I wish I could find someone competent in my area to design a system! The only one I've found so far was fly by night, extremely overpriced, and *I* had to inform them of mount options that they were unaware of:-( I have a friend in Texas with a system who's bills have dropped to near zero with his modest system - ac blasting all the while.
The idea that solar is "unreliable" is laughable. The cost is dropping and efficiencies going up with each new generation of panels. To see someone argue against it is pretty amusing. Frankly I'd be okay selling back at a lower level to help support the distro costs of the grid. I also find the argument that peak times for use aren't during the day amusing since anyone buying power at rates that vary, say those with GM Volt, find that they pay the lowest rates at night - apparently not so peak usage after all then...
Excuse me? No, they want to fund the govt piecemeal or pass a budget that they know the majority doesn't want. Why weren't they appointing representatives to committee for the last 7 months to work out differences between their budget and the House budget? there were 18 attempts to form a committee and do this, the House refused each time. Why won't their leader put up for a vote the clean CR that's sitting on his desk and that we KNOW will pass with bi-partisan support?
You're completely out of touch with the situation. The Republicans drove us to this cliff and said that unless their demands were met they would take us over the cliff. The answer was NO and that negotiating with hostage takers wan't going to happen - so they took us over the cliff. Passing piecemeal pieces of legislation is crap, pass the budget or work out one that's better - that's their JOB. Refusing to do their job for months on end and then pointing fingers is pretty damned obvious and that you've misunderstood what's occurred is frightening.
Big wheels moving slowly aren't always perceptible as being in motion until they stop and the whole thing comes down. Just because something isn't effecting you obviously right this instant doesn't mean it won't effect you longer term down the road if this isn't fixed...
What's funny is I've got a friend who bitches about the health care law and one of his reasons is that there are "millions not covered". I pointed out to him that Medicare is supposed to cover them but he whines that not all of the states chose to support it with one example, I think it was Georgia. Why didn't Georgia support it? Because the Republican Governor said that he didn't believe that the Feds would carry through with their promise to help fund it..... My head, it esplode! Oh and his other reason was because he was once unemployed and Medicare didn't support him, his state also didn't vote to extend Medicare (Texas). I point out to him that he was unemployed years ago and that things have changed but oh yeah, his state failed to extend it. Apparently states failings are reason enough to be angry at the feds? I weep....
Trust me, it's not nice by any stretch. Leave is being burned, furloughs are going out daily, and at any moment you could be recalled to work because you're suddenly needed for something essential or the crisis has ended. You can't go anywhere or make plans past about a day in advance. I know families that are flipping out bigtime! Stop Work orders were sent to lots of contractors and I'm honestly puzzled you're still able to work because everyone I know is idle at home - all of the busy work and training crap were done last week. I talked to one guy who said so many people are home in his neighborhood and so stir crazy he's seen traffic jams on the sidewalks as the walkers\joggers\kids on bicycles all try to get some exercise. Traffic is down but not as much as I expected and seems to have spread out so it's busy all day. Folks i know are pretty stressed - both Govt and contractor. The Govies know they will get paid back though but the contractors are burning leave and not all of them have either savings or leave to burn. If this makes it to end of month it's going to be very very ugly not to mention the Debt. ceiling thing which I fully expect the Repubs to use as an additional crowbar.
Worst of all - I know someone who's ex husband just terminated her health insurance. This new health plan is just the ticket to save her ass but it won't kick in until January and it might yet be defunded. A real person who could really use this for her and her kids could get screwed:-(
WRONG. A thousand times WRONG. Your workplace is most assuredly not normal. The DoD recalled civilians alright, civilian Govt workers - not their contractors. Unless the workers were somehow deemed "essential" they aren't back to work by my understanding. Most of the folks I know work for ancillary parts of the Govt and not the DoD.
I know people who work for these firms, lots of them. They are on the beach taking leave. Some of these people supported contracts numbering thousands - they are ALL sitting on the beach. They received Stop Work orders the Monday this all failed to pass. The contracts they worked on were fully funded too but they weren't Firm Fixed Price or anything like that.
