I live in Norway, and recently got fiber installed from Canal Digital. The price was about $100 per month for 100 Mbit/s Internet + TV. Recent new legislation in Norway requires cable companies to offer Internet without TV, so I called to cancel my TV subscription. They said it couldn't be done. I persisted. They said I that if I keep my TV subscription, they'd give me 500 Mbit/s Internet and TV for $95 per month. I accepted, of course, but I returned the set-top box, so I can't actually watch TV. So now I have more bandwidth than I know what to do with, and I tick the right boxes in their statistics. Apparently, it's *very* important to them that people appear to subscribe to their TV service.
If we want to go to a movie, we have to get a babysitter. That's not a priority for us. Instead, we just watch movies on Netflix or rent or buy them on iTunes. It makes no difference if the movie is six months old (or even older) or if it was just released; it's still new to us.
Whatever you do, don't make it dark with blue-ish lighting, like on TV. That strains your eyes. Provide good lighting, and make sure the persons can sit or stand comfortably while watching the screens.
Cat 5 cable has eight wires, or four pairs, if you prefer. You can run almost anything through the same cable. I use two pairs for ethernet and two pairs for ISDN -- no packet loss and no disturbance on my calls. Just keep one thing in mind: The reason the cable is twisted is to prevent interference. Two parallel wires makes an antenna. Picks up anything. Two wires twisted together picks up virtually nothing. Bottom line: Don't run video through the blue and ISDN through the white-and-blue. You get the picture.
But why be happy with just phone and net? Experiment a bit! You can use Cat 5 for just about anything with low voltage. A friend of mine uses it for composite video. I expect plain audio signals to travel excellently through the cat 5. Use your imagination.
And, by the way, add some good, strong cotton string with all your cables. That way it is a lot easier to pull through new cables after you've put up all the walls and painted. Pull a new string through with your newly added cable, and you can do it again:)
The following is provided as information about what I do to relieve back pain. Use at own risk, I will not be responsible for any injuries you might suffer from using this information.
Back pain is often caused by weak muscles in the lower back and abdominal area. This leads to a bad posture, so that your back "sags" a bit.
When you are sitting correctly, the lower part of your spine should curve a little bit towards your desk, not a little bit towards the back of your chair. You don't want to end up like a hunchback:) Try this. Sit on the edge of your chair, straighten up and push your chest up towards the ceiling, and pull your shoulders slightly backwards.
Now, you probably found out that this feels a bit awkward, and that it strains your muscles a bit, so that you just die to sag back into your old, comfy, crouched position. This is because the muscles supporting your back are too weak. After a couple of weeks of exercise, this should be your natural, relaxed way of sitting. So, what can you do?
Exercise 1: Lie on the floor, with your stomach and forehead against the floor and your arms straight out in front of you. Lift your left arm and right foot a few inches of the ground, hold for two secs, and put them slooowly down again. Then repeat with your right arm and left foot, etc. Do this exercise about 50 times, give or take a bit depending on your physical shape. This exercise is good for your lower back muscles, and is the most important to maintain a good posture.
Exercise 2: Lie on your back, with your knees in a 90 degree angle. Put your fingertips on the side of your chin, and lift your head some inches off the ground, and roll up until your upper spine is slightly off the ground. Yep, this is the good old sit-up exercise:) Don't go so far up that your lower spine leaves the ground. That doesn't provide any exercise for your abdominal muscles, and may cause further back pain. Repeat 20 times at start, increase to about 100 as you get more fit. The trick is to go up fairly slowly, hold a sec, then lie sloooowly back again. To lie back should take twice the amount of time it takes to go up. Obviously, this exercise helps you to convert your beer-crate shaped stomach into a six-pack shaped stomach:)
Good luck! Remember to stretch cautiously afterwards, and that stretching only helps if you stretch each muscle for more than 20 sec.
This year, norwegian tax payers could do their income tax return on the web ( www.skatteetaten.no). All the tax payers got a letter in the mail, with their own pin code. Worked great. As long as the info is submitted with encryption and the database is properly secured with firewalls and such, this should be possible to do in elections also.
I, for one, prefer submitting info via the Net rather than by phone or by personal attendance. It takes a lot less effort, and is a lot quicker.
By the way: Election day is in fact a public holiday in Norway.
