for a *home* installation, that is rather a lot of stuff to have plugged in at a single desk.
That being said, there's wisdom to what you're saying about him not working in IT anyway... somebody in IT would probably opt for a monitor with a built-in USB hub, if they needed a USB hub at all. Worth their weight in gold, for how much space they save, and there are powered USB hubs built into some monitors (they draw power from the monitor's power connection). If you need a USB hub at all, that is... the 2.4GHz wireless dongle for my keyboard/mouse is plugged in to the back of my desktop, and the front connectors (2 USB2.0, 2 USB3.0) are plenty for the rare occasions I need to plug a thumb drive or external hard drive in. Haven't ever needed a USB hub.
Similarly, for persistent storage, most people who work in IT wouldn't opt for "multiple external hard drives", they'd opt for a NAS setup of some sort. There's some very inexpensive options available on the market, and having a decent NAS or two connected by GigE or faster should be significantly more useful than swapping USB drives. And don't argue about storage capacity... the off-the-rack diskless Buffalo NAS I'm using has space for two 3.5" SATA drives, and is running Linux, so the advertised "3TB" limit for drive size is most likely because you can't get drives bigger than that yet, not because it's actually a limit. A 6TB NAS should be plenty of space for most home use right now, and it's trivially easy to add more as needed.
For network switch/router/cable modem, you could at the very least drop the switch by replacing the router with one that has the appropriate ethernet speed built in to it. GigE routers have been available for quite some time, now. And if you need more than 4 ports of GigE, then there's no reason the switch can't be in a completely different part of the house. Come to it, there's no reason the cable modem can't be elsewhere as well. You could also check with your cable provider about replacing the modem... lots of providers now have cable modems with built-in wireless routers and GigE switches, so you might be able to replace 3 devices with 1. From the description in TFS, it certainly doesn't sound like you need that many Ethernet ports... there's no mention of NAS, printer, TV/STB, or stereo, only the two computers which would require an Ethernet connection.
As for 2 machines, 4 monitors, cable ties is probably the best suggestion I can make, though depending on the monitor you're using it may be possible to daisychain the displays and use a single cable to drive both of them. One of the many advantages of displayport... you can have a single cable running to a splitter, and drive two monitors from a single output on the computer.
So I guess, responding to the original question (of course, far enough down that nobody will read it), I'd say the first suggestion for how to deal with extreme cable management is to minimize the number of extra cables that don't really serve a function. The second would be to use tie wraps (preferably reusable) to bundle similar cables so you don't have to go fishing if one fails.
What it's absolutely incompatible with is my wallet.
So I take it you don't own a TV, or a DVD/BD player, or a stereo, or a cell phone, or a computer (try buying a modern video card or monitor that doesn't at *least* do DVI, if not HDMI or DP, not to mention the TPM on the motherboard)?
When DRM is working properly, it's completely invisible to the user. There's so many DRM systems these days that it's impossible not to have one in your life, and if you think you're actually avoiding them, you're deluding yourself. Most people go through their lives without ever realizing that the DRM is even there, which is how it's supposed to work, and the properly designed systems fail gracefully. In the software world there's been some spectactularly bad ideas for how to implement it (authentication servers, anybody?), but in the hardware world, it's generally rock solid (unless you're buying shitty components).
As for the patent being discussed, we have no idea how or *if* it will be used. It could be a defensive patent. If it gets used at all, I suspect it's only going to be to enforce the "no public viewing" requirement on DVD/BluRays, and will probably be a reasonable number like "no more than 10 in the room".
You can, in all likelihood, get close to the EPA gas mileage -- if you drive an EPA drive cycle.
First off, the EPA numbers on the window sticker are way de-rated from the mileage numbers in the official EPA tests. The De-rating is in response to all of the whining and howling "The EPA numbers are a fiction! I never get the EPA numbers!"
I didn't say you wouldn't be able to meet or exceed the EPA numbers, I said that you were statistically unlikely to see the same numbers as the EPA rating.:) This thread (and the whole discussion) is full of people talking about how they're able to exceed the EPA numbers simply by driving like normal people.
