I know that I am off topic, but your email isn't listed publicly, and I wanted to ask you a few questions about your franchise. Would you be so kind as to email me at jyamisha@h o t m a i l-dot.com?
Forget any comparisons between Apple and COMPANY X. Forget whether you agree or disagree. There is one simple reason that Apple did this. They HAD to do this. It took Apple (Steve Jobs)... well, I don't know what it took, but it took Steve Jobs to convince the record companies that he could create DRM that would protect their IP. Hence the Apple DRM mechanism. Allowing Real to do what they did would compromise Apple's DRM.
If Apple sat on its butt, it would only have been a matter of time before good ole Mr. Jobs received several irate phone calls asking why his DRM wasn't doing what he promised it would do. Burn one bridge, burn them all, bingo bango, the major lables are scared back into the stone age, and we loose the tiny fruits that are just starting to grow out of the online legal download industry.
This isn't about Apple or Real. This is about maintaining a contractual obligation necessary for the survival of a very important and infantile industry.
I am reading such a lack of understanding, experience and total misinformation when it comes to contracting that I couldn't resist posting. There's a lot of garbage, but some very good truth posted here. If you can't tell the difference, or take the time to research the differences, then you probably shouldn't be contracting.
I used to own a 15-person company that operated in the health insurance field. I am now an employee of one, working at home, and I'll be starting an MBA program shortly after the new year.
The one major benefit I can point out, and one that many business owners are unaware of comes down to health insurance. If nothing else, incorporating can save you a lot of money when it comes to health insurance. (By the way, there are many, MANY benefits to incorporating, and in this day and age, anyone operating a serious business as a sole proprietor should have his/her head examined.)
Contact any insurance broker you can find in the yellow pages. In the span of about 15 minutes, you should be able to channel through a few different brokers to find what you are looking for. You want an insurance broker that handles group benefit administration. This is the entity that can help you get health insurance.
The premium that I pay for my health insurance is pretty cheap. (Working in the health insurance industry, I know what to look for, so trust me, I have GOOD health insurance, not some crappy, no-name HMO plan with no coverage.) What I found out in my experience, and what many small business people don't know is that group health benefits can be setup to cover a single person (you), or two people (you and your wife, but from my experience, most of the time, it's cheaper to setup two different individual policies for each of you.)
Another interesting fact is that the premium you'll wind up paying (I pay around $285 for a top of the line, brand-name PPO plan with a tiny deductible, modest office co-pay, full pharmaceutical coverage, and 100% hospital coverage. Vision and dental are also included) won't change until your small business group benefit program reaches 25 - 50 employees, depending on the insurance carrier.
What does that mean? That your company of one pays the same as most companies with fewer than 25 employees, which constitute the majority of employers in the United States.
Once you find a good group benefit admninistrator, the vendor can also put you in touch with a payroll processing company (which I use, and which is great for cash flow management. Also, your payroll company assumes 100% of the liability for withholding payroll taxes. Trust me, the last thing you want to deal with is getting a letter 4 years from now telling you that you withheld too little and now owe the difference plus fines.)
A good administrator will also be able to put you in touch with a lot of the other insurance product you might need. A group administrator can also help you setup a variety of retirement accounts. (I saw one person point out that you can contribute more into a 401(k) retirement account than you can into other self-employment accounts. This is true, but you can combine different types of accounts (like the IRA accounts), and in a year or two, Congress will be enacting a whole new slew of retirement products. Additionally, VERY few people max out their retirement accounts.)
Like I said, there are a lot of resources out there that should allow you to filter the garbage from the truth, but the area of health insurance is kind of a black box.
If you (or any other Slashdotter) have any questions, contact me. I'm more than happy to help answer them.
By the way, it's about 12:30 in the morning, and I'm a bit fried at this point. (Sorry for all the () marks and rambling.) I don't know everything when it comes to healthcare, but unlike many of the backseat drivers on Slashdot, I've walked the walk. I'm self employed, incorporated, and my company has gone from 1 - 15 and back down to 1 person over the course of 3 years. I work in
Maybe dumb is too strong of a word.... I can't say whether you are dumb, but perhaps uninformed would be more appropriate.
I am an entrepreneur by trade. I currently run an insurance claim processing company.
I know little about cars, but that didn't stop me from managing an auto repair shop for about a year. If my car develops a fault, I take it to a garage, but I know what to ask for.
I know little about building... but my house burned to the ground 2 years ago, and in another 3 or 4 months, I'll be just about done re-building it. Other than the plumbing and electricity, I did most of the work (with the help of family and friends) on my own.
I know little about teaching, but that didn't stop me from volunteering to teach just about every elementary and high school subject at my local community center.
By the way, I knew nothing about insurance claim processing when I first started that business. It's doing well enough to pay my bills and leave some money left over. Before that, I ran a web services/software company. I had it merged into a publicly traded service company. I majored in International Relations in college.
I can't say that the original poster is being elitist; I don't think I am elitist, but I am often frustrated with people's lack of information, pleathora of mis-information, and general reluctance to explore new concepts.
the etch-a-sketch, now comes the shakable hard drive. It brings new meaning to the term secure deletion. Rumor is that the CIA is going to purchase 5,000 of these units at $1,450 a piece. Panasonic has even created a "tough" version of the etch-a-sketch specifically for this purpose.
I wanted to email you, but your address is not publicly available. Mine is jyamisha@hotmail.com. I am somewhat of a Thinkpad junkie, and I was curious as to whether you might have a personal web site that talked about how you mounted the internal wireless card, and/or what kind of results you were able to get.
Additionally, I am VERY interested in a custom battery for my Thinkpad T21, which I love. In an ideal world, I'd love getting 8 - 10 hours of battery life out of this thing, using a battery that compliments the form factor.
I'd appreciate it greatly if you emailed me to share any ideas or point me in the right direction.
I tried finding it for a while, and eventually gave up, so forgive me if this post seems a little vague.
