As someone who reads books almost exclusively on my handheld device (10 years of Palm, now Windows Mobile), I don't see what the point of this is.
As it is today, with a good-sized SDRam, I can carry all the books I own in my pocket for easy access, anytime, anywhere.
If I want to carry around a bulky device to read books, I already have a notebook PC, which includes MUCH MORE capability than this silly thing. And at todays insanely low hardware prices, $825 will get me TWO notebooks, or even a pretty-decent gamer portable.
And especially considering that the ebook market is tiny on top of the above, who do they expect to buy this?
If Microsoft can't get it done, these guys sure won't
Prepare for and assume you will be escorted from your manager's office the minute you resign.
Days before take home your personal belongings, and anything whose ownership might be joint or questionable.
Back up anything you need off company systems to removeable media, and remove it.
If you have a company notebook, format the drive, and / or leave it at home that day. It may be the only leverage you have in getting help w/ benefits, cobra, severance, etc.
In most cases I have also locked myself out of the systems before walking in w/ the resignation letter. This way there will be sys logs that show yo cuoldn't have done whatever stupid thing happens that they will blame you for.
Forget about friendships or professioal respect. The day you quit you are a liability and a PITA. You are no longer on the team, and they have no reason to offer you any courtesy.
The company's only obligation is to protect itself, and obey labor laws - anything else is gravy.
Make sure to be professional and polite, don't spout off at the exit interview and don't put ANYTHING negative in writing. Burning bridges in the tech sector is a BAD idea.
I was deployed with CAP for seven days in Hancock county at Stennis airport, just North of Bay Saint Louis, I think the food / water / shelter thing has been covered by others (when we left, some normalcy was returning, but don't assume there is much there, especially where you are going in MS. I made it for a few minutes one day South of I10 all the way to the coast, and anything South of that rail line just past I10 is FLAT - be prepared.
As to special stuff:
A camelback / hydropack type of water carrier - much better than canteens or water bottles. Fill with ice water and it's a portable a/c on your back.
I saw others mention a good cooler - invaluable. Ice was hard to come by and worth it's weight in gold.
Baby wipes, if the water's off, you would be amazed how great a baby wipe shower is (compared to none at all).
Some cheap towels to carry around and wipe your face - the highest temps we met were around 106, w/ near 100% humidity. The biggest problem is that at night the temps and humidity didn't drop much, though you may get some ocean breeze further South. It's amazing how good it feels to wipe yourself off with a real towel when you are pouring sweat like a faucet.
Some cheap washcloths or hand towels for soaking. Sock in ice water and wrap around your neck as you work - will drop your body temp 5 degrees and feels great!
Bug spray - good deet stuff. It is still love bug season, http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/luvbug.html and they are everywhere. Also, in general be careful, they've got everything in the manuals down there - bees, copperhead snakes, FIRE ANTS (NO FOOD IN THE TENTS OR YOUR GEAR, BELIEVE ME!) fire ants will eat through a tent floor, gear, and an MRE pack to get to food, and they keep coming back. If you get them, bleach and Deet the tent floor and that kept them out. I am told that deet-ing the legs of a cot will keep them off of your bed (if you have one).
Reading material, a radio, etc. My time was 12 on, 12 off, and the 12 off can be hard with no media available.
Also, if you have the opportunity, grab some MRE's while you can, they are handy and plenty tasty. If you have the opportunity, get some MOD 24-hour rations (we had pallets of them donated by the British down at Stennis), these have some great accessories like Yorkie bars (awesome) and the pasta w/ meatballs (breakfast?) is quite tasty. Note: MOD meals do not have heaters or utensils, however 15 minutes on the hood of a black truck was all we needed. There are also a lot of commercial "heater meals" which I am told are pretty good and are much closer to regular food - kind of like a lean cuisine, with a drink in it. These self-heat.
Make sure you decompress when you get back. Many of us suffered from mild PTSD - not because of anything we saw, but because the tempo was so high, and then when we got back home normal life seemed like a crawl.
The Infocus x1 rocks - I guess I'm an "edger" as I've been using a ceiling mounted projector in my home for over 3+ years. The X1 this month replaced an aging Lightware VP800, which was "ok" when I bought it, but can't hold a lumen to the new one.
