If you want to know whether your case was opened by the TSA and still use a lock that they won't break, use a security tag and a TSA lock. They will break the tag (usually a zip-tie type thingy) but not the lock.
If it was never opened, you break the tag and open the lock
If it was opened by the TSA or a knowledgable criminal, the tag is broken, but not the lock
If it was opened by a criminal then either they had TSA equipment/knowledge, or both the lock and tag are broken.
I usually just boobie trap my luggage with a case of of C4.
-Adam
For those using linx...
on
SimChurch
·
· Score: 4, Funny
The colection basket has been passed to you. There are no exits because you chose to sit in the middle of the pew. What do you want to do?
Donate O$5 O$10 @$50 via PayPal
Deftly pass it along while hanging your head in virtual shame
There are few resources for contactless power supplies because they are so darn inefficent that there's almost always a better solution.
Since you didn't give us any information on how much power you actually need (a few milliwatts I hope...) then all I can tell you is to avoid air coils. You'll get almost no practical energy transfer. Make the smaller coil fit inside the larger coil, and put a suitable core inside the smaller coil.
Alternately, if you want two flat faces facing each other, get two large cheap speakers. Remove the cone and coils from the magnet assembly. You may need to remove the magnets themselves and replace them with another ferromagnetic material. Place new coils where the old speaker coils were (wrapped around the core inside the assembly). Face them to each other and put low voltage AC on one side.
There are transformer books which will give you the information you need to accomplish this. It's hard to give you better information than that, though, without knowing the power requirements of your device.
If this PDF treatment on the subject doesn't help, then you probably don't have enough knowledge to correctly design one and you ought to simply start toying around with different designs until you find a suitable match. If/when you mass manufacture the device you'll want to pass it by a real engineer who can redesign it for you. Pay attention to the references in the paper for more information.
Recently you sent an email containing a Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint Document. Due to security and virus concerns [our company] cannot accept those attachments.
Please use HTML, RTF, PDF, or regular text to transmit future documents to me. It will be necessary for you to retransmit this document in an acceptable format.
If the need is urgent and you are unable to convert it to an acceptable format please fax short documents to xxx-yyy-zzzz. Please call for arrangements to transmit documents with more than 20 pages.
This contest was $10,000. Half went to the project maintainers, and then half of the remainder (1/4) is given to each of the people who found the collision.
So the individuals got $2,500, and whoever put the project together and hosted it got $5,000.
The business school has had it far longer than any other portion of the main campus. The engineering campus has a decent rollout, but there are many areas where access isn't good.
I take all of my notes on my laptop, and I find it is better for test preparation than paper notes for me. In rooms where I've had network access I don't find it a distraction, but often I'll leave the network card out just to save power. Haven't been doing that recently since I my laptop supports two batteries at once and I get 6+ hours at a charge.
The main benefit is when all the lab computers are taken (which is pretty much all the time) I have not only a computer to work on, but my own environment with everything, including my notes, at my fingertips.
The engineering campus uses a VPN over wireless, so there's great security. The main campus uses no encryption so I try to avoid doing anything sensitive when I'm there.
This energy is being provided on a constant basis, and you will probably die long before the disk falls to the ground.
I suspect you and I are essentially understanding the same principles, but speaking about them in a different way. However, the statement you make above worries me that you do not truly understand.
When I levitate a magnet in a gravitational field, neither gravity nor the magnet are imparting 'energy' They are static fields. Once you levitate a magnet is enters a state of equilibrium where the force pulling it down is equal to the force pushing it up. However, these forces do not impart 'energy' any more than a book resting on a table imparts energy.
HOWEVER, they do 'store' energy, in the same way an untapped battery stores energy.
What I am indicating is that if he is using the energy that is stored in a magnet, then that energy has to 1) have come from somewhere (the magnetization process) and 2) has to decay at a rate equal to or greater than its usage.
The motor is claimed to have an output greater than one watt, with an input less than one watt. Therefore, according to your own postings, the difference is coming from the magnets. This energy must be lost from the magnet. The motor must cease functioning.