I recall reading a few months ago in a major publication (e.g. Time Magazine, NY Times, etc...) that there is a researcher in Italy who was able to replicate the initial Cold Fusion results very early on. The publication was fairly balanced in that it showed how proof by public jury wasn't the best approach to any kind of scientific approach.
The long and the short of it, though, is that becuase of Italian public pride and Japanese money, this guy kept getting funding. Eventually, he found that "something" is happening and causing excessive heat during these experiments. Last I read, he was running experiments in some place under a mountain (to be sure of full control in the experiment), and he was able to produce consistent, replicable, predictable results. He's not calling it cold fusion, but he's calling it "something".
As proof that he's on the right track, he was invited to speak at some major international physics event a few months back. Apparently, his objective approach, and ability to produce results is leading to a resurgence in the field. I hope someone else can shed more light on this, because I was shocked and amazed when I read the article.
I am a muslim, and every year, I fast for Ramadan. To prove a point to myself, I stop drinking coffee and all forms of caffine for the entire month. (This has no religious purpose, it's purely personal.)
I do this every year, and each time, I quit cold turkey. Man, is it painful. I normally drink in excess of 12 cups of STRONG coffee per day, plus an additional turkish cup of coffee (it's like an espresso on steroids), and/or some soda.
It takes me 2 - 3 weeks each year, but by the end, I have beaten my addiction. In the mean time, I just deal with the headaches. Unless you've tried quitting, you won't understand the pain involved with the headaches, or the changes in personality, but quitting cold turkey is the only way to go.
Typically, the first week, I just pass out after 5 or 6 in the evening. The pain in my head is so intense, I have no other choice. Make sure that you drink PLENTY of water, and get lots of rest. The second week, I find that the headaches tend to drop off a lot, and I don't get sleepy until 7 or 8. The need for sleep scales back, along with the pain in my head. After 2 weeks, I'm ok, and after 3 weeks, I'm good to go.
Some words of advice. What ever you do, under NO circumstances should you think that you can just take a little bit of caffine and ween yourself off. This does not work. It never works. Also, makes sure that you get a lot of rest, and that you drink a LOT of water. Weekends are the worst, as they represent unstructured time, which leads to temptation... on the other hand, you're probably going to be passing out by 8 PM on Friday night, and sleeping in until noon on Saturday!
Make sure that everyone around you knows that you are trying to quit.... not so much for emotional support... it's meaningless while you're being pissy... more so that you don't feel guilty, and so that the people around you cut you a little slack.
I don't know anyone who drinks more coffee than me, and I've tried every possible routine you can imagine until I finally figured out that I just needed to quit cold turkey. It's a hard thing to do, and unfortanately, there is no "Caffine Spa" pill that can make this hard thing easy.
On a psychological note... I never really got the will power to quit until I decided to make it a test of will power. There may be health-related reasons for you wanting to quit. I know that in my case, 12 cups of coffee a day is not healthy. But what gave me the strength was the determination that I was going to show an inanimate bean that I have control over it-- not the other way around. I don't know what kind of personality you have, but thinking of it as a test of will power might help.
Good luck!
P.S. for more help, email me: jyamisha@the_free_web-based_email_service_with_the _word_hot_in_it.com
I'm surprised that no one has posted this yet. I'm pretty sure that I've seen others post this to Slashdot in the past.
They're not cheap, but they're pretty indestructible. The Panasonic Toughbook is a pretty solid piece of equipment. It's got waterproofing, a built-in handle, it's got integrated GSM, and it's shock resistant.
I'm not looking to start a flame war, but as a Sunni Muslim, I have to make a statement here.
First of all, I was born and raised in the US. Of all the Islamic sects, Sunnis are, arguably, the most tolerant. Of Sunnis, I am Hanafi, which is the most tolerant and liberal.
So, in short, I'm as American as anyone else (what ever that means), quite liberal, by American standards, and perhaps even too liberal by Islamic standards.
I think the alliance between the BSA and the clerics is pretty stupid. I won't get into that right now. But comparing this endorsement to Stalin giving Hitler's genocide policy an endorsement is an ignorant blanket statement. (Please note, I am not using ignorant in a derogatory manner. I am using it in the literal sense-- you need more education on the issue.)
I don't think I can count the number of Islamic organizations that have publicly condemned Bin Laden, both in English and in Arabic, both domestically and internationally.
Now, in terms of support against Bin Laden, Egypt has been one of the most supportive countries of US foreign policy. I'd also like to point out it's one of the more liberal countries, as evidenced by the fact that it was the first Arab state to publicly acknowledge Isreal, and one of only two (Jordan, being the other) with formal peace treaties with Isreal.
Also, FYI: The strangeness as well as the extremity of the New York attacks has been reflected in the strenuous denunciations we have heard from Muslim leaders around the world. For them, this has been a rare moment of unity. Mohammed Tantawi, rector of Cairo's Al-Azhar University, the highest institution of learning in the Sunni world, has bitterly condemned the outrages [9/11 attacks].
source: http://www.islamfortoday.com/murad04.htm
By the way, in case you're wondering, I'm not Egyptian, nor am I even Arabic or Middle Eastern.
So, please, I invite you to make an observation when a stupid decision is made. Whether someone is Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, or what ever, a stupid press release is a stupid press release. If you're going to make analogies, just please make sure they're accurate.
Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions, or would like any further information. jyamisha@NO_SPAM_PLEASE.hotmail.com
I'm not going to try to stand up and start spreading religion, because I'm not the sort of person do cram it down anyone's throat.
That said, from the way you've written your post, it seems to me like a lot of your exposure to organized religion revolves around Christianity.
You mentioned that you tried, you really, really tried to believe in God. Obviously, there is some kind of interest there.
I am a muslim. I know that we've been getting some bad press lately in the U.S., but it's a very interesting religion, and one that does not seem to carry some of the faults you stated in your post. Do not get me wrong. Islam isn't perfect. It has its own faults, just like anything else, but at the very least, they are different posts.
