...treat yourself to a stop at Gravelly Point Park, located immediately north of Reagan National Airport (best to depart the airport heading north, rather than trying to reach it by driving south toward the airport.) It's at the end of the runway and directly underneath the landing path (takeoffs are less interesting because the planes are much higher by the time they reach the park.)
Two things to note, other than the extremely low jets directly above you:
- The periodic "air cannon" (my description) used to scare away birds. It goes off every couple minutes. Took me quite a while to figure out what the hell it was.
- A bonus is the wake turbulence that passes overhead about 10 seconds after a plane passes. It sounds like ripping paper.
I remember a "Simon and Simon" episode (early 80's) that featured a whiz kid with an Apple II Plus. The plot focused on his hacking abilities, but he was also shown playing Raster Blaster. It was one of those self-conscious "Hey, check out this technology" moments. At the time, it was pretty novel to be able to play such a high-fidelity simulation on a home computer.
I would love to see that episode again...I'm sure it would be hilarious.
What part of Apple's DRM scheme annoys the tech illiterate? As an upstream post said, people buy a song for $1 at iTunes. It plays on their computer immediately. They put it on their iPod(s) and it plays there too. They burn it to a CD, and it plays there too. Where's the trouble?
Way back in the Napster days, I told several people that my threshold for paying for downloaded songs was $1 per track. Dang if Apple didn't do just that. I've actually bought tracks off iTunes rather than find an old CD that I own and rip it myself...very similar to the way I used to use Napster. My opinion: iTunes is a good service, the price is right, and the DRM doesn't interfere with my particular use of the product.
I don't have time to research this, but I'm skeptical.
Like many such stories I've heard over the years, this one requires the "prankster" to commit a crime. Whether you are tripping cameras or not, putting a fake tag on your car has always been easy to do, and it has always been illegal. So, great, you can pull a fast one on your rival...as long as you are willing to drive around speeding and running red lights in an illegally marked car.
Also, in the State of Maryland (where I live,) and every other jurisdiction in which I've received a camera ticket, the citation includes a photo of the event. Unless the car is identical, it would be easy to disprove the charge.
Even if the car was identical, it would often be easy to disprove the charge anyway, by showing that you were some place else at the time (work, school, etc.)
So, while it would certainly would be possible to do this, I think the requirements for success make it unlikely that it is widespread. Unless it was meant strictly as a joke, in which case the prankster wouldn't care that the citation is unlikely to stick. Otherwise, I call bullshit.
Oh, by the way...The Montgomery County Police said they have not seen or heard of this prank occurring but said they will keep an eye out for people committing the crime.
That reminds me of the advice I used to give friends when they asked about buying a faster computer. I told them to not even bother until the processors were twice as fast as what they had.
The meaning of a 5% difference in real-world use is, um, meaningless.
When I first started out (supported by a working spouse, and I now have an unrelated full-time job,) I started with ridiculously low hourly fees. There are two reasons to charge more than you may think you should at first:
- A fairly high rate implies quality (think about it...if you were a big company making a corporate web store, would you hire somebody charging $10 an hour?)
- You have expenses that your employer used to pay: taxes, insurance, overhead, etc.
Here's my recommendation: pick an annual salary you think you are worth, in thousands. Then divide by two, and that is your approximate hourly wage. For example, if you think you are worth $80k per year, then divide 80 by 2 and get $40 per hour that you will pay yourself. NOW, double that amount (minimum...maybe 2.5 or 3 times if the numbers make sense for your case,) and that's what you charge the client. This pays for all your expenses, and also helps account for the fact that you almost certainly will not be filling your days with paid work.
Last thing: actually pay yourself that $40 per hour. Everything else should go for growing your business and paying taxes (not in that order, of course!)
I saw a table in my neighborhood with some stuff and a "Free Stuff" sign. I was sorely tempted to come back and leave some of my own stuff there. Would have been a hoot...now it's just a shoulda coulda woulda story. Dang it.
Your position reminds me of the attitude held by people who leave garbage on their table at a fast food restaurant (or throw it on the ground in the parking lot, for that matter.) "It's OK, they pay people to clean up after me." You are describing how an industry must adjust to deal with people who steal from it, and suggest that the need to adjust excuses the theft.
