In university I had a model 100, bought as Radio Shack was moving to the 102. I used it for an incredible number of things. I was very proficient at assembler on it, and wrote large reports.
It died. A year ago I found a model 102 at a yard sale for $10. Not knowing what I needed it for, I still couldn't pass it up.
I'm going on a big trip this winter. I want to keep a good journal of the trip. The thought of writing with a pen and notebook (as in paper!) didn't go over well. In comes the 102. Small, reliable, easy on batteries and easy to use. Toss in a Null modem, and I'll be able to drop stuff on my dad's computer during breaks in the trip. 32k will hold a fair bit of text.
So a $10 alternative to a notebook, keeping the much needed ability to edit, and the ability to turn it into a web page without much effort. Of course the null-modem cable cost as much as the computer!
My only wish is that the built in programming language was Perl instead of BASIC!
I've been to Rick's site and got some usefull software, but the best part of the whole thing is the simple text editor that boots up in about 2 seconds.
Michael
Actually, the second team was pretty well forced to use the same components as the first bunch. The air tank and valve were pressure tested and certified for safety reasons. The Americans were a little frustrated that their initial junk haul was deemed unacceptable by the producers, and they spent half the day looking for the "approved" pieces.
The result was pretty good though. At 15psi they blasted that pumpkin a long way! I would have loved to see them do a bore sight and blast the castle to smithereens. The scoring was a bit unclear, and they were running out of time, so they decided to go for the "glory shot" and try to lob one into the middle of the castle. The wind took it outside the target and they lost. The winners trebuchet landed one piece of a shattered pumpkin against the wall of their target, and won.
It was Scrapheap Challenge in the UK. TLC imported the first few seasons of SHC and renamed it JunkYard Wars, but the content was essentially the same.
In spring 2001 TLC showed an all-american show with american teams. It was filmed at the original scrapheap site in London. They had a final 2 hr episode with the winners of the 2000 british series.
There are 2 new series that are being filmed, or have been filmed at a new location in California. These are now separate for the UK and US markets, and will not cross over. There is a new host, a Canadian Tyler ??? (Can't find the last name right off hand). See This discussion for a photo
Fans are waiting impatiently for the new series to air in the fall!
Art Critics are a lot like Slashdoters, they publicly go with the flow, even if they don't personally start out believing that.
It's a large scale case of groupthink. One critic states a strong opinion about digital art, the next amplifies it, the next changes his/her opinion to be in line with what "the others" have expressed.
Yes, we see the same thing here. Is windows inherently bad for all uses? Probably not, but those opinions don't go over well here.
As far as computer generated art goes, I'd say it is insane to claim that it isn't. Photographers have been going over the same things for a few years. Is a digitally enhanced photograph still a photo? I don't really know, but it is certainly art!
Art is in the eye of the beholder. If it looks good to someone, it is art. I would not hang a Picasso on my wall, but I'll gladly have a few "comercial art" paintings there. It looks good to me, I don't care about the philosophy of the critics, I'll go with what I think looks good.
It will require a change of culture on the Seller's part to bring this about. I think it would only be reasonable to have full details of a house with lots of photos on the web for people to access through a search engine.
It would bypass a fair bit of the agent's function, finding houses that fit the criteria required.
I did something similar a couple years ago with used cars. I gave up after a while as noone was interested at the time. The one place that was interested only wanted the web site to pull people in to talk to a salesman, which is what I was largely trying to avoid. Sellers don't understand the power of selling on the web, and don't understand that a web site can be a very powerfull local tool.
Most sellers seem to think that as soon as they put stuff on the web, they have to sell it internationally. If it works best locally, why not use it for that?
I also considered setting up a web site for private home sales. The problem was that the meta-advertising would have been difficult and expensive for someone not in that type business. It would require a change of culture to convince sellers to pay to advertise their homes on a privite website, and it would require a significant volume of listings to bring viewers to it.
In the end, I decided to keep my day job. It pays well and is steady work. I can program, but I'm not a programmer. I'll stick to nuclear engineering and playing with computers for now.
If I had to watch a show when it aired, I probably wouldn't. If I had to pay for each show I watched, based on what I knew was on, I probably would watch less than I do now.
