It's also possible that the dog liked the way the hearing aid tastes. Ever notice how dogs will lick your face, but quickly gravitate to liking ears? They might like the salt and/or wax deposits on your ears (and hearing aids).
Maybe something like this is more up your alley? Granted, they're still expensive (for the higher end models, at least) and likely are not as multi-functional, but they would help in the interim until you could find a job and get something better.
They're all over the place and work really well for hearing conversations in loud areas (conversations at a ball park), so I imagine the utility would be similar for a deaf person.
I grew up with a close (legally) deaf friend. While it may depend on the state, he was able to get a large portion of hearing aid costs paid for by the state. I know there are other services many states provide for deaf/hearing impaired people. Additionally, it is illegal to discriminate against a person with a disability - and being hearing impaired is a disability. (Though, it's also possible you didn't get the job because you were under-qualified, too expensive/expected too much, or some other factor. BTDT.)
Much of how the BSD systems do things is very "clean" in principle, but in practice sucks the tits right off a cow.
It's so goddamn simple and straigh-forward that it requires an administrator to do one (or more, in combination) of the following:
a) devise an atypical, custom build process for dealing with simple systems administration tasks, upgrades, installs (partially due to the 'simple' approaches not working consistently or being all too finessed). b) writing custom package/kernel/whatever administration scripts in $language (probably csh) to implement $core_function available on $other_os c) not upgrading, ever. just put a new version on when you get new hardware.
Case in point: package management on FreeBSD. Everyone does it differently, so scripts (or even the 'package' tools they talk to) you used at a previous job are useless (needing a serious rewrite). And then you've got to contend with the 'hacks' someone put into a package to "make it work" every time you upgrade - usually dealing with a non-trivial daemon process failure, or the like.
That's a minor quibble of contention. Seriously. It's barely making note of, unless you can identify how Windows Server 2003 is different than XP (aside from the crippling of Terminal Services and the number of connections allowed). Otherwise, they are pretty much the exact same thing.
but what MS does not do well is security. not at all.
I wouldn't argue against that, not even for a moment.
But despite the myriads of host, application, and server level exploits for Windows, the default security policies, and generally poor network server capabilities, there's one thing that sticks out in my mind: have there been any exploits for Microsoft's RDP implementation yet?
I realize that older versions of Microsoft products aren't able to upgrade to the newer versions, but I've never seen a "Terminal Services Root Exploit" as I have with OpenSSH. Maybe I've just not noticed it (I don't pay attention to MS land), but the tool does seem fairly useful.
When my son was 4, he could carry 2 mostly-full gallons of water up a steep hill (30 yards or so) by himself.
Yet, at the same age, there is no way he could pull a trigger, even a lighter one on a.22 handgun. He tried. I held it while he tried. Such small hands can't get the leverage, and even if they can get the leverage, there's no way they can (effectively) use more than a finger or two to get around the trigger.
No, there's something fishy about this scenario, particularly with the gun in question (it has a very heavy trigger). The only conceivable scenario I can see a child (of any age) pulling that trigger is if they put their entire weight into the trigger - and in that case, they'd have to be a bit older than 3.
There isn't a single thing which makes sense about this situation.
1) Most 3-y-o children can't pull a firearm trigger. I've got two children, and neither could do so at 3 (because I wanted to see what they'd be capable of, not that I'd leave such things in their reach). They're not able to get their hands around the trigger, nevermind exert enough pressure for most triggers. Unless we're talking about a hair trigger (you won't find them on a non-custom handgun). The handgun was likely a S&W Sigma (by its description in the article, but the media is even worse about reporting gun related stuff than they are technology and science), which does -not- have a light trigger (it's known for having a heavy, gritty trigger, even for a handgun). 2) How did a 3-year-old mistake a real gun for a Wii controller, given it looks nothing like anything Nintendo has made in over 20 years? 3)... in the head? 4)... while her mother was nearby - if not watching, but at least present?
Also, take a look at the GIS for the likely gun in question. It is, for all intents and purposes, too large for some adolescents and many women.
cease = I meant seize, ie basically wear out the engine lock up from excessive wear/insufficient or improper lubrication/too much heat.
lean = running the engine with a higher air/fuel mixture. It results in less fuel being injected into the cylinder, but the fuel burns more completely (and hotter due to increased oxygen) giving better mileage, etc.
ping = the engine pistons are detonating at their peak due to timing, and the ping results from conflict with the opposite piston's combustion stage. Think of two kids on a sea-saw, with one kid jumping off while the other is at the top or one of the kids weighing significantly more than the other - something like that.
