No word, however, on whether Apple return the iTunes Store fees for any Celine Dion tracks purchased in an alcohol-and-tranquilizer-induced fit of misguided patriotism.
Damnit! (Screenshot of iTunes... and yes, I had been drinking.)
Wouldn't a really good way of stopping ID theft be to stop using the same ID number all over the freaking place for every financial account you own? I'm talking about our Social Security Number.
The government made the problem, now they want to make a solution through more legislation. It's so freaking cute to watch them act like morons!
It just occured to me that I've "Drank the Kool-Aid(tm)" so to speak. All this hooplah about it costing too much and I've got a bluetooth mouse from Apple that's got ONE FREAKING BUTTON and it was $60. And I like it.
It all started out so innocent. Ooo... look at the pretty iBook... Ooo... Master Steve has given us Tiger, we must upgade... oooo... look at the pretty mouse.
The new Macs are white... cocaine is white. Coincidence? I don't think so.
The question becomes, How easily or feasible would it be to put such a system into practice?
I played with such a system, though I do forget its name, a few years ago. It was fairly simple: You'd get a ticket that had a number on it, and when you started up you'd be redirected to the 'login' page no matter where you tried to go where you had to enter your code. That fixed you up with a proper route on the gateway and now you were on the internet for a while.
It was something like $40 for the software. Pretty cheap, but you had to have a spare computer to act as the gateway and it had to run Linux. We've just stepped outside the realm of the average coffee shop owner/employee by a LONG shot.
It's simply far cheaper for them to jack in a cheap Linksys WAP and let it run free. If you're in there, you're on the network.
Technological solutions are great, and all, but there's a cost/benefit that needs to be considered, and this is one of the times where "wetware" is a better solution.
You see a freeloader in your shop? Tell them to bugger off and not come back again, and if they DO come back again they'd better be a paying customer. It is that simple, and trust me, you will NOT get a backlash from regular customers when you toss somebody out for such actions. They are either silent, or sometimes even vocally approving of your actions. Yes, I have tossed people from retail establishments simply for rude behavior. Not from a bar, but a greenhouse. I don't imagine tossing somebody freeloading from a coffee shop would be any different. The regulars will applaud you, and the bottom line will not suffer. It may even improve because it shows that you won't tolerate assholes (or freeloaders) in your shop.
In all seriousness though, whatstops wifi users from sitting in a car outside? or in the shop nextdoor?
Well, nothing. However, to the shop owner their -space- is the resource that they're limited in. It isn't so much that they're sucking bandwidth but that they're occupying a chair/table and removing space for paying customers.
Definately not ethical, but it would most likely be of little concern to the shop owner.
Aside from stuff like rape victims posting to support group boards with anonymity (one of the justifications people used for the old anon.penet.fi anonymizers) or protecting whistle blowers, I'm not getting the need for a public anonymizing network or how it will benefit us more than it hurts us.
When the time comes that we need an anonymous network it will be too late to build it. It doesn't look very beneficial now, but when/if it ever is it will be invaluable.
with clinton you didn't see things like the jeff gannon incident or the armstrong williams incident.
If headlines were strewn about over Bush getting a blow job from a 19 year old intern do you think anybody in this country would know dick shit about Jeff Gannon or Armstrong Williams?
The parent is certainly right. They've got your name, address, and are apparently aware that you've got decent credit -- which probably means you've got some valuable loot. Heck, it doesn't even have to be valuable -- they just know you've got a real job and therefore real posessions.
Carry? Certainly... everybody should seriously think about it.
However, unless they're stalking you and looking for a good time to jump you (lot of work for druggies... and you've got more stuff inside your house than on your person I bet) they'd be more likely to return to your residence for a robbery or whatever else they have in mind.
Beef up the locks, maybe get a security system, etc. Dogs are nice too if that's doable for you.