If you are interested, I would be more than happy to provide you with an Islamic perspective on God and religion.
If you're truly interested in trying to figure out the fascination with religion and the belief in God, I think it might be an interesting offer to take me up on.
This goes for any other people who have read this post.
(For the record, in case anyone is wondering, I was born and raised in the U.S. I belong to the most liberal and moderate sect of Islamic belief, and I've gone through periods where I wondered whether my religion was full of it or not. I'm at a comfortable point with my beliefs, and I'd like to share that with anyone who might be interested.)
Oh, and by the way, I'm a HUGE George Carlin fan, and I almost bust a gut laughing when I saw him "perform" the bit you quoted in your post.
Re:Existing system works - why change?
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VoIP at $15 a Pop
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· Score: 1
As a small business owner, I can tell you that I am very interested in switching ver to VoIP. My long distance phone bill is astronomical, and I'd be very interested in learning how I can make all my calls for a flat fee, or pay 2-4 cents per minute. Additionally, as a business, we pay for outgoing, as well as incoming calls. That's basically double the minutes-- even when they're local.
Yes, the existing phone system works well. Yes, it's reliable. But there is a very large business justification in switching to VoIP.
-Jonty Yamisha
first time for everything
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Arguing A.I.
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· Score: -1, Offtopic
i've never done this before, and i've got karma to burn, and i just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
economic theory, which is the foundation of capitalism, agrees with the original post. there actually is something wrong with selling a $1 product for $10. it creates distortions in the market that have ripple affects and hurt industry, the consumer, and even the seller, in the long term.
bear in mind, though, that when an economist says it costs $1 to make, amoritazation costs, depreciation, distribution, sales/marketing and ongoing growth costs have all been factored in.
on the other hand... the market is what determines pricing, and if the market determines that $10 is fair, then that's the price. end of story. (but given the thread of conversation, apparently, the market has determined that $10 is NOT a fair price, as evidenced by the lack of share ware payments.)
don't cheat yourself. i'm 2 years out of school.. well, nearly 3 now, and STRAIGHT out of school, i started up my own Internet professional services firm. (we are now defunct, but we didn about $1M in the first 10 months.)
i chated myself tremendously. fortunately, i merged my company into a larger, publicly traded company (www.organic.com), and that was where i got to learn a LOT.. dealing with people on a different level, etc...
a lot of the people here are also bringing up a good point: your personal knowledge. you can go through the motions of setting up a corporation, etc.... but the time you're going to invest, and the "trial by fire" approach you'll likely take won't make it worth your while. You'll be getting a 14% increase in pay grade, but you'll be investing an extra 30% of your time, easily.
my advice is to have them 1099 you and act as in independent contractor. you're still able to deduct a reasonable level of expenses. sure, corporations have more "play" in what is taxable and what is not taxable, but the pay you're going to be receiving, and the work you're going to be doing likely won't require or allow you to take the liberties that a full-blown corporation will have.
if you DO decide to go w/ option #1, though, form an LLC (Limited Liability Company), NOT a true corporation. an LLC is treated like a partnership (and yes, you can have an LLC with as few as ONE persons), it requires fewer reporting obligations, but it provides you with all the benefits of a corporation, including NON-double taxation and generous deductions.
those were my two cents.
I am part of a "smart home" wiring company
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Wiring A New House?
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· Score: 2, Informative
I'm part of a smart home wiring company (kind of a side-gig for me), and we do this kind of stuff all the time.
Here is my suggestion: Get 4 boxes of Cat5e wiring, and tell your electrician to run all 4 bundles at once. NO phone, no fiber, no nothing else. You can (easily) use the Cat5e as phone wiring, and if you're going to pull cable, why not pull a bundle of 4, as opposed to a "bundle" of one.
From there, you'll want to have someone (I don't know whether you feel comfortable doing it) set up a termination site at the home run, probably somewhere in the basement. That is where all your phone lines will converge, and any rack/patch panel system will go up.
Now, if I were you, I'd have all 4 data drops wired with ports that can accept phone or data lines (RJ45 or RJ11 lines). You can get that kind of equipment from Home Depot.
For ease of use, I would also suggest using 2 colors, when running your wire. Maybe, for example, red for the phone (which, remember, has the CAPABILITY to double as data, if you want), and white for all the data. That will make it easier to keep track of what is what later on.
BTW, I would invest in a good cable crimper set, and a line-testing set as well. You can probably pick up both @ Home Depot, but I would suggest going to a local GrayBar if I were you.
Now, with regard to cost, from our experience, doing the cabling before the dry wall goes up is about 1/3 to 1/4 as expensive as snaking wiring later on. Not only that, but it's also a MUCH, MUCH easier thing to do.
I have seen a few comments regarding the running of other types of media.. that's really up to you. You might want to, at a minimum, run cable/audio, and speaker wiring. Again, if you're electrician is going to be running wire, it's just as simple to run a bundle of 4 wires as it is to run a bundle of 6 (4 data, 1 audio/video, 1 speaker.)
If he trys to charge you more, tell him to get lost and just run the wiring yourself. If you take that route, then really, all you're looking at is an incremental cost of.. less than a few hundred bucks (relatvie to the cost of a new home, several hundred THOUSAND dollars), which is nothing, and a few hours of your time. The end result is a home with (theoretically) a higher value, since it's "wired and smart home ready".
Now, regarding fiber... several home owners have asked us whether we would do fiber for them. The truth of the matter is that it's just too expensive for residential use. Not only that, but as a residential user, you likely won't need the power that fiber gives you. Your broadband connection will be the limiting factor, and I doubt that you'll be transferring files too large for standard Cat5e wiring to handle quickly. Not only that, but installing fiber requires more time, and is definitely not something the "do it yourselfer" should try.. not unless you've got a LOT of patience!
