What's happening there is that the funds are frozen pending reciept of the credit claim from the merchant where you used your card. "Pnd Crd Trns" merely means "Pending Credit Transaction" and is done to prevent you from over-drawing your account. In the event that the merchant does not file his claim to the credit (typically 14 days), the transaction is voided and the funds are re-allocated to your account. The reason that your account balance is debited a few days later is that the credit claim has been received and processed. All banks work in this manner regarding check/debit cards.
It saddens me that, for a site filled to the rafters with geeks, not one person suggested installing a micro-switch in to the back of the laptop case (or similar) and running the led circuit through the switch. If you get a multi-pod controller, you can effectively run all of your LED circuits through the switch and disable them with a single toggle. If you were so inclined, you could go really nuts and program a small IC controller. Nothing that you couldn't find at your local Radio Shack.
Back in the days of good ol' DOS, I used to SysOp a BBS. The chat feature would cause the PC's speaker to beep evey time a new message was posted to me. Normally, this was desirable as it wouldn't require me to constantly stare at the screen while waiting for a new message. My girlfriend, however, did not appreciate this feature, especially when she was on the phone with me -- an ordeal that could sometimes last for hours. So I fixed it. Remember that oh-so-useful "turbo" button that was real popular with 486s? I disconnected it and ran the speaker wires through the turbo button. Now, I could easily toggle the speaker and the g/f wouldn't know as there was no obvious modification made to the exterior of the case. [/amusing anecdote]
These days, I apply my junior electrician skills to my 3-year old's toys. Seems that her grandparents delight in giving her electronic toys that have no volume or on/off switches.
>>If most of the updates will be available for current versions of Windows, what is the incentive to upgrade?"
Same as always. DirectX will not be permitted to install on an older version of Windows, thereby forcing you to upgrade if you want to play some new game released in the far future, say, Half-Life 2.
Also, MS will merely ram Longhorn down everyone's throats by forcing them to be installed on new PCs. Much as they did with XP.
You don't even need those. Simply add the following line to your hosts files:
127.0.0.1 ar.atwola.com
ar.atwola.com is the adserver for aol's IM. I have not had a single ad since I added this to my hosts file. I was actually fine with the ads in IM until they started doing video ads (movie trailers, mostly). Pissed me off. I'm hacking away on some code at 2am and all of a sudden my rig starts blathering on about the love affair of the century (Gigli) or some such nonsense. Needless to say, I pulled the plug.
>>How would YOU do it, if not by using the name as the first level check?
I'd probably take my head out of my ass and familiarize myself with the world around me. It's not as if Ted Kennedy is an obscure personality. It's not as though he hasn't been one of the most prominant figures in American politics for the past 42 years. And this happened in Washington D.C. and then again in his home state? How do you excuse that level of ignorance?
The fact that it took 3 weeks for one of the most powerful politicians in this country to get cleared off of the list, while sweetly ironic, doesn't hold much hope for the rest of us regular schlubs who might also run up against the same problem. I don't know about you but I certainly can't use the excuse that I'm a U.S. Senator to get through airport security. And while it might bring a small measure of comfort to know that the TSA is not making exceptions, it still smacks of the asinine overkill that followed 9/11 when they were scanning children, searching old women and making nursing mothers drink their own breastmilk.
Of course, using a pattern of "first initial, last name" is not exactly an accurate means of finding a match for terrorists, now, is it?
Not playing games is a sign of being an adult? I guess that's going to be some crushing news to my grandparents who still play bridge and scrabble on a near-daily basis.
Seriously, I can't stand self-righteous pricks who equate game-playing with immaturity. If you want to take life so seriously as to not allow yourself a bit of liesure time, go right ahead, but don't make the foolish mistake of taking a holier-than-thou attitude simply because you have some sort of bullshit hangup derived from Corithians 13:11 or some misguided belief that creative and imaginitve play is not as important for an adult as it is for a child.
>>The study basically recommends not changing the copyright legislation in favor of any particular stakeholder, including consumers or lobbyists.