Pistols are great for times when you cannot get your hands on a long-gun -- but having a nice shotgun handy when you're home is pretty much the Swiss Army Tool of long guns. No matter where you live (apartment, urban house, rural house) a good shotgun can be tailored to your needs with proper selection of shells (ammunition).
Get training that not only covers the manual of arms but the legality portions too. You probably already KNOW when those circumstances occur naturally, but it's good to have it on paper that you were educated on the laws.
But.. before you get too into it I'd suggest you just find somebody that you know who can take you shooting and show you how various firearms works. Again, I'd prefer you study up on a shotgun for home and a pistol for home/away. If you don't know anybody you can email me.. I can probably point you in the right direction to somebody in your area that'll show you. Personally anytime somebody is seroiously considering something like that I'l take them out to a range on my dime and let them have at it with various firearms, free. Shooters are just that way it seems.
Shotguns are generally fairly inexpensive. A good Mossberg 500 pump-action can be had from WalMart for around $200 depending on the configuration. A VERY simple firearm to operate... but even simpler is a break-open double-barrled shotgun. I nabbed one for $300 brand new the other week. A Baikal (Russian made) 12 gauge side-by-side with a 20" barrel. Handy little sucker!
Given the choice between an AK-47 clone and a 30 round magazine and a pump shotgun in 12 gauge with 5 shots you wanna know which one sits by my bed? The shotgun. Hands down.
You do realize the odds of being home invaded are like 10 million to one.
Let's see.. we have we'll say 300 million people in the US right now.
Figure an average of 4 people per household.
That's... 75 million households.
So.. you're telling me that it's 10 million to 1 for a home invasion... which would mean 7.5 (we'll round up: 8) households in the US are invaded in a year.
If you'd like my help in shoving your head further into the sand I'd be more than happy. Although, I'm not sure just how much freaking deeper it could get.
Yeah, no kidding! Gosh, if someone aimed EXACTLY at my blue-tooth cell phone, held up to my ear, by the time the bullet traveled 300 yards it would be AT LEAST 12 inches lower and 2 or 3 inches to either side! HA! The joke is on them!
You're pretty close actually, accoding to Sniper Central typical.308 168 grain bullets when zeroed at 100 yards will drop about 16" and have a drift of about 7" in a 10mph crosswind.
Now if you were to go with the.223 cartridge as the DC "Sniper" did you're looking at about 10.5" of drop and 14 inches of drift in 10mph crosswinds.
Keep the project simple and bare bones. I wouldn't try and lock any of your developers into specific tools. CVS, Ant (because you're doing Java too), JavaDoc/Doxygen, any IDE should be able to integrate with these.
The project I'm on does not require any specific IDE at all. We've got guys running Emacs, I'm a vim user, another uses NetBeans, a few more Eclipse, and somebody has their personally licensed copy of JBuilder out here too.
The only issue have is when developers sometimes setup their IDEs to use different tabs sizes (we say they're 2 spaces, but people forget sometimes) and when some IDEs reformat a whole class on you, which makes the CVS diffs difficult to apply to different branches for fast-tracked bug fixes.
Seems that the assault rifle was based off the AK action while the carbine is based off the SKS action. Similar names, very different internals. That also explains why the "carbine" version is longer than the "rile" -- which still doesn't make a lick of sense!
The only thing that looks prett screwed up on the Type 56 design to me is the rear sling mount. With it there I don't imagine you could use a side-mounted scope like you can on other AK variants that place the rear sling mount on the undersid of the buttstock.
Employers aren't "granted" the right to fire you for what you do on our spare time at all. That's a natural right they have, and the government can only step in to intervene when society has deemed those reasons improper, such as with sexual orientation.
My employer has every right to fire me because of a novel a right.
Conversely I have every right to quit my job if my employer writes something that I don't agree with.
It works both ways... if you have the ability to quit at any time for any reason then your employer has the ability to fire you at any time for any reason.
