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But, but Dr. Jeanne Hubbach is Board Certified in Family Practice and Environmental Medicine.

Turns out that the Family Practice (actually, "Family Medicine") board certification is real. The "Environmental Medicine" certification is total quackitude.

Of comparable size and complexity is the "Big Dig" in Boston. A difference is that it was paid with federal appropriations, thus never had to turn a profit. It really depends on what the governments of Estonia and Finland want to do in this situation, and if they can convince other EU members to help chip into the project too.

The AMA has lobbied successfully to make it illegal for a patient to find out the malpractice history of physicians.

This may be true for your state, but not in MA. You can go here to review the profile of any physician that has ever been registered in the state of Massachusetts. These profiles include malpractice, disciplinary action, and criminal history. This information is primary and authoritative; the site that hospitals and other healthcare providers use to check on their doctors, and what the public sees, is one in the same. In addition, anyone is allowed to call the Board of Medicine to request specific details about any averse information shown here.

Many other states have similar websites that were made in direct response to the concerns of those like you.

Some are also using bluetooth receivers spread across highways to track mobile devices and gather similar anonymous data:

http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TrafficTravelResources/TrafficInformationMaps.aspx#Real%20Time

Massachusetts: where your doc can give you a final friend, but not weed.

Actually, that's the very next question on the ballot. No joke.

I can't believe what a bunch of ignorant wild speculation is contained in the comments on this page. No one has even bothered to find out what Massachusetts Ballot Question 2 actually proposes. But it's simple enough in a nutshell.

It would be assured that the patient is adult, informed, and competent; ORIGINATES the action HIMSELF; is really facing imminent and certain death as determined by both attending and consulting physicians; confirms his wish three times with plenty of time enforced to think it over; and has to sign a form in the presence of witnesses meeting prescribed qualifications. Medication would be prescribed which would be certain to result in a humane death. I have been told by the opposition it consists of 100 Seconals to dissolve in water and drink promptly[1], but the measure does not appear to specify such. A big overdose of morphine would work just as well if not better (yes, morphine can be taken orally; it just requires more of it). It's what is used now "off the record" in hospitals when a patient is in irreversible unbearable agony and his body is betraying his dignity, if he is lucky enough to have access to a physician or nurse willing to risk everything to REALLY help him the only way that counts. Don't pretend it doesn't and won't happen even without the protection of the law. The law just prevents criminalization of what is one of the kindest and most caring acts it is possible to undertake.

It is prescribed that the death certificate shall specify the cause of death as the diagnosed disease, NOT "suicide". This is important. The patient is not "choosing death". That is HOGWASH. The patient is choosing the MANNER and TIMING of death. That is all. The death is already ordained.

The measure would specifically outlaw (and prescribe punishment for) coercing the patient, forging a patient request, or suppressing a recission by a patient of his own request. It would not allow the active participation in the ending of the patient's life. Contrary to the opposition hysteria, it is specifically NOT, repeat NOT, an assisted suicide measure. It is a lifting of sanction against suicide under controlled circumstances, and an above-board way for the patient to acquire the means without the risk of screwing up and having the effort come out badly. It is nothing MORE than this.

Anyone who opposes this measure is a DAMNED EVIL BASTARD who should rot in hell.

[1] The opposition expresses horror at this "dangerous" (WHA???) method of self termination, as if falling asleep for the final time is some kind of torture.

Crud, I pasted the wrong link into my comment above. (Op-ed: it's 2012 and we still can't edit comments after submission on Slashdot? Seriously?) The vote count for 2010 in MA-6 is here.

Because the water that goes into the sewer system does not go straight into the river or the harbor. It first goes to a water treatment facility and then flows into the harbor. http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/03sewer/html/sewditp.htm

Even more to the point: those Cape Codders let the big Deer Island sewage digesters go up within sight of downtown Boston, but not a few lovely windmills? What hypocrites.
            http://www.sgh.com/projects/water-wastewater/deer-island-digesters/

      Say, there's wind turbines there, too!
            http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/03sewer/html/renewableenergydi.htm

Did you bother to continue reading?

