Better than, I'm supposed to use this dingly dangly to do work, but the tools I'm allowed to use don't quite do what I need. If I could just use this app I could increase productivity, but IT has the system so locked down that to even think about using a different app is grounds for termination.
Face it, IT's job is to facilitate the rest of the company's performance of the real purposes of the company. IT doesn't make money for the company it enables the money making areas to make the money. A wise IT dept allows users to add additional tools, but with the caveat that the only fix available is a system wipe and restore to original configuration. The Users are responsible for keeping their data backed up.
As to the Gadget aspect, if the company didn't buy it, the company isn't responsible to fix it. If the company did, the company should have an extra stockpile, and any broken gadget is simply replaced with a baseline new one, again leaving it up to the employee to restore the apps and data they want. And it's the employee's job if their failure to maintain a backup causes critical data to be lost.
But how certain are you of what qualifies as a Nook sale? When buying through the B&N store, it's pretty obvious that I'm buying for a Nook, but elsewhere (Google, Baen, etc...) all you have is the format to indicate device and epub is not exclusive to the Nook by any means. I don't doubt for a second that Kindles are selling more, just wondering how you differentiate that an.epub file is going to a Nook versus a Kobo or other epub native reader?
Yes but unless the HR folks are dumb enough to outright state it's because of his age, it's very difficult to prove age discrimination, all they have to do is point to his resume and say "The reason we didn't choose that particular candidate is that he doesn't have the requisite skills for the position."
Case Dismissed.
You realize that Business does not belong in your comment. For businesses to cut spending means laying people off. Businesses for the most part tried to absorb increased costs and reduced income at the beginning of the recession, but eventually had to start letting people go. Now they are working at minimal staffing, overworking the staffs they do have, and still having to make the bottom line. They can't cut any more staff, and still meet the production required to be profitable. What other brilliant method do you have for them to cut?
Now if you replace businesses with state and local governments then your argument works better. Granted local communities have cut staff and costs but they still want to run big fancy rec centers, and arts programs and every other little frill they invented during the years of booming revenues, so now they are looking to raise revenues to keep those programs. Since the Housing bubble to tax appraisal for my house has dropped by over 50k (most of which was bubble fluff) yet my taxes have not dropped but have instead increased every year, last year my city hit us with a 50% increase in the property taxes assessed. Similarly use of speed traps, parking traps and other similar revenue streams have been substantially increased, all service fees (trash garbage etc..) have gone up. All this while the residents of the cities are tightening their belts because if they haven't lost their job, they've seen their pay frozen at the 2008 levels or had minimal pay raises that have not met the cost of living increase rates, and are paying more for fuel and food than ever before (well gas is the cheapest it's been in a while).
All this means the people are trying to get by on less, cutting their expenses, since they can't just raise a tax to get more money. That means they are cutting their expenditures, not buying stuff and buying stuff is what pushes the economy. But in the meantime every level of government is taking more or at least talking about taking more.
Instead, when times get tough governments should be the first to cut costs, not the last. We don't need a weekly free concert in the park, the fancy rec center doesn't need to do big holiday festivals every single month. Cut some damn costs, and not just by firing a couple more overworked secretaries, cut and even cancel programs until funding returns with the economy, which will return faster if you don't keep taking the peoples monies in new or higher taxes.
I thought I'd note that according to the USGS earthquake maps, the quakes in question, while not in the "Sweet Spot" areas on the map found on the site you linked to, are within the given boundaries of the Woodford Shale (again based on the map found on your link). So further investigation as to how much fraking is being done just north of Shawnee is essential to back up your claims.
I tend to agree with you but, your case isn't as strong as you claim. The real question is what does the historical record say about the frequency of earthquakes in the region.
Which also begs the question, if European diseases did spread across the continent so very very quickly in 1492, why did such diseases not spread quickly across North America starting back in 1000 AD? Were the Norse super humanly healthy with no disease among them?
I don't claim any expertise in these topics, I'm probably missing some key detail, but this thought did occur to me while reading TFA and the comments here. The Vikings had colonies on Greenland and on the NA continent, how were there no mass epidemics sweeping out from their colonies similar to the ones in the 1400's and 1500's?