The reason why Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Booz Allen, SAIC, and ALL of their subcontractors are furloughing people is because of Stop Work orders. I will grant you that some folks are working but people I know from ALL of those companies are NOT working and will not be reimbursed for their time over and above whatever vacation they take. Some of these people, people I know personally, live paycheck to paycheck and this IS hurting them. This is also hurting their companies a great deal! Lots and lots of little companies that sub to these guys are hurting. I know someone who was outright fired, their company is out of cash and even when things crank back up will be so crippled they have actually shed employees not just furloughed them.
I know a guy who is a single Dad - newly so after spending cash on a divorce. He's on the beach awaiting this mess to be over and pretty stressed out. Yeah, he has SOME savings but it's not much and he's not exactly making huge dollars. His friends, including me, will help him out but if this goes on too long he's going to be in huge trouble! Let's not forget that all of the govt. contractors that aren't deemed essential are out too. Sure, the Govies get paid - guess who does NOT? Yup, the contractors. Companies that have large Govt. contracts are taking in NO cash right now and furloughing left and right. Make no mistake - this will impact the profit projections and stock market...
I have one of the supported Asus with AC onboard. So far I've not felt the need to switch to Tomato although I've used it previously on a WRT54G. So far the features I've found have worked fine and the router hasn't disappointed. Can you tell me what new or different features you found in Tomato to warrant switching? I've already got a VPN solution, I don't need a NAS, this isn't a primary firewall for my network nor do I need to use any sort of dynamic DNS from it. Mostly so far it's just an AP, albeit one I hope is stronger than the WEP I was having to use on the WRT:-O
Ah so you've already got 3rd party firmware on it. Have you tried Tomato? I'd be interested to know how that worked, I've not yet felt the need to tweak my AC equipped Asus - yet. If that still doesn't work maybe consider building or buying a Microtik? It's pay for play for any but the most basic stuff - which requires a registration too - but might work on good hardware. I've played with it in a VM and it seemed pretty straightforward if not a tad locked down. Pretty sure they handle wireless. Any chance you could get the torrent traffic off the wireless? In my case I only use wireless when I have to and run wired everywhere for the most bandwidth. It is way less headaches if you can do it IMO.
There's a Tomato release for your router - I have the AC version of that router. I've not yet loaded the 3rd party firmware but I've not run into limitations either - but I have at least researched it. My WRT54G used to run into limitations with many connections too - Tomato was able to help the stability greatly and might help you as well.
I'd also point out that netbooks do NOT use tons of power and as cheap as power is it'll be years before he makes back the cost of an Asus router like your's...
I too run an ESX server and have been tempted to run a software firewall on it - ClearOS though. I'm just very hesitant to have my whole network going in and out of a single box:-O I would agree that ESX is a good way to get the most out of hardware but it can be pretty picky about what hardware it will run on:-(
I use ClearOS and I believe the latest version will handle WiFi. It's free but there are pay for play options. It also functions as a firewall, does QOS for my network, VPN endpoint, blah blah. i was using a WRT54G up until recently too but have replaced it with an AX capable Asus router for which Tomato firmware exists. Thus far I've not yet felt the need to switch out the stock stuff though...
As I understand it even work that was funded and not directly overseen was issued Stop Work letters. I am already aware of a small company that has fired multiple people and of another large one that's keeping mum who has several thousand idled workers who are taking leave - if they have it. This is a real no shit bad deal and the ignorance that some have as to it's impact is pretty shocking...
Wow, you're really not understanding this are you? When the Govt. shuts down so do ALL OF THEIR CONTRACTORS. Any work being done for the Govt. receives a STOP WORK notice. Nothing, not one single hour, can be billed by anyone except those deemed "essential" and you had better believe that Govt. folks get that designation far ahead of any contractor. That directly effects the direct billable folks immediately - as of Tuesday those folks no longer had any work to do nor were they allowed to work no matter the funding status of their contracts.