Anywhere the Phenom based chips are sold I see them being advertised as just that - Phenoms or Phenom IIs. It's the marketing name, so they use it. "Athlon" hasn't been used by AMD in quite some time for their newer models - any more than a person wouldn't call an Atom a Xeon, at least.
The simple answer is "I don't". Not anymore: both Intel (and specifically Intel) and AMD have put significant effort into obscuring CPU capabilities. Additionally, there's no longer any point in doing the same things we did when things were MHz/price or Intel's MHz-equiv/price (if you bought AMD).
These days, there are basically three things to do (in decreasing price and increasing effort):
1) Lazy/pricey way: just buy some of the more expensive shit from NewEgg or Dell. It'll play your games. 2) "About $100" way: each major component of the system (hdd, cpu, ram, etc.) should be about $100. Just pick something, it'll play the games. Maybe throw slightly more at the video card. 3) Take a look at performance reviews on Anand or similar sites and compare the performance benchmarks to their price. Get whatever has the best bang/buck.
The problem is that the engine then runs very hot, and the thing wears out in short order, or you have to make it out of unobtanium.
What kind of engines are you talking about, here? 4 cyl aluminum blocks from a Lynx?
I've got a friend running his 2003 Kia quite lean. He's been doing it since 2004. He gets an average of 46mpg highway. He uses an HHO booster to do this: without the booster, the engine will occasionally ping, but with the booster, it's as smooth as a kitten (with much more low-end power). He isn't having any problems so far: no spark pitting, no valve leaking, etc.
I'll grant you that you'll cease your engine if you run the thing lean enough to make it ping, but leaning the mixture to just before that point shouldn't be problematic. Sold vehicles are configured at a specific mixture these days to reduce dangerous gases which (at normal engine/exhaust temperatures) don't combust (or something like that, as I understand it). If you're burning hotter as a result of intentional leaning...
And how long does the engine have to last, anyway? Most vehicle engines are 'overbuilt' these days compared to what they were in the 1970s, 80s, and even 90s. If they have problems, it's due to severe abuse: not changing filters or fluids, letting said fluids get dangerously low, and things like that. That's when problems develop. Modern oils are more than capable of handling the higher temperatures of leaning, and the other parts of a modern vehicle (which are not made nearly as well as the heavy steel ones from yesteryear) are going to develop significant, expensive problems long before your fuel leaning causes any: breaks ($600+), tires ($500+), shocks, etc. all add up (and, seemingly, occur at roughly the same time). The $1000-1500 (or $400 or so for some in used but good condition) is hardly a concern when you're saving at least that in fuel per year.
Why would it be surprising to so many people if this worked? To a layman, it might not make sense that inflating your tires (or something else along those lines) would increase gas efficiency. This is the same type of thing: significantly more complex, but still based on fairly sound basis.
Consider: an engine runs better when it's warmer, many (the majority) people in the US and Europe live in a 'cold' climate during half the year, and
many people go for 'short drives'. If you're preheating the fuel, it'll reduce a significant amount of energy loss due to the engine having to get warm before it can warm the fuel.
Additionally, pressurizing it (more than it's being pressurized already -think of how vehicle performance decreases when your fuel pump is malfunctioning or the filter need replacement, reducing pressure) and feeding it through a smaller injector would, I suspect, result in better performance. Higher pressure = better/quicker dispersal from the injector. (Also, I seem to recall that diesel is pressurized fairly highly before being injected, but I'm not certain.)
I've got an "HHO booster" in my 2000 Focus. No, I'm not seeing the 50% fuel economy improvements - but I am seeing improvements. I get about 15% better fuel economy during the fall and spring, and almost 20% better during the summer if I'm driving (my wife likes the AC on, silly her). The water freezes during the winter and we don't take road trips then, giving it a time to melt, so I disconnect it then.
I've got a friend who's uncle is a
As for the fuel additive... possibly. Consider how much processing (and mutilation) is done to our fuels now to come in line with EPA requirements: if they're putting in an additive which increases the octane or something like that, it's quite possibly effective. I know some vehicles perform significantly differently when they're using (say) 87 vs. 89 or 89 vs. 91 octane gas.
