Yeah. He should just tell them, "Look, I'm no longer going to be able to provide support for your systems for free." Then stick to it. If they demand to know why, it's really his business, not theirs, but since he told all of Slashdot, I'm assuming he won't mind giving the reasons to the "customer". Most reasonable people would understand and would be grateful for the support they've gotten so far.
The post wasn't talking about shredding ATM receipts - everyone with a shredder probably does that.
The post was talking about shredding every piece of junk mail because it has your NAME AND ADDRESS on it. Putting a name with an address (or vice versa) is probably the easiest thing in the world for anyone that's interested to do, so the time spent shredding it is probably wasted and could be spent relaxing and enjoying life.
Cool. I was going to ask about that in the message but took it out before I posted. I have a WRT54G, so it's just a matter of getting around to installing some aftermarket software on it...
The friend in question has a Westel (I think) DSL modem/wireless router combination. Not good for hacking like that, though - and sadly she's the one that needs that setup more.
And lets face it - the encryption is frequently not done correctly. I set up a friend's wireless network with WEP and all, only to have to go there every time she got a new roommate because they could never get the connection to work correctly - and half the time, I couldn't, either. I recall one incident where I read the key off my laptop's screen, typed it into the roommate's computer, got it working... but my laptop wouldn't connect (and was working just fine previously). Then a few weeks later her laptop stopped being able to connect, and she'd done nothing to it. Very frustrating. I finally had to remove the encryption setup so she could use her network reliably.
My new dream for wireless routers is to have an authorization screen where the user has to give it a password to do any surfing, much like hotels and some restaurants have. My friend could easily post the password in her house for her roommates and friends to use, but it would be (relatively) secure from people using her connection without authorization. Rely on SSL encryption for security at websites. Obviously each computer would have to have its own firewall as well, but that's no problem these days either.
That Allstate commercial is exactly right - all the safety enhancements in recent years (air bags, ABS, traction control, etc) haven't improved the most important factor: the driver. For example, I'd like to see the statistics comparing ABS to non-ABS cars - are they less likely to be involved in accidents? Are their accidents less severe? In both cases, I bet the answer is "no", or at least "not much", because it comes down to driver attention more than anything else. (Not that ABS isn't a cool advancement, but I've done fine without it for many years.)
Yeah, I scanned about 70 rolls of pictures that way. I also created a database for entering information about the pictures after I scanned them. Hard work but I'm really happy with the result.
My forum had people registering accounts every day with adult/gambling/etc links - the registration message would fail, but they didn't care; they just wanted those URLs in the db.
I did a search on phpBB's site about this and found I wasn't the only one with the idea of removing the URL field from the user name information. The phpBB people were not interested in creating a mod to do that, and they instead suggested I try the mod to block requests from proxies.
The proxy mod worked for a while, and I kept it updated, but eventually the spammers came back. I'd have four or five accounts to delete every day. Finally since only spammers were using the forum, I shut it down.
Last week, I moved to a new home with a new number, and the first day I had the phone plugged in, I got three telemarketing calls. The first one reminded me that I needed to get on the DNC list with the new number before ADT Security started calling me. (They got to the point of harassment at my previous residence - they wouldn't stop calling. I asked them politely several times, then I yelled at them, but nothing worked. Finally, a female friend of mine who happened to be there one day and answered the phone for me was able to convince them not to call again - I guess they thought, "Oh, the woman of the house doesn't want it," and finally got the hint.)
Seems to me (based on my understanding of GPS) this would just tell you where he was grabbed, unless GPS on phones has magically acquired the ability to work indoors, especially with no windows. If they shut his phone off, then you have slightly more information about the abduction (where it happened), but probably not enough to get him back.
In the US, you can now use a phone number (it's something like 1-888-3OptOut) to opt out of the prescreened credit card offers. I did so several weeks back and the offers have slowed to a trickle.
I do kind of miss shredding the fake AmEx cards that came with their offers, though.
My power bill is split into two parts, HVAC and everything else. "Everything else" includes two computers running, lights, TV, monitor, refrigerator, stove, microwave, toaster oven, various battery chargers, DVR, laser printer, etc. (The computers run full time, the laser only runs when I need it, and everything else has a fairly normal usage pattern.) That part of my bill is always $22 or $23 per month. When I started running the second computer continuously, I looked for but didn't find a jump in this part of my bill.