This essentially means the age of consent is 16, unless she was still a virgin, in which case it is 18.

Did you bother to continue reading?

The age of consent in MA is 18. Phoebe Prince was 15. This seems to be the relevant law.

YMMV, but from working an hourly job with an on-call component in MA I can tell you they make a distinction between two classes of 'On call'

Someone who is 'engaged to wait' on-site, like the firefighter analogy, is considered to be 'working' and therefore must be paid for their time.

Someone who is 'waiting to be engaged', but can otherwise go about their life as usual, is not working and therefore need not be paid. Once a call is made though they're on the clock for the hours spent dealing with the issue.

IANAL, and if you're taking your legal advice from Slashdot posts you really should have your head examined.

For those in MA, see http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/subject/about/employmentfaq.html#oncall for ‘official’ info on the topic.

Nationally, the US Federal Fair Labor Standards Act has similar language, see http://labor-employment-law.lawyers.com/Pay-for-On-Call-Time.html

You DON'T have to buy health insurance.

You want to run that by me again?

Care to propose a government that can function without taxation? The Nobel Prize committee would love to hear about it.

How about fewer taxes?

It's disgusting how many different ways we get taxed: Income tax, sales tax, property tax, excise tax, luxury tax, road tolls, gas tax, license/registration fees (for car/gun/house/marriage/fishing/boat/hunting), phone service tax, estate tax, medicare, social security, etc etc etc etc.........

Try to think about the number of different taxes you pay each month.
How much money/effort is spent in just the collection/enforcement all those different taxes?
More info

All of the accusations come from one source who doesn't meet credibility standards for informants.

If all there were were uncorroborated accusations then that would be true. However some of the harrassment accusations are backed up by substantial corroborating evidence (presumably the mail system had a copy of the harassment mass e-mail, in addition to all the DHCP and proxy logs identified in the warrant request).

The accused sounds like he fits the profile of someone with an inferiority complex who bragged to his roommate about what he could accomplish to try to impress the other guy and gain acceptance. Then later, when things didn't work out, our antihero tried to demoralize the roommate into submission by anonymously accusing him of behaviour that (unfortunately due to widespread USA puritanical attitudes) would inflict significant social and emotional stress. This behaviour constitutes cyberbullying and there may be applicable statutes in Massachusetts.

All the other accusations of copyright infringement, unauthorized use of a computer system, and academic misconduct are just gravy. However, if they find something relevant to those accusations, it makes the roommate's testimony more credible at trial for having predicted it. It also makes it less likely that the defense could challenge the search warrant as a fishing expedition if the police discovered nothing on the harassment charge but something on the other accusations instead.

Now mind you, if the guy did what he was accused of and did it under Ubuntu with encrypted partition(s), I suspect it will be beyond Sgt. Murphy's ability to deal with it. Then again, so far the student's purported "cracker skills" sound more like script-kiddie level stuff; something that may have made him 1337 in a backwater high school, but hardly Legion of Doom stuff. If the kid thought "bootleg-laptop" was a smart name for a laptop and left DHCP and proxy log footprints while harassing someone else, he may not have been smart enough to use an encryption password that would resist a dictionary attack. Really, with a laptop, I'd think he would do some WARdriving outside campus to find an open hotspot and cover his tracks better. So if the laptop gets sent to the FBI for further analysis, they may have a chance to crack it.

Now if some judge fidns him guilty and winds up giving him 10 years for this (while Scooter Libby got his sentence commuted to a 2-year probation), or they find unauthorized copies of media that lead to an RIAA/MPAA demand for a $500,000 punitive fine, I'll get upset. But if he did do what he's accused of, then he's long overdue for a reality check.

Or maybe you could take a look here and look around a bit. Some research will show you that, and I quote:

"Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall also provide that uses, whether or not on the same parcel as activities permitted as a matter of right, accessory to activities permitted as a matter of right, which activities are necessary in connection with scientific research or scientific development or related production, may be permitted upon the issuance of a special permit provided the granting authority finds that the proposed accessory use does not substantially derogate from the public good.

