in addition to requesting your report over the phone as mandated by law, if you live in one of the required free report states (not the new credit act western states, but CO, GA, MD, MA, NJ, VT), you can view yours instantly online:
the only way I could ever see this succeeding is if by allowing the GPS, you (individual) would stand to get a tax break because you don't drive as much as the average. Like Ezpass -- there must be a benefit so that people would *want* to adopt the technology.
what about anti-theft devices? You know, the plastic tag things on clothing, or stickers with spiral circuits in bookstores/libraries, that set off the alarms on exiting?
Those have been around for quite a while, and you might consider them RF tags too, right?
Speaking of those, how do those stickers work? Do they generate some kind of signature back-EMF in the detection coils? I've always wondered this -- and how is it they can be activated, deactivated, repeatedly? (like for a library)
I think you misunderstand. Anti-matter is a power source, not a fuel that can physically propel a spacecraft directly. So for example, you couldn't replace the space shuttle fuel tanks with antimatter -- you need the actual thrust of *stuff* going out the back end.
Anti-matter is good for replacing the weight of batteries, solar panels, fuel cells, etc.
Many people (and corporations) are confusing the meaning of free speech with their belief that they have a so-called "right" to do (something) they want, which they then claim is some form of speech.
I would submit to you that by the term free speech, the constitutional framers (and smart judges) interpreted to mean the free exchange and discourse of intellectual ideas between people and institutions, unrestrained by prior interference by the state.
People calling me to sell products is not exactly the free exchange of intellectual ideas -- they just want to hawk their wares. That's why the no-call list doesn't include political organizations, etc. which *are* in the business of discussing ideas with people.
Take a lesson from the Germans -- they just made everyone switch one day, and did it. No delays, everyone prepares in the last few weeks anyway.
see this article:
German Way to Go Digital: No Dawdling
November 3, 2003
By MARK LANDLER
BERLIN, Oct. 29 - When Sebastian Engel received a letter in
the mail last winter warning that he would soon lose his
over-the-air analog television service, he reacted like any
26-year-old graduate student with little money and even
less interest in the vagaries of TV technology.
Mr. Engel, who lives in a bohemian part of the former East
Berlin, ignored the promotional palaver about the brave new
world of digital broadcasting, and instead asked his
landlord whether he could sign up for cable.
Alas, he was told, his apartment block, with its drab,
coal-heated buildings, was not wired for cable. So after
procrastinating for several weeks, Mr. Engel finally paid
150 euros ($174) for a set-top box that enabled his aging,
portable TV to receive a digital signal. Now, he gets 25
channels and a crystal clear picture, compared with the 6
channels and snowy reception he had before the switchover.
"Sometimes the picture goes off for a couple of seconds,
but otherwise it's pretty great," said Mr. Engel, as he
channel-surfed through a soccer match, a hip-hop music
video and the BBC news.
On Aug. 3, Berlin became the world's first major city to
switch from analog to entirely digital television
broadcasting. The transition went almost unnoticed in
Germany or elsewhere, which is remarkable, given that in
the United States, the same process has been bogged down by
politics, vested interests and a stubborn fear that
scrapping analog television will ignite a revolt among
viewers.
The German example could prove instructive to the United
States, where digital broadcasting - and the array of
multimedia services likely to spring from it - still seems
like a distant dream. Six years ago, Congress set the end
of 2006 as the date by which most television broadcasts
would be digital, but American industry executives predict
the switch may not be completed before 2020.
In Germany, officials have taken a much tougher line. "We
knew it would work only if we set a hard deadline," said
Sascha Bakarinov, the head of the Broadcasting Authority of
Berlin and Brandenburg, which oversaw the switchover. "You
can take six months or two years or a decade, and people
are still only going to react in the last few weeks."
Berlin's hurry-up approach was risky. Mr. Bakarinov worried
about a consumer outcry over the cost of the set-top boxes,
not to mention tales of aging pensioners deprived of their
television. But thanks to an elaborate public relations
campaign and government subsidies for people who could not
afford the boxes, Berlin kept the complaints to an
occasional squawk. In a city accustomed to lavish public
services since German reunification, this is no small
achievement.
"The German approach is extremely radical," said Ulrich
Reimers, a professor at the Technical University in
Braunschweig and a chief designer of the digital television
standard in Germany. "This is really the one and only place
in the world where this has happened."
