Sorry to burst your bubble Einstein, but it that wasn't an assumption, it was a simile. You can tell by the way it uses the work "like" in it's construction.
There's this wonderful invention called the remote control. And if your TV is advanced enough, you can program the channels out. Wow, what a concept.
Spoken like someone who doesn't pay his own bills and as a result, doesn't care what it costs.
Every time MY cable system adds another channel the rates go up. I'm already paying for too many channels that I'll never, EVER watch, why would I want to pay for another? And don't even get me started on the satellite providers. Every one of them arrange their packages so I have to buy 2 or 3 to get the same channels I watch on basic cable, usually more than doubling the cost. Another channel? No way. I'd rather get rid of the ones I don't watch so I wouldn't have to pay for them anymore and my rates would go down.
Funny, I buy those kind all the time and never have had a problem. I burn them at 12X, too. The only reason I haven't bought any of CompUSA's shrink-wrapped disks lately is I no longer take business trips to a city with a CompUSA store. I haven't paid more than $5/100 for CDs in years. Most of the over 300 blanks I have currently on hand right now were free after rebate (and yes, I DID get the rebates). So go figure.
I think a lot of it has to do with cellular providers "sitting" on large blocks of unused numbers they don't want to give up. The FCC has said that a lot of the new area codes recently issued have been needed because of telcos reserving large blocks of numbers that they have no hope or plan of ever issuing. If large numbers of customers start moving their numbers to other providers, the cell phone companies will be forced to start issuing these reserved numbers to new customers.
There's an old quote that goes something like this:
"Roosevelt proved a man could be President for life, Truman proved that any man can become President, Eisenhower proved we don't really need a President."
What most people don't realize, however, is that good quality older printers, especially HPs, Xerox, and Canons, are often worth keeping around and repairing if they do the job you want to do.
Hear, Hear! I totally agree. I bought a used HP LJIIID 6 or 7 years ago and it's still going strong. I'm the 3rd owner of this seemingly indestructable printer. The first owner was a local company that felt it HAD to upgrade to something newer, the second owner was an employee of that company who brought it home for his wife to use in her home business. His wife wanted a new printer because the IIID was "big and ugly and noisy and old." I bought it from him for what he paid for her new printer (around $200 IIRC) and lugged the monster out to my car.
My wife was not happy when I brought it home until she saw the print quality, how it could print on both sides of the paper and automatically switch between letter, legal and envelopes (it has a envelope feeder). Now she loves it. If it ever does break where it can't be repaired I'll probably have to find another one just like it.
I've worn out 3 HP inkjets and a Brother laser in about the same time frame.
The only other printer I've had that seems to be built as well as the LJIID is my old Epson MX-80. printer. I used to take it on the road along with an IBM portable. It's been bounced all over the country and it hasn't failed yet.
I bought a TV some years ago that would turn itself on or off whenever a certain car drove in front of our house. The only thing that stopped it was to leave the shades closed all the time or move the TV so it didn't face the window. The car had a brightly lit digital display we could see from the house and we always assumed that the display was modulated in a pattern that just happened to be the same code as he TV's on/off signal. Eventually the guy either moved away or sold the car. We haven't had it happen for years. (We still have the TV, it still faces the window.)
I used TaxAct for the 3rd year in a row and had no problems. Federal filing was free and the State was $7.95. Feds deposited my refund 11 days later, state always takes between 2 & 3 weeks (should be deposited Friday). TaxAct pointed out things I would have missed otherwise and saved me about $800.
Helpful hints: 1. Get a federal booklet. It will answer many of your questions. 2. www.irs.gov. It's there, use it. Their FAQ page at http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html has lots of good info. 3. Check for a local office in your area. You can meet an IRS rep face-to-face and ask questions. The IRS may be blood-sucking bastards, but they're HELPFUL, blood-sucking bastards.
Just kidding. I've always found the IRS folks to be courteous and helpful. One year they even found an error in my favor by $85! But then again, I've never tried to avoid paying my taxes, either.
Lind Electronics sells adapters for a variety of laptops. Check the "Auto Air Adapters" section.
