You know... swimming pool, soccer... screen time is after dinner. And ya some of us (adults) do actually go outside.... to sit next to the pool and play Eve Online...
I remember as a kid in the 1960/70s not being allowed outside during summer vacation due to "Smog Alerts".
So glad we're making America great again. Looking forward to the enjoyable times of not letting my kids play outside.
This is the chronic issue. They work full time at Facebook, but Facebook outsourced this labor to a sub-contractor for cheap rates. They skirt employment laws by outsourcing labor. Then the employees are paid far below a living wage. It happens in all tiers of employment. The is very dominant in IT. Large companies outsource their IT labor to contractors and those contractors get a sub-standard wage and no health benefits. The company get's a good financial outlook on paper while large portions of their workforce are shafted. What needs to happen is a change in law, that which if you work full time for a company you must be paid by that company at least a living wage and health benefits. All this sub-contracting to skirt decent wages and benefits needs to end.
I have a 2014 volt. Love it. I'm averaging 42-45 miles on the battery. I gotten gas 2 times since I purchased it. It has an 8 gallon gas tank. I drive it every day to work which is 35 miles each way. So... 70 miles a day for 3 years and so far used a total of 10 gallons of gas.. Cause well I still have 3/4 of a tank in it now...
I charge at home with a phase 2 charger in my garage. My house is solar powered. My cost to charge at home is $0
I charge at work from my employers solar grid. My cost to charge at work is.. $0..
So ya.... I'm basically done with the whole buying gas thing.
While I no longer have a Dobsonian telescope.... to this day every Halloween for Trick or Treat instead of candy I setup my 14inch Celestron on the sidewalk in front of my house and "Treat" the kids and many parents to views of the night sky. Rest well John Dobson. Rest well.
Lol good luck!!
A few years ago when I left the company I worked for when a certain very large bank that was taking over the very large bank I worked for.. I took the package. They sent a Unix (AIX) admin to come learn about my 400 (ish) Solaris systems. Most of which where Oracle RAC and VCS Clusters. This poor AIX guy knew nothing of Solaris, Oracle or VCS. All the documentation in the world wasn't going to help him. So, I did what any self respecting UNIX guy did. I told the very large bank what my very large hourly rate would be going forward after I left and gave them all the help I could for the next six months while they found a Solaris knowledgable UNIX admin.
Last time a potential employer asked me for my Facebook login, I said, sure! Give me the financials and personal Facebook account info of your CEO, CTO, CFO, CIO, etc. I'd like to do the same checking.
They of course declined and I walked out of the door.
So the phone company now believes they have the right to:
#1 - Police/observe what you do
#2 - Judge what you are doing with no Jury or defense or proof
#3 - Sentence you as guilty
#4 - hand out a sentence of cut your internet access or re-direct you.
If the government tried this people we go nuts. But I guess it's ok for a company.
When my son was 18months he already had complete understanding of my iPhone. Lots of fantastic learning apps for kids too. He's now age 3, he can read, count, and spell. And... Call Grandma. At age 2 he was teaching Grandma how to use her newly bought iPhone... He also knows many more dinosaur names then I do, all thanks to some great apps on the iPhone.
Of course he only uses my iPhone supervised and he learned very quickly to be careful with it. Any sign of "about" to become rough with it and it's instantly taken away. Kids learn fast and they love the iPhone so he treats it very gently.
Ya nice thing to do and I agree. Educate them is the best plan.
I agree in theory with the annoyance tho. Being I'm the family "computer support person". I'm a UNIX admin and really don't do much with Windows at all however, I sure get plenty of calls from family members. The thought (key word "thought" as in not something I say to them) is wow, they sure spent a lot of money on a tool (PC) that they haven't even learned the basics about. You don't really see people spending that kind of money on other items and proceeding to use (and break) it without at least opening the manual. The other not so fun part is that I'm 2000 miles away from them and trying to go step by step trying to figure out what exactly is wrong... well takes quite a bit of time. And quite often that is time (hours) I'm spending on weekends that honestly, I'd rather be doing ANYTHING other then working on some else's computer issue. Especially, when they broke it to begin with:-). And ya... doing it for free. Funny thing is my wife is an attorney and they don't ask her for free lawyer advice... Why is it expected that we fix family pc's for free? =P...