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I live in Norway, and recently got fiber installed from Canal Digital. The price was about $100 per month for 100 Mbit/s Internet + TV. Recent new legislation in Norway requires cable companies to offer Internet without TV, so I called to cancel my TV subscription. They said it couldn't be done. I persisted. They said I that if I keep my TV subscription, they'd give me 500 Mbit/s Internet and TV for $95 per month. I accepted, of course, but I returned the set-top box, so I can't actually watch TV. So now I have more bandwidth than I know what to do with, and I tick the right boxes in their statistics. Apparently, it's *very* important to them that people appear to subscribe to their TV service.
If we want to go to a movie, we have to get a babysitter. That's not a priority for us. Instead, we just watch movies on Netflix or rent or buy them on iTunes. It makes no difference if the movie is six months old (or even older) or if it was just released; it's still new to us.
Even though I'm hot, I don't think that's reliable :)
I'd try to open the drives and scratch away the surface. Having the power attached makes it quicker and more fun :)
Whatever you do, don't make it dark with blue-ish lighting, like on TV. That strains your eyes. Provide good lighting, and make sure the persons can sit or stand comfortably while watching the screens.
A normal rubber eraser is excellent for removing all kinds of sticky stuff.
Cat 5 cable has eight wires, or four pairs, if you prefer. You can run almost anything through the same cable. I use two pairs for ethernet and two pairs for ISDN -- no packet loss and no disturbance on my calls. Just keep one thing in mind: The reason the cable is twisted is to prevent interference. Two parallel wires makes an antenna. Picks up anything. Two wires twisted together picks up virtually nothing. Bottom line: Don't run video through the blue and ISDN through the white-and-blue. You get the picture.
:)
But why be happy with just phone and net? Experiment a bit! You can use Cat 5 for just about anything with low voltage. A friend of mine uses it for composite video. I expect plain audio signals to travel excellently through the cat 5. Use your imagination.
And, by the way, add some good, strong cotton string with all your cables. That way it is a lot easier to pull through new cables after you've put up all the walls and painted. Pull a new string through with your newly added cable, and you can do it again
Back pain is often caused by weak muscles in the lower back and abdominal area. This leads to a bad posture, so that your back "sags" a bit.
When you are sitting correctly, the lower part of your spine should curve a little bit towards your desk, not a little bit towards the back of your chair. You don't want to end up like a hunchback :) Try this. Sit on the edge of your chair, straighten up and push your chest up towards the ceiling, and pull your shoulders slightly backwards.
Now, you probably found out that this feels a bit awkward, and that it strains your muscles a bit, so that you just die to sag back into your old, comfy, crouched position. This is because the muscles supporting your back are too weak. After a couple of weeks of exercise, this should be your natural, relaxed way of sitting. So, what can you do?
Exercise 1: Lie on the floor, with your stomach and forehead against the floor and your arms straight out in front of you. Lift your left arm and right foot a few inches of the ground, hold for two secs, and put them slooowly down again. Then repeat with your right arm and left foot, etc. Do this exercise about 50 times, give or take a bit depending on your physical shape. This exercise is good for your lower back muscles, and is the most important to maintain a good posture.
Exercise 2: Lie on your back, with your knees in a 90 degree angle. Put your fingertips on the side of your chin, and lift your head some inches off the ground, and roll up until your upper spine is slightly off the ground. Yep, this is the good old sit-up exercise :) Don't go so far up that your lower spine leaves the ground. That doesn't provide any exercise for your abdominal muscles, and may cause further back pain. Repeat 20 times at start, increase to about 100 as you get more fit. The trick is to go up fairly slowly, hold a sec, then lie sloooowly back again. To lie back should take twice the amount of time it takes to go up. Obviously, this exercise helps you to convert your beer-crate shaped stomach into a six-pack shaped stomach :)
Good luck! Remember to stretch cautiously afterwards, and that stretching only helps if you stretch each muscle for more than 20 sec.
This year, norwegian tax payers could do their income tax return on the web ( www.skatteetaten.no). All the tax payers got a letter in the mail, with their own pin code. Worked great. As long as the info is submitted with encryption and the database is properly secured with firewalls and such, this should be possible to do in elections also.
I, for one, prefer submitting info via the Net rather than by phone or by personal attendance. It takes a lot less effort, and is a lot quicker.
By the way: Election day is in fact a public holiday in Norway.