I could never figure this out maybe it's because I'm not an American and the Canadian system is allot different. Can you explain how if you don't like either of the two main party candidates why voting for one of the non main candidates would help either of them? You would be taking a vote away from both of them, voting for the one that you think is lesser of an evil is exactly what's wrong with the system. Voting the lesser of two evils is still voting an evil just one that will burn you instead of drown you in the river like a sack of kittens. If everyone looked at all the issues and voted for the candidate that they liked best and not focused on the two main candidates maybe one of the independents would get elected. It's better than not voting either way (or at least go to the voting station and abstain (write non of the above so it doesn't count for anyone). You don't have to vote for the lesser of two evils, but you should vote the way you think is best, because if you don't then the system really does fail.
At least that's what I think of basing what I know about the American System. I don't quite understand it as much as I would like, such as basically you don't have to have the majority of votes to win but the majority of states. It's kind of confusing.
Well you could use those lines and if one line goes down you could still route those people over to the other line. This routing would only decrease the bandwidth to what it is currently used while having both operational would increase bandwidth. So yeah it is kind of pointless it use that redundant line only in the instance of a break.
Also if you aren't actively monitoring that line you could have a break in your active one and have no backup. That way you would know when there was a break reroute traffic while you fix it.
I'm not a network guru but it seems kind of silly to have a bunch of black fiber.
BTW I won't be responding to anymore hateful comments from you. It was childish and unnecessary, and if you can't play nice I'll take my ball and leave.
In Canada we have shaw cable as an internet provider, they have something simular to VOIP though I have been told that it isn't exactly the same. I don't know how as I haven't looked into it in any detail. When I switched this worried me as well, I have a couple ups's laying around so I went with them anyways. My wife was home when they did the install so I wasn't there to hook it up to the ups. We had just moved and I didn't realize that the phone was hooked up to a power outlet that was hooked up to a switch so that you could turn a lap on and off with the switch. Well long story short it was almost a day before the internal battery in the device died and I switched the plugin. I have had times when I've had no power and I've had phone service, I was pretty impressed. So as long as the cable lines are up I have phone, but theres just as much chance as the phone lines going down as the cable lines.
Also I have one of those emergency power things for my cell phone that you put a couple double a batteries in and it will charge your phone or at least let you make a call.
That's what I thought all along, I figured that he did it but to prove murder with no body (is she even dead) or murder weapon (how was she killed) seemed unlikely to me. I was actually a little torqued that they went to trial with so little, if he hadn't been such a puts on the stand as well as some of the other character witnesses he could have got off, then what would happen if they found the body? Maybe there was allot more besides a missing car seat and a couple of books and such but I thought it was a pretty weak case and I don't know if I could have done a guilty plea with that much reasonable doubt even if I was sure he did it. Just because you think he did it doesn't mean that there isn't enough reasonable doubt that he shouldn't have got off.
Oh well the justice system worked and maybe there was more to it than I thought. I just think that if he hadn't screwed up in court it would have been a different turn out and I would have been upset with the system.
Dark fiber is fiber optic that is unused. Fiber optic has light going through it. Unused it has no light going through it. No light means it's dark.
So what they are talking about is lots of fiber optic line that is not being used for one reason or another(some have redundent lines that are used only if there is a break or other pointless reasons). I hope that helps.
Bull shit, his foundation has saved thousands of lives, and the efforts now will save millions of people that may not know the problems of those diseases. The two biggest problems issued in those articles was how his investment was not going towards the treatment of other diseases, diseases that may not be treated anyway if the Gates foundation was not there getting involved some diseases that are not spreading the same way AIDS Malaria and other ones that the Gates foundation is helping to prevent. The lack of bus fare is a moot point as they didn't have anymore bus fare before the Gates foundation was involved. I found the articles to be very biased, so I will admit that I did not read them all. The other thing that I will give merit to is the investment in the oil refinery that was by a village, this isn't something that I believe that the gates foundation should be investing in. But I have to ask was this an investment of the gates foundation them selves or was this a donation by warren buffett? The articles do not go into great details on these things, or at least as much of the garbage as I could handle.