Your mean the URL http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline ? How is that generic timeline stolen from timelines.com, what you're claiming is that Facebook stole their URL. Maybe at one point someone did get overzealous and redirected any FB search for Timelines on Facebook to the FB Timeline page, but currently a search comes up with multiple hits for Timelines (including another firm that does web based historical timelines). This company is listed second after the page for a band named Timelines. the FB service is at the bottom of the list. Further the Timelines link has the Timelines (tm) logo beside it, thus reaffirming the identity. FB never infringed on Timeline's own URL, but may briefly have infringed on the FB link within FB to the Timelines FB page (which while still a URL, is actually property of FB.)
Second the case is still very weak as FB does not list historical events. A timeline is a timeline based on information you've entered on your FB page going back to your birth. Unless you comment about some event that becomes of historical note, the FB timelines will not be of significant historical content or value. The complaint claims that the FB service using the generic term Timeline will compete with their service which claims to have the goal of being historically accurate and of educational value as a source of information about historical events. So the claim of Trademark infringement is still very weak. It's your timeline on Facebook, not Timelines by Facebook. FB is not using the same or even a similar logo other than the commonly defined and widely used timeline word, which is being used in accordance with it's definition. This suit sounds like the start of a Trademark troll attack on anyone who wants to use a timeline on their website, with FB as their first target.
Facebook isn't marketing this as Timelines.com by Facebook or even Timelines by Facebook, it's simply a timeline of your facebook information. A google search of Timelines had multiple items (not related to the news of the suit or to the FB feature) before timelines.com, including at least one other site that does the exact same thing Timelines seems to do. A search of the word Timeline failed to find the site in three pages of links.
If FB were marketing the new Timelines website by FB then the site might have a case, but FB is using a generic term in accordance with it's definition.
Somebody should make a Timeline about the history of such trolls.
Actually I think it should be illegal to hide or obfuscate any phone number when making a call. If you want to call me, your phone had better show me an accurate number,
When we take the risk out of war, it loses all meaning. You America haters think we're too quick to go to war now, wait until there is no risk to our own people. No bodies coming off planes at Dover AFB, no funerals, no news reports about another young widow with children to raise without a father (or the other way around). If we remove the risk, then war becomes merely a cost item on the budget, and much easier to jump into.
Take out the Sci-fi stories of the war robots turning on their Human masters (and the Governator isn't the only such story.) and I still have great concern about war becoming too easy for a technological society. We need the risk of death to keep us in check.
War isn't going away, in fact with our growing population your going to see much more as land has always been one of the great prompters of war. Let the machines aid it identifying the target and locking onto it, but always, always keep a human operator in the loop. And preferably not one on the other side of the world. Robots are great for tedious slow flying patrol routes, they are perfect for EOD work, but let's not make them autonomous killing machines.
Which is the my current big complaint. You initially choose to get their email, or forget to opt-out, it only takes an instant at sign up to get the email rolling in, but choose to unsubscribe and you get taken to a page that says "Sure we'll unsubscribe you, no problem, it'll take three or four business days to do so." WHY?
Why when it only takes a single click to start the spam flowing does it take three days to get it to stop? Especially since we all know there is no human intervention needed to stop it. IT should be instantaneous. But no they somehow think if they keep sending it for a few more days you'll somehow change your mind about wanting their crap?
So now as soon as I've unsubscribed, any additional emails from that sender get sent to the spam filter.
I choose to stick with the streaming only plan, but if they lose Starz that will take most new releases. What other options are out there though? Guess maybe I'll have to go back to cable or dish. My hope was that after the change when into effect they would announce improvements to the streaming library not the loss of their best source of newer releases.
That's because they haven't been taken into custody. Should Israel get their hands on these individuals they most certainly will be tried. And many probably have, but why would the press bother wasting precious column space or air time to report something so boring, and not in line with their anti-Israeli biases.
This raises the question whether the U.S. military would be able to perform operations in North Korea given how fragile their equipment seems to be."
This says nothing about fragile equipment, this is about a jammer putting out a signal stronger than what is coming from the satellites above. The signal from the satellites is well known, and thus figuring out how to jam it is just a matter of signal strength and what type of jamming they want to do. Do they want to just bury the signal in noise, or are they trying to send false data to lure US and ROK units into NK air and sea space?