Why should they change a system that already overwhelmingly favors their corporate masters, regardless of the cost from chipping away at the foundations that this country was built on? Besides, the US Constitution is all but dead and forgotten. The US goverment bears almost no resemblance to the founding government, to say nothing of its principles.
The ideas that founded the original United States of America has long since been obliterated. The Constitution has been replaced by a new document: the quarterly statement.
Because their revenue stream currently allows them to be benevolent. Just wait and see what happens when the cashflow dries up. When people stop upgrading Office every year, when Longhorn doesn't ship til 2010, when folks start to realize that they don't have to keep replacing their MS software every eight months..
Then see how Microsoft (or Apple or IBM or....) doesn't turn to their patent portfolio for revenue.
Has "For the Birds" actually been released with anything? The sneak peak that you can download from the Pixar site has been up there for a couple of years now.
The boost is a 14.5% increase in their stock price (as of 11:30am). That's hefty indeed. Anyone who has been holding their stock in SCO has no idea how to invest. Those who have been buying it when it's low precisely for days such as this when SCO releases yet another batch of their FUD, are quite shrewd.
>> remember that the RIAA does not determine what gets played on the radio, Clear Channel (sp?), Infinity, and the other broadcasters do.
Nice thought. Too bad it's naive and so very wrong.
Record companies alone determine the marketing budgets and strategies for a given release. They determine which artists to push and which to let fend for themselves. For every Brittany Spears that they dump millions into promoting, there are countless other lesser knowns that get little if any marketing.
Clear Channel et al make little decision as to what gets played. The DJ's have zero freedom to play new/different artists or even alternate tracks from an artist in rotation. Any deviation from the playlist is made solely by the program director. Record companies pay to have their artists played - it used to be called "payola" but now it's called "marketing".
It's true that the record companies (and they are record companies, not the RIAA - that's a lobbying group) would be thrilled if more of their artists scored hits. But they are very risk adverse and often have a difficult time determining what an audience likes. This is often why they push trends and certain artists ad nauseum until people become so used to hearing about them that they give in and by their work. For proof of this, see The White Stripes. The fact is that promoting an artist is extremely expensive and they have to hedge their bets. It's unfortunate that the "safe" bets are formulaic and repetitive, but that's how it goes. I don't listen to commercial radio but, then again, I'm not their target audience. It's been a long time since I was a teenager and I've never been a prepubescent girl. It takes more work these days for me to find an artist that I like but, when I do, it's a great discovery. In fact, being forced to "hunt" for music has allowed me to discover a ton of artists and genres that I would not otherwise be exposed to.
To say that people steal music because they don't like the music is utter garbage and a very weak rationalization for theft. And please, to whomever replies to this, save me the lecture on how it's not stealing and how "information just wants to be free, dude". You're stealing. Call it "copyright violation", call it "fair use", call it "a revolution against the Man, man". You're taking something for nothing that would otherwise be sold. If you could not steal it, you would buy it. You are violating the standards of exchange whereby one thing of value (a recording) is exchanged for another thing of value (money). You don't think that the asking price is worth it? Fine, don't buy it. Music is not a necessity to life. You can live without it. It is not vital to your survival. If you can't afford it or won't pay for it, you go without it.
You want to pirate music (or software or movies or...), fine, go ahead and assume the risks and do it. But please, spare us the self-righteous lecture of how you're doing the right thing, helping the artists, teaching the RIAA a lesson...that's all a bunch of crap.
The title search is conducted to determine if there are any liens against the property that you are buying/selling. Your SSN is used in conjuction with this, as well as credit checks. And in my state, at least, the act of buying or selling a home is recorded with your tax information. This is especially true when property taxes come into play. You can pay for a house with cash all you like, but you still have to pay property taxes (in most places).
Your social security number is required for the deed and county recording of the purchase and transfer of ownership. Furthermore, your SSN is required for title searches.
