Most of those chemical weapons are WWII-era mustard gas, phosgene, tear & CS gas and other blistering agents... which need to be used in great quantity to have any useful effect. They are also deadly in their stored form, so disposal (usually incineration) is difficult, hazardous and expensive.
Nerve gasses are lethal in tiny quantities and are stored in a relatively inert state.
Once upon a time, a T1 was 24 multiplexed analog telephone circuits plus some control channels.
DSx is the digital version with the same capacity. The analog infrastructure is mostly gone now, so the terms are used interchangably in most conversations.
You're the type of condescending, elitist IT dork that nobody wants around.
For teaching students the basics of how dbms's work, Access is a great tool. You can introduce the concepts like joining, primary & foreign keys and indexing without having to shell out $$ for a database server and DBA staff.
The other beauty of it is that students can work on assignments offline or in most public computing facilities. Plenty of students don't have mommy & daddy writing checks for them are stuck in a computer labs or paying for internet access to do basic assignments.
The accessibility of Access, Lotus Notes and FoxPro is what attracts users. The obtuseness and buerecratic stupidity of the typical IT operation is typically a major hurdle for people trying to accomplish something.
By the lack of consistent success in getting small probes to the red planet, I'd have to say that rushing out a manned mission should NOT be a priority.
Avoid complex and error-prone geek solutions... buy some pipe wrap insulation and a few electric pipe heating cords.
Pipe cords are like an electric blanket for pipes. They get plugged into a standard wall socket and have a built in thermostat to keep the pipes from freezing. Put these in your bathrooms, kitchen sink and basement and you'll be fine. They run about $10.
Also leave a couple of faucets dripping slightly.
If you are leaving your home for more than a week, ask a friend or neighbor to drop by and check things out.
I hate to burst your bubble, but the US education system is considered a joke nearly everywhere in the world.
The description that you provided was accurate about 60 years ago. Today college mainly serves as a remedial course to teach the basic reading and math skills that Primary and Secondary schools fail to teach.
because they need work 100% of the time. Most software is not performing high-stakes or high-value tasks, and the costs of engineering a "correct" software solution is more that the problem that is supposedly being solved.
Open Source levels the playing field. Back in the days of proprietary systems, you had to have some sort of access to an expensive central computing resource -- which were not available outside of western countries. No access, no learning.
Now with open source, anyone with access to commodity hardware produced in the last decade can all sorts of useful things. Getting questions answered does not require a $50,000/yr support contract with a vendor, just a google search or looking through source code & documentation.
I work in a place like that, where one of my developer's requests to get Vi installed on his Windows workstation was denied because "it may make his system image incompatible"
Yet when the IT staff went into cover-your-ass mode after the Welchia worm debacle, they had no problem fucking up hundreds of computers with 3 years worth of service packs and hotfixes.
What about the unfunded mandates on my business.
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Stealth Inflation
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· Score: 1
Once upon a time, I ran a small cellular phone company.
At first, life was grand. Charge a rate plus sales tax.
then the state wanted an excise tax then the county wanted an excise tax then 15 different cities levied 15 different taxes then the FCC wanted money to put internet connectivity in schools then i had to upgrade my network for 911 location then i had to provide means for the police to conduct surveillance (at my expense) then townships & cities want $60,000/yr in school taxes for cellphone towers
Oh and when I need to but in a new a/c & electrical system to cool the computers that I need to track all of this gov't crap, I have to pay the township for construction permits and pay more property taxes.
If you think it sucks to be a consumer, try running a business.
Dentists & Oral surgeons make money hand over fist... alot of people do not have dental insurance, so they do not need to discount their services as much or wait 4 months for insurance reimbursements.
When they run into an insured patient, they always perform x-rays, extra 30 second consultations and other nonsense so they can submit it to the insurance companies.
If the company doesn't pay, who cares? The x-ray from a machine they own costs like $10 and the 30 second "consultation" (or video in your case) is nearly free. The the insurance pays, they just made $200 for doing nothing... that's 1/4 of a Mercedes-Benz payment.
I know all sorts of bizarre people, from hardcore geeks who sit and play Starcraft all day (for the last 5 years) to religous fanatics and people who are just plain dumb.
I don't want their single votes to made a difference. And nobody wants runoff or "curved" elections.
I've voted in a number of local elections where 10 votes made a huge difference.
You are absolutely correct. Global warming has been turned into a big deal because scientists & universities hotly compete for government grants.
In the 1600's, Dutch settlers regularly walked or travelled by sled from Manhattan to Brooklyn. During particularly cold winters, one could walk to Staten Island.
The Hudson & East Rivers have not frozen since the early 1800's... I suppose you cannot blame global warming from 400 years ago on SUVs...
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Why don't you go sell some of your foodstamps and just fork up the $15...
For the price of one CD, you can copy thousands.
Most of those chemical weapons are WWII-era mustard gas, phosgene, tear & CS gas and other blistering agents... which need to be used in great quantity to have any useful effect. They are also deadly in their stored form, so disposal (usually incineration) is difficult, hazardous and expensive.
Nerve gasses are lethal in tiny quantities and are stored in a relatively inert state.
It's cheaper for them.
Developer chemicals and machines are expensive. Cheaper overhead == more profit.
Er... it's not mine.
Now if only the pharmacists association would go after phoney radio ads...
What if the sky was blue?
What if we had world peace?