The Gates foundation may not be doing the best it can but it is doing incredible things, it's saving lives.
discovered the canisters containing them earlier this year and brought a DVD of the contents to Germany for analysis.
Apperently they made a dvd of the movie to send to germany for analysis, I suspect that was just a copy of the movie onto the dvd that could show up on the internet. The Restored version will have all the deterioration removed and discoloration(if there is any) as well as some artifacts.
I'm hoping they release a dvd of the un restored copy, or at least it doesn't take 7 years to clean it up.
I don't think that this is flamebait. I think it's brilliant. This isn't what the guy was going for but it would definitely make the people look at people in congress being bought by lobiests. They should be arrested too, otherwise this is not the country that they kids are dying for. I don't think that the current congress represents any individual not just the people under 30.
I wouldn't have sold it as a joke but more as a protest to the government. But I'm neither that ballsy/stupid or a U.S. citizen
The other question is who pays for the bandwidth as well. Downloading those videos to peoples computers would be very taxing. Would you suggest public funding or ad revenu? I'm sure this is a good idea but would the RIAA and MPAA and other organizations tolerate such a system? At a library they arn't keeping an archive full of originals and handing out backups of movies/books, they are handing out originals. It's an interesting idea and should be looked into but I'm sure theres a ton of red tape that most people wouldn't want to have to cut through.
You mean like the picture ID on credit cards(show ID to use the card) as well a signature(show ID to use the card again). This wouldn't stop identity theft, and someone still using your debit card, but that's 3 different checks that can be used to verify the person. It's getting to the point where I would rather get rid of my debit card and just use a visa/master card and carry small sums of cash on me for little things. Credit Card companies in my experience have been much better at returning your money in the event of it being stolen and used.
The only problem is Miss. Fancy that spasms at the teller for asking for ID. I gladly give it to them I would rather them know it was me using the card then Mr. Robby.
Nope English is my first language, I do know the rules, I just don't go back and proof read my work. If it's something I think is important I will go through it again, most of the time I just throw down my thoughts. Usually my thoughts are run on sentences/ramblings that make no sense. Typically I only post thoughts on posts I don't think people will read; I kind of use it as my own venting ground.
Typically my posts are still better than that, but this isn't the first time I've been accused of English not being my first language. It won't be my last because frankly I don't care about the grammar nazis.
can you pay the guy to come by my garden too? The ground in my garden has lost alot of it's nutriants and I need some cheap fertalizer. With better soil you get more plants which reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. Also the amount of water your saving by not taking a dump in the toilet would be substantial.
Did you know that water could be used to give to a dehydrated child that only drinks mud? Each flush uses aprox 3.4(1.6 if you have one of those low flow things) gallons of water! So you would be saving 6.8 gallons a week. Thats about 354gallons of water a year or 166 with low flow.
So next time you make a smart ass comment about taking a shit on the neighbors lawn think about it? It migth actually be good idea. Because if we have learned anything today is that we should all shit in the garden(helps if you work in the ground).
I guess in the end the student should have to defend their code at that level. They should be asked why they chose to do things a certain way and questioned on their methods. If they can resonably explain it I guess it's not a total loss but I would suspect that if you are not taking the time to do the work your self you probably can't justify on the spot what you did.
I knew cheaters in school too people would give them a cruch to ride on. One day everyone got fed up and didn't help then one day we had a lab exam(write set number of programs in an alloted time) it was stressful enough for someone like me I was a good programmer these guys didn't even bother showing up for it and were hoisted from the program.
