I remember these in America. My bank I had pre 1990 was one of those ones who only had like one cash machine in the state, or so it seemed at any rate. This specific cashmachine was as you described.... single line LED display. It was pretty dated even by late 1980s standards, but it was fast, efficent, and I enjoyed using it muchly except for the fact that it was roughly 5 miles away, and every other bank had a cash machine at every branch.
So the customer service rep states that he can't help me. I ask if there's anyone with any authority that can help me get the card back (it takes me a while to get a new one from Norway). He says: "Sorry, Sir. The ATM in question not being directly attached physically to a bank, a contractor does that job for us. Your card will be destroyed when the ATM is serviced."
The hardest thing in the world is returning an ATM / Credit card. I found one next to a machine from an Alaskian credit union, and I being in washington. I thought to my self, "Hey, I will do the honest thing and try to get this card back to the owner".
Well, the 800 number on the back was unwilling to co-operate... they told me to cut up the card. This was on a saturday and may have not been offical bank help. So I tracked down the bank in Alaska, or near as I could find too it, and tried to talk to them about the issue basicly, "I have this card, i'd like to return it to the owner".
They refused to do the following 1. Provide me with any contact information as to where to send the card too (totally understand) 2. Take down my contact information so in the event the owner called to get a new one, they could say just use the old one, this guy will give it to you. 3. To actually take back the fucking card so they could return it to the owner in a timely fasion.
In the end, after getting frustrated trying to do the right thing, I used it to apply puddy to my automobile, and it probally is still encased in a lump of pudddy.
The point is, banks will assume the worst when it comes to you no longer physicaly having your card. They are not equiped to handle an honest person who actually didn't charge up anything on the card dispite the fact they could verify this fact who's trying to return the card. They will try to convience you they are doing you a favor when in reality they would rather let someone else do the paperwork, which always falls on the person giving you a new damn card.
Bank Fraud! Something that debits let's say a penny per transation is actually a moderatly simple program to design provided you actually have access to bank accounts and a bank network. It's difficult for your average joe to do without access to machines on the bank network. Well... a cash machine is indeed on a bank network, and has the ability to withdrawl sums of money, log bank cards / pin numbers, the lot! These things rebooting in a way that can actually be used like normal windows scares the hell out of me.
Nimda scanned the whole net in approximately 15 minutes (infecting tens of thousands of machines in that time and perhaps millions overall). With a strong security policy there is really no need to even have AV software.
Yes, but who's going to actually incorperate this strong secuirty policy? Your ISP, your software vender, your PC vender, your support staff / your end user?
Win2k / XP out of the box is exploitable unless you pop up a firewall and run patches. It's really a double edged sword, you have to hit the net in order to get the stuff you need to protect your self, but at the same time putting your self on the net to get the stuff to prevent your machine from being expoilted puts you in a position to be exploited.
In the case of win2k, I managed to get blaster for example... new machine, fresh install, hitting the net to download firewall / service packs. The only way to do this safely is to have a 2nd machine with a CD burner and have these ready to go before you hit the net.
I would not be too concerned about seals. In low-G environment, and with low thrust, you get very low acceleration - and low vibration. Your washing machine probably has more stress on its pipes than a zero-G rocket engine.
Assuming we are talking seals on a typical H O2 type rocket, wouldn't it be a legit concern for seals having a limited lifespan due to what the tank contains, or just break down over time? After all, while an ion engine would be just spiffy to get to mars and back, I don't think they have quite the thrust to get off the ground.
All modern rockets (incl. Shuttle) have cryogenic fuel, experience thermal shock of 300 degrees C during fueling, and still work fine.
Except the Chalanger, which had issues with the O rings.
Such a mass can be trivially [now] assembled from many pieces sent up separately. And the spacecraft, once launched and assembled, will stay up there forever (as long as you care to maintain it), and can travel wherever you want, as long as it has enough fuel (which you are free to send up from Earth, or gather anywhere else, technology permitting.)
