On a lot of the medium to large bases, guys will throw in money to purchase their own satellite systems, and they will sell access to people. It's generally expensive, but in many cases it is a great option for getting net access in your room. The "hadji" net access really blows. If you have net access in your room, then of course you can use your laptop, set up wireless access points, or do whatever. If you are using the MWR system (the free internet access, i.e. a computer lab) then you generally aren't allowed to plug in your laptop. Of course, it varies depending on where you're at. For more details on the net access situation, see my other posts.
Yo dude, hello from Camp Phoenix, Kabul! Never been to Blessing, but I've heard of it. IIRC, you fuckers are always getting lit up, or at least you used to when I went through the area a couple years back.
To the OP, most larger bases have a SPAWAR system. That's a very good satellite system with a bunch of phones and computers available. You purchase minutes off the SPAWAR web site and make calls back to the states for $.04/min. You can also use Skype, as VOIP bandwidth is guaranteed. Laptops are generally not allowed on the system, but the network actually has very few (if any) restrictions. I download torrents all the time, for example, by running uTorrent off a thumb drive. The system is really slow during peak hours but in the middle of the night you can get some fantastic download speeds. I've hit 400k+ a sec before on torrents.
Smaller bases (small FOBs) may only have DSN phone access. In that case, you just call back to a base in the states, have them transfer you to an outside line, and use your calling card to complete the call. Just as cheap as SPAWAR, though more hassle.
At any rate, what it comes down to is, you will have no problems keeping in touch with family, even if you are stationed on the smallest, shittiest FOB in Afghanistan. So don't worry about it!
P.S. be sure to bring a big external drive. You'll need it to hold the thousands of movies people will let you copy off their drives.
If you're at an established base, net connectivity isn't an issue. The same connection that provides net connectivity does phones and other comm. This will be kept up as a matter of necessity.
Bandwidth is crap, however. You won't be streaming music or movies.
I bet to differ. Most of the larger bases have a SPAWAR system, which is great. It's slow as shit during peak hours, but if you can get on in the early morning it flies. I have hit 400k+ sec on movie torrents. It is 6 AM right now and I am currently downloading three torrents at 120k/sec total.
If enforcement costs so much, why do we bother doing it? Especially since it is having absolutely no effect in shutting down piracy. And it never will, because piracy is in human nature. It's like trying to stop people from smoking marijuana. Who would be dumb enough to try that?
loss of sales through unfair competition.
Loss of sales huh. So how much money did Adobe lose when I pirated my copy of Photoshop?... The answer is NONE, because I couldn't have afforded to buy Photoshop anyway. If Photoshop were impossible to pirate, I'd just use GIMP.
Piracy indicates that people are greedy, and not much more. No matter how low the price goes, people will still be able to pirate it for free.
Of course. But the lower the price goes, more people will buy it. If Photoshop were $5, or even $50, sure some people would still pirate it, but millions more would just purchase it. Haven't you ever taken a basic economics course?
And free doesn't pay the costs of production.
No, it doesn't. But the thousands of legitimate users certainly do. Which is why we have a thriving software industry these days. If you build a good program, people will buy it. Hell, even if you build a really shitty (but useful) program, people will still buy it. Has Adobe gone out of business yet? What about Microsoft? I'm sure their software is some of the most heavily pirated software in the world, isn't it?
I only assumed you were being paid by the RIAA/MPAA as a courtesy, i.e. giving the benefit of the doubt, as the only other likely alternative explanation for your ridiculous ideas is that you are a moron.
Exactly how does piracy "raise costs"? If anything, piracy should lower costs, since rampant piracy (compared to legit sales) indicates that the product in question is priced too high.
LOL, that's funny. My first involvement with computers was when I started programming, in the 2nd grade. Since then I have used every manner of operating system I could get my hands on, including Gentoo for quite some time. At first I thought portage was cool, until I used it long enough to realize that it's a horribly, horribly broken piece of shit. When your entire system gets totally corrupted during what should be a routine upgrade, on a few separate occasions, and the routine use of USE flags eventually renders your package system practically unusable, you might then actually have enough experience to understand what I'm talking about. These days I use APT, and I couldn't be happier.