Gerber, Victorinox, Leatherman, SOG - whatever floats your boat for the multi-tool.
However, if your primary concern is one that has a locking knife blade just get a knife to compliment the package. I find knives on pocket tools clumsy and of dubious quality/utility. I don't like fumbling around with my Victorinox when I just want to quick cut something, so I carry a CRKT M16-14M. I've had a few CRKT knives in my posession and have found that they take a nice edge, keep that edge, are ambidexterous, and of fairly good quality for what you're paying.
A good folder with a thumb-stud for easy opening and a locking blade means that you're knife can be out and ready in just a couple seconds, vs however long it takes you to unfold a Leatherman. You can deploy, use, unlock, and clip them back onto your belt with a single hand and that's handy if you ask me. Comes in handy at work, and makes it easier and cleaner to open packages, snipping a cable tie, or stirring my tea.
While not of concern in your post, this also makes them a last-ditch self defense weapon. Not a very good one... but if you don't have a gun on ya, it's better than nothing!
Personally I wish somebody made a multi-tool that didn't waste space with knives in them.
Oh, and don't discount the idea of a neck knife! That would be a knife you hang around your neck with a sheath, the handle pointing toward your abodomen. Depending on your attire they can be very comfortable to wear and nobody knows its there... less stuff hanging off your belt too. However, I've found producing a fixed blade knife from under your shirt at a moment's notice tends to freak people out. Some also come with a sheath that could alternatively be mounted to your belt for extra flexibility (ie: You're out in the woods, you can keep your every day knife with you but in a bit more accessible manner).
Most importantly, if you're using it for a knife most of the time, a real knife is more comfortable than a multi-tool -- which means better control overall.
I'd recomment Knife Country USA if you want to buy online. No special reason, but the prices are competitive and the owner knows the subject matter if you have any questions about this or that. Also, a very friendly guy. I found his booth at the local gun show and use him for my online purchases.
Don't be an idiot. This is a way of taking attendance: that's all. How is it different than having some guy there to do it manually? Why does everything turn to hell when technology is involved? Are you all technophobes? This is simple technology with a simple aim. Get over it, people.
This is Slashdot -- we're not technophobes.
As others have already said on here the real danger is that if such measures are instituted then we'll be creating an entire populace of people that just don't understand what it is like to have any liberty.
It seems that in the USA we now treat children as propert of sorts. They're basically at the level that slaves were when that whole mess was still legal. Disturbing, but I'm pretty much forced to operate from his perspective as I don't see the populace changing their perspective anytime soon. Face it, we're not even allowing full civil liberties of adults at this point so there's pretty much no hope for the children. Once the 18+ crowd is properly respected I'll take a more serious approach on the under 18 crowd.
So, operating from the premise that children are property we must ask ourselves who's propery are they? Logically they are the parents property. They, the parents, are responbile for the child's actions at this stage in the child's life. Mostly... we make some exceptions. So, if the parents wanted this system I might be in favor of it, or more accurately I wouldn't be opposed to it. However, this is the school's creation. There is no opt-out it seems for parents. The children (property) MUST adhere to this system. What does this tell them? It tells them that they are the property of the State and not of their parents.
I would hope that you see the danger in raising children with the notion that they have no rights and that their legal guardians have no ability to protect their rights. To be told from an early age that you are a trackable entity by a government body and that there is NOTHING that can be done to stop this is a very damning thing for a country founded on principles of liberty. It just doesn't mesh.
This RFID tracking crap is just another step in that direction which is already charing full steam ahead.
When it's not self explanatory, you should have proper comments. The best way to test this is show your friends or fellow programming teammates and see see if they can guess right and I'm not talking about a "Hello World" kind of program.
I won't dispute that, but then again perhaps I come from a different background and/or mindset. I'm actually a fan, these days, of self documenting code of sorts. Specfically, I'm working on a long Java project currently and we RARELY have true comments in the code. We rely on log4j for all our debugging/informational output. Essentially what you'd make a comment becomes a "debug" level log message. Perfect? No... but we're dealing with data management and not some hi-tech math or graphics algorithms here.