Both computers are relatively high-powered models, too - Athlon XP 1900+ and a Sempron 2500 (I think). I'd say $23/year is a more realistic figure.
Looking at the link, I see he's in California, where rates are "rather expensive and calculated using a byzantine rate structure". I pay 6.3 cents per KWH, less than half his, but that doesn't explain the huge discrepancy. (I don't have my own Kill-A-Watt to check my computer's consumption.) I wonder if he's including the monitor being on continuously - I have mine set to turn off after 10 minutes of no activity, which certainly reduces power consumption, and I turn it off when I'm at work or asleep.
So they could expand to a 100-star rating system in the future!
Seriously, it's a good question. Statisticians generally use scales of 5 values in surveys for a reason - it provides enough options for people to choose something near what they really want without the hassle of too many options that would have to be collapsed anyway. A 0-100 scale really seems like overkill.
If they have a lot of debt, Chapter 7 might be the only option. If their debts exceed their assets, just shutting down and selling off assets won't generate enough cash to satisfy the debts.
When my employer started using Windows and mice, I heard that they told everyone to play Solitare to get used to the mouse, then after a few weeks they went around and removed it from their computers. Seemed like a great idea to me.
One type of bankruptcy is reorganization, which is what you're thinking of. The other is liquidation, which means selling off any assets to pay off as much debt as possible.
Check out my page on the matter. I for one welcome our new GnuCash GTK2 overlords.
I did find a less-than-stellar operating situation a couple weeks back when I ran out of disk space in/home and didn't realize it: it gave me NO warning whatsoever when it wasn't able to finish writing the file.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah. He should just tell them, "Look, I'm no longer going to be able to provide support for your systems for free." Then stick to it. If they demand to know why, it's really his business, not theirs, but since he told all of Slashdot, I'm assuming he won't mind giving the reasons to the "customer". Most reasonable people would understand and would be grateful for the support they've gotten so far.
Well, how'd they do it the first time, when mainframes were invented? No one knew how to use them then...
Come to think of it, that's been true for every piece of technology.
You must not get much junk mail. :)
The post wasn't talking about shredding ATM receipts - everyone with a shredder probably does that.
The post was talking about shredding every piece of junk mail because it has your NAME AND ADDRESS on it. Putting a name with an address (or vice versa) is probably the easiest thing in the world for anyone that's interested to do, so the time spent shredding it is probably wasted and could be spent relaxing and enjoying life.
Cool. I was going to ask about that in the message but took it out before I posted. I have a WRT54G, so it's just a matter of getting around to installing some aftermarket software on it...
The friend in question has a Westel (I think) DSL modem/wireless router combination. Not good for hacking like that, though - and sadly she's the one that needs that setup more.
And lets face it - the encryption is frequently not done correctly. I set up a friend's wireless network with WEP and all, only to have to go there every time she got a new roommate because they could never get the connection to work correctly - and half the time, I couldn't, either. I recall one incident where I read the key off my laptop's screen, typed it into the roommate's computer, got it working ... but my laptop wouldn't connect (and was working just fine previously). Then a few weeks later her laptop stopped being able to connect, and she'd done nothing to it. Very frustrating. I finally had to remove the encryption setup so she could use her network reliably.
My new dream for wireless routers is to have an authorization screen where the user has to give it a password to do any surfing, much like hotels and some restaurants have. My friend could easily post the password in her house for her roommates and friends to use, but it would be (relatively) secure from people using her connection without authorization. Rely on SSL encryption for security at websites. Obviously each computer would have to have its own firewall as well, but that's no problem these days either.
Well this site indicates ABS isn't helping to reduce the number of accidents, even in wet weather. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
Oddly enough, this writeup, referencing an IIHS study, mentions that cars with ABS actually have a higher fatality rate in single-vehicle collisions. The AAA Foundation for Highway Safety sheds more light on this issue.
Here is the NHTSA study. I'm too tired to look any more, but from what I've seen, I'm just as well off without ABS.
I get the logic of it. But where are the stats to back it up?
That Allstate commercial is exactly right - all the safety enhancements in recent years (air bags, ABS, traction control, etc) haven't improved the most important factor: the driver. For example, I'd like to see the statistics comparing ABS to non-ABS cars - are they less likely to be involved in accidents? Are their accidents less severe? In both cases, I bet the answer is "no", or at least "not much", because it comes down to driver attention more than anything else. (Not that ABS isn't a cool advancement, but I've done fine without it for many years.)
