Spelling is illogical within English and spelling of the same word is different depending on the region in the world you happen to be. Comma rules are almost non-existent and the few that there are make no sense and are often very vague. Why are single words at the beginning of a sentence to be separated by a comma, but an infinitive structure within a sentence is not despite that making the sentence way more readable? And pronunciation? Makes no sense either! Why do "pipe" and "recipe" not rhyme?
English in itself has substantial logical flaws that vary by region, so why get bent out of shape for not using "proper English"? As a matter of fairness, all other languages have their pointless oddities as well.
That applies to both criminals as well as states and federal. The death penalty is not a deterrent, it is not reversible, plenty of wrongly accused people were killed, and if electrocuting, poisoning, or gassing someone is not a "cruel and unusual punishment" as is prohibited by the Constitution then what is?
It is long overdue for the US to join the modern cultures and do away with barbaric punishments.
This project is beyond sick! The more firearms there are the more damage they do. If Mr. Wilson had just one speck of responsibility, moral, and ethic in his body he would build a machine that effectively destroys guns. But maybe that is the plan? The 3D printed guns did not hold up well in the tests and are more likely to harm the shooter than anyone else.
You name two examples that are clearly not proving your point. USPS is one of the best postal services in the world delivering mail anywhere in the US for a rather low postage rate compared to other postal services. USPS keeps operating small rural post offices, in other countries they all get closed and basic postal services are outsourced to local supermarkets if available. I can write a letter, put a 49 cent stamp on it (that can be bought almost anywhere), stuff into my mailbox and have it be on the other side of the continent in 3 days or less. International mail typically takes no longer than 5 to 8 days. Check postage rates from other postal services or in regards to packages with UPS, FedEx, DHL and the like. USPS is by far cheaper than any other provider.
Besides that, USPS is not controlled by "the idiots in Washington". While it is a federal entity it is not run by the government and does not receive any tax subsidies.
As far as DMV goes, none of those are run by "the idiots in Washington" because DMV is not a federal thing but at the state level. As far as the DMV office that I go to, I cannot say anything bad about it. Renewing a license takes me five minutes, changing registration even less...and that even if they are busy. A few times I went and they did not even bother with giving me a number because they assigned me directly to the next available clerk. And that in a state where they are every quick to regulate pretty much everything.
As far as broadband Internet goes. The industry regulated itself through mutual agreements for the past decades and it worked out very well as you point out. The FCC regulations only codify that mutual agreement because some in the industry want to squeeze more money out of the rock and that entirely to the disadvantage of consumers, businesses, and content providers with less cash. Without regulation the "most incredible invention and display of the power of free-market capitalism" would end because there would be no free market. Those who have money win, everyone else bites the dust. No more equal opportunities, not more level playing field. That would stifle innovation because entry to market for startups will be close to impossible because they would have to tie up a lot of cash for securing access to the 'fast lanes'. I fail to see why this is a good idea and even more fail to understand why especially the conservatives who are so much in favor of free markets and level playing fields are so dead against securing just that.
And quoting Reagan? Reagan was the worst president the US ever had, double digit unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, massive cuts in programs for the masses just to benefit the rich, insane expenses on weapons, almost starting WWIII. The only positive thing about Reagan was that he was a very good speaker, but as a leader of a nation he was a total disaster that we all still pay for today....unless you are part of the top 1% club, then you are doing very well since Reagonomics were put in place.
The regulations are not finalized and not approved. It is like demanding that a company delivers product that isn't finished with development yet (sadly, that is what many companies do). There are still several reliable sources that provide insight as to what the regulations are (e.g. http://www.computerworld.com/a...). As it turns out, there isn't anything new here, just solidifying the rules set forth by the Internet industry decades ago.
I am not sure if the taxation issue is actually accurate. I know it is required to report income to both places if you had income within the same calendar year in both places, but other than that I don't think a US citizen is required to pay federal taxes when leaving exclusively abroad.