Once upon a time, a T1 was 24 multiplexed analog telephone circuits plus some control channels.
DSx is the digital version with the same capacity. The analog infrastructure is mostly gone now, so the terms are used interchangably in most conversations.
You're the type of condescending, elitist IT dork that nobody wants around.
For teaching students the basics of how dbms's work, Access is a great tool. You can introduce the concepts like joining, primary & foreign keys and indexing without having to shell out $$ for a database server and DBA staff.
The other beauty of it is that students can work on assignments offline or in most public computing facilities. Plenty of students don't have mommy & daddy writing checks for them are stuck in a computer labs or paying for internet access to do basic assignments.
The accessibility of Access, Lotus Notes and FoxPro is what attracts users. The obtuseness and buerecratic stupidity of the typical IT operation is typically a major hurdle for people trying to accomplish something.
For teaching about basic database concepts, there is nothing wrong with access. It's cheap and relatively robust for what it is.
All it does is lock the hardware and require a password! That's security by obscurity and is a bad thing!
By the lack of consistent success in getting small probes to the red planet, I'd have to say that rushing out a manned mission should NOT be a priority.
Avoid complex and error-prone geek solutions... buy some pipe wrap insulation and a few electric pipe heating cords.
Pipe cords are like an electric blanket for pipes. They get plugged into a standard wall socket and have a built in thermostat to keep the pipes from freezing. Put these in your bathrooms, kitchen sink and basement and you'll be fine. They run about $10.
Also leave a couple of faucets dripping slightly.
If you are leaving your home for more than a week, ask a friend or neighbor to drop by and check things out.
You must not live in a northern climate. No heat means burst pipes in places like New York, Chicago, etc.
I hate to burst your bubble, but the US education system is considered a joke nearly everywhere in the world.
The description that you provided was accurate about 60 years ago. Today college mainly serves as a remedial course to teach the basic reading and math skills that Primary and Secondary schools fail to teach.
because they need work 100% of the time. Most software is not performing high-stakes or high-value tasks, and the costs of engineering a "correct" software solution is more that the problem that is supposedly being solved.
The example is far more valid than you think.
Open Source levels the playing field. Back in the days of proprietary systems, you had to have some sort of access to an expensive central computing resource -- which were not available outside of western countries. No access, no learning.
Now with open source, anyone with access to commodity hardware produced in the last decade can all sorts of useful things. Getting questions answered does not require a $50,000/yr support contract with a vendor, just a google search or looking through source code & documentation.
Nobody should rely on security by obscurity to keep their data secure. The only difference between ROT-13 and RSA is a few prime numbers.
MS supported Windows 98 for nearly five years!
The fumbling and bumbling in the 2.4.6 through 2.4.16 kernels tells the story of why people want to stay at a stable and known kernel series.
Hell -- plenty of people are paying $800 for RH Enterprise, mainly because of the guaranteed 5-year lifespan.
I work in a place like that, where one of my developer's requests to get Vi installed on his Windows workstation was denied because "it may make his system image incompatible"
Yet when the IT staff went into cover-your-ass mode after the Welchia worm debacle, they had no problem fucking up hundreds of computers with 3 years worth of service packs and hotfixes.
Once upon a time, I ran a small cellular phone company.
At first, life was grand. Charge a rate plus sales tax.
then the state wanted an excise tax
then the county wanted an excise tax
then 15 different cities levied 15 different taxes
then the FCC wanted money to put internet connectivity in schools
then i had to upgrade my network for 911 location
then i had to provide means for the police to conduct surveillance (at my expense)
then townships & cities want $60,000/yr in school taxes for cellphone towers
Oh and when I need to but in a new a/c & electrical system to cool the computers that I need to track all of this gov't crap, I have to pay the township for construction permits and pay more property taxes.
If you think it sucks to be a consumer, try running a business.
I like to chime in with a "AT&T sucks" post, but I have to ask:
At what point do you decide to do business with another company?
Dentists & Oral surgeons make money hand over fist... alot of people do not have dental insurance, so they do not need to discount their services as much or wait 4 months for insurance reimbursements.
When they run into an insured patient, they always perform x-rays, extra 30 second consultations and other nonsense so they can submit it to the insurance companies.
If the company doesn't pay, who cares? The x-ray from a machine they own costs like $10 and the 30 second "consultation" (or video in your case) is nearly free. The the insurance pays, they just made $200 for doing nothing... that's 1/4 of a Mercedes-Benz payment.
Many doctors pay for diagnostic equipment on a per-use basis.
So your doc may not have purchased some $50,000 piece of diagnostic equipment... he may be paying $50 per use plus a monthly leasing fee.
I know all sorts of bizarre people, from hardcore geeks who sit and play Starcraft all day (for the last 5 years) to religous fanatics and people who are just plain dumb.
I don't want their single votes to made a difference. And nobody wants runoff or "curved" elections.
I've voted in a number of local elections where 10 votes made a huge difference.
Many of the great politicians in history made it big by rigging elections. Lyndon Johnson and FDR are two recent examples that come to mind.
You are absolutely correct. Global warming has been turned into a big deal because scientists & universities hotly compete for government grants.
In the 1600's, Dutch settlers regularly walked or travelled by sled from Manhattan to Brooklyn. During particularly cold winters, one could walk to Staten Island.
The Hudson & East Rivers have not frozen since the early 1800's... I suppose you cannot blame global warming from 400 years ago on SUVs...