I've got a friend who's uncle worked on microwave technologies before he retired. This uncle was a bit of an eccentric, but he was also really, really smart (whether that has bearing on this topic or not, I couldn't say). His claim was he was getting 150-180mpg - an offhand comment, mind you - in an F150 truck by bombardment of the fuel line with microwaves (iirc). That same friend has a 6cyl Kia which he will regularly get 50mpg in on road trips (through the local hilly terrain using an HHO booster), and he's been doing it for 6 years.
In high school, I knew an older recluse - he lived on an old farm by himself and went to town maybe once a month for "supplies". He's occasionally come over to socialize. He had a 1979 F150 (something like that) which he'd put a 4BT Cummins in and a 12 speed manual transmission in it. He ran it as a greasel, and he would get about 70mpg on road trips to visit family on the other side of the state.
Hell, in a pretty plane-jane 2 ton 1985 Blazer, a non-turbo 5.8 Detroit will get 23mpg highway without much more than basic maintenance. That's better than many smaller, more aerodynamic cars.
All told, some of these fuel improvement techniques/technologies work. I've seen them work, and there are a lot of other people out there who have as well. What it all comes down to is common acceptance and realization that, yes, a sedan getting 50 mpg isn't all that unreasonable, and that, no, you don't need to run an electric hybrid (with lithium based batteries) to do so.
If your manager doesn't care which Linux distribution you're running (especially if it's a difficult-to-maintain home roll) please don't be an ass: pick something sane and maintainable, with good version control and reporting.
If it "doesn't matter" then pick what works best; it'll allow you to concentrate on the important sysadmin tasks like reporting, performance metrics, and the like - not security exploits, difficult-to-patch source trees, and god knows what else mindrotfuck.
Welcome to the human race. Most peoples' important life decisions are made emotionally, on a whim, or on a bet. Failing that, they ask a friend what they should do. Very few people think deeply about their situation, and even fewer confer any serious research (beyond the shlock pushed out by news agencies and the government) on all that many topics.
The concept of a "command line" is dead to 99% of the population.
Right. That's why OS X comes with a Terminal application installed by default (and easily accessible) and why Windows 7 is now substantially more operable from keyboard only than its predecessors ever were. And, at the same time, MS has made it increasingly difficult for people familiar with Windows to find what they need the conventional (mouse driven) way.
And when I'm helping someone with their new Windows 7 computer, and I say "Now type in that little bar" after they click Start, and their response is "oh, that's neat"... that's somewhat indicative of people not wanting to navigate through shitty menus and contextual BS.
Want to add or remove a program? Start -> Run (or w/e it's called now - Search?) -> type "add or remove programs" and hit enter.
Everyone? No, but most certainly quite a few people.
Quite possibly. I've taken a number of online tests over the years, scoring in the 70-95wpm range, usually falling at about 85. That's not an embellishment; that's what the tests return as my values. (In real life, it also varies a bit throughout the day, etc., of course.)
I'm a touch-typist, I think. I don't use the 'right' fingers for many keys (any of the number keys, YTRZXCB and a handful of others, I'm sure), and if you throw me on an unfamiliar keyboard, I'm down 30% in both accuracy and speed (Thinkpad keyboard, please).
I've also found that I'm a faster typist than many people who a) should be faster and/or b) make their living with their typing speed (medical transcriptionists and the like). Compared to me, they're slow - but I assume they've got to type at least around 70wpm in order to actually acquire such a job.
Re: the OP: what's the point? If you can hit 80wpm consistently, you're way, way ahead of the crowd. The key importance (as others have said) is to make sure those words you type are productive and useful.
Life is too short with retraining your brain/fingers when what you've got is perfectly acceptable. If you're trying to avert a medical condition (carpel tunnel or the like), that's one thing - but I'd argue that changing your posture, the angle at which you sit from the keyboard/its elevation, and not using the mouse as much are just as, if not more important, than something like changing keyboard layouts.
Thanks, jackass. Just what I wanted on a Monday morning: to update a half dozen Internet-facing source-based systems. Of course, it was a false alarm: submitter was too much of a toolbag to mention it was Windows-only.
(And, it being a Monday morning, I didn't initially notice the mention of mod_isapi. Of course.)
Godwin invocation: sounds to me like it's fairly similar to what was done to the Jews prior to their annihilation in Germany. They were singled out and ruined financially and socially, often with material fabricated or no excuse given.
Except in this case, it's being not-for-the-Establishment that is the problem, not being Jewish.