Not an original idea by any stretch of the imagination but I'm really liking it. Its just a natural trend. Developer whacks some debugging output into the code and just plain checks it in that way. Viola, instant commen/debug tool at the read in case SHTF in production.
Granted we still have our/* Management decided X so we have THIS to deal with it */ blocks here and there but that's to explain project history... not implementation details.
I grew up in a greenhouse as my parents own one. For the life of me I cannot imagine why you'd need fairly high speed 'net access across buildings, unless you have offices that are scattered about the property. Not sure why somebody would do that though.
I also can't figure out why you'd have a 1000' foot gap between buildings... unless you're mostly doing nursery. If that's the case then all the chaps saying to go wired would probably re-think their stance. You don't want to bury wire in a field that's getting replanted with nursery on a regular basis. Of course, you've already got phone lines down there, so, like the title says: I'm missing something.
Something that I haven't seen addressed are the CONDITIONS that this equipment will have to operate and survive in. At best you're dealing with very humid. Depending on the setup you might also be dealing with very hot. When the stock is gone and its summer time a greenhouse gets HOT around here -- 110 degrees or so on some days. I think I've seen 120 once or twice while in there. Dust gets everywhere if you're using any sort of automated filling or soil mixing system which given your size I'd imagine you are. Although then again I go back to the "mostly nursery" idea and it changes.
For the non-greenhouse geeks in the house nursery (perennial plants) are typically grown in regular black-dirt top soil. The kind of dirt you'd find in your yard. Potted annual plants are grown in a mixture that largely consists of peat moss and that stuff flies FOREVER when its dry, which it is during mixing or filling of containers.
So.. 90% humidity, 75 degrees, dust flying everywhere... will a LinkSys WAP with an external antenae hold up to that? Don't ask me, I'm just a "farm boy":)
I'm still VERY curious as to why you need/want more throughput then you already have. I'm not saying your crazy or anything, I'm just really wondering what I've missed in greenhouse technology. Seems to me if you're doing any sort of data collection with a roaming handheld you could just want until you cradled the device for a data download. I can't imagine anything that would need to be real time except for outside temp, a number of inside temp monitors, outside wind, sun conditions, etc.... and all that fits nicely over even a 9600 baud serial connection.
You say that like it's a bad thing... if "progress" is an advancement of the neo-con Republican party agenda, and lack of progress is blocking that from happening, I'd love to see some of that gridlock.
I'm with you on this one, and I voted for Bush. I'm a conservative person on the personal level, but more of a libertarian on the political level. Hence, rabid "neo-cons" in office and holding postions of power aren't THAT offensive to me, personally, but I see a whole lot of abuse that could crop up if we don't get a little gridlock going. Yes, I'm serious.
With a Republican House, Senate, and President its quite possible that we'll get somebody in the FCC now that's MORE conservative than his replacment. Without gridlock there's really no limits. The Republicans will stand behind their president unless he does something entirely insane and given a majority in both houses... well, we might end up with something MORE conservative than Powell. I'm thinking somebody that'd make John Aschcroft (didn't like him as AG either) look like a moderate.
You know what I miss though? Is that in GTA1 it gave you a REPORT once you finally got hospitalized or arrested.
You can still get that info in the 'stats' menu. How far you've biked, driven, flown, swam, tons of stuff. How many people/cops/gangsters you've killed too.
With the new skills system in the game some of them rampage things are actually beneficial. Shooting at the range is rather boring IMHO once you've done it a couple of times, so, to increase my pistol skills I'd just ran into the street, beat up a cop, and took his pistol. Just keep killing cops with their own pistols (endless supply of ammo and targets!) over and over. Your max health will go down from dieing this often, but it's entertaining, and now I can run and gun with a pistol in each hand.