The answers are out there for these classes by having in class testing of skills and progress. I was in a collage with a small class size of 30(there were cheaters in university too but it was only ever caught by a computer comparing code you could still change spacing to get past it at the time) it would be harder in a university setting of 100 or more students(not so much in grad classes). There are ways to determine if these people are able to write the code, but a professor doesn't have time to implement these checks, it would have to be done by an RA maybe a TA but I doubt they want to go and administer lab exams and then have to go and read through 100+ students code.
hey I work for a school district. I don't think my network is that bad. But we have guys at the main office who have standardized everything. We run this district like a company, students can have generic passwords but teachers are required more complex ones. Students at other schools(mine are all elementry they arn't much of a problem) have had students see a teacher or the admin type a pass and try to hack the network(sometimes the succeed), but we try to keep the network locked down and I haven't really heard of anyone breaking into the system with his own credentials.
In a cival case can't you get your legal fees back if you win? So if you have a chance at winning you would definatly be better off taking on a lawer. I'm not too familiar with the American legal system though.
My grandparents own a farm and they have quite a few rifles laying around. I remember my grandpa waking up in the morning opening the window in the kitchen and taking shots at coyotes that were looking to attack his cattle.
My brother and me would go take a couple and drive around the field looking for coyotes or gophers to shoot, it actually helped to save some cows. If we didn't sooner or later one of the cows would be dead in the field(and it happend)
I didn't know that it was free or I would have sent my letter via snail mail. I always believed that snail mail was more personal and people took it more seriously. Mainly because of the effort of mailing something means it was important to you. Good to know for next time or when this thing comes up for review in a few months. Otherwise I hope my email will work for now.
Oh don't worry I plan on proof reading it more than my posts on slashdot.
craigslist is huge I don't know about other places but up here in canada there is kijiji which is basically a rip off of craigslist but still you can find tons of stuff on these types of sites, without having to deal with paypal.
The part I like the best about a site like that is that you can view the item before buying it. Most of the time you meet up and pick up so can see the item and run away if you want. Cuts down on counterfits and scams. Typically you can't use credit cards but seriously it's where it's at.
I cycle when I can but my work requires me to haul large equipment around so I bought an SUV. Now I also have a small sedan a ford focus, and I will tell you what I think. My SUV does have blind spots but I've driven cars with bigger ones(my mother in laws station wagon is bad for that). I have almost hit cyclists, but that was because they were driving on the opposite side of the road turning into traffic because it was a pedestrian crossing. I can't count how many times I've almost hit a cyclist in my SUV and my car. I'm sure you obey the rules of the road when you ride your bike but I've seen probably 80% of the cyclists breaking the rules and giving a dirty look when you have to break hard because they broke a law.
Now I don't wish any of the dead, doing that is the most insensitive bastardly thing to do. I think people who drive an SUV should be more aware of the type of vehicle they drive and the blind spots. I have a friend who has the same vehicle and it has gotten to the point that I will not ride with him. I'm sure he is the type of person you are talking about but I don't think you should put everyone in the same group as I don't put every jack ass cyclist in the same group. But that might be because I like to take a ride down to the park and hit the trails when I can.
On a side note I switched jobs a couple months ago and I don't need that huge car anymore so I'm selling it and going back to just a car. Now tell me thats not going to be hard to get rid of.
It was most likely not radio heads decision at all, and they were probably pissed off by the release by their ex-lable. I do recall hearing on the radio a few weeks ago that they were upset that their old lable had released a best of album halmarking their time at EMI.
EMI probably made the deal with Apple not Radio Head.
It could happen but I doubt that it will be because peoples tech savi friends convinced them to switch. Most of the people I have suggest switch haven't because they are using a flavor of windows at work. Now I know that I could get them using ubuntu with little to know difference but they don't want to deal with it. The system is just different enough that they don't want to learn two different ways to do something.
I think if you hit the buisness side of things and start switching alot more companies over you will see a large transition. People want to use what they have at work for the most part because it's familiar. Tech people I know don't want to switch because they use windows at work it's easier than having to dual boot to use that one app that doesn't work in Linux Debian or OSX. I know when I was in school and we were using visual studio I couldn't get it working in wine in redhat. I could have used a text editor or something else but I didn't want to vary from what the school had as a compiler. So I started dual booting, it wasn't long before my copy of red hat hadn't been updated in a year, and they had went enterprise in that time.