I use a Day-Lite 100" roll-up screen and have about a 97" diagonal image which is just beautiful. The unit is ceiling mounted ~14 feet from the screen and requires very little keystone correction. The X1 is also very quiet and works great in the dark. It look better than good in moderate light like a lamp or Christmas tree, and is acceptable in presentation mode in flourescent lighting.
Basically the picture and colors are beautiful and the unit is cheap.
It's a great compromise for anyone who can't afford the space a regular tv takes up - in fact find me any other way to get a 100+" HD-ready TV that can be hidden in 1 minute, or taken to a friends, etc. And this is for under $1500 inclulding a screen. I've seen the unit as cheap as $899 through CDW or Dell, though I bought it direct from Infocus for $999. The ceiling mount is $150, though I bet most creative slashdoters will be able to make one out of a junk auto celluar phone mount as I did - $20 of parts for the old one with $7 upgrade for the new one.
And of course playing console or PC games is a whole new world - fighting life-sized monsters will give yo nightmares.
Here's a pic of the setup: http://bwill.net/files/new_proj.jpg Visib le cables are because I was able to move the ceiling mount back about 18", which requires
PS - I agree that this guy is gonna waste a lot of time to do something a $100 tv would fix. If space is an issue, and he's got money to burn, he should buy a flat-panel monitor with video inputs.
Again, if you give a rats rip about Eulas - like you're a reviewer and actually could be held accountable for adverse comments, etc., then you should be on top of the EULAs.
As for Dell's handling of the issue - they don't staff their support for this kind of thing as they are not interested in people like this as customers. They are refunding his money, not throwing him in jail, case over.
Also, who knows, maybe they did have staff added who were informed OVER A YEAR AGO when they started adding these boot screen.
That's a great point - if you buy the software, MS is not going to come to you house and jail you because you run VNC, don't use DRM in WMP9, or back fill the name fields with "...".
Everbody wants to make a silly stand these days.
If principle is so important, don't buy mainstream computers, who's success has been at least partially tied to MS'. Buy a "Jim's notebook instead, then have fun getting "Jim" to fix it.
Bingo - and in regards to messages further on in this thread - the issue isn't that it melts the system down into not working, but that the airborne cel caller gets PRIORITY of the ground calls because they are on so many cels at once, and at such high a power.
That priority bumps ground calls.
Also, cel companies have difficulty tracking the charges when calls hop between sites so fast.
I see interviews as much a way for me to evaluate the company, as for the company to evaluate me.
People need to realize they are unique and that they are selling a product (themsleves) - and the supply is limited. "If you want to buy me, what are you offering?"
But on the other hand, if you scale your job searches correctly and only apply for gigs you are qualified for, it saves everyone a lot of headache.
Crapshooting a job three clicks above your last, or which clearly requires skills or credentials you aren't close to possesing just wastes everyone's time and turns the interview into a hunting trip.
My personal experience and skills don't work well agasint resume filters - but then again, I probably don't want to work for a company that would miss out on me because they are so short-sighted as to rely on credentials or diplomas to evaluate me.
I interview well, and am a "real" person. If I get my foot in the door, the job is mine.
I see interviews as much a way for me to evaluate the company, as for the company to evaluate me.
People need to realize they are unique and that they are selling a product (themsleves) - and the supply is limited. "If you want to buy me, what are yo offering?"
But on the other hand, if you scale your job searches correctly and only apply for gigs you are qualified for, it saves everyone a lot of headache.
Crapshooting a job three clicks above your last, or which clearly requires skills or credentials you aren't close to possesing just wastes everyone's time and turns the interview into a hunting trip.
My personal experience and skiils don't work well agasint resume filters - but then again, I probably don't want to work for a company that would miss out on me because they are so short-sighted as to rely on credentials or diplomas to evaluate me.
I interview well, and am a "real" person. If I get my foot in the door, the job is mine.
Just disable Java and run Guidescope, you'd be surprised how much more stable and enjoyable
surfing is - especially on a dialup connection.
I hate pop-up ads, but nothing brings me more joy than a box that pops up empty because the ad site was blocked by Guidescope.
http://www.guidescope.com/home/
That gives 24 names which should be plenty for small - mid-range enivironments. Since it has a built-in hierarchy identification is easy.