Piracy has been alive and well since before the computer games industry even existed...and since long before DRM existed...and the games industry thrived anyway.
Shoplifting has been around for quite a while too, and the stores seem to be OK. I guess since most people are paying, it's alright for me to pick up a few things for free.
I was annoyed and disappointed in an episode where they were testing a story about the effects of a bad paint job (or some other thin substance...can't remember) on the rotor blades of helicopters. Two of the assistants (mitigating factor: one was the smokin' hot babe) decided to test it by doctoring the blades of a radio controlled helicopter. They went to a hobby store and bought one, then spent quite a bit of the alloted time trying to fly the thing. That's like testing a rumor about surfing by going out and picking up a board for the first time. It was idiotic.
I believe that almost every story we hear about law enforcement and libraries these days deals with computers that are set up for patrons to access the internet. They probably had information about a suspect using a particular machine (or a particular IP.) I seriously doubt the library itself used these computers for doing business.
I don't know jack about AI, but it seems to me that the brain is a machine running on chemistry. Why can't we, at some point in the future, make one of those ourselves?
I may have missed the part about the French Resistance bombing market places and schools.
There is a big difference between hiding yourself among civilians in your own country as a tactic, and inviting or directing fire upon the civilians among which you hide.
I have also had the same thought regarding the election of Obama, but then realized immediately that any and all trouble faced by this nation and the world in the next twenty years will be blamed on George W. Bush anyway. Heck, here we are debating a document that was signed 6 years BEFORE he took office.
Slashdot Mirror
Originally the EC didn't have to vote with the state!
They still don't. The electors can vote for whomever they wish.
...treat yourself to a stop at Gravelly Point Park, located immediately north of Reagan National Airport (best to depart the airport heading north, rather than trying to reach it by driving south toward the airport.) It's at the end of the runway and directly underneath the landing path (takeoffs are less interesting because the planes are much higher by the time they reach the park.)
Two things to note, other than the extremely low jets directly above you:
- The periodic "air cannon" (my description) used to scare away birds. It goes off every couple minutes. Took me quite a while to figure out what the hell it was.
- A bonus is the wake turbulence that passes overhead about 10 seconds after a plane passes. It sounds like ripping paper.
Dave, I'm going to have to ask you to put the book down.
Dave?
Put the book down, Dave.
I remember a "Simon and Simon" episode (early 80's) that featured a whiz kid with an Apple II Plus. The plot focused on his hacking abilities, but he was also shown playing Raster Blaster. It was one of those self-conscious "Hey, check out this technology" moments. At the time, it was pretty novel to be able to play such a high-fidelity simulation on a home computer. I would love to see that episode again...I'm sure it would be hilarious.
What part of Apple's DRM scheme annoys the tech illiterate? As an upstream post said, people buy a song for $1 at iTunes. It plays on their computer immediately. They put it on their iPod(s) and it plays there too. They burn it to a CD, and it plays there too. Where's the trouble?
Way back in the Napster days, I told several people that my threshold for paying for downloaded songs was $1 per track. Dang if Apple didn't do just that. I've actually bought tracks off iTunes rather than find an old CD that I own and rip it myself...very similar to the way I used to use Napster. My opinion: iTunes is a good service, the price is right, and the DRM doesn't interfere with my particular use of the product.
I don't have time to research this, but I'm skeptical.
Like many such stories I've heard over the years, this one requires the "prankster" to commit a crime. Whether you are tripping cameras or not, putting a fake tag on your car has always been easy to do, and it has always been illegal. So, great, you can pull a fast one on your rival...as long as you are willing to drive around speeding and running red lights in an illegally marked car.
Also, in the State of Maryland (where I live,) and every other jurisdiction in which I've received a camera ticket, the citation includes a photo of the event. Unless the car is identical, it would be easy to disprove the charge.
Even if the car was identical, it would often be easy to disprove the charge anyway, by showing that you were some place else at the time (work, school, etc.)
