My main background is in Radio. This is the same thing that was repeated for High End Audio, then for USB for printers. I used to sweep test cables for phased antenna arrays.
I was able to sweep many audio patch cables. Most would work fine for short runs of video. Very few had high dielectric loss at video frequencies. Most were about 70 ohms impedance. The rest were between 60 and 85 ohms. Most old VCR stereo audio and video cable used the exact same wire for audio and video. It was all about 75 ohms impedance.
I like to give the sales people a very hard time by asking for the specifc cable specifications that make it better than cable B. What is the impedance? What is the near end cross talk? What is the attenuation at the highest frequency in the carried signal per foot? How much does the impedance and attenuation vary over the pass band? What is the % shielding?
Then I leave the salesman a copy of the cable sweep report on cable B and have him ask his supplier. I want a better cable, not just a claim of a better cable.
For SIP to SIP, that is always free. I'm using Ekiga for that. Use a soft phone to dial sip users as a user name is used instead of a phone number that can be dialed on a plain telephone. An ATA can be used to receive calls from SIP to SIP or from a provisioner. You can get a free SIP account from Ekiga https://www.ekiga.net/
For free inbound with a local Washington State USA number, IPKall is completely free. You can use this number worldwide. For example if you live in Australia, you can have a US number for people to call you. http://www.ipkall.com/
For outbound calls there are a variety of low rate and unlimited plans. I'm using Lingo. https://www.lingo.com/
All of the above can be used with an ATA adaptor that is not locked to a carrier such as Vontage.
SIP is up and working for me. I have a Softphone running on Ubuntu on a netbook for travel anyplace and a hardware ATA with 2 lines at home. One is SIP only with no provider for PTSN. This is used for free SIP to SIP calls worldwide much like Skype to Skype. The other line is provisioned for inbound and outbound calls. Unlimited calls to more than 30 countries is part of the package for under $25/month. This includes call to England, UK, USA, Guam, Canada, China, Australia, Switzerland, Thailand, and elsewhere to landlines. This beats any minutes plan if you do high volume of calls overseas. Countries not on the list are still free SIP to SIP.
Google voice works while you are at your computer and logged into Google. SIP with an ATA (analog telephone adaptor) can use your answering machine and desk phone.
SIP is already a competing technology. Most SIP to SIP phone calls are free just like Skype to Skype. SIP to PTSN has fees just like Skype in and Skype out.
We dropped Skype due to the uncertain immediate future. We moved to SIP instead. There are several providers (not all eggs in one basket) with free SIP addresses and SIP to SIP calling. Many competing providers provide connection to PTSN at various rates and plans. Again, this is not a monopoly by anybody. Only the providers closly bundled with a cable company are enjoying monopoly rates. Almost anybody else has lower rates and more features.
Vontage gives you just a phone at home. Other SIP providers can provide DID (Direct inward dial), Multipresence (home and work locations, or home and cell phone, are extensions of each other), and many other features. Some providers provide service only so you can own your own device (BYOD) and not toss it in the trash when you change providers. Video phone is supported by many SIP providers.
To get started with a free SIP account and soft phone (Nothing to buy) look for free softphones that are not locked to a provider. I'm using Ekiga on Ubuntu with a headset on my netbook with no problems. There are other providers and versions for other operating systems, so pick one. http://ekiga.org/
Hmm, how far does that jurisdiction reach? Does it include links? Does it include out of the country? They should have fun with the sudden influx of goat links. Good luck with that.
I had that response once before. Those letters often come from collections who think you are the deadbeat trying to avoid the company.
I reply to have them have their lawyer to contact my lawyer and give them the name of my lawyer. I then advise them my lawyer's rates to settle the false accusation and defamation suit of the Joe Job complete with a link to the Wikipedia article on Joe Job.
They most often quickly get the message they have the wrong Joe.
A 3 digit security code is 1 in 1,000. With a couple of possible tries to get it right for each card before locking it out, your chances are now 1 in 250. With enough compromised account numbers you can find enough valid card combinations to make large purchases at a retailer other than iTunes. Most fraud is for software IP as many merchants won't ship somewhere other than the billing address for the card.
The shop I worked in required the sales team to take new products home and configure and use it for 3 days.
