By reducing the brightness of the streetlights, our eyes are adjusted to the lower light levels and so we can see better into the unlit shadows; hence making it harder for the criminals to lurk unseen.
Although this was borne out by a study (somewhere in Arizona? Can't find a link handy), Joe Public didn't understand and demanded their brighter lights back.
Indeed. These are the same people who think putting bright lights on the outside of their house and beaming them all over the neighborhood somehow improves security. You'd never be able to spot a burglar breaking in because you are blinded by their "security" lights.
"I think you're overlooking the fact that people who hold garage sales generally sell the items for LESS than they would declare their value for charitable deduction purposes. At least, that's what I would do"
Not at all. In fact, the whole point of what I was saying is that you *could* sell your stuff for far less than the "fair market value" and still break even or even come out ahead. AND, you wouldn't have to hassle with filling out IRS forms detailing every item you were donating. That's assuming you are willing to roll the dice and hope your neighbors don't turn you in for not declaring your massive windfall on your taxes.
Granted, if you have a few, more expensive items, then it would generally make sense to go the tax deduction route. But for lots of lower priced items, I say "go on, take the money and run"
And as a follow up to a comment someone else made, when I had a garage sale earlier this summer (ok, we call 'em "tag sales" in my neck of the woods), everything that wasn't sold at the end of the day was listed on my local Freecycle groups or donated to the Salvation Army (no tax deduction taken).
A handy deduction tip: Give your old stuff away to charity instead of having a garage sale. If you are already itemizing your deductions anyway (most homeowners are in this boat) the tax savings from the deduction at a reasonable declared value will bring you more than taking pennies on the dollar from spendthrifts at your sale. Plus, you dont have to pay taxes on the income from the garage sale (since there is no income)
Just for the sake of argument, lets assume your tax rate is 30%, and you figure a reasonable value of your garage sale crap is $500. That would generate a tax savings of $150.
You'd be ahead of the game if you sold your $500 worth of crap for anything over $150, assuming you didn't bother to declare your garage sale income on your taxes, because honestly, who has ever done that? Anyone? Those must be the same people that declare Use tax.
OTOH, at least you wouldn't have to waste a weekend selling your junk $5 at a time, and hauling the leftover stuff to the trash.
"IOW your 100% digital DirecTV show has to be converted to analog, then back to digital to save it on a PC using one of these devices. Same for digital cable. The loss in quality may or may not matter to you"
Exactly right, and the difference in quality is noticable, especially since you'll be recompressing a previously decompressed signal.
In order to get dual tuner capability for DirecTV with Myth or other software DVR, you'll need 2 DirecTV boxes, which will result in a $5 programmming mirroring fee, which is the same $5 you'd pay in DVR fees in the first place, if you just got the integrated DTivo box.
"I wonder if I run it through the VCR if that would provide another tuner?"
That won't help. The Standalone Tivo only has one MPEG encoder, so it can only record one thing at a time. The Directv/Tivo records the digital streams directly to the hard drive (no encoders needed), which is why it's fairly easy to record 2 things at once (it couldn't when originally released, but that was fixed with a software update)
"I remember when I was 8 or 9 copying crap off the radio, because I didn't have enough cash to buy the album...Lunging across the room to hammer record and miss as little of the song as possible."
And hoping the DJ would STFU and not talk over the beginning of the song.
"What law says they have to sign a Macrovision license?"
None, but since they wanted to license Macrovision, they had to comply with the license requirements.
Including Macrovision technology was a business decision, whether you agree with it or not. Whether it was a *good* decision or not is left as an exercise for the reader
CNN is running a story about how a U.S. inventor has found a way to power a car using useless:CueCat barcode scanners. Yes you read that right. According to the inventor, he can power the vehicle by burning the CueCat scanners, at the rate of 45 miles per 100 scanners.
Needless to say many intellectual property lawyers are upset by this development, and some are saying that it is illegal to use the devices for this purpose in the U.S, claiming it violates the intellectual property rights and license agreement of Digital Convergence (maker of the Cuecat).
Fortunately, the same inventor is working on a vehicle powered by intellectual property lawyers. According to the inventor, "you'd be amazed at how much hot air they can produce".
"Otherwise, maintain what you have and develop sufficient expertise on your own. Convert when you know the answers to all the questions I asked above (and then some), but not before."
No kidding. They run SBS 2003 and XP (not exactly old stuff) but he wants to rip it all out and replace it with Linux because he's afraid of viruses?
If he said "We are running Window NT 3.51 and a handful of Windows for Workgroups machines" then maybe his plan has some merit...
Slashdot Mirror
I've been wondering how to get out of programming.
Do you want my job?
"Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital with the iPod, geek capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style" -- Steve Jobs
"I think you're overlooking the fact that people who hold garage sales generally sell the items for LESS than they would declare their value for charitable deduction purposes. At least, that's what I would do"
Not at all. In fact, the whole point of what I was saying is that you *could* sell your stuff for far less than the "fair market value" and still break even or even come out ahead. AND, you wouldn't have to hassle with filling out IRS forms detailing every item you were donating. That's assuming you are willing to roll the dice and hope your neighbors don't turn you in for not declaring your massive windfall on your taxes.