I think if we could get people out from in front of their TVs and out talking to their neighbors, going for a walk, or spending time with their families, that society would be much better off.
I recall being a kid in the early '70s. My Uncle had a colour TV, one of the few in the area. On Saturday mornings you had to fight to get a seat in front of the TV -- Cousins, friends and neighborhood kids were all there, watching one of the two channels available. When we got bored of TV, we would go outside and play.
Now it seems that watching TV has gone a step further. Everyone has a TV in their bedroom, and seal themselves off while watching. It is no longer a social event.
I don't mind watching a bit of TV, but I don't like what it has done to our society.
I got into Ham Radio 15 years ago with the hopes that my father, an electronics tech on the other side of the world, would finally get his licence.
It didn't happen, the internet beat him to it. I made a number of discoveries along the way though.
I've seen two camps in Hams, -- Those who chat with someone about the weather, what gear they are using, and bits of small talk, and those who make specific contacts with a goal in mind (Worked all States, # of Countries contacted). The second group is usually very little concerned with communication except to pass pertinent details required for their goal.
I didn't really fit either profile. I wanted to chat with people in different places. The places I wanted to talk to were usually under a pile-up of people wanting to claim a "new country" or the like.
Local stuff hasn't been much better. Usually the old fogies chatting about the weather, computers, gear or whatever from their basements.
When the internet came along, my interest in Ham Radio almost disappeared. I could now communicate in a reliable manner with people in those places that I'd dreamed of contacting via Ham Radio. My parents got email, and all "need" for Ham radio disappeared.
It takes time and determination to get the licence. There are many interested, but few want to learn Morse code. I frankly think that morse code is being dragged along just to keep people off the airwaves. I'm not convinced that there is any practical use for it any more. With today's digital signal processing gear, binary signals can get through with better accuracy than morse.
Electronics as a field is going the way of the vacuum tube. How many places actually repair electronics these days? With SMDs and multi-layer boards, it is near impossible to repair at a component level. We have some co-op students working with us from an electronics program at the community college. Will they ever actually work on electronics? Not likely!
Ham radio earned its place with innovation. Hams have pioneered many communication methods, from trans-atlantic communication to sattelite communication. New technologies are making it almost impossible for a ham at home to actually build anything usefull or innovative. One originally had to build one's own equipment. In Canada, you must have the most advanced qualification before you can use home-built equipment! Commercial equipment is required, which doesn't take a lot of innovation!
I think Ham radio has passed its heyday. With the internet and the state of electronics, it has become a hobby of yesteryear. The average age of hams attests to that (Late '60s?)
I had my fun, I keep my licence, but I can't see myself getting back into it much since I can communicate so much more reliably via the internet.
Phone patches have been used for many years by military personnel overseas -- back in the good old days when HF radio was more reliable than global phone networks.
Phone patches have been available for years for Hams to make a phone call from outside the local area, but within HT reach.
I think there is far less for the companies to lose now than there used to be. The incredible profit margins for monopolistic telephone companies are gone.
GSM is a standard that is not based on Frequency. The PCS 1800 (1900?) MHz system utilizes the GSM standard.
I honestly think the North America would have been better off waiting a few years to implement Cell phones. Most of the rest of the world went straight to GSM (read "Digital") and skipped the whole Analog system. We are duplicating our networks at huge expense.
Interesting how I just came from reading about a Nuclear Battery that was in Development in Canada
There is very little new in the Nuclear industry. Most serious development was done in the '50s and '60s. Anything that makes the news these days is just a bit of underfunded progressive development.
A standard PC power supply puts out +5 V, -5 V, and +12 V --- All DC. For an alternative supply, you need two isolated 5 V power supplies and a 12 V supply, and bypass the entire power supply on the PC.
DC voltage conversion is a subject in itself. Reducing DC voltage is fairly easy, but involves losses and inefficiencies. The only way to raise DC voltage is to chop it up into AC and run it through a transformer. Chop it up right and you get an inverter.
Anyone with a bit of experience in power supplies should be able to figure out what is needed, it is fairly basic electricity. The main concerns I see are ensuring that the supply has enough capacity and getting isolated supplies so you can get both + and - 5 Volts.