There is wisdom here. I'd still say it would be a wise move to focus on putting fuel into orbit rather then a space craft. The spacecraft is a trivial mass in contrast with the fuel required.
Someone wiser in this field then my self would have to answer the question about how long one can expect let's say a fully fueled rocket engine to safely spend time in orbit without the seals going bust. This is why I would think that storage only solution would be wiser.
To per it in perspective, the statue of liberty is 225 tons I believe. The best argument for lunar orbit recovery was the amount of fuel required would blow up the cape if there was an accident.
The Saturn I's empty weight is about 85 tons, about 650 tons fueled... with a payload capasity of 120 tons into earth orbit, 45 tons to the moon.
While I'm all for a Mars mission... I'd rather that such a launch vehicel were to rendezvous with a space station, tank up, then launch.
No, but if you have a large area cordoned off with fence and "large weight dropping area" signs, and somebody went around/over the fence, you wouldn't be held accountable. (Well, as long as those signs were easy to read/in the local language, at least. Putting them in Sanskrit probably wouldn't cut it.)
I'll be sure to e-mail construction companies... they are no longer liable for on the job injuries if they put of a disclaimer "watch out for falling objects".
Look I'm not trying to say google is accountable, not at all! All i'm saying is you can have all the disclaimers you like but that doesn't evade accountabiliy when specific actions cause someone harm. Like for example, Mc Donalds coffee causing 1st degree burns... it wouldn't have made a damn bit of diffrence if they said their coffee was hot. Coffee is not, typicaly served 170-180f... not like Mc Donalds coffee that had to have been served close to boiling (212f / 100C) to cause 1st degree burns. Making the choice to serve coffee above 180f is the diffrence between a normal sun burn (3rd degree), blisters (2nd degree) and lost off skin (1st degree). One doesn't expect coffee to be served so hot it boils the flesh off your bones.
JUST maybe wake people up enough to get their geek friends and family to install norton antivirus for them and set up automatic updates and scans.
Doesn't seem to help. In theory you are correct, a person who runs a virus scanner with an automatic update autoscan should be pretty damn secure. This only works in enviroments where the end user either keeps their PC on 24/7, or doesn't shut off the damn scanner evertime they turn on their PC to use it.
From what I've observed, the people who are not familar with PCs who own them see a scanner popup just close it down as it slowes down their computer when they want to use it... and never take the time to reschedual the scan. Worse they yell at you if they catch a virus / worm / spy ware without taking into account that they are the ones who told their computer to stop scanning for viruses.
"We disclaim any and all responsibility and/or liability for any injury caused by dropping a 10 ton weight on your head. We disclaim any responsibility for the concussion, smashing, and your squashing as a result of your own body s lack of structural integrity. We disclaim any responsibility for loss of income that may result of you no long existing as a living human being. We disclaim any responsibity for any harm resulting from standing under a 10 ton weight. We thank you for choosing 10-ton weight inc and look forward to your business in future lives."
This being said... let's say I actually were to drop a 10-ton weight on someone's head. If I had a disclaimer on the weight, does that mean I'm not held accountable for anything that is a direct result of droping it?
I concur it's a good point, however... do you honestly believe that joe user who gets all their data wiped by a virus/worm is actually going to know it was a virus / worm that did it? It's my belief that your typical user, no offence intended, will just think that it is broken. Why should they think otherwise if it just doesn't work anymore.
Heck, I have a family member's 486 here that was taken out of service circa 1999 because it would stall at the config.sys level, at by that point you could get an e-machine in exchange for a contract with compu$erve.
While I don't disagree with their action, this illistrates the mentality of the typical home user, they'll just by a new PC, these days, with winxp unpached unfirewalled and end up getting blaster.
if on the other hand there was button that i could push to open a pop-up for a sales question when *i* wanted chat, now that would be very helpful.