This isn't just about morality or oversensitiveness. Those images can be a problem if they pop up on your screen at work. I have legitimate reason to be utilizing Wikipedia at work, but the last thing I want is some obscene image deciding to display on my screen just as a supervisor or someone with nothing better to do than to complain walks by.
This is actually a good idea. The image is still there and fully available, but it gives you a one click warning to decide if it's appropriate to have it open at that time and place. Or would you rather face a sexual harassment suit at work because someone decided an article you needed to read wouldn't work without a very explicit photo. Or a very disturbing medical photo (though that wouldn't be a sexual harassment suit).
A manual control valve outside the secure areas would be the far better option. Electronic switches can fail, even if not from being hacked. A manually turned valve wheel has a much lower failure rate.
The real question is why do any of these controls get connected to the internet. And is automation really the best option, would simple toggle switches not be a safer option. Fewer fail points and vulnerabilities. We seem to want to automate everything (which I can fully understand) yet those automated controls keep finding themselves attached to the net which then leads to the question should we have really so thoroughly automated these things. Why are any critical control switches for any facility (prison, power plant, power grid, etc...) connected to the net? I know the summary said "some" but why are any connected.
And why do the other controls need usb ports? I have a hard time believing those cell door controllers need frequent updates (or ever need them if properly designed). Go ahead automate it. Design the system when building the prison, write the code and test it, then install it on the controller mem chips then install the system. It should be good to go from then on. If you think you might somehow need to update the software on these critical systems, use a non-standard connector. Use a serial port, and let the warden keep a USB to serial connector in his safe. Nothing is ever going to be totally secure, but it looks like these systems were designed with zero thought as to why and how they should be secured, which is funny when dealing with a prison security system.
Because winning an election by the rules is winning . Period, end of statement. Under the Electoral College system winning the popular vote is not required. Bush wasn't the first to win the White House without winning the popular vote. But winning by the rules is still winning, otherwise it wouldn't be winning and/or wouldn't be by the rules.
Both parties were interested in winning. Both parties are always interested in winning. Both parties have members who occasionally step over the bounds of the rules, that's because both parties are made up of Humans. The Democrats have as long a history of vote tampering as the Republicans. My opinion is that the rule breaking by the two parties cancels itself out when accounted for across the nation.
Maybe not drunken parties or the "alone" time, but me thinks you underestimate the destructive power of this fully functional four year old child (and his junior siblings).
But it's no longer the lowest bidder. The way it usually works in military IT systems, is someone's getting out, either by retirement or just ETS'ing. They see a need and talk with their buddies about what exactly they (in that small unit) need or want in a system. They then rough out some very specific specs, rough up an initial product and then work with their buddies to finalize their product to meet those very specific needs. And they start Battle Specific Hardware Internetworking Tech Inc. and make up pretty business cards that say BSHiT Inc.
The buddies in the military then start the procurement process for said very specific system, setting the specs to be exactly matching what they and their former military buddies at BSHiT have developed. They do this because they know that in a few years when they get out, doing so will guarantee a nice high paying position at BSHit Inc.
Thus when bid time comes, anyone else has to design a system from scratch, to meet those very specific criteria, while BSHiT Inc, has the product already designed and built exactly to the required specs. And thus not having to go through a full design process they are able to bid very competitively, plus they have the in with the buddies still in the service who are managing the program, thus they win the bid because they have the advantage of not just being very competitive on the bid but also having "Worked very closely in the development of the product to meet the specs (when the specs were actually created to meet the product), so they win the bid.
Now as the procurement process goes on, other units and folks in the same field also now get to chirp in with what they'd like this system to include. Oh it needs to be able to communicate over the radio, and that radio, and satellite and Ethernet and via cans on a string! It needs this, it needs that. And thus the hardware becomes a mishmash. Then it needs to be hardened.
And finally we get to the software, to make the sale they gin up their software package, ensuring it works wonders in the small scale demonstration. That's fine until it gets deployed and the software soon craps out when the real-world turns into a large scale event.
So finally the product gets to the soldiers in the field, they are ordered to use this system because we've spent millions buying and fielding it, but it barely works. Oh but BSHiT wisely built a very expensive support system into the purchase contracts, so now on every major FOB in Iraq and Afghanistan they're paying some slob six figures tax free to keep the system barely scraping along. This highly paid geek, who gets full room and board for free as well, might have to occasionally work, but after a couple years they've tweaked the system and trained the soldiers how to not crash the system so they might have to work a couple hours a week.
