The answer is quite simple... in previous years, city council was not allowed to, or voted against, a tax increase. But they still needed extra money. So they tacked on a small $4/month fee for water. Then a few years later, still not allowed to raise taxes, a small $3 fee for sewer. More years go by, taxes are not increased, but a new, hardly noticeable fee of $1.50 for trash removal was added.
You see, the politicians get to spout their "no tax increase! We're the best!" jargon, the average Joe likes that there is no tax increase, and the city is able to collect extra money for the services.
In fact, where I live they are adding a new monthly charge for "storm sewer service". I'm already paying for sanity sewer service, but they needed the extra money without raising taxes.
Your cell phone provider can opt to disable features like that when they buy the phones in bulk from the manufacturer. Why on earth would they want you knowing when you are about to run out of free minutes and start paying them extra? That's not good business sense.
But still, counters like that are pretty standard features on most cell phones. Sometimes you just have to hunt for it buried in some sub-sub-sub-menu, sometimes you need to buy a phone that wasn't crippled by your provider.
Used to be that when you went out to the local sports bar, there would be several video games mixed in with the pool tables, foosball, and occasional pinball machines. That's good.
But since this damned golf game showed up, that's all there is. Some places with have 3 or 4 of these things and nothing else. They've replaced all of the other games entirely. Well, maybe there will be the occasional Big Buck Hunter or some such crap, and a beat up pool table with one cue.
Insurance companies will HATE these, and set rates accordingly for a long time. If you get into a wreck, and the car was driving, why on earth should -your- rates go up? Why not fine the automaker? Oh, the lawyers will LOVE this.
Ummm, aluminium was a bad material to pick on... it takes about 20 times more energy to produce aluminium from bauxite ore than it takes to recycle it. Aluminium is one of the few materials that actually makes sense to recycle. As you state, there IS a shortage of energy.
Only glass bottles are reused. Beer bottles are probably the biggest supply. (When was the last time you actually bought a Coke in a glass bottle? They exist, but are sometimes hard to find.)
Sadly, iTunes simply can not read the ID3 tags in my MP3 library that I ripped with MusicMatch Jukebox. Every other utility I have tried can read the tags without any trouble at all.
iTunes is basically useless without the ID3 info for the songs.
The problem is that nobody actually knows what "100% nutritious" is. Seriously, dieticians are just making this stuff up as they go along. 4 food groups/food pyramids are a joke. Most doctors idea of weight-loss programs involves liquid diets or surgery.
Nutrition is right up there with psychology for just making things up and hoping the theories hold together.
Now one day when they do figure out what "100% nutritious" is for me, and they can make it taste like ice cream, I'll sign up;-)
While I do like my Roomba, there is one thing that it simply can't handle: dog hair. The little edge-sweeper gets completely tangled in it, and I can spend upwards of 20 minutes cleaning the Roomba of all the tangled dog hair after running it through the living room. Most annoying is that the Roomba video showed a Newfoundland dog laying there as the Roomba runs by, and talked about how it was great at picking up the dog hair. What they don't mention is cleaning it out afterwards is a PITA! (I have a Newf...)
This isn't limited to the Roomba, I have an upright vacuum that has the same problem, but it doesn't take nearly as long to detangle.
I wish the Roomba used a back-and-forth agitator (like a Rug Doctor carpet shampooer) instead of the spinning agitator. This would solve most of the problem.
Oh, and the original Rooomba has serious issues with long stairs/ledges. I have a sunken living room, with an 8 foot long step between the rooms. The Roomba falls off this step all the time. If it is running -almost- paralell to the step, it will end up tipping over the edge and stopping, making it's "I'm in trouble" call. On smaller steps, it has no problem.
But hey, it still beats cleaning the floor the old fashioned way.
While I am a space geek, and drove 2 days just to see a shuttle launch a few years ago, Kennedy Space Center is little more than a system for draining your wallet dry. It costs a small fortune to get in, and then what do you get to see? A whole lot of gift shops and resturaunts. I would think that the whole operation was run by Disney if it wasn't for the fact I know it's run by some private company out of New Jersey (I know because I wrote to bitch at them about the terrible experience we had there.)
As for the bus tours, a few years ago there were two tours... a "Shuttle Up Close" tour, where you get to go close to the launch pad, etc, and a "History of the Cape" tour, where you get to see an old rocket-bunker that has been turned into a gift shop out in the middle of a field, and a lighthouse.
We paid for the first one, but ended up going on the second one as they cancelled the one we paid for but didn't tell us until we got on the bus. (And hence me writing to some guy in New Jersey demanding my money back...)
And the lines. Oh dear lord, the lines. At least at an amusement park, you wait in line for an hour and you get to ride a coaster. Here, you wait in line an hour or more just to get on the bus to take you to the next tour stop. They had buses running non-stop dropping people off at the Saturn V building, then returning empty to pick up more, instead of taking a busload to the next stop on the tour (The ISS assembly bulding? Hmmm, I think that was the next stop.)