I have heard of EVE before but didn't know what it was about. Just figured it was yet another fanstary MMORPG. Man, I wish I had discovered this game sooner.
Reading this article summary took me straight back to the good ole days, the early to mid 90s, when I was dialing up BBSs and playing Trade Wars 2002. In that game, you start out with a basic little merchant ship which you can use to trade between different starports to make money. There were a number of avenues you could take to advance in money and power in the game, limited only by your imagination, skill, and cunning. You could claim planets, buy starships, mine and fortify sectors, build ports, build 'citadels' on the planets to defend them, etc.
If you were playing against any sort of real competition, you were pretty much required to create or join a corporation so that you could have a hope of surviving and conquering your enemies. There is a real need for teamwork, but also real reasons to distrust teammates. Any member of your corporation could easily betray you and leave your corp in ruin, by claiming all your assets as his own then blowing up everyone's ships while you were out of the game. You could somewhat guard against this by keeping some hidden personal assets off in a corner somewhere, but of course this has trade-offs as well.
So the game consists of strategy, tactics, ship to ship combat, invasion, defense, economy and finance, politics, everything you can possibly imagine. Easy to learn, difficult to master, full of depth, exciting, and a hell of a lot of fun. It seems EVE is pretty much a modern version of this game.
For those of you saying that people will probably quit the game because of this recent development, you are wrong and you don't understand the game. If anything, this will reinvigorate everything. Now there are thousands of little guys flying around out there who suddenly see real opportunity to go out and seize control of something and gain some power. The BoB guys know that even if they lose everything, they can always build their empire back up, through great cunning, strategy, blood, sweat, and tears, and emerge even more glorious than ever. It's exciting.
Better yet, knock the perpetrator down and beat him within an inch of death with the nearest blunt object you can lay hands on. I'm pretty sure the fucker won't ever try that shit again. It's high time we (as a nation) stopped putting up with this kind of bullshit.
Sorry, Gentoo/Portage does not qualify. The GP called for a "very good" package management system, not a "piece of shit, complete garbage" package management system.
It's just as easy for an American to get abroad as it is for an American company to hire people abroad.
From my experience, as a skilled and experienced American in the satellite communications field, it is fairly difficult to get a job in the EU. From the perspective of a EU employer, it is much easier and cheaper just to hire a talented/experienced individual from somewhere in the EU rather than trying to import an American from across the ocean, get him a work permit, and fight through all the other red tape and expense to legally employ him. I am sure a large number of Americans would love to work in Europe (myself included), and vice versa, but it's just a big, expensive hassle for all involved.
"childish diatribe"? Thanks for illustrating the very thing that I hate about modern American pussies. You people label anything that is not 100% polite, refined, politically correct, and/or free of emotion to be "childish." Ridiculous.
I'm just about as skilled in English composition and grammar as anyone, and yet I was able to read and comprehend the GP's argument just fine. I feel that he made some excellent and logical points. Who gives a shit if he made some grammar errors in the process? Let me guess--you're a teacher whose pussy was hurt by the GP's arguments. Maybe you should try coming up with an actual counter-argument to show that he is wrong, rather than nit-picking?
And why do the students accept what they are told? Because their entire young lives, they have had idiot teachers training them to be mindless drones. Thankfully, there are still plenty of rebellious kids who don't quite accept the programming. Thankfully I was one of them.
By the way, I know exactly what you mean. Apparently it is common for science teachers to teach that scientific theories eventually become laws. I have gotten into arguments with people til I'm blue in the face explaining why this is totally false. Their response is usually "well my teacher said....". I have on a number of occasions brought this example up in arguments. Not yet have I, through sound reasoning, convinced anyone that their teacher was incorrect on this subject.
...how about actually knowing what you're talking about? The grandparent was 100% correct in his original wording. 'Data' is one of those plural nouns which is treated as singular in a grammatical context. Therefore, "is" would be the correct verb in this instance. Secondly, using the word "or" in this context would imply a different--and bizarre--meaning from what the GP intended, because it would imply exclusivity; i.e. the "bunch" is either ones, or zeroes, as opposed to "and" which says that the "bunch" contains both ones and zeroes. Try making the changes you suggested and read it aloud to yourself. It sounds stupid and unnatural, doesn't it?