I've been installing Lind power supplies for the last 3 years to power mobile-mounted, Panasonic Toughbooks. Out of hundreds installed I've only had one go bad and it was jump-started by an idiot. I've had a higher failure rate on the Toughbooks. As far as the laptops are concerned, they think they're hooked to their normal AC adapter.
The adapters we've been buying are completely potted with rubber inside and can be easily weather-proofed by putting a bead of silicone caulk around each connector.
The longer you let it go, the more nature reclaims it. You have to plan to fight entropy continuously.
I took a tour in the NE US a few years ago and the guide told us, "Our ancestors built these buildings with the intent that thay would last hundreds of years!" There was a crew on scaffolding against one building tuck-pointing all the mortar on one wall. I pointed out to the guide that if it wasn't for the regular replacement of the mortar, none of these building would have lasted 50 years. His response was, "Yeah, but they were smart enough to build these buildings so that we _could_ replace the mortar."
I thought it was a stupid answer at the time but later I realized that he was right. They didn't build things they couldn't repair, replace or maintain.
I have friends that live in a 170 year old, wood frame house. Of course, the banister was replaced sometime in the 1920's and the oak posts in the cellar were changed to steel in the 1960's and several steps have been replaced and the siding's been replaced several times and the chimneys have been rebuilt,... you get the idea.
But, it's still considered a 170 year old house even though probably less than half of it is actually 170 years old.
My point is, structures that are maintained, last. Those that are not maintained, don't. It doesn't really matter what material you build with, if you don't or can't maintain it, it isn't going to last anyway.
Never met a Ph.D. who was that bad but I did have to work with a gal who had her Masters in CS who was an idiot. One day she came into my office and demanded help on a problem. She wanted to know how to do a subroutine... IN BASIC!
I told her to look it up in the manual and she apparently found it easier to whine to my boss that I was being uncooperative and "delaying her project" (don't ask). I was ordered to "hold her hand" and teach her how to do it.
When I finished I told her I had only one question, "Where did she get her degree?" She told me and asked if I was thinking of enrolling. I said, "No, I want to make sure no one I know even considers going there." Didn't have to though, they went out of business a few years later. Not enough students and graduates were having trouble getting jobs. I wonder why?
Oh, and 2 months later she left to run the cad department. Her project was dumped on me. After a week I figured out that the hardware she had already bought was too slow to do the job in realtime by a factor of at least 4.
TI SR-10 bought in `73 or `74. Still works like new.
Also have one of the first LCD watches, a Micronta from 1975. Gains about 2 seconds a day (always did, they couldn't seem to fix it) but otherwise runs fine.
Only 23 years? It's not even close to one of the first. I helped a friend go through her mother's estate this summer. In the basement was a 1934 front loader, still in working condition and still hooked up. Her mother had gotten too frail to go downstairs about 20 years ago and had a second machine installed on the main floor. The manual was still in a manilla envelope in the rafters above it. It said it was suitable for either AC or DC operation on voltages from 80 to 200 volts. Took 4 of us to hoist the heavy $#&#% upstairs for the auction.
Oldest and toughest piece of tech I personally own is my Texas Instruments SR-10 calculator; $250 when I bought it new in `73 or `74. It's been dropped out of my backpack at high speed on my bicycle, fell off the top of my car and has been knocked off many a desk. It has a few case dents (mostly corners), a few scuffs and once I had to glue the red display bezel back in place. Still works like new.
When I first heard the Office of Homeland Security telling people get into an interior room and seal it with duct tape and plastic, I thought, how long before we see the headline, "Family suffocates in their air-tight safe room"
Slashdot Mirror
The headphone jack is monaural only. I suppose you _could_ listen to mp3s in monaural, but I'd rather have stereo.
Sorry to burst your bubble Einstein, but it that wasn't an assumption, it was a simile. You can tell by the way it uses the work "like" in it's construction.
There's this wonderful invention called the remote control. And if your TV is advanced enough, you can program the channels out. Wow, what a concept.
Spoken like someone who doesn't pay his own bills and as a result, doesn't care what it costs.
