I am in the process of building a custom home
at this time. Here are some things I've
discovered along the way...
The primary job of an architect is to add
design features to your home. In other words,
they charge you money to make your house more
expensive. You almost always DO NOT need one.
Instead, I recommend a good structural engineer. Start out with a pretty good idea
of your budget, and a pretty good idea of what
you want for a house (look through the $5
house plans magazines and books and free sites
on the web until you think you are going to
be sick).
The structural engineer will take care of the
rest.
We started with an architect. $25,000 later
we had house plans that we couldn't afford
to build, and didn't even have the structural
engineering done yet. Everything that the builder and
subcontractors and permit process need are
provided by the structural engineer, not the
"architect".
After abandoning that approach, we purchased
house plans from one of those house plan
books. Only to discover that it couldn't
be 'stamped' for the state we live in (Ohio)
and had to be completely re-engineered anyhow.
Another $1,000 wasted.
Once we got this part of the process right -
the structural engineer cost us about $4,000 (to do everything).
I read a bunch of books on being your own
contractor. Indeed the job description is basically
that which we in IT call a project manager. I figured I'd make a go of it
myself.
Then I discovered the next issue - every single material supplier and subcontractor
had higher prices for me, than they did for
a full time general contractor. 'Contractor
Pricing' was often 1/2 of what they would
charge me as an independent general contractor.
On top of that I had a really hard time
finding a bank willing to do a construction
loan without a trade contractor involved.
Lastly, I found the government inspectors to
be very grumpy and skeptical about dealing
with an independent contractor.
Therefore I was able to actually save money,
as well as many headaches
(there are enough already) by hiring a general
contractor.
They should be sure to build a parking area,
and gift and snack shop in the middle.
The bungee jumpers (and other jumpers) and
their spectators, could be a market to cater to
and help pay for the bridge.
They should also plan on ways to hook flags
and signs on the bridge for tall ship extravaganzas and parades.
Lastly, they shouldn't forget to bring in
Spiderman as a consultant just in case they
need him later for a daring rescue...
Microsoft has $10 billion or so in cash lying
around. Why settle for being the biggest
monopoly in the history of Earth, when they
could be the biggest monopoly in the Solar System?
Actually they have enough cash - maybe this
is their destiny. All future space exploration
will be controlled, owned and managed by
Bill Gates and co.
They could even use their own software to manage their spacecraft, flight center, and bases.
(Further saving costs.) "MS Moon"
A little over a year ago the phone industry
was excited because Microsoft had endorsed
SIP and was embedding support for it in Windows XP, part of the.NET strategy.
(Session Initiation Protocol, It is an IETF specified protocol which typically runs over TCP (although the authors don't rule out carrier pigeon). It allows for Internet conferencing, telephony,
events notification, instant messaging, whiteboarding, and gaming. )
"...Microsoft could have as big an impact on the communications industry as it
has had on desktop computing."
and a paragraph later
"The thought of Microsoft controlling the user interface to real-time
communications, in the same way as its browser controlled the interface to the
web, begs the question of what effect its entry into the SIP market will have
on competition. But other vendors in the industry seem overwhelmingly positive
about the announcement, not worried. For those who are focused on carriers,
Microsoft's move into the enterprise space helps validate their offerings and,
hopefully, stimulate demand among users for SIP-based services."
Sure.
Don't worry. I'm sure that MS has followed the IETF Open Standards to the
letter. That competition will thrive for third party vendors of SIP solutions
because Microsoft is elevating an interest in it.
How long is it now before your phone company is called Microsoft?
There are catalogs/companies that specialize in toys which help kids think and engineer and build
and experiment. ToysRUS is not one.
One of them can be found here:
http://www.unitednow.com
It is the only one I can remember the name of -
not necessarily the best, mind you...
Not to sound too much like an IndyMedia posting... But, there have been allegations
of serious conflicts of interest in the selection
and design of this site.
Here is one report.
You can map predictable data into very small
sets.
For example:
Suppose I have a set of evenly spaced points
on a sine curve.
I could have 10,000 or more elements in that set.
I could map that set to a much smaller set:
y(n)=a*sin(b * x(n)) {c -lt x -lt d: x(n+1) = x(n) + e}
All I'd need to store is:
(a, b, c, d, e}
I could restore my data every time.
Maybe the trick is to find a good function which maps most binary finite sets...
Actually this could be a handy way to quickly
assess the health of your aquaculture system.
You might not want to engineer your crop, but
you could collocate, or segregate, some sort of indicator
fish which would tell you if water quality is
getting poor. It might save on expensive test kits, which would only need to be dragged out when your fish start turning magenta, green, blue, or pretty polka-dot, stripey, fractal patterned.