So the system scrapes along, and it survives because the soldiers figure out how to work around the system. They create their products, then export them to MS Office, clean them up and email the products. Their still running the overpriced, under-capable system but their best final products are created by taking the output of the system, importing it into a kludged together Access database, and presented via PowerPoint or on a Publisher produced website. But when asked they can always point to the BSHiT system and prove that they are using the system.
Lowest bidder didn't win because to be lowest bidder they couldn't quite meet the custom designed specs.
Oh and after a few years BSHiT will be swallowed up by Lockheed, L3, or one of the other big corps. The product and service won't improve, just the name behind it gets better known.
Former Governor, out of office since 2007, was a Republican governor in one of the most Democratic leaning states in the union, thus he might have signed the appropriation bill, but that congress would have simply overridden any veto he made.
Not to say that he didn't back this (I simply don't know either way), but the fact that he was the Governor of this state in the past has zero relevance to this issue. Oh and 34 states use this or similar systems and Mitt wasn't running the other 33 states.
To answer your question: Yes it is absolutely possible to appeal to a higher court. First to the full panel of the circuit court that made this ruling and then on up to the Supreme Court. Somewhere along the line I'd like to hope that one of the higher courts would rule against the TSA policies in favor of the constitution. I'm fairly confident the current Supreme court would do so, but there is always the risk that such a ruling could be allowed to stand.
I have no doubt EPIC fully intends to appeal this all the way to the Supreme Court if needed.
Further, Google should be even more proactive and advise their competitors of the legal threats in Belgium so that Bing, Yahoo and other major search engines can remove their listings as well in order to avoid similar legal threats.
Let those newspapers see how it feels to no longer exist on the internet. Well they'd still exist but only people who know the exact addresses will be able to access their sites.
Slashdot Mirror
Better than, I'm supposed to use this dingly dangly to do work, but the tools I'm allowed to use don't quite do what I need. If I could just use this app I could increase productivity, but IT has the system so locked down that to even think about using a different app is grounds for termination.
Face it, IT's job is to facilitate the rest of the company's performance of the real purposes of the company. IT doesn't make money for the company it enables the money making areas to make the money. A wise IT dept allows users to add additional tools, but with the caveat that the only fix available is a system wipe and restore to original configuration. The Users are responsible for keeping their data backed up.
As to the Gadget aspect, if the company didn't buy it, the company isn't responsible to fix it. If the company did, the company should have an extra stockpile, and any broken gadget is simply replaced with a baseline new one, again leaving it up to the employee to restore the apps and data they want. And it's the employee's job if their failure to maintain a backup causes critical data to be lost.
Okay, everybody tell me how wrong I am.
But how certain are you of what qualifies as a Nook sale? When buying through the B&N store, it's pretty obvious that I'm buying for a Nook, but elsewhere (Google, Baen, etc...) all you have is the format to indicate device and epub is not exclusive to the Nook by any means. I don't doubt for a second that Kindles are selling more, just wondering how you differentiate that an .epub file is going to a Nook versus a Kobo or other epub native reader?
Yes but unless the HR folks are dumb enough to outright state it's because of his age, it's very difficult to prove age discrimination, all they have to do is point to his resume and say "The reason we didn't choose that particular candidate is that he doesn't have the requisite skills for the position." Case Dismissed.
You realize that Business does not belong in your comment. For businesses to cut spending means laying people off. Businesses for the most part tried to absorb increased costs and reduced income at the beginning of the recession, but eventually had to start letting people go. Now they are working at minimal staffing, overworking the staffs they do have, and still having to make the bottom line. They can't cut any more staff, and still meet the production required to be profitable. What other brilliant method do you have for them to cut?
