(Note: I am not an american citizen and my understanding of the american legal system is therefore limited)
Most American citizens have less of an understanding of how the courts work than you just displayed, in my experience.
In cases like this, the lower judge can make orders which are right or wrong and if you don't think his judgement is correct, you are welcome to appeal to the appeals court. Appeals then allow for the correction of lower court errors and if you don't like the appeals court decision, you are free to try and get the next higher court to hear an appeal.
In federal cases the appeals process ends at the Federal Supreme Court, which can choose to allow an appeal to be argued, overturn the lower court, or simply let the ruling stand as is and not do anything. Usually by the time a case can get to the Supreme Court it will have taken years since someone has been convicted and sentenced. There are similar paths for local and state courts as well as civil and criminal courts. With appeals to a higher court allowed for decisions made in lower ones. But this process is time consuming, expensive, and is likely to take years and years of waiting.
So the individual citizen can, if he has the time and money (or can find somebody who thinks this is important enough to provide the necessary legal services) can keep filing timely appeals and "fight his way to the top." (Or at least as high as the judges will allow).
In this case, I suspect that there will be a number of appeals based on the less than ideal constitutional grounds of the order, but I'm guessing that this guy will either provide the information or be held in contempt and have to appeal.
One is to provide a place for the spokes of the flying wheel to meet so everybody can change planes and get to their destination. Two is to provide access to at least ONE destination that a lot of people want to go too.
Where it might make sense to put a centrally located hub in the geographic center of it all, if nobody wants to actually go there, it's just not going to make it as a major hub. With all due respect to Kansas City, there is just not enough passengers who want to go there to make a hub of it work, at least not for a major airline.
it's important to note that they mapped "flights" and not passengers carried. I didn't realize how much air travel was used in Europe, but it does seem to reflect the really close associations and interlinked economic activity of the region. I'm also guessing that there are a lot more short haul flights in smaller aircraft "over there".
But when you view this with where the money flows in mind, it seams clear that there are a number of economic centers in the world. I'd bet they would be much more apparent if they accounted for the number of passengers being carried on each flight or the total of the airline's revenue on the route.
"And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." (Mod points for knowing where that quote comes from.. )
Given the physics of how flash actually works, I'm guessing that we will see a more step wise improvement in storage density. But Moore's law is about increasing complexity, not density. So the logical size of flash devices will continue to go up, even if the density is not improved.
I don't think we are close to a point where Moore's law is going to be proven false, not by a long shot.
It's not really VLAN's that are the issue here.. It's "Broadcast domain" isolation. Separate sub-net and broadcast domain is required (usually accomplished using a VLAN on a managed switch, but not always). NAT is also somewhat useful depending on where you put the WAN connection in your network. But, you are correct, you *really* need a firewall/Router that manages the external network access to the *MINIMUM* necessary in *BOTH* directions and a NAT only works in one direction.
if you have students in grades 9 thru 12 finding and exploiting holes in a VMM, you've got...
... really smart kids.
You can count on that one... So what do you do?
You need to have isolated this from the rest of the network using independent hardware/software, have really good backups that you can restore quickly, and be really good at monitoring things so you can catch them and pull the plug before they do any damage.
Personally, if I was teaching Linux System Administration and the students wanted to "try out" some of this stuff, I'd bless it, as long as the problems they caused where isolated to the lab and where discussed with me in advance. Any violation of those two rules would not be tolerated (though secretly I'd be saying "Yes!").
VM's are great for letting folks have "root" on a box safely for learning purposes. But I think one should consider what these boxes would be able to do on your standard corporate or school network. I assume that there is some kind of network security applied to the machines the students are allowed to touch. Having root access to a Linux box attached to the network will effectively bypass any existing security policies. I would be more worried about what the users can do to the local VM (Specifically to the network adapter settings).
Assuming you can control local VM configurations, or if you are using VM at the hardware level.....Training Linux boxes should be isolated on their own network segment (IP Subnet) and isolated broadcast domain. This will prevent your budding sysadmins from snooping on the network and learning things they shouldn't. The easiest way to do this is to put them on their own separate switch (unmanned switches) or VLAN (managed switches). If you need internet access for the learning experience, you will need additional equipment (a firewall/router) to allow that but I would allow only the minimum access outbound and probability put the training network behind a NAT to eliminate inbound connections.
