Category: politics

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs have endored [ballot] Question 9 — which would decriminalize possession of 3 ounces or less of marijuana in Nevada.

“The historic endorsement of the marijuana initiative by Nevada’s largest law-enforcement organization is good news for Nevadans because it means that we’re one step closer to ensuring that law-enforcement officers will have more time to go after murderers, rapists, kidnappers and other violent criminals,” said NRLE spokesperson Billy Rogers.

NCOPS President Andy Anderson said, “As a former law-enforcement officer, I know that a simple marijuana arrest can take me off the street for several hours and sometimes for over half of my shift. … We could better spend our time responding to more life-threatening and serious incidents.” […]

It’s been theorized that there is no perfect voting system, but Instant Runoff Voting still has a lot going for it. And, if passed, ballot measure 1 in Alaska would ensure Instant Runoff Voting would be used in Alaska for all state and federal offices, including the President and U.S. Senate (but not including the governor, for state constitutional reasons).

If you’re not familiar with Instant Runoff Voting, check out this “how it works” page for a simple walk-through. In a nutshell, voters rank each candidate on their election ballots.

Rock on. I hope that passes.

Brad Templeton, of 10-Myths-About-Copyright fame, makes some good points about those supermarket “savings” cards (I put “savings” in quotes because the cards only allow users to access the sale-prices, and nothing more).

While I suspect many of your readers will be aware of the concept, some may not so let me remind them, when they go to parties or meet other people who are concerned about privacy, to simply trade their grocery affinity cards.

My first card was in the name of Mickey Mouse of Anaheim, and you might find that to be protection enough — the Safeway staff would always say “thank you Mr. Mouse.” When I traded it, I told the receipient to always trade with somebody who lives east of him. I presume my card has made it to the east coast by now.

At parties, have everybody put their cards in a bowl and draw another one at the end.

The cards do save a lot of money, so it’s a serious cost to avoid them, but with these techniques you can protect your privacy and not spend the cash. […]

Hmm, perhaps Leia could be conviced to try this at the next DFWBlogs Cocktail Event ;).

As mentioned on Politech, HP threatened to sue a team of secuity researchers if they published a flaw in HP’s Tru64 operating system:

In a letter sent on Monday, an HP vice president warned SnoSoft, a loosely organized research collective, that [via the DMCA] its members “could be fined up to $500,000 and imprisoned for up to five years” for its role in publishing information on a bug that lets an intruder take over a Tru64 Unix system. […]

As of now, I’m boycotting HP/Compaq over this. When I replace my aging HP LaserJet 5L, I guess I’ll buy another brand. Or, I may just buy a used HP printer, as HP gets no additional revenue from used sales (their products are fairly decent, after all).

Update: Hmm, it looks like there may have been some misunderstanding, sort of a right-hand-not-knowing-what-the-left-is-doing, as HP is now saying that throwing its weight around, DMCA-style, is not its bag:

Where and how the DMCA should be applied is a matter of great controversy. The reported letter to SnoSoft was not consistent or indicative of HP’s policy. We can say emphatically that HP will not use the DMCA to stifle research or impede the flow of information that would benefit our customers and improve their system security. […]

So, err, nevermind on that “boycott”. Nothing to see here; move along ;).