However, I don't believe a motor that takes energy from its own magnets will last for very long, especially at the rate that the magnets must lose energy in order to make up for that 1 watt or more difference in output.
So, go back to your textbooks and calculate the energy required to impart a given field to a magnet. Then calculate how much energy these magnets must impart to the motor to give it an output advantage of 1 watt over its input. Then calculate the time it takes to reduce the magnetic field to zero. Then repeat to yourself, "This motor must die quickly, because even in a perfect conversion, even magnetically dense small magnets do not hold kilowatts of power, regardless of the method used to extract that power."
But, as I said above, it appears as though you have a sound understanding of static and dynamic forces, and the barrier is likely to be the words and phrases we are using to discuss the same principles. It may simply be more a matter of magnitude - it seems as though you believe he is extracting a very small amount of energy from the magnets, while I'm claiming that it must be large to get the differential he is claiming.
Are you claiming that you can extract energy from a magnet when that energy was not there in the first place? You should read the physics page where the 'ball bearing shooter' was analyzed. You'll find that the act of placing the magnets and ball bearings in position provides energy to the machine. The act of rolling another ball into the first magnet pushes it just outside it's equilibruim, and it releases the energy stored when the balls were placed.
This is all well and good, and applies to his motor - a bunch of magnets are placed at a point just before they release a bunch of energy. Here's the fun part --> He is claiming that the magnets return to that magic equilibrium point by themselves at the end of their cycle. Then it only requires another tiny push to set them off again, and again releasing a huge rush of energy.
The ball bearing gun, however, does not return to it's previous equilibrium. In fact it provably enters a state of much lower energy than the state it started in.
The motor that as described is a classic perpetual motion machine. It may be that the article is incorrectly describing the motor, and perhaps he has produced an ultra efficient motor. However, saying that any apparatus has "315%" efficiency (ie, output > input) is just begging for a full detailed analysis.
And, by the way, the ball bearing gun uses the pattern of magnet-ballbearing-ballbearing space magnet-ballbearing-ballbearing space, etc. Not alternately bearing, magnet, bearing, magnet. This is important for the operation of the device - read the article if you don't understand why. Just keep reminding yourself that the end result contains less energy than the beginning state.
Ah. So what you're saying is that he has developed a method of storing huge amounts of power into magnets, and controlling the release of that power into the motor? So, in effect, the motor has two power sources, the magnets and the electrical input?
Ok. I'd like you to demonstrate then how much energy the magnet holds, then tell me how long it'll dregrade in the motor so I know when this energy source runs out.
However, I think the much more likely explanation is very powerful magnets with very good bearings, and bad electronic meters which don't measure average current/voltage, but instantaneous current/voltage (ie, he may be putting in 2A spikes a few hundred times a second, but the meter isn't reacting fast enough to show the actual energy input.)
If this system did put out more energy than went in, then he should hook the generator back up to the motor and demonstrate that it does in fact put out more than it eats, and let it run until the magnets fail so we have a good idea of how long the magnets last. I cannot believe that he could make a magnet that holds and releases x joules of power for less money than you can get x joules of power from the power company.
The director of NASA, however, assures us that Mars will revert to it's own sovereignty by September 30th. An unnamed United Worlds representative noted that "it's going to be very hard to hold Martian elections by that date, and NASA seems unprepared to set up an interim government which the average Martian can put his faith in."
Russian scientists recently announced a humanitarian aid mission could be active on Mars in 10 years, but Russian officials were quick to deny "any plans to interfere in NASA research."
It means that I'm not a good accountant, and let several customers in years past go without paying for several months. This isn't bad unless you know that their balance was covered by my credit, all the time earning interest. The profits are effectively eaten up in interest.
I'm climbing out of that hole, rather succesfully, but I'm still more interested in providing my customers with low cost systems than in producing a large profit. Some years I make a profit, some years I break even, a few years I've lost, but usually only because december payments are held over until the following year.
The benefits I get are constant familiarity with the hardware and software, I keep my tax license and reseller status, slightly less expensive components for myself, and a business I can fall back on if needed for a variety of purposes. Mainly, though, I get paid to keep up with current hardware technology.
