I've e-filed for (I believe) the last 3-4 years and I've never had a problem. Got my refunds back quickly (especially with direct deposit.) If you have a simple return (no exemptions, dependents, etc. as in my case) e-filing is great. Otherwise, you might might want to get some help to make certain thigs are done correctly.
I worked at Best Buy for 1 year and we did not make commission on PSP's (this was in 1998-99). We were in fact pressured to sell them. It certainly was a way for Best Buy to increase revenues. Except for a few instances I remember, people were generally happy with the warranty service. Sometimes it might take longer to get the item fixed than the customer might like, but in general, I think they (PSP's) are okay. I'm not sure what they cost now, but I remember that a hard drive replacement would pay for the warranty. Of course this is when the largest drive out was about 10 GB and they cost about $250. I seem to remember that we did not have many people bring items back for repair, except for Packard Hell's. OH the HORROR!!
DOH! I art stupid. Just re-read - "police use the information to plan emergency routes. But as the computers calculate traffic flow, they are also making a record of all cars that cross the bridge--when they do so, their average speed, and (depending on lighting and weather conditions) how many people are in each car."
"Trying to avoid provoking privacy fears, Keith Fallon, a Computer Recognition Systems project engineer, says, "we're not saving any of the information we capture. Everything is deleted immediately." But the company could change its mind and start saving the data at any time. No one on the road would know."
This could be huge for Enterprise and Government customers who are thinking of switching (what with the economy the way it is and companies/governments wanting to cut costs) and one of the hurdles they might bring up is that switching would require re-training people based on the GUI alone. This essentially eliminates that. There would obviously be some re-training necessary, but when I saw these screenshots, I started laughing! It looks incredibly like Windows! It looks as though it would considerably lessen the learning curve for new users. Great work guys! Keep it up!
This is fantastic news! I've been an avid fan of OpenBSD for quite sometime now and this type of concise reference guide has been needed for sometime now. Granted the OpenBSD documentation available on the Internet is extremely well done, but I think it'll be great to have it consolidated in book form especially when Jacek will update the book with each full version upgrade of OpenBSD.
Just having a job makes me feel good and happy! I hear more stories everyday of people being laid off, tech workers can't find jobs, etc. and I wonder how stable my position is. I am however very fortunate to work at a great company with a lot of great people. We're small with only about 100 people total, so everyone knows everyone and we all seem to get along great. I really couldn't ask for more.
As far a specific story about happiness on the job? I'll relate a bit about my first assignment with my current employer.
I had just started with the company (March 2000) and was doing a lot of boning up on Frame Relay (which I had never even heard of before starting this job) and one month into working here, I'm in a meeting and we are told about a project in Africa (Ghana to be exact) and my manager is asking for volunteers. Surprisingly to me, people weren't jumping at the chance. Well, I did and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life! Myself and a senior engineer were going to go to Ghana and setup a WAN (over fiber) between to cities about 100 miles apart and then within the two cities setup MANs using line-of-sight microwave. ATM for the backbone. Frame for the MAN and IP running over the entire thing. We got to set up video conferencing and VoIP equipment to demonstrate the full capabilitiy of the network. It was the most amazing learning experience for me.
As great as this sounds, things were a little shaky for a bit. It turns out that the senior engineer had to return back to the states twice during the three months we were supposed to be there, which would have meant that I was to be left alone for a couple of weeks and have to carry on by myself. I was still very green of course and I had my doubts.
The first week he was gone was no big deal. I was basically to learn about the routers were going to use and get a frame relay circuit and IP connectivity over a T1 link during that week. I made that happen by mid-way through the week he was gone.
He returned and we spent the next month building this network. Just the two of us. I did most of the grunt work like making cables, etc. I also handled the routers I had just learned about which was cool, because he new nothing about them.
Well, we got the entire thing up and running in time for the demo that the company was putting on for local banks, govt. officials and other important people. The senior engineer then has to leave for his second trip back to the states. The only thing is, he doesn't return. No big deal right? Everything was setup and running well, right? Well, wrong of course.
The day after the demo, the customer tells me that they would like the network re-designed/installed/etc. for another demo. Well, this was Thrusday evening and I was to leave on Saturday afternoon. This meant that I had to travel once more to the other remote city, change shit all around on Friday and come back late Fri. night. Get a bit of sleep and then change everything around there in the local city and of course get it all running again.
