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The mayor and 3 council members are Democrats, the final council member is unaffiliated.

Woodland is 65% registered Democrats. The state does have a single House member who is a Dem and one GOP senator and one Dem senator and a GOP governor.

So this is a Dem town, like other longtime Dem towns like Detroit, Baltimore and D.C.

Is it that your argument is that Slashdot expects the Democrats to always be the smart ones or that we think all Republicans are stupid? Because, from where I sit, that's pretty ignorant. What we do know is that these people are poor and poorly educated. And to make matters worse, the state is now run by Republicans hellbent on decimating the education system there and they have been quite successful in doing so.

Apparently, you do think Dems are the smart ones. Unless they're rural black people who don't want another solar plant in their backyard. Look through all the comments here and at Ars that blithely assume it just has to be some wascally Republicans. But they are only one-third of Woodlawn's residents, judging by their votes for president in 2008 and 2012.

Wiki has the census data. Northampton county is 60% black, 39% white. Woodland itself is 48% black, 51% white. And, without going too far, we're talking about a low-income rural area with an apparent stagnant economy. The two existing solar plants have done nothing to help Woodlawn except to make it look like a sacrifice area. A shiny solar farm (or set of windmills) does not ever attract anyone to move into an area (which is not to say that it will make young people leave the area).

So, if this Woodlawn story has you wondering how bad things are currently, how about if we predict how North Carolina looks in another 20 years? I would also ask everyone to consider the real cost for us to carry these people once the crisis fully matures. How do we as a country handle the long term damage caused by this short term thinking and are we going to accept that we will have to pay for this stupidity the Republicans caused during their tenure?

Complain as you like about the recent rise of the state GOP but the fact remains: Dem mayor, 3 of 4 council members are Dems, the other is unaffiliated, the town is half black and voted for Obama in total votes by 65% in 2008 and by 67% in 2012. Obama carried the state in 2008, lost it 51-48 in 2012.

The only decision makers in this "story" -- a label that lends too much dignity to this cheap hateful hit piece on rural black Obama voters that Ars published just to generate some clickbait hits -- were elected Democrats in a dusty rural Democrat town.

Are you libs really so comfortable calling your poor rural black voters all these names and heaping abuse on their little village like this, a real opprobrium that will tar this little town in search engine listings for years to come? I think you should be ashamed of yourselves. These people, poor rural black Dems, deserve better than to be held up for such unrelenting ridicule and making their town's name infamous just so the biggest weasel over at Ars can generate clickbait traffic for his generally lousy and shallow reporting on science matters.

I'd like to know more about the existing solar plants who are undoubtedly chasing federal subsidy dollars. Perhaps they are driving up the costs of electricity to the residents of Woodland. If this was a real news story, the reporter would have dug into these larger issues.

The mayor and 3 council members are Democrats, the final council member is unaffiliated.

Woodlawn is 65% registered Democrats. The state does have a single House member who is a Dem and one GOP senator and one Dem senator and a GOP governor.

So this is a Dem town, like other longtime Dem towns like Detroit, Baltimore and D.C.

Is it that your argument is that Slashdot expects the Democrats to always be the smart ones or that we think all Republicans are stupid? Because, from where I sit, that's pretty ignorant. What we do know is that these people are poor and poorly educated. And to make matters worse, the state is now run by Republicans hellbent on decimating the education system there and they have been quite successful in doing so.

So, if this Woodlawn story has you wondering how bad things are currently, how about if we predict how North Carolina looks in another 20 years? I would also ask everyone to consider the real cost for us to carry these people once the crisis fully matures. How do we as a country handle the long term damage caused by this short term thinking and are we going to accept that we will have to pay for this stupidity the Republicans caused during their tenure?

N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences director puts kibosh on documentary about sea-level rise

This wasn't the simple-minded decision that partisans on both sides are trying to make it. But in the wake of the high-profile departure of the Nature Research Center's top scientist, it does seem a bit chilling.

Howling Wilderness of Computerdom [tm], they passed a law against any such shenanigans. The godz forbid we should actually have a CHOICE in our broadband!

http://www.wired.com/business/2011/05/nc-gov-anti-muni-broadband/

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/cities-consumers-lose-municipal-broadband-fight/Content?oid=2440390

Of course they also passed laws forbidding any study of global rising seawater .. outside the limits they felt were politically correct, that is.

Gotta love 'em.

This is why Time Warner pushed a bill through NC to put lots of roadblocks up for municipal broadband here.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/cities-consumers-lose-municipal-broadband-fight/Content?oid=2440390

The local LUG was quite vocal in fighting this, but we don't have the resources of Time Warner.

Fuck you very much Time Warner.

The Constitution of the United States of America had a nod to a limited copyright, with the idea that it would promote the arts and sciences for there to be a period of time in which the original creator of an idea would be able to profit from it. (Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, wherein it states as a goal "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;")

Here's an article entitled The Founding Fathers Had Copyright Right, explaining how and why copyright was first introduced (back when the U.S.A. was just a twinkle in the founding fathers' eyes). It bears little resemblance to the convoluted and draconian system we now have in place.

