I don't think it should necessarely be up to the companies to pay for all the ergonomic stuff people may or may not need, but I think there's a need for Government funding in helping telecommuters and freelancers get support in acquiring a safe work environment at home.
So let me get this straight.... You don't think your employer should be on the hook to buy all your ergonomic stuff... But the government should reach in to every taxpayer's pocket, swipe some more cash, and use it to help you set up shop at home.
Ummm.... No!
Why is there always someone that thinks the government should provide them every nit-picking $THING, or $SERVICE.... Sheesh! You want to work at home, as a "freelancer", that's your problem, not mine. I shouldn't be asked to pay for it. If you're smart, you'll figure out how to do so safely through your own research on the subject. You might start by looking at how employers protect their employee's at work and go from there. But we certainly don't need more government bureaucracy and spending.
It's 8am Dec 31st here in California. I'm reading the early reports for NZ and AU. I'm sipping my first cup of coffee, and I look up at my good 'ol Oregon Scientific auto-set WWVB sync'd clock, and it thinks it's 10am. The minutes and seconds are perfectly sync'd, I've double checked it against WWV on my shortwave. It's almost like it thinks it's in the central US time zone. This is the clock they've been selling at Fry's Electronics for the last several months.
If you have a WWVB reference clock feeding your NTP server, keep an eye on it.
I hate to take credit away from the companies that have spent much time and research on these "superbugs". But in most cases, they're selling a monoculture of common bacteria, or a slightly modified common bacteria. So, for the oil eating variety, I'd say these are really just tools that God has provided.
I have a B.S. in Geology, specializing in hydrogeology, and I used to work as a environmental geologist doing groundwater remediation (this is back in the 0.96-0.99 kernel days). The closest I ever came to actively seeking out a specific bacteria was to pick up a 5 gallon bucket of "activated sludge" from a sewer plant. We used it to start a hydrocarbon bioreactor that consumed gasoline dissolved in water (yep, soluble up to about 50 ppm). The sludge contains a wide variety of useful bacteria, and we just dumped it into the tank to get things going. The tank contains some packing material to provide a surface for the bacteria to grow on, and has some air injectors, like aquarium stones. Once the sludge is in the tank, the bacteria do the natural selection thing, and get to work. Those that can survive on a hydrocarbon diet live, the rest die. Just don't fall in the tank!
Funny thing is, the bacteria we were after, it had a name like pseudomonas or something like that, occurs in much of the soil here in California. Someone figured out that if we just injected a little air down into the groundwater, the bugs would jump on the food source and clean up the water in situ. This was the "big thing" when I decided to jump to my current computer career. Hydrocarbon work was coming to an end in California, and the projects my office was getting involved some really nasty stuff. It doesn't surprise me that they're trying to apply the same principals to more exotic waste products. It certainly works well for hydrocarbons.
"You want a bucket of what?!? Uhhh... Sure... No problem.... You sure you want just one bucket?" - An un-named municipal sewer plant worker, circa 1994.
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I don't think it should necessarely be up to the companies to pay for all the ergonomic stuff people may or may not need, but I think there's a need for Government funding in helping telecommuters and freelancers get support in acquiring a safe work environment at home.
So let me get this straight.... You don't think your employer should be on the hook to buy all your ergonomic stuff... But the government should reach in to every taxpayer's pocket, swipe some more cash, and use it to help you set up shop at home.
Ummm.... No!
Why is there always someone that thinks the government should provide them every nit-picking $THING, or $SERVICE.... Sheesh! You want to work at home, as a "freelancer", that's your problem, not mine. I shouldn't be asked to pay for it. If you're smart, you'll figure out how to do so safely through your own research on the subject. You might start by looking at how employers protect their employee's at work and go from there. But we certainly don't need more government bureaucracy and spending.
Temkin
It's 8am Dec 31st here in California. I'm reading the early reports for NZ and AU. I'm sipping my first cup of coffee, and I look up at my good 'ol Oregon Scientific auto-set WWVB sync'd clock, and it thinks it's 10am. The minutes and seconds are perfectly sync'd, I've double checked it against WWV on my shortwave. It's almost like it thinks it's in the central US time zone. This is the clock they've been selling at Fry's Electronics for the last several months.
If you have a WWVB reference clock feeding your NTP server, keep an eye on it.
Temkin
I hate to take credit away from the companies that have spent much time and research on these "superbugs". But in most cases, they're selling a monoculture of common bacteria, or a slightly modified common bacteria. So, for the oil eating variety, I'd say these are really just tools that God has provided.
I have a B.S. in Geology, specializing in hydrogeology, and I used to work as a environmental geologist doing groundwater remediation (this is back in the 0.96-0.99 kernel days). The closest I ever came to actively seeking out a specific bacteria was to pick up a 5 gallon bucket of "activated sludge" from a sewer plant. We used it to start a hydrocarbon bioreactor that consumed gasoline dissolved in water (yep, soluble up to about 50 ppm). The sludge contains a wide variety of useful bacteria, and we just dumped it into the tank to get things going. The tank contains some packing material to provide a surface for the bacteria to grow on, and has some air injectors, like aquarium stones. Once the sludge is in the tank, the bacteria do the natural selection thing, and get to work. Those that can survive on a hydrocarbon diet live, the rest die. Just don't fall in the tank!
Funny thing is, the bacteria we were after, it had a name like pseudomonas or something like that, occurs in much of the soil here in California. Someone figured out that if we just injected a little air down into the groundwater, the bugs would jump on the food source and clean up the water in situ. This was the "big thing" when I decided to jump to my current computer career. Hydrocarbon work was coming to an end in California, and the projects my office was getting involved some really nasty stuff. It doesn't surprise me that they're trying to apply the same principals to more exotic waste products. It certainly works well for hydrocarbons.
"You want a bucket of what?!? Uhhh... Sure... No problem.... You sure you want just one bucket?" - An un-named municipal sewer plant worker, circa 1994.
Temkin