Well, needless to say, I now had serious doubts. I called my manager and she was too fucking cool! She said, "Well, do your best, but whether it's working or not, you're coming home." (Remember, I had been there for 3 months by this time.) She also said, "It's on them for making changes last minute." (Too cool! A boss that's actually sticking up for me instead of "Whatever the customer wants." or "Well, you stay there until you get it done."
Well, Friday came and went. I got the remote city (three MAN sites there) setup and headed back to the capitol city. I woke up Saturday, got everything done by about 11:00 am. Now it all just had to work. Everything was pretty easy to get up except the damn video conf. system! It was what I had had the least amount of time and experience with too. Damn!
Well, as it turned out, I got it to working at the last minute with just enough time to get back to the hotel, grab my shit and get the hell outta there!!
Needless to say I was (and still am) very happy with my job. Things haven't been quite as exciting since and the travel hasn't been as exotic, but I love what I do and that's the most important part.
Yes because in the hands of the right (or in this case wrong) person, they could certainly be used as a "weapons delivery system". They can reach altitudes high enough to distribute chemical or biological agents over a broader area than might otherwise be possible. They are (or at least have been) more inconspicuous than say a crop duster which has also come under scrutiny as a possible delivery method.
No because it is people that kill, not guns. Guns (be they fully automatic assault rifles, handguns, shotguns or hunting rifles), automobiles, rockets, baseball bats, hammers, knives, and many other implements/tools can be and are used to kill people. Do we outlaw automobiles, rockets, baseball bats, hammers, knives? No, of course not. We regulate their use and punish those who use them wrongly. The key is to punish and punish effectively. We Americans have plenty of laws to punish the law breakers, it is just that they are often not enforced or the sentencing is too light thus causing recidivism (IMHO).
It sounds as though you had a bad experience with another Nortel prodcut. I'm not familiar with their Concentrator. However, I have a had a lot of experience with the Nortel Contivity Extranet Switch (CES) particularly the 600, 1500 and 4500) and I think they are good, stable, relatively cheap solutions that provide firewall, VPN, dialup, etc. (Just in case you're thinking it, no, I don't work for Nortel.) I've worked with these devices for a couple of years installing and providing support for them with a few govt. agencies. Look for them on Ebay.
Speaking of... what are the best (relative term I know) sites for good quality (more relative terms I know) Hentai? Also, few or no pop up ads would be nice.
"I recently got the 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' speech, and quite honestly am out of ideas."
Funny how this "holiday" falls (more often than not) on the guy. What about the woman being the romantic one and coming up with that "something special".
Eh, fuckit, I'm just bitter. Just out of a slightly-longer-than-a-year relationship and sick this 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' shit. Bleh.
As an avid OpenBSD user, I've thought (for sometime now) that an OpenBSD book would be fantastic! The existing documentation for OpenBSD is already very thorough, however, it can be a little daunting for newbies to the OS. Parts of the install process (particularly file system creation) are a little difficult to understand at first (yet quite simple and efficiient once understood). Also, the fact that there is no GUI makes it somewhat difficult for newbies to get "into it". So, basically, I'd work on making a good introduction for new users or those new to UNIX-like OS's altogether.
Also, I've often thought other ancillary things could be covered as well to make the book (like OpenBSD itself) more of a "computer security" book that uses OpenBSD (arguably the most secure OS available) as its central focus. These topics could include OpenSSH, OpenSSL, the (further) hardening of OpenBSD (yes, that's right, even OpenBSD can be "hardened"), how OpenBSD integrates encryption, creating VPN tunnels between OpenBSD boxes, etc.
Looks like it could also be a sting operation for the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft.
"Sure guys, come on in and have a seat. Play some games, share some movies, music, pr0n, etc. Don't mind the SWAT team members at the exits, they are merely promoting the newest Tom Clancy game. Enjoy!"
"It's also the most overhyped and overpriced toy ever, and I'm kicking myself for posting it since that just contributes to the problem."
Yeah, far be it from you to listen to your loyal readership who take the time and effort to search the Internet for "Stuff that Matters" to others than just yourself at the same time helping to make your bottom line look a little better.
Overhyped and overpriced is certainly your opinion which I could personally do without. Do you know how much it costs to make one of these? Do you know the specifics of the R & D went into these? I think not.
Do you realize how fantastic an achievement in technology this is? Well, I guess not if you think it's just a "toy". (BTW, Nice lame-ass attempt to trivialize it.) The engineering that went into creating a device that balances the human body while moving forward, backward and turning and most importantly anticipates sudden movements to maintain that balance is fantastic!