I'm not sure if you would want to isolate each student's machine from the other students. I can see a lot of interesting, real world like, experiences for them trying to communicate between each others machines so I'd just put them all on the same subnet and watch the fun. Just DON'T put them on the same broadcast domain or on a routeable subnet as any "production" network.
I'm saying that getting fusion to happen at low temperatures and pressures is not likely possible because of the physics involved. Fusing two nuclei at low energies is simply not likely due to the laws of physics. Getting measurable energy out if it is even less likely. Getting industrial levels of energy?
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and so far I'm not seeing any kind of reliable proof.
These guys are snake oil sales men and those who accept what they say are rubes.
Cold Fusion is *not* likely. Subatomic physics really makes this impossible, at least in an energy positive way.
The same with all the schemes that violate thermodynamic laws and claim "free energy" or other frauds. It all sounds nice, and we wish it was true, but the laws of physics pretty much tell us it's not possible..
Yes, we did go to the moon, 9/11 wasn't an inside job and aliens never existed, even in Area 51 (Sorry Roswell NM..)
Queue up the loud crowd that posts their useless drivel to the internet in 3.... 2.... 1....
Yea, but by the time they have a machine built to make the cup of tea, the patent will have expired...
How will the patent trolls go after all the bittorrent client's that download that one or will the existence of a hot cup of Earl Grey be enough to get you sued?
Now the original 23rd century design, which was all voice interface and blinky lights, would be neat, but pretty damn hard to implement until we can get a computer to "recognize speech" instead of "wreck a nice beach".
Oh but we *have* that already... Never mind the error rate.... Ever called an IVR based phone tree? Yea, they can recognize speech *just* fine. Personally I go for the DTMF interface, it's usually faster.
Speech recondition that is speaker independent generally has to be vocabulary constrained. It's usually easy to tell the difference between "Yes" and "No" but if the speaker says anything else, it's going to go off the rails pretty quick. The more things you are listening for, the less confidence you are going to have between all the options.... That's why these systems are always prompting you to say certain words and phrases. If you want large vocabularies, you will need to either train the system to be speaker dependent, train the speakers to be consistent or be able to live with incorrect detections.
"He's too far Jim!".. or was that "He's Foo Bar Jim!"? I guess that one doesn't matter..
But it's going to be a *really* long delay involved in getting the data back to Apple's servers when you are a light year away from earth when you try and connect with Siri... (grin) I'm thinking that's going to make Siri system pretty much useless before you get halfway to Mars..
From somebody who spent a few hours working a show with Gene Roddenberry before his ashes got the cosmic brush off... Having run film clips and sound for his famed "lecture" on Star Trek's past and how that changed our future, I thought he was nuts (1987).
Science Fiction has foreseen future events, but it is NOT an accurate representation of what is going to happen. So how on earth (or in space for that matter) can we tell what software will be used in the future for some yet to be designed hardware? Add to this that we are not even sure when or even if such a theoretical machine will ever exist and how can we figure any kind of useful debate will come from this?
Oh yea, this is star trek.. Home to the group that thinks some group of two bit "B" list actors are somehow for tellers of the future
Not exactly fair in this case. Yea, I purchased a Windows 8 Professional upgrade, but I had a good reason and got a great price on the upgrade.
First, I was upgrading a XP Home license that I had just moved to a new (and vastly improved) system for the family to use for their Windows's activities. Simply didn't want to try and force the Linux solution in this situation. They had software that was "windows only" and I didn't have the time to try and port all of it to Wine or something. So I really had no choice but to run Windows.
Second, the upgrade was CHEAP! I got this upgrade to Windows 8 Professional for much less than an upgrade to *ANYTHING* else "Windows" was available for. During the initial launch of Window 8, a local retailer was selling the upgrade for $35 so I snatched up a copy.
So I purchased this because it was CHEAP and I simply had to run Windows, Not because I have a taste for bad things...
Running Windows 8 at home has been an exercise in asking "How did that get though testing?" questions.
I have observed a number of bugs in the current Windows 8 that cause me to seriously doubt Microsoft's Quality control processes. My running favorite issue is how the Parental controls are exceptionally easy to bypass (just a mouse click at the right time and my son has unlimited time despite how the system is configured.. ) Come on Microsoft... Windows 8 was mostly a GUI adjustment to that metro aka touch screen interface... No real kernel changes from Windows 7.. You need to test a bit better kids.
Windows 8 was not properly tested prior to release, I'm guessing because they rushed it to market. Hopefully 8.1 won't be as rushed and they will actually TEST some of this stuff a bit better this time.