The switch to digital is under way in other German cities,
including Cologne, Hannover and Dsseldorf. By next May,
Professor Reimers said, digital signals will reach 23
million of Germany's 82 million people. By 2010, he
predicted, "Germany will be analog-free."
It is important to remember, in talking about digital
television, that the switchover affects only viewers who
receive their TV over the air. Of Germany's 34 million
television households, 19 million have cable and 12 million
use satellite receivers. Both industries remain
predominantly analog.
That leaves 3 million German homes still using rooftop
aerials or even more antiquated rabbit-ear antennas. (In
the United States, an estimated 10 million of 106 million
television househ
actually, you might be surprised to know that the Hubble has very roughly the same operating restrictions as a ground-based telescope. It really can't look at the whole sky, because it needs to avoid the sun, earth, moon, and other bright things. For half of its 90 minute orbit, it is pointed in the wrong direction, so it cannot observe. And it passes through radation areas periodically, which causes tons of errors, so it does not observe.
If it's true, then let's not waste another moment -- blast a trench and cut the whole state off from the country while we have the chance! It'll solve a bunch of other problems in November too....
take this example of how a filter cannot determine whether something is spam or not -- what if you're a network administrator, writing an email to a colleague about a new spam message that has appeared. You forward the message, with subject and text.
How in the world can a spam filter understand that this is not spam? How can any filter understand the intent of a message?
I hate windows updates -- they only make things worse.
I installed the latest IE6 service pack on my W2K laptop, only to discover that all IE functions have now been disabled. Not only browsing the internet, but also desktop backgrounds, file system previews, and more importantly, all software that even uses IE somehow, etc. Luckily I had installed firefox so I'm not totally up the creek yet.
The culprit -- "cannot find in path xyz, urlmon.dll..."
I haven't been able to fix this yet -- any good samaritan able to lend me some advice??
For those who might be curious, I found an easy way to get rid of ads when reading your gmail (if for some reason, ads really bother you).
Just ask everyone to put the word "died" at the end of their messages. Gmail has this filter that tries not to be too insensitive by plastering your browser with ads for caskets next to news that Uncle Bob just died, so I guess it searches for words like that.
I tried with the words "disaster", "died", etc. and they all caused ads to disappear.
It might be creepy though after a while if every email had the word "died" at the bottom.... )
We're putting in the cameras because "we are at war"? To be blunt, what the hell does war have to do with cameras on city streets?
When was the last time a surveillance camera operated by a local government caught someone related to the ongoing war or terrorism?
Let's stop swallowing the party line and be honest about what we're doing, or at least stop deceiving ourselves. The cameras may reduce crime, sure. That is the justification for cameras. But war? Does anyone think before speaking any more?
fuck you California. These sorts of idiotic issues are why you guys are are drowning in debt. Why don't you tackle some real problems, instead of things like what kind of coffee you make people buy (Berkeley City Council), or banning the words "master" and "slave" from computer hardware (Office of Affirmative Action)?
If China, the world's hottest economy right now, is putting off going to the moon because of high cost/low return, what does that say about the US (and President Bush's) persistent (and not very scientifically grounded) push to go to the Moon, and even Mars?
You're forgetting that a main benefit of these cars is the reduced emissions, on top of fuel savings. They don't pollute nearly as much as regular engines, which is important.
Also, suppose you're sitting in traffic on the highway bumper to bumper. A fleet of these cars is silent, burning absolutely *no* gas. Versus regular cars that burn no matter what they're doing, moving or still.
I don't know what the case law on this is, but is it totally accepted that electronic chat can be classified in the same way as a phone conversation? Because if you look at it a different way, it could be construed as sending emails back and forth between two parties.
And last I heard, you didn't need someone's consent to save things that they send you.
Slashdot Mirror
this information hasn't been posted here yet:
in addition to requesting your report over the phone as mandated by law, if you live in one of the required free report states (not the new credit act western states, but CO, GA, MD, MA, NJ, VT), you can view yours instantly online:
http:/www.experian.com/freestate link
I am all for taking a tough approach to spammers, but putting them in jail? Have you heard about the prison overcrowding problem?
Why don't we instead seize all of their assets, profits, and make some money for the people, instead of having to pay for them in jail?
the only way I could ever see this succeeding is if by allowing the GPS, you (individual) would stand to get a tax break because you don't drive as much as the average. Like Ezpass -- there must be a benefit so that people would *want* to adopt the technology.
what about anti-theft devices? You know, the plastic tag things on clothing, or stickers with spiral circuits in bookstores/libraries, that set off the alarms on exiting?
