I never go into the bookstore anymore. I buy all e-books so that I can share them with family, friends, etc. We've registered all of our Kindles to one account which gives us all access to the books we buy.
For one thing, the retraction will never make as much news as the initial announcement. For another, there is enormous risk that, whatever they say, people will suspect that these schemes still exist (even if they are, for the time being, disabled) and avoid the system out of fear that they will be implemented later.
Frog... Boiling...
Wait until people become financially and emotionally invested in the XBone and then spring it on them. The system is already in place, it just needs to be activated. Because people are too emotionally attached to their favourite console and dont understand the fallacy of sunk costs they'll keep spending money on it.
You have to admire Microsoft for this in a diabolical kind of way.
1. Generate huge amounts of publicity with a bad idea(TM).
2. Claim to revoke bad idea(TM) and generate even more publicity.
3. People buy product.
4. Bring back bad idea(TM), muhahahahahahahaha, fools.
5. Fail to make a profit for years as the product is sold as a loss leader.
It's almost Bond level of villainry. Bravo Microsoft.
This isn't any different than the RIAA, business lobbies, etc. Just look at copyright legislation in the Canadian Parliament or how banks became deregulated. Legislation is announced, people complain, a new watered down bill is passed instead. Cycle this through a few dozen times and all of the provisions in the original legislation is eventually enacted with lees than a whimper.
The implications weren't obvious at first, but consider: there's no need for a supermarket close to a population center where real estate is expensive (ie - it can be in the warehouse district), there's no need for public access (aisles, displays of product, open freezers), no need for cashiers. The entire process can be made into a Kiva order fulfillment system.
Not likely. Dry goods (i.e. the stuff Amazon sells) is one thing, but food is entirely different. Most people like to see, smell, feel, and, when possible, taste the food they buy. Why do you think that Internet based groceries services have failed?
Gimbal rigs are far more effective. You can make a gimbal rig out of a tripod, and throw digital IS on top of it for some great results. You can also buy these devices on amazon all day long for less than what this gentleman spent. This project is all about the DIY with helicopter parts I guess.
Really??? Where? I looked on Amazon and all I see are mechanical stabilizers which keep the camera level and shoulder rigs with camera control, but no gimbals. The stabilizer that this guy uses for his DIY project is an active stabilizer with motors. It can be adjusted with the RC remote to have different camera angles and will keep the camera at that angle.
Now they just need a decent product to sell in that store-within-a-store.
Xbox One + Accessories Surface + Accessories Nokia Smart Phones
There, I've given you three decent products. Argue all you want about flaws and capabilities but they are still solid products that will meet the needs of 90% of their users (i.e. non-geeks). If you meant a blockbuster product.... well... that's a different story....
Check to see if your company has an educational program where they reimburse their employees for taking university courses. If so, see if you can sign up for a degree program (i.e. Masters in IT or an MBA). Taking 1 Masters level course at a time, while working, will eat up a lot of time, taking 2 will eat up most of it.
There are a lot of people on here who do not understand the value of university education, so don't let their opinions sway you if it's something that you would like to do. After all, if the company is paying for it, why not take advantage of the opportunity.
And in other news, water is wet, and jumping off a tall building is a "bad idea."
The worst part is that these tests are deliberately set up so that the drivers fail at whatever task they are doing. Most involve some sort of road test where you are trying to actively avoid objects, go around sharp corners, stop at lights etc. while being told that you have to perform a task (i.e. hands-free texting). In most cases it's a task that the testers have not tried before or have very little experience with. The conditions for the test are conditions where most drivers are smart enough to pay attention to the road instead of fiddling with things.
I'm not saying that hands-free texting isn't distracting. What I am saying is that there is a deliberate effort to make it seem worse than changing the CD in your car. Its just another attack against new technology. They did the same sort of studies and came to similar conclusions when GPS became popular. Now the focus has shifted away from GPS being a distraction to people trusting their GPS too much and getting lost... I predict that we will see a similar transition for wireless texting, perhaps once the systems improve a bit...