Agreed! I can remember an experence with Speakeasy... fortunatly by this point I had started to use a hotmail when ever an e-mail address was required. I checked to see if I was within range for dsl service, and according to the website I was out of range for anything except IDSL. Only a few hours later I got some joker sales person running goldmine(tm) offing me a special personalized deal for adsl service. It's like "Cool, are you just some salesperson who didn't even bother to check to see if the service you just offered me is available, or did you actually discover the estimate your site gave was wrong and are now actually offering me service".
I didn't get a responce, but needless to say I took offence to this technique, esp since they were trying to sell me something dispite the fact their own information should state I can't recieve it. Could also be my personal prejustice regarding sales people running goldmine(tm).
I would have prefered a more simple e-mail form letter "if you want to talk about options, call me directly"... I would have been far less offended.
The BBC's strength has always been in phonic production. Dr. who's video production was a touch B, but phonicly it was always first class... even in the William Hartnell era. This is part of what makes doctor who a cult classic, the fact that most of your budget can go into writers and sound production to create an enjoyable program, one which could be just as enjoyable as a radio show or a simple story board style web animation.
Babylon 5 and even Stargate SG-1 I feel is in a very diffrent class then Andromeda. Andromeda presently is pretty much a vehicel for Kevin Sorbo to show off his big pecks. Special effects I class in the Battlestar Galactic class due to the massive amount of scene recycling. Babylon 5 stands alone because pre-determined story arch, and the fact that the use of raytraced computer graphics actually lowered their special effect budget rather then shows like Star Trek TNG who were still working with models.
I'd be perfectly happy with doctor who if it were only a storyboard web cartoon as video was always secondary for the enjoyment of it.
Re:SCO has been mailing more BS to congressmen
on
SCO Aims For The Feds
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"A computer expert in North Korea who has a number of personal computers can download the latest version of Linux...and in short order build a virtual supercomputer."
A 12 year old child in North Korea can download Windows 2003 just as easily as Linux. However, what impact would this have on the security of America, let alone the rest of the world?
That's not to say your rant is completely invalid, but I do take objection to your painting a group of several hundred million people with a single broad stroke. Your beef is with "the religious nutcases in the USA", not "the USA."
I hate to say it, being American my self, I find it true is most cases that being decendent from religious zelots is painfuly obvious in our laws and so called morals. A good segment of our electoral vote comes from the bible belt after all. While I object to the view point that all of us are puritian nutters, it's pretty clear to me those in charge are. There are those who believe religious background = moral, and moral = good leader.
If you find you don't want your nation represented with religious nutcases, then you need to get off your PC and make sure not to vote for them. Heaven forbid we might actually improve our world standing.
Unfortuantely, the FCC has responded to the ludicrous hype which has all stemmed from a split second shot of someone's breast. It was so fast it was over in the time it took me to look down to pop another taste piece of chicken breast (sweet irony, eh?) on my fork. They show far worse things on MTV, every single day but no one complained. Go figure.
http://www.drudgereport.com/mattjj.htm [note, I don't know anything about the credibility of the drudgerreport, but they had an image of the breast in question]
I had no idea this was going on until my niece pointed out that some superbowl show recently showed Janet Jackson's breast on tv. I don't know if this was broadcast tv or otherwhise honestly. She also sugest that it's the reason for the subjectmater in the recent southpark episode... is it 701, or 801.
You know for a fact that america is filled with uptight religious zelots when we take so much time and effort and debate regarding some popstar showing her breast on television. Personaly I think if you've never seen a breast before, then it's about damn time, unless you really want to ban National Geographic from children.
I dont know about anybody else, but as much as I dont like people invading my privacy, I would rather not be on a plane with a criminal.
Since when has it been a problem being on an plane with a criminal? I'm sure it happens all the time without any problem what so ever... as criminals are not typicaly stupid enough to commit crimes in places where there is no obvious excape route, with the exception of theft and terrorist actions.
I have no issues what so ever flying with people who have been convicted for dealing a trivial amount of pot for example, but I would have a problem with their rights being tacken away arbitrarily.
In fact, let's say if a personal localy has convicted of a violent crime... and they want to move to Alaska for example. I think it's great.. Let them!