As of 1790, that "limited time" was a period of 14 years, with a possible 14 year extension (assuming the author was still alive), for a possible maximum of 28 years from date of creation. Those periods were more than double those originally specified in earlier documents, which ranged from 5 to 7 years.

More recently, the Copyright Term Extension Act has shoved everything in quite the wrong direction for anything to ever reach the public domain.

For example:

Mickey Mouse was created in 1928. Mickey Mouse's likeness will not be legal to reproduce without a license until 2036, or maybe even 2047 (there is some legalistic ambiguity). And that's assuming that the copyright laws are not changed yet again to suit corporate greed... Because, you know, Disney hasn't had enough time to properly profit from Mickey Mouse yet, since he's only 83 years old!

If that example isn't broken enough for you, have a look at this list of when things enter the public domain, and note that the current copyright law ensures that a book published on 15 March 1923 will enter the public domain on 1 January 2019, despite nearly everyone who was alive when it was published being dead now - nevermind 7 more years. It also shows that a sound recording published in 1978 will enter the public domain no earlier than 2049. If it was recorded prior to 1972, then it won't become public domain until at least 2067. This literally means that music recorded before I was born will not be in the public domain before I die. I expect this holds true for most of us, actually, and not just me. As an aside, this is also why restaurants do not sing "Happy Birthday" with the lyrics and melody you learned growing up.

The judge is related to Pat Bucannon and apparently even crazier.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/when-war-breaks-out-its-other-peoples-blood-being-spilled/Content?oid=1188929

Jesus said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

No. He didn't. It's not in the earliest copies of the Gospel of John.

It's a good parable. It gives a good moral. But it's a fabrication. Although, a fabrication that even Jesus would have approved of.

You are indeed lucky to be in a country where you can get a text and/or phone plan for only "£15 a month". Here in America, only recently did another cellular company start offering plans (voice, not text) for $50 per month unlimited. Metro PCS has had real unlimited plans for between $40 to $50 per month for years. That is definitely the direction I would go, if I had to purchase cellular today as other cellular company plans that state they are unlimited have small contract in the contract that state otherwise.

With every other cellular company, in America, you are guaranteed, check RipOffReports.com (by consumers, for consumers; Don't let them get away with it...let the truth be known!) if you do not believe me, that you are guaranteed to eventually get hit with random over-charges. Which demonstrates to anyone who looks, by their very actions, that they (cellular providers in America) believe, honestly believe, with all their little tiny hearts, that Americans HAVE NO CHOICE! Thus they can get away with it. Can they? Really, Really, REALLY. (more directed at Americans than you)

Most people these days are used to "always on" connections, and I think this is how things should and will eventually be - the ability to use on line services anytime, anyplace.

I agree with you that this is how things should be and eventually will be, even here in America. Just not today, not yet. The American corporations have no incentive to provide it. In fact they do just the opposite, when a town or city attempts to put in city wide WiFi for the benefit of their customers, the telcos fight it, and they fight it hard. Usually they successfully prevent city-wide WiFi, but not always. It like people forget that the city infrastructure, water, sewer, eclectic belong to them and them alone!

The mentality of fighting innovation and service for customers is, well, pathetic. They have been fighting against fiber over the last mile in America for years, literally decades now. In Utah and Wilson, North Carolina they have fiber to their home. Will your community be next? Its up to you!

• User owned Fiber initiatives, where a community and a family in that community, can literally own the Fiber cable from the telco switching location of the town to their home. Smart families will spend the $3,000.00 (what one community charges) to own that critical fiber link for, especially if they plan to keep the home and property in the family and have children as it will bear fruit for generations. Of course the next bottleneck is having a non American Telco control fiber across the continent + undersea fiber optic cables to other continents. Utopia serves a good portion of Utah to date; Bringham City, Tremonton, Perry City, Layton, Centerville, Murray, Midvale, West Valley City, Riverton, Cedar Hills, Lindon, Orem, Payson, Cedar City
• Greenlight, North Carolina: the city council started running their own Fiber when Time Warner refused, that's when Time Warner got busy lobbying the legislature! They are still lobbying the state legislature, even though a Bill to limit broadband was defeated!

Note: About needing a non American owned company; the facts are that the current American telcos, even after receiving over 200 Billions in American Tax dollars over decades, have refused to innovate and provide fiber over the last mile to Americans. They received American tax dollars + additional taxes + additional legislative approved fees to bring Fiber to American ho

You are indeed lucky to be in a country where you can get a text and/or phone plan for only "£15 a month". Here in America, only recently did another cellular company start offering plans (voice, not text) for $50 per month unlimited. Metro PCS has had real unlimited plans for between $40 to $50 per month for years. That is definitely the direction I would go, if I had to purchase cellular today as other cellular company plans that state they are unlimited have small contract in the contract that state otherwise.