In any city or town that accepts this paragraph, zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide that research and development uses, whether or not the uses are currently permitted as a matter of right, may be permitted as a permitted use in any non-residential zoning district which is not a residential, agricultural or open space district upon the issuance of a special permit provided the special permit granting authority finds that the uses do not substantially derogate from the public good.

"Research and development uses" shall include any 1 or more of investigation, development, laboratory and similar research uses and any related office and, subject to the following limitations, limited manufacturing uses and uses accessory to any of the foregoing.

"Limited manufacturing" shall, subject to the issuance of the special permit, be an allowed use, if the following requirements are satisfied: (1) the manufacturing activity is related to research uses; (2) no manufacturing activity customarily occurs within 50 feet of a residential district; and (3) substantially all manufacturing activity customarily occurs inside of buildings with any manufacturing activities customarily occurring outside of buildings subject to conditions imposed in the special permit.

A hazardous waste facility as defined in section two of chapter twenty-one D shall be permitted to be constructed as of right on any locus presently zoned for industrial use pursuant to the ordinances and by-laws of any city or town provided that all permits and licenses required by law have been issued to the developer and a siting agreement has been established pursuant to sections twelve and thirteen of chapter twenty-one D, provided however, that following the submission of a notice of intent, pursuant to section seven of chapter twenty-one D, a city or town may not adopt any zoning change which would exclude the facility from the locus specified in said notice of intent. This section shall not prevent any city or town from adopting a zoning change relative to the proposed locus for the facility following the final disapproval and exhaustion of appeals for permits and licenses required by law and by chapter twenty-one D."

So, let me see, need special permits, need to have the government verify that it will not impact the good of a community (not saying it's 'right' - but it is written in certain laws ... plus, deregulation leads to things like Chinese manufacturers sending lead-based paints and whatnot our way), problems with disposal of waste (which was one of their concerns, listed as such in the article). Yup. Government is totally making this one up to attack the sciences. No written documentation or laws or by-laws or regulation or anything was setup for these situations.

He can still do his science if a) he gets the permit, and b) the folks in charge decide that he can perform research without blowing up the neighborhood or dumping dangerous chemicals down his drain.

Quoth you, "You don't know, do you?"
Quoth I, "Um, well ... maybe yes?

If you live in Massachusetts, you do not have that choice.

Actually, I believe Mit Romney already did that to us in Massachusetts

Basically, if you don't buy insurance, they fine you... GET ME OUTTA THIS STATE... AND DON'T DO IT TO THE WHOLE COUNTRY

The only two suppliers of nav map data in North America are Navteq and TeleAtlas...

It looks like Massachusetts gives this data away for free. I found that page as a reference from a Wikipedia article about some state route in Massachusetts. The data looks to be very detailed, the dataset is around 100MB. Heck, just read the Road Inventory Data Dictionary to get an idea of what they record. And yes, I know it's in an Access database, but it wouldn't be that hard to translate into whatever format one would need.

The only two suppliers of nav map data in North America are Navteq and TeleAtlas...

It looks like Massachusetts gives this data away for free. I found that page as a reference from a Wikipedia article about some state route in Massachusetts. The data looks to be very detailed, the dataset is around 100MB. Heck, just read the Road Inventory Data Dictionary to get an idea of what they record. And yes, I know it's in an Access database, but it wouldn't be that hard to translate into whatever format one would need.

Because he wasn't doing it safely. You want to hang off the side of a highway and get yourself or someone else killed hanging an electric sign for an advertiser, go ahead. But if the city or state agency sends an employee to do that without the proper safety precautions and that worker (or an innocent bystander) gets killed, that agency will be held accountable.

And unfortunately, accidents do happen.

Also, comments can be sent to: mailto:standards@state.ma.us
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=itdsubtopic&L=3&L0=Hom e&L1=Policies%2C+Standards+%26+Guidance&L2=Drafts+ for+Review&sid=Aitd

I think this quote, by the Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, sums up the overreaction and the unwillingness to look at the situation rationally:

"For those who responded to it, professionals, it had a very sinister appearance," Coakley said. "It had a battery behind it and wires."