If you can last long enough the FBI shows up with their MP5's and you can get some trigger time on the sub-guns too.
Just shows that those that came up with the text don't understand science at all.
Hear hear!
BTW, I seem to have lost the URL of that recent study which proved evolution worked in a repeatable experiment that elevated it from theory into scientific fact. Would you mind forwarding that one over?
The centrifuge as well is hardly damning evidence.. you could accuse 13-year-old-me of a lot for having the anarchist's cookbook, by that logic.
How many countries had you invaded by 13? There -IS- a bit of difference there!
Thank you for the links. They were informative, though I must regard the first as highly dubious--only because I'm unfamiliar with any of the sources' credibility.
Just keep googling -- you'll find plenty more! I just picked a few random ones that came up.
Some reactors, for example the Canadian-designed Candu and the British Magnox reactors, use natural uranium as their fuel.
Valid point, but it requires one to ignore reasonably factual information.
Do you seriously think that a 3rd world country sitting on giant fossil fuel repositories run by a mad man were looking for a cleaner more environmentally friendly energy source? Honestly now, can you sit there with a straight face and tell me that if Saddam had weapons grade uranium he'd try and make electricity out of it?
You didn't hear about this because it wouldn't get ratings. It requires a bit of thinking and the American population just isn't up to that task. Put the pieces together though: Low enriched uranium, device to make weapons grade uranium, people in place to get the job done, in a country run by a lunatic, motive to build an a-bomb.... what's the next step? This wasn't some misguided effort to make an espresso machine!
Slashdot Mirror
Or... you could open up the System Profiler and look at it.
Damnit! (Screenshot of iTunes... and yes, I had been drinking.)
Sorry, but some stuff can be looked up. One does not need to know that Pi is 3.14159 and change to contemplate a circle.
Might be a good idea to memorize that PI is the ratio of circumference vs. diameter, but the actual ratio behond 2-3 digits is a non-issue.
Wouldn't a really good way of stopping ID theft be to stop using the same ID number all over the freaking place for every financial account you own? I'm talking about our Social Security Number.
The government made the problem, now they want to make a solution through more legislation. It's so freaking cute to watch them act like morons!
It just occured to me that I've "Drank the Kool-Aid(tm)" so to speak. All this hooplah about it costing too much and I've got a bluetooth mouse from Apple that's got ONE FREAKING BUTTON and it was $60. And I like it.
It all started out so innocent. Ooo... look at the pretty iBook... Ooo... Master Steve has given us Tiger, we must upgade... oooo... look at the pretty mouse.
The new Macs are white... cocaine is white. Coincidence? I don't think so.
I'd make a Leatherman without a knife, so I could have it behind the "secure" areas of an airport.
I never use the knife off my multi-tools anyway. I keep a dedicated knife on me for cutting things.
It was something like $40 for the software. Pretty cheap, but you had to have a spare computer to act as the gateway and it had to run Linux. We've just stepped outside the realm of the average coffee shop owner/employee by a LONG shot.
It's simply far cheaper for them to jack in a cheap Linksys WAP and let it run free. If you're in there, you're on the network.
Technological solutions are great, and all, but there's a cost/benefit that needs to be considered, and this is one of the times where "wetware" is a better solution.
You see a freeloader in your shop? Tell them to bugger off and not come back again, and if they DO come back again they'd better be a paying customer. It is that simple, and trust me, you will NOT get a backlash from regular customers when you toss somebody out for such actions. They are either silent, or sometimes even vocally approving of your actions. Yes, I have tossed people from retail establishments simply for rude behavior. Not from a bar, but a greenhouse. I don't imagine tossing somebody freeloading from a coffee shop would be any different. The regulars will applaud you, and the bottom line will not suffer. It may even improve because it shows that you won't tolerate assholes (or freeloaders) in your shop.
Definately not ethical, but it would most likely be of little concern to the shop owner.