Now if you replace businesses with state and local governments then your argument works better. Granted local communities have cut staff and costs but they still want to run big fancy rec centers, and arts programs and every other little frill they invented during the years of booming revenues, so now they are looking to raise revenues to keep those programs. Since the Housing bubble to tax appraisal for my house has dropped by over 50k (most of which was bubble fluff) yet my taxes have not dropped but have instead increased every year, last year my city hit us with a 50% increase in the property taxes assessed. Similarly use of speed traps, parking traps and other similar revenue streams have been substantially increased, all service fees (trash garbage etc..) have gone up. All this while the residents of the cities are tightening their belts because if they haven't lost their job, they've seen their pay frozen at the 2008 levels or had minimal pay raises that have not met the cost of living increase rates, and are paying more for fuel and food than ever before (well gas is the cheapest it's been in a while).
All this means the people are trying to get by on less, cutting their expenses, since they can't just raise a tax to get more money. That means they are cutting their expenditures, not buying stuff and buying stuff is what pushes the economy. But in the meantime every level of government is taking more or at least talking about taking more.
Instead, when times get tough governments should be the first to cut costs, not the last. We don't need a weekly free concert in the park, the fancy rec center doesn't need to do big holiday festivals every single month. Cut some damn costs, and not just by firing a couple more overworked secretaries, cut and even cancel programs until funding returns with the economy, which will return faster if you don't keep taking the peoples monies in new or higher taxes.
I thought I'd note that according to the USGS earthquake maps, the quakes in question, while not in the "Sweet Spot" areas on the map found on the site you linked to, are within the given boundaries of the Woodford Shale (again based on the map found on your link). So further investigation as to how much fraking is being done just north of Shawnee is essential to back up your claims.
I tend to agree with you but, your case isn't as strong as you claim. The real question is what does the historical record say about the frequency of earthquakes in the region.
Which also begs the question, if European diseases did spread across the continent so very very quickly in 1492, why did such diseases not spread quickly across North America starting back in 1000 AD? Were the Norse super humanly healthy with no disease among them?
I don't claim any expertise in these topics, I'm probably missing some key detail, but this thought did occur to me while reading TFA and the comments here. The Vikings had colonies on Greenland and on the NA continent, how were there no mass epidemics sweeping out from their colonies similar to the ones in the 1400's and 1500's?
Whoosh!!!!!
Apple may have issue with FaceTime.
Your mean the URL http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline ? How is that generic timeline stolen from timelines.com, what you're claiming is that Facebook stole their URL. Maybe at one point someone did get overzealous and redirected any FB search for Timelines on Facebook to the FB Timeline page, but currently a search comes up with multiple hits for Timelines (including another firm that does web based historical timelines). This company is listed second after the page for a band named Timelines. the FB service is at the bottom of the list. Further the Timelines link has the Timelines (tm) logo beside it, thus reaffirming the identity. FB never infringed on Timeline's own URL, but may briefly have infringed on the FB link within FB to the Timelines FB page (which while still a URL, is actually property of FB.)
Second the case is still very weak as FB does not list historical events. A timeline is a timeline based on information you've entered on your FB page going back to your birth. Unless you comment about some event that becomes of historical note, the FB timelines will not be of significant historical content or value. The complaint claims that the FB service using the generic term Timeline will compete with their service which claims to have the goal of being historically accurate and of educational value as a source of information about historical events. So the claim of Trademark infringement is still very weak. It's your timeline on Facebook, not Timelines by Facebook. FB is not using the same or even a similar logo other than the commonly defined and widely used timeline word, which is being used in accordance with it's definition. This suit sounds like the start of a Trademark troll attack on anyone who wants to use a timeline on their website, with FB as their first target.
Facebook isn't marketing this as Timelines.com by Facebook or even Timelines by Facebook, it's simply a timeline of your facebook information. A google search of Timelines had multiple items (not related to the news of the suit or to the FB feature) before timelines.com, including at least one other site that does the exact same thing Timelines seems to do. A search of the word Timeline failed to find the site in three pages of links.
If FB were marketing the new Timelines website by FB then the site might have a case, but FB is using a generic term in accordance with it's definition.
Somebody should make a Timeline about the history of such trolls.