And, oh yes, the monitor. Not so easy here. Traditional CRTs require a high voltage that can only be generated from AC. Even DC powered TVs have a built in inverter.
So are the new LCD panel screens DC powered? No particular reason why they shouldn't be. Just the cost consideration there.
So it can be done fairly easily, just a case of bodging the parts together and getting an inverter for the monitor or a DC powered monitor.
As usual, in any disagreement there tends to be three sides to the story. In this case, it is the American side, the Chinese side, and the truth.
I'm Canadian, and have had enough international experience to know that there is more going on here than the US press is letting on.
Here is what I see:
The American plane was flying in an area that the Americans claim is International airspace. The Chinese claim that it was Chinese airspace. The conflict was not about where the plane was, but about who Really owns it.
The US plane was intercepting electronic communications originating in China, i.e. spying.
The chinese know damn well what they are doing, and don't like it, but the americans are sufficiently outside the recognized territory, that they can't do much other than make sure the american know that they know.....
The Chinese pilots shadowing the E3 were hotdogging, as fighter pilots are prone to do.
The americans decide to teach the fighter pilot a lesson and do a little wing waggle or the like to give him a scare. Nobody here has ever had the temptation to pull on their car's emergency brake while some idiot is tailgating, right?
The American public, due to cultural reasons and media induced propaganda won't stand for an apology, as it was obviously solely the responsibility of the Chinese pilot. I have heard no mention of the acceptability of the spying mission.
The Chinese public, due to cultural reasons and government induced propaganda won't accept anything less than a full apology. They hold the cards, they can push a little.
Both sides have a tremendous amount to lose by pushing this too far. It appears to me that it is stretching the governments control on the whole issue now that the population and media is getting pretty worked up. So far the American government has been trying not to inflame public opinion, which they could easily do. The Chinese government is doing their best to inflame public opinion (or so we are led to believe).
My guess is that the Fighter jock was trying to scare the bejesus out of the americans, and the americans reacted somewhat predictably.
I expect to see the Americans move closer to the apology that the Chinese want, get the crew and plane back, then launch a full fledged propaganda war, still being carefull not to damage trade too much.
An interesting situation to follow, but lets try not to get too worked up about it. Wars have started over less, and we don't need any more of those!
Or a wheel-mouse. I screwed up a couple moderation points due to the wheel. I clicked on my desired moderation, the list went back into the box, then I tried to scroll down to the remaining comments. As I hadn't clicked ouside the scroll box yet, the wheel scrolled through the selections. The display didn't scroll and I didn't have a clue what was up until it showed where I'd used my moderator points.
Since I can blame it on myself, or on Micro$oft, I guess I'll go with latter!
" A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage. "
....so wrote Professor Alexander Tyler over 200 years ago.
My parents live overseas, but still pay taxes, or at least file returns. It is volentary on their part, but gets them future benefits such as the Canada Pension Plan.
On the other hand, they are not eligible for medicare until they have lived in one province for six months. Money for medicare comes largely from sales taxes. The government figures that if they aren't buying things, they shouldn't be eligible.
By the way, Credit it given for income taxes paid in the country of residence.
It is called Hydrogen, probably better used in larger applications. Use electrolosis to produce the hydrogen during slack periods, (use wind or water), then burn the hydrogen, better yet use fuel cells to reconvert it to electricity later. It is a very efficient process with a few bugs left to work out.
I find it interesting that Natapof's arguement supports a parlimentary system such as we have in Canada.
The Prime-Minister is the leader of the party that gains the most seats in Parliment. For him to reach that office, he must win a majority (at least to be effective) of seats in Parliment. Each of those ridings is won by the local candidate with the most votes.
p.s. Here we have a law that prevents broadcast of election results in areas where the polls haven't yet closed. The net is certainly having an effect on the effectiveness of this, but it isn't widespread yet.
Actually, some translations of the Bible are copyrighted. The KJV is not, and you will find free copies of it around the net in places. Most of the newer versions are copyrighted with restrictions on use, such as the length of an excerpt that can be reprinted in other works. See detials for NIV which is quite infomative.