As the article points out, I'm wondering if farming techniques and the propensity to have homogenous crops are more to blame than climate change. True, temperature rises means that plants at various elevations are more susceptible to the disease, but the spread seems, in my opinion, to be more related to plants that are close together and of the same genetic variety. Its possible that if they spread things out and plant different variants that the problem wouldn't be as pronounced.
Of course, without coffee we may be unleashing the Zombie Apocalypse....
For the business users still running XP, I don't see them flocking to buy new Windows 8 hardware. They are still on XP because either the software they run won't run on anything else, or they are small businesses that don't have an IT budget. As long as the hardware and software works, they aren't going to go out and buy new systems.
Exactly. Even large companies cut their IT budget over the last few years. We were doing 3 year leases where we got a new computer every 3 years. They extended the current leases to save money so I am stuck on XP until the replacement program starts up again this summer. My X200 laptop only supports 3GB of RAM, so simply upgrading is not an option.
It sounds like the problem has to do with management of the corporate projects and scope creep. Scope creep is where a project has a defined set of goals that need to be met but then are expanded as additional "needs" are identified, usually mid-project. This results in overly complicated and wildly over budget projects.
My guess is that the IT Manager needs to either hire a good project manager or needs training in project management. It's also important for the organization to adopt good project management processes and for upper management, including managers on the business side, to understand these processes.
If the projects are being outsourced, you need to stay on top of the contractors. They need to understand that any functionality changes needs to go through a formal approval process. You also need to build in payments at project milestones and penalties if they are missed. Otherwise they will be happy to keep expanding the project as that means a bigger paycheck for them.
You also should look at the proposed solutions being submitted to the IT manager. If these are purely IT projects (i.e. Email, Network Management, etc.) coming from IT, then it's possible that the solutions being proposed are not being scaled correctly for the current size of the company. Sometimes management gives direction to IT to build projects that can scale to a company much bigger than they currently are.
Then move your tax software to The Cloud(tm) like I did, when I prepared my federal and state income tax returns for both 2012 and 2013 in H&R Block At Home in Firefox in Xubuntu.
You're missing the point. Yes, tax returns can be done online. But when most people refer to financial apps, they mean things like Quicken where you download your banking and credit card transactions, track all of your finances, investments, etc. This is stuff that I would NEVER put into the cloud.
That's the same thing the Windows admins at work say. They manage a couple servers. Same for the Cisco guys, because they don't know any better.
Yeah, that's a bit inflammatory. Truth is, the people I know who use Linux as a 'desktop' use it for work. They also use it for play (including gaming on occasion). The contrast is that you really can do a lot more this way; for instance, virutalizing a "just Cisco JDM shit" or "corporate messaging and email VM" instance works pretty damn well, while still giving me a full suite of good networking tools.
My observation is that the people who are preferentially sticking with Windows at this point - at least those working in IT - are the "low performers". They're not the ones who are actually getting things done; they're the ones getting into the way. This might be a bit of an institutional observation as well.
Check out most large corporate environments and you will find Windows desktops, a much smaller deployment of Apples, and no LINUX desktops (except for labs). As for the back-end, there has, for the last 20 years, been a mixture of Windows and UNIX systems. The majority of work is accomplished on Windows boxes. One of the reasons why Windows is preferred in corporate environments is because of the large number of enterprise management tools, applications, and ease of use for users.
I started out as a Windows guy who moved into networking (i.e. a Cisco guy) and have worked for 4 different medium to large companies. Personally I don't see LINUX desktops as a toy, but I also don't see them used that often in large environments. In my experience, most environments that have a deployment of LINUX desktops or Apple computers tend to be specialized in certain fields.
My guess is that your environment is relatively small and is outside of the mainstream if you guys have a LINUX desktop deployment. I would also guess that this is the first company that you have ever worked for based on your statements. Check back once you've had a little bit more experience...
As a desktop for me it's fabulous. I can do anything I need to do on a Linux desktop and the only place I find the need to use another OS is in video editing.
For me it's: - Drivers: Any device I buy has Windows drivers and can be up and running in minutes. - Games: Started as a PC Gamer, switched to Xbox for Gears of War, PS3 cause my brother-in-law had one, back to the PC cause Skyrim DLCs weren't available for the PS3. Kicking myself for ever switching. Compared to PC gaming, consoles are just toys!! - Video Editing: Many more programs etc. for the PC - Financial Apps: I keep track of my finances on my PC with apps that aren't available on LINUX or the MAC.