My suggestion is to prepare and keep all paperwork that clearly identifies you as being a parent of your children (copy of your US passport, birth certificates listing you as parent, etc). That will allow your children to file for US citizenship at any time in their life if it seems like a good idea. It is not a yes/no issue, more one of now or later and you decide / your children decide.
The benefits of having US citizenship is that of having it easier to take residence anywhere in the US and get perks such as in-state tuition at a university (depends on the state, some give it to anyone who is a legal state resident no matter what the citizenship is, the rules vary). As far as registering for the draft is concerned, just don't bother with it. I know of plenty who have not done so and did not encounter any issues. Might be a legal requirement, but one that is unenforceable especially when living abroad. Other than that traveling to places might be easier on a US passport, but I am sure there isn't much difference to a Belgian passport. In cases of emergency the embassies will assist in getting the citizens out. So if Belgium would plunge into a bitter civil war then the US embassy would see that they get you and your family out of that place. Yes, an unlikely scenario, just meant as example. There are also other factors such as being able to get employment with a US company where security clearance is required (rather difficult to get for non-citizens, not impossible though) or anything that has to do with social benefits. Yes, I know, if you are in a crunch and need assistance Belgium or Sweden are by far the better options than the US.
In my case it is the other way around. My wife is a US citizen, I am German, and my children have both, but I did not renew their German passport after it expired out of cost reasons (freakishly expensive and requires a long trip to the consulate with overnight stay). The expired passport is proof enough that they are German citizens for what it might be worth (such as excellent universities and no tuition!!!!). There is now also a record in the system and even if they no longer have the expired passport it will be rather easy for them to obtain legal documents. In my opinion it is great to have as many citizenships as possible, ye never know what happens in years from now.
Displaying file extensions is just good measure and turning them off by default is one of the biggest flaws in Windows. Still, changing the file extension is easy. Anyone can turn a.exe file into a.txt file or if malicious into something that is likely getting sent to an application that will attempt to execute the file as in run the instructions in it.
The real fix here is to make use of the magic number in the file header that truly tells what kind of file it is. Additionally, any app accepting file submissions has to check for that magic number and not just rely on flaky browse box extension filters that are easy to override or dumb checks on extension alone. As often, this comes down to properly testing applications, something that is just dropped in our new Agile world where delivering features as quickly as possible always trumps quality.
Not sure why it is presented as a surprise, just because there is funding it doesn't mean there is also success. We all should know that after the.com bubble burst....and that money came mainly from banks and VC ending up in the hands of office furniture companies, catering services, and software vendors.
Microsoft isn't even capable to put a GUI onto Win 10 for the Pi 2...which is essentially mid grade phone / tablet hardware. That though may be more out of tactical reasons than technical reasons, otherwise masses would buy Pi 2s as that would be the least expensive Windows PC to be had. Then again, they could offer it as download only version as SD card image and charge ten bucks a pop. I'd buy it because that would match the actual value of ARM based Windows.
All comes down to if they knew or could have known. When John Dowe at 123 Main St is reported as running a meth lab then I think it is reasonable to deny shipping packages from that person or even address.
In this case I applaud FedEx, there are already too many guns around that cause too many people to commit too many crimes. No need to be an enabler of making more of this.
I have to see it to believe it. I am sure there are many efforts taken to bring FOSS to the masses, but until Outlook and Word run seamlessly on BSD the revolution is purely imaginary. We see it with the Firefox, Windows, and Fire Phones, the app gap (and partially craptastic hardware) turn these into total flops. Will BSD run the latest computer games? Will BSD be easy to install, maintain, and secure for anyone with even the smallest skill set? Will it run all apps seamlessly across desktop/server/tablet/phone/TV/fridge/whateverelse ? And above all, when I walk up to a BSD desktop will it just work every single time? Will there be a more than compelling case to use PC BSD in corporate offices?
If the PC BSD masterminds can answer all these questions with "yes" then I think they are on the right track. I doubt it and 5 years until 2020 is not enough time to fix all this.