Huh? I use ogg all the time. Every decent computer media player on the planet supports it. Just because your ipod doesn't support it doesn't mean it's dead or dying. There are literally dozens of good portable media players out there that support it. There are lots of games and other pieces of software that use it exclusively. Why would you think it is dead?
You were misinformed. It is well within your rights (i.e. legal rights) to disobey an illegal order. There is no such thing as "summary execution" for refusal to obey an order; that is total bullshit. See my other post in this thread.
Huh, that's weird, I served in the Air Force for six years and I could have sworn that I was taught on many occasions to never obey an illegal order. (An order involving torture of a prisoner would certainly be considered illegal, and was explicitly included as such in the non-exclusive list of actions considered illegal.) It seems that I was specifically told to first question the order to make sure I heard it correctly, then ask for it to be rescinded, then if that fails, to refuse to obey it and report it up the chain of command at the next available opportunity. As far as I am aware, this policy is standard throughout the DOD.
Who said anything about Obama getting legislative powers?
It is well known amongst anyone who knows anything about American politics that a President's public support for a bill will do a hell of a lot to increase that bill's chance of passage. If the bill is also hugely popular with the American public, then it is nearly guaranteed to be passed.
What's so "bleak" about my hopes for this Administration? On the contrary, I think now's the chance for we the people to stand up and push to make this government what we want it to be.
Or we could just give up and bitch and moan about the government, which seems to be the road you've chosen.
Slashdot Mirror
On a lot of the medium to large bases, guys will throw in money to purchase their own satellite systems, and they will sell access to people. It's generally expensive, but in many cases it is a great option for getting net access in your room. The "hadji" net access really blows. If you have net access in your room, then of course you can use your laptop, set up wireless access points, or do whatever. If you are using the MWR system (the free internet access, i.e. a computer lab) then you generally aren't allowed to plug in your laptop. Of course, it varies depending on where you're at. For more details on the net access situation, see my other posts.
Yo dude, hello from Camp Phoenix, Kabul! Never been to Blessing, but I've heard of it. IIRC, you fuckers are always getting lit up, or at least you used to when I went through the area a couple years back.
To the OP, most larger bases have a SPAWAR system. That's a very good satellite system with a bunch of phones and computers available. You purchase minutes off the SPAWAR web site and make calls back to the states for $.04/min. You can also use Skype, as VOIP bandwidth is guaranteed. Laptops are generally not allowed on the system, but the network actually has very few (if any) restrictions. I download torrents all the time, for example, by running uTorrent off a thumb drive. The system is really slow during peak hours but in the middle of the night you can get some fantastic download speeds. I've hit 400k+ a sec before on torrents.
Smaller bases (small FOBs) may only have DSN phone access. In that case, you just call back to a base in the states, have them transfer you to an outside line, and use your calling card to complete the call. Just as cheap as SPAWAR, though more hassle.
At any rate, what it comes down to is, you will have no problems keeping in touch with family, even if you are stationed on the smallest, shittiest FOB in Afghanistan. So don't worry about it!
P.S. be sure to bring a big external drive. You'll need it to hold the thousands of movies people will let you copy off their drives.
If you're at an established base, net connectivity isn't an issue. The same connection that provides net connectivity does phones and other comm. This will be kept up as a matter of necessity.
Bandwidth is crap, however. You won't be streaming music or movies.
I bet to differ. Most of the larger bases have a SPAWAR system, which is great. It's slow as shit during peak hours, but if you can get on in the early morning it flies. I have hit 400k+ sec on movie torrents. It is 6 AM right now and I am currently downloading three torrents at 120k/sec total.
Enforcement costs,
If enforcement costs so much, why do we bother doing it? Especially since it is having absolutely no effect in shutting down piracy. And it never will, because piracy is in human nature. It's like trying to stop people from smoking marijuana. Who would be dumb enough to try that?
loss of sales through unfair competition.