The best part of the whole trip, and the only part I didn't pay for, was the actual shuttle launch. Wow. Unforgettable, and worth the trip.
At a hotel I stayed at in central London a few years back, every item in the mini-fridge was sitting on a switch. As soon as you picked anything up, it registered with the central biling system and was added to your account.
As I was staying there for two weeks, this really sucked. I like to take everything out of the mini-fridge and put my own stuff from the local grocery store in there. Instead, I had to carefully balance my stuff on top of the items already in there.
Of course, that wasn't as bad as the fact that the only analog phone line in the room was IN THE BATHROOM! Geez, I had to go buy an extension cord just to use my modem, as the desk phone was a digital line.
My first time at CP, it was too hot to stay outside in the afternoon, so we went looking for shade. We stumbled across the arcade. Holy crap, that place is almost worth the price of admission alone. All of the newer games are up front, but further back they have all of the video games from your childhood. And not just the fancy-ass "computer" games either... lots of old duck-hunt mechanical type games as well.
It's like a museum, but every exhibit costs you a quarter:-)
2) Upcharge (2x? 3x?) admission to allow some kind of limited queue-jumping system (maybe a less restrictive fastpass deal where you could get multiple fastpasses for different rides). Set the fee high enough where not everyone does it.
LaRonde in Montreal does this. You buy you admission, and then you can buy "skip the line" tickets for extra (assuming you can find the hidden office where they sell them...)
Would be a great system if they didn't limit the value of these tickets by only letting you use them on rides that don't have really long lines to start with!
Six Flags magic Mountain also does this, and also limits the tickets (Speedpass?) to specific rides.
Islands of Adventure has the most expensive system... if you stay at one of the in-park hotels, your room key allows you to skip the line for almost all rides. Sa-weet!
Re:I have on in Canada...
on
TiVo Basic
·
· Score: 1
Yet StarChoice has announced that "early next year" (hahahahahaha! Oh, sorry, you have to know the histroy to laugh) that they wil be rolling out an integrated Motorola HDTV and PVR system. They even announced the model number of this unit. (of course, I can't find the PDF on the StarChoice website now...)
I can't imagine that StarChoice is still holding up the release of TiVo in Canada because of a letter-of-intent type agreement from three years ago for which they never followed up.
Hmmm, I was pretty sure that it was a 28.8, but you're right, several online sources conrifm that the 28.8 was introduced in 1994. I must have still been using my 14.4 modem then.
I had the same 25MHz system in 1994, and must have upgraded the modem at that time.
True, true. I was just grabbing a fairly easy-to-remember number to use here. Although somedays, it sure seems like that 25MHz 68040 was -faster- than my current machine;-)
The one limited is network speed. Sure, if I've got enough room for a collection of 2 gigabyte raw avi movies, that's great. But if I can't get enough speed to download them quickly it will suck.
This has always bugged me... back in 1992, I had a 25MHz CPU, 8MB of RAM, a 660MB hard drive, 2.88MB floppies, and a 28.8 modem.
In 2003, I have a 2.2HGz CPU (88 times faster), 1024MB of RAM (128 times more), a 120GB hard drive (180 times more), 700MB CD-RWs (243 times bigger) yet only a 1Mbit (on a really good day!) network connection (about 35 times faster, no matter what the cable company claims.) And that's as fast as it has been for about 5 years now.
Where oh were is my 5Mbit cable modem? Heck, some poor bastards are still stuck using 56k modems...
It seems that network connections ony get faster in big bursts. In 1997, I had a 56k modem. In 1998, I had a 1Mbit DSL line. Maybe in 2008, I'll get fibre to my house.
The problem with Event Horizon is that the studio advertised it as sci-fi. It most definately is not! It's a horror that just happens to take place in space. And a damned nasty horror film at that!
Everyone who I know that saw it ans was hoping for sci-fi hated it. Everyone who likes a good slasher flick and took it for what it was liked it. No-one loved it, it just wasn't that good. Luckily we all got free sneak-preview tickets, so no money wasted...
Slashdot Mirror
The answer is quite simple... in previous years, city council was not allowed to, or voted against, a tax increase. But they still needed extra money. So they tacked on a small $4/month fee for water. Then a few years later, still not allowed to raise taxes, a small $3 fee for sewer. More years go by, taxes are not increased, but a new, hardly noticeable fee of $1.50 for trash removal was added.
You see, the politicians get to spout their "no tax increase! We're the best!" jargon, the average Joe likes that there is no tax increase, and the city is able to collect extra money for the services.
In fact, where I live they are adding a new monthly charge for "storm sewer service". I'm already paying for sanity sewer service, but they needed the extra money without raising taxes.