With every other cellular company, in America, you are guaranteed, check RipOffReports.com (by consumers, for consumers; Don't let them get away with it...let the truth be known!) if you do not believe me, that you are guaranteed to eventually get hit with random over-charges. Which demonstrates to anyone who looks, by their very actions, that they (cellular providers in America) believe, honestly believe, with all their little tiny hearts, that Americans HAVE NO CHOICE! Thus they can get away with it. Can they? Really, Really, REALLY. (more directed at Americans than you)

Most people these days are used to "always on" connections, and I think this is how things should and will eventually be - the ability to use on line services anytime, anyplace.

I agree with you that this is how things should be and eventually will be, even here in America. Just not today, not yet. The American corporations have no incentive to provide it. In fact they do just the opposite, when a town or city attempts to put in city wide WiFi for the benefit of their customers, the telcos fight it, and they fight it hard. Usually they successfully prevent city-wide WiFi, but not always. It like people forget that the city infrastructure, water, sewer, eclectic belong to them and them alone!

The mentality of fighting innovation and service for customers is, well, pathetic. They have been fighting against fiber over the last mile in America for years, literally decades now. In Utah and Wilson, North Carolina they have fiber to their home. Will your community be next? Its up to you!

• User owned Fiber initiatives, where a community and a family in that community, can literally own the Fiber cable from the telco switching location of the town to their home. Smart families will spend the $3,000.00 (what one community charges) to own that critical fiber link for, especially if they plan to keep the home and property in the family and have children as it will bear fruit for generations. Of course the next bottleneck is having a non American Telco control fiber across the continent + undersea fiber optic cables to other continents. Utopia serves a good portion of Utah to date; Bringham City, Tremonton, Perry City, Layton, Centerville, Murray, Midvale, West Valley City, Riverton, Cedar Hills, Lindon, Orem, Payson, Cedar City
• Greenlight, North Carolina: the city council started running their own Fiber when Time Warner refused, that's when Time Warner got busy lobbying the legislature! They are still lobbying the state legislature, even though a Bill to limit broadband was defeated!

Note: About needing a non American owned company; the facts are that the current American telcos, even after receiving over 200 Billions in American Tax dollars over decades, have refused to innovate and provide fiber over the last mile to Americans. They received American tax dollars + additional taxes + additional legislative approved fees to bring Fiber to American ho

For the first time in 37 years, federal budget cuts have all but stopped major work on the New Orleans area's east bank hurricane levees, a complex network of concrete walls, metal gates and giant earthen berms that won't be finished for at least another decade.

"I guess people look around and think there's a complete system in place, that we're just out here trying to put icing on the cake," said Mervin Morehiser, who manages the "Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity" levee project for the Army Corps of Engineers. "And we aren't saying that the sky is falling, but people should know that this is a work in progress, and there's more important work yet to do before there is a complete system in place." ...

"I can't tell you exactly what that could mean this hurricane season if we get a major storm," Naomi said. "It would depend on the path and speed of the storm, the angle that it hits us.

"But I can tell you that we would be better off if the levees were raised, . . . and I think it's important and only fair that those people who live behind the levee know the status of these projects." ...

The Bush administration's proposed fiscal 2005 budget includes only $3.9 million for the east bank hurricane project. Congress likely will increase that amount, although last year it bumped up the administration's $3 million proposal only to $5.5 million.

"I needed $11 million this year, and I got $5.5 million," Naomi said. "I need $22.5 million next year to do everything that needs doing, and the first $4.5 million of that will go to pay four contractors who couldn't get paid this year."

Well, crud, that didn't work: the permalink button apparently remembers where you started, not where you ended up. Anyway, just look for "Big Hole Rd." in Chatham Co., North Carolina. If it ever was a national security issue it isn't any more: see http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2000-12-13/triangle s.html

Thanks to visionaries such as Adam & Eve's Phil Harvey, the right for a company to sell pornography, sex-toys, contraception, and other "obsecne" material over the internet and via mail-order has been upheld.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/khan1.html
http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2002-12-18/first.ht ml

The first two links from a google search of "jealous of our freedom"....

According to internet legend, THX-1138 was Lucas's phone number when he was in college.

References Here and
here

I don't know if it's true or not, but it's at least plausible... if you want to try to track it down some more, just Google for "thx-1138 phone number".

It shows up in a few other places, such as American Graffiti (the car driven by Harrison Ford has the plate number THX 138), and the film "Dark Star" by John Carpenter (one of Lucas's classmates), one of the toilet tanks is labeled "THX 1138" (make what you will of that - Carpenter ain't talking.)

Rumor has it that it shows up (in one form or another) in every movie that Lucas has directed.

400 employees know that managers get bonuses to meet goals that require employees to work overtime but without pay. I rarely, if ever, boycott things but I try not to shop at Wal-Mart.

What does sculptor Auguste Rodin (pronounced Ro-dahn, if you aren't up on your French) have in common with Rodan (pronounced like it's spelled), the giant pterodactyl?

--TRR

mozilla != godzilla, rodin != rodan

Ashcroft and Bush are trampling your rights