I think the main idea here is to get an idea of what the goal is of the employer. Is it to try and predict profitability? Are they selling or divesting the company in any way? Do they need to allocate some bonus funds they just found? Is it for tax reasons?
I imagine if you're in charge of administering most of the daily tasks (backup, network maintenance, upgrades), there is no labor cost. This makes it very easy for you.
I would put something together where you talk about the existing infrastructure, and maybe some proposed changes. Rank these changes in priority from "Low" (we can live without them but they MIGHT provide efficiencies) to "Medium" (realistically these will be needed, provide a good benefit for the investment) to "Musts" (these have to be done in the next 12 months otherwise the business will not function as it does today).
For example, "Low" might be buying larger, better displays for the office and a plasma TV for the client presentation room. "Medium" might be to buy larger, better displays for some of the drafting people, if the current ones are already a bit old or unreliable. "Musts" might be the monthly costs of internet/voice service (make sure they're not double- or triple-counting anything) or replacing a monitor that you KNOW will be gone within three months.
Also, make an approximate tally of the current value of items in the office, as far as IT is concerned. What if a file server went down? How much is the replacement? How much would a new bells-and-whistles replacement be?
I would probably draft up a "recommended" budget:
Recommended Budget: Medium
Replace six machines in back office. Cost $9000.
Upgrade network to gigabit ethernet + wireless. Cost $1500.
Acquire new scanner and printer for front office. Cost $500
Then, above and beyond that, ESTIMATE the "Oh, crap" budget, for example:
Assuming 6-8% of all current equipment will be destroyed/lost/not working, this will cost $6,000 - 8,000.
Clearly spell out that the first part is "in your control" and the other part is BEYOND your control. You may find that the "in control" budget is $11,000, while the "beyond control" budget is $25,000. Or the "in control" budget is $35,000 and the "beyond control" budget is only $7,000. Approach each of these scenarios differently.
Once this is all done, write a half-page summary on the front page. One paragraph explaining the "in control" budget and a realistic range, plus the benefits. Then a second paragraph with the "Oh, crap" stuff.
I'm making the assumption that your employer wants to know the following:
What do I need to spend to keep this company running?
What do I need to spend to make us more competitive?
If I upped my IT investment by $20,000, what could I get? (all the "Low Priority" stuff)
Do I need this guy on my staff?
Succesfully and accurately answering the first three questions will make the fourth one easy.
Part of the joy of DVD comes from "owning" this film / piece of art / 6-minute blonde-on-blonde butt-fest (if you, say, prefer the adult DVDs). For about the same price it takes to go to see a film (with a date, and/or considering parking), you can see this movie whenever you want. For about 2 to 3 times the cost of a rental (or the same cost if you are consistently late), you can see a movie whenever you want, be guaranteed that the movie isn't scratched (unless your 4-yr old went to play with the disc and her doll collection), and you can see it over and over and over. I also like the fact that I can let (certain) friends borrow the movie at no charge.
Not only that, but games for $60.00 aren't THAT expensive. I remember Mortal Kombat was over that amount when it first came out, and that was a decade ago. And Nintendo games in the mid-to-late 80's were in the $40-50 range, which makes them about $70-75 now.
What I do know is that, just like with current games, prices will plummet only a few months later. I bought Burnout 3 recently for $20 and I can't say that I minded waiting a year (or so) to play it.
Well, it all has to do with how "cool" the standards are. When frames came about, all the browsers updated as quickly as possible. If other browsers have something that has a bit more of a "neato" factor to it, then IE might want to either conform to that standard or replicate it in some backwards way.
For now, the only thing I can think of has to do with CSS2 and PNGs, two things which Firefox does well and IE does not. (At least not natively, I know you can do some "scripting tricks" to support PNG in IE, but I don't know how).
Parent's right. Pokémon has a fair amount of strategy and combat involved.
On the other hand, the fights all look like a pink basketball attacked a walking pineapple with a musical rainbow. So, you know, you have to get past the look of it.
Question: Can you pull on her nipples hard without fear of tearing them?
Yes, within reason. REALDOLL's nipples can withstand approximately 400% elongation before tearing.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
> WHAT IS A GRUE?
Sponsored Link GRUE Browse a huge selection now! Find exactly what you want today. www.eBay.com
Monster - Official Site Post Jobs & Search Qualified. Resumes. Find the Right Employees! www.Monster.com -----------------
The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale.
>
The new spelling of Text Adventure Game is Text Ad Venture.