This isn't my field, but I think you should do nothing. IT's job is to provide network access. Process Control's job is to keep the machinery running, and if they fail to do so despite your warnings, it's their ass on the line.
Yes, "not my problem" is a classic way to make a workplace awful, but consider this: if Process Control can't get a software update to their machinery because you've blocked it, and something bad happens (worst-case scenario, a machine kills someone), then it's *your* ass on the line.
By all means give people support in doing their jobs, but don't do their jobs for them.
I agree. IT ISN'T YOUR JOB.
It sounds like your Process control department has outsourced support to the system to this particular company. They are likely monitoring it and this requires always-on access. When a problem does occur, it's up to management to enforce any vendor SLAs that were negotiated and any relevant penalties.
I'm a network engineer for a large company and we also have a separate manufacturing group that has it's own IT. The best that you can do is make sure that there is a firewall between the process network and the production LAN. It's something that they implemented on their own, but we would have required if they hadn't.
No movement to outsource the management of the machines to outside cloud services? That may or may not happen where you are, but there's a lot of it going on, and it invalidates much of your list.
Your statement is a tad Naive. Do you truly think that the majority of services are going to the cloud? Only an idiot would trust the cloud with their corporate crown jewels. My opinion is that most companies will end up with a mix of services. But... Hey... What's new?
Where I work we are building our own internal cloud services, not outsourcing. Part of that may have to do with the fact that we are a large Biotech company and have various regulations that we have to comply with. Most cloud services, in my opinion, are being used by small to mid-size companies who do not have the economies of scale to run an IT department. Most large companies will use some cloud services but it's highly unlikely that they will trust cloud services with their crown jewels.
The point is that there will be a mixture of services that will need to be supported by IT....
Our system of law is built on the premise that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The Fifth Amendment is an extension of this.
An easy way to prove the worth of the Fifth Amendment is a simple situation where a police officer is asking you about a crime and, because you cannot plead the Fifth, you say something that incriminates you for violating an unrelated crappy law which you didn't even know was a crime.
The point is that the right not to incriminate yourself is part of being presumed innocent. Taking the Fifth Amendment away changes the system to one where you are automatically assumed guilty and have to prove your innocence.
Most, if not all, arguments against the fifth amendment are spawned by the thinking that the law, justice, etc. should be more efficient and easier. As if it is a "Good Thing" to easily throw people in prison for years at a time. NO! Justice needs to be difficult and hard, otherwise it is too easily corrupted....
Who is paying $20 for blu-rays? Of my 99, over 75% were $10 or less, the rest were all under $20*. Maybe a handful were used. Plenty contain additional dvd versions that I can either sell, barter or give away**. Then again, I suppose someone has to be buying those $22.99 [and not even newly released] discs at Barnes & Noble.
I find that I don't go to the movies as much as I used to. Every time a movie comes out that I want to see, it seems that it is gone from the theater before I get some free time. So, I buy the Blu-Ray when it is released at the $20 to $24 price. However, it has to be a movie that I know that I will see multiple times over it's lifetime. Movies that I don't plan on watching more than once will be rented at Red Box for $2.25 or watched on HBO, etc.
And in the past, I have been given a metal knife when flying in first class (obviously, first class passengers cannot be terrorists!)
First, I'm kind of curious when this happened? I haven't flown in a sufficiently high class since 9/11, but I remember when airlines used to give you hot food. I don't know if they still do or not--it may depend on how far you're going and which airline you're using.
That said, first class passengers are not terrorists because terrorists are frugal. Remember the guys who tried to blow up the World Trade Center using a truck bomb and then went back for the deposit on the tuck? And none of the 9/11 Terrorists flew first class because why spend the extra money if you're going to crash or blow up the plane?
I thought that this was funny too. I was traveling to France for a Corporate meeting. I met with some of my co-workers at a restaurant in the airport before the flight and they gave us metal forks and spoons to eat with but the knife was silver colored plastic. However, on the flight, in Business Class, they gave us solid silverware, including a metal knife, for our meal.