Perhaps more important (and certainly undervalued by many) are the potential advances that this type of technology could lead to that we can't foresee right now. (Like this wheelchair that Kamen also invented.
For a nerd who supposedly likes anime, science- fiction, technology, etc. You seem just a little negative and short-sighted.
Perhaps you could release a scaled down version of the product for free to help garner interest and produce another version with more bells and whistles for sale. Also, I think the traditional model for making money off of "free" software is to charge money for support and services associated with implementing, running and maintaining it.
A lot of people here are pooh-poohing this as "time-share" computing which was around back in the day saying we've moved away from that concept. I think it could certainly be a viable option for companies that are wanting more computing power, but also looking to cut costs.
Also, consider that the companies making use of this would never have to upgrade their own clusters. I constantly see newer clusters being planned by companies and governmental agencies. It's always more processors, more MHz per processor and more nodes per cluster. Why not offload all of this onto a company (IBM in this case) who can put the resources (both in hardware and personnel intimately familiar with that hardware) necessary to maintain and grow ever larger, more powerful clusters.
IMHO, it seems like a great idea. It will give far more companies access to "super-computers" than ever before and at a significant savings. It seems that once again IBM is being a very forward-thinking company and will probably end up make a pile of cash because of a little foresight and some guts to act on it.
I get the same thing. It seems as though the screen consumes my entire attention. This also happens when reading sometimes for longer periods. Music does seem to help get into this "zone" as well. Strange but also kinda cool.
Earlier in the year I drove from Phoenix, AZ to Washington, D.C. and it is amazing how much land is not being utilized! Certainly, it may be fenced off, owned and counted as someones "ranch", but not utilized in any functional sense of the word. Try driving through AZ, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, etc. Vast (in every sense of the word) and wide open. I've also driven through (at other times) Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and the Dakota states. Again, there are some very wide open spaces out there.
Slashdot Mirror
I've e-filed for (I believe) the last 3-4 years and I've never had a problem. Got my refunds back quickly (especially with direct deposit.) If you have a simple return (no exemptions, dependents, etc. as in my case) e-filing is great. Otherwise, you might might want to get some help to make certain thigs are done correctly.
I worked at Best Buy for 1 year and we did not make commission on PSP's (this was in 1998-99). We were in fact pressured to sell them. It certainly was a way for Best Buy to increase revenues. Except for a few instances I remember, people were generally happy with the warranty service. Sometimes it might take longer to get the item fixed than the customer might like, but in general, I think they (PSP's) are okay. I'm not sure what they cost now, but I remember that a hard drive replacement would pay for the warranty. Of course this is when the largest drive out was about 10 GB and they cost about $250. I seem to remember that we did not have many people bring items back for repair, except for Packard Hell's. OH the HORROR!!
DOH! I art stupid. Just re-read - "police use the information to plan emergency routes. But as the computers calculate traffic flow, they are also making a record of all cars that cross the bridge--when they do so, their average speed, and (depending on lighting and weather conditions) how many people are in each car."
"Trying to avoid provoking privacy fears, Keith Fallon, a Computer Recognition Systems project engineer, says, "we're not saving any of the information we capture. Everything is deleted immediately." But the company could change its mind and start saving the data at any time. No one on the road would know."
So, these are useful how?
This could be huge for Enterprise and Government customers who are thinking of switching (what with the economy the way it is and companies/governments wanting to cut costs) and one of the hurdles they might bring up is that switching would require re-training people based on the GUI alone. This essentially eliminates that. There would obviously be some re-training necessary, but when I saw these screenshots, I started laughing! It looks incredibly like Windows! It looks as though it would considerably lessen the learning curve for new users. Great work guys! Keep it up!
This is fantastic news! I've been an avid fan of OpenBSD for quite sometime now and this type of concise reference guide has been needed for sometime now. Granted the OpenBSD documentation available on the Internet is extremely well done, but I think it'll be great to have it consolidated in book form especially when Jacek will update the book with each full version upgrade of OpenBSD.
Just having a job makes me feel good and happy! I hear more stories everyday of people being laid off, tech workers can't find jobs, etc. and I wonder how stable my position is. I am however very fortunate to work at a great company with a lot of great people. We're small with only about 100 people total, so everyone knows everyone and we all seem to get along great. I really couldn't ask for more.
As far a specific story about happiness on the job? I'll relate a bit about my first assignment with my current employer.