(My source for that quote is a Boston Globe article.)

Oooooooh! Batteries and wires!! Run away!

My feeling is this: if I lived in the state, I'd damn well make sure I stayed away from Radio Shack, because I'm likely to get caught in the crossfire when someone buys a few electronics components and the SWAT team comes in to take out the "terrorist" with a storm of bullets. Have these people never, ever seen a homemade electronics project before!? For God's sake, MIT is located in their state!

Two points I'd like to make:

1) In most if not all elections, if you don't know enough about either candidate, you can write in a vote for any one you want. Vote for yourself. Vote for your best friend.

2) When you vote, often you're not just voting for candidates for office. Often you are voting on ballot initiatives. For instance, in Massachusetts, where I live, there were three ballot questions that I voted on, in addition to voting for candidates.

This reminds me...Just FYI as a sort of public announcement for slashdotters since I hear on a fairly regular basis from techies who don't get paid timely, especially with startups: there are a lot of laws people don't know about regarding payroll. For example, in Massachusetts (and probably a number of other states) is not just a civil matter, it's a -criminal- one as well!

If you work in MA:

• You must be paid bi-weekly if you're salaried, and you have to be paid within 6 days of that period. There are no acceptable excuses for delays, period, end of discussion- even if the Treasurer is stricken with some mystery disease and can't write checks, that's the company's problem- not yours.
• If you are terminated, fired, laid off, down-sized, whatevered- you MUST BE PAID WITHIN THE FOLLOWING DAY FOR ANY AND ALL WAGES. Your employer cannot make excuses about deducting wages for expenses, petty cash you borrowed, calculating taxes, or whatever; that's all stuff they should have done before letting you go. No excuses about "oh, we only cut checks on tuesdays" or "we only cut payroll checks from our _____ location" - well then, they should have picked tuesday to let you go, and had the check sent ahead. Terminations are rarely spur of the moment "gee, I think I'll fire Bob in 30 minutes." They're decisions made over days, not hours or minutes.
• Violating wage-related laws is a CRIMINAL matter and the CEO, CFO, VP's, etc can be criminally charged if the DA's office is interested enough (ie, several of you are locked out, for example, with back-wages.)
• You can ask the DA's office to pursue the matter, OR pursue it privately- your choice (ie, you're not at the whim of a DA who can't be bothered.)
• Your employer is liable for TREBLE DAMAGES PLUS LEGAL EXPENSES (ie, triple whatever the amount is in question.) Not that you should be taking advantage of employers for the tiniest infraction, but this is a great way to have a sweeter taste in your mouth if you've been given the boot.

IANAL, blah blah, might be wrong about some points, blah blah. Full details on the Massachusetts Unfair Wage Payment Act.

You also might be interested to know that quite a number of jobs are excluded from "independent contractor status", specifically because employers use them to get around having to pay social security taxes, benefits, etc. These MA laws are on top of the IRS rules limiting what employees can be considered independent contractors

First, it shoudl be noted that there is no reason why screen readers like Jaws should have any more problem with open source software than with commercial software. Of course, it should also be mentioned that different platforms have different capabilities regarding accessibility. Linux is admittedly not the best right now, but neither is Windows (try using it without Jaws). Probably the best is Mac OS X -- it has built-in screen reading that works fine with open source software. What this tells me is that people looking for accessibility should contact their operating system vendor as accessibility can definitely be built into the system (and yes, Linux does have to put some effort into this department). There are many places already using open formats successfully and apparently without sacrificing accessibility. Saugus, Mass. switched to open formats years ago (well before the rest of Massachusetts) and has had no obvious problems.

If you really want to get involved, according to Groklaw the meeting Monday, October 31, in Boston, at the State House, room A1, from 1 to 5 that's open to the public. If you can't make that kind of commitment, Mass.gov. One useful page is this one which lets you type in your city and find out which state congress critters are yours. They're the ones who want your vote next time around. We also already know that Romney is in favor of ODF and Galvin (who wants to run for Romney's job) is against it, so writing them won't hurt either.

As for what to write I'd suggest you be nice, be brief and use your own words. That's more effective than just cranking out form letters. Let them know what you think and that you're paying attention.