On a side note.. as ironic as it would sound, the vast number of clients that our company takes on end up wiring the house... then installing a wireless network. Go figure.
Either way, though, I would highly recommend running a bundle of data lines through the house. It's a solid investment.
Please note that I have made it a point to leave my company's name out of this discussion. I wanted to make sure I came off as helpful, and not opportunistic. If you have any further questions, or want to know more, email me (jyamisha@hotmail.com) and I'll be more than happy to write more.
I guess I fall into the cryptic area. I speak an old language, with less than 3M speakers world wide, and less than 10,000 speakers in countries with latin-based alphabet/character sets.
I specifically choose old, archaic, non-signifigant words in my native language, that are very hard to pronounce. (My language is tone-based.)
I then mix in alphabetic and numeric characters, along with non-alphanumeric characters, and mix the case-- but I use a pattern.
The advantage is this: I'll never forget the word, becuase it's a word from my language.. I can easily speak the word out loud, and becaue my language is tone-based, no one will ever crack it, and despite the mixture of all the characters and cases, because there is a pattern, I won't forget the password.
For example, let's say that I was using the word "carpet" (but in my language, obviously)....
but the time I was done with it, the pass word would look something like:
It seems that open source's time has come. It has been said that open source will provide 50% of software for the country. The result of this is less money into the economy. If people now buy one $50 Redhat installer instead of 10,000 Microsoft licenses, there is that much less money into the economy.
I know a few others have already responded, but I just wanted to point out that the validity of this statement rests upon the assumption that our economy will continue to be fueled by product purchases. Historically, this has been false.
Approximately 60% (I forget the exact figure) of our GDP comes from the service sector. In recent years, economic growth from the product and manufacturing sector has been falling.
This is why developing countries are dominated by textile plants while developed countries are dominated by... cleaning services, law practices, entertainment companies, etc... SERVICE oriented industries.
The reason this seems to be the case is because every purchasable item, whether it be a service or product, inevetibly becomes a commodity, and in order to increase profits, business innovation must occur.
Product-driven industries have been around a lot longer than service-driven industries. Trade is what fueled world economic growth for nearly 500 years, up until the 1950s or so.
Most of the "stuff" that you need to survive (food, shelter, clothing, and recently, software and electronics components) has already been built. There is no longer a compelling business advantage to producing, for example, steel.
So US companies relocate steel production to places like Mexico and turn to more lucritive revenue-generating sources, like the consulting practice of what kind of steel to use.
So, given the historical record, it is likely a good thing that software is becoming a commodity, and people are paying less for more... because that allows more people to get it, and opens up a greater market for the services that revolve around those products.
-haledon
Re:Buy? Why? Let Iridium Die -- a parody sequel
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Iridium Saved?
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· Score: 1
this must be why programmers are so damn expensive. how long did it take to write that darn thing?! =)
there was a time when jobs absolultely hated IBM. that time may now have passed, but the nature of the licensing agreement of the PPC chip and the relationship between IBM and Motorola is that IBM can't ship Apple faster chips until Motorola can match those speeds. It stinks, yes, I know, but as far as I know, that's the way it is. Please, someone correct me if I am wrong.
5.4 Applications/Questionnaires. You agree to answer accurately, truthfully and completely all requests for information that we may send to you from time to time, whether such requests or responses are sent electronically or by any other method.
2.2 Webplayer Software License...You may not attempt (or authorize any attempt) to defeat, obstruct or block any or all of the Webplayer Software functionality, or to decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble the Webplayer or the Webplayer Software.
neither of these clauses were in the materials i was initially given.... maybe the technical person i spoke to was overridden by the legal people..... additionally, IANAL; can someone translate the second clipping i set up? does "blocking" pertain to hacking the software and blocking certain services (which is what i would assume, given its context), or would that mean that you implicitly can't install another OS? (installing another OS would sort of "block" all functionality, but then again, installing another OS could also mean just not "turning on" the native OS, which wouldn't be much different than just not turning on the machine. i'm guessing that since there is no clause anywhere that says you have to use the hardware AND software TOGETHER, at the same time, that installing another OS on the hardware could be interpurted the same as simply not turning on the OS, which would be different than "blocking" functionality.
this product is put out by a company called ian (internet appliance network). i had the opportunity to meet the guy who created this little piece of hardware. i can tell you that up front, the hardware is very sexy looking. i don't know much about the insides, but i *do* know that they are already working on a second generation, and they are hoping to support broadband access in that one.
the current model is limited to a supply of around 10,000, first come first serve.
the deal is you pay $50 a year for 3 years and agree to be online for 10 hours a month. that's it.
oh, and BTW, they fully invite you to hack it and run whatever OS you want, provided you stay online at least 10 hours a month. (at least that's what i was told a week and a half ago.)
this post is purposefully off topic. in some ways, it's also an experiment. i have some strong feelings, and i've had them for a while. if this get a 0 score, i will know that my feelings are unfounded. if it gets moderated up, then i will know that the community i call myself a part of feels the same way i do.
i want to preface this by saying that this is not a knock on Rob or anyone else. i'm not here to criticize anything or anyone; i'm just here to make an observation about things.
i went to read this story, and i noticed a funny thing. it's been almost 2 hours, and no one has posted anything of value. i've noticed this a lot as of late... then we see all these repeat stories, stories that beat the same subject to death, and TONS of stories with less than 100 comments... many with less than 75.
then there is the severe lack of intelligent comments as of late... it seems like the only intelligent comments i read anymore are the ones like this one, complaining that things are going down hill... don't get me wrong, ther eare still a few really intelligent people nice enough to explain things calmy, but they seem to be a dying breed.
i think what i'm trying to say is that in the last year or so, the quality of things have been going down hill. this is not a knock at all the hard work that people are putting in, but maybe some of that hard work could be redirected or something.