Omega is the Domain name and PDC Alpha is the first workstation or server, etc. Here's the list: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omnicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega.
For those that commented about using them for Linux, x, etc. Good ideas, but I was more hoping for the ability to hang them on a wall, etc., to save space on my tech bench or where ever, in places where I don't need hi-res or 3d, but need to connect to a DOS or Win PC.
A lot of news agencies routinely flip negatives to make photo layouts flow better. I've always felt this is dishonest, as it can actually change a person's perception of a story.
I think it just shows a lack of respect for the public "they'll believe what ever we tell them."
To add insult to injury, CNN, in its coverage of his death, didn't even take the time to realize they printed his photo backwards. A trivial matter perhaps, but IMHO the original Federation uniform, with it's distinctive silver/gold delta-shield insignia, must be one of the most easily recognizable costumes in the world. Everyone knows the delta goes above the LEFT breast. Nice one Ted!
Slashdot Mirror
As someone who reads books almost exclusively on my handheld device (10 years of Palm, now Windows Mobile), I don't see what the point of this is.
As it is today, with a good-sized SDRam, I can carry all the books I own in my pocket for easy access, anytime, anywhere.
If I want to carry around a bulky device to read books, I already have a notebook PC, which includes MUCH MORE capability than this silly thing. And at todays insanely low hardware prices, $825 will get me TWO notebooks, or even a pretty-decent gamer portable.
And especially considering that the ebook market is tiny on top of the above, who do they expect to buy this?
If Microsoft can't get it done, these guys sure won't
Use Firefox or Opera, disable Java and Javascript.
End of problem - next quiz, please.
Prepare for and assume you will be escorted from your manager's office the minute you resign.
Days before take home your personal belongings, and anything whose ownership might be joint or questionable.
Back up anything you need off company systems to removeable media, and remove it.
If you have a company notebook, format the drive, and / or leave it at home that day.
It may be the only leverage you have in getting help w/ benefits, cobra, severance, etc.
In most cases I have also locked myself out of the systems before walking in w/ the resignation letter.
This way there will be sys logs that show yo cuoldn't have done whatever stupid thing happens
that they will blame you for.
Forget about friendships or professioal respect. The day you quit you are a liability and a PITA. You
are no longer on the team, and they have no reason to offer you any courtesy.
The company's only obligation is to protect itself, and obey labor laws - anything else is gravy.
Make sure to be professional and polite, don't spout off at the exit interview and don't put ANYTHING
negative in writing. Burning bridges in the tech sector is a BAD idea.
I was deployed with CAP for seven days in Hancock county at Stennis airport, just North of Bay Saint Louis, I think the food / water / shelter thing has been covered by others (when we left, some normalcy was returning, but don't assume there is much there, especially where you are going in MS. I made it for a few minutes one day South of I10 all the way to the coast, and anything South of that rail line just past I10 is FLAT - be prepared.
o tes-October%202005.pdf
As to special stuff:
A camelback / hydropack type of water carrier - much better than canteens or water bottles.
Fill with ice water and it's a portable a/c on your back.
I saw others mention a good cooler - invaluable. Ice was hard to come by and worth
it's weight in gold.
Baby wipes, if the water's off, you would be amazed how great a baby wipe shower is (compared to none at all).
Some cheap towels to carry around and wipe your face - the highest temps we met were around 106, w/ near 100% humidity. The biggest problem is that at night the temps and humidity didn't drop much, though you may get some ocean breeze further South. It's amazing how good it feels to wipe yourself off with a real towel when you are pouring sweat like a faucet.
Some cheap washcloths or hand towels for soaking. Sock in ice water and wrap around your neck as you work - will drop your body temp 5 degrees and feels great!
Bug spray - good deet stuff. It is still love bug season,
http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/luvbug.html and they are everywhere.
Also, in general be careful, they've got everything in the manuals down there - bees, copperhead snakes, FIRE ANTS (NO FOOD IN THE TENTS OR YOUR GEAR, BELIEVE ME!) fire ants will eat through a tent floor, gear, and an MRE pack to get to food, and they keep coming back.
If you get them, bleach and Deet the tent floor and that kept them out. I am told that
deet-ing the legs of a cot will keep them off of your bed (if you have one).