It gets better - those companies that have large Govt. contracts that aren't working? All of the supervisors who oversee those contracts suddenly have no work. The security staffs? Furloughed. Secretaries for executives? Gone. Run down the list of support personnel, HR, IT, mailroom, the works - ALL of them no longer have money coming in to support their salaries. I know of folks that were not just furloughed but completely let go because the companies reserves are already nearing depletion and it was clear to the owners that this will last too long - they are firing people. The big executives aren't immune either, many of them no longer have means to bill and will be idled. When things crank back up this is a funding gap that will not be filled - those are hours not in the coffers but plenty of expenses. Just wait till you see profit projections for folks like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and on and on and on in the near future.
You're hearing about Lockheed only because they're big and made a public announcement to try and get the jackasses in the House to wake up. It's happening all over the place all across the country and that 3K number is a mere DROP in the bucket of idled folks. On the plus side I bet the big box home improvement places are doing a bang up business for now as everyone tries to get shit done at home. That will end soon enough though as people's money reserves run out. Hell, I know one Govt worker - a single father - who is freaking the fuck out because daycare for his son (folks are being told to keep routine for the kids) and his mortgage are coming due here soon. He lives almost paycheck to paycheck - he won't last long on his savings. I bet there are plenty of Lockheed folks that aren't far behind him too...
The Senate passed it's own budget as well. Obviously the two were different and they were supposed to sit down and work out the differences. Boner refused to appoint anyone to the committee to do this - 18 times over something like 7 months. He forced this train wreck to occur and if he were to ALLOW a clean budget bill to hit the floor in the House it would be passed - but he refuses. I hope he's the first one kicked out the door.
The commercial with the baby crying? Yeah, that's him alright. Worse? These guys are in for a penny already, they are going to dig in their heels rather than admit they fucked up and played chicken with jobs.
The sad thing is that the response to you about health care is EXACTLY right. In your position right now you get COBRA for a few months and it might or might not be expensive. then try negotiating your own healthcare, I know some who have tried and WOW was it an eye opener! But the new healthcare law could provide you with insurance as low as $50 a month if the numbers I heard today are correct. You want to shit on that and bitch? Wow....
Oh and sorry to hear about the loss of your job. I had dinner tonight with someone who was also let go as were many others in her small company. Seems that they cannot keep these folks on with zippy income coming in from their contracts. There will be many others if this keeps up. Lockheed has furloughed 3K people and expects to furlough many more each week, they have no choice. You guys here can laugh and make stupid comments about a Govt contractor losing money but just wait until it's someone you know or it turns out that something you care about is canned. Even if they funded things tomorrow many many companies are taking it in the shorts and WILL be damaged. There's going to be a trickle effect from that and it WILL hit folks who don't work for these companies - wait and see.
Remember that it was the asshats in the House who did this, who played chicken, who REFUSED to work out differences in order to force this game. If I were the president I wouldn't negotiate on this one bit nor would I budge. They are trying to hold the nation hostage and for him to change anything would be a sign of weakness and we'd be seeing this every budget cycle whenever some jackass had some pet thing he wanted done. F 'em, come next election I WILL be making sure that jerks like this aren't elected in my area - no one wants these kinds of games. The law was passed, upheld, and now they want to cry? Tough.
You are correct, he was talking out of his ass. These programs don't run "on the GPU" but rather utilize the GPU resources to do highly parallel processing that it's suited well for. That has exactly zippy to do with is being reported here.
And I'd ask - what firmware exactly? NVIDIA? AMD? Intel? Hell, on the new CPUs with video onboard where is the firmware even located? BIOS now there's some fun - even the same manufacturer has different code for different boards for different chipsets. I don't see anyone making anything that's not one off for that anytime soon even with UEFI supposedly making things more uniform. Safeboot and other things already check much of that anyway when enabled properly.
Yes actually you would have if you had half a brain otherwise you would've stood out like a neon sign as having had the information and been investigated VERY quickly. This was almost certainly someone attempting to not get caught. Sometimes best to remain silent rather than removing all doubt...
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I wish I could find someone competent in my area to design a system! The only one I've found so far was fly by night, extremely overpriced, and *I* had to inform them of mount options that they were unaware of :-( I have a friend in Texas with a system who's bills have dropped to near zero with his modest system - ac blasting all the while.
