Unions Urging Actors Not To Work On Hobbit Movie

Slashdot | Unions Urging Actors Not To Work On Hobbit Movie (click through for discussion):

"'Last we heard about The Hobbit, Guillermo Del Toro dropped out, Peter Jackson was unofficially directing and secretly auditioning actors, the movie had yet to be green-lit, and Ian McKellen was getting super-antsy about the whole thing and threatening not to play Gandalf. This shouldn't help the long-gestating movie happen any quicker: Actors guilds including SAG issued actual alerts yesterday against working on any of the Hobbit films, advising their members not to take parts in the non-union production, should they be offered them.'"

I was ready to make some comments, looking forward to a decent discussion, but the comments were full of nonsense like this:
by Planesdragon (210349)

Friend of a Friend<slashdot&castlesteelstone,us> on Sunday September 26, @05:15PM (#33705430) Homepage Journal

nowadays, they're merely another expensive middle-man cost

Unions are paid directly by their membership, or in certain legislated instances, directly by those they represent in contract negotiations.

The only "middle-man" cost to a union is the wages that workers receive when they bargain collectively. To argue that this is an "increased" cost, you need to refute the union's basic premise -- that collective bargaining brings about a "fair" wage.

While you're about it, please include an example where everyone having to haggle for the cost of a head of lettuce is also "fair", please.

That tripe has a score of "4, Insightful" as I write. When someone needs an explanation on how a union body between the workers and their employer is not a middle-man cost, and gets modded up for it, I might as well move on. Same for negotiating the best price for a head of lettuce. We normally do not do it in the way he is probably thinking, having a Sotheby's Auction for each head in front of a mob of shoppers. We "haggle" by taking our shopping business to the places that we like best. Sometimes price is number one, sometimes it is other factors.

Looks like anybody expressing any sort of Libertarian thought, anybody even approaching the idea that the buyer sets the price, is getting a mod smack-down.

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Suki With A Twist: Part One An Alternate Future Now Only $2.99 on Kindle

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Google Engineer Spied On Teen Users

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Assange Rape Case Reopened

Slashdot Your Rights Online Story | Assange Rape Case Reopened:

"'Wikileaks' Julian Assange had a warrant issued for his arrest in Sweden on the charges of rape. But it was withdrawn shortly thereafter. Now the case has been reopened to investigate 'molestation charges.' On top of that, a new site (parody?) called wikileakileaks.org has been launched by the chief editor of Gawker to give Wikileaks a taste of its own medicine. You can find links to details on the molestation charges there.'"

Wikileaks is the organization behind this bit of deception: Collateral Murder

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The iPad As a Shape-Recognition System

Way cool tech!

Slashdot | The iPad As a Shape-Recognition System:

"'The guys over at the Volumique blog have a different idea as to how to tackle apps for Apple's devices. They aren't just thinking about a digital activity on such devices, they are experimenting with using physical objects through Apple's multi-touch screens. Imagine being able to buy the playing pieces for a board game, but then loading up an app on your iPad for the actual board. The pieces would be recognized when placed on the iPad's screen, it would even recognize which direction they were facing. This may sound like an impossible feat unless you use a much more expensive device like Microsoft Surface, but Bertrand Duplat and Etienne Mineur at Volumique already have it working.'"

Series tie-in: None that I can remember.

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+100 Funny! Many Hackers Accidentally Send Their Code To Microsoft

I wish Slashdot would let us use moderator points on the story itself ;)

Slashdot | Many Hackers Accidentally Send Their Code To Microsoft:

"'When hackers crash Windows in the course of developing malware, they'll often accidentally agree to send the virus code straight to Microsoft, according to senior security architect Rocky Heckman. 'It's amazing how much stuff we get.' Heckman also said Microsoft was a common target for people testing their attacks. 'The first thing [script kiddies] do is fire off all these attacks at Microsoft.com. On average we get attacked between 7000 and 9000 times per second.''"

John has a hack or two from the 2030's in different books of the series.