Reading material, a radio, etc. My time was 12 on, 12 off, and the 12 off can be hard
with no media available.
Also, if you have the opportunity, grab some MRE's while you can, they are handy and
plenty tasty. If you have the opportunity, get some MOD 24-hour rations (we had pallets of them donated by the British down at Stennis), these have some great accessories like Yorkie bars (awesome) and the pasta w/ meatballs (breakfast?) is quite tasty. Note: MOD meals do not have heaters or utensils, however 15 minutes on the hood of a black truck was all we needed.
There are also a lot of commercial "heater meals" which I am told are pretty good and are much closer to regular food - kind of like a lean cuisine, with a drink in it. These self-heat.
Make sure you decompress when you get back. Many of us suffered from mild PTSD - not because of anything we saw, but because the tempo was so high, and then when we got back home normal life seemed like a crawl.
Here's a link to our safety letter that discusses PTSD.
http://group22.net/safety/Group%2022%20Safety%20N
Cel phone coverage was spotty at best, but the data layer of my Sprint phone worked pretty well.
GOOD LUCK!
ROBERT J. WILLIAMS, Capt, CAP
Commander, Palwaukee Composite Squadron (IL049)
Group 22, IL Wing
USAF Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol
The Infocus x1 rocks - I guess I'm an "edger" as I've been using a ceiling mounted projector in my home for over 3+ years. The X1 this month replaced an aging Lightware VP800, which was "ok" when I bought it, but can't hold a lumen to the new one.
b le cables are because I was able to move the ceiling mount back about 18", which requires
I use a Day-Lite 100" roll-up screen and have about a 97" diagonal image which is just beautiful. The unit is ceiling mounted ~14 feet from the screen and requires very little keystone correction. The X1 is also very quiet and works great in the dark. It look better than good in moderate light like a lamp or Christmas tree, and is acceptable in presentation mode in flourescent lighting.
Basically the picture and colors are beautiful and the unit is cheap.
It's a great compromise for anyone who can't afford the space a regular tv takes up - in fact find me any other way to get a 100+" HD-ready TV that can be hidden in 1 minute, or taken to a friends, etc. And this is for under $1500 inclulding a screen. I've seen the unit as cheap as $899 through CDW or Dell, though I bought it direct from Infocus for $999. The ceiling mount is $150, though I bet most creative slashdoters will be able to make one out of a junk auto celluar phone mount as I did - $20 of parts for the old one with $7 upgrade for the new one.
And of course playing console or PC games is a whole new world - fighting life-sized monsters will give yo nightmares.
Here's a pic of the setup:
http://bwill.net/files/new_proj.jpg
Visi
PS - I agree that this guy is gonna waste a lot of time to do something a $100 tv would fix. If space is an issue, and he's got money to burn, he should buy a flat-panel monitor with video inputs.
You can, so it's not.
Not the case in this situation, so not part of this discussion.
Again, if you give a rats rip about Eulas - like you're a reviewer and actually could be held accountable for adverse comments, etc., then you should be on top of the EULAs.
As for Dell's handling of the issue - they don't staff their support for this kind of thing as they are not interested in people like this as customers. They are refunding his money, not throwing him in jail, case over.
Also, who knows, maybe they did have staff added who were informed OVER A YEAR AGO when they started adding these boot screen.
Companies that write software should have IP lawyers who work through these issues.
If they let their coders light up new machines in an environment where the wrong click could actully cost them money, then they get what they deserve.
Which means, as noted here in a bunch of other msgs, it's a slow news days and there is nothing of real news to post.
If Dell were somehow blocking using the machine without accepting the license and/or using software, that might be an issue worth commenting on.
This is not news, and not even an issue worth mentioning at dinner.
That's a great point - if you buy the software, MS is not going to come to you house and jail you because you run VNC, don't use DRM in WMP9, or back fill the name fields with "...".
Everbody wants to make a silly stand these days.
If principle is so important, don't buy mainstream computers, who's success has been at least partially tied to MS'. Buy a "Jim's notebook instead, then have fun getting "Jim" to fix it.
I did read it, which is why I said "what's the big deal"?