I think they rely largely on the integrity of users to maintain the copyright. Restrictions are permissive enough to allow general use, but strict enought to ensure that anyone who wants a complete copy finds it easier to buy one than to copy one!
I'm happy with my ISP. I get 5 Gig transfer a month on my ADSL. For an extra $15/month I can get 20 Gigs. I can run a home network or a server within the AUP -- as long as I don't resell bandwidth. Every month on my phone bill I'm told exactly how much bandwith I've used. In fact I can look it up daily on their website.
Metering isn't a technological issue, it is a psycological issue.
I've never come close to my 5 gig limit, except when I first installed Gnutella and let it run for a few days!
I for one will not be switching over to @home when they become available. The AUP would shut down my server and home network. I'll take the bandwidth restriction any day. After all, somebody has to pay for the bandwidth, why shouldn't the very heavy users have to pay their share?
Now if they'd only give me a static ip for less than $30/month!
Slashdot Mirror
It died. A year ago I found a model 102 at a yard sale for $10. Not knowing what I needed it for, I still couldn't pass it up.
I'm going on a big trip this winter. I want to keep a good journal of the trip. The thought of writing with a pen and notebook (as in paper!) didn't go over well. In comes the 102. Small, reliable, easy on batteries and easy to use. Toss in a Null modem, and I'll be able to drop stuff on my dad's computer during breaks in the trip. 32k will hold a fair bit of text.
So a $10 alternative to a notebook, keeping the much needed ability to edit, and the ability to turn it into a web page without much effort. Of course the null-modem cable cost as much as the computer!
My only wish is that the built in programming language was Perl instead of BASIC!
I've been to Rick's site and got some usefull software, but the best part of the whole thing is the simple text editor that boots up in about 2 seconds. Michael
------------------------------
The result was pretty good though. At 15psi they blasted that pumpkin a long way! I would have loved to see them do a bore sight and blast the castle to smithereens. The scoring was a bit unclear, and they were running out of time, so they decided to go for the "glory shot" and try to lob one into the middle of the castle. The wind took it outside the target and they lost. The winners trebuchet landed one piece of a shattered pumpkin against the wall of their target, and won.
------------------------------
Yes, the science concepts are fairly simple, but the overall results are pretty amazing.
------------------------------
In spring 2001 TLC showed an all-american show with american teams. It was filmed at the original scrapheap site in London. They had a final 2 hr episode with the winners of the 2000 british series.
There are 2 new series that are being filmed, or have been filmed at a new location in California. These are now separate for the UK and US markets, and will not cross over. There is a new host, a Canadian Tyler ??? (Can't find the last name right off hand). See This discussion for a photo
Fans are waiting impatiently for the new series to air in the fall!
------------------------------
It's a large scale case of groupthink. One critic states a strong opinion about digital art, the next amplifies it, the next changes his/her opinion to be in line with what "the others" have expressed.
Yes, we see the same thing here. Is windows inherently bad for all uses? Probably not, but those opinions don't go over well here.
As far as computer generated art goes, I'd say it is insane to claim that it isn't. Photographers have been going over the same things for a few years. Is a digitally enhanced photograph still a photo? I don't really know, but it is certainly art!
Art is in the eye of the beholder. If it looks good to someone, it is art. I would not hang a Picasso on my wall, but I'll gladly have a few "comercial art" paintings there. It looks good to me, I don't care about the philosophy of the critics, I'll go with what I think looks good.
------------------------------
It would bypass a fair bit of the agent's function, finding houses that fit the criteria required.
I did something similar a couple years ago with used cars. I gave up after a while as noone was interested at the time. The one place that was interested only wanted the web site to pull people in to talk to a salesman, which is what I was largely trying to avoid. Sellers don't understand the power of selling on the web, and don't understand that a web site can be a very powerfull local tool.
Most sellers seem to think that as soon as they put stuff on the web, they have to sell it internationally. If it works best locally, why not use it for that?
I also considered setting up a web site for private home sales. The problem was that the meta-advertising would have been difficult and expensive for someone not in that type business. It would require a change of culture to convince sellers to pay to advertise their homes on a privite website, and it would require a significant volume of listings to bring viewers to it.