Personal example: when I had a 2007 Chevrolet Aveo, I was not able to meet the EPA rating... the car was just badly designed, I think. With my 2011 Subaru Impreza, I have no problem beating the EPA rating in the car. To be fair, the EPA rating is 20mpg city, 27 highway... 4-wheel drive and all-wheel drive cars tend to have a much worse EPA rating than they're actually capable of, because of how the test is designed and performed, but driving in the right frame of mind and with the right equipment makes a huge difference to your real-world mileage. I actually get better mileage (use less gas per distance traveled) in the Impreza than I did in the Aveo.
Sorry you had to give up mod points, but you're addressing a point I didn't intend to make.:)
Speaking of which, any government that was serious about increasing economy would mandate an instant, trip and "high score" MPG counter that's always displayed. We all like gaming, right?
Yeah, but the idea is a low score, not a high score. Personally, I get giggle fits when accelerating hard, and seing the instant fuel economy jump to > 50L/100km (normal highway economy varies from 4-7L/100km depending on conditions, and can spike to 10-12L when going up a hill or into the wind). It's like those roadside speed radar machines they put up in residential areas where people complain about folks driving too fast. Normally I drive pretty close to the speed limit, but when I see one of those, I try for a high score. I'm still wondering what its 2-digit display would show if you were going over 100...
Of course, your own mileage will vary, based on ambient temperature, road conditions, tire pressure/type, the gas you're using, your level of wakefulness, and your level of anger/stress. It's extremely unlikely that your real-world mileage will be even close to the EPA posted mileage.
As a corporation and not an individual, they could lose their license to operate as a business in the UK, which would have significant impact on their business in the EU as a whole.
but it might be handier than a car for getting to the store that's about 9 blocks from my house.
You know what else might be handier for a store that close? Walking. And I'll sell you all the equipment you need for the discount price of 5000 Euro! That's more than 2000 Euro less than the Velomobile!
Not really... the point he was making is that the energy is there to be collected, and once the system is installed the maintenance costs are negligible. Many solar installations don't need any maintenance at all beyond keeping the panels clean.
The initial installation costs a lot of money (which is becoming less and less every year), but you can sell any extra electricity you produce back into the grid, and the reduction in your monthly electric bill should be significant enough to make it worth considering. In most cases, the reduction in your bill will be more than enough to cover the cost of the loan to have the panels installed in the first place, and in some cases you'll find yourself in a position where the power company is paying you each month.
Let's suppose that somebody at JPL was promoting atheism, complained that the Christmas party should be renamed to the Holiday party, and suggested that California allow gay marriage. Would that be offensive as well? Be careful about piling on with "serves him right" when somebody is fired for what amounts to political incorrectness in the workplace. Without more detail I am skeptical of the accusations that he was "too aggressive" with this stuff or that it was a serious dereliction of his job. In my experience, many atheists are offended even by any public display of personal religious belief and practice, or any religious people engaging in discussion with others about it. They think religious people should be forced to maintain an appearance of secular belief when in public places, which is actually absurd and offensive in its own way.
Promoting atheism is just as offensive as promoting theism. Religion has no place in the workplace, unless your workplace happens to be devoted to religious study of some sort. As long as you're not hurting anybody, I don't give a flying fuck what you choose to believe. It's not my concern, as long as you recognize that I have a right to believe differently.
That being said, renaming the Christmas party to the Holiday party is about inclusion... all 3 of the Abrahamic religions have holy festivals around that time of year, not to mention a large number of other festivals associated with the solstice. Almost every religion in the world does something that time of year, and calling it the "Holiday" party instead of the "Christmas" party acknowledges that those other religions have value. It also acknolwedges and includes people who don't follow any specific religion. (though the word "holiday" itself is a bastardization of "holy day", which kind of excludes the atheists)
Allowing gay marriage, similarly, is about inclusion. I can't believe I even have to make the argument here, but the only consequence of allowing gay marriage is that gay people will get married. The world will not blow up, cats will not start having sex with dogs, it will not suddenly start raining fish, the sun will not turn purple, and you will not hear 7 trumpet blasts. It's about extending the same rights to gay people that heterosexual people enjoy, pure and simple. And if your religion doesn't endorse gay marriage, then don't fucking perform it. Gay people can just as easily have a civil ceremony before a justice of the peace, or go to one of the churches that *does* support gay unions. It is *not* about people with an agenda trying to force their beliefs on others, it's about people wanting to have the same rights as everybody else. Of course, opposition to extending these rights to the queer community is about people forcing their beliefs on others....