Yet, the instant someone clicks "Send" or "Submit" or whatever, the fund transfer has been initiated and Paypal has, ipso facto, accepted to conduct business as an intermediary fund transfer agent on behalf of another person.
There is no reason, technical or otherwise, that Paypal should be holding people's money in escrow. If that sent money fails to make it to the receiver in a usable manner - in a reasonable time (ie right-fucking-now) - there is abuse going on.
At least when banks were doing what they wanted to, nobody trusted the banks and they didn't have the stones to pull something like this.
Now, banks are all in symbiotic relationships with the State (in every country). People trust banks because the Government says we can - despite the devaluation of our currency through increased inflation (in contrast to the previous multiple centuries of stable inflation/deflation cycles), the issuance of fiat currencies, and handing the reigns of financial power to a handful of the elite (in the US, that would be the Fed) who answer to body but themselves. It's gotten so bad that we've got the governments of the world bailing them out.
Banks used to float themselves on fund liquidity, ease of use, and physical safety. It was easy to see what they provided over their competitors, and their reputations (and business) rode on their precautions. They charged for said services in turn. Banks today float on government funding, cheap/free checking, credit cards and overdraft, and government-mandated monopoly.
Banks may have fucked up and stolen from people in the past, but now they control everything because of regulation. And they're all pulling the same stunts. The only difference with Paypal is that they're able to steal in other (different) ways.
Then they fucked me over. I'd sold a game to someone and the other person a) claimed they never received it, and b) filed a claim stating so much before even mailing me about it.
Of course, as a mere seller with a rating in the 99%+ range, Paypal automatically (and instantly - within about 10s of the claim being filed) sided with the claimant. The result was my account was locked, and I was no longer to transfer funds in or out of the account until it was 'dealt' with. I tried daily to raise someone on the phone (it was my main source of income at the time) and sent many emails and messages to Paypal support. I never reached someone who admitted the ability to help me, and never received a digital response.
Oh, but I suppose I should feel pretty good about the outcome: 9 months later, Paypal did finally send me a check in the mail for the $380 in my account. Sadly, I've heard of this (or similar) things happening to others. I'm just glad my family members weren't similar slapped at the same time (same/similar registration address, billing addresses, etc.); that could have been financially problematic for us.
and Level 6... Well, that's the level Newegg is at. They're just a retail outlet.
Are you sure? NewEgg is the 9th largest online retailer. That's more business than Best Buy does online (100 million more), and only 500 million less than CDW (and many small/medium businesses get all their IT products through CDW, IT shops included).
At that size, they're probably slightly more than "just a retail outlet". While Amazon does roughly 8 times more business, when it comes down to computing, NewEgg is the most likely to have it (and at a better price).
NewEgg, like Amazon, has multiple distribution centers. That tells me that they're at least operating at the "regional distribution/Level 4" area, particularly due to the fact that they're a specialized distributor.
Given the volume that NewEgg does, there's little to no chance they're going to be getting things from that many levels of intermediaries. Ask yourself: who probably pushes more i7 920s: Best Buy (online or otherwise) at $299 (and 7 online reviews) or NewEgg - at 10 dollars less and over 2,000 reviews? I'd bet that NewEgg is getting boxed processors from the same channels that the smaller computer builders (the ones which are left, at any rate) do: level 2 or 3.
I'm fine with that as long as someone with real auteur talent, like James Cameron, is there to stick his head through Tarantino's chest from behind afterwards.
I wouldn't even mind if Cameron didn't say anything afterwards.
Sounds to me, based on their description, like they've taken PlayOnLinux and rebranded it with (hopefully) substantial refinements.
PlayOnLinux is a frontend installer for both WINE and Windows applications - specifically games, as one might expect given the name. It uses "formulas" to get proper application support. These formulas have specific WINE build versions (whether in CVS or not) which are known to work with the chosen application. It then installs the WINE version with specific WINE settings as well as the chosen Windows application within its own environment path, essentially 'jailed' from other, separate WINE + application installs.
I've used PlayOnLinux to install a number of games (FallOut 3 included), and I was quite pleasantly surprised how well it worked. No, it doesn't always work, but it works damn well none the less. I don't doubt that many "hardcore gamers" (not of the bleeding edge variety, but of the addicted-to-games variety) who aren't terribly computer savvy would have little/no problem using it to install a great many of their favorites (Blizzard and Valve fare, for instance).
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It's also possible that the dog liked the way the hearing aid tastes. Ever notice how dogs will lick your face, but quickly gravitate to liking ears? They might like the salt and/or wax deposits on your ears (and hearing aids).