So, while it would certainly would be possible to do this, I think the requirements for success make it unlikely that it is widespread. Unless it was meant strictly as a joke, in which case the prankster wouldn't care that the citation is unlikely to stick. Otherwise, I call bullshit.
Oh, by the way...The Montgomery County Police said they have not seen or heard of this prank occurring but said they will keep an eye out for people committing the crime.
That reminds me of the advice I used to give friends when they asked about buying a faster computer. I told them to not even bother until the processors were twice as fast as what they had. The meaning of a 5% difference in real-world use is, um, meaningless.
When I first started out (supported by a working spouse, and I now have an unrelated full-time job,) I started with ridiculously low hourly fees. There are two reasons to charge more than you may think you should at first:
- A fairly high rate implies quality (think about it...if you were a big company making a corporate web store, would you hire somebody charging $10 an hour?)
- You have expenses that your employer used to pay: taxes, insurance, overhead, etc.
Here's my recommendation: pick an annual salary you think you are worth, in thousands. Then divide by two, and that is your approximate hourly wage. For example, if you think you are worth $80k per year, then divide 80 by 2 and get $40 per hour that you will pay yourself. NOW, double that amount (minimum...maybe 2.5 or 3 times if the numbers make sense for your case,) and that's what you charge the client. This pays for all your expenses, and also helps account for the fact that you almost certainly will not be filling your days with paid work.
Last thing: actually pay yourself that $40 per hour. Everything else should go for growing your business and paying taxes (not in that order, of course!)
How about, "Learn Computer Programming in Just Five to Ten Years."
They were goading you into taking their worthless junk by challenging your hacking skills.
I saw a table in my neighborhood with some stuff and a "Free Stuff" sign. I was sorely tempted to come back and leave some of my own stuff there. Would have been a hoot...now it's just a shoulda coulda woulda story. Dang it.
Your position reminds me of the attitude held by people who leave garbage on their table at a fast food restaurant (or throw it on the ground in the parking lot, for that matter.) "It's OK, they pay people to clean up after me." You are describing how an industry must adjust to deal with people who steal from it, and suggest that the need to adjust excuses the theft.
Piracy has been alive and well since before the computer games industry even existed...and since long before DRM existed...and the games industry thrived anyway.
Shoplifting has been around for quite a while too, and the stores seem to be OK. I guess since most people are paying, it's alright for me to pick up a few things for free.
Actually, I would be more likely to keep a pirated version of a crappy game, on the theory that I wouldn't buy it anyway.
I was annoyed and disappointed in an episode where they were testing a story about the effects of a bad paint job (or some other thin substance...can't remember) on the rotor blades of helicopters. Two of the assistants (mitigating factor: one was the smokin' hot babe) decided to test it by doctoring the blades of a radio controlled helicopter. They went to a hobby store and bought one, then spent quite a bit of the alloted time trying to fly the thing. That's like testing a rumor about surfing by going out and picking up a board for the first time. It was idiotic.
I'm disappointed that I had to read 96% through your post before being treated to the word "yawnsville."
I believe that almost every story we hear about law enforcement and libraries these days deals with computers that are set up for patrons to access the internet. They probably had information about a suspect using a particular machine (or a particular IP.) I seriously doubt the library itself used these computers for doing business.
What if the library handed over a security tape showing a crime being committed? Didn't the taxpayers pay for that too?
...They may be inconvenient, but that does not men they can circumvented when it suits us.
No law was circumvented here.
Wow...that actually deserves a dedicated post!
one of those flat, gray, 1-by-2's from the little red ambulance. I'm missing one.
I don't know jack about AI, but it seems to me that the brain is a machine running on chemistry. Why can't we, at some point in the future, make one of those ourselves?
Wow. All that stuff...new in the last 7 years. Remarkable.
I may have missed the part about the French Resistance bombing market places and schools.
There is a big difference between hiding yourself among civilians in your own country as a tactic, and inviting or directing fire upon the civilians among which you hide.
I have also had the same thought regarding the election of Obama, but then realized immediately that any and all trouble faced by this nation and the world in the next twenty years will be blamed on George W. Bush anyway. Heck, here we are debating a document that was signed 6 years BEFORE he took office.