See also "user fees". Taxes by another name.
Your cell phone provider can opt to disable features like that when they buy the phones in bulk from the manufacturer. Why on earth would they want you knowing when you are about to run out of free minutes and start paying them extra? That's not good business sense.
But still, counters like that are pretty standard features on most cell phones. Sometimes you just have to hunt for it buried in some sub-sub-sub-menu, sometimes you need to buy a phone that wasn't crippled by your provider.
Simple test: can you record audio to it? Yes? Then it's an audio recording medium. No? Then it's not an audio recording medium.
Used to be that when you went out to the local sports bar, there would be several video games mixed in with the pool tables, foosball, and occasional pinball machines. That's good.
But since this damned golf game showed up, that's all there is. Some places with have 3 or 4 of these things and nothing else. They've replaced all of the other games entirely. Well, maybe there will be the occasional Big Buck Hunter or some such crap, and a beat up pool table with one cue.
It's so sad.
Insurance companies will HATE these, and set rates accordingly for a long time. If you get into a wreck, and the car was driving, why on earth should -your- rates go up? Why not fine the automaker? Oh, the lawyers will LOVE this.
Ummm, aluminium was a bad material to pick on... it takes about 20 times more energy to produce aluminium from bauxite ore than it takes to recycle it. Aluminium is one of the few materials that actually makes sense to recycle. As you state, there IS a shortage of energy.
Only glass bottles are reused. Beer bottles are probably the biggest supply. (When was the last time you actually bought a Coke in a glass bottle? They exist, but are sometimes hard to find.)
Sadly, iTunes simply can not read the ID3 tags in my MP3 library that I ripped with MusicMatch Jukebox. Every other utility I have tried can read the tags without any trouble at all.
iTunes is basically useless without the ID3 info for the songs.
Wow. Too many people using public transit... that's simply not something that would happen where I live!
This was posted by an AC down at 0, so here it is for others to see...
2 003 and check out the fire-paste segment."
"Go to http://www.exn.ca/dailyplanet/view.asp?date=10/6/
Check out the video, very cool stuff. "I don't know why it works, I don't know how it works, but it works."
Interestingly enough, he developed this stuff to help heat-proof his "bear suit".
The problem is that nobody actually knows what "100% nutritious" is. Seriously, dieticians are just making this stuff up as they go along. 4 food groups/food pyramids are a joke. Most doctors idea of weight-loss programs involves liquid diets or surgery.
;-)
Nutrition is right up there with psychology for just making things up and hoping the theories hold together.
Now one day when they do figure out what "100% nutritious" is for me, and they can make it taste like ice cream, I'll sign up
It's true, blipverts WILL cause couch-potatoes to explode.
While I do like my Roomba, there is one thing that it simply can't handle: dog hair. The little edge-sweeper gets completely tangled in it, and I can spend upwards of 20 minutes cleaning the Roomba of all the tangled dog hair after running it through the living room. Most annoying is that the Roomba video showed a Newfoundland dog laying there as the Roomba runs by, and talked about how it was great at picking up the dog hair. What they don't mention is cleaning it out afterwards is a PITA! (I have a Newf...)
This isn't limited to the Roomba, I have an upright vacuum that has the same problem, but it doesn't take nearly as long to detangle.
I wish the Roomba used a back-and-forth agitator (like a Rug Doctor carpet shampooer) instead of the spinning agitator. This would solve most of the problem.
Oh, and the original Rooomba has serious issues with long stairs/ledges. I have a sunken living room, with an 8 foot long step between the rooms. The Roomba falls off this step all the time. If it is running -almost- paralell to the step, it will end up tipping over the edge and stopping, making it's "I'm in trouble" call. On smaller steps, it has no problem.
But hey, it still beats cleaning the floor the old fashioned way.
Is this 61" Samsung the one that will -only- do 720p? Everything else is converted to 720p for display?
If yes, how do you like it? Do you notice the conversion from 1080i, or any other resolution?
I love the looks and specs of this TV... I with I could get it in something like 1600x1200 though!
While I am a space geek, and drove 2 days just to see a shuttle launch a few years ago, Kennedy Space Center is little more than a system for draining your wallet dry. It costs a small fortune to get in, and then what do you get to see? A whole lot of gift shops and resturaunts. I would think that the whole operation was run by Disney if it wasn't for the fact I know it's run by some private company out of New Jersey (I know because I wrote to bitch at them about the terrible experience we had there.)
As for the bus tours, a few years ago there were two tours... a "Shuttle Up Close" tour, where you get to go close to the launch pad, etc, and a "History of the Cape" tour, where you get to see an old rocket-bunker that has been turned into a gift shop out in the middle of a field, and a lighthouse.