Are conditions really bad enough to stop people flying? Admittedly, I have little experience of flying within the US (although I am returning from SFO to LHR in three weeks so I will get to experience things first hand).
When I fly from the UK (domestic & international), I'm used to turning up no more than 60 mins before the flight leaves - even if I have hold baggage and don't have fast track security. I'm not going to pretend economy seats are the height of luxury, but in general I try to get the front row or an emergency exit seat so I get a bit more legroom and the person in front can't recline. And it's hardly any worse than my morning & evening commute by train - I even get to sit down on the plane.
Is the US airport/flying experience so terrible? Any particular tips I should consider for my flight out of SFO?
I usually try to show up 2 hours before my flight out of Boston Logon. However, if I fly out of Manchester, New Hampshire (a smaller airport) I only need to be there 45 minutes before the flight.
Flights within the US are crappy unless you are flying first class, business, or on Jet Blue with the extra room seats. Most planes here are way past the point where they need to replace the seats, have ancient in-flight entertainment (i.e. single movie), etc. International flights seem to be better as some have the option of premium coach, similar to the extra room seats on Jet Blue, and almost all have modern entertainment systems, etc.
From the SFO FAQ on the web site:
"SFO suggests that you check with your airline directly for its recommended arrival time. For domestic flights, most airlines suggest arriving two hours before departure. For international flights, most airlines recommend arriving three hours before departure."
Slashdot Mirror
I never go into the bookstore anymore. I buy all e-books so that I can share them with family, friends, etc. We've registered all of our Kindles to one account which gives us all access to the books we buy.
For one thing, the retraction will never make as much news as the initial announcement. For another, there is enormous risk that, whatever they say, people will suspect that these schemes still exist (even if they are, for the time being, disabled) and avoid the system out of fear that they will be implemented later.
Frog... Boiling...
Wait until people become financially and emotionally invested in the XBone and then spring it on them. The system is already in place, it just needs to be activated. Because people are too emotionally attached to their favourite console and dont understand the fallacy of sunk costs they'll keep spending money on it.
You have to admire Microsoft for this in a diabolical kind of way.
1. Generate huge amounts of publicity with a bad idea(TM).
2. Claim to revoke bad idea(TM) and generate even more publicity.
3. People buy product.
4. Bring back bad idea(TM), muhahahahahahahaha, fools.
5. Fail to make a profit for years as the product is sold as a loss leader.
It's almost Bond level of villainry. Bravo Microsoft.
This isn't any different than the RIAA, business lobbies, etc. Just look at copyright legislation in the Canadian Parliament or how banks became deregulated. Legislation is announced, people complain, a new watered down bill is passed instead. Cycle this through a few dozen times and all of the provisions in the original legislation is eventually enacted with lees than a whimper.
Maybe the first thing the patent office should ask is "why"?
Really, does putting a camera on a stick warrant protection from a patent?
Is there any real competitive advantage Google has owning this patent.
Is there absolutely no example of anybody ever doing this in the past. Absolutely nobody in history has ever put a camera on a stick?
I've heard of walking sticks with a gun barrel, with sword blades, and with hidden compartments... None with a GPS or camera...
Good I was looking to replace my HP Touchpad.
I don't see the point. Is your HP Touchpad not holding a charge anymore?
This, plus Touchpad with Android (Cyanogenmod build) actually has apps....
The implications weren't obvious at first, but consider: there's no need for a supermarket close to a population center where real estate is expensive (ie - it can be in the warehouse district), there's no need for public access (aisles, displays of product, open freezers), no need for cashiers. The entire process can be made into a Kiva order fulfillment system.
Not likely. Dry goods (i.e. the stuff Amazon sells) is one thing, but food is entirely different. Most people like to see, smell, feel, and, when possible, taste the food they buy. Why do you think that Internet based groceries services have failed?
No, there is nothing that Statistics can't be used to prove as long as you ask the right question....
Lies... Dam Lies... and Statistics....
What's wrong with tripods or image stabilization?