Now... if you'd bothered to read the articles linked, it would be quite clear that this guy was a douche. He had a reputation for being pig-headed, and refusing to negotiate on anything... it always had to be his way that things got done. He had been spoken to as early as 5 years before he was dismissed about his unprofessional behaviour, and even admitted during his own testimony that they had been asking him for years to smarten up. There are plenty of religious people working for JPL who don't have any problems at all, and his religion had nothing to do with his having been laid off. And yes, it was a lay-off... they let 200 people go at the same time as him, because there was a funding cut. This is a complete non-story, and the only reason it's getting any press at all is because a number of zealots are trying to incorrectly paint this as an attack on religion.
I don't get it. I don't understand the goals of the above. On one hand we have "the user is stupid, don't let him configure anything" and the other is "let the user configure anything, but make it artificially difficult."
Never used XFCE, or Enlightenment, have you? They both put KDE to shame, on the configurability side of things, yet both have a plethora of GUI tools to make said configuration easy.
Most tree-hugging dirt worshippers are smart enough to know that plate techtonics have been around much longer than the current bout of global warming...:)
I signed up for some term life insurance a few years back and the contract explicitly permitted suicide. That surprised me but I confirmed it with the agent. I image this doesn't apply to everyone (maybe it's not allowed in whole life plans), but I have a standard plan from a major carrier.
Most life insurance policies permit payout in the event of suicide, but there's usually a moratorium on that clause for a period of X months from taking out the policy. Something like "From 6 months following the purchase of the policy, suicide will be considered an accidental death and insured appropriately". It depends on the policy, of course, but I've never heard of a life insurance policy that didn't cover suicide after a certain period.
If you really want religion out of politics, at least make it so that they don't become morally required to start voting against what you want. I know it won't stop all of that stuff, but I know a lot of people, including myself, would be happy to leave you to your own choices if you don't make me pay for them.
If that includes abortion, doctor-assisted suicide, LGBT rights, etc., you would be the first person of (presumed) religious polticial leanings I've ever heard say that. Most of the people in that camp seem to go out of their way to make things difficult for anybody who disagrees with their beliefs.
You're welcome to your beliefs. I absolutely support your right to have those beliefs, and will *never* make fun of you for having them. As long as you respect my right to have and practice different beliefs, then we'll get along swimmingly.
Unless there is a revolution in medicine, it can only delay those inevitable years of senility.
Alzheimer's or Senile Dementia (two different diseases with different causes) are not a guaranteed part of growing old. My grandfather lived to 94, and was still living on his own when he died of an aneurysm. No sign of senile dementia or alzheimer's, nor any loss of dignity. He went in his sleep, and all indications are that it was painless. The hospital was able to keep him alive on life support until my mother was able to visit him and say goodbye, but he never regained consciousness. His brother, on the other hand, lived to 92, but suffered alzheimer's the last 10 years of his life.
Growing old does suck, but it's a dice roll how much it's going to suck. Some people manage to grow old with dignity, others don't. It's the human condition. That being said, people should be given the choice to opt out of life, if they've had enough of it, or if they are terminally ill.
Is there much of a difference between prescription opiates and street ones? Seems like everyday you hear more and more about the prescription ones being sold on the street or abused by radio personalities.
Briefly, yes. Not quite so briefly, it depends on your metabolism. The prescription opiates are usually encapsulated in a way that slows down their breakdown in your system, in an attempt to prevent them from being useful as a recreational drug, but other than that they're essentially the same. If you know what you're doing, chemically speaking, you can break down the encapsulation before taking the drug.
Drugs like codeine and oxycodone break down into morphine when exposed to your metabolic system. How much, and how quickly, depends on you. Some people digest the stuff very quickly so the effect wears of early, some digest it very slowly. The latter group is one of the reasons that they control the dosage that you can lay your hands on... people *have* lethally overdosed on codeine because they don't digest it very quickly, and so when they take one pill there's no effect within the half hour or so that they are told to expect it. So they take another. And another. And another. Eventually, the body starts breaking the stuff down, and they get a dangerous dose in a relatively short period of itme.