We paid for the first one, but ended up going on the second one as they cancelled the one we paid for but didn't tell us until we got on the bus. (And hence me writing to some guy in New Jersey demanding my money back...)
And the lines. Oh dear lord, the lines. At least at an amusement park, you wait in line for an hour and you get to ride a coaster. Here, you wait in line an hour or more just to get on the bus to take you to the next tour stop. They had buses running non-stop dropping people off at the Saturn V building, then returning empty to pick up more, instead of taking a busload to the next stop on the tour (The ISS assembly bulding? Hmmm, I think that was the next stop.)
The best part of the whole trip, and the only part I didn't pay for, was the actual shuttle launch. Wow. Unforgettable, and worth the trip.
I refuse to buy any football game until they support the CFL rules! NFL is so boring...
At a hotel I stayed at in central London a few years back, every item in the mini-fridge was sitting on a switch. As soon as you picked anything up, it registered with the central biling system and was added to your account.
As I was staying there for two weeks, this really sucked. I like to take everything out of the mini-fridge and put my own stuff from the local grocery store in there. Instead, I had to carefully balance my stuff on top of the items already in there.
Of course, that wasn't as bad as the fact that the only analog phone line in the room was IN THE BATHROOM! Geez, I had to go buy an extension cord just to use my modem, as the desk phone was a digital line.
My first time at CP, it was too hot to stay outside in the afternoon, so we went looking for shade. We stumbled across the arcade. Holy crap, that place is almost worth the price of admission alone. All of the newer games are up front, but further back they have all of the video games from your childhood. And not just the fancy-ass "computer" games either... lots of old duck-hunt mechanical type games as well.
:-)
It's like a museum, but every exhibit costs you a quarter
2) Upcharge (2x? 3x?) admission to allow some kind of limited queue-jumping system (maybe a less restrictive fastpass deal where you could get multiple fastpasses for different rides). Set the fee high enough where not everyone does it.
LaRonde in Montreal does this. You buy you admission, and then you can buy "skip the line" tickets for extra (assuming you can find the hidden office where they sell them...)
Would be a great system if they didn't limit the value of these tickets by only letting you use them on rides that don't have really long lines to start with!
Six Flags magic Mountain also does this, and also limits the tickets (Speedpass?) to specific rides.
Islands of Adventure has the most expensive system... if you stay at one of the in-park hotels, your room key allows you to skip the line for almost all rides. Sa-weet!
Yet StarChoice has announced that "early next year" (hahahahahaha! Oh, sorry, you have to know the histroy to laugh) that they wil be rolling out an integrated Motorola HDTV and PVR system. They even announced the model number of this unit. (of course, I can't find the PDF on the StarChoice website now...)
I can't imagine that StarChoice is still holding up the release of TiVo in Canada because of a letter-of-intent type agreement from three years ago for which they never followed up.
Hmmm, I was pretty sure that it was a 28.8, but you're right, several online sources conrifm that the 28.8 was introduced in 1994. I must have still been using my 14.4 modem then.
I had the same 25MHz system in 1994, and must have upgraded the modem at that time.
True, true. I was just grabbing a fairly easy-to-remember number to use here. Although somedays, it sure seems like that 25MHz 68040 was -faster- than my current machine ;-)
The one limited is network speed. Sure, if I've got enough room for a collection of 2 gigabyte raw avi movies, that's great. But if I can't get enough speed to download them quickly it will suck.
This has always bugged me... back in 1992, I had a 25MHz CPU, 8MB of RAM, a 660MB hard drive, 2.88MB floppies, and a 28.8 modem.
In 2003, I have a 2.2HGz CPU (88 times faster), 1024MB of RAM (128 times more), a 120GB hard drive (180 times more), 700MB CD-RWs (243 times bigger) yet only a 1Mbit (on a really good day!) network connection (about 35 times faster, no matter what the cable company claims.) And that's as fast as it has been for about 5 years now.
Where oh were is my 5Mbit cable modem? Heck, some poor bastards are still stuck using 56k modems...
It seems that network connections ony get faster in big bursts. In 1997, I had a 56k modem. In 1998, I had a 1Mbit DSL line. Maybe in 2008, I'll get fibre to my house.
Go rent the move "Harrison Bergeron". This is exactly how the president is assigned every 4 years in this movie.
Some of the best icons ever created were by Keith Ohlfs for NeXTstep. Amazing what he could pack into 64x64 2-bit greyscale pixels.
Check out his latest work at Pixelsight
The problem with Event Horizon is that the studio advertised it as sci-fi. It most definately is not! It's a horror that just happens to take place in space. And a damned nasty horror film at that!
Everyone who I know that saw it ans was hoping for sci-fi hated it. Everyone who likes a good slasher flick and took it for what it was liked it. No-one loved it, it just wasn't that good. Luckily we all got free sneak-preview tickets, so no money wasted...