I have not seen this on the IMDB goofs page (there isn't one yet) but when they took off in the private plane after exiting the particle accelerator, the numbers were N3973F, and when they landed at the base embedded in the mountain, the numbers were N3095C? I'm not sure the last number is correct, as I was so stunned by this continuity error. The N30 and C are correct, but don't remember the other two digits - N30??C.
Or maybe they had a layover with a plane change?:)
Can some of our aviation oriented friends on/. maybe tell us who those planes belong to or how to look that up? Just curious.
I own a tivo and I proselytize it to anyone who will listen. It's truly a great product. I own no stock in tivo, am not employed by them and stand to make no profit from my efforts. I just like the damn things. I think they're wonderful and that others just might love them as much as I do.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with a Segway that a US $500.00 price tag wouldn't fix. You know damn well that a *significant* percentage of/. readers would jump all over that price point and you'd see them ridden and promoted everywhere. Hell there might be enough critical mass to oppose local well-meaning but obstructionist officials who attempt to limit their use.
Or, on the downside, maybe 'dubya' is so pissed at having fallen off of one in public view that there will be a federal law prohibiting their use everywhere in the US, Afghanistan, Iraq and other US possessions. We'll just have to watch how that cookie crumbles.
Linux users (for example) are known to keep aging computer hardware useful long after it was left for dead by its former Windows using owner. The open source community consistently manages to squeeze every last ounce of processing power from even the most aged hardware available.
The fastest machines in my house are two PII-400 boxen being used as primary workstation and server running RH9. They do everything I want them to do. And BTW, they were given to me for free. The other server is a P233 on an AT motherboard.
Similarly, Mac users are known to keep their computers as primary productivity tools until the gears fall off.
Right again, but even better. 1 - iMac 333, 1 - iMac 233, 1 - 8500, 1 - 7600, 1 - PB1400c-166, 1 - PB165c, and, recently acquired from the fine dumpster outside my apartment, a 6100-66/DOS all in working shape and useful in one way or another. Oh yeah, a pair of 6100-66's loaned to friends.
The only MS stuff in the house is a Compaq EVO laptop from work running W2K.
I'd say thay pretty well supports oscast's argument of market-share vs. installed-base. And I'm sure there are many here who could provide similar stats. The real question is - how can we be counted?
Isn't it ironic that "one world order" is the fear of the John Birch society and a US republican administration is trying to bring it about? (It has always been my impression that the interests of the Birchers and the republicans and the religious right in the U.S. have been similar.) I guess that their peception is that one world order is ok if the U.S. is running it.
It's also ironic that the republicans have been the party that asserts that government shouldn't interfere in people's personal lives and privacy and then has members (Rick Santorum), hires cabinet members (Ashcroft), and promotes laws (PATRIOT ACT,TIA, PATRIOT II, and many more) which do exactly that.
Of course what can we expect when we are told that cutting taxes brings in more revenue?
You can have my Tivo when you take it from my cold, dead hands. Tivo owners are as fanatic about their product as Mac users and we see how well attacks, spin, and rumors have worked against Apple. As Mark Twain said, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
If this was proposed in my state, I would fight it vigorously with mail, email, phone calls and visits to my state legislators, and attempt to organize others.
can you? I think this is the biggest practical joke I've seen in years, but they missed April 1 by a little more than a month.
This can't be serious because of all the obvious issues and problems that have been discussed both humorously and seriously ad nauseum in previous posts. Hygiene, hardware durability, monopolizing the facility, etc.
... unless they're planning to charge per minute for it... hmmm, we have a long history of pay toilets...
What kind of EULA are they going to have for this? Once you use their facility, you can't use any other toilet unless it's an MS approved toilet? They already want your first born male child, do they now want all your offal as well?
You mean people actually read mail with something other than pine or another c/l app? Amazing.:)
If it's html based, it goes in the trash. If people want to speak with me, they have to do it politely and without all the flashing, blinking, spying, etc. It's incredible how little spam gets through.
Wanna send me a picture? Attach it. If it's grandma, she'll call after a while and I can tell her how to config whatever windoze she's using to be polite and universal.
Yes, my position is arrogant, but if you can't be arrogant on/., where can you be? And I haven't had anyone tell me I have a small penis for a long time... the girls already know it and I never hear about it from the spammers.:)
You've hit the nail right on its head. I wish I had moderator points right now. Of course, I couldn't use them because I just posted this to this article, which leans a little more to the philosophical than the political, but is still right on the same track.
A quote from my post: I'd like to see movies serve only as temporary relief from the need to think critically, but I fear that with our increased consumption they are becoming a training tool to eliminate critical thinking, or perhaps to desensitise us to how uncritically we approach daily life. After all, an uncritically thinking electorate is a malleable electorate
But you've conveyed the message in a more concise and insightful way than I could have. Kudos to you!
Since when is "willful suspension of disbelief" uncommon? How many times a day do we already do this, and why?
It's not at all uncommon, and almost everyone engages in it many times during each and every day. The interesting part is the why. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I will fling a little conjecture...
Like the case where the current administration convinces a significant portion of the US population through spin, fear, implication and misinformation that at least some of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis when all physical and factual evidence is to the contrary?
Or like when the US population is told that cutting taxes (income) results in more income; and some believe it?
I would assert that "...the mental/philosophical 'construct' we use every day..." is even larger and more fascinating than the "construct" used in the movie because it affects actual real human beings in life and death situations. The suspension of disbelief about the facts of the 9/11 hijackings has lead to the deaths of thousands of human beings. I can't think of a movie that has actually caused that yet (although I'm open to hearing arguments and examples.)
But these examples of how constructs affect life and death are minor compared to the more pervasive and more deadly willful suspension of disbelief inherent in the human psychological construct of "faith." (How ironic that this discussion comes up on the eve of the Christian Easter and just after the Jewish Passover.)
Christians are taught that Jesus died and came back to life. Like Neo? Ok, the difference is that Neo was dead 3 minutes, not 3 days. I'm more likely to suspend my disbelief for Neo as this has been a verifiable and observed fact in present day medical science. But three days is not within the realm of my willing suspension of disbelief.
The thing that really gets me is the intensity of the willful suspension of disbelief in the case of religious belief systems and the murder and mayhem that has been, and continues to be, done as a result. The real question is the why, and that seems to take us squarely into the realm of psychology.
What motivates someone to accept what they are told without additional critical thought and then to act upon it to the extent of ending the life of another or making decisions that are ultimately harmful to themselves?
It may be fear. Fear of some (also unproven) eternal damnation after the end of thier own life. (In the case of faith.) Or fear of the ending of their life. (In the case of the spin and manipulation regarding the 'terrorist threat' and who is responsible.)
It may be out of a desire to belong, a sense of identification with an accepting group, or a desire to gain approval of others. (This applies to both religious and ideological/nationalistic structures.)