Depends on your point of view. I work full time. I go to school (at the non-friendly for working students school University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) 1/2 to full time depending on the semester. I maintain a seperate computer consulting business which breaks even each year (no real profit or loss - but there are other benefits). I maintain a home and family. I look forward to graduating and having a single job, and spending my time with my family and hobby of electronics.
I'm in one of those situations.
Which, you want to, or have to?
Do you think it would be a better idea for someone to work two somewhat secure jobs, getting paid a little bit less, or going for a higher paying somewhat insecure job?
At this point I choose security over better pay. however, neither of the choices you've provided are ideal. Keep in mind that if you take a less secure job that only requires 40 hour weeks then you'll have a lot more time for job searching and polishing your skill set than you'll ever have working for two jobs.
would you rather work 2 secure jobs, that pay a little bit less than what you could be making, or would you rather get paid a touch more, and work for 1 less secure employer?
Again, neither choice is good. It depends on the money and how you define 'secure'. The last several jobs I've had they realize very quickly how hard I work and how valuable I am. All of my employers, even those providing 'less secure' positions, have been unhappy to see me go. (I don't engage in bidding wars - when I decide to leave I leave. Bidding leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth)
So go for the job where you'll be happiest. If happiness comes from more security, less time, less money, and less flexibility, then stay in your comfort zone. If you can afford to take a risk (as a family man my risk level is low, but you may have much more space to move right now) then shoot for the stars. Show your stuff, and make yourself a valued employee.
As always, don't rely on someone else's opinion as to what you should do. Make a decision. Stick to the decision until, if ever, you decide it was a mistake. If it was a mistake then shift gears and correct your course. Don't ever think that you're stuck - there's always another direction to go in. You're only stuck if you say you are, etc, etc.
And don't use slashdot as a motivational resource - if you can't motivate yourself, then no one else will be able to motivate you when you most need it.
In fact, [a particular program] is used in many some big movie studios such as ILM, Sony and DreamWorks. If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for you.
Quotes like this make me cringe on so many levels.
1. What do they use the software for? Perhaps they only use it because some intern set up a script to automate a file renaming process. That doesn't make it good enough for me
2. What makes you think my needs are completely met by something that meets someone else's needs? This argument has no value. "Kibbles and bits - if it's good enough for lassie, it's good enough for your half a bee, Eric."
3. ???
"I'm not a real Linux user, but I advocate Linux on my hardware site. Testing hardware is tough, but when my working evironment consists soley of Windows machines, at the end of the day I like to go home and relax at the command line of my RedSuseBian. There's nothing like a good scripting session to clear the head and soothe my tender muscles. Try it! You'll like it - I gaurantee."
Bleah. Leave the PR quotes to real PR people, and just give us the facts.
1. Create linux QT app
2. Embed my QT app into a minimal colinux app
3. Send out my QT/Linux software on CD
4. Profit!
5. Thumb nose at Trolltech
6. Profit some more!
I know RFIDs. This article isn't talking about RFIDs. It's talking about a GPS satelite person tracking system. Then it has a picture of a freaking RFID tag.
I'm saying that it can't be what they claim it is (GPS and/or satellite tracking transmitter).
The idea behind this system is that the people won't know that they're wearing this tag, and that they can be tracked remotely. RFID tags this small can only be read from so far away.
So, in short, this is not what it claims to be. If it's RFID, then it can't possibly do what they suggest. If it's GPS then the picture is a mock up, or false. They don't mention either possibility on the page.
And yes, you're right, RFID tags do not need a battery to operate - in fact that is one of their advantages. They can use batteries if one wants them to be active or transmit further.
And no, people will never 'learn' about RFIDs the way you seem to want them to. Most people don't even know about computers, they just know how to use them.
If you think even a few percent of Google's customers will come close to 1GB of email within the first few years then you overestimate the average email user. Even if they did, using an aggressive compression algorithm they can cut store a full account (1GB of uncompressed email) down by at least 50%, if not to 20-25%. Since it has to be email then it has to follow normal email encoding standards (7bit, base64 encoding for binary, etc)
I think the power users are those who will subscribe to lists that they want to use for reference, but do not actually read on a regular basis. And guess what Google will do with such a list message? They will likely store one copy on the server, and a pointer from every account which received that message - perhaps with a small diff file to recover address differences, etc.