Are you sure you want to deal with the latency involved with uploading via dialup, then waiting for an antenna to reply with your request?
It's little diffrent then those who have satellite based access. Some are upstream on the link, others are upstream via dialup. The only diffrence is there isn't going to be no 500ms transit delay as a land based tranciever isn't going to be 75,000 miles away, not on this planet anyway.
Surely there is not a bloddy shop 20 meters away with a normal phone line.
Actually, this very much depends on where you are.
If we are talking a parking lot, they are usually I imagine that if you were in the center and it measured 40*40 meters then you would be within rage of something *else* that wasn't a parking lot. Payphones are no longer as popular as they once where, it's possible you'll find place open, it's possible that you'll find either a pay phone or someone willing to let you use the phone in case of an emergency. This is assuming it's reasonably safe to exit in this sorta emergency, and also assuming there is SOMETHING open beyond the parking lot.
If we are talking a parking garage, 5 levels or so, then it's very much possible that you are NOT within 20 meters away from a normal phone line. The local airport for example (sea) has roughly 8-10 levels, while I believe there are emergency phones located near the elevators, each elevator is located well beyond 20 meters apart, i'd guess 3 - 4 pool lenghs, so 75-100 yards.
This is all assuming you keep your head in an emergency, you can find an operational phone and call for help. 60 seconds or so to jog and find a phone, call for help.
Or, you can just use your damn mobile phone and not even have to remember where help is needed as they can trace you. Depending on what type of emergency it is, not having that extra 1min COULD save a life.
Do they provide you with a phone at your desk or nearby? Seriously, a cell phone is not a necessity.
This would depend on how large a work enviroment is, and whether or not it's considered necessicary for someone to contact you if you are away from the desk.
I don't see this happening too often we are talking a hole in the wall sub 10 employee business. I can see this as being an issue if we are talking about anything as large as three floors.
While I will admit a cellphone is not required.... you could use radios and pagers to get the job done, and have it work pretty well. I've seen larger car lots who still employ this form of technology. Works just fine. A cellphone is easier when the business doesn't have enough in the way of foresight to realise there are situations where the employee needs to communicate to someone without walking the distance.
I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem.
If I were you... I woudl think it would be in your best interest to get them to sport for either an alphanumeric pager, or a two way pager.
Just a oneway alpha/numeric pager should work as well as your current mobile setup, may not even require changes to your script.
Two way pager may be able to be attached to a serial port... provided you use TTL levels, and just accept error messages regardless of whether you have a network connection or not.
It seems to me that you are doing your job and using your equipment to do it. If they won't allow you to bring in your own equipment it's only common sence for them to buy it.
Otherwise, you can invest in a handheld internet terminal, which while can be used as a mobile phone, are more likely to inspire sympathy as being a IT required device. Unless they plan to ban handheld palm like devices.
7 year warranties would only bite you on the ass if you were: 1) a major vendor [snip] volume sales 2) you stated no substitutions, in which case you might have difficulty finding the part
I'll agree most people would be happy with an upgrade in the event of a 7 year old computer failing, even a minor one.
I can see this biting someone in the arse for two reasons.
1)... Let's say the fans failed or the OS crashed. While this is not a big deal, but you may be obligated to fix fans and restore a system for 7 years.
2)... You're obligated to return the system to the state it was when it was sold. While this may not nessicarly mean no substutions, all the software and hardware need work as it was sold to them in the first place.
I can easily a pc sold in 1997 still running win3.1 and some dos applications, like word perfect 6.0 for example. I think there were a limited amount of video cards let alone VLB ones that worked with WP6.0 in 256 colors.
You or I would say it's time to upgrade, and that's just fine. But it's possible the end user might actually still need WP 6.0 and dialup to a Compucom modem.
I'm sure the above scenero is rare, but never the less something you need take into account.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember these in America. My bank I had pre 1990 was one of those ones who only had like one cash machine in the state, or so it seemed at any rate. This specific cashmachine was as you described.... single line LED display. It was pretty dated even by late 1980s standards, but it was fast, efficent, and I enjoyed using it muchly except for the fact that it was roughly 5 miles away, and every other bank had a cash machine at every branch.