Loss of sales huh. So how much money did Adobe lose when I pirated my copy of Photoshop? ... The answer is NONE, because I couldn't have afforded to buy Photoshop anyway. If Photoshop were impossible to pirate, I'd just use GIMP.
Piracy indicates that people are greedy, and not much more. No matter how low the price goes, people will still be able to pirate it for free.
Of course. But the lower the price goes, more people will buy it. If Photoshop were $5, or even $50, sure some people would still pirate it, but millions more would just purchase it. Haven't you ever taken a basic economics course?
And free doesn't pay the costs of production.
No, it doesn't. But the thousands of legitimate users certainly do. Which is why we have a thriving software industry these days. If you build a good program, people will buy it. Hell, even if you build a really shitty (but useful) program, people will still buy it. Has Adobe gone out of business yet? What about Microsoft? I'm sure their software is some of the most heavily pirated software in the world, isn't it?
I only assumed you were being paid by the RIAA/MPAA as a courtesy, i.e. giving the benefit of the doubt, as the only other likely alternative explanation for your ridiculous ideas is that you are a moron.
Exactly how does piracy "raise costs"? If anything, piracy should lower costs, since rampant piracy (compared to legit sales) indicates that the product in question is priced too high.
LOL, that's funny. My first involvement with computers was when I started programming, in the 2nd grade. Since then I have used every manner of operating system I could get my hands on, including Gentoo for quite some time. At first I thought portage was cool, until I used it long enough to realize that it's a horribly, horribly broken piece of shit. When your entire system gets totally corrupted during what should be a routine upgrade, on a few separate occasions, and the routine use of USE flags eventually renders your package system practically unusable, you might then actually have enough experience to understand what I'm talking about. These days I use APT, and I couldn't be happier.
I have heard of EVE before but didn't know what it was about. Just figured it was yet another fanstary MMORPG. Man, I wish I had discovered this game sooner.
Reading this article summary took me straight back to the good ole days, the early to mid 90s, when I was dialing up BBSs and playing Trade Wars 2002. In that game, you start out with a basic little merchant ship which you can use to trade between different starports to make money. There were a number of avenues you could take to advance in money and power in the game, limited only by your imagination, skill, and cunning. You could claim planets, buy starships, mine and fortify sectors, build ports, build 'citadels' on the planets to defend them, etc.
If you were playing against any sort of real competition, you were pretty much required to create or join a corporation so that you could have a hope of surviving and conquering your enemies. There is a real need for teamwork, but also real reasons to distrust teammates. Any member of your corporation could easily betray you and leave your corp in ruin, by claiming all your assets as his own then blowing up everyone's ships while you were out of the game. You could somewhat guard against this by keeping some hidden personal assets off in a corner somewhere, but of course this has trade-offs as well.
So the game consists of strategy, tactics, ship to ship combat, invasion, defense, economy and finance, politics, everything you can possibly imagine. Easy to learn, difficult to master, full of depth, exciting, and a hell of a lot of fun. It seems EVE is pretty much a modern version of this game.
For those of you saying that people will probably quit the game because of this recent development, you are wrong and you don't understand the game. If anything, this will reinvigorate everything. Now there are thousands of little guys flying around out there who suddenly see real opportunity to go out and seize control of something and gain some power. The BoB guys know that even if they lose everything, they can always build their empire back up, through great cunning, strategy, blood, sweat, and tears, and emerge even more glorious than ever. It's exciting.
I don't want to have to bear the costs of pirates who sap money from the respective industries, who will then pass the costs on to me.
So how much is the MPAA/RIAA paying you to shill their sad propaganda?
Better yet, knock the perpetrator down and beat him within an inch of death with the nearest blunt object you can lay hands on. I'm pretty sure the fucker won't ever try that shit again. It's high time we (as a nation) stopped putting up with this kind of bullshit.
Are you aware that nobody save you gives a shit?
Sorry, Gentoo/Portage does not qualify. The GP called for a "very good" package management system, not a "piece of shit, complete garbage" package management system.