Seriously? You do realize that "coins" where invented as a way to make standard sized bits of metal (gold, silver etc) that could be traded with less examination required. Look for Cesar's face on one side and his horse's on the other and you knew you where holding a known quantity of gold... Bitcoin is not even close to that.. (Not that a dollar coin is worth a dollar's worth of gold anymore..)
We've been down this road/runway time and again and while it is possible, it's not going to be practical for a long time. From a licensed private pilot who also holds a class B CDL and could actually LEGALLY drive/fly this thing, here are the reasons why this ain't going to happen....
1. The Car/Plane will need to be certified by TWO authorities, the NHTSA and the FAA (in the USA).
2. It will have to meet the minimum crash standards of the NHTSA, the Emission standards for other vehicles including the OBDII and Cafe mileage standards, yet meet the FAA's technical standard for a commercially produced aircraft (assume you don't build these yourself..)
3. Designing for both authorities will make it a horrible car and a worse airplane. It won't be comfortable and it will be hugely expensive.
4. The driver/pilot will need to be licensed to drive as well as have a suitable pilot's license, ratings, medical certificate, log book endorsements, and be current for the type of flying to be done in order to take passengers. Flying is an expensive hobby and you have to fly regularly to be proficient and safe.
5. ALL maintenance will need to be done by properly certified (by the FAA) mechanics using fully vetted and certified parts, and you thought a brake job was expensive for your car, trust me, you haven't seen anything, and you simply won't be able to do ANY work yourself or buy tires from your local tire store because they won't be able to legally even loosen the lug nuts on your car/airplane thing.
6. Large Cities Usually sit under large areas of restricted airspace where flying these things would require a minimum set of navigational equipment, communications equipment and procedural methods to be followed. This is more than just going through the toll booth or HOV lanes. You will need to have a scheduled transit time and an approved filed flight plan in some cases and be talking to ATC in most cases.
7. VSTOL capable aircraft are usually not fuel efficient being heavy and complicated devices. They have limited useful load for the fuel they burn and suffer from being low range because you simply cannot lift fuel AND people, suitcases, groceries and the like. (The Harrier and V22 don't fix this issue..) You won't be go very far or fly very long.
8. Alcohol in motor fuels is going to be an issue for aircraft operating conditions.
It's simply not a practical idea. Sounds like it would be great, but it's just got some serious problems even before you get to thinking about the physics of the whole it's a car, it's a plane engineering problem.
You don't want to find out about an SSD read/write bug when you're 1 billion miles from earth. Let the technology shake out the bugs, then buy a reliable, cheaper product.
Actually.... It's because it takes literally YEARS to design, test and manufacture space rated hardware components and then it takes YEARS to design, build, program and test a space platform.
Years + Years works out to a LONG time from a new technology to flight ready hardware... Then you measure mission times in YEARS too, so you end up with a VERY LONG time that passes. THAT is why much of NASA's hardware is based on seemingly old technology.
most shops end up at 350 for a standard brake pad replacement every couple of years.
Shesh man, do your own brake work and save a ton. You are getting taken if you pay more than $100/axle to have it done.
Disk brakes are *EASY* and once you know how it is really fast if you have even the basic tools. You can buy the best available pads and a set of tools for less than $350 and do it yourself. Keep the tools and next time it will be really cheap.
I can usually get pads for under $100 (good ones) and do all four wheels in about 3 hours (I'm slow these days and only have the *basic* set of tools). When I had access to the right tools and a lift, I've done this in less than an hour.
unless your kids want to watch nothing but, say, the same three seasons of spongebob...over...and over...and over...
I can tell YOU never had kids...:)
At certain ages kids are quite willing to (and sometimes insistent on) watch the same material over and over. My oldest watched Aristocats and Aladin as many times as we allowed (or could stand) when she was young and my nephew insisted on watching specific parts of Mary Poppins repeatedly. (I still cannot stand to even listen to any of these movies.) Having three seasons of Sponge Bob would be *GREAT* for that age....
Slashdot Mirror
(Note: I am not an american citizen and my understanding of the american legal system is therefore limited)
Most American citizens have less of an understanding of how the courts work than you just displayed, in my experience.
In cases like this, the lower judge can make orders which are right or wrong and if you don't think his judgement is correct, you are welcome to appeal to the appeals court. Appeals then allow for the correction of lower court errors and if you don't like the appeals court decision, you are free to try and get the next higher court to hear an appeal.