Technology typically reforms the job landscape, but not destroy jobs. When cars came along it put an end to blacksmiths and horse wagon makers, but it started the rise of the car mechanic. In the beginning these were even the exact same people who quickly adapted to the new world of things. Today it is less likely that this succeeds, a factory floor worker is probably not turning her- or himself into an industrial robot engineer, but might find opportunities in manufacturing robots.
What does happen is that those who do not accept life long learning as a necessity will be left behind unless they manage to escape into retirement. That applies to software engineers as well. Years ago it was easy to get hired as VB6 developer, today you are lucky if you find a place that needs that skill to maintain legacy applications. The speed of innovation is also increasing, while it used to be fine to stay on one skill level for a decade it now dropped down to a few years if that.
As far as wealth goes, I agree with some of the other comments. The wealth does not grow, it is more and more unevenly distributed. That is something where legislation can help: be more like Robin Hood, steal from the rich and give to the poor. That means tax any earnings (capital gains, etc) as if it is straight out income and return back to the pre-Reagonomics tax schedules. Someone who makes 100 million a year will be perfectly fine if they have to pay 40 million in taxes. They would not have bought that second private jet anyway.
Any PC or laptop with a preinstalled OS should only be allowed to be sold if an original OS DVD is included. Means the ones that Microsoft releases for Windows, not the already junked up 'recover' DVDs from the manufacturer. That is the only way to properly wipe the entire system and start from scratch. Or just do not add all these often useless 3rd party apps. I know that the hardware vendors get paid to push this garbage, but is that worth these PR disasters?
....it would have been court ordered to be pulled off the market and the manufacturer would have been dragged to countless courts for gross negligence. So why is tobacco still sold?
As far as the US is concerned, the biggest problem is the antiquated two party system. One side proposes something and the other side says No just because. This leads to total deadlock in the legislative and oversight process allowing the dozens of three letter agencies to take on a life of their own while constructing supposed security challenges that require continuation of expensive surveillance programs (such as scanning all email and reading all posts on slashdot) that so far have yielded zero results. And all that is done in secrecy with a rubberstamping FISC that is not made up of elected judges and is not open to any kind of public control, either directly or indirectly. Any attempts to change that get shouted down by the other side as "unamerican", "bad for US businesses", or "taxes kill jobs".
What the US needs is at least three or four more political parties that bring a different position into play. Yes, within the two parties there are different wings from left to right, but in the end they are all bound to the party line pressure. Having more parties will force coalition governments where more checks and balances come into play and not just one opinions prevails.
I know there are independents, the Green Party, the Communist Party, some radical Nazi parties, Working Families Party, and probably a bunch more that I never heard about. Anyone who dislikes the status quo of "either you are with us or against us" should seek out existing alternatives. It is up to the voters to bring the same variety of choice that we enjoy (or loathe) in the cereal aisle to the political stage. Don't like mass surveillance? Vote for those who advocate repealing the Patriot Acts, shutting down the NSA, cut funding for FBI/CIA so that they are forced to weed out programs that generate no results, and above all bring any form of surveillance under the control of public courts with elected judges...and that all the way up to the Supreme Court with strict term limits.
Yea, sure, we can employ encryption and all kinds of techie tricks, but what good does that do if it is a sure ticket to jail or CIA interrogation camps in who knows where with a blind eye on torture.
Customers do not value...as in pay extra for....security and quality. If their sports score phone app crashes every five minutes they do not look for a different one or ask for the money back, they just restart it and do not even bother reporting this issue. Companies with massive breaches like TJX, Target, Anthem, or Sony spend a few millions on credit monitoring for affected customers and may fire a scapegoat, but other than that it is business as usual and people still do business with these companies. Microsoft even fixes massive security issues every single month requiring entire systems to get rebooted with the admin sitting at the console hoping that everything comes back up. Yet, nobody gets fired for buying Microsoft...and their licenses are not cheap!