It was anouther 2 years before I started using ubuntu again because I could load it onto my laptop and use it for work as no apps were special for my work place. But thats because I'm a fan of opensource, no one else in my position uses linux or debian releases. Why would they in the corp setting they get their windows software for their work computers under the site license. So most of them use windows at home too.
My wife works in a research lab at a university and they use macs 90% of the employees and students that use that lab use OSX. It's not a coincidence. Though people who use apples are in a type of cult.
Thats the catch you have to get people using something else at work and then you will see more of a turn over in people willing and wanting to switch.
Why? Just because of the first two words in the title? That, frankly, is a piss-poor reason to see a movie. Nope because it has the same writers directors producers actors as the first 3. I'm not expecting it to be the same epic movie as the first one but the sequels were never as good as the original anyways. I'm going to go see it because I love the original and if there is a hint of it in there it will be worth it.
I'm not going to skip a movie because Lucas was involved like some people claim. Hes made some good movies in the past that I think are great even after I grew up. If I watched them now for the first time like half of the slashdotters I might think of it differently. Maybe this film won't appeal to everyone or even me, but because of how attached I am to the characters and the story even if it was going to suck I would probably have to see it... unless it's like it's highlander II but I don't think this movie is going to have Indy be an alien from space.
I was looking into this and it seemed that the two biggest costs were the lcd screen and the bulb. If your a hobbiest it might be something to consider doing with one of the lcd screens in the laptops. But your still left with the rest of them.
Not sure what else you could do with them. You could donate them to some local school and say have the kids fix them up to use as some kind of club. though the children probably have better computers already the little brats.
You could try taking all the LCD screens and making one big display, sounds like too much work though. Not alot you can do with some left over laptops. I know you said you didn't want to sell them but if you sell them on ebay for parts they can sometimes grab a couple hundred bucks after shipping.
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I could never figure this out maybe it's because I'm not an American and the Canadian system is allot different. Can you explain how if you don't like either of the two main party candidates why voting for one of the non main candidates would help either of them? You would be taking a vote away from both of them, voting for the one that you think is lesser of an evil is exactly what's wrong with the system. Voting the lesser of two evils is still voting an evil just one that will burn you instead of drown you in the river like a sack of kittens. If everyone looked at all the issues and voted for the candidate that they liked best and not focused on the two main candidates maybe one of the independents would get elected. It's better than not voting either way (or at least go to the voting station and abstain (write non of the above so it doesn't count for anyone). You don't have to vote for the lesser of two evils, but you should vote the way you think is best, because if you don't then the system really does fail.
At least that's what I think of basing what I know about the American System. I don't quite understand it as much as I would like, such as basically you don't have to have the majority of votes to win but the majority of states. It's kind of confusing.
Well you could use those lines and if one line goes down you could still route those people over to the other line. This routing would only decrease the bandwidth to what it is currently used while having both operational would increase bandwidth. So yeah it is kind of pointless it use that redundant line only in the instance of a break.
Also if you aren't actively monitoring that line you could have a break in your active one and have no backup. That way you would know when there was a break reroute traffic while you fix it.
I'm not a network guru but it seems kind of silly to have a bunch of black fiber.
BTW I won't be responding to anymore hateful comments from you. It was childish and unnecessary, and if you can't play nice I'll take my ball and leave.
In Canada we have shaw cable as an internet provider, they have something simular to VOIP though I have been told that it isn't exactly the same. I don't know how as I haven't looked into it in any detail. When I switched this worried me as well, I have a couple ups's laying around so I went with them anyways. My wife was home when they did the install so I wasn't there to hook it up to the ups. We had just moved and I didn't realize that the phone was hooked up to a power outlet that was hooked up to a switch so that you could turn a lap on and off with the switch. Well long story short it was almost a day before the internal battery in the device died and I switched the plugin. I have had times when I've had no power and I've had phone service, I was pretty impressed. So as long as the cable lines are up I have phone, but theres just as much chance as the phone lines going down as the cable lines.