I'm guessing no.
The parent is certainly right. They've got your name, address, and are apparently aware that you've got decent credit -- which probably means you've got some valuable loot. Heck, it doesn't even have to be valuable -- they just know you've got a real job and therefore real posessions.
Carry? Certainly... everybody should seriously think about it.
However, unless they're stalking you and looking for a good time to jump you (lot of work for druggies... and you've got more stuff inside your house than on your person I bet) they'd be more likely to return to your residence for a robbery or whatever else they have in mind.
Beef up the locks, maybe get a security system, etc. Dogs are nice too if that's doable for you.
Pistols are great for times when you cannot get your hands on a long-gun -- but having a nice shotgun handy when you're home is pretty much the Swiss Army Tool of long guns. No matter where you live (apartment, urban house, rural house) a good shotgun can be tailored to your needs with proper selection of shells (ammunition).
Get training that not only covers the manual of arms but the legality portions too. You probably already KNOW when those circumstances occur naturally, but it's good to have it on paper that you were educated on the laws.
But.. before you get too into it I'd suggest you just find somebody that you know who can take you shooting and show you how various firearms works. Again, I'd prefer you study up on a shotgun for home and a pistol for home/away. If you don't know anybody you can email me.. I can probably point you in the right direction to somebody in your area that'll show you. Personally anytime somebody is seroiously considering something like that I'l take them out to a range on my dime and let them have at it with various firearms, free. Shooters are just that way it seems.
Shotguns are generally fairly inexpensive. A good Mossberg 500 pump-action can be had from WalMart for around $200 depending on the configuration. A VERY simple firearm to operate... but even simpler is a break-open double-barrled shotgun. I nabbed one for $300 brand new the other week. A Baikal (Russian made) 12 gauge side-by-side with a 20" barrel. Handy little sucker!
Given the choice between an AK-47 clone and a 30 round magazine and a pump shotgun in 12 gauge with 5 shots you wanna know which one sits by my bed? The shotgun. Hands down.
Let's see.. we have we'll say 300 million people in the US right now.
Figure an average of 4 people per household.
That's... 75 million households.
So.. you're telling me that it's 10 million to 1 for a home invasion... which would mean 7.5 (we'll round up: 8) households in the US are invaded in a year.
If you'd like my help in shoving your head further into the sand I'd be more than happy. Although, I'm not sure just how much freaking deeper it could get.
Now if you were to go with the
Just an FYI.
Keep the project simple and bare bones. I wouldn't try and lock any of your developers into specific tools. CVS, Ant (because you're doing Java too), JavaDoc/Doxygen, any IDE should be able to integrate with these.
The project I'm on does not require any specific IDE at all. We've got guys running Emacs, I'm a vim user, another uses NetBeans, a few more Eclipse, and somebody has their personally licensed copy of JBuilder out here too.
The only issue have is when developers sometimes setup their IDEs to use different tabs sizes (we say they're 2 spaces, but people forget sometimes) and when some IDEs reformat a whole class on you, which makes the CVS diffs difficult to apply to different branches for fast-tracked bug fixes.
Here's another link on the Type-56.
Seems that the assault rifle was based off the AK action while the carbine is based off the SKS action. Similar names, very different internals. That also explains why the "carbine" version is longer than the "rile" -- which still doesn't make a lick of sense!
The only thing that looks prett screwed up on the Type 56 design to me is the rear sling mount. With it there I don't imagine you could use a side-mounted scope like you can on other AK variants that place the rear sling mount on the undersid of the buttstock.
Oh, and the bayonets are different.
Employers aren't "granted" the right to fire you for what you do on our spare time at all. That's a natural right they have, and the government can only step in to intervene when society has deemed those reasons improper, such as with sexual orientation.
My employer has every right to fire me because of a novel a right.
Conversely I have every right to quit my job if my employer writes something that I don't agree with.