In federal cases the appeals process ends at the Federal Supreme Court, which can choose to allow an appeal to be argued, overturn the lower court, or simply let the ruling stand as is and not do anything. Usually by the time a case can get to the Supreme Court it will have taken years since someone has been convicted and sentenced. There are similar paths for local and state courts as well as civil and criminal courts. With appeals to a higher court allowed for decisions made in lower ones. But this process is time consuming, expensive, and is likely to take years and years of waiting.
So the individual citizen can, if he has the time and money (or can find somebody who thinks this is important enough to provide the necessary legal services) can keep filing timely appeals and "fight his way to the top." (Or at least as high as the judges will allow).
In this case, I suspect that there will be a number of appeals based on the less than ideal constitutional grounds of the order, but I'm guessing that this guy will either provide the information or be held in contempt and have to appeal.
Airport hubs serve primary TWO purposes....
One is to provide a place for the spokes of the flying wheel to meet so everybody can change planes and get to their destination. Two is to provide access to at least ONE destination that a lot of people want to go too.
Where it might make sense to put a centrally located hub in the geographic center of it all, if nobody wants to actually go there, it's just not going to make it as a major hub. With all due respect to Kansas City, there is just not enough passengers who want to go there to make a hub of it work, at least not for a major airline.
How this map reflects economic activity?
it's important to note that they mapped "flights" and not passengers carried. I didn't realize how much air travel was used in Europe, but it does seem to reflect the really close associations and interlinked economic activity of the region. I'm also guessing that there are a lot more short haul flights in smaller aircraft "over there".
But when you view this with where the money flows in mind, it seams clear that there are a number of economic centers in the world. I'd bet they would be much more apparent if they accounted for the number of passengers being carried on each flight or the total of the airline's revenue on the route.
"And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." (Mod points for knowing where that quote comes from.. )
Given the physics of how flash actually works, I'm guessing that we will see a more step wise improvement in storage density. But Moore's law is about increasing complexity, not density. So the logical size of flash devices will continue to go up, even if the density is not improved.
I don't think we are close to a point where Moore's law is going to be proven false, not by a long shot.
It's not really VLAN's that are the issue here.. It's "Broadcast domain" isolation. Separate sub-net and broadcast domain is required (usually accomplished using a VLAN on a managed switch, but not always). NAT is also somewhat useful depending on where you put the WAN connection in your network. But, you are correct, you *really* need a firewall/Router that manages the external network access to the *MINIMUM* necessary in *BOTH* directions and a NAT only works in one direction.
if you have students in grades 9 thru 12 finding and exploiting holes in a VMM, you've got ...
... really smart kids.
You can count on that one... So what do you do?
You need to have isolated this from the rest of the network using independent hardware/software, have really good backups that you can restore quickly, and be really good at monitoring things so you can catch them and pull the plug before they do any damage.
Personally, if I was teaching Linux System Administration and the students wanted to "try out" some of this stuff, I'd bless it, as long as the problems they caused where isolated to the lab and where discussed with me in advance. Any violation of those two rules would not be tolerated (though secretly I'd be saying "Yes!").
VMs are a perfect solution for advanced computer systems management training.
Which is not what is being taught.
I teach Python and C++ to high school students
How about your own personal Rasberry Pi? Best of both worlds....
VM's are great for letting folks have "root" on a box safely for learning purposes. But I think one should consider what these boxes would be able to do on your standard corporate or school network. I assume that there is some kind of network security applied to the machines the students are allowed to touch. Having root access to a Linux box attached to the network will effectively bypass any existing security policies. I would be more worried about what the users can do to the local VM (Specifically to the network adapter settings).
Assuming you can control local VM configurations, or if you are using VM at the hardware level.....Training Linux boxes should be isolated on their own network segment (IP Subnet) and isolated broadcast domain. This will prevent your budding sysadmins from snooping on the network and learning things they shouldn't. The easiest way to do this is to put them on their own separate switch (unmanned switches) or VLAN (managed switches). If you need internet access for the learning experience, you will need additional equipment (a firewall/router) to allow that but I would allow only the minimum access outbound and probability put the training network behind a NAT to eliminate inbound connections.
I'm not sure if you would want to isolate each student's machine from the other students. I can see a lot of interesting, real world like, experiences for them trying to communicate between each others machines so I'd just put them all on the same subnet and watch the fun. Just DON'T put them on the same broadcast domain or on a routeable subnet as any "production" network.