Legality of the war on drugs aside, if a person wants to commit suicide they will find a way. But methods like alcohol poisoning (suggested above) or overdose on illegal drugs are messy and unreliable, not even considering the very good point that was made here. Acquiring a lethal dose from a doctor is simply a way to guarantee that it'll be quick and painless, and legal. Most of the people who would consider taking advantage of something like this aren't really in a position to go out and buy drugs off the street anyway... this is an end of life/palliative care option.
I just ask for their corporate mailing address... if they're playing by the rules, then they know that they have an obligation to provide it upon request. If they refuse, I point them at the appropriate laws and ask them to explain themselves... usually they hang up at that point. They haven't called me in a while, actually... maybe they clued in and blocked my number.
Also, they're scammers... if you have a reasonable interest rate on your cards, then there's a good chance you know what the hell you're doing with your money, and aren't a good target for scamming. Though I did have one of their lackies try telling me that they could beat the 7% interest I pay on my Visa (not an introductory rate, a negotiated rate based on my credit rating and not carrying a balance).
How can you spoof the caller ID anyway? I mean shouldn't the telephone company know the caller ID of whoever is initiating the call (to know where to send the invoice for the call)?
They do know, when the call originates in their network. When it passes off to another network, they only know which network it came from, and who *that network* says it is. The honour system is what keeps ATT and Verizon (and so forth) from passing deliberately bad information between each other (and the threat of pissed off customers). That's how spoofing caller ID works... when you pass off into another network, give them bad information about the identity. If the call originates from a VOIP phone, especially an international VOIP phone, then there isn't much control over what information gets passed to your local carrier. And you can't simply block all VOIP lines, because there are legitimate VOIP carriers in the market, too.
Obligatory disclaimer: I work for a phone company, though in a different LOB.
I've never actually missed work to vote, and I have voted in every election I could since I turned 18. The rules vary by jurisdiction, but here in Canada, employers need to give you 3 contiguous hours during the time the polls are open in order to vote. The polls open at 8am, and close at 8pm. Just go in to work late (what I usually do, the polls are less busy in the morning), or go in early and leave early.
There's also advance polls, and special ballot (mail-in) that you can vote by, if your work schedule really won't let you vote on voting day.
I take it you're not black, gay, or a woman. People do still get killed in the US for being "other", but most people who aren't "other" don't tend to notice that it's still happening.
My phone can go about 5 days if all I do is idle. That's with Bluetooth and 3G data services/sync turned on, but wifi radio turned off. If I nix Bluetooth and/or data services, I can increase that.
I'm all for reducing power consumption, but if it's not going to reduce the power consumption when the device is actually being used to transmit, then how is it going to increase battery life noticeably when most smartphone users plug it in every day anyway? Besides which, the screen is what eats up the lion's share of my battery... simply decreasing the brightness of the screen makes a huge difference in the life of the battery.
That being said, the better question is how does the computer compare against an average driver? I'd lay odds that it would thoroughly trounce most of us in such a race, which makes it very impressive.
Isn't the whole point of a skeuomorphic interface to provide visual cues as to the function of widgets, and how to operate them, in order to lessen the learning curve?
I've never seen one that actaully *hampers* functionality... at least, not one that was designed by somebody halfway competent. The visual fluff is just that.. fluff.. to anybody who already knows what they're doing, but it doesn't actually hamper functionality beyond making you wait a little longer for animations to play, and most (good) skeuomorphic interfaces have a way to turn off the animations while still keeping the visual cues. The really good ones don't waste your time with animations in the first place.
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for a *home* installation, that is rather a lot of stuff to have plugged in at a single desk.
That being said, there's wisdom to what you're saying about him not working in IT anyway... somebody in IT would probably opt for a monitor with a built-in USB hub, if they needed a USB hub at all. Worth their weight in gold, for how much space they save, and there are powered USB hubs built into some monitors (they draw power from the monitor's power connection). If you need a USB hub at all, that is... the 2.4GHz wireless dongle for my keyboard/mouse is plugged in to the back of my desktop, and the front connectors (2 USB2.0, 2 USB3.0) are plenty for the rare occasions I need to plug a thumb drive or external hard drive in. Haven't ever needed a USB hub.