So what do you expect? Security and with that quality are not generating shareholder value. Businesses do very well throwing more features into their products at an ever faster pace (thanks to the mindless agile craze) opting to fix stuff later (which means not at all). Free email services have better security than most banking sites. How should a developer ever learn how to craft proper encryption, how to write good unit tests, how to properly comment code, how to deliver code that will pass all QA tests and user acceptance if none of that is valued? Why should a developer even bother with this when pressure to release more features is growing exponentially so that there is no time to learn and do things right the first time? All they hear is do something quickly and we iterate over it (which never happens).
In your company the take on these things might be different and I applaud that, but you are the exception. My advice is to look for a developer who has some experience in the industry you are operating in. Hire one who has done a variety of things or has a variety of interests. That shows that they are open minded and not just a one trick pony. Whatever else they are missing you need to teach them, but start that off with explaining to them why this matters to the business. People are much more eager to learn and adapt different approaches when they know why. And no, this is not an excuse to pay them like a junior developer unless they truly are (recent graduates).
Mr. T is usually not that interested in public opinion. So what happens when people vote to go for v4.0? Does he employ avalanches of abusive language because he thinks this is stupid?
I use VLC for anything video and it always works fine. A few weekends ago I tried its streaming feature. Not only is it needlessly complicated to configure, there appears to be no way to save the settings and after a few hours streaming it just dies. Currently settling on Plex, which is great when it works, but it often takes many tries to make it work.
The argument "home schooling is a bad thing for kids since it doesn't teach them the proper socialization" is completely false and there is not a single piece of evidence that supports this claim. It is nothing more than uninformed blabber and prejudice.
My children are homeschooled and they join in many activities that provides plenty of social interaction. Plenty of school districts have strict rules in place that undermine or even outright prevent social interaction in schools, so a public school is not necessarily the better place. Besides that, social interaction with whom? A group that can be joined and left at will or a bunch of teenaged bullies that a child cannot escape from in school? Or the teachers who tech because they want to push their agenda? I am very fine with my kids not getting "socialization" from those people.
The solution is to invest more into railroads and make more of the rail network a federally funded infrastructure similar to Interstates. In fact, 3 years of funding for the Interstate system would allow Amtrak alone to pay for all projects planned and thought of for the next 20 years. Rail and especially local and regional links are the most sustainable and scalable means of transporting a huge amount of people and goods with the least amount of effort and energy. More and faster rail service will also take the pressure off air travel and build a symbiosis by connecting airports by high speed rail service.
Fox "News" is a right-wing extremist propaganda outlet that never was interested in unbiased reporting. Showing that video falls exactly in line with their fundamentalist conservative view on everything. In that sense they are not even a bit better than other propaganda channels from any form of extremists. If there is a legitimate journalistic purpose? Not at all!
I've been wildly successful using the small app YAWCam, see http://www.yawcam.com/
It is free to use and about the best and easiest software for webifying plain old USB web cams around. The downside is that you need some sort of Windows PC to go along with it. If that is not an option give the various Foscam wireless webcams a try, I have an older one that films away 24x7 monitoring my backyard. They have settings for specifying image upload to an FTP server without any of the cloud crap. These cameras are inexpensive, so heavy duty pan/tilt action might wear them out sooner than expected. In your (as well as in my) case the position will be static most of the time. These cameras also come with IR night vision if needed, but that can be disabled, which is what you want to do if you mount the camera inside looking out through a window. The IR light reflects in the window and makes the images useless.
I have it set so that every three seconds and image is uploaded. On my FTP server I also run a script that dumps image files that are older than two days just to keep the amount of files manageable. In your case you should be fine with a much longer period. You may still need a script that fires as often to find the most recent file and rename it so that the web site can retain a static link. I don't remember if there is a means to set the file name in the camera config so that it constantly overwrites the old image.
That said, the PDF route is way easier albeit less geeky, but definitely more reliable. The web cam idea is neat, but it is like using a cannon to shoot at sparrows.
Rather than to force more girls into CS courses the question is why many girls do not want to attend CS courses. So before legislating anything find out what the cause is and then take corrective measures.