Late my answer has been, "yes I can fix that windows problem! If you want me to install Linux let me know"
My company has firewall rules that block using email from yahoo, gmail, msn, etc etc. They also have some pretty strict rules about using wireless devices to access outside networks.
Funny I have similar rule and policy on my home firewall that blocks work email. On the same token I doubt a blackberry would be allowed under "home" policy either. Such a device would "clearly be in contradiction to the required activities demanded of me at home". Oddly work has a similar rule that "any device that is in contradiction to your required job activities is not allowed". It's amazing how my work and home policies are so similar. Like they were written by the same lawyer or something.
I've often told my manager that if the companies policy where to change that I'd talk to the admin of my home firewall and see if she'd do the same. It very hard for work to argue the point. After all it is their policy!
That's fine I suppose that BSG comes to an end.
I'm also fine with SG1 coming to an end. It's had a good run and been entertaining.
SG: Atlantis is still going. That's good, it's enjoyable.
But I'm running out of good reasons to continue paying extra for the SciFi channel in my area. It doesn't come with basic cable, so unless the SciFi channel starts up some new good programs then I'll be canceling SciFi and well..... being that SciFi is the ONLY channel I bother to record anything on with my DVR then I'll be canceling my HiDef DVR too and for that matter cable! Since SG1, SG Atlantis and BSG are the only shows my wife and I watch on TV (DVR). Interesting cascade of effects. Hopefully for SciFi's sake they find some good programming. oh and ya. WTF is up with wrestling on SciFi. Every time I'm fast forwarding through commercials I see this crap and at first I assumed is was another channel advertising their crap on SciFi, but as it turns out it's on SciFi!. OK so ya wrestling is Fiction but it is NOT Science Fiction.
Ya eventually you do it all remotely, but I test everything on my local Sun box first. We're too damn cheep to purchase test boxes for UNIX admins. Sure we have development systems for developers but I tell you what, if I test some new admin tool, or system change on their dev box there will be hell to pay. My local system is the ONLY system I got to test things.
Also, I'd love to see how effective anybody is at building and supporting large Solaris Oralce RAC clusters with nothing but a windows box and ssh. Have fun developing scripts and testing them on your production RAC systems because you get nothing local or any type of development system for yourself.
I've been a unix admin for a very long time and have always had a UNIX box or 3 on my desk and at home for off hours support. Whenever I interview with a new company it is one of my first questions. If the answer is "we give you a standard windows box" that's the end of the interview for me.
I'm a unix admin. Unix is *MY* standard environment, in my world Windows is *NOT* standard. If you want me to use Windows in any fashion it is not *I* that needs to justify it. It is you. I *am* the unix support, and the help desk is the Windows support. The help desk is *NOT* being asked to support my unix box. I support my own unix box just like all my other unix boxes. Now if I can't support my own workstation how on earth would I support complex Oracle RAC systems. I see that using a Windows box as just a huge waste of my time. However as 1 of 2 UNIX admins supporting 140 high end Sun systems at a financial company I tend to carry a lot of say in what I use. It also helps in some ways that our director used to be a unix admin. He utterly hates Windows and is presently been pushing hard to migrate all apps off of windows to Solaris. It also helps that our devs run Ubuntu and run monthly classes for the generic users on how to install and use Ubuntu both in the office and at home. Funny, our help desk manager is very pissed at present, but he's been told to stop his belly aching and get with it. Unix/Linux are here and are here to stay.
Actually....
If they tax in game stuff it could be a great tax benefit.
Just form a home business for each game you play. Be sure to pay yourself for every hour played. The only profit you make is from the sale of virtual goods sold. Imagine the huge lose your company will have each year and all the reimbursed expenses! All the pizza deliveries could be expensed. Even going to Fan Faire could be a tax write off. Imagine a new super gaming PC as a business expense!
The tax benefit on your return vs being taxed a few bucks could well be worth it!
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You know... swimming pool, soccer... screen time is after dinner. And ya some of us (adults) do actually go outside.... to sit next to the pool and play Eve Online...