Similarly, for persistent storage, most people who work in IT wouldn't opt for "multiple external hard drives", they'd opt for a NAS setup of some sort. There's some very inexpensive options available on the market, and having a decent NAS or two connected by GigE or faster should be significantly more useful than swapping USB drives. And don't argue about storage capacity... the off-the-rack diskless Buffalo NAS I'm using has space for two 3.5" SATA drives, and is running Linux, so the advertised "3TB" limit for drive size is most likely because you can't get drives bigger than that yet, not because it's actually a limit. A 6TB NAS should be plenty of space for most home use right now, and it's trivially easy to add more as needed.
For network switch/router/cable modem, you could at the very least drop the switch by replacing the router with one that has the appropriate ethernet speed built in to it. GigE routers have been available for quite some time, now. And if you need more than 4 ports of GigE, then there's no reason the switch can't be in a completely different part of the house. Come to it, there's no reason the cable modem can't be elsewhere as well. You could also check with your cable provider about replacing the modem... lots of providers now have cable modems with built-in wireless routers and GigE switches, so you might be able to replace 3 devices with 1. From the description in TFS, it certainly doesn't sound like you need that many Ethernet ports... there's no mention of NAS, printer, TV/STB, or stereo, only the two computers which would require an Ethernet connection.
As for 2 machines, 4 monitors, cable ties is probably the best suggestion I can make, though depending on the monitor you're using it may be possible to daisychain the displays and use a single cable to drive both of them. One of the many advantages of displayport... you can have a single cable running to a splitter, and drive two monitors from a single output on the computer.
So I guess, responding to the original question (of course, far enough down that nobody will read it), I'd say the first suggestion for how to deal with extreme cable management is to minimize the number of extra cables that don't really serve a function. The second would be to use tie wraps (preferably reusable) to bundle similar cables so you don't have to go fishing if one fails.
What it's absolutely incompatible with is my wallet.
So I take it you don't own a TV, or a DVD/BD player, or a stereo, or a cell phone, or a computer (try buying a modern video card or monitor that doesn't at *least* do DVI, if not HDMI or DP, not to mention the TPM on the motherboard)?
When DRM is working properly, it's completely invisible to the user. There's so many DRM systems these days that it's impossible not to have one in your life, and if you think you're actually avoiding them, you're deluding yourself. Most people go through their lives without ever realizing that the DRM is even there, which is how it's supposed to work, and the properly designed systems fail gracefully. In the software world there's been some spectactularly bad ideas for how to implement it (authentication servers, anybody?), but in the hardware world, it's generally rock solid (unless you're buying shitty components).
As for the patent being discussed, we have no idea how or *if* it will be used. It could be a defensive patent. If it gets used at all, I suspect it's only going to be to enforce the "no public viewing" requirement on DVD/BluRays, and will probably be a reasonable number like "no more than 10 in the room".
You can, in all likelihood, get close to the EPA gas mileage -- if you drive an EPA drive cycle.
First off, the EPA numbers on the window sticker are way de-rated from the mileage numbers in the official EPA tests. The De-rating is in response to all of the whining and howling "The EPA numbers are a fiction! I never get the EPA numbers!"
I didn't say you wouldn't be able to meet or exceed the EPA numbers, I said that you were statistically unlikely to see the same numbers as the EPA rating. :) This thread (and the whole discussion) is full of people talking about how they're able to exceed the EPA numbers simply by driving like normal people.
Personal example: when I had a 2007 Chevrolet Aveo, I was not able to meet the EPA rating... the car was just badly designed, I think. With my 2011 Subaru Impreza, I have no problem beating the EPA rating in the car. To be fair, the EPA rating is 20mpg city, 27 highway... 4-wheel drive and all-wheel drive cars tend to have a much worse EPA rating than they're actually capable of, because of how the test is designed and performed, but driving in the right frame of mind and with the right equipment makes a huge difference to your real-world mileage. I actually get better mileage (use less gas per distance traveled) in the Impreza than I did in the Aveo.