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Spelling is illogical within English and spelling of the same word is different depending on the region in the world you happen to be. Comma rules are almost non-existent and the few that there are make no sense and are often very vague. Why are single words at the beginning of a sentence to be separated by a comma, but an infinitive structure within a sentence is not despite that making the sentence way more readable? And pronunciation? Makes no sense either! Why do "pipe" and "recipe" not rhyme? English in itself has substantial logical flaws that vary by region, so why get bent out of shape for not using "proper English"? As a matter of fairness, all other languages have their pointless oddities as well.
That applies to both criminals as well as states and federal. The death penalty is not a deterrent, it is not reversible, plenty of wrongly accused people were killed, and if electrocuting, poisoning, or gassing someone is not a "cruel and unusual punishment" as is prohibited by the Constitution then what is? It is long overdue for the US to join the modern cultures and do away with barbaric punishments.
This project is beyond sick! The more firearms there are the more damage they do. If Mr. Wilson had just one speck of responsibility, moral, and ethic in his body he would build a machine that effectively destroys guns. But maybe that is the plan? The 3D printed guns did not hold up well in the tests and are more likely to harm the shooter than anyone else.
You name two examples that are clearly not proving your point. USPS is one of the best postal services in the world delivering mail anywhere in the US for a rather low postage rate compared to other postal services. USPS keeps operating small rural post offices, in other countries they all get closed and basic postal services are outsourced to local supermarkets if available. I can write a letter, put a 49 cent stamp on it (that can be bought almost anywhere), stuff into my mailbox and have it be on the other side of the continent in 3 days or less. International mail typically takes no longer than 5 to 8 days. Check postage rates from other postal services or in regards to packages with UPS, FedEx, DHL and the like. USPS is by far cheaper than any other provider. Besides that, USPS is not controlled by "the idiots in Washington". While it is a federal entity it is not run by the government and does not receive any tax subsidies. As far as DMV goes, none of those are run by "the idiots in Washington" because DMV is not a federal thing but at the state level. As far as the DMV office that I go to, I cannot say anything bad about it. Renewing a license takes me five minutes, changing registration even less...and that even if they are busy. A few times I went and they did not even bother with giving me a number because they assigned me directly to the next available clerk. And that in a state where they are every quick to regulate pretty much everything. As far as broadband Internet goes. The industry regulated itself through mutual agreements for the past decades and it worked out very well as you point out. The FCC regulations only codify that mutual agreement because some in the industry want to squeeze more money out of the rock and that entirely to the disadvantage of consumers, businesses, and content providers with less cash. Without regulation the "most incredible invention and display of the power of free-market capitalism" would end because there would be no free market. Those who have money win, everyone else bites the dust. No more equal opportunities, not more level playing field. That would stifle innovation because entry to market for startups will be close to impossible because they would have to tie up a lot of cash for securing access to the 'fast lanes'. I fail to see why this is a good idea and even more fail to understand why especially the conservatives who are so much in favor of free markets and level playing fields are so dead against securing just that. And quoting Reagan? Reagan was the worst president the US ever had, double digit unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, massive cuts in programs for the masses just to benefit the rich, insane expenses on weapons, almost starting WWIII. The only positive thing about Reagan was that he was a very good speaker, but as a leader of a nation he was a total disaster that we all still pay for today....unless you are part of the top 1% club, then you are doing very well since Reagonomics were put in place.
The regulations are not finalized and not approved. It is like demanding that a company delivers product that isn't finished with development yet (sadly, that is what many companies do). There are still several reliable sources that provide insight as to what the regulations are (e.g. http://www.computerworld.com/a...). As it turns out, there isn't anything new here, just solidifying the rules set forth by the Internet industry decades ago.
In this case the kids are also Belgian citizens...they just would have to not mention that they have US citizenship.