i just feel like this used to be a place i would come many times a day, and one i would spend a long time on. one that i cared about.... and as of late, i seem to be getting more and more of my news elswhere... i don't even care all that much when i get to moderate b/c i feel like it's not going to make a difference, and the majority of what i read are either not applicable, or flame wars between pseudo-intelligent people. the ask slashdot articles aren't what they used to be, and neither are the news stories... and from what i'm getting in the comments that others are posting, my feelings are not an anomoly. from what i've been reading, i feel like there are a lot of "ask slashdot" stories and regular news stories that i would be *VERY* interested in reading.. and that many others would be interested in as well... but which never see the light of day.
and slowly, little by little, those of us who helped make this site such a great place are starting to go elsewhere.
so moderate at will, my fellow slashdotters. let's see what happens.
p.s. slashdot should really check to see whether their advertisers are legit. due to some horrible unprofessionalism from csoft.net, my destructure.com email address is down. if you want to send me any comments, please use (ack!) my hotmail account at misha128@hotmail.com
Slashdot Mirror
I know that I am off topic, but your email isn't listed publicly, and I wanted to ask you a few questions about your franchise. Would you be so kind as to email me at jyamisha@h o t m a i l-dot.com?
Forget any comparisons between Apple and COMPANY X. Forget whether you agree or disagree. There is one simple reason that Apple did this. They HAD to do this. It took Apple (Steve Jobs)... well, I don't know what it took, but it took Steve Jobs to convince the record companies that he could create DRM that would protect their IP. Hence the Apple DRM mechanism. Allowing Real to do what they did would compromise Apple's DRM.
If Apple sat on its butt, it would only have been a matter of time before good ole Mr. Jobs received several irate phone calls asking why his DRM wasn't doing what he promised it would do. Burn one bridge, burn them all, bingo bango, the major lables are scared back into the stone age, and we loose the tiny fruits that are just starting to grow out of the online legal download industry.
This isn't about Apple or Real. This is about maintaining a contractual obligation necessary for the survival of a very important and infantile industry.
I am reading such a lack of understanding, experience and total misinformation when it comes to contracting that I couldn't resist posting. There's a lot of garbage, but some very good truth posted here. If you can't tell the difference, or take the time to research the differences, then you probably shouldn't be contracting.
I used to own a 15-person company that operated in the health insurance field. I am now an employee of one, working at home, and I'll be starting an MBA program shortly after the new year.
The one major benefit I can point out, and one that many business owners are unaware of comes down to health insurance. If nothing else, incorporating can save you a lot of money when it comes to health insurance. (By the way, there are many, MANY benefits to incorporating, and in this day and age, anyone operating a serious business as a sole proprietor should have his/her head examined.)
Contact any insurance broker you can find in the yellow pages. In the span of about 15 minutes, you should be able to channel through a few different brokers to find what you are looking for. You want an insurance broker that handles group benefit administration. This is the entity that can help you get health insurance.
The premium that I pay for my health insurance is pretty cheap. (Working in the health insurance industry, I know what to look for, so trust me, I have GOOD health insurance, not some crappy, no-name HMO plan with no coverage.) What I found out in my experience, and what many small business people don't know is that group health benefits can be setup to cover a single person (you), or two people (you and your wife, but from my experience, most of the time, it's cheaper to setup two different individual policies for each of you.)
Another interesting fact is that the premium you'll wind up paying (I pay around $285 for a top of the line, brand-name PPO plan with a tiny deductible, modest office co-pay, full pharmaceutical coverage, and 100% hospital coverage. Vision and dental are also included) won't change until your small business group benefit program reaches 25 - 50 employees, depending on the insurance carrier.
What does that mean? That your company of one pays the same as most companies with fewer than 25 employees, which constitute the majority of employers in the United States.
Once you find a good group benefit admninistrator, the vendor can also put you in touch with a payroll processing company (which I use, and which is great for cash flow management. Also, your payroll company assumes 100% of the liability for withholding payroll taxes. Trust me, the last thing you want to deal with is getting a letter 4 years from now telling you that you withheld too little and now owe the difference plus fines.)
A good administrator will also be able to put you in touch with a lot of the other insurance product you might need. A group administrator can also help you setup a variety of retirement accounts. (I saw one person point out that you can contribute more into a 401(k) retirement account than you can into other self-employment accounts. This is true, but you can combine different types of accounts (like the IRA accounts), and in a year or two, Congress will be enacting a whole new slew of retirement products. Additionally, VERY few people max out their retirement accounts.)
Like I said, there are a lot of resources out there that should allow you to filter the garbage from the truth, but the area of health insurance is kind of a black box.
If you (or any other Slashdotter) have any questions, contact me. I'm more than happy to help answer them.
By the way, it's about 12:30 in the morning, and I'm a bit fried at this point. (Sorry for all the () marks and rambling.) I don't know everything when it comes to healthcare, but unlike many of the backseat drivers on Slashdot, I've walked the walk. I'm self employed, incorporated, and my company has gone from 1 - 15 and back down to 1 person over the course of 3 years. I work in
Maybe dumb is too strong of a word.... I can't say whether you are dumb, but perhaps uninformed would be more appropriate.
I am an entrepreneur by trade. I currently run an insurance claim processing company.
I know little about cars, but that didn't stop me from managing an auto repair shop for about a year. If my car develops a fault, I take it to a garage, but I know what to ask for.
I know little about building... but my house burned to the ground 2 years ago, and in another 3 or 4 months, I'll be just about done re-building it. Other than the plumbing and electricity, I did most of the work (with the help of family and friends) on my own.
I know little about teaching, but that didn't stop me from volunteering to teach just about every elementary and high school subject at my local community center.
By the way, I knew nothing about insurance claim processing when I first started that business. It's doing well enough to pay my bills and leave some money left over. Before that, I ran a web services/software company. I had it merged into a publicly traded service company. I majored in International Relations in college.
