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Entergy, the company that has been buying up old reactors to try to run them harder as they reach then end of their design lifetimes gets quite a few safety related criticisms. They use solo guards at security posts so it is not too surprising that one was found asleep at Indian Point last month: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/27/ap405783 6.html. They were recently reprimanded for for a worker taking a nap at the Pilgrim Reactor as well. The Simpsons is reality based television.

They also try to cut costs by refueling quickly. They boast of 90% up-times because of their quick refueling, but with reduced staff, how can they manage to both refuel and to scheduled maintenance, or avoid deferring maintenance that cannot fit within the shortened down time window? In the present case they seem to even be willing to run at reduced power rather than to promptly address the broken cooling tower. Was the ungreased bearing that caused their SCRAM on a list that just got skipped to get more up time? They give the impression that controlling costs it their primary function. Installing required warning sirens at both Indian Point http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl e?AID=/20070830/NEWS01/708300442/1025/NEWS09 and Vermont Yankee http://www.reformer.com/headlines/ci_6835609 has been lagging. In Vermont they want Boy Scouts to distribute warning radios rather than doing it themselves.

Nuclear power does have a safety culture, using systems like lessons-learned to attempt to improve safety. But, pushing aging reactors past their design capacity or refueling faster with fewer people seem like lessons learned just waiting to happen. Shoestring methods lack the kind of redundancy that provides for safety margins.
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Rent solar power for you home: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html

About 45 registered Level 2 and 3 sex offenders who live in Westchester County, just north of New York City, will receive special invitations to attend an educational program between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Oct. 31, under an initiative spearheaded by Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano. Those who don't attend will receive a personal visit from probation officers and police. Level 1 sex offenders and those on probation who have committed crimes of a sexual nature will also receive a home visit, according to a statement released by Spano's office.

At every major league game there is an Official Scorer. A fan could not guarantee properly recording the permanent record of a game without having access to the pressbox in which the official scorer sits. For those not really familiar with baseball, there are a lot of judgement calls on the part of the Official Scorer, such as errors, field's choices, sacrifice flys and bunts, etc. etc.. Because baseball is not a sport with continuous action, but rather many, many discreet events, it is REALLY full of stats compared to other sports. Major League Baseball pays these guys (independent contractors) $135 per game. Elias Sports Bureau is the company that collects the data from the scorers (via fax) for MLB and makes it into a database, so they obviously get paid something too.

We need to place an RFID chip in everyones dominate hand. The mouse would communicate at low power with the RFID chip. This would communicate SSL over the internet to a database at the Department of Homeland Security. When I go to launch GTA3, Postal2, that Ghetto Boys CD, or even an X rated video the computer will reference my age and either allow or deny me access.

Granted, if there is a minor over my sholder then that is a problem. So maybe the mouse can read all chips in the room?

Then again, I am in "The Right." God gave us free will. He wants us to make the right decisions of our own free will, not by force. If parents buy GTA3 and give it to their 13 year old kid even though it says MATURE right on the packaging, then shouldn't complain when there is mature material in the game.

There is nothing wrong with the current system. The government can't take parenting out of parenting no matter how much they keep trying.

Besides, most gamers are now over 18.
http://www.games-advertising.com/demographics.html
http://www.jupitermedia.com/corporate/releases/02. 11.06-gamerep.html
http://www.nforcershq.com/article2724.html
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl e?AID=/20051205/BUSINESS01/512050302/1066/BUSINESS 01

She maybe a very nice lady with a marriage that fell apart, but we don't know that.

Actually, we do (www.thejournalnews.com).

Patricia Santangelo is in many ways the embodiment of the suburban mom. She is the mother of five children, ranging in age from 6 to 19. She is divorced, living in Wappingers Falls after growing up in Yorktown and Putnam County. At 42, she works as a property manager for a real estate company and is trying to get her own business off the ground.

"Because not only do the players have to send in a federal return to the IRS and a state-of-residence return -- as well as home country returns for the foreigners -- but they also generally need to file in whatever states they have visited on road trips. Even several cities demand a piece of the lucrative pie. "

Whole article
http://www.thejournalnews.com/scenes/041305.htm

Everyone has their hands out. chuck

This will make things more efficient, but what they really need to do is pair up these robotic patients with robotic doctors and cut out the middleman!

These are the kind of jobs and businesses that need to stay in America.

See:

http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/010902/09ib m.html in America.

The fact of the mater is any company can't run a business in the red indefinitly. And the date of this article suggests IBM has been bleading profits into the PC operations for some time.

And the web never forgets...

Consumer Reports mentioned finding look-alike batteries that were unsafe because they leaked chemicals.

In that case, maybe it's a good thing that Darl carries a gun.

...as I am seriously considering buying an Insight. With gas having gone up 5 cents overnight!, I'm looking for an efficient replacement for my old Camry. Of course, the Insight will still be that, but apparently not to the degree I was hoping.

While your asking programmers you may actually run into a business savvy person.
Can you ask if the contract process between in-country versus international is percieved as a potential problem or benefit of Indian based shops.

Currently the ability for corporations/persons inside Europe and North America to effectively sue under both tort , contract breach, and ethics breach is breaking down. Internationalizing commercial software exacerbates the prosecution situation.

Do the programmers/managers/entrepreneurs you meet feel that India has an effective legislative and justice body to protect their personal and corporate rights? Does India has an effective system to adequately respond to international requests for justice?

Given the fact that International lawsuits are very expensive and hard to enforce judgements across boarders for big crimes (humanity, slavery, trafficing, fraud, etc) how are small companies everywhere going to CYA [cover your arse] their hard cash currancy investments in India development shops?

What is the India's stance on Copywrite enforcment?
It it foreseeable that a SCO like travisty would happen cross boarders. It is also foreseeable that a "legitamate" accusation as in the Racecad/alibre situation.

I also would like to see what would happen in cases like the IBM S.K. bribery case. How effectively are Indian companies and government actually enforcing fraud laws?

Have Indian shops ever been stiffed for non-payment, late payment, under payment by a non regional company [Europe, US]? What was the costs and outcome of legal recourse?

It is apparently a huge social taboo in the deaf culture to do anything to try and cure your deafness. An example is this woman who got fired for getting a cochlear implant. This is just fucking dumb. Can you imagine if all the people with amputated legs would hate you if you lost your leg and got a prosthesis?

Another thing along the same lines, that I can't find with a quick Google, is babies. Apparently this genetically deaf couple decided to get a sperm and egg donation so that their baby would be able to hear. They got ostracized.

Tim

I would tell you to talk to Court Demas since he did what you'd like to do, but he was tragically
robbed and murdered while traveling in remote parts of Peru a few months ago. Be careful while travling in remote parts of the world, especially while carrying expensive toys.

.. they decided to throw some fake looking tree branches on a HUGE tower just outside of NYC.

Here is the article, but unfortunately I can't find a picture. Article

I guess it would have slightly blended in if it wasn't 100' taller than the tallest tree.