Gimbal rigs are far more effective. You can make a gimbal rig out of a tripod, and throw digital IS on top of it for some great results. You can also buy these devices on amazon all day long for less than what this gentleman spent. This project is all about the DIY with helicopter parts I guess.
Really??? Where? I looked on Amazon and all I see are mechanical stabilizers which keep the camera level and shoulder rigs with camera control, but no gimbals. The stabilizer that this guy uses for his DIY project is an active stabilizer with motors. It can be adjusted with the RC remote to have different camera angles and will keep the camera at that angle.
Now they just need a decent product to sell in that store-within-a-store.
Xbox One + Accessories
Surface + Accessories
Nokia Smart Phones
There, I've given you three decent products. Argue all you want about flaws and capabilities but they are still solid products that will meet the needs of 90% of their users (i.e. non-geeks). If you meant a blockbuster product.... well... that's a different story....
Check to see if your company has an educational program where they reimburse their employees for taking university courses. If so, see if you can sign up for a degree program (i.e. Masters in IT or an MBA). Taking 1 Masters level course at a time, while working, will eat up a lot of time, taking 2 will eat up most of it.
There are a lot of people on here who do not understand the value of university education, so don't let their opinions sway you if it's something that you would like to do. After all, if the company is paying for it, why not take advantage of the opportunity.
And in other news, water is wet, and jumping off a tall building is a "bad idea."
The worst part is that these tests are deliberately set up so that the drivers fail at whatever task they are doing. Most involve some sort of road test where you are trying to actively avoid objects, go around sharp corners, stop at lights etc. while being told that you have to perform a task (i.e. hands-free texting). In most cases it's a task that the testers have not tried before or have very little experience with. The conditions for the test are conditions where most drivers are smart enough to pay attention to the road instead of fiddling with things.
I'm not saying that hands-free texting isn't distracting. What I am saying is that there is a deliberate effort to make it seem worse than changing the CD in your car. Its just another attack against new technology. They did the same sort of studies and came to similar conclusions when GPS became popular. Now the focus has shifted away from GPS being a distraction to people trusting their GPS too much and getting lost... I predict that we will see a similar transition for wireless texting, perhaps once the systems improve a bit...
That is some straight up Jetsons shit right there...
This looks more like the first step towards the underwater city of Rapture....
As the article points out, I'm wondering if farming techniques and the propensity to have homogenous crops are more to blame than climate change. True, temperature rises means that plants at various elevations are more susceptible to the disease, but the spread seems, in my opinion, to be more related to plants that are close together and of the same genetic variety. Its possible that if they spread things out and plant different variants that the problem wouldn't be as pronounced.
Of course, without coffee we may be unleashing the Zombie Apocalypse....
For the business users still running XP, I don't see them flocking to buy new Windows 8 hardware. They are still on XP because either the software they run won't run on anything else, or they are small businesses that don't have an IT budget. As long as the hardware and software works, they aren't going to go out and buy new systems.
Exactly. Even large companies cut their IT budget over the last few years. We were doing 3 year leases where we got a new computer every 3 years. They extended the current leases to save money so I am stuck on XP until the replacement program starts up again this summer. My X200 laptop only supports 3GB of RAM, so simply upgrading is not an option.
It sounds like the problem has to do with management of the corporate projects and scope creep. Scope creep is where a project has a defined set of goals that need to be met but then are expanded as additional "needs" are identified, usually mid-project. This results in overly complicated and wildly over budget projects.
My guess is that the IT Manager needs to either hire a good project manager or needs training in project management. It's also important for the organization to adopt good project management processes and for upper management, including managers on the business side, to understand these processes.
If the projects are being outsourced, you need to stay on top of the contractors. They need to understand that any functionality changes needs to go through a formal approval process. You also need to build in payments at project milestones and penalties if they are missed. Otherwise they will be happy to keep expanding the project as that means a bigger paycheck for them.
You also should look at the proposed solutions being submitted to the IT manager. If these are purely IT projects (i.e. Email, Network Management, etc.) coming from IT, then it's possible that the solutions being proposed are not being scaled correctly for the current size of the company. Sometimes management gives direction to IT to build projects that can scale to a company much bigger than they currently are.