It may be a lack of critical thinking skills, or a lack of information. (As in your example of the flat earth or sun revolves around the earth.) These reasons may have made sense during the middle-ages, but not today.
It may be self-delusion or self-denial.
Or it may just be general studidity.
In any case, I don't have the answers, and I accept that the motivations may be different for each individual. I just know that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief without being given some reason grounded in the basics of physics, natural laws, truth, or at least something that doesn't blatantly fly in the face of common sense (ok, I know that it's not all that common).
I'll cut a little more slack in my suspension of disbelief about the motivations of people as I know there are a wide range of human responses, but it's still disturbing when those motivations are not consistent over time or explained by some changing event. In the case of movies, I'll also cut some slack if it's intended to be camp, fantasy, or is really, really entertaining.
The suspension of disbelief in movies is certainly less significant than in day-to-
What Oregon needs is a state income tax. But it should only be on incomes over $1 million a year, no exemptions, no deductions, no hiding the income in trusts, etc. How's that for progressive? Maybe it could set a precedent for the feds.
"It raises a lot of serious concerns and is troubling as a generic matter that they have gotten this far along and tell people that there is nothing in the works. What that suggests is that they're waiting for a propitious time to introduce it, which might well be when a war is begun. At that time there would be less opportunity for discussion and they'll have a much stronger hand in saying that they need these right away."
This has been the tactic of the Bush administration from the very beginning - control and timing of information to maximize spin and reduce adverse effects on the administration's goals. Yes, other administrations have done this, but this one has an incredible mastery of it. Or are we just not paying attention? The author of this article "gets it."
I've got a hundred dollar bill that says that, even though we've already seen the first drafts of what they propose, it won't be sent to lawmakers until the war starts... or ends. And there is going to be a war, Bush needs it to prop up his approval ratings. And he has to have it now, Next year will be too close to the election.
If it started next year and dragged on into the time of the elections, it could be a benefit for him as the people don't usually like to change administrations in the middle of a war. But if it went badly, there wouldn't be enough time to spin it positively before the election. But this year is perfect. If it goes well, he will be "the war-time president that kept us safe from those dirty terrorists." If it goes badly, the people will forget or at least the emotional intensity about it will fade by election time. (BTW, regards the 'dirty terrorists' issue, there was a poll conducted (not by salon, but by the Princeton Survey Research Associates) that said that 50% of the American public believed that one or more of the 9/11 hijackers was an Iraqi, 33% didn't answer and only 17% knew the truth that none were. - That's how well the spin and disinformation works.)
The chief architect of the administration's PR, spin and disinformation organization is Karl Rove, one of the members of Richard Nixon's dirty tricks squad and a long-time political strategist who has been a consultant on many campaigns over the years. There is a good article here that describes Rove's tactics.
The key points of this strategy are:
Use whatever excuse is available at the time to justify the administration's long-term ideological agenda. That's what we're talking about here.
Count on the American public's (and the media's) inability to remember anything from one year to the next. Ok, pop quiz. Who remembers that in the debates Bush said that the military should not be used for 'nation building'? Sort of like what we're doing in Afghanistan and about to do in Iraq?
Keep everything under wraps. J. H. Hatfield's book Fortunate Son - The Making of an American President (70,000+ copies of the uncomplimentary biography suggesting Bush's cocaine conviction were recalled by the publisher and shredded at the reqest of the Bush campaign. Hatfield himself turned up dead a few months later. I had a helluva time finding any information on that. The book is still available here but it's not on the newsstands or in bookstores.) Dick Cheney's energy task force - the court has ordered him to turn over the list of the attendees (not even the notes) and the administration is still fighting it. Not a document has been produced yet. Just the list of attendees eems sort of innocuous, doesn't it? Jose Padilla, the 'dirty bomber'? (See more below on this.)
Cut embarrassing players loose and pretend they're exceptions. Harvey Pitt resigning on the eve of the election. Trent Lott stepping down as Senate majority leader after failing to get the backing of the White House.
And as an example of the biggest threat to our hard-fought constitutional rights, does anyone remember the "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla? He had been in custody for some time before Ashcroft announced his alleged activities and his arrest. Ashcroft made the announcement on the day that FBI agent Coleen Rowley was scheduled to give a press conference to discuss her observation of failures in intelligence analysis that might have helped the FBI uncover the 9/11 hijacking plan. Without question, this was timed to steal the media attention from her press conference.
On the same day, the administration labeled Padilla an "enemy combatant" and had him moved from the civillian justice system (a New Jersey jail) to a military brig in North Carolina where he remains to this day with no contact from his attorney. His attorney has attempted to file a writ of habeus corpus on his behalf, but has been prevented from doing so because the writ must be signed by the defendent who she can't get in to see! (Sorry, it's realaudio but worth the listen) In effect, the administration has suspended habeus corpus, a 700 year legal tradition and one of the foundations (some say *the foundation*) of modern jurisprudence.
Many noble and honorable people have died to protect the freedoms that this administration is removing wholesale. The oft repeated Ben Franklin quote is right on the mark: The examples of Israel and Ireland have long proved that you can not "win a war on terrorism." And removing the very freedoms that the administration claims are the reason that the terrorists "hate us so much" results in a win for the terrorists. How about removing instead the real reasons that many in the Islamic world are opposed to the United States; forced exportation of our culture, religion and business interests to other countries through globalization and our interference in their affairs. The path we are on can only reduce our freedoms and turn more people of this Islamic world against us.
We need PATRIOT II like we need a damn hole in the head. I'm really concerned about the state of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in this country and I'm not sure who I should be more afraid of, George Bush, John Ashcroft or Karl Rove. I'm certainly more afraid of them than I am of terrorists.
Ok, I've got my Nomex undies on, flame away. But if you must, don't just label me a liberal, commie, pinko hippie, counter my logic or refute my facts. I'm not trying to be a troll, just covering my ass.:)
I am getting so tired of spin, lies and Orwellian doublespeak. Apparently the truth is an endangered species today. Or maybe I should be offended that corporations believe that we are stupid or incapable of critical thought.
I saw an essay by Arianna Huffington on Salon regarding this very subject just a few weeks ago (December 17.)
From the essay:
"Things only got worse the next morning when, while reading the New York Times, I came across not one, but two examples of apostrophes being put in the wrong place -- including one in a column by my hero, Paul Krugman."
"Flummoxed, I got ahold of the New York Times' manual of style and, to my horror, discovered that the paper's rash of apostrophe errors had not been the result of sloppy copy-editing but a conscious executive decision to ignore the rules of proper punctuation."
So, if Ms. Huffington is correct, the NYTSG does indeed allow it's authors to debase the language. While the New York Times may be a respected publication, and might even be considered some form of authority, I'd be inclined to stay with the established rules of grammar and punctuation that have served us well for a very long time (e.g. Strunk & White.)
She also covers the pluralization of acronyms, and lays out the (proper and generally accepted) rules quite clearly. And this comes from a person for whom english is not her first language.
Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was sixteen and graduated from Cambridge University with a M.A. in Economics. At twenty-one she became President of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union.
I would say her credentials are quite respectable.
The placement of an apostrophe has been a pet peeve of mine for quite a while with the most egregious offense lately being the title of the movie "Bridget Jones's Diary". Or maybe that just the british way of doing things...
We've got to keep people on their toes, or Mr Twain's vision may indeed come to pass. Of course, it might just be easier to switch to Esperanto.
Not being really sharp on description by lat and long, where the heck is the observatory? Maybe one you fellow/.ers who is smarter about these things can tell me.
I am very much in favor of progressive taxation. How many houses can one make use of? How many cars can one drive? How much food can one eat?
Progessive taxation is allegedly written in law here in the U.S., but it doesn't actually work.
The loopholes in tax law allow the wealthy to avoid any actual progressive effect of taxation. Dollar for dollar, individuals making millions per year pay less than middle class families as they are able to manipulate the rules for their benefit. The gap between rich and poor has only grown in the last 30 years.
And how have the wealthy been able to do this? They bought the legislators and therby the necessary loopholes in the law.
The timing of this problem is interesting. A few years back, we had the problem of the one-click patent and the fact that Amazon used it to disrupt the christmas sales of Barnes and Noble. It seems that the one-click thing became a less pressing problem on December 26. Although I can't remember the specifics of other events, it sticks in my mind that other ploys used to disrupt competitors businesses have been timed to screw with the christmas season.
I know that the people being DOS'ed by Amazon are defined as 'affiliates', but maybe Amazon percieves 'affiliates' in the same way Microsoft percieves 'partners'; people to use and then buy or destroy. How much you wanna bet that this problem goes away after christmas? Of course, the claim will be that it was brought to their attention and it was fixed, but the timing of the whole thing is very suspicious. Perhaps this was the plan all along.
In these days of slim margins in business, maybe Amazon figures the average internet user is smart enough to figure that it their preferred site is slow, they will go directly to Amazon for their purchase and Amazon would be able to avoid reimbursement of their 'affiliate' for the sale.
Has this problem been going on, but been unnoticed for a while, or did it just start? I'm no consipiracy theorist, but the elements seem to be there for this to have been intentional and the timing is very suspicious. Why couldn't they have done this last month, or the month before if they're just checking for outdated links? Am I out in left field with this idea?
Anyway... just a different perspective and some food for thought.
Why not the department of Domestic Security? The word is even in the preamble to the constitution - "... insure domestic tranquility..."
I'll tell you why. Because it doesn't sound as warm and fuzzy. The people who came up with "Homeland" did a lot of research. Probably even more research than is put into the search for a new business names. There were probably psychologists and sociologists and focus groups - sworn to secrecy of course. "Domestic" sounds sterile and abstract, although entirely accurate. "Homeland" is a middle-america, bread-basket term. "Keep the home fires burning", "gotta protect the 'home'". "Fatherland" would have pissed off the women - besides it's already been taken. Also remember that this was aimed at the average sixth grade level of the population.
Just like you said, we americans don't have a "homeland". That's a term for a place where the people have lived continuously for many, many centuries. I don't think the two centuries we have been here counts. And besides, this is the "homeland" of the indigenous peoples who were here for centuries before we arrived\invaded\committed genocide on the previous inhabitants. I don't feel comfortable calling them "indians" as that name came from a navigational\perception error and "native americans" is another term imposed by the conquering people. Why should people already here name themselves after Amerigo Vespucci, a spanish invader?
And before I get people observing that domestic security doesn't cover those americans who might reside in another country, homeland doesn't cover it either. There may be a better description to include that, but I'm sure that those who made the decision were not nearly as concerned about accuracy as they were about spin.
The phrase "Homeland Security" pisses me off. The way Dubya says 'nuk-u-lur' pisses me off. (Actually I'm embarrassed for my country every time I hear him say it incorrectly)And the references to a (permanent - see George Orwell's 1984) "War on Terrorism" piss me off. The attacks on 9/11 were not a declaration of war, only countries can do that. They were criminal acts perpetrated by and organized group. We have plenty of laws, both domestic (RICO, etc.) and international that cover that. But to call it a criminal act and hunt down the conspirators would not have furthered the administrations agenda of restricting the constitutional rights of americans and making the middle east safe for an american pipeline to bring oil from the Balkans to the Atlantic. Is there anyone still naive enough to think that this is not about oil and american imperialism? When will we stop letting our leaders do this to us? Actually there is a really good article here about why we buy it and do it to ourselves. It talks about the 'strict father' mode of communication (Obediance to authority - Conservative\Bush) vs. the 'nurturant parent' mode (Empathy and helping others -Progressive\Clinton, for example) and how they drive the american psyche. It's worth a read.
The actions in Korea and Viet Nam were not about human rights or freeing people, they were about industry and furthering a political agenda - wiping out 'communism'. The equivalent of an ideological pissing contest. (This info for the benefit of/. readers who are not students of history or may be too young to remember.) The first Gulf War? Not about 'freeing Kuwaitis', but about oil. Why are we going after Iraq? It has nothing to do with terrorism or security. (If the administration were really worried about who potentially has a nuclear weapon, we would be going after North Korea which has stated that it has a nuclear weapons program. And they're part of the spun-for-bloodlust-creating Axis Of Evil. Remember that one kiddies?)
Nope, Iraq is all about oil and Daddy's wounded pride. In addition to having the one of the worlds largest reserves of oil, it's the next place where we need to put a pipeline. And don't forget that Saddam put out a contract on George Bush the first. And that Bush the first took a lot of heat about not going on into Baghdad and Removing Saddam. He took the heat even though the greatest minds of the time said it was better for middle east and world stability to leave him there.
The U.S. action with the U.N. in Bosnia and Kosovo were primarily humanitarian actions. And under whose administration did they take place? Yup, Clinton. If there had been a republican administration in power at that time, we would not have helped. Bosnia and Kosovo have no oil or natural resources that american companies can make a profit from. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Republican administrations go to war for business and political interests, Democrats go to war for humanitarian interests. Personally, I know which one I prefer - if it has to happen at all.
I'm sorry if this has been a rant and off-topic (sort-of), but I just had to vent. Mod me down if you must, but engage me in discussion if you can. That is the very essence of our freedom.
...Microsoft shall charge each Covered OEM the applicable royalty for Windows Operating System Products as set forth on a schedule, to be established by Microsoft and published on a web site accessible to the Plaintiffs...
The Plaintiffs were the USDOJ. I am a US citizen and they were acting on my behalf, therefore I am a plaintiff. I want to see the price schedule.
Any lawyers out there looking for a challenge?
Mortgage points and auto loan 'doc prep fees'
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"Homeowners look at interest rates and points, but they don't spend a lot of time comparing other fees that make up the closing costs -- even though a lot of money is on the table."