Later the salesmen knew how it worked, how it is configured, and it's limitations. Sales were given a discount on the open item if they wanted to keep it.
The company viewed it as sales team training. You can't sell something if you don't know what it does, what it can't do, and common configuration errors.
The sales team has few returns when they can recommend a product and demonstrate knowledge of what it can do for the customer.
Private schools do better because the class clown that disrupts the learning environment is not required to remain in the classroom. Search online for student videos of my science class or other cell phone videos of public classroom teaching. Most of them show the learning environment is a zoo and can be hardly listed as a learning environment.
Schools cut down on special ed and tried to integrate special needs kids back into the classroom. This was followed with no child left behind. This coupled with regulations against effective discipline to maintain classroom order and the aggressive kids without the same rules then can make the rules. This went unchecked for a while which is now followed by anti bully reactions.
It is time to stop applying patch on top of patch and wishing it will work. It's broken and not working. Public school is not a place to advance your learning, feel good about doing well, and becoming well prepared to face the future.
Those who can use private school. Those who can't afford private school home school and use co-op schooling. ( a huge part of my community does co-op )
The main difference in this is the privileged are taught by the successful to succeed in business. The under privileged are taught how to use social services, run a hidden grow operation, or other business to be successful with their peers. They are not afforded the same educational opportunities as they are taught early on that they will not be able to succeed. They are taught instead how to work the system.
I was raised in public school. It was NOTHING like public school today. I too have had to use an alternative to educate my kids. Unfortunately I didn't start early enough so bad habits learned in public schools from their peers is still negatively impacting them. Due to this some are ill prepared to take on secondary education at this time and will not be wasting money on student loans only to fail.
Shows how old my stock it.. I used to buy common parts on reel ends super cheap. I have not needed to buy a new one recently. They used to be the bread and butter of a small general purpose transistor. I'm sure there are plenty of suitable drop in replacements for them now with better specs.
It would be nice if they carried a much larger selection of parts. Long ago they found that a large inventory of low value parts took up too much wall space with too little turn. Unfortunately without traffic, the higher margin items didn't sell either.
They pretty much lost me when they became another mall toy store and cell phone shop.
If they would guarantee stocking all the common standard resistor values and capacitor values and most of the common IC's and transistors, then a hobbyist won't start elsewhere because the local shop is unlikely to carry a full inventory.
How hard is it to have in stock resistors of the 1, 2.2, 2.7, 3,3 , 4.7, 6.8, and 9.1 values in most multiplier values in 1/4 and 1/2 watt sizes? A lack of semiconductors is their greatest downfall. They have maybe a dozen IC's in stock in the lines of the common 555 and little else. The transistor selection is very thin. The most common small signal transistors are absent. 2SC1815 or a 2N249 are scarce.
If you want parts to build an interface to drive a sprinkler valve for robotics from an Arduino, there is nothing that would do the job. Power Mosfets for building any kind of H bridge for robotics is not in stock.
Other stores and online are about the only place to get those parts anymore. Radio Shack's failure has given Mouser a huge market. Mouser is not as convenient for a quick pick up of some 4.7K resistors and other small orders so Radio Shack is missing out on the electronics convenience store they used to be.
Actually I didn't really work that hard. I made a living at my hobby. I was never in any real debt until I bought a house. My first few cars were paid for with cash. I currently living in a 6 bedroom 3 bath home with a 20X30 shop in back. I have a hot tub and sailboat. The home allows room for the home theater, music room, office, electronics bench, sewing room, guest room, kids room (for the grand kids)
I've had the opportunity to live in the Cayman Islands for a while and have time to do volunteer work for non profits.
What is this hard life you speak of? Working your ass off is a term used to pay off massive student loans. Picking my own career is not working my ass off. I only had one really bad boss and I fired him. That is much harder to do when you are a wage slave. It is much easier to do when you have the freedom to call the shots.
I've taken vacations to Hawaii a couple of times, been on a Caribbean cruise, have investments, etc. My car is 100% paid for. Life is good.
I made less, but had less debt to take it away. It really worked out OK.
When I retire, I do plan on buying a motor-home and seeing the country.
On the flip side many college graduates are having a very hard time breaking even. Some of my relatives are needing financial assistance to prevent foreclosure.