Most were monochrome amber, or green screens.
So the customer service rep states that he can't help me. I ask if there's anyone with any authority that can help me get the card back (it takes me a while to get a new one from Norway). He says: "Sorry, Sir. The ATM in question not being directly attached physically to a bank, a contractor does that job for us. Your card will be destroyed when the ATM is serviced."
The hardest thing in the world is returning an ATM / Credit card. I found one next to a machine from an Alaskian credit union, and I being in washington. I thought to my self, "Hey, I will do the honest thing and try to get this card back to the owner".
Well, the 800 number on the back was unwilling to co-operate... they told me to cut up the card. This was on a saturday and may have not been offical bank help. So I tracked down the bank in Alaska, or near as I could find too it, and tried to talk to them about the issue basicly, "I have this card, i'd like to return it to the owner".
They refused to do the following
1. Provide me with any contact information as to where to send the card too (totally understand)
2. Take down my contact information so in the event the owner called to get a new one, they could say just use the old one, this guy will give it to you.
3. To actually take back the fucking card so they could return it to the owner in a timely fasion.
In the end, after getting frustrated trying to do the right thing, I used it to apply puddy to my automobile, and it probally is still encased in a lump of pudddy.
The point is, banks will assume the worst when it comes to you no longer physicaly having your card. They are not equiped to handle an honest person who actually didn't charge up anything on the card dispite the fact they could verify this fact who's trying to return the card. They will try to convience you they are doing you a favor when in reality they would rather let someone else do the paperwork, which always falls on the person giving you a new damn card.
Bank Fraud! Something that debits let's say a penny per transation is actually a moderatly simple program to design provided you actually have access to bank accounts and a bank network. It's difficult for your average joe to do without access to machines on the bank network. Well... a cash machine is indeed on a bank network, and has the ability to withdrawl sums of money, log bank cards / pin numbers, the lot! These things rebooting in a way that can actually be used like normal windows scares the hell out of me.
Nimda scanned the whole net in approximately 15 minutes (infecting tens of thousands of machines in that time and perhaps millions overall). With a strong security policy there is really no need to even have AV software.
Yes, but who's going to actually incorperate this strong secuirty policy? Your ISP, your software vender, your PC vender, your support staff / your end user?
Win2k / XP out of the box is exploitable unless you pop up a firewall and run patches. It's really a double edged sword, you have to hit the net in order to get the stuff you need to protect your self, but at the same time putting your self on the net to get the stuff to prevent your machine from being expoilted puts you in a position to be exploited.
In the case of win2k, I managed to get blaster for example... new machine, fresh install, hitting the net to download firewall / service packs. The only way to do this safely is to have a 2nd machine with a CD burner and have these ready to go before you hit the net.
I would not be too concerned about seals. In low-G environment, and with low thrust, you get very low acceleration - and low vibration. Your washing machine probably has more stress on its pipes than a zero-G rocket engine.
Assuming we are talking seals on a typical H O2 type rocket, wouldn't it be a legit concern for seals having a limited lifespan due to what the tank contains, or just break down over time? After all, while an ion engine would be just spiffy to get to mars and back, I don't think they have quite the thrust to get off the ground.
All modern rockets (incl. Shuttle) have cryogenic fuel, experience thermal shock of 300 degrees C during fueling, and still work fine.
Except the Chalanger, which had issues with the O rings.
Such a mass can be trivially [now] assembled from many pieces sent up separately. And the spacecraft, once launched and assembled, will stay up there forever (as long as you care to maintain it), and can travel wherever you want, as long as it has enough fuel (which you are free to send up from Earth, or gather anywhere else, technology permitting.)
There is wisdom here. I'd still say it would be a wise move to focus on putting fuel into orbit rather then a space craft. The spacecraft is a trivial mass in contrast with the fuel required.