Umm, I know several Massachussettsians that drive diesel vehicles. One of them drives a VOLVO with a VOLKSWAGEN ENGINE in it that has been converted to STRAIGHT VEGETABLE OIL. Fer crying out loud GREASECARS.COM is run out of Northhampton, MA. Perhaps the reason your specific model of car is not permitted is because of the missions problem. Both California and Mass allow privately owned diesel vehicles. http://vehicletest.state.ma.us/diesel.html

Possible, yes. In this case, no. The Free Software Foundation is a Massachusetts corporation.

Speaking of MA (since I live there)

Interestingly enough, if you worked in MA (your office was here) and you lived in NH, you would have to pay MA taxes on part of your income. I live in the state and work here, so I pay full state taxes, but I know the state has taxed out of state workers for quite some time. With the close proximity of the states in NE, it is quite common to live on one state and work in another. A fair number of my co-workers live in NH.

Here's a link to the tax form you are supposed to be filing. Here is the FAQ

Speaking of MA (since I live there)

Interestingly enough, if you worked in MA (your office was here) and you lived in NH, you would have to pay MA taxes on part of your income. I live in the state and work here, so I pay full state taxes, but I know the state has taxed out of state workers for quite some time. With the close proximity of the states in NE, it is quite common to live on one state and work in another. A fair number of my co-workers live in NH.

Here's a link to the tax form you are supposed to be filing. Here is the FAQ

If you check the Boston.com article that's been posted by another user, you'll see that "Think Computer" was demanding payment to tell them about this bug. This sounds a little bit like extortion, don't you think? What gets even more interesting, is that I recognized this guy from an earlier story on Slashdot. He wrote a rambling, alarmist "whitepaper" about how unsecure WiFi was in the Boston subway. Furthermore, searching Massachusetts business filings doesn't show that any "Think Computer" corporate entity exists.

I believe that this is just some young kid who desperatly wants for himself to be seen as some sort of security expert. His techniques are highly unprofessional and insulting to those of us in the industry who do, in fact, have a clue as to how IT consulting works.

Massachusetts is not a State. Its a Commonwealth. Along with Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Virginia.

Anyone interested in marketing his products directly to the CEO of Dash.com and chairman of Direct Revenue, Mr Daniel L. Kaufman, should consult the following information:

The Mr. Kaufman listed in the article holds this office for his scams

The Internet Archive version of Dash.com from 1999 has a nice little bio of Mr Kaufman.

According to that bio, he has significant real estate holdings in Boston, MA. According to the City of Boston, indeed he does:

Home Address:
20 ROWES WHARF, APT #306
BOSTON, MA 02110
Building value: $819,400.00
Residential Exemption: YES
("Since 1983, the City of Boston has elected to apply a residential exemption to residential property that serves as a principal residence of its owner.")

I will leave the rest as an exercise to the reader.

You can check a few other high (and relatively high) profile sites that run on Zope:

• NASA's Maestro
• AARP
• Boston.com
• Saugus.net
• Many others that don't immediately come to mind...

Zope is also part of Massachusetts' "Open Source Trough" and will quite likely eventually power the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts' site at www.state.ma.us.

Nope, it's just Badnarik, Bush, Cobb, and Kerry on the ballot in Massachusetts. See here for MA election info.

Additionally, my friend working at Boston Water and Sewer drinks his tap water over bottled water, because tap water is subject to far more rigorous testing than is bottled water.

Hasn't he ever heard the song that goes "...and I love that dirty water, uh! Boston, you're my home!"?

The song is talking about how dirty the Charles River is, while Boston gets its water from Quabbin Reservoir in western Mass.

I can understand buying water in a place like Boston where the water sucks

Ever since 1988's presidential election, people have been repeating this line of BS. Boston's water supply isn't just very good, it's exceptional. And not just "for a big city" but for any place in the country. I lived in Boston for a decade and the water not only tasted great, but you could actually lather and wash yourself in it, unlike the craptacular water in, say, Nebraska. Just about the only thing you'd have to worry about is living in an ancient building and having lead in your pipes, but that ain't the city's fault.