In the end, hard drive space is cheap They can set up a fully backed up terabyte array for under $1000. That terabyte array will support thousands of 'average' users, and hundreds of 'power' users.
The biggest deal is the searching technology. To search all that they'll need several dedicated servers with their own indexes. Chances are email will be auto-indexed as it comes in so searches always seem fresh.
In the end it's not going to need even a few percent of your excessive estimate. But if it did, you know it'd be worth it since they'd have extremely exacting profiles on their users and the people they contact, and advertising that is so tightly focused can be nothing but profitable.
The concept of indexing each email as it's stored provides a powerful opportunity for spam filtering, compression, and copy storage. If two messages are 90% similar then they may be from a list, they may be spam, or they may be valid. Create a diff file, store the diffs on each account, store the 'main' message the diffs were created from, and file the messages into the spam holder or regular folding, tagging and indexing as you go.
The fact is that the more users they have, the more powerful this system becomes. I'm drooling just thinking about the possibilities... I wouldn't mind working for them, I think.
Of course, this is mad speculation, but it just makes sense givin that they are an indexing company. Their main product is not searching, but indexing. Searching is simply a by-product.
I'd like the documentarians to consider the difference between outsourcing to an expensive country (ie, Europe) vs. outsourcing to an inexpensive country (ie, india).
It seems that programmers are only mad that they are replaced by someone qualified to replace them when their replacement costs less. You don't see people complain when a company moves their division to a country where the labor cost is similar, such as to another part of the US.
I re-read the page and noticed that it was cpld after I'd posted my earlier response. When I write "Xilinx" my hands automatically include FPGA afterwards. CPLDs and FPGAs have more in common than they have differences in many points of view. Cost is the big one. Power consumption and complexity are two others. Other than that, they are both programmable logic devices...
It's fake. The "GPS Pellet" is nothing more than a picture of a common transponder (RFID). Even if they could get the GPS electronics that small, and fit a tansmitter in there, the battery needed for more than a few minutes of GPS calculations would be significantly larger than the capsule.
Furthermore, the GPS signal doesn't go very deep through human tissue, it degrades as it goes, and a transmitter strong ernough to be received more than a few hundred yards away would be comparable in size and power consumption to a cell phone.
Interesting concept. It's not impossible, but it's not cost effective now.
Dell outsources its tech help and sales lines to India. They are now selling laptops that are very inexpensive.
I can see that jobs are being displaced for outsourcing, but the economic benefit to me personally is still positive. I didn't put all my eggs in one basket - I can do computer work, electrical engineering, mix the two up and do embedded processors and microcontrollers. The people who are upset are those who planned on being employed in one industry for their entire lives and didn't take into account that this industry changes every year - perhaps that's one of the reasons they joined anyway.
So my question is: who is doing the complaining, and is the negative economic impact across the board greater than the positive economic impact of cheaper products available to the average American - most of who are not otherwise affected by this outsourcing?
The article posted also indicates that by the time the water is flushed out intot he ocean the slinity going out is not significantly different than what it was going in.
I believe that in this context pollution is simply defined as "Putting something somewhere that we don't want there." It's like a scientist who has 'polluted' a flagon of sulferic acid with, say, peanut butter. The compound is no longer good for many (if not most) uses.
In this and many other cases it's often a personal belief or desire. In some cases there are reasonable reasons for avoiding certian 'pollution' (such as rinsing the orange juice glass before filling with milk).
Slashdot Mirror
If you want to know whether your case was opened by the TSA and still use a lock that they won't break, use a security tag and a TSA lock. They will break the tag (usually a zip-tie type thingy) but not the lock.
If it was never opened, you break the tag and open the lock
If it was opened by the TSA or a knowledgable criminal, the tag is broken, but not the lock
If it was opened by a criminal then either they had TSA equipment/knowledge, or both the lock and tag are broken.
I usually just boobie trap my luggage with a case of of C4.