Someone wiser in this field then my self would have to answer the question about how long one can expect let's say a fully fueled rocket engine to safely spend time in orbit without the seals going bust. This is why I would think that storage only solution would be wiser.
To per it in perspective, the statue of liberty is 225 tons I believe. The best argument for lunar orbit recovery was the amount of fuel required would blow up the cape if there was an accident.
The Saturn I's empty weight is about 85 tons, about 650 tons fueled... with a payload capasity of 120 tons into earth orbit, 45 tons to the moon.
While I'm all for a Mars mission... I'd rather that such a launch vehicel were to rendezvous with a space station, tank up, then launch.
No, but if you have a large area cordoned off with fence and "large weight dropping area" signs, and somebody went around/over the fence, you wouldn't be held accountable. (Well, as long as those signs were easy to read/in the local language, at least. Putting them in Sanskrit probably wouldn't cut it.)
I'll be sure to e-mail construction companies... they are no longer liable for on the job injuries if they put of a disclaimer "watch out for falling objects".
Look I'm not trying to say google is accountable, not at all! All i'm saying is you can have all the disclaimers you like but that doesn't evade accountabiliy when specific actions cause someone harm. Like for example, Mc Donalds coffee causing 1st degree burns... it wouldn't have made a damn bit of diffrence if they said their coffee was hot. Coffee is not, typicaly served 170-180f... not like Mc Donalds coffee that had to have been served close to boiling (212f / 100C) to cause 1st degree burns. Making the choice to serve coffee above 180f is the diffrence between a normal sun burn (3rd degree), blisters (2nd degree) and lost off skin (1st degree). One doesn't expect coffee to be served so hot it boils the flesh off your bones.
JUST maybe wake people up enough to get their geek friends and family to install norton antivirus for them and set up automatic updates and scans.
Doesn't seem to help. In theory you are correct, a person who runs a virus scanner with an automatic update autoscan should be pretty damn secure. This only works in enviroments where the end user either keeps their PC on 24/7, or doesn't shut off the damn scanner evertime they turn on their PC to use it.
From what I've observed, the people who are not familar with PCs who own them see a scanner popup just close it down as it slowes down their computer when they want to use it... and never take the time to reschedual the scan. Worse they yell at you if they catch a virus / worm / spy ware without taking into account that they are the ones who told their computer to stop scanning for viruses.
"We disclaim any and all responsibility and/or liability for any injury caused by dropping a 10 ton weight on your head. We disclaim any responsibility for the concussion, smashing, and your squashing as a result of your own body s lack of structural integrity. We disclaim any responsibility for loss of income that may result of you no long existing as a living human being. We disclaim any responsibity for any harm resulting from standing under a 10 ton weight. We thank you for choosing 10-ton weight inc and look forward to your business in future lives."
This being said... let's say I actually were to drop a 10-ton weight on someone's head. If I had a disclaimer on the weight, does that mean I'm not held accountable for anything that is a direct result of droping it?
Why is this modded troll, it is a good point.
I concur it's a good point, however... do you honestly believe that joe user who gets all their data wiped by a virus/worm is actually going to know it was a virus / worm that did it? It's my belief that your typical user, no offence intended, will just think that it is broken. Why should they think otherwise if it just doesn't work anymore.
Heck, I have a family member's 486 here that was taken out of service circa 1999 because it would stall at the config.sys level, at by that point you could get an e-machine in exchange for a contract with compu$erve.
While I don't disagree with their action, this illistrates the mentality of the typical home user, they'll just by a new PC, these days, with winxp unpached unfirewalled and end up getting blaster.
if on the other hand there was button that i could push to open a pop-up for a sales question when *i* wanted chat, now that would be very helpful.
Agreed! I can remember an experence with Speakeasy... fortunatly by this point I had started to use a hotmail when ever an e-mail address was required. I checked to see if I was within range for dsl service, and according to the website I was out of range for anything except IDSL. Only a few hours later I got some joker sales person running goldmine(tm) offing me a special personalized deal for adsl service. It's like "Cool, are you just some salesperson who didn't even bother to check to see if the service you just offered me is available, or did you actually discover the estimate your site gave was wrong and are now actually offering me service".