True, I did learn to use a soldering iron. I knew from the start that I did not want to become a data entry clerk. I am unqualified for many menial entry level low pay jobs. I can read and follow a schematic, read poorly translated service manuals, understand their errors, and still fix stuff. Employers understand that.
I hope this entry is better. My spell checker shows no errors.
SIP is a protocol and works world wide. There are multiple providers if you need connectivity to POTS. For SIP to SIP, many providers provide free accounts. Google SIP for more information.
A free soft SIP phone for Windows and Ubuntu is Ekiga. They will provide a free SIP address if you want one. They also provide free confrence rooms. They can be public with anyone dialing in is joined or private where the first to dial can set a PIN and then others need to use the PIN to join. The room is released when everyone disconnects. I've had no problems using a confrence room. Most of them are empty most of the time as most people simply call user to user. http://ekiga.org/ Their phone is not tied to their service. You can use it on Microsoft communicator if you wish using the conference protocol instead of SIP.
It is more than a publicity stunt. I skipped college. That did not mean I skipped a continuing education. I leaned electronics as a hobby. I went into the Navy out of high school into the advanced electronics program and continued my education. I took and passed the Apprentice and Journeyman ISCET exams. http://www.iscet.org/
I leaned refrigeration while working cryptology as we avoided bringing in outside contractors into classified spaces (huge shutdown of operations to do so). Again lots of book learning, mostly from Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning book. This is pretty much the Bible on the subject. http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Refrigeration-Air-Conditioning-18th/dp/B003R243YW
Not paying for a student loan made the lower starting wages quite livable. I now work in research and development. Employers do want to know your education. They also want to know your experience.
Listing pro audio, broadcast TV and radio transmitter studio and transmitter service, ISCET certification, Navy advanced electronics program and such has given me some jobs that inexperienced college graduated did not get.
College graduates saddled with student loans are finding it a hard time to land jobs. Check the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glzuTXLzUFs It does make sense. Even in economic downturns, I have not needed unemployment insurance.
For the Linux netbook crowd, they are not the intended consumer. They (we) are the cheap ones who would bring their own movies and use the sneakernet with thumb drives to exchange movies in flight.
The airlines are after the rich who can afford the latest tablet and not a sub $300 Costco special.
Buy low sell high. Too many people sell low and buy high because it is rising only to finally sell when it is low.
Yeah, the market will do stupid things in the short term (here meaning periods less than about 10 years), and you can make money based on those movements.
I love a stupid market. It's how a few become rich. If everyone did the exact same thing, the market would move very little and it would be hard to make a buck. As the market moves up, the sell orders would pour in correcting the rise. As the market moves down the buy orders would pour in correcting the fall.
Go counter to the market. Buy during a selloff and sell during a bubble. It isn't difficult.
When you have inflated money due to the large amount of worthless paper, it is still hard to get anyone motivated to make the bread. In hyperinflation the wheelbarrows of printed money came from somewhere. As it was mass produced, and was less accepted, unemployment ran high, money was worthless, and nobody made the bread to put on the store shelves.
I'm thinking it is to pay for the 4 years in the state hotel system they run. Somebody has to pay for that. Add in the lost income from him not paying taxes for 4 years and the 1.5 Million is pretty cheap.
It is likely that after 4 years he is judgment proof.
Slashdot Mirror
My main background is in Radio. This is the same thing that was repeated for High End Audio, then for USB for printers. I used to sweep test cables for phased antenna arrays.
I was able to sweep many audio patch cables. Most would work fine for short runs of video. Very few had high dielectric loss at video frequencies. Most were about 70 ohms impedance. The rest were between 60 and 85 ohms. Most old VCR stereo audio and video cable used the exact same wire for audio and video. It was all about 75 ohms impedance.
I like to give the sales people a very hard time by asking for the specifc cable specifications that make it better than cable B. What is the impedance? What is the near end cross talk? What is the attenuation at the highest frequency in the carried signal per foot? How much does the impedance and attenuation vary over the pass band? What is the % shielding?
Then I leave the salesman a copy of the cable sweep report on cable B and have him ask his supplier. I want a better cable, not just a claim of a better cable.
For SIP to SIP, that is always free.
I'm using Ekiga for that.