Yeah, I scanned about 70 rolls of pictures that way. I also created a database for entering information about the pictures after I scanned them. Hard work but I'm really happy with the result.
My forum had people registering accounts every day with adult/gambling/etc links - the registration message would fail, but they didn't care; they just wanted those URLs in the db.
I did a search on phpBB's site about this and found I wasn't the only one with the idea of removing the URL field from the user name information. The phpBB people were not interested in creating a mod to do that, and they instead suggested I try the mod to block requests from proxies.
The proxy mod worked for a while, and I kept it updated, but eventually the spammers came back. I'd have four or five accounts to delete every day. Finally since only spammers were using the forum, I shut it down.
Last week, I moved to a new home with a new number, and the first day I had the phone plugged in, I got three telemarketing calls. The first one reminded me that I needed to get on the DNC list with the new number before ADT Security started calling me. (They got to the point of harassment at my previous residence - they wouldn't stop calling. I asked them politely several times, then I yelled at them, but nothing worked. Finally, a female friend of mine who happened to be there one day and answered the phone for me was able to convince them not to call again - I guess they thought, "Oh, the woman of the house doesn't want it," and finally got the hint.)
Seems to me (based on my understanding of GPS) this would just tell you where he was grabbed, unless GPS on phones has magically acquired the ability to work indoors, especially with no windows. If they shut his phone off, then you have slightly more information about the abduction (where it happened), but probably not enough to get him back.
The credit bureaus run it, and they've already got your SSN.
In the US, you can now use a phone number (it's something like 1-888-3OptOut) to opt out of the prescreened credit card offers. I did so several weeks back and the offers have slowed to a trickle.
I do kind of miss shredding the fake AmEx cards that came with their offers, though.
Yes, but it's not really practical to drag Queensryche over to my house every time I want to hear "One More Time".
I don't agree with the $23/month figure.
My power bill is split into two parts, HVAC and everything else. "Everything else" includes two computers running, lights, TV, monitor, refrigerator, stove, microwave, toaster oven, various battery chargers, DVR, laser printer, etc. (The computers run full time, the laser only runs when I need it, and everything else has a fairly normal usage pattern.) That part of my bill is always $22 or $23 per month. When I started running the second computer continuously, I looked for but didn't find a jump in this part of my bill.
Both computers are relatively high-powered models, too - Athlon XP 1900+ and a Sempron 2500 (I think). I'd say $23/year is a more realistic figure.
Looking at the link, I see he's in California, where rates are "rather expensive and calculated using a byzantine rate structure". I pay 6.3 cents per KWH, less than half his, but that doesn't explain the huge discrepancy. (I don't have my own Kill-A-Watt to check my computer's consumption.) I wonder if he's including the monitor being on continuously - I have mine set to turn off after 10 minutes of no activity, which certainly reduces power consumption, and I turn it off when I'm at work or asleep.
Because they can?
:)
Reading some of the posts in this article, you'd think RAM was something that can't be reused and has to be replaced after a program touches it.
So they could expand to a 100-star rating system in the future!
Seriously, it's a good question. Statisticians generally use scales of 5 values in surveys for a reason - it provides enough options for people to choose something near what they really want without the hassle of too many options that would have to be collapsed anyway. A 0-100 scale really seems like overkill.
If they have a lot of debt, Chapter 7 might be the only option. If their debts exceed their assets, just shutting down and selling off assets won't generate enough cash to satisfy the debts.
When my employer started using Windows and mice, I heard that they told everyone to play Solitare to get used to the mouse, then after a few weeks they went around and removed it from their computers. Seemed like a great idea to me.
One type of bankruptcy is reorganization, which is what you're thinking of. The other is liquidation, which means selling off any assets to pay off as much debt as possible.
Check out my page on the matter. I for one welcome our new GnuCash GTK2 overlords.
I did find a less-than-stellar operating situation a couple weeks back when I ran out of disk space in /home and didn't realize it: it gave me NO warning whatsoever when it wasn't able to finish writing the file.
According to imdb, we're both wrong: "We're not in the past anymore, Elaine. This... is the FUTURE."
:)
Great Ozzy quote.
Airplane II: "This isn't the past or the present, Elaine! This is the future!"