Although it's been extensively hyped in the "Google killer" topics, I still find Vivisimo to be extremely useful. I don't use it for my main search, but if Google is too broad, off to Vivisimo I go.
Berkeley has some of the greatest music stores in the nation... I'll take Ameoba over iTunes any day.
Parent is referring to Amoeba Music which is one of the BEST music stores on the planet. (No affiliation). I've been to the one in Hollywood and it is spectacular. The prices, especially those on Japanese imports, are extremely reasonable ($20-$30 as opposed to $46 ).
I've been to Kim's in the NYC village and J&R and a million mom-and-pop stores, but I can tell you for sure if Amoeba was down the block from me I would be broke. Thankfully several thousand miles separate us.
If anything, I think the idiots that created (and popularized) the words "blog" (webpage) and "podcast" (audio) are now going to turn to "zazzling" everything when it just means customize. Like, the entire blogosphere needs to know about this product. Zazzle your logos for your podcast on a shirt! Let other bloggers further zazzle your zazzle!
Don't like the way your new Toyota Camry looks? There's plenty of aftermarket zazzlers which can zazzle-ify your car (or "blogmobile").
Well, you will probably want to invest in a good DVD player. The decoding between players can have a big difference on image quality. I am not a videophile, but in my experience it's not so much the quality during slow, colorful scenes, but during very rapid sequences where you might see issues with playback. The Home Theater Forum is always a great start (they have a very nice moderated DIY section), and I am looking into possibly getting an Oppo Digital DVD which has been extremely well rated. As a plus, places like HK Flix sell it with updated firmware (so you can switch regions easily on the fly), although I've seen it for $50 less on Froogle.
As far as receivers, I can give you my analysis and feedback as a regular consumer (I wouldn't even call myself a "prosumer") of home theatre electronics. You definitely would do well in investing in a good receiver with as many inputs as possible, and don't get them from Circuit City / Best Buy / Fry's as they are usually $100 more than what you can find online. In reality, you will probably not need more than 3 or 4 component inputs (DVD + HDTV + Console + Other). Depending on the # of inputs on your TV/projector, this should put you in the $300-$500 range for receivers. Look for wattage ratings and buy from a well-known company (say, Harman-Kardon, Denon, Onkyo, Sony, Yamaha).
Once everything is set up, get a calibration DVD like Digital Video Essentials or Avia to tweak your settings. It can make a noticeable difference.
You don't need Monster Cables. If you have a friend at a store who can get you the discount (retailer markup is at least 100%), then they're fine. But you don't need to spend $300 on cables. Spend that money on better equipment.
Just do your research. It's possible that over the next few months older models will be discontinued and be heavily discounted. That can always save you some cash.
I appreciate the feedback. I'm about a 0% of a Municipal Wi-Fi Feasibility Consultant, so I didn't take it much beyond there. I just saw the average, and decided to get the other stuff from publicly available sources. I don't think I'm off-target when I say Newark, NJ will not have free municipal wi-fi in the next 12 months.
YIKES. Almost $1000 dollars for a keyboard? I know these are specialized keyboards and the market for them is very small, but $1000? That's a LOT of money.
Based on that, there's no clear evidence that wi-fi is absolutely cost-effective or absolutely not cost effective. It really depends on your city and a lot of other factors. I would hazard a guess that low-density areas are not going to do well. (That's why Casper, Wymoing and Yuma, Arizona, and Bismarck, North Dakota all are at the bottom of the list).
If you have better cost info, you can always play with the data yourself.
The remix is by Fatboy Slim (that hack) and was on the Go OST (by Doug Liman, he of Mr. and Mrs. Smith).
The song is still credited to Steppenwolf, and I'm sure John Kay & Co. got their fair share.
William Gibson's comment of the record being archaic is wrong, because the whole idea of remixing and DJ sets has to do with vinyl records. Sure, some people do "DJ sets" with CDs, but the vast majority of professionals still do it with records, or at least know how to.
I'm still trying to think of what Weezer's "Beverly Hills" song reminds me of. I've heard that riff in a Metallica song, and it also sounds a LOT like "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett.
What's funny is that now, even remixes require too much work. Mash-ups are becoming increasingly popular, and all you do is just literally play two records at once, at the very easy end.
Well... Honestly I've never found any one product that treats everything. I recommend Giant/MS Antispyware, AdWare, SSnD, and Webroot/Spysweeper all to be run.
Not only that, but CNN reported that it released the equivalent of 5 tons of TNT, not 5 million tons. That makes a lot more sense considering it was roughly "washing-machine" sized.