I can't say that the original poster is being elitist; I don't think I am elitist, but I am often frustrated with people's lack of information, pleathora of mis-information, and general reluctance to explore new concepts.
the etch-a-sketch, now comes the shakable hard drive. It brings new meaning to the term secure deletion. Rumor is that the CIA is going to purchase 5,000 of these units at $1,450 a piece. Panasonic has even created a "tough" version of the etch-a-sketch specifically for this purpose.
I wanted to email you, but your address is not publicly available. Mine is jyamisha@hotmail.com. I am somewhat of a Thinkpad junkie, and I was curious as to whether you might have a personal web site that talked about how you mounted the internal wireless card, and/or what kind of results you were able to get.
Additionally, I am VERY interested in a custom battery for my Thinkpad T21, which I love. In an ideal world, I'd love getting 8 - 10 hours of battery life out of this thing, using a battery that compliments the form factor.
I'd appreciate it greatly if you emailed me to share any ideas or point me in the right direction.
I recall reading a few months ago in a major publication (e.g. Time Magazine, NY Times, etc...) that there is a researcher in Italy who was able to replicate the initial Cold Fusion results very early on. The publication was fairly balanced in that it showed how proof by public jury wasn't the best approach to any kind of scientific approach.
The long and the short of it, though, is that becuase of Italian public pride and Japanese money, this guy kept getting funding. Eventually, he found that "something" is happening and causing excessive heat during these experiments. Last I read, he was running experiments in some place under a mountain (to be sure of full control in the experiment), and he was able to produce consistent, replicable, predictable results. He's not calling it cold fusion, but he's calling it "something".
As proof that he's on the right track, he was invited to speak at some major international physics event a few months back. Apparently, his objective approach, and ability to produce results is leading to a resurgence in the field. I hope someone else can shed more light on this, because I was shocked and amazed when I read the article.
Jonty Yamisha
I do this every year, and each time, I quit cold turkey. Man, is it painful. I normally drink in excess of 12 cups of STRONG coffee per day, plus an additional turkish cup of coffee (it's like an espresso on steroids), and/or some soda.
It takes me 2 - 3 weeks each year, but by the end, I have beaten my addiction. In the mean time, I just deal with the headaches. Unless you've tried quitting, you won't understand the pain involved with the headaches, or the changes in personality, but quitting cold turkey is the only way to go.
Typically, the first week, I just pass out after 5 or 6 in the evening. The pain in my head is so intense, I have no other choice. Make sure that you drink PLENTY of water, and get lots of rest. The second week, I find that the headaches tend to drop off a lot, and I don't get sleepy until 7 or 8. The need for sleep scales back, along with the pain in my head. After 2 weeks, I'm ok, and after 3 weeks, I'm good to go.
Some words of advice. What ever you do, under NO circumstances should you think that you can just take a little bit of caffine and ween yourself off. This does not work. It never works. Also, makes sure that you get a lot of rest, and that you drink a LOT of water. Weekends are the worst, as they represent unstructured time, which leads to temptation... on the other hand, you're probably going to be passing out by 8 PM on Friday night, and sleeping in until noon on Saturday!
Make sure that everyone around you knows that you are trying to quit.... not so much for emotional support... it's meaningless while you're being pissy... more so that you don't feel guilty, and so that the people around you cut you a little slack.
I don't know anyone who drinks more coffee than me, and I've tried every possible routine you can imagine until I finally figured out that I just needed to quit cold turkey. It's a hard thing to do, and unfortanately, there is no "Caffine Spa" pill that can make this hard thing easy.
On a psychological note... I never really got the will power to quit until I decided to make it a test of will power. There may be health-related reasons for you wanting to quit. I know that in my case, 12 cups of coffee a day is not healthy. But what gave me the strength was the determination that I was going to show an inanimate bean that I have control over it-- not the other way around. I don't know what kind of personality you have, but thinking of it as a test of will power might help.
Good luck!
P.S. for more help, email me: jyamisha@the_free_web-based_email_service_with_the _word_hot_in_it.com
In the future, they will be able to insure victories. I guess that means that most of the big insurance companies will still be around.
I'll tell ya, though, INSURING a victory must be VERY expensive unless you can prove that you can ENSURE the victory first.
They're not cheap, but they're pretty indestructible. The Panasonic Toughbook is a pretty solid piece of equipment. It's got waterproofing, a built-in handle, it's got integrated GSM, and it's shock resistant.
You should definitely check it out.
-haledon
First of all, I was born and raised in the US. Of all the Islamic sects, Sunnis are, arguably, the most tolerant. Of Sunnis, I am Hanafi, which is the most tolerant and liberal.
So, in short, I'm as American as anyone else (what ever that means), quite liberal, by American standards, and perhaps even too liberal by Islamic standards.
I think the alliance between the BSA and the clerics is pretty stupid. I won't get into that right now. But comparing this endorsement to Stalin giving Hitler's genocide policy an endorsement is an ignorant blanket statement. (Please note, I am not using ignorant in a derogatory manner. I am using it in the literal sense-- you need more education on the issue.)
I don't think I can count the number of Islamic organizations that have publicly condemned Bin Laden, both in English and in Arabic, both domestically and internationally.
Now, in terms of support against Bin Laden, Egypt has been one of the most supportive countries of US foreign policy. I'd also like to point out it's one of the more liberal countries, as evidenced by the fact that it was the first Arab state to publicly acknowledge Isreal, and one of only two (Jordan, being the other) with formal peace treaties with Isreal.
Also, FYI:
The strangeness as well as the extremity of the New York attacks has been reflected in the strenuous denunciations we have heard from Muslim leaders around the world. For them, this has been a rare moment of unity. Mohammed Tantawi, rector of Cairo's Al-Azhar University, the highest institution of learning in the Sunni world, has bitterly condemned the outrages [9/11 attacks].
source: http://www.islamfortoday.com/murad04.htm
By the way, in case you're wondering, I'm not Egyptian, nor am I even Arabic or Middle Eastern.