Dell has included that press-through for at least a year - this is not new. This must be the first time he's bought a Dell in a while.
Most of these Eula's are unenforceable anyway.
He doesn't agree and is returning the computer, which means for him the issue is OVER.
If he DID accept the agreement, it is aplicable only for software he will obviously not use anyway, so again - WTBD?
Either you agree or you don't - if you don't, shutdown and boot from something else.
Couldn't you setup a machine to burn an audio CD via WMP, and then simply rip the CD back to MP3's thus squeezing out the DRM crap?
I love how they keep emphasizing "Digital Media Player", as if by simply ignoring concept of MP3 will make them go away.
Bingo - and in regards to messages further on in this thread - the issue isn't that it melts the system down into not working, but that the airborne cel caller gets PRIORITY of the ground calls because they are on so many cels at once, and at such high a power.
That priority bumps ground calls.
Also, cel companies have difficulty tracking the charges when calls hop between sites so fast.
I see interviews as much a way for me to evaluate the company, as for the company to evaluate me.
People need to realize they are unique and that they are selling a product (themsleves) - and the supply is limited. "If you want to buy me, what are you offering?"
But on the other hand, if you scale your job searches correctly and only apply for gigs you are qualified for, it saves everyone a lot of headache.
Crapshooting a job three clicks above your last, or which clearly requires skills or credentials you aren't close to possesing just wastes everyone's time and turns the interview into a hunting trip.
My personal experience and skills don't work well agasint resume filters - but then again, I probably don't want to work for a company that would miss out on me because they are so short-sighted as to rely on credentials or diplomas to evaluate me.
I interview well, and am a "real" person. If I get my foot in the door, the job is mine.
I see interviews as much a way for me to evaluate the company, as for the company to evaluate me.
People need to realize they are unique and that they are selling a product (themsleves) - and the supply is limited. "If you want to buy me, what are yo offering?"
But on the other hand, if you scale your job searches correctly and only apply for gigs you are qualified for, it saves everyone a lot of headache.
Crapshooting a job three clicks above your last, or which clearly requires skills or credentials you aren't close to possesing just wastes everyone's time and turns the interview into a hunting trip.
My personal experience and skiils don't work well agasint resume filters - but then again, I probably don't want to work for a company that would miss out on me because they are so short-sighted as to rely on credentials or diplomas to evaluate me.
I interview well, and am a "real" person. If I get my foot in the door, the job is mine.
Just disable Java and run Guidescope, you'd be surprised how much more stable and enjoyable surfing is - especially on a dialup connection. I hate pop-up ads, but nothing brings me more joy than a box that pops up empty because the ad site was blocked by Guidescope. http://www.guidescope.com/home/
That gives 24 names which should be plenty for small - mid-range enivironments. Since it has a
built-in hierarchy identification is easy.
Omega is the Domain name and PDC
Alpha is the first workstation or server, etc.
Here's the list:
alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omnicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega.
bwill@bwill.net
Those two sites above have exactly what I needed, the contollers are a little pricey, but will what do I want. Thanks. wn
...written in another country that doesn't recognize US Patent laws?
Thanks for all the info.
For those that commented about using them for Linux, x, etc. Good ideas, but I was more hoping for the ability to hang them on a wall, etc., to
save space on my tech bench or where ever, in
places where I don't need hi-res or 3d, but need to connect to a DOS or Win PC.
Thanks again,
Wirenut
bwill@mcs.net
www.bwill.net
At least one of those store front Manhattan stores
that sell all manner of electronica had these in the front window. On Monday...
A lot of news agencies routinely flip negatives to make photo layouts flow better. I've always felt this is dishonest, as it can actually change a person's perception of a story.
I think it just shows a lack of respect for the public "they'll believe what ever we tell them."
-bwill
To add insult to injury, CNN, in its coverage of his death, didn't even take the time to realize they printed his photo backwards. A trivial matter perhaps, but IMHO the original Federation uniform, with it's distinctive silver/gold delta-shield insignia, must be one of the most easily recognizable costumes in the world. Everyone knows the delta goes above the LEFT breast. Nice one Ted!
i t.ap/
Cnn story:
http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9906/11/kelley.ob
If they fix it, see the original here:
http://www.bwill.net/dekelly/
Warp 9, De!