It works both ways... if you have the ability to quit at any time for any reason then your employer has the ability to fire you at any time for any reason.
Gerber, Victorinox, Leatherman, SOG - whatever floats your boat for the multi-tool.
However, if your primary concern is one that has a locking knife blade just get a knife to compliment the package. I find knives on pocket tools clumsy and of dubious quality/utility. I don't like fumbling around with my Victorinox when I just want to quick cut something, so I carry a CRKT M16-14M. I've had a few CRKT knives in my posession and have found that they take a nice edge, keep that edge, are ambidexterous, and of fairly good quality for what you're paying.
A good folder with a thumb-stud for easy opening and a locking blade means that you're knife can be out and ready in just a couple seconds, vs however long it takes you to unfold a Leatherman. You can deploy, use, unlock, and clip them back onto your belt with a single hand and that's handy if you ask me. Comes in handy at work, and makes it easier and cleaner to open packages, snipping a cable tie, or stirring my tea.
While not of concern in your post, this also makes them a last-ditch self defense weapon. Not a very good one... but if you don't have a gun on ya, it's better than nothing!
Personally I wish somebody made a multi-tool that didn't waste space with knives in them.
Oh, and don't discount the idea of a neck knife! That would be a knife you hang around your neck with a sheath, the handle pointing toward your abodomen. Depending on your attire they can be very comfortable to wear and nobody knows its there... less stuff hanging off your belt too. However, I've found producing a fixed blade knife from under your shirt at a moment's notice tends to freak people out. Some also come with a sheath that could alternatively be mounted to your belt for extra flexibility (ie: You're out in the woods, you can keep your every day knife with you but in a bit more accessible manner).
Most importantly, if you're using it for a knife most of the time, a real knife is more comfortable than a multi-tool -- which means better control overall.
I'd recomment Knife Country USA if you want to buy online. No special reason, but the prices are competitive and the owner knows the subject matter if you have any questions about this or that. Also, a very friendly guy. I found his booth at the local gun show and use him for my online purchases.
As others have already said on here the real danger is that if such measures are instituted then we'll be creating an entire populace of people that just don't understand what it is like to have any liberty.
It seems that in the USA we now treat children as propert of sorts. They're basically at the level that slaves were when that whole mess was still legal. Disturbing, but I'm pretty much forced to operate from his perspective as I don't see the populace changing their perspective anytime soon. Face it, we're not even allowing full civil liberties of adults at this point so there's pretty much no hope for the children. Once the 18+ crowd is properly respected I'll take a more serious approach on the under 18 crowd.
So, operating from the premise that children are property we must ask ourselves who's propery are they? Logically they are the parents property. They, the parents, are responbile for the child's actions at this stage in the child's life. Mostly... we make some exceptions. So, if the parents wanted this system I might be in favor of it, or more accurately I wouldn't be opposed to it. However, this is the school's creation. There is no opt-out it seems for parents. The children (property) MUST adhere to this system. What does this tell them? It tells them that they are the property of the State and not of their parents.
I would hope that you see the danger in raising children with the notion that they have no rights and that their legal guardians have no ability to protect their rights. To be told from an early age that you are a trackable entity by a government body and that there is NOTHING that can be done to stop this is a very damning thing for a country founded on principles of liberty. It just doesn't mesh.
This RFID tracking crap is just another step in that direction which is already charing full steam ahead.
Not an original idea by any stretch of the imagination but I'm really liking it. Its just a natural trend. Developer whacks some debugging output into the code and just plain checks it in that way. Viola, instant commen/debug tool at the read in case SHTF in production.
Granted we still have our
I grew up in a greenhouse as my parents own one. For the life of me I cannot imagine why you'd need fairly high speed 'net access across buildings, unless you have offices that are scattered about the property. Not sure why somebody would do that though.
:)
... and all that fits nicely over even a 9600 baud serial connection.