I didn't get a responce, but needless to say I took offence to this technique, esp since they were trying to sell me something dispite the fact their own information should state I can't recieve it. Could also be my personal prejustice regarding sales people running goldmine(tm).
I would have prefered a more simple e-mail form letter "if you want to talk about options, call me directly"... I would have been far less offended.
The BBC's strength has always been in phonic production. Dr. who's video production was a touch B, but phonicly it was always first class... even in the William Hartnell era. This is part of what makes doctor who a cult classic, the fact that most of your budget can go into writers and sound production to create an enjoyable program, one which could be just as enjoyable as a radio show or a simple story board style web animation.
Babylon 5 and even Stargate SG-1 I feel is in a very diffrent class then Andromeda. Andromeda presently is pretty much a vehicel for Kevin Sorbo to show off his big pecks. Special effects I class in the Battlestar Galactic class due to the massive amount of scene recycling. Babylon 5 stands alone because pre-determined story arch, and the fact that the use of raytraced computer graphics actually lowered their special effect budget rather then shows like Star Trek TNG who were still working with models.
I'd be perfectly happy with doctor who if it were only a storyboard web cartoon as video was always secondary for the enjoyment of it.
"A computer expert in North Korea who has a number of personal computers can download the latest version of Linux...and in short order build a virtual supercomputer."
A 12 year old child in North Korea can download Windows 2003 just as easily as Linux. However, what impact would this have on the security of America, let alone the rest of the world?
That's not to say your rant is completely invalid, but I do take objection to your painting a group of several hundred million people with a single broad stroke. Your beef is with "the religious nutcases in the USA", not "the USA."
I hate to say it, being American my self, I find it true is most cases that being decendent from religious zelots is painfuly obvious in our laws and so called morals. A good segment of our electoral vote comes from the bible belt after all. While I object to the view point that all of us are puritian nutters, it's pretty clear to me those in charge are. There are those who believe religious background = moral, and moral = good leader.
If you find you don't want your nation represented with religious nutcases, then you need to get off your PC and make sure not to vote for them. Heaven forbid we might actually improve our world standing.
Unfortuantely, the FCC has responded to the ludicrous hype which has all stemmed from a split second shot of someone's breast. It was so fast it was over in the time it took me to look down to pop another taste piece of chicken breast (sweet irony, eh?) on my fork. They show far worse things on MTV, every single day but no one complained. Go figure.
http://www.drudgereport.com/mattjj.htm
[note, I don't know anything about the credibility of the drudgerreport, but they had an image of the breast in question]
I had no idea this was going on until my niece pointed out that some superbowl show recently showed Janet Jackson's breast on tv. I don't know if this was broadcast tv or otherwhise honestly. She also sugest that it's the reason for the subjectmater in the recent southpark episode... is it 701, or 801.
You know for a fact that america is filled with uptight religious zelots when we take so much time and effort and debate regarding some popstar showing her breast on television. Personaly I think if you've never seen a breast before, then it's about damn time, unless you really want to ban National Geographic from children.
I dont know about anybody else, but as much as I dont like people invading my privacy, I would rather not be on a plane with a criminal.
Since when has it been a problem being on an plane with a criminal? I'm sure it happens all the time without any problem what so ever... as criminals are not typicaly stupid enough to commit crimes in places where there is no obvious excape route, with the exception of theft and terrorist actions.
I have no issues what so ever flying with people who have been convicted for dealing a trivial amount of pot for example, but I would have a problem with their rights being tacken away arbitrarily.
In fact, let's say if a personal localy has convicted of a violent crime... and they want to move to Alaska for example. I think it's great.. Let them!
How Do you say General Protection Fault in swahili?
EEEEeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
How do you say General Protection Fault in Australian?
BUGGER!
Are you sure you want to deal with the latency involved with uploading via dialup, then waiting for an antenna to reply with your request?