I remember as a kid in the 1960/70s not being allowed outside during summer vacation due to "Smog Alerts". So glad we're making America great again. Looking forward to the enjoyable times of not letting my kids play outside.
This is the chronic issue. They work full time at Facebook, but Facebook outsourced this labor to a sub-contractor for cheap rates. They skirt employment laws by outsourcing labor. Then the employees are paid far below a living wage. It happens in all tiers of employment. The is very dominant in IT. Large companies outsource their IT labor to contractors and those contractors get a sub-standard wage and no health benefits. The company get's a good financial outlook on paper while large portions of their workforce are shafted. What needs to happen is a change in law, that which if you work full time for a company you must be paid by that company at least a living wage and health benefits. All this sub-contracting to skirt decent wages and benefits needs to end.
I have a 2014 volt. Love it. I'm averaging 42-45 miles on the battery. I gotten gas 2 times since I purchased it. It has an 8 gallon gas tank. I drive it every day to work which is 35 miles each way. So... 70 miles a day for 3 years and so far used a total of 10 gallons of gas.. Cause well I still have 3/4 of a tank in it now... I charge at home with a phase 2 charger in my garage. My house is solar powered. My cost to charge at home is $0 I charge at work from my employers solar grid. My cost to charge at work is.. $0.. So ya.... I'm basically done with the whole buying gas thing.
Speaking as a UNIX Sys admin... that 80-100k a year is likely your problem. 80-100k was competitive 15 years ago..
While I no longer have a Dobsonian telescope.... to this day every Halloween for Trick or Treat instead of candy I setup my 14inch Celestron on the sidewalk in front of my house and "Treat" the kids and many parents to views of the night sky. Rest well John Dobson. Rest well.
Lol good luck!! A few years ago when I left the company I worked for when a certain very large bank that was taking over the very large bank I worked for.. I took the package. They sent a Unix (AIX) admin to come learn about my 400 (ish) Solaris systems. Most of which where Oracle RAC and VCS Clusters. This poor AIX guy knew nothing of Solaris, Oracle or VCS. All the documentation in the world wasn't going to help him. So, I did what any self respecting UNIX guy did. I told the very large bank what my very large hourly rate would be going forward after I left and gave them all the help I could for the next six months while they found a Solaris knowledgable UNIX admin.
Last time a potential employer asked me for my Facebook login, I said, sure! Give me the financials and personal Facebook account info of your CEO, CTO, CFO, CIO, etc. I'd like to do the same checking. They of course declined and I walked out of the door.
So the phone company now believes they have the right to: #1 - Police/observe what you do #2 - Judge what you are doing with no Jury or defense or proof #3 - Sentence you as guilty #4 - hand out a sentence of cut your internet access or re-direct you. If the government tried this people we go nuts. But I guess it's ok for a company.
When my son was 18months he already had complete understanding of my iPhone. Lots of fantastic learning apps for kids too. He's now age 3, he can read, count, and spell. And... Call Grandma. At age 2 he was teaching Grandma how to use her newly bought iPhone... He also knows many more dinosaur names then I do, all thanks to some great apps on the iPhone. Of course he only uses my iPhone supervised and he learned very quickly to be careful with it. Any sign of "about" to become rough with it and it's instantly taken away. Kids learn fast and they love the iPhone so he treats it very gently.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/st01/st01790.htm
Ya nice thing to do and I agree. Educate them is the best plan. I agree in theory with the annoyance tho. Being I'm the family "computer support person". I'm a UNIX admin and really don't do much with Windows at all however, I sure get plenty of calls from family members. The thought (key word "thought" as in not something I say to them) is wow, they sure spent a lot of money on a tool (PC) that they haven't even learned the basics about. You don't really see people spending that kind of money on other items and proceeding to use (and break) it without at least opening the manual. The other not so fun part is that I'm 2000 miles away from them and trying to go step by step trying to figure out what exactly is wrong ... well takes quite a bit of time. And quite often that is time (hours) I'm spending on weekends that honestly, I'd rather be doing ANYTHING other then working on some else's computer issue. Especially, when they broke it to begin with :-). And ya... doing it for free. Funny thing is my wife is an attorney and they don't ask her for free lawyer advice... Why is it expected that we fix family pc's for free? =P...