I am not sure if the taxation issue is actually accurate. I know it is required to report income to both places if you had income within the same calendar year in both places, but other than that I don't think a US citizen is required to pay federal taxes when leaving exclusively abroad. My suggestion is to prepare and keep all paperwork that clearly identifies you as being a parent of your children (copy of your US passport, birth certificates listing you as parent, etc). That will allow your children to file for US citizenship at any time in their life if it seems like a good idea. It is not a yes/no issue, more one of now or later and you decide / your children decide. The benefits of having US citizenship is that of having it easier to take residence anywhere in the US and get perks such as in-state tuition at a university (depends on the state, some give it to anyone who is a legal state resident no matter what the citizenship is, the rules vary). As far as registering for the draft is concerned, just don't bother with it. I know of plenty who have not done so and did not encounter any issues. Might be a legal requirement, but one that is unenforceable especially when living abroad. Other than that traveling to places might be easier on a US passport, but I am sure there isn't much difference to a Belgian passport. In cases of emergency the embassies will assist in getting the citizens out. So if Belgium would plunge into a bitter civil war then the US embassy would see that they get you and your family out of that place. Yes, an unlikely scenario, just meant as example. There are also other factors such as being able to get employment with a US company where security clearance is required (rather difficult to get for non-citizens, not impossible though) or anything that has to do with social benefits. Yes, I know, if you are in a crunch and need assistance Belgium or Sweden are by far the better options than the US. In my case it is the other way around. My wife is a US citizen, I am German, and my children have both, but I did not renew their German passport after it expired out of cost reasons (freakishly expensive and requires a long trip to the consulate with overnight stay). The expired passport is proof enough that they are German citizens for what it might be worth (such as excellent universities and no tuition!!!!). There is now also a record in the system and even if they no longer have the expired passport it will be rather easy for them to obtain legal documents. In my opinion it is great to have as many citizenships as possible, ye never know what happens in years from now.
Displaying file extensions is just good measure and turning them off by default is one of the biggest flaws in Windows. Still, changing the file extension is easy. Anyone can turn a .exe file into a .txt file or if malicious into something that is likely getting sent to an application that will attempt to execute the file as in run the instructions in it.
The real fix here is to make use of the magic number in the file header that truly tells what kind of file it is. Additionally, any app accepting file submissions has to check for that magic number and not just rely on flaky browse box extension filters that are easy to override or dumb checks on extension alone. As often, this comes down to properly testing applications, something that is just dropped in our new Agile world where delivering features as quickly as possible always trumps quality.
Not sure why it is presented as a surprise, just because there is funding it doesn't mean there is also success. We all should know that after the .com bubble burst....and that money came mainly from banks and VC ending up in the hands of office furniture companies, catering services, and software vendors.
Microsoft isn't even capable to put a GUI onto Win 10 for the Pi 2...which is essentially mid grade phone / tablet hardware. That though may be more out of tactical reasons than technical reasons, otherwise masses would buy Pi 2s as that would be the least expensive Windows PC to be had. Then again, they could offer it as download only version as SD card image and charge ten bucks a pop. I'd buy it because that would match the actual value of ARM based Windows.
Geez...the world doesn't have anything better to debate over? I think the dress looks hideous no matter what the color. There ya have it!
All comes down to if they knew or could have known. When John Dowe at 123 Main St is reported as running a meth lab then I think it is reasonable to deny shipping packages from that person or even address. In this case I applaud FedEx, there are already too many guns around that cause too many people to commit too many crimes. No need to be an enabler of making more of this.
I have to see it to believe it. I am sure there are many efforts taken to bring FOSS to the masses, but until Outlook and Word run seamlessly on BSD the revolution is purely imaginary. We see it with the Firefox, Windows, and Fire Phones, the app gap (and partially craptastic hardware) turn these into total flops. Will BSD run the latest computer games? Will BSD be easy to install, maintain, and secure for anyone with even the smallest skill set? Will it run all apps seamlessly across desktop/server/tablet/phone/TV/fridge/whateverelse ? And above all, when I walk up to a BSD desktop will it just work every single time? Will there be a more than compelling case to use PC BSD in corporate offices? If the PC BSD masterminds can answer all these questions with "yes" then I think they are on the right track. I doubt it and 5 years until 2020 is not enough time to fix all this.