Then move your tax software to The Cloud(tm) like I did, when I prepared my federal and state income tax returns for both 2012 and 2013 in H&R Block At Home in Firefox in Xubuntu.
You're missing the point. Yes, tax returns can be done online. But when most people refer to financial apps, they mean things like Quicken where you download your banking and credit card transactions, track all of your finances, investments, etc. This is stuff that I would NEVER put into the cloud.
That's the same thing the Windows admins at work say. They manage a couple servers. Same for the Cisco guys, because they don't know any better.
Yeah, that's a bit inflammatory. Truth is, the people I know who use Linux as a 'desktop' use it for work. They also use it for play (including gaming on occasion). The contrast is that you really can do a lot more this way; for instance, virutalizing a "just Cisco JDM shit" or "corporate messaging and email VM" instance works pretty damn well, while still giving me a full suite of good networking tools.
My observation is that the people who are preferentially sticking with Windows at this point - at least those working in IT - are the "low performers". They're not the ones who are actually getting things done; they're the ones getting into the way. This might be a bit of an institutional observation as well.
Check out most large corporate environments and you will find Windows desktops, a much smaller deployment of Apples, and no LINUX desktops (except for labs). As for the back-end, there has, for the last 20 years, been a mixture of Windows and UNIX systems. The majority of work is accomplished on Windows boxes. One of the reasons why Windows is preferred in corporate environments is because of the large number of enterprise management tools, applications, and ease of use for users.
I started out as a Windows guy who moved into networking (i.e. a Cisco guy) and have worked for 4 different medium to large companies. Personally I don't see LINUX desktops as a toy, but I also don't see them used that often in large environments. In my experience, most environments that have a deployment of LINUX desktops or Apple computers tend to be specialized in certain fields.
My guess is that your environment is relatively small and is outside of the mainstream if you guys have a LINUX desktop deployment. I would also guess that this is the first company that you have ever worked for based on your statements. Check back once you've had a little bit more experience...
As a desktop for me it's fabulous. I can do anything I need to do on a Linux desktop and the only place I find the need to use another OS is in video editing.
For me it's:
- Drivers: Any device I buy has Windows drivers and can be up and running in minutes.
- Games: Started as a PC Gamer, switched to Xbox for Gears of War, PS3 cause my brother-in-law had one, back to the PC cause Skyrim DLCs weren't available for the PS3. Kicking myself for ever switching. Compared to PC gaming, consoles are just toys!!
- Video Editing: Many more programs etc. for the PC
- Financial Apps: I keep track of my finances on my PC with apps that aren't available on LINUX or the MAC.
I still think that the best advice I've ever heard/read at any commencement advice is.... to wear sunscreen...
Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI
This isn't my field, but I think you should do nothing. IT's job is to provide network access. Process Control's job is to keep the machinery running, and if they fail to do so despite your warnings, it's their ass on the line.
Yes, "not my problem" is a classic way to make a workplace awful, but consider this: if Process Control can't get a software update to their machinery because you've blocked it, and something bad happens (worst-case scenario, a machine kills someone), then it's *your* ass on the line.
By all means give people support in doing their jobs, but don't do their jobs for them.
I agree. IT ISN'T YOUR JOB.
It sounds like your Process control department has outsourced support to the system to this particular company. They are likely monitoring it and this requires always-on access. When a problem does occur, it's up to management to enforce any vendor SLAs that were negotiated and any relevant penalties.
I'm a network engineer for a large company and we also have a separate manufacturing group that has it's own IT. The best that you can do is make sure that there is a firewall between the process network and the production LAN. It's something that they implemented on their own, but we would have required if they hadn't.
No movement to outsource the management of the machines to outside cloud services? That may or may not happen where you are, but there's a lot of it going on, and it invalidates much of your list.
Your statement is a tad Naive. Do you truly think that the majority of services are going to the cloud? Only an idiot would trust the cloud with their corporate crown jewels. My opinion is that most companies will end up with a mix of services. But... Hey... What's new?