Just a guess.
Maybe something like this is more up your alley? Granted, they're still expensive (for the higher end models, at least) and likely are not as multi-functional, but they would help in the interim until you could find a job and get something better.
They're all over the place and work really well for hearing conversations in loud areas (conversations at a ball park), so I imagine the utility would be similar for a deaf person.
I grew up with a close (legally) deaf friend. While it may depend on the state, he was able to get a large portion of hearing aid costs paid for by the state. I know there are other services many states provide for deaf/hearing impaired people. Additionally, it is illegal to discriminate against a person with a disability - and being hearing impaired is a disability. (Though, it's also possible you didn't get the job because you were under-qualified, too expensive/expected too much, or some other factor. BTDT.)
Much of how the BSD systems do things is very "clean" in principle, but in practice sucks the tits right off a cow.
It's so goddamn simple and straigh-forward that it requires an administrator to do one (or more, in combination) of the following:
a) devise an atypical, custom build process for dealing with simple systems administration tasks, upgrades, installs (partially due to the 'simple' approaches not working consistently or being all too finessed).
b) writing custom package/kernel/whatever administration scripts in $language (probably csh) to implement $core_function available on $other_os
c) not upgrading, ever. just put a new version on when you get new hardware.
Case in point: package management on FreeBSD. Everyone does it differently, so scripts (or even the 'package' tools they talk to) you used at a previous job are useless (needing a serious rewrite). And then you've got to contend with the 'hacks' someone put into a package to "make it work" every time you upgrade - usually dealing with a non-trivial daemon process failure, or the like.
That's a minor quibble of contention. Seriously. It's barely making note of, unless you can identify how Windows Server 2003 is different than XP (aside from the crippling of Terminal Services and the number of connections allowed). Otherwise, they are pretty much the exact same thing.
but what MS does not do well is security. not at all.
I wouldn't argue against that, not even for a moment.
But despite the myriads of host, application, and server level exploits for Windows, the default security policies, and generally poor network server capabilities, there's one thing that sticks out in my mind: have there been any exploits for Microsoft's RDP implementation yet?
I realize that older versions of Microsoft products aren't able to upgrade to the newer versions, but I've never seen a "Terminal Services Root Exploit" as I have with OpenSSH. Maybe I've just not noticed it (I don't pay attention to MS land), but the tool does seem fairly useful.
When my son was 4, he could carry 2 mostly-full gallons of water up a steep hill (30 yards or so) by himself.
Yet, at the same age, there is no way he could pull a trigger, even a lighter one on a .22 handgun. He tried. I held it while he tried. Such small hands can't get the leverage, and even if they can get the leverage, there's no way they can (effectively) use more than a finger or two to get around the trigger.
No, there's something fishy about this scenario, particularly with the gun in question (it has a very heavy trigger). The only conceivable scenario I can see a child (of any age) pulling that trigger is if they put their entire weight into the trigger - and in that case, they'd have to be a bit older than 3.
There isn't a single thing which makes sense about this situation.
1) Most 3-y-o children can't pull a firearm trigger. I've got two children, and neither could do so at 3 (because I wanted to see what they'd be capable of, not that I'd leave such things in their reach). They're not able to get their hands around the trigger, nevermind exert enough pressure for most triggers. Unless we're talking about a hair trigger (you won't find them on a non-custom handgun). The handgun was likely a S&W Sigma (by its description in the article, but the media is even worse about reporting gun related stuff than they are technology and science), which does -not- have a light trigger (it's known for having a heavy, gritty trigger, even for a handgun). ... in the head? ... while her mother was nearby - if not watching, but at least present?
2) How did a 3-year-old mistake a real gun for a Wii controller, given it looks nothing like anything Nintendo has made in over 20 years?
3)
4)
Also, take a look at the GIS for the likely gun in question. It is, for all intents and purposes, too large for some adolescents and many women.
cease = I meant seize, ie basically wear out the engine lock up from excessive wear/insufficient or improper lubrication/too much heat.
lean = running the engine with a higher air/fuel mixture. It results in less fuel being injected into the cylinder, but the fuel burns more completely (and hotter due to increased oxygen) giving better mileage, etc.
ping = the engine pistons are detonating at their peak due to timing, and the ping results from conflict with the opposite piston's combustion stage. Think of two kids on a sea-saw, with one kid jumping off while the other is at the top or one of the kids weighing significantly more than the other - something like that.