It's little diffrent then those who have satellite based access. Some are upstream on the link, others are upstream via dialup. The only diffrence is there isn't going to be no 500ms transit delay as a land based tranciever isn't going to be 75,000 miles away, not on this planet anyway.
Surely there is not a bloddy shop 20 meters away with a normal phone line.
Actually, this very much depends on where you are.
If we are talking a parking lot, they are usually I imagine that if you were in the center and it measured 40*40 meters then you would be within rage of something *else* that wasn't a parking lot. Payphones are no longer as popular as they once where, it's possible you'll find place open, it's possible that you'll find either a pay phone or someone willing to let you use the phone in case of an emergency. This is assuming it's reasonably safe to exit in this sorta emergency, and also assuming there is SOMETHING open beyond the parking lot.
If we are talking a parking garage, 5 levels or so, then it's very much possible that you are NOT within 20 meters away from a normal phone line. The local airport for example (sea) has roughly 8-10 levels, while I believe there are emergency phones located near the elevators, each elevator is located well beyond 20 meters apart, i'd guess 3 - 4 pool lenghs, so 75-100 yards.
This is all assuming you keep your head in an emergency, you can find an operational phone and call for help. 60 seconds or so to jog and find a phone, call for help.
Or, you can just use your damn mobile phone and not even have to remember where help is needed as they can trace you. Depending on what type of emergency it is, not having that extra 1min COULD save a life.
I've been told by HR that I cannot tell ONE employee to "leave the cell phone in your car" I must make the rule for EVERY employee in the department
What about those who take the bus to work?
A cell phone isn't exactly something required to sustain life.
"Hello 911? Help! I'm in the employee parking lot, I just ran over the enire HR department. I need an ambulance ASAP".
Do they provide you with a phone at your desk or nearby? Seriously, a cell phone is not a necessity.
This would depend on how large a work enviroment is, and whether or not it's considered necessicary for someone to contact you if you are away from the desk.
I don't see this happening too often we are talking a hole in the wall sub 10 employee business. I can see this as being an issue if we are talking about anything as large as three floors.
While I will admit a cellphone is not required.... you could use radios and pagers to get the job done, and have it work pretty well. I've seen larger car lots who still employ this form of technology. Works just fine. A cellphone is easier when the business doesn't have enough in the way of foresight to realise there are situations where the employee needs to communicate to someone without walking the distance.
I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem.
If I were you... I woudl think it would be in your best interest to get them to sport for either an alphanumeric pager, or a two way pager.
Just a oneway alpha/numeric pager should work as well as your current mobile setup, may not even require changes to your script.
Two way pager may be able to be attached to a serial port... provided you use TTL levels, and just accept error messages regardless of whether you have a network connection or not.
It seems to me that you are doing your job and using your equipment to do it. If they won't allow you to bring in your own equipment it's only common sence for them to buy it.
Otherwise, you can invest in a handheld internet terminal, which while can be used as a mobile phone, are more likely to inspire sympathy as being a IT required device. Unless they plan to ban handheld palm like devices.
7 year warranties would only bite you on the ass if you were: 1) a major vendor [snip] volume sales
2) you stated no substitutions, in which case you might have difficulty finding the part
I'll agree most people would be happy with an upgrade in the event of a 7 year old computer failing, even a minor one.
I can see this biting someone in the arse for two reasons.
1)... Let's say the fans failed or the OS crashed. While this is not a big deal, but you may be obligated to fix fans and restore a system for 7 years.
2)... You're obligated to return the system to the state it was when it was sold. While this may not nessicarly mean no substutions, all the software and hardware need work as it was sold to them in the first place.
I can easily a pc sold in 1997 still running win3.1 and some dos applications, like word perfect 6.0 for example. I think there were a limited amount of video cards let alone VLB ones that worked with WP6.0 in 256 colors.
You or I would say it's time to upgrade, and that's just fine. But it's possible the end user might actually still need WP 6.0 and dialup to a Compucom modem.
I'm sure the above scenero is rare, but never the less something you need take into account.