Also I have one of those emergency power things for my cell phone that you put a couple double a batteries in and it will charge your phone or at least let you make a call.
That's what I thought all along, I figured that he did it but to prove murder with no body (is she even dead) or murder weapon (how was she killed) seemed unlikely to me. I was actually a little torqued that they went to trial with so little, if he hadn't been such a puts on the stand as well as some of the other character witnesses he could have got off, then what would happen if they found the body? Maybe there was allot more besides a missing car seat and a couple of books and such but I thought it was a pretty weak case and I don't know if I could have done a guilty plea with that much reasonable doubt even if I was sure he did it. Just because you think he did it doesn't mean that there isn't enough reasonable doubt that he shouldn't have got off.
Oh well the justice system worked and maybe there was more to it than I thought. I just think that if he hadn't screwed up in court it would have been a different turn out and I would have been upset with the system.
Dark fiber is fiber optic that is unused. Fiber optic has light going through it. Unused it has no light going through it. No light means it's dark.
So what they are talking about is lots of fiber optic line that is not being used for one reason or another(some have redundent lines that are used only if there is a break or other pointless reasons). I hope that helps.
Bull shit, his foundation has saved thousands of lives, and the efforts now will save millions of people that may not know the problems of those diseases. The two biggest problems issued in those articles was how his investment was not going towards the treatment of other diseases, diseases that may not be treated anyway if the Gates foundation was not there getting involved some diseases that are not spreading the same way AIDS Malaria and other ones that the Gates foundation is helping to prevent. The lack of bus fare is a moot point as they didn't have anymore bus fare before the Gates foundation was involved. I found the articles to be very biased, so I will admit that I did not read them all. The other thing that I will give merit to is the investment in the oil refinery that was by a village, this isn't something that I believe that the gates foundation should be investing in. But I have to ask was this an investment of the gates foundation them selves or was this a donation by warren buffett? The articles do not go into great details on these things, or at least as much of the garbage as I could handle.
The Gates foundation may not be doing the best it can but it is doing incredible things, it's saving lives.
Just so you know apparently it will be out next year http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents but I hope it will be spilled on the net soon.
discovered the canisters containing them earlier this year and brought a DVD of the contents to Germany for analysis.
Apperently they made a dvd of the movie to send to germany for analysis, I suspect that was just a copy of the movie onto the dvd that could show up on the internet. The Restored version will have all the deterioration removed and discoloration(if there is any) as well as some artifacts.
I'm hoping they release a dvd of the un restored copy, or at least it doesn't take 7 years to clean it up.
I don't think that this is flamebait. I think it's brilliant. This isn't what the guy was going for but it would definitely make the people look at people in congress being bought by lobiests. They should be arrested too, otherwise this is not the country that they kids are dying for. I don't think that the current congress represents any individual not just the people under 30.
I wouldn't have sold it as a joke but more as a protest to the government. But I'm neither that ballsy/stupid or a U.S. citizen
The other question is who pays for the bandwidth as well. Downloading those videos to peoples computers would be very taxing. Would you suggest public funding or ad revenu? I'm sure this is a good idea but would the RIAA and MPAA and other organizations tolerate such a system? At a library they arn't keeping an archive full of originals and handing out backups of movies/books, they are handing out originals. It's an interesting idea and should be looked into but I'm sure theres a ton of red tape that most people wouldn't want to have to cut through.
maybe you could move to mars, I hear the summers rock.
You mean like the picture ID on credit cards(show ID to use the card) as well a signature(show ID to use the card again). This wouldn't stop identity theft, and someone still using your debit card, but that's 3 different checks that can be used to verify the person. It's getting to the point where I would rather get rid of my debit card and just use a visa/master card and carry small sums of cash on me for little things. Credit Card companies in my experience have been much better at returning your money in the event of it being stolen and used.