I lived in NYC for a while as well, and their water is great, too. I just can't stand all this FUD from small-town America about the "evil big cities" when they're usually dealing with much stricter regulations than the rest of the country.

Don't take my word for it; read the annual water report for yourself.

If you live in a state with a high state income tax rate , you might be able to itemize even if you don't own a house. It's worth checking.

With a source of water like this, they should not need these plants, the reservoir system should be enough. Of course there are probably issues such as building new pipelines and what not, but I believe that it would be a heck of a lot cheaper then building Desalination Plants in the long run because of energy usage.

Plus, I worry that this will become another Big Dig fiasco. But I might be saying this only because I am from Western Massachusetts and I don't want to pay for someone else's water supply.

The ITD website has some really kewl stuff on it like a legal toolkit for using Open Source software. Press releases on the sit seem to indicate that Republican Governer Mitt Romney is behind the move to open source. He'll be getting my vote when he runs for re-election.

The ITD website has some really kewl stuff on it like a legal toolkit for using Open Source software. Press releases on the sit seem to indicate that Republican Governer Mitt Romney is behind the move to open source. He'll be getting my vote when he runs for re-election.

Whoa there. Not quite. How the federal money spent on Big Dig was used was and probably still is being investigated and the state is suing the engineering firms involved. On a more direct note for those that realize that such a large amount of money doesn't just disappear, some outrightly state that it simply went to organized crime. While the States Attorney General's office offers a hotline to call in about it. The extra cash was NOT spent on some technological endeavor or some "save the whales" environmental concern, although that may have been added. The cash, most likely, went into some gangster's pocket. Plain and simple.

Article IX. All judicial officers (...) shall be nominated and appointed by the governor

Article XI. No moneys shall be issued out of the treasury of this commonwealth, and disposed of (except such sums as may be appropriated for the redemption of bills of credit or treasurer's notes, or for the payment of interest arising thereon) but by warrant under the hand of the governor for the time being(.)

Article IX. All judicial officers (...) shall be nominated and appointed by the governor

Article XI. No moneys shall be issued out of the treasury of this commonwealth, and disposed of (except such sums as may be appropriated for the redemption of bills of credit or treasurer's notes, or for the payment of interest arising thereon) but by warrant under the hand of the governor for the time being(.)

The Massachusetts terms are pretty similar to the terms for the national list. From http://www.state.ma.us/donotcall/consumerinfo.htm:

Are There Any Exceptions to this Law?

You may still receive certain types of calls:

Noncommercial polls or surveys, e.g. political polls;

Calls made by tax-exempt non-profit organizations, e.g. universities and charities;

Calls made to consumers with that consumer's express permission;

Calls made to consumers in response to that consumer's visit to that company's fixed commercial location;

Telephone sales calls made primarily in connection with an existing contract or debt;

Telephone sales calls to an existing customer;

Telephone sales calls in the context of ongoing consumer sales when face-to-face presentations or meetings are prerequisites to payment are telephone calls that fall outside the covered purview of the banned solicitations above;

This law does not cover e-mail or junk mail. For information about junk mail and spam, visit http://www.mass.gov/consumer/pubs/stopjunk.htm.

Even worse than Word, how about publishing stuff in Word Perfect 6.1 format?

A store, however, cannot use its disclosed policy to refuse the return of defective merchandise. When the item purchased is defective, you can choose a repair, replacement or refund. This right is contained in the Implied Warranty of Merchantability law. Under that law, merchants cannot limit your remedies. In addition, this means that if a merchant chooses an "All Sales Final" return policy, it must disclose that policy without limiting your rights.

System V is the basis for all operating systems outside of Redmond-AIX, HP UX, Solaris, Apple and Linux." --Darl McBride, Apr 24 2003.

Well, that settles it for me. I didn't know about this quote before now. If McBride excluded Windows from his list of tainted OSes, there's no reason for MS to buy a 1-year UNIX license unless they're just out to screw over Linux.

Oh well, this is an interesting form you might want to fill out if SCO comes after you.