So, please, I invite you to make an observation when a stupid decision is made. Whether someone is Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, or what ever, a stupid press release is a stupid press release. If you're going to make analogies, just please make sure they're accurate.
Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions, or would like any further information. jyamisha@NO_SPAM_PLEASE.hotmail.com
That said, from the way you've written your post, it seems to me like a lot of your exposure to organized religion revolves around Christianity.
You mentioned that you tried, you really, really tried to believe in God. Obviously, there is some kind of interest there.
I am a muslim. I know that we've been getting some bad press lately in the U.S., but it's a very interesting religion, and one that does not seem to carry some of the faults you stated in your post. Do not get me wrong. Islam isn't perfect. It has its own faults, just like anything else, but at the very least, they are different posts.
If you are interested, I would be more than happy to provide you with an Islamic perspective on God and religion.
If you're truly interested in trying to figure out the fascination with religion and the belief in God, I think it might be an interesting offer to take me up on.
This goes for any other people who have read this post.
(For the record, in case anyone is wondering, I was born and raised in the U.S. I belong to the most liberal and moderate sect of Islamic belief, and I've gone through periods where I wondered whether my religion was full of it or not. I'm at a comfortable point with my beliefs, and I'd like to share that with anyone who might be interested.)
jyamisha@hotmail.com
Oh, and by the way, I'm a HUGE George Carlin fan, and I almost bust a gut laughing when I saw him "perform" the bit you quoted in your post.
Yes, the existing phone system works well. Yes, it's reliable. But there is a very large business justification in switching to VoIP.
-Jonty Yamisha
FIRST POST!
bear in mind, though, that when an economist says it costs $1 to make, amoritazation costs, depreciation, distribution, sales/marketing and ongoing growth costs have all been factored in.
on the other hand... the market is what determines pricing, and if the market determines that $10 is fair, then that's the price. end of story. (but given the thread of conversation, apparently, the market has determined that $10 is NOT a fair price, as evidenced by the lack of share ware payments.)
from a jr. economist.
i chated myself tremendously. fortunately, i merged my company into a larger, publicly traded company (www.organic.com), and that was where i got to learn a LOT.. dealing with people on a different level, etc...
a lot of the people here are also bringing up a good point: your personal knowledge. you can go through the motions of setting up a corporation, etc.... but the time you're going to invest, and the "trial by fire" approach you'll likely take won't make it worth your while. You'll be getting a 14% increase in pay grade, but you'll be investing an extra 30% of your time, easily.
my advice is to have them 1099 you and act as in independent contractor. you're still able to deduct a reasonable level of expenses. sure, corporations have more "play" in what is taxable and what is not taxable, but the pay you're going to be receiving, and the work you're going to be doing likely won't require or allow you to take the liberties that a full-blown corporation will have.
if you DO decide to go w/ option #1, though, form an LLC (Limited Liability Company), NOT a true corporation. an LLC is treated like a partnership (and yes, you can have an LLC with as few as ONE persons), it requires fewer reporting obligations, but it provides you with all the benefits of a corporation, including NON-double taxation and generous deductions.
those were my two cents.
Here is my suggestion: Get 4 boxes of Cat5e wiring, and tell your electrician to run all 4 bundles at once. NO phone, no fiber, no nothing else. You can (easily) use the Cat5e as phone wiring, and if you're going to pull cable, why not pull a bundle of 4, as opposed to a "bundle" of one.
From there, you'll want to have someone (I don't know whether you feel comfortable doing it) set up a termination site at the home run, probably somewhere in the basement. That is where all your phone lines will converge, and any rack/patch panel system will go up.
Now, if I were you, I'd have all 4 data drops wired with ports that can accept phone or data lines (RJ45 or RJ11 lines). You can get that kind of equipment from Home Depot.
For ease of use, I would also suggest using 2 colors, when running your wire. Maybe, for example, red for the phone (which, remember, has the CAPABILITY to double as data, if you want), and white for all the data. That will make it easier to keep track of what is what later on.
BTW, I would invest in a good cable crimper set, and a line-testing set as well. You can probably pick up both @ Home Depot, but I would suggest going to a local GrayBar if I were you.
Now, with regard to cost, from our experience, doing the cabling before the dry wall goes up is about 1/3 to 1/4 as expensive as snaking wiring later on. Not only that, but it's also a MUCH, MUCH easier thing to do.
I have seen a few comments regarding the running of other types of media.. that's really up to you. You might want to, at a minimum, run cable/audio, and speaker wiring. Again, if you're electrician is going to be running wire, it's just as simple to run a bundle of 4 wires as it is to run a bundle of 6 (4 data, 1 audio/video, 1 speaker.)
If he trys to charge you more, tell him to get lost and just run the wiring yourself. If you take that route, then really, all you're looking at is an incremental cost of.. less than a few hundred bucks (relatvie to the cost of a new home, several hundred THOUSAND dollars), which is nothing, and a few hours of your time. The end result is a home with (theoretically) a higher value, since it's "wired and smart home ready".
Now, regarding fiber... several home owners have asked us whether we would do fiber for them. The truth of the matter is that it's just too expensive for residential use. Not only that, but as a residential user, you likely won't need the power that fiber gives you. Your broadband connection will be the limiting factor, and I doubt that you'll be transferring files too large for standard Cat5e wiring to handle quickly. Not only that, but installing fiber requires more time, and is definitely not something the "do it yourselfer" should try.. not unless you've got a LOT of patience!
On a side note.. as ironic as it would sound, the vast number of clients that our company takes on end up wiring the house... then installing a wireless network. Go figure.
Either way, though, I would highly recommend running a bundle of data lines through the house. It's a solid investment.
Please note that I have made it a point to leave my company's name out of this discussion. I wanted to make sure I came off as helpful, and not opportunistic. If you have any further questions, or want to know more, email me (jyamisha@hotmail.com) and I'll be more than happy to write more.