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Look For AI, Not Aliens

via Slashdot's own CmdrTaco

Slashdot Science Story | Look For AI, Not Aliens:

"'Writing in Acta Astronautica, Seti astronomer Seth Shostak argues that we should be looking for 'sentient machines' rather than biological life. In an interview with the BBC, he said, 'If you look at the timescales for the development of technology, at some point you invent radio and then you go on the air and then we have a chance of finding you. But within a few hundred years of inventing radio — at least if we're any example — you invent thinking machines; we're probably going to do that in this century. So you've invented your successors and only for a few hundred years are you... a 'biological' intelligence.' As a result, he says 'we could spend at least a few percent of our time... looking in the directions that are maybe not the most attractive in terms of biological intelligence but maybe where sentient machines are hanging out.''"

No direct series tie-in beyond discussing what level of technology will be available at different points in the future.

Also posted to my other journal.






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North Korea Looking For Friends On Facebook

I thought this was posted here before. I know I read of this ant the Twitter account before.

Slashdot | North Korea Looking For Friends On Facebook:

North Korea has apparently decided this social networking thing is worth doing. Just days after launching Twitter and YouTube accounts, it appears to have added Facebook to the list. It probably won't get too many friends in South Korea, which has already blocked access to the North Korean Twitter account for containing 'illegal information' under its security laws...and says the Facebook page could suffer the same fate.

I wonder how that Facebook Places feature is working for them?

Series tie-in: The Koreas are reunited in both series. In Suki III when one of John's nurses mentions she and her husband are going to work in the old North Korea at a new hospital.


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Cleveland: Smart Trash Carts Tell If You Haven't Been Recycling

Nice to see the opening comments begin with what a waste of money most state sponsored recycling efforts are, without drawing a karma kill.

Slashdot | Smart Trash Carts Tell If You Haven't Been Recycling:

Starting next year Cleveland residents face paying a $100 fine if they don't recycle, and the city's new high-tech trash cans will keep track if they don't. The new cans are embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes which keep track of how often residents take them to the curb. If the chip shows you haven't brought your recycle can out in a while, a lucky trash supervisor will go through your can looking for recyclables. From the article: 'Trash carts containing more than 10 percent recyclable material could lead to a $100 fine, according to Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens. Recyclables include glass, metal cans, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard.'

Reason covers Cleveland frequently.  Not sure if they found a Green Police SWAT team like I did ;)




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WikiLeaks founder charged with rape, molestation in Sweden

UPDATE: Charges withdrawn.

This appears to be the "perfect defense" from the hard-core extremes of the spectrum. Claim the government is setting you up every time you get caught violating the rights of others. See the recent revelations about Bill Ayres, or the Peruvian adventures of Van der Sloot, for a less political version.

In this case, WikiLeaks got a little in front with their "defense": We were warned to expect "dirty tricks". Now we have the first one:http://bit.ly/bv5ku9

Next, make an attack on the page format of the news source breaking the story: Expressen is a tabloid; No one here has been contacted by Swedish police. Needless to say this will prove hugely distracting.

See the most recent tweet from them (as of this post time) below.

Time will tell on this one.

WikiLeaks founder charged with rape, molestation in Sweden - CNN.com:

"Stockholm, Sweden (CNN) -- The founder and editor of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been charged in Sweden with rape and molestation, a spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecutor's office told CNN Saturday. 

Spokeswoman Karin Rosander said the charges were filed Friday night, but she didn't have further details. 

Assange denied the charges in a posting Saturday on the WikiLeaks Twitter page, saying, 'The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing.'
Assange was in Sweden last weekend, but Rosander said it's not clear whether he is still in the country. She said police have been unable so far to make contact with Assange."

From the WikiLeaks Twitter Page: Julian Assange: the charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing.

Slashdot coverage:

mpawlo was one of many readers who have sent news that a warrant has been issued in Stockholm, Sweden for WikiLeaks founder and spokesman Julian Assange. The investigation apparently involves "one report of rape and one report of harassment." The story was broken bySwedish tabloid Expressen (original in Swedish), and later picked up by more reputable sourceslike CNN and the BBC, who say the warrant has been confirmed by Swedish authorities. The WikiLeaks Twitter feed has commented three times about the charges so far, first saying they were warned of 'dirty tricks,' then that theyhadn't been contacted by Swedish police, and then a statement from Assange saying the charges are without basis.