Don't apologize. Companies left and right are outsourcing their back office services to 3rd world countries, laying off their domestic, money spending, big TV buying, SUV driving, gas guzzling, employees and then wondering why in the hell no one is buying their products.
They lay off their workforce then sit there crying that no one is around to buy their products? Screw them. Let them reap what they are sowing.
No doubt he put that comment there to head off the obvious, non-essential and (frankly) lame comments from others who post "big deal, I can find this info on google." Which is fine. But I can find it all in this $16 book much quicker...and it's indexed.
Yes, NT started at 3 (3.1, actually) to co-incide with Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. It was done to keep all of the products consistent in their naming scheme. From that time onward, it has always been Microsoft's intention to converge all of the workstation-level OSs into a single version. They have yet to achieve this, however, due to incompatibilities, different requirements between business and consumer (home) installations, and the simple fact that they can make more money by selling multiple OSs. Oh, yeah, and that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have one single OS anyway.
We had a similar experience happen to us when we introduced some new/different technology (albeit not with eFax).
As part of a flood remediation process, we had developed a system for transporting fluids out of a containment area into a waste exhaust line. The base component of the system was a scopa, sometimes also called a besen. Anyway, the system's production was fine until it reached a certain volume threshold, at which point it would become overwhelmed and lag behind. So, one of our junior engineers (an apprentice-level one, actually) made an enhancement that basically increased the abilty for the scopa to self-regulate itself. Without testing, the modification was rolled out to all of the scopas and deployed.
The outcome was not pretty, with the end result being that the fluid removal process over-drove the capacity of the waste line and flooded back into the container and causing all sorts of mess.
Slashdot Mirror
What's happening there is that the funds are frozen pending reciept of the credit claim from the merchant where you used your card. "Pnd Crd Trns" merely means "Pending Credit Transaction" and is done to prevent you from over-drawing your account. In the event that the merchant does not file his claim to the credit (typically 14 days), the transaction is voided and the funds are re-allocated to your account. The reason that your account balance is debited a few days later is that the credit claim has been received and processed. All banks work in this manner regarding check/debit cards.
It saddens me that, for a site filled to the rafters with geeks, not one person suggested installing a micro-switch in to the back of the laptop case (or similar) and running the led circuit through the switch. If you get a multi-pod controller, you can effectively run all of your LED circuits through the switch and disable them with a single toggle. If you were so inclined, you could go really nuts and program a small IC controller. Nothing that you couldn't find at your local Radio Shack.
Back in the days of good ol' DOS, I used to SysOp a BBS. The chat feature would cause the PC's speaker to beep evey time a new message was posted to me. Normally, this was desirable as it wouldn't require me to constantly stare at the screen while waiting for a new message. My girlfriend, however, did not appreciate this feature, especially when she was on the phone with me -- an ordeal that could sometimes last for hours. So I fixed it. Remember that oh-so-useful "turbo" button that was real popular with 486s? I disconnected it and ran the speaker wires through the turbo button. Now, I could easily toggle the speaker and the g/f wouldn't know as there was no obvious modification made to the exterior of the case. [/amusing anecdote]
These days, I apply my junior electrician skills to my 3-year old's toys. Seems that her grandparents delight in giving her electronic toys that have no volume or on/off switches.
The moral: Never be afraid to open the box.
>>If most of the updates will be available for current versions of Windows, what is the incentive to upgrade?"
Same as always. DirectX will not be permitted to install on an older version of Windows, thereby forcing you to upgrade if you want to play some new game released in the far future, say, Half-Life 2.
Also, MS will merely ram Longhorn down everyone's throats by forcing them to be installed on new PCs. Much as they did with XP.
You don't even need those. Simply add the following line to your hosts files:
127.0.0.1 ar.atwola.com
ar.atwola.com is the adserver for aol's IM. I have not had a single ad since I added this to my hosts file. I was actually fine with the ads in IM until they started doing video ads (movie trailers, mostly). Pissed me off. I'm hacking away on some code at 2am and all of a sudden my rig starts blathering on about the love affair of the century (Gigli) or some such nonsense. Needless to say, I pulled the plug.