I specifically choose old, archaic, non-signifigant words in my native language, that are very hard to pronounce. (My language is tone-based.)
I then mix in alphabetic and numeric characters, along with non-alphanumeric characters, and mix the case-- but I use a pattern.
The advantage is this: I'll never forget the word, becuase it's a word from my language.. I can easily speak the word out loud, and becaue my language is tone-based, no one will ever crack it, and despite the mixture of all the characters and cases, because there is a pattern, I won't forget the password.
For example, let's say that I was using the word "carpet" (but in my language, obviously)....
but the time I was done with it, the pass word would look something like:
_C7arpE7t_
see the pattern?
pretty nifty, eh?
can anyone say imac? itunes? or i want my mp3s?
haledon....
I know a few others have already responded, but I just wanted to point out that the validity of this statement rests upon the assumption that our economy will continue to be fueled by product purchases. Historically, this has been false.
Approximately 60% (I forget the exact figure) of our GDP comes from the service sector. In recent years, economic growth from the product and manufacturing sector has been falling.
This is why developing countries are dominated by textile plants while developed countries are dominated by... cleaning services, law practices, entertainment companies, etc... SERVICE oriented industries.
The reason this seems to be the case is because every purchasable item, whether it be a service or product, inevetibly becomes a commodity, and in order to increase profits, business innovation must occur.
Product-driven industries have been around a lot longer than service-driven industries. Trade is what fueled world economic growth for nearly 500 years, up until the 1950s or so.
Most of the "stuff" that you need to survive (food, shelter, clothing, and recently, software and electronics components) has already been built. There is no longer a compelling business advantage to producing, for example, steel.
So US companies relocate steel production to places like Mexico and turn to more lucritive revenue-generating sources, like the consulting practice of what kind of steel to use.
So, given the historical record, it is likely a good thing that software is becoming a commodity, and people are paying less for more... because that allows more people to get it, and opens up a greater market for the services that revolve around those products.
-haledon
this must be why programmers are so damn expensive. how long did it take to write that darn thing?! =)
there was a time when jobs absolultely hated IBM. that time may now have passed, but the nature of the licensing agreement of the PPC chip and the relationship between IBM and Motorola is that IBM can't ship Apple faster chips until Motorola can match those speeds. It stinks, yes, I know, but as far as I know, that's the way it is. Please, someone correct me if I am wrong.
hhmmm.....
5.4 Applications/Questionnaires. You agree to answer accurately, truthfully and completely all requests for information that we may send to you from time to time, whether such requests or responses are sent electronically or by any other method.
2.2 Webplayer Software License ...You may not attempt (or authorize any attempt) to defeat, obstruct or block any or all of the Webplayer Software functionality, or to decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble the Webplayer or the Webplayer Software.
neither of these clauses were in the materials i was initially given.... maybe the technical person i spoke to was overridden by the legal people..... additionally, IANAL; can someone translate the second clipping i set up? does "blocking" pertain to hacking the software and blocking certain services (which is what i would assume, given its context), or would that mean that you implicitly can't install another OS? (installing another OS would sort of "block" all functionality, but then again, installing another OS could also mean just not "turning on" the native OS, which wouldn't be much different than just not turning on the machine. i'm guessing that since there is no clause anywhere that says you have to use the hardware AND software TOGETHER, at the same time, that installing another OS on the hardware could be interpurted the same as simply not turning on the OS, which would be different than "blocking" functionality.
http://www.virginconnectme.com/
this product is put out by a company called ian (internet appliance network). i had the opportunity to meet the guy who created this little piece of hardware. i can tell you that up front, the hardware is very sexy looking. i don't know much about the insides, but i *do* know that they are already working on a second generation, and they are hoping to support broadband access in that one.
the current model is limited to a supply of around 10,000, first come first serve.
the deal is you pay $50 a year for 3 years and agree to be online for 10 hours a month. that's it.
oh, and BTW, they fully invite you to hack it and run whatever OS you want, provided you stay online at least 10 hours a month. (at least that's what i was told a week and a half ago.)
i want to preface this by saying that this is not a knock on Rob or anyone else. i'm not here to criticize anything or anyone; i'm just here to make an observation about things.
i went to read this story, and i noticed a funny thing. it's been almost 2 hours, and no one has posted anything of value. i've noticed this a lot as of late... then we see all these repeat stories, stories that beat the same subject to death, and TONS of stories with less than 100 comments... many with less than 75.
then there is the severe lack of intelligent comments as of late... it seems like the only intelligent comments i read anymore are the ones like this one, complaining that things are going down hill... don't get me wrong, ther eare still a few really intelligent people nice enough to explain things calmy, but they seem to be a dying breed.
i think what i'm trying to say is that in the last year or so, the quality of things have been going down hill. this is not a knock at all the hard work that people are putting in, but maybe some of that hard work could be redirected or something.
i just feel like this used to be a place i would come many times a day, and one i would spend a long time on. one that i cared about.... and as of late, i seem to be getting more and more of my news elswhere... i don't even care all that much when i get to moderate b/c i feel like it's not going to make a difference, and the majority of what i read are either not applicable, or flame wars between pseudo-intelligent people. the ask slashdot articles aren't what they used to be, and neither are the news stories... and from what i'm getting in the comments that others are posting, my feelings are not an anomoly. from what i've been reading, i feel like there are a lot of "ask slashdot" stories and regular news stories that i would be *VERY* interested in reading.. and that many others would be interested in as well... but which never see the light of day.
and slowly, little by little, those of us who helped make this site such a great place are starting to go elsewhere.
so moderate at will, my fellow slashdotters. let's see what happens.
p.s. slashdot should really check to see whether their advertisers are legit. due to some horrible unprofessionalism from csoft.net, my destructure.com email address is down. if you want to send me any comments, please use (ack!) my hotmail account at misha128@hotmail.com