The idea that solar is "unreliable" is laughable. The cost is dropping and efficiencies going up with each new generation of panels. To see someone argue against it is pretty amusing. Frankly I'd be okay selling back at a lower level to help support the distro costs of the grid. I also find the argument that peak times for use aren't during the day amusing since anyone buying power at rates that vary, say those with GM Volt, find that they pay the lowest rates at night - apparently not so peak usage after all then...
Many many folks IN the private sector are also not being paid and won't be paid back....
Bah, "their budget and the Senate budget" - fixed it too late...
Excuse me? No, they want to fund the govt piecemeal or pass a budget that they know the majority doesn't want. Why weren't they appointing representatives to committee for the last 7 months to work out differences between their budget and the House budget? there were 18 attempts to form a committee and do this, the House refused each time. Why won't their leader put up for a vote the clean CR that's sitting on his desk and that we KNOW will pass with bi-partisan support?
You're completely out of touch with the situation. The Republicans drove us to this cliff and said that unless their demands were met they would take us over the cliff. The answer was NO and that negotiating with hostage takers wan't going to happen - so they took us over the cliff. Passing piecemeal pieces of legislation is crap, pass the budget or work out one that's better - that's their JOB. Refusing to do their job for months on end and then pointing fingers is pretty damned obvious and that you've misunderstood what's occurred is frightening.
Big wheels moving slowly aren't always perceptible as being in motion until they stop and the whole thing comes down. Just because something isn't effecting you obviously right this instant doesn't mean it won't effect you longer term down the road if this isn't fixed...
What's funny is I've got a friend who bitches about the health care law and one of his reasons is that there are "millions not covered". I pointed out to him that Medicare is supposed to cover them but he whines that not all of the states chose to support it with one example, I think it was Georgia. Why didn't Georgia support it? Because the Republican Governor said that he didn't believe that the Feds would carry through with their promise to help fund it..... My head, it esplode! Oh and his other reason was because he was once unemployed and Medicare didn't support him, his state also didn't vote to extend Medicare (Texas). I point out to him that he was unemployed years ago and that things have changed but oh yeah, his state failed to extend it. Apparently states failings are reason enough to be angry at the feds? I weep....
Trust me, it's not nice by any stretch. Leave is being burned, furloughs are going out daily, and at any moment you could be recalled to work because you're suddenly needed for something essential or the crisis has ended. You can't go anywhere or make plans past about a day in advance. I know families that are flipping out bigtime! Stop Work orders were sent to lots of contractors and I'm honestly puzzled you're still able to work because everyone I know is idle at home - all of the busy work and training crap were done last week. I talked to one guy who said so many people are home in his neighborhood and so stir crazy he's seen traffic jams on the sidewalks as the walkers\joggers\kids on bicycles all try to get some exercise. Traffic is down but not as much as I expected and seems to have spread out so it's busy all day. Folks i know are pretty stressed - both Govt and contractor. The Govies know they will get paid back though but the contractors are burning leave and not all of them have either savings or leave to burn. If this makes it to end of month it's going to be very very ugly not to mention the Debt. ceiling thing which I fully expect the Repubs to use as an additional crowbar.
Worst of all - I know someone who's ex husband just terminated her health insurance. This new health plan is just the ticket to save her ass but it won't kick in until January and it might yet be defunded. A real person who could really use this for her and her kids could get screwed :-(
Do you own stock? Have a 401K? I'm betting this is going to hurt you in ways you haven't figured out yet...
WRONG. A thousand times WRONG. Your workplace is most assuredly not normal. The DoD recalled civilians alright, civilian Govt workers - not their contractors. Unless the workers were somehow deemed "essential" they aren't back to work by my understanding. Most of the folks I know work for ancillary parts of the Govt and not the DoD.
I know people who work for these firms, lots of them. They are on the beach taking leave. Some of these people supported contracts numbering thousands - they are ALL sitting on the beach. They received Stop Work orders the Monday this all failed to pass. The contracts they worked on were fully funded too but they weren't Firm Fixed Price or anything like that.