-Adam
The colection basket has been passed to you. There are no exits because you chose to sit in the middle of the pew. What do you want to do?
Donate O$5 O$10 @$50 via PayPal
Deftly pass it along while hanging your head in virtual shame
-Adam
There are few resources for contactless power supplies because they are so darn inefficent that there's almost always a better solution.
Since you didn't give us any information on how much power you actually need (a few milliwatts I hope...) then all I can tell you is to avoid air coils. You'll get almost no practical energy transfer. Make the smaller coil fit inside the larger coil, and put a suitable core inside the smaller coil.
Alternately, if you want two flat faces facing each other, get two large cheap speakers. Remove the cone and coils from the magnet assembly. You may need to remove the magnets themselves and replace them with another ferromagnetic material. Place new coils where the old speaker coils were (wrapped around the core inside the assembly). Face them to each other and put low voltage AC on one side.
There are transformer books which will give you the information you need to accomplish this. It's hard to give you better information than that, though, without knowing the power requirements of your device.
If this PDF treatment on the subject doesn't help, then you probably don't have enough knowledge to correctly design one and you ought to simply start toying around with different designs until you find a suitable match. If/when you mass manufacture the device you'll want to pass it by a real engineer who can redesign it for you. Pay attention to the references in the paper for more information.
-Adam
"Dear Sir or Madam,
Recently you sent an email containing a Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint Document. Due to security and virus concerns [our company] cannot accept those attachments.
Please use HTML, RTF, PDF, or regular text to transmit future documents to me. It will be necessary for you to retransmit this document in an acceptable format.
If the need is urgent and you are unable to convert it to an acceptable format please fax short documents to xxx-yyy-zzzz. Please call for arrangements to transmit documents with more than 20 pages.
Thank you for your time.
-Adam"
I was wondering if anybody here has had any good/bad experiences or pointers (websites, books) I can refer to on this subject.
Wonder no more. There are people here who have had some good/bad experiences or pointers that you can refer to on this subject.
-Adam
This contest was $10,000. Half went to the project maintainers, and then half of the remainder (1/4) is given to each of the people who found the collision.
So the individuals got $2,500, and whoever put the project together and hosted it got $5,000.
-Adam
The business school has had it far longer than any other portion of the main campus. The engineering campus has a decent rollout, but there are many areas where access isn't good.
I take all of my notes on my laptop, and I find it is better for test preparation than paper notes for me. In rooms where I've had network access I don't find it a distraction, but often I'll leave the network card out just to save power. Haven't been doing that recently since I my laptop supports two batteries at once and I get 6+ hours at a charge.
The main benefit is when all the lab computers are taken (which is pretty much all the time) I have not only a computer to work on, but my own environment with everything, including my notes, at my fingertips.
The engineering campus uses a VPN over wireless, so there's great security. The main campus uses no encryption so I try to avoid doing anything sensitive when I'm there.
-Adam -Adam
This energy is being provided on a constant basis, and you will probably die long before the disk falls to the ground.
I suspect you and I are essentially understanding the same principles, but speaking about them in a different way. However, the statement you make above worries me that you do not truly understand.
When I levitate a magnet in a gravitational field, neither gravity nor the magnet are imparting 'energy' They are static fields. Once you levitate a magnet is enters a state of equilibrium where the force pulling it down is equal to the force pushing it up. However, these forces do not impart 'energy' any more than a book resting on a table imparts energy.
HOWEVER, they do 'store' energy, in the same way an untapped battery stores energy.
What I am indicating is that if he is using the energy that is stored in a magnet, then that energy has to 1) have come from somewhere (the magnetization process) and 2) has to decay at a rate equal to or greater than its usage.
The motor is claimed to have an output greater than one watt, with an input less than one watt. Therefore, according to your own postings, the difference is coming from the magnets. This energy must be lost from the magnet. The motor must cease functioning.
However, I don't believe a motor that takes energy from its own magnets will last for very long, especially at the rate that the magnets must lose energy in order to make up for that 1 watt or more difference in output.