Update: Slashdot has updated their story:

Update: 08/21 15:58 GMT by S : Multiple sources are now reporting that the warrant for Assange's arrest has been withdrawn. Aftonbladet has coverage in Swedish. Chief prosecutor Eva Finne said, "I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape."

For the most part, the Slashdot bunch takes to defending Assange in humorous ways, from the Whoopi-esque "it wasn't rape, rape" versions, because of the broadness of Sweden's laws, to the USA is making a bigger effort in this case than they are for bin Laden.  At least one directly notices the Roman Polanski parallel.

Now for something really funny. If you thought the Slashdotters knee-jerk accusations that the victims are part of a US plot was good, CNN has a new blog story and all of their primary sources are bloggers and media speculators.

Series tie-in: Criminal law abroad is not addressed in the books.



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Slashdot | Facebook Takes On Four Square

Slashdot | Facebook Takes On Four Square:

"'Facebook Places is similar to FourSquare. You can go to places, 'check-in' so your friends know you're there, rate them, comment on them, and generally spew your opinions all over the internet as fast as your fingers can hit the keys. It's an obvious attempt by the company to muscle in on FourSquare's block, casting its influence ever further over us all.'"

Slight Suki Series tie-in: In the future it is difficult, but not impossible, to hide from people tracking you.

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Slashdot | Just One Out of 16 Hybrids Pays Back In Gas Savings

Slashdot | Just One Out of 16 Hybrids Pays Back In Gas Savings:

'One of the criticisms of hybrid cars has historically been that there's no payback, especially given the cheap gasoline prices in the US. The extra money you spend on a hybrid isn't returned in gas savings, say critics. Well, that may be true, especially when regular gasoline is averaging $2.77 a gallon this week. But as we often point out, most people don't buy hybrids for payback — they buy them to make a statement about wanting to drive green. Nevertheless, a Canadian study has now looked at the question of hybrid payback in a country whose gasoline is more expensive than ours (roughly $3.70 per gallon this week), with surprising results. The British Columbia Automobile Association projected the fuel costs of 16 hybrids over five years against their purchase price and financing fees. In a study released in late July, only a single one of the 16 hybrids cost less to buy and run than its gasoline counterpart.'

The one car that would save you money, according the study, is the Mercedes S400 Hybrid sedan — and it will only cost you $105,000"

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Slashdot | Abandon Earth Or Die, Warns Hawking

Oh, why do the heroes of my youth have to go all batty on me as I age?

Slashdot | Abandon Earth Or Die, Warns Hawking:

According to famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, it's time to free ourselves from Mother Earth. 'I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space,' Hawking tells Big Think. 'It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load.''

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Slashdot | SpaceX Unveils Heavy-Lift Rocket Designs

Slashdot | SpaceX Unveils Heavy-Lift Rocket Designs:

"FleaPlus writes
'At the recent Joint Propulsion Conference, SpaceX's rocket development facility director Tom Markusic unveiled conceptual plans for how its current Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 commercial rockets can be evolved into heavy-lift rockets, ranging from a Falcon X capable of lifting 38,000kg to orbit, up to a 140,000kg Falcon XX (more than either the Saturn V or the 75,000kg shuttle-derived rocket Congress currently plans on having NASA spend $13B building). SpaceX presentations also discuss a new Merlin 2 heavy-lift engine, solar-electric cargo tugs, adapting their current engines for descent/ascent vehicles fueled by Mars-derived methane, and a desire for the government to take the lead on in-space nuclear thermal propulsion while commercial focuses on launchers. In a recent interview, SpaceX CEO/CTO Elon Musk expressed his goal of lowering the price of Mars transportation enough to enable early colonization in 20 years, and his own plans for retiring to Mars.'"

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