Points have always pissed me off. Points are extortion charged by the lender to convince them to make you a loan - even if you have good credit. Another little advantage to this scheme is that they are the equivalent of interest charged up front. Each point is equal to 1/8 of a percent of interest on the loan amount, and it's paid up front.
The real trick is that it's the equivalent of that interest rate charged over the life of the loan. This would be fine if you kept the loan over the full 30 year (or whatever) term. However, based on turnover and people selling, moving, etc., the average loan is only kept for 7 years. Therefore the effective interest rate increase can be many times higher.
Considering the cost of homes and the amount loaned, this can be many thousands of dollars that you get screwed out of.
Bottom line: unless you're going to keep the loan over it's full term, never pay points. It's just not worth it. Take a slightly higher interest rate up front. Of course, YMMV so check it out and do some math based on the how long you expect be in that particular home and loan.
Another one is "document prep fees" when buying a car. This one is for filling out the form and processing the title at the MVD/DMV. This can run into the hundreds of dollars and it represents a few minutes writing your name and address on a form and writing a check to your local MVD/DMV office. Sure you might wait in line a while, but the folks there generally try to be helpful and can certainly tell you what you need to get titled and licensed. Is $300 - 400 worth eliminating the (maybe) frustration of that process? Personally, I'd ask for the MSO (Manufacteror's Statement of Origin) and do my own title work (with the help of the MVD/DMV clerk if necessary.)
I used to live in Kingman, Az. There is a large airport there that was used during WWII that has long runways. There was also a company at the airport that flew decommissioned planes in and stripped all saleable parts. There were always more than a dozen planes there.
I had the idea back then that I might be able to buy a stripped fuselage for the scrap value. Never did find out how much that would be, but I had some ideas about how to use one of them as a home. I would like to have been able to buy one of the widebodies. I never thought about putting one up on a post to swivel, but the following are two ideas that I had.
First, I thought that I might coat the exterior to prevent corrosion, remove all wings and stabalizers and bury it. Not completely, but about 80 - 90%, just enough so that I could put skylights along the length of the top. Using an L-1011 for example (interior dimensions of 18' x 135'), would give over 2400 square feet of living area not counting any of the below-deck stuff like luggage, galley, or storage areas.
It would already have bathroom facilities (well, toilet and sink anyway, you'd have to add a full bath somewhere) and a heating/cooling system. The 18' width would also give more options for the layout of rooms and other divided areas. This would be earth-sheltered and since (I believe) these are well insulated, it would not require much heating and cooling.
Entry would be through a stairwell down to any entry door one would choose, or, with the right lot, maybe the terrain would provide for a ground level entry with the rest of the structure earth-sheltered. I figured that it could be done for not much more than a conventional home.
The second idea was a little more involved but would make for a real artistic curiosity. Purchase the aircraft including wings and all stabalizers. Purchase a piece of land which is a hillside, preferably which breaks on two sides. Land of this type is somewhat less desirable than a flat piece which is easy to build on so it would likely be cheaper. This might be hard to visualize, but I'm no artist, so the concept is only in my head. This will all make sense at the end of the description.
Make most of the living space of your home inside the hill, underground. Hollow out living areas, make sure it is supported just like a horizontal shaft mine - think NORAD but without the bomb shelter capacity (unless you've got a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket.)
The primary shaft would be on both sides of the hillside and then another perpendicular to the first shaft. Cut loose the front section of the fuselage with the cockpit and put it in one end. Cut loose the tail with the vertical and horizontal stabalizers and put in the other end. Have a doorway out of the perpedicular shaft and anchor one of the wings (appropriate one) at the door and supported horizontally out into the air away from the hillside.
The end result is to have it appear that the entire aircraft is imbedded in the hillside. The wing is a patio, the cockpit could be a breakfast nook and the tail could house the bathrooms and heating/cooling equipment, etc. If the terrain were right, you could even have a pool partially shaded from the sun under the wing.
I had the idea back in a time when the feds weren't under republican control, so I figured I might even be able to get a National Endowment for the Arts grant or maybe even a National Science Foundation grant to defray some of the cost, as this would be much more costly than the first option.
Well,/. is about sharing ideas, so if you've got the resources, have at it. Just be sure to post some pics and an URL. If someone actually does this I sure would like to see it - either option.
Most of our leaders (yes, both sides of the aisle) have no sense of shame and apparently, no conscience. This is clearly visible from their recent and current actions.
"Resign in disgrace"? No such thing here in the US. A phrase you'd be more likely to hear from these people would be "You will pry this job and this power from my cold, dead hands."
We still have checks and balances, only in a different form. You write the check and we'll tip the balance in your favor. I don't think that's what the framers of the constitution had in mind.
At Comdex, a long time ago (maybe as much as 10 years), I stopped by a booth that had this wonderful new technology - an external hard drive which was made entirely of RAM! Current hard drive quantities of RAM(don't remember the exact capacity, but it was significant.) And it was only $15,000 (comparable drive space at the time was one tenth the price.) Wow! (Ok, sarcasm off)
I asked that man what would happen if the power was lost. He said that the box had a battery and a hard drive of the RAM capacity inside. If the power was lost, the battery would power it long enough to write all the data to the hard drive. I asked what the advantage was over a regular hard drive. He said access speed and no moving parts. Ok, great benefit, but it didn't seem the value was there for 10x the cost of a drive itself. Anyone remember this?
I started waiting years ago for someone to come up with a board where I could plug in all those 256k, 30 pin SIMMs that we took out of the Mac Plus' when we upgraded them to 4 MB of memory so I could use them for storage. Never happened (that I know). Now I'm waiting for the same thing for this ever mounting stack of 4, 8, 16 and even 32MB, 72 pin SIMMs.
Where is the real innovation? I mean, our favored OS here can run well on all this old hardware - 486 and the like, but where are the little trinkets for us cheap SOB's like me? I just want a 5 1/4 external case with a 25 pin D connector that will connect to my SCSI card. The board inside should have jillions of 72 pin SIMM sockets (in pairs is ok, multi-level board is ok) and a connector for an old ATAPI 2 or 3 Gig laptop drive. The case should have room for a little battery to do what that really expensive drive could do years ago to backup in case of a power failure. Hell, I'd even pay 50 bucks or so for it. Any takers?
I'm not an EE so I'm not up to making it myself, but someone out there would consider it a fun project...
You know, reuse, recycle, make the world a better place. I don't want to have to throw out all this memory or sell it for a quarter a stick. I guess I could use the dremel tool, drill little holes in them and make geek earrings, but I don't wanna have to do that either.
If anyone has any ideas, lemme know.:)
BTW, no need to call me a cheap SOB luddite, I already did that...
Slashdot Mirror
I have not seen this on the IMDB goofs page (there isn't one yet) but when they took off in the private plane after exiting the particle accelerator, the numbers were N3973F, and when they landed at the base embedded in the mountain, the numbers were N3095C? I'm not sure the last number is correct, as I was so stunned by this continuity error. The N30 and C are correct, but don't remember the other two digits - N30??C.