I had just started with the company (March 2000) and was doing a lot of boning up on Frame Relay
(which I had never even heard of before starting this job) and one month into working here, I'm in a meeting and we are told about a project in Africa (Ghana to be exact) and my manager is asking for volunteers. Surprisingly to me, people weren't jumping at the chance. Well, I did and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life! Myself and a senior engineer were going to go to Ghana and setup a WAN (over fiber) between to cities about 100 miles apart and then within the two cities setup MANs using line-of-sight microwave. ATM for the backbone. Frame for the MAN and IP running over the entire thing. We got to set up video conferencing and VoIP equipment to demonstrate the full capabilitiy of the network. It was the most amazing learning experience for me.
As great as this sounds, things were a little shaky for a bit. It turns out that the senior engineer had to return back to the states twice during the three months we were supposed to be there, which would have meant that I was to be left alone for a couple of weeks and have to carry on by myself. I was still very green of course and I had my doubts.
The first week he was gone was no big deal. I was basically to learn about the routers were going to use and get a frame relay circuit and IP connectivity over a T1 link during that week. I made that happen by mid-way through the week he was gone.
He returned and we spent the next month building this network. Just the two of us. I did most of the grunt work like making cables, etc. I also handled the routers I had just learned about which was cool, because he new nothing about them.
Well, we got the entire thing up and running in time for the demo that the company was putting on for local banks, govt. officials and other important people. The senior engineer then has to leave for his second trip back to the states. The only thing is, he doesn't return. No big deal right? Everything was setup and running well, right? Well, wrong of course.
The day after the demo, the customer tells me that they would like the network re-designed/installed/etc. for another demo. Well, this was Thrusday evening and I was to leave on Saturday afternoon. This meant that I had to travel once more to the other remote city, change shit all around on Friday and come back late Fri. night. Get a bit of sleep and then change everything around there in the local city and of course get it all running again.
Well, needless to say, I now had serious doubts. I called my manager and she was too fucking cool! She said, "Well, do your best, but whether it's working or not, you're coming home." (Remember, I had been there for 3 months by this time.) She also said, "It's on them for making changes last minute." (Too cool! A boss that's actually sticking up for me instead of "Whatever the customer wants." or "Well, you stay there until you get it done."
Well, Friday came and went. I got the remote city (three MAN sites there) setup and headed back to the capitol city. I woke up Saturday, got everything done by about 11:00 am. Now it all just had to work. Everything was pretty easy to get up except the damn video conf. system! It was what I had had the least amount of time and experience with too. Damn!
Well, as it turned out, I got it to working at the last minute with just enough time to get back to the hotel, grab my shit and get the hell outta there!!
Needless to say I was (and still am) very happy with my job. Things haven't been quite as exciting since and the travel hasn't been as exotic, but I love what I do and that's the most important part.
And of course you'll need your McIntosh to get a McAddress.
Yes and No.
Yes because in the hands of the right (or in this case wrong) person, they could certainly be used as a "weapons delivery system". They can reach altitudes high enough to distribute chemical or biological agents over a broader area than might otherwise be possible. They are (or at least have been) more inconspicuous than say a crop duster which has also come under scrutiny as a possible delivery method.
No because it is people that kill, not guns. Guns (be they fully automatic assault rifles, handguns, shotguns or hunting rifles), automobiles, rockets, baseball bats, hammers, knives, and many other implements/tools can be and are used to kill people. Do we outlaw automobiles, rockets, baseball bats, hammers, knives? No, of course not. We regulate their use and punish those who use them wrongly. The key is to punish and punish effectively. We Americans have plenty of laws to punish the law breakers, it is just that they are often not enforced or the sentencing is too light thus causing recidivism (IMHO).
32,000 songs should be enough for anyone.
Heh heh
It sounds as though you had a bad experience with another Nortel prodcut. I'm not familiar with their Concentrator. However, I have a had a lot of experience with the Nortel Contivity Extranet Switch (CES) particularly the 600, 1500 and 4500) and I think they are good, stable, relatively cheap solutions that provide firewall, VPN, dialup, etc. (Just in case you're thinking it, no, I don't work for Nortel.) I've worked with these devices for a couple of years installing and providing support for them with a few govt. agencies. Look for them on Ebay.
Just my 2 cents
Speaking of... what are the best (relative term I know) sites for good quality (more relative terms I know) Hentai? Also, few or no pop up ads would be nice.
"I recently got the 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' speech, and quite honestly am out of ideas."
Funny how this "holiday" falls (more often than not) on the guy. What about the woman being the romantic one and coming up with that "something special".