Skynet
It's just as easy for an American to get abroad as it is for an American company to hire people abroad.
From my experience, as a skilled and experienced American in the satellite communications field, it is fairly difficult to get a job in the EU. From the perspective of a EU employer, it is much easier and cheaper just to hire a talented/experienced individual from somewhere in the EU rather than trying to import an American from across the ocean, get him a work permit, and fight through all the other red tape and expense to legally employ him. I am sure a large number of Americans would love to work in Europe (myself included), and vice versa, but it's just a big, expensive hassle for all involved.
fuck! bastard!
Unless of course you loose it into your own face with a trebuchet.
Pics or GTFO!
"childish diatribe"? Thanks for illustrating the very thing that I hate about modern American pussies. You people label anything that is not 100% polite, refined, politically correct, and/or free of emotion to be "childish." Ridiculous.
I'm just about as skilled in English composition and grammar as anyone, and yet I was able to read and comprehend the GP's argument just fine. I feel that he made some excellent and logical points. Who gives a shit if he made some grammar errors in the process? Let me guess--you're a teacher whose pussy was hurt by the GP's arguments. Maybe you should try coming up with an actual counter-argument to show that he is wrong, rather than nit-picking?
And why do the students accept what they are told? Because their entire young lives, they have had idiot teachers training them to be mindless drones. Thankfully, there are still plenty of rebellious kids who don't quite accept the programming. Thankfully I was one of them.
By the way, I know exactly what you mean. Apparently it is common for science teachers to teach that scientific theories eventually become laws. I have gotten into arguments with people til I'm blue in the face explaining why this is totally false. Their response is usually "well my teacher said ....". I have on a number of occasions brought this example up in arguments. Not yet have I, through sound reasoning, convinced anyone that their teacher was incorrect on this subject.
...how about actually knowing what you're talking about? The grandparent was 100% correct in his original wording. 'Data' is one of those plural nouns which is treated as singular in a grammatical context. Therefore, "is" would be the correct verb in this instance. Secondly, using the word "or" in this context would imply a different--and bizarre--meaning from what the GP intended, because it would imply exclusivity; i.e. the "bunch" is either ones, or zeroes, as opposed to "and" which says that the "bunch" contains both ones and zeroes. Try making the changes you suggested and read it aloud to yourself. It sounds stupid and unnatural, doesn't it?
Huh? I use ogg all the time. Every decent computer media player on the planet supports it. Just because your ipod doesn't support it doesn't mean it's dead or dying. There are literally dozens of good portable media players out there that support it. There are lots of games and other pieces of software that use it exclusively. Why would you think it is dead?
Children ... are (usually) unable to weigh the pros and cons of arguments and instead defer to authority figures.
Right. Which explains why the War On Drugs(tm) is such a resounding success.
Are you still so certain that your job will remain when another 5% of your customers are about to become unemployed?
I'm a government contractor, you insensitive clod!
You were misinformed. It is well within your rights (i.e. legal rights) to disobey an illegal order. There is no such thing as "summary execution" for refusal to obey an order; that is total bullshit. See my other post in this thread.
Huh, that's weird, I served in the Air Force for six years and I could have sworn that I was taught on many occasions to never obey an illegal order. (An order involving torture of a prisoner would certainly be considered illegal, and was explicitly included as such in the non-exclusive list of actions considered illegal.) It seems that I was specifically told to first question the order to make sure I heard it correctly, then ask for it to be rescinded, then if that fails, to refuse to obey it and report it up the chain of command at the next available opportunity. As far as I am aware, this policy is standard throughout the DOD.
So where the hell are you getting your info?
Who said anything about Obama getting legislative powers?
It is well known amongst anyone who knows anything about American politics that a President's public support for a bill will do a hell of a lot to increase that bill's chance of passage. If the bill is also hugely popular with the American public, then it is nearly guaranteed to be passed.
What's so "bleak" about my hopes for this Administration? On the contrary, I think now's the chance for we the people to stand up and push to make this government what we want it to be.
Or we could just give up and bitch and moan about the government, which seems to be the road you've chosen.