:)
/. maybe tell us who those planes belong to or how to look that up? Just curious.
Or maybe they had a layover with a plane change?
Can some of our aviation oriented friends on
Of course, when all you've got is a design firm, pretty soon everything looks like a brightly colored, round cornered box. :)
"Mac and Linux user exclusively (at home anyway) for 12 years."
I own a tivo and I proselytize it to anyone who will listen. It's truly a great product. I own no stock in tivo, am not employed by them and stand to make no profit from my efforts. I just like the damn things. I think they're wonderful and that others just might love them as much as I do.
/. readers would jump all over that price point and you'd see them ridden and promoted everywhere. Hell there might be enough critical mass to oppose local well-meaning but obstructionist officials who attempt to limit their use.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with a Segway that a US $500.00 price tag wouldn't fix. You know damn well that a *significant* percentage of
Or, on the downside, maybe 'dubya' is so pissed at having fallen off of one in public view that there will be a federal law prohibiting their use everywhere in the US, Afghanistan, Iraq and other US possessions. We'll just have to watch how that cookie crumbles.
Yup.
Linux users (for example) are known to keep aging computer hardware useful long after it was left for dead by its former Windows using owner. The open source community consistently manages to squeeze every last ounce of processing power from even the most aged hardware available.
The fastest machines in my house are two PII-400 boxen being used as primary workstation and server running RH9. They do everything I want them to do. And BTW, they were given to me for free. The other server is a P233 on an AT motherboard.
Similarly, Mac users are known to keep their computers as primary productivity tools until the gears fall off.
Right again, but even better. 1 - iMac 333, 1 - iMac 233, 1 - 8500, 1 - 7600, 1 - PB1400c-166, 1 - PB165c, and, recently acquired from the fine dumpster outside my apartment, a 6100-66/DOS all in working shape and useful in one way or another. Oh yeah, a pair of 6100-66's loaned to friends.
The only MS stuff in the house is a Compaq EVO laptop from work running W2K.
I'd say thay pretty well supports oscast's argument of market-share vs. installed-base. And I'm sure there are many here who could provide similar stats. The real question is - how can we be counted?
/s/trickle down/U.S. global hegemony/
Isn't it ironic that "one world order" is the fear of the John Birch society and a US republican administration is trying to bring it about? (It has always been my impression that the interests of the Birchers and the republicans and the religious right in the U.S. have been similar.) I guess that their peception is that one world order is ok if the U.S. is running it.
It's also ironic that the republicans have been the party that asserts that government shouldn't interfere in people's personal lives and privacy and then has members (Rick Santorum), hires cabinet members (Ashcroft), and promotes laws (PATRIOT ACT,TIA, PATRIOT II, and many more) which do exactly that.
Of course what can we expect when we are told that cutting taxes brings in more revenue?
You can have my Tivo when you take it from my cold, dead hands. Tivo owners are as fanatic about their product as Mac users and we see how well attacks, spin, and rumors have worked against Apple. As Mark Twain said, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
If this was proposed in my state, I would fight it vigorously with mail, email, phone calls and visits to my state legislators, and attempt to organize others.
can you? I think this is the biggest practical joke I've seen in years, but they missed April 1 by a little more than a month.
... unless they're planning to charge per minute for it... hmmm, we have a long history of pay toilets...
This can't be serious because of all the obvious issues and problems that have been discussed both humorously and seriously ad nauseum in previous posts. Hygiene, hardware durability, monopolizing the facility, etc.
What kind of EULA are they going to have for this? Once you use their facility, you can't use any other toilet unless it's an MS approved toilet? They already want your first born male child, do they now want all your offal as well?
This can not be serious.
You mean people actually read mail with something other than pine or another c/l app? Amazing. :)
/., where can you be? And I haven't had anyone tell me I have a small penis for a long time... the girls already know it and I never hear about it from the spammers. :)
If it's html based, it goes in the trash. If people want to speak with me, they have to do it politely and without all the flashing, blinking, spying, etc. It's incredible how little spam gets through.
Wanna send me a picture? Attach it. If it's grandma, she'll call after a while and I can tell her how to config whatever windoze she's using to be polite and universal.
Yes, my position is arrogant, but if you can't be arrogant on
You've hit the nail right on its head. I wish I had moderator points right now. Of course, I couldn't use them because I just posted this to this article, which leans a little more to the philosophical than the political, but is still right on the same track.
A quote from my post: I'd like to see movies serve only as temporary relief from the need to think critically, but I fear that with our increased consumption they are becoming a training tool to eliminate critical thinking, or perhaps to desensitise us to how uncritically we approach daily life. After all, an uncritically thinking electorate is a malleable electorate
But you've conveyed the message in a more concise and insightful way than I could have. Kudos to you!
Since when is "willful suspension of disbelief" uncommon? How many times a day do we already do this, and why?
It's not at all uncommon, and almost everyone engages in it many times during each and every day. The interesting part is the why. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I will fling a little conjecture...
Like the case where the current administration convinces a significant portion of the US population through spin, fear, implication and misinformation that at least some of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis when all physical and factual evidence is to the contrary?
Or like when the US population is told that cutting taxes (income) results in more income; and some believe it?
I would assert that "...the mental/philosophical 'construct' we use every day..." is even larger and more fascinating than the "construct" used in the movie because it affects actual real human beings in life and death situations. The suspension of disbelief about the facts of the 9/11 hijackings has lead to the deaths of thousands of human beings. I can't think of a movie that has actually caused that yet (although I'm open to hearing arguments and examples.)
But these examples of how constructs affect life and death are minor compared to the more pervasive and more deadly willful suspension of disbelief inherent in the human psychological construct of "faith." (How ironic that this discussion comes up on the eve of the Christian Easter and just after the Jewish Passover.)
Christians are taught that Jesus died and came back to life. Like Neo? Ok, the difference is that Neo was dead 3 minutes, not 3 days. I'm more likely to suspend my disbelief for Neo as this has been a verifiable and observed fact in present day medical science. But three days is not within the realm of my willing suspension of disbelief.
The thing that really gets me is the intensity of the willful suspension of disbelief in the case of religious belief systems and the murder and mayhem that has been, and continues to be, done as a result.
The real question is the why, and that seems to take us squarely into the realm of psychology.
What motivates someone to accept what they are told without additional critical thought and then to act upon it to the extent of ending the life of another or making decisions that are ultimately harmful to themselves?
It may be fear. Fear of some (also unproven) eternal damnation after the end of thier own life. (In the case of faith.) Or fear of the ending of their life. (In the case of the spin and manipulation regarding the 'terrorist threat' and who is responsible.)
It may be out of a desire to belong, a sense of identification with an accepting group, or a desire to gain approval of others. (This applies to both religious and ideological/nationalistic structures.)
It may be a lack of critical thinking skills, or a lack of information. (As in your example of the flat earth or sun revolves around the earth.) These reasons may have made sense during the middle-ages, but not today.
