You don't seem to remember that whole mess in Florida 3 years ago, do you?
Any system can be fuggard by incompetancy, mechanical trouble, or desire to thwart the process. Paper ballots, aside from being dog slow to count, rely on human beings to count them. Humans goof. Some humans decieve. Politicians like paper ballots because they already know how to abuse them.
I'm glad to see our members of congress are actually representing our interests.
I think this is designed specifically to close a loophole where some agencies would simply outsource to contractors any data collection they themselves were forbidden from doing.
Frankly, for all the billions of dollars we are paying to keep our government running, I want THEM to be generating these databases anyway. That means I can hop on some website and suck it down "free" of charge. (I already paid for it.)
Say what you will about free enterprise. Where would this country be without the post office and the Census keeping track of who lives where? Most marketing firms exist by leaching hard data from Government sources and then adding in a few spot surveys.
Ach, I bought one of those cheap solar fans that sit on top of a rolled up window. DON'T. You get more cooling by just leaving the window open.
The problem is that any sizable fan would require and equally large (read expensive) solar panel. Fan and panel together, with the cost of the installation, would be more that the average Joe would be willing to part with.
Actually, I built one using a peltier junction I bought from ebay. Nowadays you can scavenge one from one of those cheap car heater/refridgerator units at Target-Mart. Basically if you add current, one side gets hot, the other cold. (Or, if you have a hot and cold already, it produces current.)
I couldn't find any cheapy solar panels, so I blew the lot on recycled ni-cad batteries from American Scientific and Surplus.
Mistake.
It did work pretty well running off of my skooter's lead-acid cell. But that ended up powering our light display.
The unit was designed to keep my tent cool at a folk festival. Because my cheap-assed batteries didn't work I did not get a chance to try it out. With a kid on the way the wife does NOT want to hear about another $400 dollar project.
Some design issues to work out:
Frosting on the cold side of the cell
Getting rid of the heat. I wound up dipping the hot side in a cooling water bath. If the water heated up too much, the cooling power diminished. (Run it without anything to radiate the heat and you will fry the unit quick.)
Delivering cool air to the tent without cutting holes. I tried some flexible duct hose, but it was clumsy, and the puny fan I had barely pushed air through it.
Hmmm. I feel a new addition to my website... Next to the home made lava lamp.
I was on the Solar Race team in college. One year we had a massive matching grant, so rather than give us the funding for the parts we need, we had to fund raise for it.
Did I mention Drexel's mascot is "the Shaft?"
One night I did cold calling of Alumni. I called 100 names on the list, I had 1 donation. Most of the alumni I called were downright hostile. Many were unemployed. A good chunk were bitter that they hadn't even paid off their loans and they were already hit up for donations. (Ten years later, but who's counting?)
I felt so dirty that I swore I'd never do it again.
That said, I did help out our local PBS station during a call drive. At least there, people were calling US, with credit card in hand, after having already recieved the "product" so to speak.
The first rule of marketing is to have a product that will sell itself. Ideally you are only introducing the buyer to the seller.
No, but if I invented a device the ruined dinners, made everyones blood pressure boil when answering the phone, and forced some people to forgoe telephone communication at all, it would be banned in a week. We call that "creating a public nuisance."
Somehow if you do the same thing across state lines, it's a "service".
Hey I'm an American and I own a small house in a big city and bike to work every morning. (My wife on the other hand drives our hatchback over to the next state for $12/hour. Go figure.)
Damn stereotypes. Next you are going to be saying all Americans have a holier-than-thou attitude problem.
Actually traffic fines are also a significant form of income for small towns. In PA it got so bad they passed a law that forbade anyone but the State Police from using RADAR.
Last I checked the copyright termes were 90 years after the death of the artist. Oh god, they must be planning on keeping the Backstreet Boys in suspended animation.
Should have read THAT on the contract before signing.
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Actually the Bazooka hasn't been in issue since the Korean war. We would probably use a Javelin shoulder-fired missile.
Any system can be fuggard by incompetancy, mechanical trouble, or desire to thwart the process. Paper ballots, aside from being dog slow to count, rely on human beings to count them. Humans goof. Some humans decieve. Politicians like paper ballots because they already know how to abuse them.
I think this is designed specifically to close a loophole where some agencies would simply outsource to contractors any data collection they themselves were forbidden from doing.
Frankly, for all the billions of dollars we are paying to keep our government running, I want THEM to be generating these databases anyway. That means I can hop on some website and suck it down "free" of charge. (I already paid for it.)
Say what you will about free enterprise. Where would this country be without the post office and the Census keeping track of who lives where? Most marketing firms exist by leaching hard data from Government sources and then adding in a few spot surveys.
The problem is that any sizable fan would require and equally large (read expensive) solar panel. Fan and panel together, with the cost of the installation, would be more that the average Joe would be willing to part with.
I couldn't find any cheapy solar panels, so I blew the lot on recycled ni-cad batteries from American Scientific and Surplus.
Mistake.
It did work pretty well running off of my skooter's lead-acid cell. But that ended up powering our light display.
The unit was designed to keep my tent cool at a folk festival. Because my cheap-assed batteries didn't work I did not get a chance to try it out. With a kid on the way the wife does NOT want to hear about another $400 dollar project.
Some design issues to work out:
Hmmm. I feel a new addition to my website... Next to the home made lava lamp.
Of course the "cheap-ass nigglin' theives" have this habit of voting for said congresspersons...
I thought Starbucks was a perfect career path for caffiene addicted engineers...
So does that mean I can buy one for $40,000?
The point is to generate power on the spot so you don't have to ship it!
Of course a keyboard would be a little awkward...
What's more, Pixie dust is cheap, soy-based, and biodegradable.
Until someone has a linux port.
Did I mention Drexel's mascot is "the Shaft?"
One night I did cold calling of Alumni. I called 100 names on the list, I had 1 donation. Most of the alumni I called were downright hostile. Many were unemployed. A good chunk were bitter that they hadn't even paid off their loans and they were already hit up for donations. (Ten years later, but who's counting?)
I felt so dirty that I swore I'd never do it again.
That said, I did help out our local PBS station during a call drive. At least there, people were calling US, with credit card in hand, after having already recieved the "product" so to speak.
The first rule of marketing is to have a product that will sell itself. Ideally you are only introducing the buyer to the seller.
Somehow if you do the same thing across state lines, it's a "service".
Actually many juristictions have laws about war-dialing.
Hey, I AM getting a dime for every address registered. At least since the little program of mine went awry...
Hey, I'm pretty sure they need data services in Afganistan more than running water or electricity. Really.
Damn stereotypes. Next you are going to be saying all Americans have a holier-than-thou attitude problem.
Actually traffic fines are also a significant form of income for small towns. In PA it got so bad they passed a law that forbade anyone but the State Police from using RADAR.
No wait, don't answer that...
Why does our world increaseing sound like a combination of "Logan's Run", "1984", and "Brazil"?
Should have read THAT on the contract before signing.
Hell one could make a career from dragging out litgation. Look at the folks at Caldera, er, SCO.