Slashdot Mirror
I imagine if you're in charge of administering most of the daily tasks (backup, network maintenance, upgrades), there is no labor cost. This makes it very easy for you.
I would put something together where you talk about the existing infrastructure, and maybe some proposed changes. Rank these changes in priority from "Low" (we can live without them but they MIGHT provide efficiencies) to "Medium" (realistically these will be needed, provide a good benefit for the investment) to "Musts" (these have to be done in the next 12 months otherwise the business will not function as it does today).
For example, "Low" might be buying larger, better displays for the office and a plasma TV for the client presentation room. "Medium" might be to buy larger, better displays for some of the drafting people, if the current ones are already a bit old or unreliable. "Musts" might be the monthly costs of internet/voice service (make sure they're not double- or triple-counting anything) or replacing a monitor that you KNOW will be gone within three months.
Also, make an approximate tally of the current value of items in the office, as far as IT is concerned. What if a file server went down? How much is the replacement? How much would a new bells-and-whistles replacement be?
I would probably draft up a "recommended" budget:
Recommended Budget: Medium
Then, above and beyond that, ESTIMATE the "Oh, crap" budget, for example:
Clearly spell out that the first part is "in your control" and the other part is BEYOND your control. You may find that the "in control" budget is $11,000, while the "beyond control" budget is $25,000. Or the "in control" budget is $35,000 and the "beyond control" budget is only $7,000. Approach each of these scenarios differently.
Once this is all done, write a half-page summary on the front page. One paragraph explaining the "in control" budget and a realistic range, plus the benefits. Then a second paragraph with the "Oh, crap" stuff.
I'm making the assumption that your employer wants to know the following:
Succesfully and accurately answering the first three questions will make the fourth one easy.
Part of the joy of DVD comes from "owning" this film / piece of art / 6-minute blonde-on-blonde butt-fest (if you, say, prefer the adult DVDs). For about the same price it takes to go to see a film (with a date, and/or considering parking), you can see this movie whenever you want. For about 2 to 3 times the cost of a rental (or the same cost if you are consistently late), you can see a movie whenever you want, be guaranteed that the movie isn't scratched (unless your 4-yr old went to play with the disc and her doll collection), and you can see it over and over and over. I also like the fact that I can let (certain) friends borrow the movie at no charge.
I see you work for United Airlines...
Not only that, but games for $60.00 aren't THAT expensive. I remember Mortal Kombat was over that amount when it first came out, and that was a decade ago. And Nintendo games in the mid-to-late 80's were in the $40-50 range, which makes them about $70-75 now.
What I do know is that, just like with current games, prices will plummet only a few months later. I bought Burnout 3 recently for $20 and I can't say that I minded waiting a year (or so) to play it.
Well, it all has to do with how "cool" the standards are. When frames came about, all the browsers updated as quickly as possible. If other browsers have something that has a bit more of a "neato" factor to it, then IE might want to either conform to that standard or replicate it in some backwards way.
For now, the only thing I can think of has to do with CSS2 and PNGs, two things which Firefox does well and IE does not. (At least not natively, I know you can do some "scripting tricks" to support PNG in IE, but I don't know how).
Some examples from CSS Zen Garden: [1] | M[2]
Imagine if something like Flash (as useless as it is for web design) could only be supported in non-IE browsers. That would change things real quick.
Parent's right. Pokémon has a fair amount of strategy and combat involved.
On the other hand, the fights all look like a pink basketball attacked a walking pineapple with a musical rainbow. So, you know, you have to get past the look of it.
Happy Sys Admin day Ravesh!
How was last night's cricket game?
The dolls run from the overly stylized to the chillingly natural (another).
The FAQ is... uh... interesting . Example:
It's completely obvious that the picture is older. Even the neighborhood right north of them is a piece of barren earth but finished homes on Google.
Slashdot should move this article off the front page.
Logically, that idea seems a bit fuzzy to me.
The new spelling of Text Adventure Game is Text Ad Venture.
Well, you need to register on Buddyzoo. The pro is that it gives you a lot more data. This is just the simple, no-frills version.
My girlfriend's is over 25,000.
(Insert Tired Joke #2522 here)
Although it's been extensively hyped in the "Google killer" topics, I still find Vivisimo to be extremely useful. I don't use it for my main search, but if Google is too broad, off to Vivisimo I go.
Compare Google's results for 'world cup 2006' with the results from Vivisimo / Clusty.