It may be self-delusion or self-denial.
Or it may just be general studidity.
In any case, I don't have the answers, and I accept that the motivations may be different for each individual. I just know that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief without being given some reason grounded in the basics of physics, natural laws, truth, or at least something that doesn't blatantly fly in the face of common sense (ok, I know that it's not all that common).
I'll cut a little more slack in my suspension of disbelief about the motivations of people as I know there are a wide range of human responses, but it's still disturbing when those motivations are not consistent over time or explained by some changing event. In the case of movies, I'll also cut some slack if it's intended to be camp, fantasy, or is really, really entertaining.
The suspension of disbelief in movies is certainly less significant than in day-to-
What Oregon needs is a state income tax. But it should only be on incomes over $1 million a year, no exemptions, no deductions, no hiding the income in trusts, etc. How's that for progressive? Maybe it could set a precedent for the feds.
From near the end of the article:
:)
"It raises a lot of serious concerns and is troubling as a generic matter that they have gotten this far along and tell people that there is nothing in the works. What that suggests is that they're waiting for a propitious time to introduce it, which might well be when a war is begun. At that time there would be less opportunity for discussion and they'll have a much stronger hand in saying that they need these right away."
This has been the tactic of the Bush administration from the very beginning - control and timing of information to maximize spin and reduce adverse effects on the administration's goals. Yes, other administrations have done this, but this one has an incredible mastery of it. Or are we just not paying attention? The author of this article "gets it."
I've got a hundred dollar bill that says that, even though we've already seen the first drafts of what they propose, it won't be sent to lawmakers until the war starts... or ends. And there is going to be a war, Bush needs it to prop up his approval ratings. And he has to have it now, Next year will be too close to the election.
If it started next year and dragged on into the time of the elections, it could be a benefit for him as the people don't usually like to change administrations in the middle of a war. But if it went badly, there wouldn't be enough time to spin it positively before the election. But this year is perfect. If it goes well, he will be "the war-time president that kept us safe from those dirty terrorists." If it goes badly, the people will forget or at least the emotional intensity about it will fade by election time. (BTW, regards the 'dirty terrorists' issue, there was a poll conducted (not by salon, but by the Princeton Survey Research Associates) that said that 50% of the American public believed that one or more of the 9/11 hijackers was an Iraqi, 33% didn't answer and only 17% knew the truth that none were. - That's how well the spin and disinformation works.)
The chief architect of the administration's PR, spin and disinformation organization is Karl Rove, one of the members of Richard Nixon's dirty tricks squad and a long-time political strategist who has been a consultant on many campaigns over the years. There is a good article here that describes Rove's tactics.
The key points of this strategy are:
Use whatever excuse is available at the time to justify the administration's long-term ideological agenda. That's what we're talking about here.
Count on the American public's (and the media's) inability to remember anything from one year to the next. Ok, pop quiz. Who remembers that in the debates Bush said that the military should not be used for 'nation building'? Sort of like what we're doing in Afghanistan and about to do in Iraq?
Keep everything under wraps. J. H. Hatfield's book Fortunate Son - The Making of an American President (70,000+ copies of the uncomplimentary biography suggesting Bush's cocaine conviction were recalled by the publisher and shredded at the reqest of the Bush campaign. Hatfield himself turned up dead a few months later. I had a helluva time finding any information on that. The book is still available here but it's not on the newsstands or in bookstores.) Dick Cheney's energy task force - the court has ordered him to turn over the list of the attendees (not even the notes) and the administration is still fighting it. Not a document has been produced yet. Just the list of attendees eems sort of innocuous, doesn't it? Jose Padilla, the 'dirty bomber'? (See more below on this.)
Cut embarrassing players loose and pretend they're exceptions. Harvey Pitt resigning on the eve of the election. Trent Lott stepping down as Senate majority leader after failing to get the backing of the White House.
And as an example of the biggest threat to our hard-fought constitutional rights, does anyone remember the "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla? He had been in custody for some time before Ashcroft announced his alleged activities and his arrest. Ashcroft made the announcement on the day that FBI agent Coleen Rowley was scheduled to give a press conference to discuss her observation of failures in intelligence analysis that might have helped the FBI uncover the 9/11 hijacking plan. Without question, this was timed to steal the media attention from her press conference.
On the same day, the administration labeled Padilla an "enemy combatant" and had him moved from the civillian justice system (a New Jersey jail) to a military brig in North Carolina where he remains to this day with no contact from his attorney. His attorney has attempted to file a writ of habeus corpus on his behalf, but has been prevented from doing so because the writ must be signed by the defendent who she can't get in to see! (Sorry, it's realaudio but worth the listen) In effect, the administration has suspended habeus corpus, a 700 year legal tradition and one of the foundations (some say *the foundation*) of modern jurisprudence.
Many noble and honorable people have died to protect the freedoms that this administration is removing wholesale. The oft repeated Ben Franklin quote is right on the mark: The examples of Israel and Ireland have long proved that you can not "win a war on terrorism." And removing the very freedoms that the administration claims are the reason that the terrorists "hate us so much" results in a win for the terrorists. How about removing instead the real reasons that many in the Islamic world are opposed to the United States; forced exportation of our culture, religion and business interests to other countries through globalization and our interference in their affairs. The path we are on can only reduce our freedoms and turn more people of this Islamic world against us.
We need PATRIOT II like we need a damn hole in the head. I'm really concerned about the state of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in this country and I'm not sure who I should be more afraid of, George Bush, John Ashcroft or Karl Rove. I'm certainly more afraid of them than I am of terrorists.
Ok, I've got my Nomex undies on, flame away. But if you must, don't just label me a liberal, commie, pinko hippie, counter my logic or refute my facts. I'm not trying to be a troll, just covering my ass.
Is this guy a blatant liar or just plain stupid?
I am getting so tired of spin, lies and Orwellian doublespeak. Apparently the truth is an endangered species today. Or maybe I should be offended that corporations believe that we are stupid or incapable of critical thought.
Leave us alone. Don't complicate things. Even suggesting this gives people ideas. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I saw an essay by Arianna Huffington on Salon regarding this very subject just a few weeks ago (December 17.)
From the essay:
"Things only got worse the next morning when, while reading the New York Times, I came across not one, but two examples of apostrophes being put in the wrong place -- including one in a column by my hero, Paul Krugman."
"Flummoxed, I got ahold of the New York Times' manual of style and, to my horror, discovered that the paper's rash of apostrophe errors had not been the result of sloppy copy-editing but a conscious executive decision to ignore the rules of proper punctuation."
So, if Ms. Huffington is correct, the NYTSG does indeed allow it's authors to debase the language. While the New York Times may be a respected publication, and might even be considered some form of authority, I'd be inclined to stay with the established rules of grammar and punctuation that have served us well for a very long time (e.g. Strunk & White.)