So, go back to your textbooks and calculate the energy required to impart a given field to a magnet. Then calculate how much energy these magnets must impart to the motor to give it an output advantage of 1 watt over its input. Then calculate the time it takes to reduce the magnetic field to zero. Then repeat to yourself, "This motor must die quickly, because even in a perfect conversion, even magnetically dense small magnets do not hold kilowatts of power, regardless of the method used to extract that power."
But, as I said above, it appears as though you have a sound understanding of static and dynamic forces, and the barrier is likely to be the words and phrases we are using to discuss the same principles. It may simply be more a matter of magnitude - it seems as though you believe he is extracting a very small amount of energy from the magnets, while I'm claiming that it must be large to get the differential he is claiming.
-Adam
Are you claiming that you can extract energy from a magnet when that energy was not there in the first place? You should read the physics page where the 'ball bearing shooter' was analyzed. You'll find that the act of placing the magnets and ball bearings in position provides energy to the machine. The act of rolling another ball into the first magnet pushes it just outside it's equilibruim, and it releases the energy stored when the balls were placed.
This is all well and good, and applies to his motor - a bunch of magnets are placed at a point just before they release a bunch of energy. Here's the fun part --> He is claiming that the magnets return to that magic equilibrium point by themselves at the end of their cycle. Then it only requires another tiny push to set them off again, and again releasing a huge rush of energy.
The ball bearing gun, however, does not return to it's previous equilibrium. In fact it provably enters a state of much lower energy than the state it started in.
The motor that as described is a classic perpetual motion machine. It may be that the article is incorrectly describing the motor, and perhaps he has produced an ultra efficient motor. However, saying that any apparatus has "315%" efficiency (ie, output > input) is just begging for a full detailed analysis.
And, by the way, the ball bearing gun uses the pattern of magnet-ballbearing-ballbearing space magnet-ballbearing-ballbearing space, etc. Not alternately bearing, magnet, bearing, magnet. This is important for the operation of the device - read the article if you don't understand why. Just keep reminding yourself that the end result contains less energy than the beginning state.
-Adam
Ah. So what you're saying is that he has developed a method of storing huge amounts of power into magnets, and controlling the release of that power into the motor? So, in effect, the motor has two power sources, the magnets and the electrical input?
Ok. I'd like you to demonstrate then how much energy the magnet holds, then tell me how long it'll dregrade in the motor so I know when this energy source runs out.
However, I think the much more likely explanation is very powerful magnets with very good bearings, and bad electronic meters which don't measure average current/voltage, but instantaneous current/voltage (ie, he may be putting in 2A spikes a few hundred times a second, but the meter isn't reacting fast enough to show the actual energy input.)
If this system did put out more energy than went in, then he should hook the generator back up to the motor and demonstrate that it does in fact put out more than it eats, and let it run until the magnets fail so we have a good idea of how long the magnets last. I cannot believe that he could make a magnet that holds and releases x joules of power for less money than you can get x joules of power from the power company.
-Adam
/i>"NASA Extends Rover Occupation of Mars"
The director of NASA, however, assures us that Mars will revert to it's own sovereignty by September 30th. An unnamed United Worlds representative noted that "it's going to be very hard to hold Martian elections by that date, and NASA seems unprepared to set up an interim government which the average Martian can put his faith in."
Russian scientists recently announced a humanitarian aid mission could be active on Mars in 10 years, but Russian officials were quick to deny "any plans to interfere in NASA research."
-Adam
Infinium Finds Itself In, Out Of Court Again
Then you shake it all about! You do the hokey-pokey and you turn your stock around, that's what it's all about!
-Adam
It means that I'm not a good accountant, and let several customers in years past go without paying for several months. This isn't bad unless you know that their balance was covered by my credit, all the time earning interest. The profits are effectively eaten up in interest.
I'm climbing out of that hole, rather succesfully, but I'm still more interested in providing my customers with low cost systems than in producing a large profit. Some years I make a profit, some years I break even, a few years I've lost, but usually only because december payments are held over until the following year.
The benefits I get are constant familiarity with the hardware and software, I keep my tax license and reseller status, slightly less expensive components for myself, and a business I can fall back on if needed for a variety of purposes. Mainly, though, I get paid to keep up with current hardware technology.