Every time MY cable system adds another channel the rates go up. I'm already paying for too many channels that I'll never, EVER watch, why would I want to pay for another? And don't even get me started on the satellite providers. Every one of them arrange their packages so I have to buy 2 or 3 to get the same channels I watch on basic cable, usually more than doubling the cost. Another channel? No way. I'd rather get rid of the ones I don't watch so I wouldn't have to pay for them anymore and my rates would go down.
I'm not, but my clone is.
Why do the rebels have to enter and exit the Matrix via a telephone system (that doesn't actually exist)?
Yes, but does it explain why some people seem to have a need to have a fictional story validated by pseudo-fact?
The local store near my house used have stacks of them because even though they were free, no one wanted them.
Funny, I buy those kind all the time and never have had a problem. I burn them at 12X, too. The only reason I haven't bought any of CompUSA's shrink-wrapped disks lately is I no longer take business trips to a city with a CompUSA store. I haven't paid more than $5/100 for CDs in years. Most of the over 300 blanks I have currently on hand right now were free after rebate (and yes, I DID get the rebates). So go figure.
I think a lot of it has to do with cellular providers "sitting" on large blocks of unused numbers they don't want to give up. The FCC has said that a lot of the new area codes recently issued have been needed because of telcos reserving large blocks of numbers that they have no hope or plan of ever issuing. If large numbers of customers start moving their numbers to other providers, the cell phone companies will be forced to start issuing these reserved numbers to new customers.
There's an old quote that goes something like this:
"Roosevelt proved a man could be President for life, Truman proved that any man can become President, Eisenhower proved we don't really need a President."
They've invented Kahlua!
Again.
No where in Cringely's article is porn mentioned. The only mention of porn is on Slashdot.
Which makes me wonder about the priorities of Slashdot's editors.
Wouldn't it just be easier to do your freakin' homework, slacker?
What most people don't realize, however, is that good quality older printers, especially HPs, Xerox, and Canons, are often worth keeping around and repairing if they do the job you want to do.
Hear, Hear! I totally agree. I bought a used HP LJIIID 6 or 7 years ago and it's still going strong. I'm the 3rd owner of this seemingly indestructable printer. The first owner was a local company that felt it HAD to upgrade to something newer, the second owner was an employee of that company who brought it home for his wife to use in her home business. His wife wanted a new printer because the IIID was "big and ugly and noisy and old." I bought it from him for what he paid for her new printer (around $200 IIRC) and lugged the monster out to my car.
My wife was not happy when I brought it home until she saw the print quality, how it could print on both sides of the paper and automatically switch between letter, legal and envelopes (it has a envelope feeder). Now she loves it. If it ever does break where it can't be repaired I'll probably have to find another one just like it.
I've worn out 3 HP inkjets and a Brother laser in about the same time frame.
The only other printer I've had that seems to be built as well as the LJIID is my old Epson MX-80. printer. I used to take it on the road along with an IBM portable. It's been bounced all over the country and it hasn't failed yet.
I bought a TV some years ago that would turn itself on or off whenever a certain car drove in front of our house. The only thing that stopped it was to leave the shades closed all the time or move the TV so it didn't face the window. The car had a brightly lit digital display we could see from the house and we always assumed that the display was modulated in a pattern that just happened to be the same code as he TV's on/off signal. Eventually the guy either moved away or sold the car. We haven't had it happen for years. (We still have the TV, it still faces the window.)
I used TaxAct for the 3rd year in a row and had no problems. Federal filing was free and the State was $7.95. Feds deposited my refund 11 days later, state always takes between 2 & 3 weeks (should be deposited Friday). TaxAct pointed out things I would have missed otherwise and saved me about $800.
Helpful hints:
1. Get a federal booklet. It will answer many of your questions.
2. www.irs.gov. It's there, use it. Their FAQ page at http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html has lots of good info.
3. Check for a local office in your area. You can meet an IRS rep face-to-face and ask questions.
The IRS may be blood-sucking bastards, but they're HELPFUL, blood-sucking bastards.
Just kidding. I've always found the IRS folks to be courteous and helpful. One year they even found an error in my favor by $85! But then again, I've never tried to avoid paying my taxes, either.
Lind Electronics sells adapters for a variety of laptops. Check the "Auto Air Adapters" section.