Sorry you had to give up mod points, but you're addressing a point I didn't intend to make. :)
Speaking of which, any government that was serious about increasing economy would mandate an instant, trip and "high score" MPG counter that's always displayed. We all like gaming, right?
Yeah, but the idea is a low score, not a high score. Personally, I get giggle fits when accelerating hard, and seing the instant fuel economy jump to > 50L/100km (normal highway economy varies from 4-7L/100km depending on conditions, and can spike to 10-12L when going up a hill or into the wind). It's like those roadside speed radar machines they put up in residential areas where people complain about folks driving too fast. Normally I drive pretty close to the speed limit, but when I see one of those, I try for a high score. I'm still wondering what its 2-digit display would show if you were going over 100...
Of course, your own mileage will vary, based on ambient temperature, road conditions, tire pressure/type, the gas you're using, your level of wakefulness, and your level of anger/stress. It's extremely unlikely that your real-world mileage will be even close to the EPA posted mileage.
As a corporation and not an individual, they could lose their license to operate as a business in the UK, which would have significant impact on their business in the EU as a whole.
but it might be handier than a car for getting to the store that's about 9 blocks from my house.
You know what else might be handier for a store that close? Walking. And I'll sell you all the equipment you need for the discount price of 5000 Euro! That's more than 2000 Euro less than the Velomobile!
Not really... the point he was making is that the energy is there to be collected, and once the system is installed the maintenance costs are negligible. Many solar installations don't need any maintenance at all beyond keeping the panels clean.
The initial installation costs a lot of money (which is becoming less and less every year), but you can sell any extra electricity you produce back into the grid, and the reduction in your monthly electric bill should be significant enough to make it worth considering. In most cases, the reduction in your bill will be more than enough to cover the cost of the loan to have the panels installed in the first place, and in some cases you'll find yourself in a position where the power company is paying you each month.
Let's suppose that somebody at JPL was promoting atheism, complained that the Christmas party should be renamed to the Holiday party, and suggested that California allow gay marriage. Would that be offensive as well? Be careful about piling on with "serves him right" when somebody is fired for what amounts to political incorrectness in the workplace. Without more detail I am skeptical of the accusations that he was "too aggressive" with this stuff or that it was a serious dereliction of his job. In my experience, many atheists are offended even by any public display of personal religious belief and practice, or any religious people engaging in discussion with others about it. They think religious people should be forced to maintain an appearance of secular belief when in public places, which is actually absurd and offensive in its own way.
Promoting atheism is just as offensive as promoting theism. Religion has no place in the workplace, unless your workplace happens to be devoted to religious study of some sort. As long as you're not hurting anybody, I don't give a flying fuck what you choose to believe. It's not my concern, as long as you recognize that I have a right to believe differently.
That being said, renaming the Christmas party to the Holiday party is about inclusion... all 3 of the Abrahamic religions have holy festivals around that time of year, not to mention a large number of other festivals associated with the solstice. Almost every religion in the world does something that time of year, and calling it the "Holiday" party instead of the "Christmas" party acknowledges that those other religions have value. It also acknolwedges and includes people who don't follow any specific religion. (though the word "holiday" itself is a bastardization of "holy day", which kind of excludes the atheists)
Allowing gay marriage, similarly, is about inclusion. I can't believe I even have to make the argument here, but the only consequence of allowing gay marriage is that gay people will get married. The world will not blow up, cats will not start having sex with dogs, it will not suddenly start raining fish, the sun will not turn purple, and you will not hear 7 trumpet blasts. It's about extending the same rights to gay people that heterosexual people enjoy, pure and simple. And if your religion doesn't endorse gay marriage, then don't fucking perform it. Gay people can just as easily have a civil ceremony before a justice of the peace, or go to one of the churches that *does* support gay unions. It is *not* about people with an agenda trying to force their beliefs on others, it's about people wanting to have the same rights as everybody else. Of course, opposition to extending these rights to the queer community is about people forcing their beliefs on others....