Use a soft phone to dial sip users as a user name is used instead of a phone number that can be dialed on a plain telephone. An ATA can be used to receive calls from SIP to SIP or from a provisioner. You can get a free SIP account from Ekiga https://www.ekiga.net/
For free inbound with a local Washington State USA number, IPKall is completely free. You can use this number worldwide. For example if you live in Australia, you can have a US number for people to call you.
http://www.ipkall.com/
For outbound calls there are a variety of low rate and unlimited plans. I'm using Lingo.
https://www.lingo.com/
All of the above can be used with an ATA adaptor that is not locked to a carrier such as Vontage.
SIP is up and working for me. I have a Softphone running on Ubuntu on a netbook for travel anyplace and a hardware ATA with 2 lines at home. One is SIP only with no provider for PTSN. This is used for free SIP to SIP calls worldwide much like Skype to Skype. The other line is provisioned for inbound and outbound calls. Unlimited calls to more than 30 countries is part of the package for under $25/month. This includes call to England, UK, USA, Guam, Canada, China, Australia, Switzerland, Thailand, and elsewhere to landlines. This beats any minutes plan if you do high volume of calls overseas. Countries not on the list are still free SIP to SIP.
Google voice works while you are at your computer and logged into Google. SIP with an ATA (analog telephone adaptor) can use your answering machine and desk phone.
SIP is already a competing technology. Most SIP to SIP phone calls are free just like Skype to Skype. SIP to PTSN has fees just like Skype in and Skype out.
This page has a full range of SIP clients for the Mac.
http://www.pure-mac.com/voip.html
We dropped Skype due to the uncertain immediate future. We moved to SIP instead. There are several providers (not all eggs in one basket) with free SIP addresses and SIP to SIP calling. Many competing providers provide connection to PTSN at various rates and plans. Again, this is not a monopoly by anybody. Only the providers closly bundled with a cable company are enjoying monopoly rates. Almost anybody else has lower rates and more features.
Vontage gives you just a phone at home. Other SIP providers can provide DID (Direct inward dial), Multipresence (home and work locations, or home and cell phone, are extensions of each other), and many other features. Some providers provide service only so you can own your own device (BYOD) and not toss it in the trash when you change providers. Video phone is supported by many SIP providers.
To get started with a free SIP account and soft phone (Nothing to buy) look for free softphones that are not locked to a provider. I'm using Ekiga on Ubuntu with a headset on my netbook with no problems. There are other providers and versions for other operating systems, so pick one.
http://ekiga.org/
Hmm, how far does that jurisdiction reach? Does it include links? Does it include out of the country? They should have fun with the sudden influx of goat links. Good luck with that.
I had that response once before. Those letters often come from collections who think you are the deadbeat trying to avoid the company.
I reply to have them have their lawyer to contact my lawyer and give them the name of my lawyer. I then advise them my lawyer's rates to settle the false accusation and defamation suit of the Joe Job complete with a link to the Wikipedia article on Joe Job.
They most often quickly get the message they have the wrong Joe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_job
A 3 digit security code is 1 in 1,000. With a couple of possible tries to get it right for each card before locking it out, your chances are now 1 in 250. With enough compromised account numbers you can find enough valid card combinations to make large purchases at a retailer other than iTunes. Most fraud is for software IP as many merchants won't ship somewhere other than the billing address for the card.
The shop I worked in required the sales team to take new products home and configure and use it for 3 days.
Later the salesmen knew how it worked, how it is configured, and it's limitations. Sales were given a discount on the open item if they wanted to keep it.
The company viewed it as sales team training. You can't sell something if you don't know what it does, what it can't do, and common configuration errors.
The sales team has few returns when they can recommend a product and demonstrate knowledge of what it can do for the customer.
To see the real issue is to simply look at the videos students submit of the fine examples of classroom order and the learning environment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhi2mAPu3lU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYqfzsxA0ps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-LPwegNXB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5To2G6yEh00
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdeui_crazy-student_fun
http://www.twitvid.com/FNWJB
How long will it take you to decide to move your kids from the zoo to a school?
Private schools do better because the class clown that disrupts the learning environment is not required to remain in the classroom. Search online for student videos of my science class or other cell phone videos of public classroom teaching. Most of them show the learning environment is a zoo and can be hardly listed as a learning environment.