I also can't figure out why you'd have a 1000' foot gap between buildings... unless you're mostly doing nursery. If that's the case then all the chaps saying to go wired would probably re-think their stance. You don't want to bury wire in a field that's getting replanted with nursery on a regular basis. Of course, you've already got phone lines down there, so, like the title says: I'm missing something.
Something that I haven't seen addressed are the CONDITIONS that this equipment will have to operate and survive in. At best you're dealing with very humid. Depending on the setup you might also be dealing with very hot. When the stock is gone and its summer time a greenhouse gets HOT around here -- 110 degrees or so on some days. I think I've seen 120 once or twice while in there. Dust gets everywhere if you're using any sort of automated filling or soil mixing system which given your size I'd imagine you are. Although then again I go back to the "mostly nursery" idea and it changes.
For the non-greenhouse geeks in the house nursery (perennial plants) are typically grown in regular black-dirt top soil. The kind of dirt you'd find in your yard. Potted annual plants are grown in a mixture that largely consists of peat moss and that stuff flies FOREVER when its dry, which it is during mixing or filling of containers.
So.. 90% humidity, 75 degrees, dust flying everywhere... will a LinkSys WAP with an external antenae hold up to that? Don't ask me, I'm just a "farm boy"
I'm still VERY curious as to why you need/want more throughput then you already have. I'm not saying your crazy or anything, I'm just really wondering what I've missed in greenhouse technology. Seems to me if you're doing any sort of data collection with a roaming handheld you could just want until you cradled the device for a data download. I can't imagine anything that would need to be real time except for outside temp, a number of inside temp monitors, outside wind, sun conditions, etc.
I'm with you on this one, and I voted for Bush. I'm a conservative person on the personal level, but more of a libertarian on the political level. Hence, rabid "neo-cons" in office and holding postions of power aren't THAT offensive to me, personally, but I see a whole lot of abuse that could crop up if we don't get a little gridlock going. Yes, I'm serious.
With a Republican House, Senate, and President its quite possible that we'll get somebody in the FCC now that's MORE conservative than his replacment. Without gridlock there's really no limits. The Republicans will stand behind their president unless he does something entirely insane and given a majority in both houses... well, we might end up with something MORE conservative than Powell. I'm thinking somebody that'd make John Aschcroft (didn't like him as AG either) look like a moderate.
Yeesh, I don't like that.
You can still get that info in the 'stats' menu. How far you've biked, driven, flown, swam, tons of stuff. How many people/cops/gangsters you've killed too.
With the new skills system in the game some of them rampage things are actually beneficial. Shooting at the range is rather boring IMHO once you've done it a couple of times, so, to increase my pistol skills I'd just ran into the street, beat up a cop, and took his pistol. Just keep killing cops with their own pistols (endless supply of ammo and targets!) over and over. Your max health will go down from dieing this often, but it's entertaining, and now I can run and gun with a pistol in each hand.
If you can last long enough the FBI shows up with their MP5's and you can get some trigger time on the sub-guns too.
Hear hear!
BTW, I seem to have lost the URL of that recent study which proved evolution worked in a repeatable experiment that elevated it from theory into scientific fact. Would you mind forwarding that one over?
Thanks.
Just keep googling -- you'll find plenty more! I just picked a few random ones that came up.
Valid point, but it requires one to ignore reasonably factual information.
Do you seriously think that a 3rd world country sitting on giant fossil fuel repositories run by a mad man were looking for a cleaner more environmentally friendly energy source? Honestly now, can you sit there with a straight face and tell me that if Saddam had weapons grade uranium he'd try and make electricity out of it?
You didn't hear about this because it wouldn't get ratings. It requires a bit of thinking and the American population just isn't up to that task. Put the pieces together though: Low enriched uranium, device to make weapons grade uranium, people in place to get the job done, in a country run by a lunatic, motive to build an a-bomb.... what's the next step? This wasn't some misguided effort to make an espresso machine!