Seriously? WHere are you seeing that?
Anywhere the Phenom based chips are sold I see them being advertised as just that - Phenoms or Phenom IIs. It's the marketing name, so they use it. "Athlon" hasn't been used by AMD in quite some time for their newer models - any more than a person wouldn't call an Atom a Xeon, at least.
The simple answer is "I don't". Not anymore: both Intel (and specifically Intel) and AMD have put significant effort into obscuring CPU capabilities. Additionally, there's no longer any point in doing the same things we did when things were MHz/price or Intel's MHz-equiv/price (if you bought AMD).
These days, there are basically three things to do (in decreasing price and increasing effort):
1) Lazy/pricey way: just buy some of the more expensive shit from NewEgg or Dell. It'll play your games.
2) "About $100" way: each major component of the system (hdd, cpu, ram, etc.) should be about $100. Just pick something, it'll play the games. Maybe throw slightly more at the video card.
3) Take a look at performance reviews on Anand or similar sites and compare the performance benchmarks to their price. Get whatever has the best bang/buck.
The problem is that the engine then runs very hot, and the thing wears out in short order, or you have to make it out of unobtanium.
What kind of engines are you talking about, here? 4 cyl aluminum blocks from a Lynx?
I've got a friend running his 2003 Kia quite lean. He's been doing it since 2004. He gets an average of 46mpg highway. He uses an HHO booster to do this: without the booster, the engine will occasionally ping, but with the booster, it's as smooth as a kitten (with much more low-end power). He isn't having any problems so far: no spark pitting, no valve leaking, etc.
I'll grant you that you'll cease your engine if you run the thing lean enough to make it ping, but leaning the mixture to just before that point shouldn't be problematic. Sold vehicles are configured at a specific mixture these days to reduce dangerous gases which (at normal engine/exhaust temperatures) don't combust (or something like that, as I understand it). If you're burning hotter as a result of intentional leaning...
And how long does the engine have to last, anyway? Most vehicle engines are 'overbuilt' these days compared to what they were in the 1970s, 80s, and even 90s. If they have problems, it's due to severe abuse: not changing filters or fluids, letting said fluids get dangerously low, and things like that. That's when problems develop. Modern oils are more than capable of handling the higher temperatures of leaning, and the other parts of a modern vehicle (which are not made nearly as well as the heavy steel ones from yesteryear) are going to develop significant, expensive problems long before your fuel leaning causes any: breaks ($600+), tires ($500+), shocks, etc. all add up (and, seemingly, occur at roughly the same time). The $1000-1500 (or $400 or so for some in used but good condition) is hardly a concern when you're saving at least that in fuel per year.
Why would it be surprising to so many people if this worked? To a layman, it might not make sense that inflating your tires (or something else along those lines) would increase gas efficiency. This is the same type of thing: significantly more complex, but still based on fairly sound basis.
Consider: an engine runs better when it's warmer, many (the majority) people in the US and Europe live in a 'cold' climate during half the year, and
many people go for 'short drives'. If you're preheating the fuel, it'll reduce a significant amount of energy loss due to the engine having to get warm before it can warm the fuel.
Additionally, pressurizing it (more than it's being pressurized already -think of how vehicle performance decreases when your fuel pump is malfunctioning or the filter need replacement, reducing pressure) and feeding it through a smaller injector would, I suspect, result in better performance. Higher pressure = better/quicker dispersal from the injector. (Also, I seem to recall that diesel is pressurized fairly highly before being injected, but I'm not certain.)
I've got an "HHO booster" in my 2000 Focus. No, I'm not seeing the 50% fuel economy improvements - but I am seeing improvements. I get about 15% better fuel economy during the fall and spring, and almost 20% better during the summer if I'm driving (my wife likes the AC on, silly her). The water freezes during the winter and we don't take road trips then, giving it a time to melt, so I disconnect it then.
I've got a friend who's uncle is a
As for the fuel additive... possibly. Consider how much processing (and mutilation) is done to our fuels now to come in line with EPA requirements: if they're putting in an additive which increases the octane or something like that, it's quite possibly effective. I know some vehicles perform significantly differently when they're using (say) 87 vs. 89 or 89 vs. 91 octane gas.