Where I work we are building our own internal cloud services, not outsourcing. Part of that may have to do with the fact that we are a large Biotech company and have various regulations that we have to comply with. Most cloud services, in my opinion, are being used by small to mid-size companies who do not have the economies of scale to run an IT department. Most large companies will use some cloud services but it's highly unlikely that they will trust cloud services with their crown jewels.
The point is that there will be a mixture of services that will need to be supported by IT....
Our system of law is built on the premise that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The Fifth Amendment is an extension of this.
An easy way to prove the worth of the Fifth Amendment is a simple situation where a police officer is asking you about a crime and, because you cannot plead the Fifth, you say something that incriminates you for violating an unrelated crappy law which you didn't even know was a crime.
The point is that the right not to incriminate yourself is part of being presumed innocent. Taking the Fifth Amendment away changes the system to one where you are automatically assumed guilty and have to prove your innocence.
Most, if not all, arguments against the fifth amendment are spawned by the thinking that the law, justice, etc. should be more efficient and easier. As if it is a "Good Thing" to easily throw people in prison for years at a time. NO! Justice needs to be difficult and hard, otherwise it is too easily corrupted....
Why should I pay $20+ for a BluRay?
Who is paying $20 for blu-rays? Of my 99, over 75% were $10 or less, the rest were all under $20*. Maybe a handful were used. Plenty contain additional dvd versions that I can either sell, barter or give away**. Then again, I suppose someone has to be buying those $22.99 [and not even newly released] discs at Barnes & Noble.
I find that I don't go to the movies as much as I used to. Every time a movie comes out that I want to see, it seems that it is gone from the theater before I get some free time. So, I buy the Blu-Ray when it is released at the $20 to $24 price. However, it has to be a movie that I know that I will see multiple times over it's lifetime. Movies that I don't plan on watching more than once will be rented at Red Box for $2.25 or watched on HBO, etc.
Wouldn't a mask with the user's face printed on it work to fool this? All you need is a cutout for the nose and/or tongue.
And in the past, I have been given a metal knife when flying in first class (obviously, first class passengers cannot be terrorists!)
First, I'm kind of curious when this happened? I haven't flown in a sufficiently high class since 9/11, but I remember when airlines used to give you hot food. I don't know if they still do or not--it may depend on how far you're going and which airline you're using.
That said, first class passengers are not terrorists because terrorists are frugal. Remember the guys who tried to blow up the World Trade Center using a truck bomb and then went back for the deposit on the tuck? And none of the 9/11 Terrorists flew first class because why spend the extra money if you're going to crash or blow up the plane?
I thought that this was funny too. I was traveling to France for a Corporate meeting. I met with some of my co-workers at a restaurant in the airport before the flight and they gave us metal forks and spoons to eat with but the knife was silver colored plastic. However, on the flight, in Business Class, they gave us solid silverware, including a metal knife, for our meal.
Are conditions really bad enough to stop people flying? Admittedly, I have little experience of flying within the US (although I am returning from SFO to LHR in three weeks so I will get to experience things first hand).
When I fly from the UK (domestic & international), I'm used to turning up no more than 60 mins before the flight leaves - even if I have hold baggage and don't have fast track security. I'm not going to pretend economy seats are the height of luxury, but in general I try to get the front row or an emergency exit seat so I get a bit more legroom and the person in front can't recline. And it's hardly any worse than my morning & evening commute by train - I even get to sit down on the plane.
Is the US airport/flying experience so terrible? Any particular tips I should consider for my flight out of SFO?
I usually try to show up 2 hours before my flight out of Boston Logon. However, if I fly out of Manchester, New Hampshire (a smaller airport) I only need to be there 45 minutes before the flight.
Flights within the US are crappy unless you are flying first class, business, or on Jet Blue with the extra room seats. Most planes here are way past the point where they need to replace the seats, have ancient in-flight entertainment (i.e. single movie), etc. International flights seem to be better as some have the option of premium coach, similar to the extra room seats on Jet Blue, and almost all have modern entertainment systems, etc.
From the SFO FAQ on the web site:
"SFO suggests that you check with your airline directly for its recommended arrival time. For domestic flights, most airlines suggest arriving two hours before departure. For international flights, most airlines recommend arriving three hours before departure."