The reason why Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Booz Allen, SAIC, and ALL of their subcontractors are furloughing people is because of Stop Work orders. I will grant you that some folks are working but people I know from ALL of those companies are NOT working and will not be reimbursed for their time over and above whatever vacation they take. Some of these people, people I know personally, live paycheck to paycheck and this IS hurting them. This is also hurting their companies a great deal! Lots and lots of little companies that sub to these guys are hurting. I know someone who was outright fired, their company is out of cash and even when things crank back up will be so crippled they have actually shed employees not just furloughed them.
I know a guy who is a single Dad - newly so after spending cash on a divorce. He's on the beach awaiting this mess to be over and pretty stressed out. Yeah, he has SOME savings but it's not much and he's not exactly making huge dollars. His friends, including me, will help him out but if this goes on too long he's going to be in huge trouble! Let's not forget that all of the govt. contractors that aren't deemed essential are out too. Sure, the Govies get paid - guess who does NOT? Yup, the contractors. Companies that have large Govt. contracts are taking in NO cash right now and furloughing left and right. Make no mistake - this will impact the profit projections and stock market...
I have one of the supported Asus with AC onboard. So far I've not felt the need to switch to Tomato although I've used it previously on a WRT54G. So far the features I've found have worked fine and the router hasn't disappointed. Can you tell me what new or different features you found in Tomato to warrant switching? I've already got a VPN solution, I don't need a NAS, this isn't a primary firewall for my network nor do I need to use any sort of dynamic DNS from it. Mostly so far it's just an AP, albeit one I hope is stronger than the WEP I was having to use on the WRT :-O
Ah so you've already got 3rd party firmware on it. Have you tried Tomato? I'd be interested to know how that worked, I've not yet felt the need to tweak my AC equipped Asus - yet. If that still doesn't work maybe consider building or buying a Microtik? It's pay for play for any but the most basic stuff - which requires a registration too - but might work on good hardware. I've played with it in a VM and it seemed pretty straightforward if not a tad locked down. Pretty sure they handle wireless. Any chance you could get the torrent traffic off the wireless? In my case I only use wireless when I have to and run wired everywhere for the most bandwidth. It is way less headaches if you can do it IMO.
There's a Tomato release for your router - I have the AC version of that router. I've not yet loaded the 3rd party firmware but I've not run into limitations either - but I have at least researched it. My WRT54G used to run into limitations with many connections too - Tomato was able to help the stability greatly and might help you as well.
I'd also point out that netbooks do NOT use tons of power and as cheap as power is it'll be years before he makes back the cost of an Asus router like your's...
I too run an ESX server and have been tempted to run a software firewall on it - ClearOS though. I'm just very hesitant to have my whole network going in and out of a single box :-O I would agree that ESX is a good way to get the most out of hardware but it can be pretty picky about what hardware it will run on :-(
I use ClearOS and I believe the latest version will handle WiFi. It's free but there are pay for play options. It also functions as a firewall, does QOS for my network, VPN endpoint, blah blah. i was using a WRT54G up until recently too but have replaced it with an AX capable Asus router for which Tomato firmware exists. Thus far I've not yet felt the need to switch out the stock stuff though...
Or that perhaps he has this thing called experience? Perhaps he has done it enough to know what works?
Or that perhaps he has this thing called experience?
Or that maybe when their employees aren't bringing in money to fund work and have nothing to do that they have to furlough them. duh...
As I understand it even work that was funded and not directly overseen was issued Stop Work letters. I am already aware of a small company that has fired multiple people and of another large one that's keeping mum who has several thousand idled workers who are taking leave - if they have it. This is a real no shit bad deal and the ignorance that some have as to it's impact is pretty shocking...
Wow, you're really not understanding this are you? When the Govt. shuts down so do ALL OF THEIR CONTRACTORS. Any work being done for the Govt. receives a STOP WORK notice. Nothing, not one single hour, can be billed by anyone except those deemed "essential" and you had better believe that Govt. folks get that designation far ahead of any contractor. That directly effects the direct billable folks immediately - as of Tuesday those folks no longer had any work to do nor were they allowed to work no matter the funding status of their contracts.