In the end, I decided to keep my day job. It pays well and is steady work. I can program, but I'm not a programmer. I'll stick to nuclear engineering and playing with computers for now.
------------------------------
I think if we could get people out from in front of their TVs and out talking to their neighbors, going for a walk, or spending time with their families, that society would be much better off.
I recall being a kid in the early '70s. My Uncle had a colour TV, one of the few in the area. On Saturday mornings you had to fight to get a seat in front of the TV -- Cousins, friends and neighborhood kids were all there, watching one of the two channels available. When we got bored of TV, we would go outside and play.
Now it seems that watching TV has gone a step further. Everyone has a TV in their bedroom, and seal themselves off while watching. It is no longer a social event.
I don't mind watching a bit of TV, but I don't like what it has done to our society.
------------------------------
It didn't happen, the internet beat him to it. I made a number of discoveries along the way though.
I've seen two camps in Hams, -- Those who chat with someone about the weather, what gear they are using, and bits of small talk, and those who make specific contacts with a goal in mind (Worked all States, # of Countries contacted). The second group is usually very little concerned with communication except to pass pertinent details required for their goal.
I didn't really fit either profile. I wanted to chat with people in different places. The places I wanted to talk to were usually under a pile-up of people wanting to claim a "new country" or the like.
Local stuff hasn't been much better. Usually the old fogies chatting about the weather, computers, gear or whatever from their basements.
When the internet came along, my interest in Ham Radio almost disappeared. I could now communicate in a reliable manner with people in those places that I'd dreamed of contacting via Ham Radio. My parents got email, and all "need" for Ham radio disappeared.
It takes time and determination to get the licence. There are many interested, but few want to learn Morse code. I frankly think that morse code is being dragged along just to keep people off the airwaves. I'm not convinced that there is any practical use for it any more. With today's digital signal processing gear, binary signals can get through with better accuracy than morse.
Electronics as a field is going the way of the vacuum tube. How many places actually repair electronics these days? With SMDs and multi-layer boards, it is near impossible to repair at a component level. We have some co-op students working with us from an electronics program at the community college. Will they ever actually work on electronics? Not likely!
Ham radio earned its place with innovation. Hams have pioneered many communication methods, from trans-atlantic communication to sattelite communication. New technologies are making it almost impossible for a ham at home to actually build anything usefull or innovative. One originally had to build one's own equipment. In Canada, you must have the most advanced qualification before you can use home-built equipment! Commercial equipment is required, which doesn't take a lot of innovation!
I think Ham radio has passed its heyday. With the internet and the state of electronics, it has become a hobby of yesteryear. The average age of hams attests to that (Late '60s?)
I had my fun, I keep my licence, but I can't see myself getting back into it much since I can communicate so much more reliably via the internet.
Michael VE9MKS
------------------------------
Phone patches have been available for years for Hams to make a phone call from outside the local area, but within HT reach.
I think there is far less for the companies to lose now than there used to be. The incredible profit margins for monopolistic telephone companies are gone.
------------------------------
I honestly think the North America would have been better off waiting a few years to implement Cell phones. Most of the rest of the world went straight to GSM (read "Digital") and skipped the whole Analog system. We are duplicating our networks at huge expense.
------------------------------
There is very little new in the Nuclear industry. Most serious development was done in the '50s and '60s. Anything that makes the news these days is just a bit of underfunded progressive development.
------------------------------
It is all a point of view.
------------------------------
DC voltage conversion is a subject in itself. Reducing DC voltage is fairly easy, but involves losses and inefficiencies. The only way to raise DC voltage is to chop it up into AC and run it through a transformer. Chop it up right and you get an inverter.
Anyone with a bit of experience in power supplies should be able to figure out what is needed, it is fairly basic electricity. The main concerns I see are ensuring that the supply has enough capacity and getting isolated supplies so you can get both + and - 5 Volts.
And, oh yes, the monitor. Not so easy here. Traditional CRTs require a high voltage that can only be generated from AC. Even DC powered TVs have a built in inverter.