Schools cut down on special ed and tried to integrate special needs kids back into the classroom. This was followed with no child left behind. This coupled with regulations against effective discipline to maintain classroom order and the aggressive kids without the same rules then can make the rules. This went unchecked for a while which is now followed by anti bully reactions.
It is time to stop applying patch on top of patch and wishing it will work. It's broken and not working. Public school is not a place to advance your learning, feel good about doing well, and becoming well prepared to face the future.
Those who can use private school. Those who can't afford private school home school and use co-op schooling. ( a huge part of my community does co-op )
The main difference in this is the privileged are taught by the successful to succeed in business. The under privileged are taught how to use social services, run a hidden grow operation, or other business to be successful with their peers. They are not afforded the same educational opportunities as they are taught early on that they will not be able to succeed. They are taught instead how to work the system.
I was raised in public school. It was NOTHING like public school today. I too have had to use an alternative to educate my kids. Unfortunately I didn't start early enough so bad habits learned in public schools from their peers is still negatively impacting them. Due to this some are ill prepared to take on secondary education at this time and will not be wasting money on student loans only to fail.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39911910
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/business/Cramer_Tackles_the_Student_Loans_Crisis_Philadelphia-115674714.html
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/11-2
College if it happens will be pay as you go instead of being part of the next sub prime bubble.
Shows how old my stock it.. I used to buy common parts on reel ends super cheap. I have not needed to buy a new one recently. They used to be the bread and butter of a small general purpose transistor. I'm sure there are plenty of suitable drop in replacements for them now with better specs.
Barbie and Ken had better watch out. By the way, what age is Barbie anyway?
It would be nice if they carried a much larger selection of parts. Long ago they found that a large inventory of low value parts took up too much wall space with too little turn. Unfortunately without traffic, the higher margin items didn't sell either.
They pretty much lost me when they became another mall toy store and cell phone shop.
If they would guarantee stocking all the common standard resistor values and capacitor values and most of the common IC's and transistors, then a hobbyist won't start elsewhere because the local shop is unlikely to carry a full inventory.
How hard is it to have in stock resistors of the 1, 2.2, 2.7, 3,3 , 4.7, 6.8, and 9.1 values in most multiplier values in 1/4 and 1/2 watt sizes?
A lack of semiconductors is their greatest downfall. They have maybe a dozen IC's in stock in the lines of the common 555 and little else.
The transistor selection is very thin. The most common small signal transistors are absent. 2SC1815 or a 2N249 are scarce.
If you want parts to build an interface to drive a sprinkler valve for robotics from an Arduino, there is nothing that would do the job. Power Mosfets for building any kind of H bridge for robotics is not in stock.
Other stores and online are about the only place to get those parts anymore. Radio Shack's failure has given Mouser a huge market. Mouser is not as convenient for a quick pick up of some 4.7K resistors and other small orders so Radio Shack is missing out on the electronics convenience store they used to be.
Care to visit the R & D facility of the world's largest chipmaker? If I twist the right arms I might even be able to get you a 6 core i7 990X Extreme to try out. If not I'm sure we can find a t shirt.
http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7ee/index.htm
http://www.intel.com/?en_US_01
If he doesn't make it all the way to the Seattle area, he could stop in the Portland Oregon area and visit my cool employer instead. Even Obama has stopped by for a tour. Much more to his liking is the nearby Open Source Labs.
http://osuosl.org/
Info on Obama's visit to my employer
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/02/intel_obama_continue_difficult.html
I'm sure we could arrange a tour. I don't think I can get you into the clean FAB. Sorry.
Actually I didn't really work that hard. I made a living at my hobby. I was never in any real debt until I bought a house. My first few cars were paid for with cash. I currently living in a 6 bedroom 3 bath home with a 20X30 shop in back. I have a hot tub and sailboat. The home allows room for the home theater, music room, office, electronics bench, sewing room, guest room, kids room (for the grand kids)
I've had the opportunity to live in the Cayman Islands for a while and have time to do volunteer work for non profits.
What is this hard life you speak of? Working your ass off is a term used to pay off massive student loans. Picking my own career is not working my ass off. I only had one really bad boss and I fired him. That is much harder to do when you are a wage slave. It is much easier to do when you have the freedom to call the shots.