Actually I think it should be illegal to hide or obfuscate any phone number when making a call. If you want to call me, your phone had better show me an accurate number,
When we take the risk out of war, it loses all meaning. You America haters think we're too quick to go to war now, wait until there is no risk to our own people. No bodies coming off planes at Dover AFB, no funerals, no news reports about another young widow with children to raise without a father (or the other way around). If we remove the risk, then war becomes merely a cost item on the budget, and much easier to jump into. Take out the Sci-fi stories of the war robots turning on their Human masters (and the Governator isn't the only such story.) and I still have great concern about war becoming too easy for a technological society. We need the risk of death to keep us in check. War isn't going away, in fact with our growing population your going to see much more as land has always been one of the great prompters of war. Let the machines aid it identifying the target and locking onto it, but always, always keep a human operator in the loop. And preferably not one on the other side of the world. Robots are great for tedious slow flying patrol routes, they are perfect for EOD work, but let's not make them autonomous killing machines.
Which is the my current big complaint. You initially choose to get their email, or forget to opt-out, it only takes an instant at sign up to get the email rolling in, but choose to unsubscribe and you get taken to a page that says "Sure we'll unsubscribe you, no problem, it'll take three or four business days to do so." WHY?
Why when it only takes a single click to start the spam flowing does it take three days to get it to stop? Especially since we all know there is no human intervention needed to stop it. IT should be instantaneous. But no they somehow think if they keep sending it for a few more days you'll somehow change your mind about wanting their crap?
So now as soon as I've unsubscribed, any additional emails from that sender get sent to the spam filter.
I choose to stick with the streaming only plan, but if they lose Starz that will take most new releases. What other options are out there though? Guess maybe I'll have to go back to cable or dish. My hope was that after the change when into effect they would announce improvements to the streaming library not the loss of their best source of newer releases.
That's because they haven't been taken into custody. Should Israel get their hands on these individuals they most certainly will be tried. And many probably have, but why would the press bother wasting precious column space or air time to report something so boring, and not in line with their anti-Israeli biases.
This raises the question whether the U.S. military would be able to perform operations in North Korea given how fragile their equipment seems to be."
This says nothing about fragile equipment, this is about a jammer putting out a signal stronger than what is coming from the satellites above. The signal from the satellites is well known, and thus figuring out how to jam it is just a matter of signal strength and what type of jamming they want to do. Do they want to just bury the signal in noise, or are they trying to send false data to lure US and ROK units into NK air and sea space?
This isn't just about morality or oversensitiveness. Those images can be a problem if they pop up on your screen at work. I have legitimate reason to be utilizing Wikipedia at work, but the last thing I want is some obscene image deciding to display on my screen just as a supervisor or someone with nothing better to do than to complain walks by.
This is actually a good idea. The image is still there and fully available, but it gives you a one click warning to decide if it's appropriate to have it open at that time and place. Or would you rather face a sexual harassment suit at work because someone decided an article you needed to read wouldn't work without a very explicit photo. Or a very disturbing medical photo (though that wouldn't be a sexual harassment suit).
A simple manual valve wheel outside the secure area will take care of this, with far fewer potential fail points.
A manual control valve outside the secure areas would be the far better option. Electronic switches can fail, even if not from being hacked. A manually turned valve wheel has a much lower failure rate.
The real question is why do any of these controls get connected to the internet. And is automation really the best option, would simple toggle switches not be a safer option. Fewer fail points and vulnerabilities. We seem to want to automate everything (which I can fully understand) yet those automated controls keep finding themselves attached to the net which then leads to the question should we have really so thoroughly automated these things. Why are any critical control switches for any facility (prison, power plant, power grid, etc...) connected to the net? I know the summary said "some" but why are any connected. And why do the other controls need usb ports? I have a hard time believing those cell door controllers need frequent updates (or ever need them if properly designed). Go ahead automate it. Design the system when building the prison, write the code and test it, then install it on the controller mem chips then install the system. It should be good to go from then on. If you think you might somehow need to update the software on these critical systems, use a non-standard connector. Use a serial port, and let the warden keep a USB to serial connector in his safe. Nothing is ever going to be totally secure, but it looks like these systems were designed with zero thought as to why and how they should be secured, which is funny when dealing with a prison security system.
Because winning an election by the rules is winning . Period, end of statement.
Under the Electoral College system winning the popular vote is not required. Bush wasn't the first to win the White House without winning the popular vote. But winning by the rules is still winning, otherwise it wouldn't be winning and/or wouldn't be by the rules.