It gets better - those companies that have large Govt. contracts that aren't working? All of the supervisors who oversee those contracts suddenly have no work. The security staffs? Furloughed. Secretaries for executives? Gone. Run down the list of support personnel, HR, IT, mailroom, the works - ALL of them no longer have money coming in to support their salaries. I know of folks that were not just furloughed but completely let go because the companies reserves are already nearing depletion and it was clear to the owners that this will last too long - they are firing people. The big executives aren't immune either, many of them no longer have means to bill and will be idled. When things crank back up this is a funding gap that will not be filled - those are hours not in the coffers but plenty of expenses. Just wait till you see profit projections for folks like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and on and on and on in the near future.
You're hearing about Lockheed only because they're big and made a public announcement to try and get the jackasses in the House to wake up. It's happening all over the place all across the country and that 3K number is a mere DROP in the bucket of idled folks. On the plus side I bet the big box home improvement places are doing a bang up business for now as everyone tries to get shit done at home. That will end soon enough though as people's money reserves run out. Hell, I know one Govt worker - a single father - who is freaking the fuck out because daycare for his son (folks are being told to keep routine for the kids) and his mortgage are coming due here soon. He lives almost paycheck to paycheck - he won't last long on his savings. I bet there are plenty of Lockheed folks that aren't far behind him too...
Get the picture?
The Senate passed it's own budget as well. Obviously the two were different and they were supposed to sit down and work out the differences. Boner refused to appoint anyone to the committee to do this - 18 times over something like 7 months. He forced this train wreck to occur and if he were to ALLOW a clean budget bill to hit the floor in the House it would be passed - but he refuses. I hope he's the first one kicked out the door.
The commercial with the baby crying? Yeah, that's him alright. Worse? These guys are in for a penny already, they are going to dig in their heels rather than admit they fucked up and played chicken with jobs.
The sad thing is that the response to you about health care is EXACTLY right. In your position right now you get COBRA for a few months and it might or might not be expensive. then try negotiating your own healthcare, I know some who have tried and WOW was it an eye opener! But the new healthcare law could provide you with insurance as low as $50 a month if the numbers I heard today are correct. You want to shit on that and bitch? Wow....
Oh and sorry to hear about the loss of your job. I had dinner tonight with someone who was also let go as were many others in her small company. Seems that they cannot keep these folks on with zippy income coming in from their contracts. There will be many others if this keeps up. Lockheed has furloughed 3K people and expects to furlough many more each week, they have no choice. You guys here can laugh and make stupid comments about a Govt contractor losing money but just wait until it's someone you know or it turns out that something you care about is canned. Even if they funded things tomorrow many many companies are taking it in the shorts and WILL be damaged. There's going to be a trickle effect from that and it WILL hit folks who don't work for these companies - wait and see.
Remember that it was the asshats in the House who did this, who played chicken, who REFUSED to work out differences in order to force this game. If I were the president I wouldn't negotiate on this one bit nor would I budge. They are trying to hold the nation hostage and for him to change anything would be a sign of weakness and we'd be seeing this every budget cycle whenever some jackass had some pet thing he wanted done. F 'em, come next election I WILL be making sure that jerks like this aren't elected in my area - no one wants these kinds of games. The law was passed, upheld, and now they want to cry? Tough.
and what did that checking of the version number? The flashing software? No problem, subvert that and you're back to a working card.
You are correct, he was talking out of his ass. These programs don't run "on the GPU" but rather utilize the GPU resources to do highly parallel processing that it's suited well for. That has exactly zippy to do with is being reported here.
And I'd ask - what firmware exactly? NVIDIA? AMD? Intel? Hell, on the new CPUs with video onboard where is the firmware even located? BIOS now there's some fun - even the same manufacturer has different code for different boards for different chipsets. I don't see anyone making anything that's not one off for that anytime soon even with UEFI supposedly making things more uniform. Safeboot and other things already check much of that anyway when enabled properly.
Yeah, their software finds the malware they wrote to hide in graphics cards - bravo....
Yes actually you would have if you had half a brain otherwise you would've stood out like a neon sign as having had the information and been investigated VERY quickly. This was almost certainly someone attempting to not get caught. Sometimes best to remain silent rather than removing all doubt...