Those have been around for quite a while, and you might consider them RF tags too, right?
Speaking of those, how do those stickers work? Do they generate some kind of signature back-EMF in the detection coils? I've always wondered this -- and how is it they can be activated, deactivated, repeatedly? (like for a library)
I think you misunderstand. Anti-matter is a power source, not a fuel that can physically propel a spacecraft directly. So for example, you couldn't replace the space shuttle fuel tanks with antimatter -- you need the actual thrust of *stuff* going out the back end.
Anti-matter is good for replacing the weight of batteries, solar panels, fuel cells, etc.
Many people (and corporations) are confusing the meaning of free speech with their belief that they have a so-called "right" to do (something) they want, which they then claim is some form of speech.
I would submit to you that by the term free speech, the constitutional framers (and smart judges) interpreted to mean the free exchange and discourse of intellectual ideas between people and institutions, unrestrained by prior interference by the state.
People calling me to sell products is not exactly the free exchange of intellectual ideas -- they just want to hawk their wares. That's why the no-call list doesn't include political organizations, etc. which *are* in the business of discussing ideas with people.
sorry, there is a force even larger than the slashdot effect. It's called being linked on Drudgereport.
1. LAN
2. lots of pale, socially-awkward guys
3. not enough deodorant
anything else?
and just how long do you think this company is going to be around, taking care of your emails while promising everything to everyone?
I'll settle for a little less storage, from a stable provider with a sound business and IT plan, thanks.
Take a lesson from the Germans -- they just made everyone switch one day, and did it. No delays, everyone prepares in the last few weeks anyway.
see this article:
German Way to Go Digital: No Dawdling
November 3, 2003
By MARK LANDLER
BERLIN, Oct. 29 - When Sebastian Engel received a letter in the mail last winter warning that he would soon lose his over-the-air analog television service, he reacted like any 26-year-old graduate student with little money and even less interest in the vagaries of TV technology.
Mr. Engel, who lives in a bohemian part of the former East Berlin, ignored the promotional palaver about the brave new world of digital broadcasting, and instead asked his landlord whether he could sign up for cable.
Alas, he was told, his apartment block, with its drab, coal-heated buildings, was not wired for cable. So after procrastinating for several weeks, Mr. Engel finally paid 150 euros ($174) for a set-top box that enabled his aging, portable TV to receive a digital signal. Now, he gets 25 channels and a crystal clear picture, compared with the 6 channels and snowy reception he had before the switchover.
"Sometimes the picture goes off for a couple of seconds, but otherwise it's pretty great," said Mr. Engel, as he channel-surfed through a soccer match, a hip-hop music video and the BBC news.
On Aug. 3, Berlin became the world's first major city to switch from analog to entirely digital television broadcasting. The transition went almost unnoticed in Germany or elsewhere, which is remarkable, given that in the United States, the same process has been bogged down by politics, vested interests and a stubborn fear that scrapping analog television will ignite a revolt among viewers.
The German example could prove instructive to the United States, where digital broadcasting - and the array of multimedia services likely to spring from it - still seems like a distant dream. Six years ago, Congress set the end of 2006 as the date by which most television broadcasts would be digital, but American industry executives predict the switch may not be completed before 2020.
In Germany, officials have taken a much tougher line. "We knew it would work only if we set a hard deadline," said Sascha Bakarinov, the head of the Broadcasting Authority of Berlin and Brandenburg, which oversaw the switchover. "You can take six months or two years or a decade, and people are still only going to react in the last few weeks."
Berlin's hurry-up approach was risky. Mr. Bakarinov worried about a consumer outcry over the cost of the set-top boxes, not to mention tales of aging pensioners deprived of their television. But thanks to an elaborate public relations campaign and government subsidies for people who could not afford the boxes, Berlin kept the complaints to an occasional squawk. In a city accustomed to lavish public services since German reunification, this is no small achievement.
"The German approach is extremely radical," said Ulrich Reimers, a professor at the Technical University in Braunschweig and a chief designer of the digital television standard in Germany. "This is really the one and only place in the world where this has happened."
The switch to digital is under way in other German cities, including Cologne, Hannover and Dsseldorf. By next May, Professor Reimers said, digital signals will reach 23 million of Germany's 82 million people. By 2010, he predicted, "Germany will be analog-free."