So are the new LCD panel screens DC powered? No particular reason why they shouldn't be. Just the cost consideration there.
So it can be done fairly easily, just a case of bodging the parts together and getting an inverter for the monitor or a DC powered monitor.
------------------------------
------------------------------
Here is what I see:
The American plane was flying in an area that the Americans claim is International airspace. The Chinese claim that it was Chinese airspace. The conflict was not about where the plane was, but about who Really owns it.
The US plane was intercepting electronic communications originating in China, i.e. spying.
The chinese know damn well what they are doing, and don't like it, but the americans are sufficiently outside the recognized territory, that they can't do much other than make sure the american know that they know.....
The Chinese pilots shadowing the E3 were hotdogging, as fighter pilots are prone to do.
The americans decide to teach the fighter pilot a lesson and do a little wing waggle or the like to give him a scare. Nobody here has ever had the temptation to pull on their car's emergency brake while some idiot is tailgating, right?
The American public, due to cultural reasons and media induced propaganda won't stand for an apology, as it was obviously solely the responsibility of the Chinese pilot. I have heard no mention of the acceptability of the spying mission.
The Chinese public, due to cultural reasons and government induced propaganda won't accept anything less than a full apology. They hold the cards, they can push a little.
Both sides have a tremendous amount to lose by pushing this too far. It appears to me that it is stretching the governments control on the whole issue now that the population and media is getting pretty worked up. So far the American government has been trying not to inflame public opinion, which they could easily do. The Chinese government is doing their best to inflame public opinion (or so we are led to believe).
My guess is that the Fighter jock was trying to scare the bejesus out of the americans, and the americans reacted somewhat predictably.
I expect to see the Americans move closer to the apology that the Chinese want, get the crew and plane back, then launch a full fledged propaganda war, still being carefull not to damage trade too much.
An interesting situation to follow, but lets try not to get too worked up about it. Wars have started over less, and we don't need any more of those!
------------------------------
Since I can blame it on myself, or on Micro$oft, I guess I'll go with latter!
------------------------------
" A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage. "
....so wrote Professor Alexander Tyler over 200 years ago.
------------------------------
Many people would catch the 16:9, but wouldn't be able to understand the relationship to 8:5.
------------------------------
On the other hand, they are not eligible for medicare until they have lived in one province for six months. Money for medicare comes largely from sales taxes. The government figures that if they aren't buying things, they shouldn't be eligible.
By the way, Credit it given for income taxes paid in the country of residence.
------------------------------
It is called Hydrogen, probably better used in larger applications. Use electrolosis to produce the hydrogen during slack periods, (use wind or water), then burn the hydrogen, better yet use fuel cells to reconvert it to electricity later. It is a very efficient process with a few bugs left to work out.
------------------------------
------------------------------
The Prime-Minister is the leader of the party that gains the most seats in Parliment. For him to reach that office, he must win a majority (at least to be effective) of seats in Parliment. Each of those ridings is won by the local candidate with the most votes.
p.s. Here we have a law that prevents broadcast of election results in areas where the polls haven't yet closed. The net is certainly having an effect on the effectiveness of this, but it isn't widespread yet.
------------------------------
I think they rely largely on the integrity of users to maintain the copyright. Restrictions are permissive enough to allow general use, but strict enought to ensure that anyone who wants a complete copy finds it easier to buy one than to copy one!
------------------------------
On the other hand that might just be the level of undesirable attention that would lead to an invasion of SeaLand.
------------------------------
I'm happy with my ISP. I get 5 Gig transfer a month on my ADSL. For an extra $15/month I can get 20 Gigs. I can run a home network or a server within the AUP -- as long as I don't resell bandwidth. Every month on my phone bill I'm told exactly how much bandwith I've used. In fact I can look it up daily on their website.
Metering isn't a technological issue, it is a psycological issue.
I've never come close to my 5 gig limit, except when I first installed Gnutella and let it run for a few days!
I for one will not be switching over to @home when they become available. The AUP would shut down my server and home network. I'll take the bandwidth restriction any day. After all, somebody has to pay for the bandwidth, why shouldn't the very heavy users have to pay their share?
Now if they'd only give me a static ip for less than $30/month!