-Adam
are you required (or want) to work a second job?
Depends on your point of view. I work full time. I go to school (at the non-friendly for working students school University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) 1/2 to full time depending on the semester. I maintain a seperate computer consulting business which breaks even each year (no real profit or loss - but there are other benefits). I maintain a home and family. I look forward to graduating and having a single job, and spending my time with my family and hobby of electronics.
I'm in one of those situations.
Which, you want to, or have to?
Do you think it would be a better idea for someone to work two somewhat secure jobs, getting paid a little bit less, or going for a higher paying somewhat insecure job?
At this point I choose security over better pay. however, neither of the choices you've provided are ideal. Keep in mind that if you take a less secure job that only requires 40 hour weeks then you'll have a lot more time for job searching and polishing your skill set than you'll ever have working for two jobs.
would you rather work 2 secure jobs, that pay a little bit less than what you could be making, or would you rather get paid a touch more, and work for 1 less secure employer?
Again, neither choice is good. It depends on the money and how you define 'secure'. The last several jobs I've had they realize very quickly how hard I work and how valuable I am. All of my employers, even those providing 'less secure' positions, have been unhappy to see me go. (I don't engage in bidding wars - when I decide to leave I leave. Bidding leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth)
So go for the job where you'll be happiest. If happiness comes from more security, less time, less money, and less flexibility, then stay in your comfort zone. If you can afford to take a risk (as a family man my risk level is low, but you may have much more space to move right now) then shoot for the stars. Show your stuff, and make yourself a valued employee.
As always, don't rely on someone else's opinion as to what you should do. Make a decision. Stick to the decision until, if ever, you decide it was a mistake. If it was a mistake then shift gears and correct your course. Don't ever think that you're stuck - there's always another direction to go in. You're only stuck if you say you are, etc, etc.
And don't use slashdot as a motivational resource - if you can't motivate yourself, then no one else will be able to motivate you when you most need it.
-Adam
In fact, [a particular program] is used in many some big movie studios such as ILM, Sony and DreamWorks. If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for you.
Quotes like this make me cringe on so many levels.
1. What do they use the software for? Perhaps they only use it because some intern set up a script to automate a file renaming process. That doesn't make it good enough for me
2. What makes you think my needs are completely met by something that meets someone else's needs? This argument has no value. "Kibbles and bits - if it's good enough for lassie, it's good enough for your half a bee, Eric."
3. ???
"I'm not a real Linux user, but I advocate Linux on my hardware site. Testing hardware is tough, but when my working evironment consists soley of Windows machines, at the end of the day I like to go home and relax at the command line of my RedSuseBian. There's nothing like a good scripting session to clear the head and soothe my tender muscles. Try it! You'll like it - I gaurantee."
Bleah. Leave the PR quotes to real PR people, and just give us the facts.
-Adam
1. Create linux QT app
2. Embed my QT app into a minimal colinux app
3. Send out my QT/Linux software on CD
4. Profit!
5. Thumb nose at Trolltech
6. Profit some more!
-Adam
I know RFIDs. This article isn't talking about RFIDs. It's talking about a GPS satelite person tracking system. Then it has a picture of a freaking RFID tag.
I'm saying that it can't be what they claim it is (GPS and/or satellite tracking transmitter).
The idea behind this system is that the people won't know that they're wearing this tag, and that they can be tracked remotely. RFID tags this small can only be read from so far away.
So, in short, this is not what it claims to be. If it's RFID, then it can't possibly do what they suggest. If it's GPS then the picture is a mock up, or false. They don't mention either possibility on the page.
And yes, you're right, RFID tags do not need a battery to operate - in fact that is one of their advantages. They can use batteries if one wants them to be active or transmit further.
And no, people will never 'learn' about RFIDs the way you seem to want them to. Most people don't even know about computers, they just know how to use them.