>>How would YOU do it, if not by using the name as the first level check?
I'd probably take my head out of my ass and familiarize myself with the world around me. It's not as if Ted Kennedy is an obscure personality. It's not as though he hasn't been one of the most prominant figures in American politics for the past 42 years. And this happened in Washington D.C. and then again in his home state? How do you excuse that level of ignorance?
The fact that it took 3 weeks for one of the most powerful politicians in this country to get cleared off of the list, while sweetly ironic, doesn't hold much hope for the rest of us regular schlubs who might also run up against the same problem. I don't know about you but I certainly can't use the excuse that I'm a U.S. Senator to get through airport security. And while it might bring a small measure of comfort to know that the TSA is not making exceptions, it still smacks of the asinine overkill that followed 9/11 when they were scanning children, searching old women and making nursing mothers drink their own breastmilk.
Of course, using a pattern of "first initial, last name" is not exactly an accurate means of finding a match for terrorists, now, is it?
Not playing games is a sign of being an adult? I guess that's going to be some crushing news to my grandparents who still play bridge and scrabble on a near-daily basis.
Seriously, I can't stand self-righteous pricks who equate game-playing with immaturity. If you want to take life so seriously as to not allow yourself a bit of liesure time, go right ahead, but don't make the foolish mistake of taking a holier-than-thou attitude simply because you have some sort of bullshit hangup derived from Corithians 13:11 or some misguided belief that creative and imaginitve play is not as important for an adult as it is for a child.
>>The study basically recommends not changing the copyright legislation in favor of any particular stakeholder, including consumers or lobbyists.
Why should they change a system that already overwhelmingly favors their corporate masters, regardless of the cost from chipping away at the foundations that this country was built on? Besides, the US Constitution is all but dead and forgotten. The US goverment bears almost no resemblance to the founding government, to say nothing of its principles.
The ideas that founded the original United States of America has long since been obliterated. The Constitution has been replaced by a new document: the quarterly statement.
You mean like this? $001,400.00
Interesting...I wonder if, under the terms of the DMCA, anti-virus companies could be prosecuted for reverse-engineering viruses.
Are viruses protected under the DMCA?
Because their revenue stream currently allows them to be benevolent. Just wait and see what happens when the cashflow dries up. When people stop upgrading Office every year, when Longhorn doesn't ship til 2010, when folks start to realize that they don't have to keep replacing their MS software every eight months..
Then see how Microsoft (or Apple or IBM or....) doesn't turn to their patent portfolio for revenue.
Has "For the Birds" actually been released with anything? The sneak peak that you can download from the Pixar site has been up there for a couple of years now.
The boost is a 14.5% increase in their stock price (as of 11:30am). That's hefty indeed. Anyone who has been holding their stock in SCO has no idea how to invest. Those who have been buying it when it's low precisely for days such as this when SCO releases yet another batch of their FUD, are quite shrewd.
>> remember that the RIAA does not determine what gets played on the radio, Clear Channel (sp?), Infinity, and the other broadcasters do.
Nice thought. Too bad it's naive and so very wrong.
Record companies alone determine the marketing budgets and strategies for a given release. They determine which artists to push and which to let fend for themselves. For every Brittany Spears that they dump millions into promoting, there are countless other lesser knowns that get little if any marketing.
Clear Channel et al make little decision as to what gets played. The DJ's have zero freedom to play new/different artists or even alternate tracks from an artist in rotation. Any deviation from the playlist is made solely by the program director. Record companies pay to have their artists played - it used to be called "payola" but now it's called "marketing".