The only problem is Miss. Fancy that spasms at the teller for asking for ID. I gladly give it to them I would rather them know it was me using the card then Mr. Robby.
But yeah that 4 digit pin code is nothing.
Nope English is my first language, I do know the rules, I just don't go back and proof read my work. If it's something I think is important I will go through it again, most of the time I just throw down my thoughts. Usually my thoughts are run on sentences/ramblings that make no sense. Typically I only post thoughts on posts I don't think people will read; I kind of use it as my own venting ground.
Typically my posts are still better than that, but this isn't the first time I've been accused of English not being my first language. It won't be my last because frankly I don't care about the grammar nazis.
can you pay the guy to come by my garden too? The ground in my garden has lost alot of it's nutriants and I need some cheap fertalizer. With better soil you get more plants which reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. Also the amount of water your saving by not taking a dump in the toilet would be substantial.
Did you know that water could be used to give to a dehydrated child that only drinks mud? Each flush uses aprox 3.4(1.6 if you have one of those low flow things) gallons of water! So you would be saving 6.8 gallons a week. Thats about 354gallons of water a year or 166 with low flow.
So next time you make a smart ass comment about taking a shit on the neighbors lawn think about it? It migth actually be good idea. Because if we have learned anything today is that we should all shit in the garden(helps if you work in the ground).
I guess in the end the student should have to defend their code at that level. They should be asked why they chose to do things a certain way and questioned on their methods. If they can resonably explain it I guess it's not a total loss but I would suspect that if you are not taking the time to do the work your self you probably can't justify on the spot what you did.
I knew cheaters in school too people would give them a cruch to ride on. One day everyone got fed up and didn't help then one day we had a lab exam(write set number of programs in an alloted time) it was stressful enough for someone like me I was a good programmer these guys didn't even bother showing up for it and were hoisted from the program.
The answers are out there for these classes by having in class testing of skills and progress. I was in a collage with a small class size of 30(there were cheaters in university too but it was only ever caught by a computer comparing code you could still change spacing to get past it at the time) it would be harder in a university setting of 100 or more students(not so much in grad classes). There are ways to determine if these people are able to write the code, but a professor doesn't have time to implement these checks, it would have to be done by an RA maybe a TA but I doubt they want to go and administer lab exams and then have to go and read through 100+ students code.
Anyways I agree.
hey I work for a school district. I don't think my network is that bad. But we have guys at the main office who have standardized everything. We run this district like a company, students can have generic passwords but teachers are required more complex ones. Students at other schools(mine are all elementry they arn't much of a problem) have had students see a teacher or the admin type a pass and try to hack the network(sometimes the succeed), but we try to keep the network locked down and I haven't really heard of anyone breaking into the system with his own credentials.
In a cival case can't you get your legal fees back if you win? So if you have a chance at winning you would definatly be better off taking on a lawer. I'm not too familiar with the American legal system though.
My grandparents own a farm and they have quite a few rifles laying around. I remember my grandpa waking up in the morning opening the window in the kitchen and taking shots at coyotes that were looking to attack his cattle.
My brother and me would go take a couple and drive around the field looking for coyotes or gophers to shoot, it actually helped to save some cows. If we didn't sooner or later one of the cows would be dead in the field(and it happend)
I didn't know that it was free or I would have sent my letter via snail mail. I always believed that snail mail was more personal and people took it more seriously. Mainly because of the effort of mailing something means it was important to you. Good to know for next time or when this thing comes up for review in a few months. Otherwise I hope my email will work for now.
Oh don't worry I plan on proof reading it more than my posts on slashdot.
craigslist is huge I don't know about other places but up here in canada there is kijiji which is basically a rip off of craigslist but still you can find tons of stuff on these types of sites, without having to deal with paypal.