I've got a friend who's uncle worked on microwave technologies before he retired. This uncle was a bit of an eccentric, but he was also really, really smart (whether that has bearing on this topic or not, I couldn't say). His claim was he was getting 150-180mpg - an offhand comment, mind you - in an F150 truck by bombardment of the fuel line with microwaves (iirc). That same friend has a 6cyl Kia which he will regularly get 50mpg in on road trips (through the local hilly terrain using an HHO booster), and he's been doing it for 6 years.
In high school, I knew an older recluse - he lived on an old farm by himself and went to town maybe once a month for "supplies". He's occasionally come over to socialize. He had a 1979 F150 (something like that) which he'd put a 4BT Cummins in and a 12 speed manual transmission in it. He ran it as a greasel, and he would get about 70mpg on road trips to visit family on the other side of the state.
Hell, in a pretty plane-jane 2 ton 1985 Blazer, a non-turbo 5.8 Detroit will get 23mpg highway without much more than basic maintenance. That's better than many smaller, more aerodynamic cars.
All told, some of these fuel improvement techniques/technologies work. I've seen them work, and there are a lot of other people out there who have as well. What it all comes down to is common acceptance and realization that, yes, a sedan getting 50 mpg isn't all that unreasonable, and that, no, you don't need to run an electric hybrid (with lithium based batteries) to do so.
If your manager doesn't care which Linux distribution you're running (especially if it's a difficult-to-maintain home roll) please don't be an ass: pick something sane and maintainable, with good version control and reporting.
If it "doesn't matter" then pick what works best; it'll allow you to concentrate on the important sysadmin tasks like reporting, performance metrics, and the like - not security exploits, difficult-to-patch source trees, and god knows what else mindrotfuck.
Welcome to the human race. Most peoples' important life decisions are made emotionally, on a whim, or on a bet. Failing that, they ask a friend what they should do. Very few people think deeply about their situation, and even fewer confer any serious research (beyond the shlock pushed out by news agencies and the government) on all that many topics.
The concept of a "command line" is dead to 99% of the population.
Right. That's why OS X comes with a Terminal application installed by default (and easily accessible) and why Windows 7 is now substantially more operable from keyboard only than its predecessors ever were. And, at the same time, MS has made it increasingly difficult for people familiar with Windows to find what they need the conventional (mouse driven) way.
And when I'm helping someone with their new Windows 7 computer, and I say "Now type in that little bar" after they click Start, and their response is "oh, that's neat"... that's somewhat indicative of people not wanting to navigate through shitty menus and contextual BS.
Want to add or remove a program? Start -> Run (or w/e it's called now - Search?) -> type "add or remove programs" and hit enter.
Everyone? No, but most certainly quite a few people.
Quite possibly. I've taken a number of online tests over the years, scoring in the 70-95wpm range, usually falling at about 85. That's not an embellishment; that's what the tests return as my values. (In real life, it also varies a bit throughout the day, etc., of course.)
I'm a touch-typist, I think. I don't use the 'right' fingers for many keys (any of the number keys, YTRZXCB and a handful of others, I'm sure), and if you throw me on an unfamiliar keyboard, I'm down 30% in both accuracy and speed (Thinkpad keyboard, please).
I've also found that I'm a faster typist than many people who a) should be faster and/or b) make their living with their typing speed (medical transcriptionists and the like). Compared to me, they're slow - but I assume they've got to type at least around 70wpm in order to actually acquire such a job.
Re: the OP: what's the point? If you can hit 80wpm consistently, you're way, way ahead of the crowd. The key importance (as others have said) is to make sure those words you type are productive and useful.
Life is too short with retraining your brain/fingers when what you've got is perfectly acceptable. If you're trying to avert a medical condition (carpel tunnel or the like), that's one thing - but I'd argue that changing your posture, the angle at which you sit from the keyboard/its elevation, and not using the mouse as much are just as, if not more important, than something like changing keyboard layouts.
Thanks, jackass. Just what I wanted on a Monday morning: to update a half dozen Internet-facing source-based systems. Of course, it was a false alarm: submitter was too much of a toolbag to mention it was Windows-only.
(And, it being a Monday morning, I didn't initially notice the mention of mod_isapi. Of course.)
Godwin invocation: sounds to me like it's fairly similar to what was done to the Jews prior to their annihilation in Germany. They were singled out and ruined financially and socially, often with material fabricated or no excuse given.
Except in this case, it's being not-for-the-Establishment that is the problem, not being Jewish.
Yet, the instant someone clicks "Send" or "Submit" or whatever, the fund transfer has been initiated and Paypal has, ipso facto, accepted to conduct business as an intermediary fund transfer agent on behalf of another person.