-Adam
If you think even a few percent of Google's customers will come close to 1GB of email within the first few years then you overestimate the average email user. Even if they did, using an aggressive compression algorithm they can cut store a full account (1GB of uncompressed email) down by at least 50%, if not to 20-25%. Since it has to be email then it has to follow normal email encoding standards (7bit, base64 encoding for binary, etc)
I think the power users are those who will subscribe to lists that they want to use for reference, but do not actually read on a regular basis. And guess what Google will do with such a list message? They will likely store one copy on the server, and a pointer from every account which received that message - perhaps with a small diff file to recover address differences, etc.
In the end, hard drive space is cheap They can set up a fully backed up terabyte array for under $1000. That terabyte array will support thousands of 'average' users, and hundreds of 'power' users.
The biggest deal is the searching technology. To search all that they'll need several dedicated servers with their own indexes. Chances are email will be auto-indexed as it comes in so searches always seem fresh.
In the end it's not going to need even a few percent of your excessive estimate. But if it did, you know it'd be worth it since they'd have extremely exacting profiles on their users and the people they contact, and advertising that is so tightly focused can be nothing but profitable.
The concept of indexing each email as it's stored provides a powerful opportunity for spam filtering, compression, and copy storage. If two messages are 90% similar then they may be from a list, they may be spam, or they may be valid. Create a diff file, store the diffs on each account, store the 'main' message the diffs were created from, and file the messages into the spam holder or regular folding, tagging and indexing as you go.
The fact is that the more users they have, the more powerful this system becomes. I'm drooling just thinking about the possibilities... I wouldn't mind working for them, I think.
Of course, this is mad speculation, but it just makes sense givin that they are an indexing company. Their main product is not searching, but indexing. Searching is simply a by-product.
-Adam
I'd like the documentarians to consider the difference between outsourcing to an expensive country (ie, Europe) vs. outsourcing to an inexpensive country (ie, india).
It seems that programmers are only mad that they are replaced by someone qualified to replace them when their replacement costs less. You don't see people complain when a company moves their division to a country where the labor cost is similar, such as to another part of the US.
-Adam
I re-read the page and noticed that it was cpld after I'd posted my earlier response. When I write "Xilinx" my hands automatically include FPGA afterwards. CPLDs and FPGAs have more in common than they have differences in many points of view. Cost is the big one. Power consumption and complexity are two others. Other than that, they are both programmable logic devices...
-Adam
Take a PIC microcontroller, add a Xilinx fpga, and a few misc other items and you have a decent logic analyzer.
Check out his Carmon project if you're interested in long term GPS data tracking (stores a GPS data stream to a compact flash card)
-Adam
It's fake. The "GPS Pellet" is nothing more than a picture of a common transponder (RFID). Even if they could get the GPS electronics that small, and fit a tansmitter in there, the battery needed for more than a few minutes of GPS calculations would be significantly larger than the capsule.
Furthermore, the GPS signal doesn't go very deep through human tissue, it degrades as it goes, and a transmitter strong ernough to be received more than a few hundred yards away would be comparable in size and power consumption to a cell phone.
Interesting concept. It's not impossible, but it's not cost effective now.
-Adam
Dell outsources its tech help and sales lines to India. They are now selling laptops that are very inexpensive.
I can see that jobs are being displaced for outsourcing, but the economic benefit to me personally is still positive. I didn't put all my eggs in one basket - I can do computer work, electrical engineering, mix the two up and do embedded processors and microcontrollers. The people who are upset are those who planned on being employed in one industry for their entire lives and didn't take into account that this industry changes every year - perhaps that's one of the reasons they joined anyway.
So my question is: who is doing the complaining, and is the negative economic impact across the board greater than the positive economic impact of cheaper products available to the average American - most of who are not otherwise affected by this outsourcing?
-Adam
The article posted also indicates that by the time the water is flushed out intot he ocean the slinity going out is not significantly different than what it was going in.
-Adam
I believe that in this context pollution is simply defined as "Putting something somewhere that we don't want there." It's like a scientist who has 'polluted' a flagon of sulferic acid with, say, peanut butter. The compound is no longer good for many (if not most) uses.
In this and many other cases it's often a personal belief or desire. In some cases there are reasonable reasons for avoiding certian 'pollution' (such as rinsing the orange juice glass before filling with milk).
-Adam