Now... if you'd bothered to read the articles linked, it would be quite clear that this guy was a douche. He had a reputation for being pig-headed, and refusing to negotiate on anything... it always had to be his way that things got done. He had been spoken to as early as 5 years before he was dismissed about his unprofessional behaviour, and even admitted during his own testimony that they had been asking him for years to smarten up. There are plenty of religious people working for JPL who don't have any problems at all, and his religion had nothing to do with his having been laid off. And yes, it was a lay-off... they let 200 people go at the same time as him, because there was a funding cut. This is a complete non-story, and the only reason it's getting any press at all is because a number of zealots are trying to incorrectly paint this as an attack on religion.
I don't get it. I don't understand the goals of the above. On one hand we have "the user is stupid, don't let him configure anything" and the other is "let the user configure anything, but make it artificially difficult."
Never used XFCE, or Enlightenment, have you? They both put KDE to shame, on the configurability side of things, yet both have a plethora of GUI tools to make said configuration easy.
Most tree-hugging dirt worshippers are smart enough to know that plate techtonics have been around much longer than the current bout of global warming... :)
And the midwest (tornados), and the west coast (earthquakes), and the Great Lakes area (floods), and the southwest (drought)....
Any life intentionally taken without consent is murder. Pure and simple.
Amusingly, when I hear somebody make such a categorical statement on the subject as that, usually they are in favour of capital punishment.
Pray tell... what's your stance on that?
I signed up for some term life insurance a few years back and the contract explicitly permitted suicide. That surprised me but I confirmed it with the agent. I image this doesn't apply to everyone (maybe it's not allowed in whole life plans), but I have a standard plan from a major carrier.
Most life insurance policies permit payout in the event of suicide, but there's usually a moratorium on that clause for a period of X months from taking out the policy. Something like "From 6 months following the purchase of the policy, suicide will be considered an accidental death and insured appropriately". It depends on the policy, of course, but I've never heard of a life insurance policy that didn't cover suicide after a certain period.
If you really want religion out of politics, at least make it so that they don't become morally required to start voting against what you want. I know it won't stop all of that stuff, but I know a lot of people, including myself, would be happy to leave you to your own choices if you don't make me pay for them.
If that includes abortion, doctor-assisted suicide, LGBT rights, etc., you would be the first person of (presumed) religious polticial leanings I've ever heard say that. Most of the people in that camp seem to go out of their way to make things difficult for anybody who disagrees with their beliefs.
You're welcome to your beliefs. I absolutely support your right to have those beliefs, and will *never* make fun of you for having them. As long as you respect my right to have and practice different beliefs, then we'll get along swimmingly.
Unless there is a revolution in medicine, it can only delay those inevitable years of senility.
Alzheimer's or Senile Dementia (two different diseases with different causes) are not a guaranteed part of growing old. My grandfather lived to 94, and was still living on his own when he died of an aneurysm. No sign of senile dementia or alzheimer's, nor any loss of dignity. He went in his sleep, and all indications are that it was painless. The hospital was able to keep him alive on life support until my mother was able to visit him and say goodbye, but he never regained consciousness. His brother, on the other hand, lived to 92, but suffered alzheimer's the last 10 years of his life.
Growing old does suck, but it's a dice roll how much it's going to suck. Some people manage to grow old with dignity, others don't. It's the human condition. That being said, people should be given the choice to opt out of life, if they've had enough of it, or if they are terminally ill.
Is there much of a difference between prescription opiates and street ones? Seems like everyday you hear more and more about the prescription ones being sold on the street or abused by radio personalities.
Briefly, yes. Not quite so briefly, it depends on your metabolism. The prescription opiates are usually encapsulated in a way that slows down their breakdown in your system, in an attempt to prevent them from being useful as a recreational drug, but other than that they're essentially the same. If you know what you're doing, chemically speaking, you can break down the encapsulation before taking the drug.
Drugs like codeine and oxycodone break down into morphine when exposed to your metabolic system. How much, and how quickly, depends on you. Some people digest the stuff very quickly so the effect wears of early, some digest it very slowly. The latter group is one of the reasons that they control the dosage that you can lay your hands on... people *have* lethally overdosed on codeine because they don't digest it very quickly, and so when they take one pill there's no effect within the half hour or so that they are told to expect it. So they take another. And another. And another. Eventually, the body starts breaking the stuff down, and they get a dangerous dose in a relatively short period of itme.