It's true that the record companies (and they are record companies, not the RIAA - that's a lobbying group) would be thrilled if more of their artists scored hits. But they are very risk adverse and often have a difficult time determining what an audience likes. This is often why they push trends and certain artists ad nauseum until people become so used to hearing about them that they give in and by their work. For proof of this, see The White Stripes. The fact is that promoting an artist is extremely expensive and they have to hedge their bets. It's unfortunate that the "safe" bets are formulaic and repetitive, but that's how it goes. I don't listen to commercial radio but, then again, I'm not their target audience. It's been a long time since I was a teenager and I've never been a prepubescent girl. It takes more work these days for me to find an artist that I like but, when I do, it's a great discovery. In fact, being forced to "hunt" for music has allowed me to discover a ton of artists and genres that I would not otherwise be exposed to.
To say that people steal music because they don't like the music is utter garbage and a very weak rationalization for theft. And please, to whomever replies to this, save me the lecture on how it's not stealing and how "information just wants to be free, dude". You're stealing. Call it "copyright violation", call it "fair use", call it "a revolution against the Man, man". You're taking something for nothing that would otherwise be sold. If you could not steal it, you would buy it. You are violating the standards of exchange whereby one thing of value (a recording) is exchanged for another thing of value (money). You don't think that the asking price is worth it? Fine, don't buy it. Music is not a necessity to life. You can live without it. It is not vital to your survival. If you can't afford it or won't pay for it, you go without it.
You want to pirate music (or software or movies or...), fine, go ahead and assume the risks and do it. But please, spare us the self-righteous lecture of how you're doing the right thing, helping the artists, teaching the RIAA a lesson...that's all a bunch of crap.
You're a thief. Accept the title and move along.
>>Why should people who don't pay and support the game get the same treatment that those that pay do?
You must be new here.
>>How else will they know if their schoolchildren are being attacked by this month's Tentacle Monster?
They're probably more concerned with *testicle* monsters.
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
The title search is conducted to determine if there are any liens against the property that you are buying/selling. Your SSN is used in conjuction with this, as well as credit checks. And in my state, at least, the act of buying or selling a home is recorded with your tax information. This is especially true when property taxes come into play. You can pay for a house with cash all you like, but you still have to pay property taxes (in most places).
> good, cheap, and even free alternatives to hosting your own DNS
And just in case you are looking for a good, cheap, and even free alternative, check out ZoneEdit. Highly recommended.
Your social security number is required for the deed and county recording of the purchase and transfer of ownership. Furthermore, your SSN is required for title searches.
>I think we all need to get our barcode tattooed in our armpits
Why bother with a barcode when you can simply braid?
Don't apologize. Companies left and right are outsourcing their back office services to 3rd world countries, laying off their domestic, money spending, big TV buying, SUV driving, gas guzzling, employees and then wondering why in the hell no one is buying their products.
They lay off their workforce then sit there crying that no one is around to buy their products? Screw them. Let them reap what they are sowing.
No doubt he put that comment there to head off the obvious, non-essential and (frankly) lame comments from others who post "big deal, I can find this info on google." Which is fine. But I can find it all in this $16 book much quicker...and it's indexed.
Windows 2000 is NT 5.0
Yes, NT started at 3 (3.1, actually) to co-incide with Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. It was done to keep all of the products consistent in their naming scheme. From that time onward, it has always been Microsoft's intention to converge all of the workstation-level OSs into a single version. They have yet to achieve this, however, due to incompatibilities, different requirements between business and consumer (home) installations, and the simple fact that they can make more money by selling multiple OSs. Oh, yeah, and that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have one single OS anyway.
We had a similar experience happen to us when we introduced some new/different technology (albeit not with eFax).
As part of a flood remediation process, we had developed a system for transporting fluids out of a containment area into a waste exhaust line. The base component of the system was a scopa, sometimes also called a besen. Anyway, the system's production was fine until it reached a certain volume threshold, at which point it would become overwhelmed and lag behind. So, one of our junior engineers (an apprentice-level one, actually) made an enhancement that basically increased the abilty for the scopa to self-regulate itself. Without testing, the modification was rolled out to all of the scopas and deployed.
The outcome was not pretty, with the end result being that the fluid removal process over-drove the capacity of the waste line and flooded back into the container and causing all sorts of mess.
Man, Mickey sure got a lecture that day!