(as explicitly enumerated in the article) no appeals process
This is a private company. You don't like the appeals process? Tough luck. You signed the contract. This is not the government, from which you have a right to expect an appeals process. It might not be good customer service, but it's completely legit.
no notification before the money is withdrawn from your account
We can't assume that from the story. Some other part of the contract might have stipulated an automatic charge to your credit card.
how much should be withdrawn is solely up to the judgement of the rental agency
See the first point above. You signed the contract.
You're on sounder ground with insufficient disclosure (the wording provided in the story doesn't explicitly link speeding to monitoring by the GPS device) and "jumping" position as you switch satelites (something that the morons of this company should have considered before instituting the policy.
But overall, you have to live by the rules of a contract. Didn't read it carefully? That's your problem -- you should have rented elsewhere.
Despite the rant above about how no one should use a graphical accounting package ala QuickBooks for running their business, that's reality bub. Mod up this comment because it's right on for what's necessary to gain more acceptance of free software in the office.
I'd suggest you touch base with several other organizations that are doing similar work around the country, including:
The Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco, which is training adults for jobs in Internet industries. They will probably be familiar with local groups doing stuff for kids locally.
Playing to Win A long-time New York organization providing computer training in East Harlem. Director Mara Rose is particularly helpful.
The National Urban Technology Center, Inc. which has developed a curriculum for 4th graders to be taught at neighborhood computer centers in New York. Pat Bransford was the president last summer and very helpful.
United Neighborhood Houses of New York, Inc. which is running a tech program at 8 community housing projects in New York City. Director of the information technology initiative is Michael Roberts.
Also, you might as well go directly to the Borg. The Gates Learning Foundation was set up to fund efforts like this. They are probably an excellent source for finding groups that have already been working on curricula.
We're spending billions of dollars (a big chunk of our GDP) on national defense.
Ahem. According to this morning's NY Times, Bush proposed a defense budget for next year of $310.5B. His budget projects GDP for next year of $10.9T. That means defense will be less than 3% of GDP -- which the Wall Street Journal claims is the lowest level since Pearl Harbor.
In absolute terms, you're right. It's a huge amount. But not relative to GDP.
This doesn't surprise me, really. I interviewed Mark Allen of Tut Systems -- the developers of the home phone networking technology now under the HPNA standard. He feels that copper in the home will eventually support home networks of 1 Gbps -- not shabby.
Given that the phone company controls the entire length of the copper run to your home, they should be able to boost this stuff up to support 60 channels or more -- regardless of whether it's worth watching or not.
While I appreciate that you're trying to do research on Open Source, I'm concerned when you cite the lack of material in reputable academic journals. Reputable according to whom?
Sure, the concept of Open Source recognizes experts, but it implies that the expertise will be acknowledged on the basis of merit rather than by publication in a particular journal. That's a perspective that runs contrary to the traditions of academia -- but a crucial part of the Open Source ethos that you better get your arms around if you want to produce something worthwhile.
A fully configurable BIOS -- graphical or command line, your choice -- is really the core of a truly open system. Problem is, most of us still run on AMI or some other closed source BIOS. (Don't even get me started about my experiences with Microid Research's MR BIOS upgrade. The product may be great, but my experience with the company was a nightmare.)
If you're interested, take a look at the work of the folks at the Open BIOS project. They're seem to be mainly talk at this point, but the wishlist is acting as a discussion group right now and there's an ongoing debate between lots of features and a minimalist approach.
I'll admit that I'm a graphical weenie (personally, I'd prefer a Mac-like experience from the get-go), but if more developers got involved, we could all have our choice.
You'd think that content producers for CNN would figure out that this is the way at least *some* voters -- say 3,530,377 -- might be interested in viewing the data.