Technology typically reforms the job landscape, but not destroy jobs. When cars came along it put an end to blacksmiths and horse wagon makers, but it started the rise of the car mechanic. In the beginning these were even the exact same people who quickly adapted to the new world of things. Today it is less likely that this succeeds, a factory floor worker is probably not turning her- or himself into an industrial robot engineer, but might find opportunities in manufacturing robots. What does happen is that those who do not accept life long learning as a necessity will be left behind unless they manage to escape into retirement. That applies to software engineers as well. Years ago it was easy to get hired as VB6 developer, today you are lucky if you find a place that needs that skill to maintain legacy applications. The speed of innovation is also increasing, while it used to be fine to stay on one skill level for a decade it now dropped down to a few years if that. As far as wealth goes, I agree with some of the other comments. The wealth does not grow, it is more and more unevenly distributed. That is something where legislation can help: be more like Robin Hood, steal from the rich and give to the poor. That means tax any earnings (capital gains, etc) as if it is straight out income and return back to the pre-Reagonomics tax schedules. Someone who makes 100 million a year will be perfectly fine if they have to pay 40 million in taxes. They would not have bought that second private jet anyway.
Any PC or laptop with a preinstalled OS should only be allowed to be sold if an original OS DVD is included. Means the ones that Microsoft releases for Windows, not the already junked up 'recover' DVDs from the manufacturer. That is the only way to properly wipe the entire system and start from scratch. Or just do not add all these often useless 3rd party apps. I know that the hardware vendors get paid to push this garbage, but is that worth these PR disasters?
....it would have been court ordered to be pulled off the market and the manufacturer would have been dragged to countless courts for gross negligence. So why is tobacco still sold?
As far as the US is concerned, the biggest problem is the antiquated two party system. One side proposes something and the other side says No just because. This leads to total deadlock in the legislative and oversight process allowing the dozens of three letter agencies to take on a life of their own while constructing supposed security challenges that require continuation of expensive surveillance programs (such as scanning all email and reading all posts on slashdot) that so far have yielded zero results. And all that is done in secrecy with a rubberstamping FISC that is not made up of elected judges and is not open to any kind of public control, either directly or indirectly. Any attempts to change that get shouted down by the other side as "unamerican", "bad for US businesses", or "taxes kill jobs". What the US needs is at least three or four more political parties that bring a different position into play. Yes, within the two parties there are different wings from left to right, but in the end they are all bound to the party line pressure. Having more parties will force coalition governments where more checks and balances come into play and not just one opinions prevails. I know there are independents, the Green Party, the Communist Party, some radical Nazi parties, Working Families Party, and probably a bunch more that I never heard about. Anyone who dislikes the status quo of "either you are with us or against us" should seek out existing alternatives. It is up to the voters to bring the same variety of choice that we enjoy (or loathe) in the cereal aisle to the political stage. Don't like mass surveillance? Vote for those who advocate repealing the Patriot Acts, shutting down the NSA, cut funding for FBI/CIA so that they are forced to weed out programs that generate no results, and above all bring any form of surveillance under the control of public courts with elected judges...and that all the way up to the Supreme Court with strict term limits. Yea, sure, we can employ encryption and all kinds of techie tricks, but what good does that do if it is a sure ticket to jail or CIA interrogation camps in who knows where with a blind eye on torture.