It is important to remember, in talking about digital television, that the switchover affects only viewers who receive their TV over the air. Of Germany's 34 million television households, 19 million have cable and 12 million use satellite receivers. Both industries remain predominantly analog.
That leaves 3 million German homes still using rooftop aerials or even more antiquated rabbit-ear antennas. (In the United States, an estimated 10 million of 106 million television househ
actually, you might be surprised to know that the Hubble has very roughly the same operating restrictions as a ground-based telescope. It really can't look at the whole sky, because it needs to avoid the sun, earth, moon, and other bright things. For half of its 90 minute orbit, it is pointed in the wrong direction, so it cannot observe. And it passes through radation areas periodically, which causes tons of errors, so it does not observe.
If it's true, then let's not waste another moment -- blast a trench and cut the whole state off from the country while we have the chance! It'll solve a bunch of other problems in November too....
take this example of how a filter cannot determine whether something is spam or not -- what if you're a network administrator, writing an email to a colleague about a new spam message that has appeared. You forward the message, with subject and text.
How in the world can a spam filter understand that this is not spam? How can any filter understand the intent of a message?
I hate windows updates -- they only make things worse.
I installed the latest IE6 service pack on my W2K laptop, only to discover that all IE functions have now been disabled. Not only browsing the internet, but also desktop backgrounds, file system previews, and more importantly, all software that even uses IE somehow, etc. Luckily I had installed firefox so I'm not totally up the creek yet.
The culprit -- "cannot find in path xyz, urlmon.dll..."
I haven't been able to fix this yet -- any good samaritan able to lend me some advice??
thanks.
great, now the creepy guys who lurk at the rest stops will be able to access their toilet cams wirelessly!
For those who might be curious, I found an easy way to get rid of ads when reading your gmail (if for some reason, ads really bother you).
Just ask everyone to put the word "died" at the end of their messages. Gmail has this filter that tries not to be too insensitive by plastering your browser with ads for caskets next to news that Uncle Bob just died, so I guess it searches for words like that.
I tried with the words "disaster", "died", etc. and they all caused ads to disappear.
It might be creepy though after a while if every email had the word "died" at the bottom.... )
We're putting in the cameras because "we are at war"? To be blunt, what the hell does war have to do with cameras on city streets?
When was the last time a surveillance camera operated by a local government caught someone related to the ongoing war or terrorism?
Let's stop swallowing the party line and be honest about what we're doing, or at least stop deceiving ourselves. The cameras may reduce crime, sure. That is the justification for cameras. But war? Does anyone think before speaking any more?
fuck you California. These sorts of idiotic issues are why you guys are are drowning in debt. Why don't you tackle some real problems, instead of things like what kind of coffee you make people buy (Berkeley City Council), or banning the words "master" and "slave" from computer hardware (Office of Affirmative Action)?
Hopefully, the camera you get will be smaller and more efficient...
:)
Right now this camera probably sits in a LN2 cooled dewar about the size of an oil drum. Good luck taking spontaneous candids with it!
If China, the world's hottest economy right now, is putting off going to the moon because of high cost/low return, what does that say about the US (and President Bush's) persistent (and not very scientifically grounded) push to go to the Moon, and even Mars?
Wait a second. There is no way that the paper can have *exactly* 1:sqrt(2) proportions.
:)
Sqrt(2) is an irrational number, which means that no unit of measure can produce exactly sqrt(2).
So what is it really???
Wait a second. There is no way that the paper can have *exactly* 1:sqrt(2) proportions.
Sqrt(2) is an irrational number, which means that no
You're forgetting that a main benefit of these cars is the reduced emissions, on top of fuel savings. They don't pollute nearly as much as regular engines, which is important.
Also, suppose you're sitting in traffic on the highway bumper to bumper. A fleet of these cars is silent, burning absolutely *no* gas. Versus regular cars that burn no matter what they're doing, moving or still.
should a thief who broke into your house be allowed to sue you when he trips on the loose carpet and breaks his leg?
:)
and just so we're clear, the thief is Microsoft, right?
I don't know what the case law on this is, but is it totally accepted that electronic chat can be classified in the same way as a phone conversation? Because if you look at it a different way, it could be construed as sending emails back and forth between two parties.
And last I heard, you didn't need someone's consent to save things that they send you.