Parent is referring to Amoeba Music which is one of the BEST music stores on the planet. (No affiliation). I've been to the one in Hollywood and it is spectacular. The prices, especially those on Japanese imports, are extremely reasonable ($20-$30 as opposed to $46 ).
I've been to Kim's in the NYC village and J&R and a million mom-and-pop stores, but I can tell you for sure if Amoeba was down the block from me I would be broke. Thankfully several thousand miles separate us.
If anything, I think the idiots that created (and popularized) the words "blog" (webpage) and "podcast" (audio) are now going to turn to "zazzling" everything when it just means customize. Like, the entire blogosphere needs to know about this product. Zazzle your logos for your podcast on a shirt! Let other bloggers further zazzle your zazzle!
Don't like the way your new Toyota Camry looks? There's plenty of aftermarket zazzlers which can zazzle-ify your car (or "blogmobile").
I pray this doesn't really happen.
Isn't a single serving of wheatgrass the equivalent of 10 lbs. of green vegetables?
Good lord, think of money they saved on the tons and tons of lettuce and spinach and broccoli they didn't have to pay for, ship, or store!
Their website is flash-only. That's never a good sign.
Well, you will probably want to invest in a good DVD player. The decoding between players can have a big difference on image quality. I am not a videophile, but in my experience it's not so much the quality during slow, colorful scenes, but during very rapid sequences where you might see issues with playback. The Home Theater Forum is always a great start (they have a very nice moderated DIY section), and I am looking into possibly getting an Oppo Digital DVD which has been extremely well rated. As a plus, places like HK Flix sell it with updated firmware (so you can switch regions easily on the fly), although I've seen it for $50 less on Froogle.
As far as receivers, I can give you my analysis and feedback as a regular consumer (I wouldn't even call myself a "prosumer") of home theatre electronics. You definitely would do well in investing in a good receiver with as many inputs as possible, and don't get them from Circuit City / Best Buy / Fry's as they are usually $100 more than what you can find online. In reality, you will probably not need more than 3 or 4 component inputs (DVD + HDTV + Console + Other). Depending on the # of inputs on your TV/projector, this should put you in the $300-$500 range for receivers. Look for wattage ratings and buy from a well-known company (say, Harman-Kardon, Denon, Onkyo, Sony, Yamaha).
Once everything is set up, get a calibration DVD like Digital Video Essentials or Avia to tweak your settings. It can make a noticeable difference.
You don't need Monster Cables. If you have a friend at a store who can get you the discount (retailer markup is at least 100%), then they're fine. But you don't need to spend $300 on cables. Spend that money on better equipment.
Just do your research. It's possible that over the next few months older models will be discontinued and be heavily discounted. That can always save you some cash.
I appreciate the feedback. I'm about a 0% of a Municipal Wi-Fi Feasibility Consultant, so I didn't take it much beyond there. I just saw the average, and decided to get the other stuff from publicly available sources. I don't think I'm off-target when I say Newark, NJ will not have free municipal wi-fi in the next 12 months.
YIKES. Almost $1000 dollars for a keyboard? I know these are specialized keyboards and the market for them is very small, but $1000? That's a LOT of money.
I put this together last time, but by the time I had it done the story was gone off the front page.
/. commented on costs to provide wi-fi access to a 16-sq. mile area to be about $600,000. Based on that, as well as old Census data, I came up with a highly simplified cost chart for the major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
A previous story here on
Based on that, there's no clear evidence that wi-fi is absolutely cost-effective or absolutely not cost effective. It really depends on your city and a lot of other factors. I would hazard a guess that low-density areas are not going to do well. (That's why Casper, Wymoing and Yuma, Arizona, and Bismarck, North Dakota all are at the bottom of the list).
If you have better cost info, you can always play with the data yourself.
I'm still trying to think of what Weezer's "Beverly Hills" song reminds me of. I've heard that riff in a Metallica song, and it also sounds a LOT like "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett.
What's funny is that now, even remixes require too much work. Mash-ups are becoming increasingly popular, and all you do is just literally play two records at once, at the very easy end.
Well... Honestly I've never found any one product that treats everything. I recommend Giant/MS Antispyware, AdWare, SSnD, and Webroot/Spysweeper all to be run.
But you're right... SpySweeper is quite useful.
Not only that, but CNN reported that it released the equivalent of 5 tons of TNT, not 5 million tons. That makes a lot more sense considering it was roughly "washing-machine" sized.
Link to CNN story
I guess washing machine is easier than saying "approximately 0.4 Volkswagen Beetles".