Never said it was claiming to be "free" energy..
I'm saying that getting fusion to happen at low temperatures and pressures is not likely possible because of the physics involved. Fusing two nuclei at low energies is simply not likely due to the laws of physics. Getting measurable energy out if it is even less likely. Getting industrial levels of energy?
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and so far I'm not seeing any kind of reliable proof.
These guys are snake oil sales men and those who accept what they say are rubes.
Spin up the fraudsters and their supporters...
Cold Fusion is *not* likely. Subatomic physics really makes this impossible, at least in an energy positive way.
The same with all the schemes that violate thermodynamic laws and claim "free energy" or other frauds. It all sounds nice, and we wish it was true, but the laws of physics pretty much tell us it's not possible..
Yes, we did go to the moon, 9/11 wasn't an inside job and aliens never existed, even in Area 51 (Sorry Roswell NM..)
Queue up the loud crowd that posts their useless drivel to the internet in 3.... 2.... 1....
Just hide under the cows that just came home... You will be fine..
Yea, but by the time they have a machine built to make the cup of tea, the patent will have expired...
How will the patent trolls go after all the bittorrent client's that download that one or will the existence of a hot cup of Earl Grey be enough to get you sued?
Now the original 23rd century design, which was all voice interface and blinky lights, would be neat, but pretty damn hard to implement until we can get a computer to "recognize speech" instead of "wreck a nice beach".
Oh but we *have* that already... Never mind the error rate.... Ever called an IVR based phone tree? Yea, they can recognize speech *just* fine. Personally I go for the DTMF interface, it's usually faster.
Speech recondition that is speaker independent generally has to be vocabulary constrained. It's usually easy to tell the difference between "Yes" and "No" but if the speaker says anything else, it's going to go off the rails pretty quick. The more things you are listening for, the less confidence you are going to have between all the options.... That's why these systems are always prompting you to say certain words and phrases. If you want large vocabularies, you will need to either train the system to be speaker dependent, train the speakers to be consistent or be able to live with incorrect detections.
"He's too far Jim!".. or was that "He's Foo Bar Jim!"? I guess that one doesn't matter..
but Siri is already here.
But it's going to be a *really* long delay involved in getting the data back to Apple's servers when you are a light year away from earth when you try and connect with Siri... (grin) I'm thinking that's going to make Siri system pretty much useless before you get halfway to Mars..
From somebody who spent a few hours working a show with Gene Roddenberry before his ashes got the cosmic brush off... Having run film clips and sound for his famed "lecture" on Star Trek's past and how that changed our future, I thought he was nuts (1987).
Science Fiction has foreseen future events, but it is NOT an accurate representation of what is going to happen. So how on earth (or in space for that matter) can we tell what software will be used in the future for some yet to be designed hardware? Add to this that we are not even sure when or even if such a theoretical machine will ever exist and how can we figure any kind of useful debate will come from this?
Oh yea, this is star trek.. Home to the group that thinks some group of two bit "B" list actors are somehow for tellers of the future
You bought Windows8. You like turds,.
Not exactly fair in this case. Yea, I purchased a Windows 8 Professional upgrade, but I had a good reason and got a great price on the upgrade.
First, I was upgrading a XP Home license that I had just moved to a new (and vastly improved) system for the family to use for their Windows's activities. Simply didn't want to try and force the Linux solution in this situation. They had software that was "windows only" and I didn't have the time to try and port all of it to Wine or something. So I really had no choice but to run Windows.
Second, the upgrade was CHEAP! I got this upgrade to Windows 8 Professional for much less than an upgrade to *ANYTHING* else "Windows" was available for. During the initial launch of Window 8, a local retailer was selling the upgrade for $35 so I snatched up a copy.
So I purchased this because it was CHEAP and I simply had to run Windows, Not because I have a taste for bad things...
Running Windows 8 at home has been an exercise in asking "How did that get though testing?" questions.
I have observed a number of bugs in the current Windows 8 that cause me to seriously doubt Microsoft's Quality control processes. My running favorite issue is how the Parental controls are exceptionally easy to bypass (just a mouse click at the right time and my son has unlimited time despite how the system is configured.. ) Come on Microsoft... Windows 8 was mostly a GUI adjustment to that metro aka touch screen interface... No real kernel changes from Windows 7.. You need to test a bit better kids.