Eh, fuckit, I'm just bitter. Just out of a slightly-longer-than-a-year relationship and sick this 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' shit. Bleh.
The above advertisement paid for by your local cable company.
Heh heh...just kiddin'.
The fact that Da Vinci was a "...gay, vegetarian..." really helps drive home the point that he was a pacifist. Thanks for the wonderful insight.
Sorry for the miscommunication, I was in fact referring to the being no graphical installer.
As an avid OpenBSD user, I've thought (for sometime now) that an OpenBSD book would be fantastic! The existing documentation for OpenBSD is already very thorough, however, it can be a little daunting for newbies to the OS. Parts of the install process (particularly file system creation) are a little difficult to understand at first (yet quite simple and efficiient once understood). Also, the fact that there is no GUI makes it somewhat difficult for newbies to get "into it". So, basically, I'd work on making a good introduction for new users or those new to UNIX-like OS's altogether.
Also, I've often thought other ancillary things could be covered as well to make the book (like OpenBSD itself) more of a "computer security" book that uses OpenBSD (arguably the most secure OS available) as its central focus. These topics could include OpenSSH, OpenSSL, the (further) hardening of OpenBSD (yes, that's right, even OpenBSD can be "hardened"), how OpenBSD integrates encryption, creating VPN tunnels between OpenBSD boxes, etc.
Just my 2 cents.
Looks like it could also be a sting operation for the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft.
"Sure guys, come on in and have a seat. Play some games, share some movies, music, pr0n, etc. Don't mind the SWAT team members at the exits, they are merely promoting the newest Tom Clancy game. Enjoy!"
"It's also the most overhyped and overpriced toy ever, and I'm kicking myself for posting it since that just contributes to the problem."
Yeah, far be it from you to listen to your loyal readership who take the time and effort to search the Internet for "Stuff that Matters" to others than just yourself at the same time helping to make your bottom line look a little better.
Overhyped and overpriced is certainly your opinion which I could personally do without. Do you know how much it costs to make one of these? Do you know the specifics of the R & D went into these? I think not.
Do you realize how fantastic an achievement in technology this is? Well, I guess not if you think it's just a "toy". (BTW, Nice lame-ass attempt to trivialize it.) The engineering that went into creating a device that balances the human body while moving forward, backward and turning and most importantly anticipates sudden movements to maintain that balance is fantastic!
Perhaps more important (and certainly undervalued by many) are the potential advances that this type of technology could lead to that we can't foresee right now. (Like this wheelchair that Kamen also invented.
For a nerd who supposedly likes anime, science- fiction, technology, etc. You seem just a little negative and short-sighted.
But of course, these are just my opinions.
Perhaps you could release a scaled down version of the product for free to help garner interest and produce another version with more bells and whistles for sale. Also, I think the traditional model for making money off of "free" software is to charge money for support and services associated with implementing, running and maintaining it.
Just my 2 cents.
Hmmmmmmm...
I'm thinking Beowulf. Anyone else?
A lot of people here are pooh-poohing this as "time-share" computing which was around back in the day saying we've moved away from that concept. I think it could certainly be a viable option for companies that are wanting more computing power, but also looking to cut costs.
Also, consider that the companies making use of this would never have to upgrade their own clusters. I constantly see newer clusters being planned by companies and governmental agencies. It's always more processors, more MHz per processor and more nodes per cluster. Why not offload all of this onto a company (IBM in this case) who can put the resources (both in hardware and personnel intimately familiar with that hardware) necessary to maintain and grow ever larger, more powerful clusters.
IMHO, it seems like a great idea. It will give far more companies access to "super-computers" than ever before and at a significant savings.
It seems that once again IBM is being a very forward-thinking company and will probably end up make a pile of cash because of a little foresight and some guts to act on it.
I get the same thing. It seems as though the screen consumes my entire attention. This also happens when reading sometimes for longer periods. Music does seem to help get into this "zone" as well. Strange but also kinda cool.
My sentiments exactly!
Earlier in the year I drove from Phoenix, AZ to Washington, D.C. and it is amazing how much land is not being utilized! Certainly, it may be fenced off, owned and counted as someones "ranch", but not utilized in any functional sense of the word. Try driving through AZ, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, etc. Vast (in every sense of the word) and wide open. I've also driven through (at other times) Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and the Dakota states. Again, there are some very wide open spaces out there.
I wonder if this means OpenBSD will soon have SMP capability? Anyone have any thoughts? Inside information?