I've taken vacations to Hawaii a couple of times, been on a Caribbean cruise, have investments, etc. My car is 100% paid for. Life is good.
I made less, but had less debt to take it away. It really worked out OK.
When I retire, I do plan on buying a motor-home and seeing the country.
On the flip side many college graduates are having a very hard time breaking even. Some of my relatives are needing financial assistance to prevent foreclosure.
True, I did learn to use a soldering iron. I knew from the start that I did not want to become a data entry clerk. I am unqualified for many menial entry level low pay jobs. I can read and follow a schematic, read poorly translated service manuals, understand their errors, and still fix stuff. Employers understand that.
I hope this entry is better. My spell checker shows no errors.
SIP is a protocol and works world wide. There are multiple providers if you need connectivity to POTS. For SIP to SIP, many providers provide free accounts. Google SIP for more information.
A free soft SIP phone for Windows and Ubuntu is Ekiga. They will provide a free SIP address if you want one. They also provide free confrence rooms. They can be public with anyone dialing in is joined or private where the first to dial can set a PIN and then others need to use the PIN to join. The room is released when everyone disconnects. I've had no problems using a confrence room. Most of them are empty most of the time as most people simply call user to user.
http://ekiga.org/
Their phone is not tied to their service. You can use it on Microsoft communicator if you wish using the conference protocol instead of SIP.
It is more than a publicity stunt. I skipped college. That did not mean I skipped a continuing education. I leaned electronics as a hobby. I went into the Navy out of high school into the advanced electronics program and continued my education. I took and passed the Apprentice and Journeyman ISCET exams.
http://www.iscet.org/
I leaned refrigeration while working cryptology as we avoided bringing in outside contractors into classified spaces (huge shutdown of operations to do so). Again lots of book learning, mostly from Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning book. This is pretty much the Bible on the subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Refrigeration-Air-Conditioning-18th/dp/B003R243YW
Not paying for a student loan made the lower starting wages quite livable. I now work in research and development. Employers do want to know your education. They also want to know your experience.
Listing pro audio, broadcast TV and radio transmitter studio and transmitter service, ISCET certification, Navy advanced electronics program and such has given me some jobs that inexperienced college graduated did not get.
College graduates saddled with student loans are finding it a hard time to land jobs. Check the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glzuTXLzUFs
It does make sense. Even in economic downturns, I have not needed unemployment insurance.
For the Linux netbook crowd, they are not the intended consumer. They (we) are the cheap ones who would bring their own movies and use the sneakernet with thumb drives to exchange movies in flight.
The airlines are after the rich who can afford the latest tablet and not a sub $300 Costco special.
Buy low sell high. Too many people sell low and buy high because it is rising only to finally sell when it is low.
Yeah, the market will do stupid things in the short term (here meaning periods less than about 10 years), and you can make money based on those movements.
I love a stupid market. It's how a few become rich. If everyone did the exact same thing, the market would move very little and it would be hard to make a buck. As the market moves up, the sell orders would pour in correcting the rise. As the market moves down the buy orders would pour in correcting the fall.
Go counter to the market. Buy during a selloff and sell during a bubble. It isn't difficult.
No, My kids will inherit it.
When you have inflated money due to the large amount of worthless paper, it is still hard to get anyone motivated to make the bread. In hyperinflation the wheelbarrows of printed money came from somewhere. As it was mass produced, and was less accepted, unemployment ran high, money was worthless, and nobody made the bread to put on the store shelves.
Some bread was made but it was barter as another economy trading goods and services grew in favor instead of truckloads of money that could not buy anything.
http://junksilver.com/history-of-the-collapse-of-fiat-paper-currencies.html
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fKeKEf4ylyU/Sal9gmRdA2I/AAAAAAAAACU/O3JO8HXtLZE/s1600/Weimar-Republic-Lady-Using-Money-To-Heat-Home-1923.jpg
I'm thinking it is to pay for the 4 years in the state hotel system they run. Somebody has to pay for that. Add in the lost income from him not paying taxes for 4 years and the 1.5 Million is pretty cheap.
It is likely that after 4 years he is judgment proof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_proof