Windows 8 was not properly tested prior to release, I'm guessing because they rushed it to market. Hopefully 8.1 won't be as rushed and they will actually TEST some of this stuff a bit better this time.
Seriously? You do realize that "coins" where invented as a way to make standard sized bits of metal (gold, silver etc) that could be traded with less examination required. Look for Cesar's face on one side and his horse's on the other and you knew you where holding a known quantity of gold... Bitcoin is not even close to that.. (Not that a dollar coin is worth a dollar's worth of gold anymore..)
You mean: "exit(-1);" ?
We've been down this road/runway time and again and while it is possible, it's not going to be practical for a long time. From a licensed private pilot who also holds a class B CDL and could actually LEGALLY drive/fly this thing, here are the reasons why this ain't going to happen....
1. The Car/Plane will need to be certified by TWO authorities, the NHTSA and the FAA (in the USA).
2. It will have to meet the minimum crash standards of the NHTSA, the Emission standards for other vehicles including the OBDII and Cafe mileage standards, yet meet the FAA's technical standard for a commercially produced aircraft (assume you don't build these yourself..)
3. Designing for both authorities will make it a horrible car and a worse airplane. It won't be comfortable and it will be hugely expensive.
4. The driver/pilot will need to be licensed to drive as well as have a suitable pilot's license, ratings, medical certificate, log book endorsements, and be current for the type of flying to be done in order to take passengers. Flying is an expensive hobby and you have to fly regularly to be proficient and safe.
5. ALL maintenance will need to be done by properly certified (by the FAA) mechanics using fully vetted and certified parts, and you thought a brake job was expensive for your car, trust me, you haven't seen anything, and you simply won't be able to do ANY work yourself or buy tires from your local tire store because they won't be able to legally even loosen the lug nuts on your car/airplane thing.
6. Large Cities Usually sit under large areas of restricted airspace where flying these things would require a minimum set of navigational equipment, communications equipment and procedural methods to be followed. This is more than just going through the toll booth or HOV lanes. You will need to have a scheduled transit time and an approved filed flight plan in some cases and be talking to ATC in most cases.
7. VSTOL capable aircraft are usually not fuel efficient being heavy and complicated devices. They have limited useful load for the fuel they burn and suffer from being low range because you simply cannot lift fuel AND people, suitcases, groceries and the like. (The Harrier and V22 don't fix this issue..) You won't be go very far or fly very long.
8. Alcohol in motor fuels is going to be an issue for aircraft operating conditions.
It's simply not a practical idea. Sounds like it would be great, but it's just got some serious problems even before you get to thinking about the physics of the whole it's a car, it's a plane engineering problem.
You don't want to find out about an SSD read/write bug when you're 1 billion miles from earth. Let the technology shake out the bugs, then buy a reliable, cheaper product.
Actually.... It's because it takes literally YEARS to design, test and manufacture space rated hardware components and then it takes YEARS to design, build, program and test a space platform.
Years + Years works out to a LONG time from a new technology to flight ready hardware... Then you measure mission times in YEARS too, so you end up with a VERY LONG time that passes. THAT is why much of NASA's hardware is based on seemingly old technology.
Yea, My CAR is older than that!
or....
Key turned on... Display says: "No boot sector found, Insert Operating System CD and hit return....."
OR...
When driving though death valley in the summer time it quits running and Display shows BSOD with "Driver not found"
most shops end up at 350 for a standard brake pad replacement every couple of years.
Shesh man, do your own brake work and save a ton. You are getting taken if you pay more than $100/axle to have it done.
Disk brakes are *EASY* and once you know how it is really fast if you have even the basic tools. You can buy the best available pads and a set of tools for less than $350 and do it yourself. Keep the tools and next time it will be really cheap.
I can usually get pads for under $100 (good ones) and do all four wheels in about 3 hours (I'm slow these days and only have the *basic* set of tools). When I had access to the right tools and a lift, I've done this in less than an hour.
unless your kids want to watch nothing but, say, the same three seasons of spongebob...over...and over...and over...
I can tell YOU never had kids... :)
At certain ages kids are quite willing to (and sometimes insistent on) watch the same material over and over. My oldest watched Aristocats and Aladin as many times as we allowed (or could stand) when she was young and my nephew insisted on watching specific parts of Mary Poppins repeatedly. (I still cannot stand to even listen to any of these movies.) Having three seasons of Sponge Bob would be *GREAT* for that age....