I've been installing Lind power supplies for the last 3 years to power mobile-mounted, Panasonic Toughbooks. Out of hundreds installed I've only had one go bad and it was jump-started by an idiot. I've had a higher failure rate on the Toughbooks. As far as the laptops are concerned, they think they're hooked to their normal AC adapter.
The adapters we've been buying are completely potted with rubber inside and can be easily weather-proofed by putting a bead of silicone caulk around each connector.
Disclaimer: It worked for me.
Two words:
Regular Maintenance
The longer you let it go, the more nature reclaims it. You have to plan to fight entropy continuously.
I took a tour in the NE US a few years ago and the guide told us, "Our ancestors built these buildings with the intent that thay would last hundreds of years!" There was a crew on scaffolding against one building tuck-pointing all the mortar on one wall.
I pointed out to the guide that if it wasn't for the regular replacement of the mortar, none of these building would have lasted 50 years. His response was, "Yeah, but they were smart enough to build these buildings so that we _could_ replace the mortar."
I thought it was a stupid answer at the time but later I realized that he was right. They didn't build things they couldn't repair, replace or maintain.
I have friends that live in a 170 year old, wood frame house. Of course, the banister was replaced sometime in the 1920's and the oak posts in the cellar were changed to steel in the 1960's and several steps have been replaced and the siding's been replaced several times and the chimneys have been rebuilt,... you get the idea.
But, it's still considered a 170 year old house even though probably less than half of it is actually 170 years old.
My point is, structures that are maintained, last. Those that are not maintained, don't. It doesn't really matter what material you build with, if you don't or can't maintain it, it isn't going to last anyway.
Never met a Ph.D. who was that bad but I did have to work with a gal who had her Masters in CS who was an idiot. One day she came into my office and demanded help on a problem. She wanted to know how to do a subroutine... IN BASIC!
I told her to look it up in the manual and she apparently found it easier to whine to my boss that I was being uncooperative and "delaying her project" (don't ask). I was ordered to "hold her hand" and teach her how to do it.
When I finished I told her I had only one question, "Where did she get her degree?"
She told me and asked if I was thinking of enrolling. I said, "No, I want to make sure no one I know even considers going there."
Didn't have to though, they went out of business a few years later. Not enough students and graduates were having trouble getting jobs. I wonder why?
Oh, and 2 months later she left to run the cad department. Her project was dumped on me. After a week I figured out that the hardware she had already bought was too slow to do the job in realtime by a factor of at least 4.
TI SR-10 bought in `73 or `74. Still works like new.
Also have one of the first LCD watches, a Micronta from 1975. Gains about 2 seconds a day (always did, they couldn't seem to fix it) but otherwise runs fine.
Only 23 years? It's not even close to one of the first. I helped a friend go through her mother's estate this summer. In the basement was a 1934 front loader, still in working condition and still hooked up. Her mother had gotten too frail to go downstairs about 20 years ago and had a second machine installed on the main floor. The manual was still in a manilla envelope in the rafters above it. It said it was suitable for either AC or DC operation on voltages from 80 to 200 volts. Took 4 of us to hoist the heavy $#&#% upstairs for the auction.
Oldest and toughest piece of tech I personally own is my Texas Instruments SR-10 calculator; $250 when I bought it new in `73 or `74. It's been dropped out of my backpack at high speed on my bicycle, fell off the top of my car and has been knocked off many a desk. It has a few case dents (mostly corners), a few scuffs and once I had to glue the red display bezel back in place. Still works like new.
Yes, it usually says you won't sue even if it happens again.
And it probably will. Otherwise they wouldn't have asked him to sign the waiver.
'sdjek dYqkP 1Nt$% GGl9) MHrYD +++' decrypts to,
'I send you this file in order to have your advice'
When I first heard the Office of Homeland Security telling people get into an interior room and seal it with duct tape and plastic, I thought, how long before we see the headline, "Family suffocates in their air-tight safe room"
Yes, it was even on /. back in
2001
Isn't it supposed to be done by now?
Anything is art if the artist says it is.
-- Marcel Duchamp, from _Dadas on Art_
(That doesn't necessarily mean you have to buy it, though.)