Granted, if you have a few, more expensive items, then it would generally make sense to go the tax deduction route. But for lots of lower priced items, I say "go on, take the money and run"
And as a follow up to a comment someone else made, when I had a garage sale earlier this summer (ok, we call 'em "tag sales" in my neck of the woods), everything that wasn't sold at the end of the day was listed on my local Freecycle groups or donated to the Salvation Army (no tax deduction taken).
A handy deduction tip: Give your old stuff away to charity instead of having a garage sale. If you are already itemizing your deductions anyway (most homeowners are in this boat) the tax savings from the deduction at a reasonable declared value will bring you more than taking pennies on the dollar from spendthrifts at your sale. Plus, you dont have to pay taxes on the income from the garage sale (since there is no income)
Just for the sake of argument, lets assume your tax rate is 30%, and you figure a reasonable value of your garage sale crap is $500. That would generate a tax savings of $150.
You'd be ahead of the game if you sold your $500 worth of crap for anything over $150, assuming you didn't bother to declare your garage sale income on your taxes, because honestly, who has ever done that? Anyone? Those must be the same people that declare Use tax.
OTOH, at least you wouldn't have to waste a weekend selling your junk $5 at a time, and hauling the leftover stuff to the trash.
"One major thing that brings me back to slashdot, is how easy it is on the eyes"
How soon we forget...
Quick, someone post a goatse link.
If you're an alien, throw a wild drunken party.
"IOW your 100% digital DirecTV show has to be converted to analog, then back to digital to save it on a PC using one of these devices. Same for digital cable. The loss in quality may or may not matter to you"
Exactly right, and the difference in quality is noticable, especially since you'll be recompressing a previously decompressed signal.
In order to get dual tuner capability for DirecTV with Myth or other software DVR, you'll need 2 DirecTV boxes, which will result in a $5 programmming mirroring fee, which is the same $5 you'd pay in DVR fees in the first place, if you just got the integrated DTivo box.
"I wonder if I run it through the VCR if that would provide another tuner?"
That won't help. The Standalone Tivo only has one MPEG encoder, so it can only record one thing at a time.
The Directv/Tivo records the digital streams directly to the hard drive (no encoders needed), which is why it's fairly easy to record 2 things at once (it couldn't when originally released, but that was fixed with a software update)
"What does MythTV offer that you don't have with MCE?"
Less EVIL?
"I read this 12 hours ago on the BBC"
It was on digg at least 8 hours ago.
The only reason I come do slashdot anymore is for the excellent moderation system.
Oh yeah, and for the lively "dupe" discussions.
"I remember when I was 8 or 9 copying crap off the radio, because I didn't have enough cash to buy the album...Lunging across the room to hammer record and miss as little of the song as possible."
And hoping the DJ would STFU and not talk over the beginning of the song.
Good times..... good times....
Use one of those cellphone antenna boosters, which of course you adhere to your laptop battery.
Should provide at least the same amount of antenna boost as it does for cellphones.
Bringing us ever closer to a world full of disposable junk!
Ever closer?
Where have *you* been for the last 20 years?
"Quantum computers to be obselete by 2025. You heard it here first"
Let's hope that Netcraft will still be around in 2025 to confirm it
Fire up google and search for "home weather meter computer kit".
Wow amazing! It's like a knowledge index for websites that returns results for stuff you want to know about!
"Dammit Seumas!! I'm a meteorologist, not a computer scientist!"
"What law says they have to sign a Macrovision license?"
None, but since they wanted to license Macrovision, they had to comply with the license requirements.
Including Macrovision technology was a business decision, whether you agree with it or not. Whether it was a *good* decision or not is left as an exercise for the reader
"Exactly why is TiVo adding this functionality? I cannot for the life of me figure it out"
7 .html
It was a licensing requirement from Macrovision
See here http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050914-530
"What's going to be different between this discussion and the linked, previous, Slashdot discussion?"
Some fancy CSS
"Otherwise, maintain what you have and develop sufficient expertise on your own. Convert when you know the answers to all the questions I asked above (and then some), but not before."
No kidding. They run SBS 2003 and XP (not exactly old stuff) but he wants to rip it all out and replace it with Linux because he's afraid of viruses?
If he said "We are running Window NT 3.51 and a handful of Windows for Workgroups machines" then maybe his plan has some merit...
I can see it all now....
Boss: WTF?!?! Charlie, get your ass in here!! How come Outlook says it cannot find the email server.
Charli125: We'll, I replaced our Windows server with Linux, because it's free and will save us money.
Boss: Look, if you don't change everything back so I can get my email in the next 30 minutes, the only thing we'll be saving money on is your salary!
This must be the computerish equivalent of the "Kick-Me" tee-shirt...
More like the *triple* dog dare.
Whoa there cowboy...
He said "up".... beat yourself *up*