There is no reason, technical or otherwise, that Paypal should be holding people's money in escrow. If that sent money fails to make it to the receiver in a usable manner - in a reasonable time (ie right-fucking-now) - there is abuse going on.
At least when banks were doing what they wanted to, nobody trusted the banks and they didn't have the stones to pull something like this.
Now, banks are all in symbiotic relationships with the State (in every country). People trust banks because the Government says we can - despite the devaluation of our currency through increased inflation (in contrast to the previous multiple centuries of stable inflation/deflation cycles), the issuance of fiat currencies, and handing the reigns of financial power to a handful of the elite (in the US, that would be the Fed) who answer to body but themselves. It's gotten so bad that we've got the governments of the world bailing them out.
Banks used to float themselves on fund liquidity, ease of use, and physical safety. It was easy to see what they provided over their competitors, and their reputations (and business) rode on their precautions. They charged for said services in turn. Banks today float on government funding, cheap/free checking, credit cards and overdraft, and government-mandated monopoly.
Banks may have fucked up and stolen from people in the past, but now they control everything because of regulation. And they're all pulling the same stunts. The only difference with Paypal is that they're able to steal in other (different) ways.
I used to think PayPal was awesome.
Then they fucked me over. I'd sold a game to someone and the other person a) claimed they never received it, and b) filed a claim stating so much before even mailing me about it.
Of course, as a mere seller with a rating in the 99%+ range, Paypal automatically (and instantly - within about 10s of the claim being filed) sided with the claimant. The result was my account was locked, and I was no longer to transfer funds in or out of the account until it was 'dealt' with. I tried daily to raise someone on the phone (it was my main source of income at the time) and sent many emails and messages to Paypal support. I never reached someone who admitted the ability to help me, and never received a digital response.
Oh, but I suppose I should feel pretty good about the outcome: 9 months later, Paypal did finally send me a check in the mail for the $380 in my account. Sadly, I've heard of this (or similar) things happening to others. I'm just glad my family members weren't similar slapped at the same time (same/similar registration address, billing addresses, etc.); that could have been financially problematic for us.
and Level 6... Well, that's the level Newegg is at. They're just a retail outlet.
Are you sure? NewEgg is the 9th largest online retailer. That's more business than Best Buy does online (100 million more), and only 500 million less than CDW (and many small/medium businesses get all their IT products through CDW, IT shops included).
At that size, they're probably slightly more than "just a retail outlet". While Amazon does roughly 8 times more business, when it comes down to computing, NewEgg is the most likely to have it (and at a better price).
NewEgg, like Amazon, has multiple distribution centers. That tells me that they're at least operating at the "regional distribution/Level 4" area, particularly due to the fact that they're a specialized distributor.
Given the volume that NewEgg does, there's little to no chance they're going to be getting things from that many levels of intermediaries. Ask yourself: who probably pushes more i7 920s: Best Buy (online or otherwise) at $299 (and 7 online reviews) or NewEgg - at 10 dollars less and over 2,000 reviews? I'd bet that NewEgg is getting boxed processors from the same channels that the smaller computer builders (the ones which are left, at any rate) do: level 2 or 3.
I'm fine with that as long as someone with real auteur talent, like James Cameron, is there to stick his head through Tarantino's chest from behind afterwards.
I wouldn't even mind if Cameron didn't say anything afterwards.
Sounds to me, based on their description, like they've taken PlayOnLinux and rebranded it with (hopefully) substantial refinements.
PlayOnLinux is a frontend installer for both WINE and Windows applications - specifically games, as one might expect given the name. It uses "formulas" to get proper application support. These formulas have specific WINE build versions (whether in CVS or not) which are known to work with the chosen application. It then installs the WINE version with specific WINE settings as well as the chosen Windows application within its own environment path, essentially 'jailed' from other, separate WINE + application installs.
I've used PlayOnLinux to install a number of games (FallOut 3 included), and I was quite pleasantly surprised how well it worked. No, it doesn't always work, but it works damn well none the less. I don't doubt that many "hardcore gamers" (not of the bleeding edge variety, but of the addicted-to-games variety) who aren't terribly computer savvy would have little/no problem using it to install a great many of their favorites (Blizzard and Valve fare, for instance).
but it will have to be able to prop up an Exchange 2003 server.
Is there a reason why you can't use Zimbra to replace Exchange? Seriously: it's cheaper and works (better, faster, etc.).