She also covers the pluralization of acronyms, and lays out the (proper and generally accepted) rules quite clearly. And this comes from a person for whom english is not her first language.
From her bio:
Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was sixteen and graduated from Cambridge University with a M.A. in Economics. At twenty-one she became President of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union.
I would say her credentials are quite respectable.
The placement of an apostrophe has been a pet peeve of mine for quite a while with the most egregious offense lately being the title of the movie "Bridget Jones's Diary". Or maybe that just the british way of doing things...
We've got to keep people on their toes, or Mr Twain's vision may indeed come to pass. Of course, it might just be easier to switch to Esperanto.
Not being really sharp on description by lat and long, where the heck is the observatory? Maybe one you fellow /.ers who is smarter about these things can tell me.
I'm curious because I live in Flagstaff.
I am very much in favor of progressive taxation. How many houses can one make use of? How many cars can one drive? How much food can one eat?
Progessive taxation is allegedly written in law here in the U.S., but it doesn't actually work.
The loopholes in tax law allow the wealthy to avoid any actual progressive effect of taxation. Dollar for dollar, individuals making millions per year pay less than middle class families as they are able to manipulate the rules for their benefit. The gap between rich and poor has only grown in the last 30 years.
And how have the wealthy been able to do this? They bought the legislators and therby the necessary loopholes in the law.
Some fundamental rules still apply:
"He who has the gold makes the rules."
"They that gots, gets more."
"Greed is a powerful thing."
The timing of this problem is interesting. A few years back, we had the problem of the one-click patent and the fact that Amazon used it to disrupt the christmas sales of Barnes and Noble. It seems that the one-click thing became a less pressing problem on December 26. Although I can't remember the specifics of other events, it sticks in my mind that other ploys used to disrupt competitors businesses have been timed to screw with the christmas season.
I know that the people being DOS'ed by Amazon are defined as 'affiliates', but maybe Amazon percieves 'affiliates' in the same way Microsoft percieves 'partners'; people to use and then buy or destroy. How much you wanna bet that this problem goes away after christmas? Of course, the claim will be that it was brought to their attention and it was fixed, but the timing of the whole thing is very suspicious. Perhaps this was the plan all along.
In these days of slim margins in business, maybe Amazon figures the average internet user is smart enough to figure that it their preferred site is slow, they will go directly to Amazon for their purchase and Amazon would be able to avoid reimbursement of their 'affiliate' for the sale.
Has this problem been going on, but been unnoticed for a while, or did it just start? I'm no consipiracy theorist, but the elements seem to be there for this to have been intentional and the timing is very suspicious. Why couldn't they have done this last month, or the month before if they're just checking for outdated links? Am I out in left field with this idea?
Anyway... just a different perspective and some food for thought.
Why not the department of Domestic Security? The word is even in the preamble to the constitution - "... insure domestic tranquility..."
/. readers who are not students of history or may be too young to remember.) The first Gulf War? Not about 'freeing Kuwaitis', but about oil. Why are we going after Iraq? It has nothing to do with terrorism or security. (If the administration were really worried about who potentially has a nuclear weapon, we would be going after North Korea which has stated that it has a nuclear weapons program. And they're part of the spun-for-bloodlust-creating Axis Of Evil. Remember that one kiddies?)
I'll tell you why. Because it doesn't sound as warm and fuzzy. The people who came up with "Homeland" did a lot of research. Probably even more research than is put into the search for a new business names. There were probably psychologists and sociologists and focus groups - sworn to secrecy of course. "Domestic" sounds sterile and abstract, although entirely accurate. "Homeland" is a middle-america, bread-basket term. "Keep the home fires burning", "gotta protect the 'home'". "Fatherland" would have pissed off the women - besides it's already been taken. Also remember that this was aimed at the average sixth grade level of the population.
Just like you said, we americans don't have a "homeland". That's a term for a place where the people have lived continuously for many, many centuries. I don't think the two centuries we have been here counts. And besides, this is the "homeland" of the indigenous peoples who were here for centuries before we arrived\invaded\committed genocide on the previous inhabitants. I don't feel comfortable calling them "indians" as that name came from a navigational\perception error and "native americans" is another term imposed by the conquering people. Why should people already here name themselves after Amerigo Vespucci, a spanish invader?
And before I get people observing that domestic security doesn't cover those americans who might reside in another country, homeland doesn't cover it either. There may be a better description to include that, but I'm sure that those who made the decision were not nearly as concerned about accuracy as they were about spin.
The phrase "Homeland Security" pisses me off. The way Dubya says 'nuk-u-lur' pisses me off. (Actually I'm embarrassed for my country every time I hear him say it incorrectly)And the references to a (permanent - see George Orwell's 1984) "War on Terrorism" piss me off. The attacks on 9/11 were not a declaration of war, only countries can do that. They were criminal acts perpetrated by and organized group. We have plenty of laws, both domestic (RICO, etc.) and international that cover that. But to call it a criminal act and hunt down the conspirators would not have furthered the administrations agenda of restricting the constitutional rights of americans and making the middle east safe for an american pipeline to bring oil from the Balkans to the Atlantic. Is there anyone still naive enough to think that this is not about oil and american imperialism? When will we stop letting our leaders do this to us? Actually there is a really good article here about why we buy it and do it to ourselves. It talks about the 'strict father' mode of communication (Obediance to authority - Conservative\Bush) vs. the 'nurturant parent' mode (Empathy and helping others -Progressive\Clinton, for example) and how they drive the american psyche. It's worth a read.
The actions in Korea and Viet Nam were not about human rights or freeing people, they were about industry and furthering a political agenda - wiping out 'communism'. The equivalent of an ideological pissing contest. (This info for the benefit of
Nope, Iraq is all about oil and Daddy's wounded pride. In addition to having the one of the worlds largest reserves of oil, it's the next place where we need to put a pipeline. And don't forget that Saddam put out a contract on George Bush the first. And that Bush the first took a lot of heat about not going on into Baghdad and Removing Saddam. He took the heat even though the greatest minds of the time said it was better for middle east and world stability to leave him there.
The U.S. action with the U.N. in Bosnia and Kosovo were primarily humanitarian actions. And under whose administration did they take place? Yup, Clinton. If there had been a republican administration in power at that time, we would not have helped. Bosnia and Kosovo have no oil or natural resources that american companies can make a profit from. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Republican administrations go to war for business and political interests, Democrats go to war for humanitarian interests. Personally, I know which one I prefer - if it has to happen at all.
I'm sorry if this has been a rant and off-topic (sort-of), but I just had to vent. Mod me down if you must, but engage me in discussion if you can. That is the very essence of our freedom.
...Microsoft shall charge each Covered OEM the applicable royalty for Windows Operating System Products as set forth on a schedule, to be established by Microsoft and published on a web site accessible to the Plaintiffs...
The Plaintiffs were the USDOJ. I am a US citizen and they were acting on my behalf, therefore I am a plaintiff. I want to see the price schedule.