The part I like the best about a site like that is that you can view the item before buying it. Most of the time you meet up and pick up so can see the item and run away if you want. Cuts down on counterfits and scams. Typically you can't use credit cards but seriously it's where it's at.
I cycle when I can but my work requires me to haul large equipment around so I bought an SUV. Now I also have a small sedan a ford focus, and I will tell you what I think. My SUV does have blind spots but I've driven cars with bigger ones(my mother in laws station wagon is bad for that). I have almost hit cyclists, but that was because they were driving on the opposite side of the road turning into traffic because it was a pedestrian crossing. I can't count how many times I've almost hit a cyclist in my SUV and my car. I'm sure you obey the rules of the road when you ride your bike but I've seen probably 80% of the cyclists breaking the rules and giving a dirty look when you have to break hard because they broke a law.
Now I don't wish any of the dead, doing that is the most insensitive bastardly thing to do. I think people who drive an SUV should be more aware of the type of vehicle they drive and the blind spots. I have a friend who has the same vehicle and it has gotten to the point that I will not ride with him. I'm sure he is the type of person you are talking about but I don't think you should put everyone in the same group as I don't put every jack ass cyclist in the same group. But that might be because I like to take a ride down to the park and hit the trails when I can.
On a side note I switched jobs a couple months ago and I don't need that huge car anymore so I'm selling it and going back to just a car. Now tell me thats not going to be hard to get rid of.
Anyways stop being a prick.
It was most likely not radio heads decision at all, and they were probably pissed off by the release by their ex-lable. I do recall hearing on the radio a few weeks ago that they were upset that their old lable had released a best of album halmarking their time at EMI.
EMI probably made the deal with Apple not Radio Head.
It could happen but I doubt that it will be because peoples tech savi friends convinced them to switch. Most of the people I have suggest switch haven't because they are using a flavor of windows at work. Now I know that I could get them using ubuntu with little to know difference but they don't want to deal with it. The system is just different enough that they don't want to learn two different ways to do something.
I think if you hit the buisness side of things and start switching alot more companies over you will see a large transition. People want to use what they have at work for the most part because it's familiar. Tech people I know don't want to switch because they use windows at work it's easier than having to dual boot to use that one app that doesn't work in Linux Debian or OSX. I know when I was in school and we were using visual studio I couldn't get it working in wine in redhat. I could have used a text editor or something else but I didn't want to vary from what the school had as a compiler. So I started dual booting, it wasn't long before my copy of red hat hadn't been updated in a year, and they had went enterprise in that time.
It was anouther 2 years before I started using ubuntu again because I could load it onto my laptop and use it for work as no apps were special for my work place. But thats because I'm a fan of opensource, no one else in my position uses linux or debian releases. Why would they in the corp setting they get their windows software for their work computers under the site license. So most of them use windows at home too.
My wife works in a research lab at a university and they use macs 90% of the employees and students that use that lab use OSX. It's not a coincidence. Though people who use apples are in a type of cult.
Thats the catch you have to get people using something else at work and then you will see more of a turn over in people willing and wanting to switch.
I'm not going to skip a movie because Lucas was involved like some people claim. Hes made some good movies in the past that I think are great even after I grew up. If I watched them now for the first time like half of the slashdotters I might think of it differently. Maybe this film won't appeal to everyone or even me, but because of how attached I am to the characters and the story even if it was going to suck I would probably have to see it... unless it's like it's highlander II but I don't think this movie is going to have Indy be an alien from space.
I was looking into this and it seemed that the two biggest costs were the lcd screen and the bulb. If your a hobbiest it might be something to consider doing with one of the lcd screens in the laptops. But your still left with the rest of them.
Not sure what else you could do with them. You could donate them to some local school and say have the kids fix them up to use as some kind of club. though the children probably have better computers already the little brats.
You could try taking all the LCD screens and making one big display, sounds like too much work though. Not alot you can do with some left over laptops. I know you said you didn't want to sell them but if you sell them on ebay for parts they can sometimes grab a couple hundred bucks after shipping.