Late my answer has been, "yes I can fix that windows problem! If you want me to install Linux let me know"
My company has firewall rules that block using email from yahoo, gmail, msn, etc etc. They also have some pretty strict rules about using wireless devices to access outside networks. Funny I have similar rule and policy on my home firewall that blocks work email. On the same token I doubt a blackberry would be allowed under "home" policy either. Such a device would "clearly be in contradiction to the required activities demanded of me at home". Oddly work has a similar rule that "any device that is in contradiction to your required job activities is not allowed". It's amazing how my work and home policies are so similar. Like they were written by the same lawyer or something. I've often told my manager that if the companies policy where to change that I'd talk to the admin of my home firewall and see if she'd do the same. It very hard for work to argue the point. After all it is their policy!
That's fine I suppose that BSG comes to an end. I'm also fine with SG1 coming to an end. It's had a good run and been entertaining. SG: Atlantis is still going. That's good, it's enjoyable. But I'm running out of good reasons to continue paying extra for the SciFi channel in my area. It doesn't come with basic cable, so unless the SciFi channel starts up some new good programs then I'll be canceling SciFi and well..... being that SciFi is the ONLY channel I bother to record anything on with my DVR then I'll be canceling my HiDef DVR too and for that matter cable! Since SG1, SG Atlantis and BSG are the only shows my wife and I watch on TV (DVR). Interesting cascade of effects. Hopefully for SciFi's sake they find some good programming. oh and ya. WTF is up with wrestling on SciFi. Every time I'm fast forwarding through commercials I see this crap and at first I assumed is was another channel advertising their crap on SciFi, but as it turns out it's on SciFi!. OK so ya wrestling is Fiction but it is NOT Science Fiction.
Some one (who knows) please explain the different between this and BMW's VANO technology.
so which home shopping and religious channels are they going to give up to use 4 channels for this new cable modem?
Ya eventually you do it all remotely, but I test everything on my local Sun box first. We're too damn cheep to purchase test boxes for UNIX admins. Sure we have development systems for developers but I tell you what, if I test some new admin tool, or system change on their dev box there will be hell to pay. My local system is the ONLY system I got to test things. Also, I'd love to see how effective anybody is at building and supporting large Solaris Oralce RAC clusters with nothing but a windows box and ssh. Have fun developing scripts and testing them on your production RAC systems because you get nothing local or any type of development system for yourself. I've been a unix admin for a very long time and have always had a UNIX box or 3 on my desk and at home for off hours support. Whenever I interview with a new company it is one of my first questions. If the answer is "we give you a standard windows box" that's the end of the interview for me. I'm a unix admin. Unix is *MY* standard environment, in my world Windows is *NOT* standard. If you want me to use Windows in any fashion it is not *I* that needs to justify it. It is you. I *am* the unix support, and the help desk is the Windows support. The help desk is *NOT* being asked to support my unix box. I support my own unix box just like all my other unix boxes. Now if I can't support my own workstation how on earth would I support complex Oracle RAC systems. I see that using a Windows box as just a huge waste of my time. However as 1 of 2 UNIX admins supporting 140 high end Sun systems at a financial company I tend to carry a lot of say in what I use. It also helps in some ways that our director used to be a unix admin. He utterly hates Windows and is presently been pushing hard to migrate all apps off of windows to Solaris. It also helps that our devs run Ubuntu and run monthly classes for the generic users on how to install and use Ubuntu both in the office and at home. Funny, our help desk manager is very pissed at present, but he's been told to stop his belly aching and get with it. Unix/Linux are here and are here to stay.
Actually.... If they tax in game stuff it could be a great tax benefit. Just form a home business for each game you play. Be sure to pay yourself for every hour played. The only profit you make is from the sale of virtual goods sold. Imagine the huge lose your company will have each year and all the reimbursed expenses! All the pizza deliveries could be expensed. Even going to Fan Faire could be a tax write off. Imagine a new super gaming PC as a business expense! The tax benefit on your return vs being taxed a few bucks could well be worth it!