Both parties were interested in winning. Both parties are always interested in winning. Both parties have members who occasionally step over the bounds of the rules, that's because both parties are made up of Humans. The Democrats have as long a history of vote tampering as the Republicans. My opinion is that the rule breaking by the two parties cancels itself out when accounted for across the nation.
Maybe not drunken parties or the "alone" time, but me thinks you underestimate the destructive power of this fully functional four year old child (and his junior siblings).
Awesome Idea! Far better than anything in the slide show.
But it's no longer the lowest bidder. The way it usually works in military IT systems, is someone's getting out, either by retirement or just ETS'ing. They see a need and talk with their buddies about what exactly they (in that small unit) need or want in a system. They then rough out some very specific specs, rough up an initial product and then work with their buddies to finalize their product to meet those very specific needs. And they start Battle Specific Hardware Internetworking Tech Inc. and make up pretty business cards that say BSHiT Inc.
The buddies in the military then start the procurement process for said very specific system, setting the specs to be exactly matching what they and their former military buddies at BSHiT have developed. They do this because they know that in a few years when they get out, doing so will guarantee a nice high paying position at BSHit Inc.
Thus when bid time comes, anyone else has to design a system from scratch, to meet those very specific criteria, while BSHiT Inc, has the product already designed and built exactly to the required specs. And thus not having to go through a full design process they are able to bid very competitively, plus they have the in with the buddies still in the service who are managing the program, thus they win the bid because they have the advantage of not just being very competitive on the bid but also having "Worked very closely in the development of the product to meet the specs (when the specs were actually created to meet the product), so they win the bid.
Now as the procurement process goes on, other units and folks in the same field also now get to chirp in with what they'd like this system to include. Oh it needs to be able to communicate over the radio, and that radio, and satellite and Ethernet and via cans on a string! It needs this, it needs that. And thus the hardware becomes a mishmash. Then it needs to be hardened.
And finally we get to the software, to make the sale they gin up their software package, ensuring it works wonders in the small scale demonstration. That's fine until it gets deployed and the software soon craps out when the real-world turns into a large scale event.
So finally the product gets to the soldiers in the field, they are ordered to use this system because we've spent millions buying and fielding it, but it barely works. Oh but BSHiT wisely built a very expensive support system into the purchase contracts, so now on every major FOB in Iraq and Afghanistan they're paying some slob six figures tax free to keep the system barely scraping along. This highly paid geek, who gets full room and board for free as well, might have to occasionally work, but after a couple years they've tweaked the system and trained the soldiers how to not crash the system so they might have to work a couple hours a week.
So the system scrapes along, and it survives because the soldiers figure out how to work around the system. They create their products, then export them to MS Office, clean them up and email the products. Their still running the overpriced, under-capable system but their best final products are created by taking the output of the system, importing it into a kludged together Access database, and presented via PowerPoint or on a Publisher produced website. But when asked they can always point to the BSHiT system and prove that they are using the system.
Lowest bidder didn't win because to be lowest bidder they couldn't quite meet the custom designed specs.
Oh and after a few years BSHiT will be swallowed up by Lockheed, L3, or one of the other big corps. The product and service won't improve, just the name behind it gets better known.
Former Governor, out of office since 2007, was a Republican governor in one of the most Democratic leaning states in the union, thus he might have signed the appropriation bill, but that congress would have simply overridden any veto he made.
Not to say that he didn't back this (I simply don't know either way), but the fact that he was the Governor of this state in the past has zero relevance to this issue. Oh and 34 states use this or similar systems and Mitt wasn't running the other 33 states.
To answer your question: Yes it is absolutely possible to appeal to a higher court. First to the full panel of the circuit court that made this ruling and then on up to the Supreme Court. Somewhere along the line I'd like to hope that one of the higher courts would rule against the TSA policies in favor of the constitution. I'm fairly confident the current Supreme court would do so, but there is always the risk that such a ruling could be allowed to stand.
I have no doubt EPIC fully intends to appeal this all the way to the Supreme Court if needed.
Further, Google should be even more proactive and advise their competitors of the legal threats in Belgium so that Bing, Yahoo and other major search engines can remove their listings as well in order to avoid similar legal threats.
Let those newspapers see how it feels to no longer exist on the internet. Well they'd still exist but only people who know the exact addresses will be able to access their sites.