlay will be borne by the federal taxpayer.

Why should nuclear power have to foot the bill of the political Yucca Mountain project?  Also, as for plans for managing nuclear waste, how about what we are already doing?  That is storing it on site.  Also, by definition if nuclear waste is highly radioactive then it can't be radioactive for thousands of years.

While the study includes subsidies for both solar and nuclear power, it estimates that if subsidies were removed from solar power, the crossover point would be delayed by a maximum of nine years.

So it's not actually cheaper today, unless you get someone else to pay for it, but hopefully it'll be cheaper in a decade.  I'm thinking about publishing my own earth shattering study.  It turns out living in your parent's basement beats nuclear, solar, and coal.  I use several hundred watts and pay $0.

Tennessee Town Releases Red Light Camera Stats

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/07/28/1947231/Tennessee-Town-Releases-Red-Light-Camera-Stats

SonicSpike links to what he calls "a transparent look at some statistics released by a small town's red-light camera program," writing "Specifically, in the last fiscal quarter, 7,213 incidents were recorded, 2,673 incidents were rejected by the reviewing officer, and 662 incidents were not processed due to technical issues or lack of information. All in all 3,878 citations were issued between April I — June 30 in a town of 17,000 residents. Interestingly enough there are two nearby cities claiming that individuals 'have no presumption of innocence' when accused by the red light cameras." Fines for no-harm-no-foul rolling stops bug me, and remind me of Gary Lauder's suggestion to merge stop signs and yield signs.

Facing 16 Years In Prison For Videotaping Police

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/07/27/0212232/Facing-16-Years-In-Prison-For-Videotaping-Police

"The ACLU of Maryland is defending Anthony Graber, who faces as much as sixteen years in prison if found guilty of violating state wiretap laws because he recorded video of an officer drawing a gun during a traffic stop. ... Once [the Maryland State Police] learned of the video on YouTube, Graber's parents' house was raided, searched, and four of his computers were confiscated. Graber was arrested, booked, and jailed. Their actions are a calculated method of intimidation. Another person has since been similarly charged under the same statute. The wiretap law being used to charge Anthony Graber is intended to protect private communication between two parties. According to David Rocah, the ACLU attorney handling Mr. Graber's case, 'To charge Graber with violating the law, you would have to conclude that a police officer on a public road, wearing a badge and a uniform, performing his official duty, pulling someone over, somehow has a right to privacy when it comes to the conversation he has with the motorist.'" Here are a factsheetthe video at issue. (PDF) on the case from the ACLU of Maryland, and the video at issue.

In unrelated news:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BART_Police_shooting_of_Oscar_Grant

AU Government Censors Document On Planned Web Snooping

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/07/24/1945231/AU-Government-Censors-Document-On-Planned-Web-Snooping?art_pos=14

"The Australian Government plans to force ISPs to record and retain all citizens' communications traffic. The Sydney Morning Herald requested that the proposed policy documents be released under Freedom of Information laws. What they received was a document that was 90% censored, in order to prevent 'premature unnecessary debate.' More discussion on the Greyhat Security site. Here is the redacted document (PDF, 3.6 MB)."

"premature unnecessary debate" is a classic line.

No charges over G20 man's death

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10723274

A police officer who was filmed pushing a man to the ground during the G20 protests will not face charges over his death.
Ian Tomlinson, 47, died after being caught up in the clashes on 1 April 2009 in the City of London.
Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said there was no prospect of conviction because experts could not agree on how Mr Tomlinson died.

In Oregon, Wind Power Surges Disrupting Grid

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/07/20/0554252/In-Oregon-Wind-Power-Surges-Disrupting-Grid

"The Oregonian reports gusts of wind cause synchronized power surges, more than the transmission lines can handle. Windmill farms are ordered to fan their blades, despite tremendous demand for 'green' power from California."

The Relativity of Wrong

http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm

My answer to him was, "John, when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."

The basic trouble, you see, is that people think that "right" and "wrong" are absolute; that everything that isn't perfectly and completely right is totally and equally wrong.

DRM vs. Unfinished Games

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/07/15/166200/DRM-vs-Unfinished-Games

Rod Cousens is the CEO of Codemasters, and he recently spoke with CVG about how he thinks DRM is the wrong way to fight piracy. Instead, he suggests that the games industry increase its reliance on downloadable content and microtransactions. Quoting: "The video games industry has to learn to operate in a different way. My answer is for us as publishers to actually sell unfinished games — and to offer the consumer multiple micro-payments to buy elements of the full experience. That would create an offering that is affordable at retail — but over a period of time may also generate more revenue for the publishers to reinvest in our games. If these games are pirated, those who get their hands on them won't be able to complete the experience. There will be technology, coding aspects, that will come to bear that will unlock some aspects. Some people will want them and some won't. When it comes to piracy, I think you have to make the experience the answer to the issue — rather than respond the other way round and risk damaging that experience for the user."

Sound As the New Illegal Narcotic?

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/07/15/166220/Sound-As-the-New-Illegal-Narcotic?art_pos=9

"The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is warning parents and teachers of a new threat to our children: sounds. Apparently kids are now discovering binaural beats and using them to get 'physiological effects.' The report goes on with everyone suggesting that such aural experiences will act as a gateway to drug usage and even has one student claiming there are 'demons' involved. Anyone who has used one of those light/sound machines knows all about the effects that these sounds will give and to state that they will lead kids to do drugs is nonsense at best. It seems the trend in scaring the citizens with a made-up problem has gone to the next level."