Legality of the war on drugs aside, if a person wants to commit suicide they will find a way. But methods like alcohol poisoning (suggested above) or overdose on illegal drugs are messy and unreliable, not even considering the very good point that was made here. Acquiring a lethal dose from a doctor is simply a way to guarantee that it'll be quick and painless, and legal. Most of the people who would consider taking advantage of something like this aren't really in a position to go out and buy drugs off the street anyway... this is an end of life/palliative care option.
I just ask for their corporate mailing address... if they're playing by the rules, then they know that they have an obligation to provide it upon request. If they refuse, I point them at the appropriate laws and ask them to explain themselves... usually they hang up at that point. They haven't called me in a while, actually... maybe they clued in and blocked my number.
Also, they're scammers... if you have a reasonable interest rate on your cards, then there's a good chance you know what the hell you're doing with your money, and aren't a good target for scamming. Though I did have one of their lackies try telling me that they could beat the 7% interest I pay on my Visa (not an introductory rate, a negotiated rate based on my credit rating and not carrying a balance).
How can you spoof the caller ID anyway? I mean shouldn't the telephone company know the caller ID of whoever is initiating the call (to know where to send the invoice for the call)?
They do know, when the call originates in their network. When it passes off to another network, they only know which network it came from, and who *that network* says it is. The honour system is what keeps ATT and Verizon (and so forth) from passing deliberately bad information between each other (and the threat of pissed off customers). That's how spoofing caller ID works... when you pass off into another network, give them bad information about the identity. If the call originates from a VOIP phone, especially an international VOIP phone, then there isn't much control over what information gets passed to your local carrier. And you can't simply block all VOIP lines, because there are legitimate VOIP carriers in the market, too.
Obligatory disclaimer: I work for a phone company, though in a different LOB.
I've never actually missed work to vote, and I have voted in every election I could since I turned 18. The rules vary by jurisdiction, but here in Canada, employers need to give you 3 contiguous hours during the time the polls are open in order to vote. The polls open at 8am, and close at 8pm. Just go in to work late (what I usually do, the polls are less busy in the morning), or go in early and leave early.
There's also advance polls, and special ballot (mail-in) that you can vote by, if your work schedule really won't let you vote on voting day.
I take it you're not black, gay, or a woman. People do still get killed in the US for being "other", but most people who aren't "other" don't tend to notice that it's still happening.
Except it's not perjury. :) The juror is accused of violating sequester rules, not of lying under oath.
My phone can go about 5 days if all I do is idle. That's with Bluetooth and 3G data services/sync turned on, but wifi radio turned off. If I nix Bluetooth and/or data services, I can increase that.
I'm all for reducing power consumption, but if it's not going to reduce the power consumption when the device is actually being used to transmit, then how is it going to increase battery life noticeably when most smartphone users plug it in every day anyway? Besides which, the screen is what eats up the lion's share of my battery... simply decreasing the brightness of the screen makes a huge difference in the life of the battery.
Seconds depends on the length of the track. There are tracks that can be cleared in less than a minute, and a few seconds is a significant difference. It also depends on the type of car being used... track records at Thunderhill vary from 1:37 for a lap to 2:15 depending on the type of car, and TFA doesn't provide any information as to the type of vehicle being driven. ( http://www.sfrscca.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4448&Itemid=93&selTrack=Thunderhill+Raceway+Park&selLength=2.866&selSession=Race&cmdSubmit=Submit ) Thunderhill also has a short track route that has been done in under a minute.
That being said, the better question is how does the computer compare against an average driver? I'd lay odds that it would thoroughly trounce most of us in such a race, which makes it very impressive.
Isn't the whole point of a skeuomorphic interface to provide visual cues as to the function of widgets, and how to operate them, in order to lessen the learning curve?
I've never seen one that actaully *hampers* functionality... at least, not one that was designed by somebody halfway competent. The visual fluff is just that.. fluff.. to anybody who already knows what they're doing, but it doesn't actually hamper functionality beyond making you wait a little longer for animations to play, and most (good) skeuomorphic interfaces have a way to turn off the animations while still keeping the visual cues. The really good ones don't waste your time with animations in the first place.