Slashdot Mirror
Only three of your points are valid:
(as explicitly enumerated in the article) no appeals process
This is a private company. You don't like the appeals process? Tough luck. You signed the contract. This is not the government, from which you have a right to expect an appeals process. It might not be good customer service, but it's completely legit.
no notification before the money is withdrawn from your account
We can't assume that from the story. Some other part of the contract might have stipulated an automatic charge to your credit card.
how much should be withdrawn is solely up to the judgement of the rental agency
See the first point above. You signed the contract.
You're on sounder ground with insufficient disclosure (the wording provided in the story doesn't explicitly link speeding to monitoring by the GPS device) and "jumping" position as you switch satelites (something that the morons of this company should have considered before instituting the policy.
But overall, you have to live by the rules of a contract. Didn't read it carefully? That's your problem -- you should have rented elsewhere.
Despite the rant above about how no one should use a graphical accounting package ala QuickBooks for running their business, that's reality bub. Mod up this comment because it's right on for what's necessary to gain more acceptance of free software in the office.
I'd suggest you touch base with several other organizations that are doing similar work around the country, including:
The Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco, which is training adults for jobs in Internet industries. They will probably be familiar with local groups doing stuff for kids locally.
Playing to Win A long-time New York organization providing computer training in East Harlem. Director Mara Rose is particularly helpful.
The National Urban Technology Center, Inc. which has developed a curriculum for 4th graders to be taught at neighborhood computer centers in New York. Pat Bransford was the president last summer and very helpful.
United Neighborhood Houses of New York, Inc. which is running a tech program at 8 community housing projects in New York City. Director of the information technology initiative is Michael Roberts.
Also, you might as well go directly to the Borg. The Gates Learning Foundation was set up to fund efforts like this. They are probably an excellent source for finding groups that have already been working on curricula.
There's also this NASA page that lists times for ISS sightings in more than 3,000 cities worldwide.
We're spending billions of dollars (a big chunk of our GDP) on national defense.
Ahem. According to this morning's NY Times, Bush proposed a defense budget for next year of $310.5B. His budget projects GDP for next year of $10.9T. That means defense will be less than 3% of GDP -- which the Wall Street Journal claims is the lowest level since Pearl Harbor.
In absolute terms, you're right. It's a huge amount. But not relative to GDP.
Oh, like Amish barn raisings should be declared illegal because they threaten the innovation of contractors across our great land.
At least his comments tell us one thing: Microsoft's on the run and they don't have a clue about how to deal with open source.
This doesn't surprise me, really. I interviewed Mark Allen of Tut Systems -- the developers of the home phone networking technology now under the HPNA standard. He feels that copper in the home will eventually support home networks of 1 Gbps -- not shabby.
Given that the phone company controls the entire length of the copper run to your home, they should be able to boost this stuff up to support 60 channels or more -- regardless of whether it's worth watching or not.
...why don't they just list Jupiter as a failed star?
...rather than reputable academic journals...
While I appreciate that you're trying to do research on Open Source, I'm concerned when you cite the lack of material in reputable academic journals. Reputable according to whom?
Sure, the concept of Open Source recognizes experts, but it implies that the expertise will be acknowledged on the basis of merit rather than by publication in a particular journal. That's a perspective that runs contrary to the traditions of academia -- but a crucial part of the Open Source ethos that you better get your arms around if you want to produce something worthwhile.
If you're interested, take a look at the work of the folks at the Open BIOS project. They're seem to be mainly talk at this point, but the wishlist is acting as a discussion group right now and there's an ongoing debate between lots of features and a minimalist approach.
I'll admit that I'm a graphical weenie (personally, I'd prefer a Mac-like experience from the get-go), but if more developers got involved, we could all have our choice.
Based on incomplete precinct info posted this a.m. on CNN, the totals were:
Gore: 47,099,608
Bush: 46,541,294
Nader: 2,563,242
Buchanan: 420,351
Browne: 369,118
Phillips: 97,039
Hagelin: 80,627
You'd think that content producers for CNN would figure out that this is the way at least *some* voters -- say 3,530,377 -- might be interested in viewing the data.