Customers do not value...as in pay extra for....security and quality. If their sports score phone app crashes every five minutes they do not look for a different one or ask for the money back, they just restart it and do not even bother reporting this issue. Companies with massive breaches like TJX, Target, Anthem, or Sony spend a few millions on credit monitoring for affected customers and may fire a scapegoat, but other than that it is business as usual and people still do business with these companies. Microsoft even fixes massive security issues every single month requiring entire systems to get rebooted with the admin sitting at the console hoping that everything comes back up. Yet, nobody gets fired for buying Microsoft...and their licenses are not cheap! So what do you expect? Security and with that quality are not generating shareholder value. Businesses do very well throwing more features into their products at an ever faster pace (thanks to the mindless agile craze) opting to fix stuff later (which means not at all). Free email services have better security than most banking sites. How should a developer ever learn how to craft proper encryption, how to write good unit tests, how to properly comment code, how to deliver code that will pass all QA tests and user acceptance if none of that is valued? Why should a developer even bother with this when pressure to release more features is growing exponentially so that there is no time to learn and do things right the first time? All they hear is do something quickly and we iterate over it (which never happens). In your company the take on these things might be different and I applaud that, but you are the exception. My advice is to look for a developer who has some experience in the industry you are operating in. Hire one who has done a variety of things or has a variety of interests. That shows that they are open minded and not just a one trick pony. Whatever else they are missing you need to teach them, but start that off with explaining to them why this matters to the business. People are much more eager to learn and adapt different approaches when they know why. And no, this is not an excuse to pay them like a junior developer unless they truly are (recent graduates).
Mr. T is usually not that interested in public opinion. So what happens when people vote to go for v4.0? Does he employ avalanches of abusive language because he thinks this is stupid?
I use VLC for anything video and it always works fine. A few weekends ago I tried its streaming feature. Not only is it needlessly complicated to configure, there appears to be no way to save the settings and after a few hours streaming it just dies. Currently settling on Plex, which is great when it works, but it often takes many tries to make it work.
The argument "home schooling is a bad thing for kids since it doesn't teach them the proper socialization" is completely false and there is not a single piece of evidence that supports this claim. It is nothing more than uninformed blabber and prejudice. My children are homeschooled and they join in many activities that provides plenty of social interaction. Plenty of school districts have strict rules in place that undermine or even outright prevent social interaction in schools, so a public school is not necessarily the better place. Besides that, social interaction with whom? A group that can be joined and left at will or a bunch of teenaged bullies that a child cannot escape from in school? Or the teachers who tech because they want to push their agenda? I am very fine with my kids not getting "socialization" from those people.
The solution is to invest more into railroads and make more of the rail network a federally funded infrastructure similar to Interstates. In fact, 3 years of funding for the Interstate system would allow Amtrak alone to pay for all projects planned and thought of for the next 20 years. Rail and especially local and regional links are the most sustainable and scalable means of transporting a huge amount of people and goods with the least amount of effort and energy. More and faster rail service will also take the pressure off air travel and build a symbiosis by connecting airports by high speed rail service.
Fox "News" is a right-wing extremist propaganda outlet that never was interested in unbiased reporting. Showing that video falls exactly in line with their fundamentalist conservative view on everything. In that sense they are not even a bit better than other propaganda channels from any form of extremists. If there is a legitimate journalistic purpose? Not at all!
I've been wildly successful using the small app YAWCam, see http://www.yawcam.com/ It is free to use and about the best and easiest software for webifying plain old USB web cams around. The downside is that you need some sort of Windows PC to go along with it. If that is not an option give the various Foscam wireless webcams a try, I have an older one that films away 24x7 monitoring my backyard. They have settings for specifying image upload to an FTP server without any of the cloud crap. These cameras are inexpensive, so heavy duty pan/tilt action might wear them out sooner than expected. In your (as well as in my) case the position will be static most of the time. These cameras also come with IR night vision if needed, but that can be disabled, which is what you want to do if you mount the camera inside looking out through a window. The IR light reflects in the window and makes the images useless. I have it set so that every three seconds and image is uploaded. On my FTP server I also run a script that dumps image files that are older than two days just to keep the amount of files manageable. In your case you should be fine with a much longer period. You may still need a script that fires as often to find the most recent file and rename it so that the web site can retain a static link. I don't remember if there is a means to set the file name in the camera config so that it constantly overwrites the old image. That said, the PDF route is way easier albeit less geeky, but definitely more reliable. The web cam idea is neat, but it is like using a cannon to shoot at sparrows.
Rather than to force more girls into CS courses the question is why many girls do not want to attend CS courses. So before legislating anything find out what the cause is and then take corrective measures.