Any lawyers out there looking for a challenge?
"Homeowners look at interest rates and points, but they don't spend a lot of time comparing other fees that make up the closing costs -- even though a lot of money is on the table."
Points have always pissed me off. Points are extortion charged by the lender to convince them to make you a loan - even if you have good credit. Another little advantage to this scheme is that they are the equivalent of interest charged up front. Each point is equal to 1/8 of a percent of interest on the loan amount, and it's paid up front.
The real trick is that it's the equivalent of that interest rate charged over the life of the loan. This would be fine if you kept the loan over the full 30 year (or whatever) term. However, based on turnover and people selling, moving, etc., the average loan is only kept for 7 years. Therefore the effective interest rate increase can be many times higher.
Considering the cost of homes and the amount loaned, this can be many thousands of dollars that you get screwed out of.
Bottom line: unless you're going to keep the loan over it's full term, never pay points. It's just not worth it. Take a slightly higher interest rate up front. Of course, YMMV so check it out and do some math based on the how long you expect be in that particular home and loan.
Another one is "document prep fees" when buying a car. This one is for filling out the form and processing the title at the MVD/DMV. This can run into the hundreds of dollars and it represents a few minutes writing your name and address on a form and writing a check to your local MVD/DMV office. Sure you might wait in line a while, but the folks there generally try to be helpful and can certainly tell you what you need to get titled and licensed. Is $300 - 400 worth eliminating the (maybe) frustration of that process? Personally, I'd ask for the MSO (Manufacteror's Statement of Origin) and do my own title work (with the help of the MVD/DMV clerk if necessary.)
I used to live in Kingman, Az. There is a large airport there that was used during WWII that has long runways. There was also a company at the airport that flew decommissioned planes in and stripped all saleable parts. There were always more than a dozen planes there.
/. is about sharing ideas, so if you've got the resources, have at it. Just be sure to post some pics and an URL. If someone actually does this I sure would like to see it - either option.
I had the idea back then that I might be able to buy a stripped fuselage for the scrap value. Never did find out how much that would be, but I had some ideas about how to use one of them as a home. I would like to have been able to buy one of the widebodies. I never thought about putting one up on a post to swivel, but the following are two ideas that I had.
First, I thought that I might coat the exterior to prevent corrosion, remove all wings and stabalizers and bury it. Not completely, but about 80 - 90%, just enough so that I could put skylights along the length of the top. Using an L-1011 for example (interior dimensions of 18' x 135'), would give over 2400 square feet of living area not counting any of the below-deck stuff like luggage, galley, or storage areas.
It would already have bathroom facilities (well, toilet and sink anyway, you'd have to add a full bath somewhere) and a heating/cooling system. The 18' width would also give more options for the layout of rooms and other divided areas. This would be earth-sheltered and since (I believe) these are well insulated, it would not require much heating and cooling.
Entry would be through a stairwell down to any entry door one would choose, or, with the right lot, maybe the terrain would provide for a ground level entry with the rest of the structure earth-sheltered. I figured that it could be done for not much more than a conventional home.
The second idea was a little more involved but would make for a real artistic curiosity. Purchase the aircraft including wings and all stabalizers. Purchase a piece of land which is a hillside, preferably which breaks on two sides. Land of this type is somewhat less desirable than a flat piece which is easy to build on so it would likely be cheaper. This might be hard to visualize, but I'm no artist, so the concept is only in my head. This will all make sense at the end of the description.
Make most of the living space of your home inside the hill, underground. Hollow out living areas, make sure it is supported just like a horizontal shaft mine - think NORAD but without the bomb shelter capacity (unless you've got a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket.)
The primary shaft would be on both sides of the hillside and then another perpendicular to the first shaft. Cut loose the front section of the fuselage with the cockpit and put it in one end. Cut loose the tail with the vertical and horizontal stabalizers and put in the other end. Have a doorway out of the perpedicular shaft and anchor one of the wings (appropriate one) at the door and supported horizontally out into the air away from the hillside.
The end result is to have it appear that the entire aircraft is imbedded in the hillside. The wing is a patio, the cockpit could be a breakfast nook and the tail could house the bathrooms and heating/cooling equipment, etc. If the terrain were right, you could even have a pool partially shaded from the sun under the wing.
I had the idea back in a time when the feds weren't under republican control, so I figured I might even be able to get a National Endowment for the Arts grant or maybe even a National Science Foundation grant to defray some of the cost, as this would be much more costly than the first option.
Well,
Remember, this is America, not Japan.
Most of our leaders (yes, both sides of the aisle) have no sense of shame and apparently, no conscience. This is clearly visible from their recent and current actions.
"Resign in disgrace"? No such thing here in the US. A phrase you'd be more likely to hear from these people would be "You will pry this job and this power from my cold, dead hands."
We still have checks and balances, only in a different form. You write the check and we'll tip the balance in your favor. I don't think that's what the framers of the constitution had in mind.
At Comdex, a long time ago (maybe as much as 10 years), I stopped by a booth that had this wonderful new technology - an external hard drive which was made entirely of RAM! Current hard drive quantities of RAM(don't remember the exact capacity, but it was significant.) And it was only $15,000 (comparable drive space at the time was one tenth the price.) Wow! (Ok, sarcasm off)
:)
I asked that man what would happen if the power was lost. He said that the box had a battery and a hard drive of the RAM capacity inside. If the power was lost, the battery would power it long enough to write all the data to the hard drive. I asked what the advantage was over a regular hard drive. He said access speed and no moving parts. Ok, great benefit, but it didn't seem the value was there for 10x the cost of a drive itself. Anyone remember this?
I started waiting years ago for someone to come up with a board where I could plug in all those 256k, 30 pin SIMMs that we took out of the Mac Plus' when we upgraded them to 4 MB of memory so I could use them for storage. Never happened (that I know). Now I'm waiting for the same thing for this ever mounting stack of 4, 8, 16 and even 32MB, 72 pin SIMMs.
Where is the real innovation? I mean, our favored OS here can run well on all this old hardware - 486 and the like, but where are the little trinkets for us cheap SOB's like me? I just want a 5 1/4 external case with a 25 pin D connector that will connect to my SCSI card. The board inside should have jillions of 72 pin SIMM sockets (in pairs is ok, multi-level board is ok) and a connector for an old ATAPI 2 or 3 Gig laptop drive. The case should have room for a little battery to do what that really expensive drive could do years ago to backup in case of a power failure. Hell, I'd even pay 50 bucks or so for it. Any takers?
I'm not an EE so I'm not up to making it myself, but someone out there would consider it a fun project...
You know, reuse, recycle, make the world a better place. I don't want to have to throw out all this memory or sell it for a quarter a stick. I guess I could use the dremel tool, drill little holes in them and make geek earrings, but I don't wanna have to do that either.
If anyone has any ideas, lemme know.
BTW, no need to call me a cheap SOB luddite, I already did that...