--
Zebrafish are pretty hardy. Maybe you could
just sell them to kids in the ornamental (aquarium) trade. Then you could sell them a bunch of eyedropper chemicals (where you make your real margin), that they can drip in to the tank to change the color of their fish for that day.
Throw in an e-Paper aquarium backdrop, and
you could have a winning combination in time for Christmas 2002...
Microsoft claims it is responsible for the
creation and all of the innovation in Linux,
announces that its next release will be Linux
based, and that everyone who uses Linux in any
capacity will owe them royalties, license fees,
and due homage.
I would install a utility that executes upon
"autorun" and kills the screensaver (screen lock) application.
This would be very handy when you need to get
into someone else's PC and the screen is locked.(When they are running the M$ OS.)
You simply stick it in the CDROM and
a few seconds later have access.
The smaller CD format would be handy to stick
in your wallet or shirt pocket for just such
occaisions.
Slashdot Mirror
Using rivers isn't always clear either.
Take the case of New Hampshire vs. Maine
Which, after centuries of dispute was only recently resolved by the Supreme Court.
There are a number of really cool robot orchestras and bands and instruments at Ragtime Automated Music
None of them were done in Legos though...I wonder if this means I can now stare directly at an eclipse?
:-)
I've always imagined that the experience would be the equivalent of 'staring into the face of god' or 'eating the apple in the garden of Eden'.
If we can cure the eye damage, maybe I can start a cult and live happily ever after.
Where I live the local government's are completely controlled by the big developers.
All a complaint would get a citizen is more trouble.
I am in the process of building a custom home at this time. Here are some things I've discovered along the way...
The primary job of an architect is to add design features to your home. In other words, they charge you money to make your house more expensive. You almost always DO NOT need one.
Instead, I recommend a good structural engineer. Start out with a pretty good idea of your budget, and a pretty good idea of what you want for a house (look through the $5 house plans magazines and books and free sites on the web until you think you are going to be sick).
The structural engineer will take care of the rest.
We started with an architect. $25,000 later we had house plans that we couldn't afford to build, and didn't even have the structural engineering done yet. Everything that the builder and subcontractors and permit process need are provided by the structural engineer, not the "architect".
After abandoning that approach, we purchased house plans from one of those house plan books. Only to discover that it couldn't be 'stamped' for the state we live in (Ohio) and had to be completely re-engineered anyhow. Another $1,000 wasted.
Once we got this part of the process right - the structural engineer cost us about $4,000 (to do everything).
I read a bunch of books on being your own contractor. Indeed the job description is basically that which we in IT call a project manager. I figured I'd make a go of it myself.
Then I discovered the next issue - every single material supplier and subcontractor had higher prices for me, than they did for a full time general contractor. 'Contractor Pricing' was often 1/2 of what they would charge me as an independent general contractor.
On top of that I had a really hard time finding a bank willing to do a construction loan without a trade contractor involved.
Lastly, I found the government inspectors to be very grumpy and skeptical about dealing with an independent contractor.
Therefore I was able to actually save money, as well as many headaches (there are enough already) by hiring a general contractor.
They should be sure to build a parking area, and gift and snack shop in the middle.
The bungee jumpers (and other jumpers) and their spectators, could be a market to cater to and help pay for the bridge.
They should also plan on ways to hook flags and signs on the bridge for tall ship extravaganzas and parades.
Lastly, they shouldn't forget to bring in Spiderman as a consultant just in case they need him later for a daring rescue...
More often than not a system is not updated due to Management Interference rather than System Administrator Negligence.
I can't tell you how many upgrades and patches I've had rejected by the Change Control System at the many places I've worked and consulted at.
Someday I'd love to work in a place that actually let System Administrators do their jobs...
Microsoft has $10 billion or so in cash lying around. Why settle for being the biggest monopoly in the history of Earth, when they could be the biggest monopoly in the Solar System? Actually they have enough cash - maybe this is their destiny. All future space exploration will be controlled, owned and managed by Bill Gates and co. They could even use their own software to manage their spacecraft, flight center, and bases. (Further saving costs.) "MS Moon"
A little over a year ago the phone industry was excited because Microsoft had endorsed SIP and was embedding support for it in Windows XP, part of the .NET strategy.
( Session Initiation Protocol, It is an IETF specified protocol which typically runs over TCP (although the authors don't rule out carrier pigeon). It allows for Internet conferencing, telephony, events notification, instant messaging, whiteboarding, and gaming. )
To quote a (very long) Communications Convergence article:
"...Microsoft could have as big an impact on the communications industry as it has had on desktop computing."
and a paragraph later
"The thought of Microsoft controlling the user interface to real-time communications, in the same way as its browser controlled the interface to the web, begs the question of what effect its entry into the SIP market will have on competition. But other vendors in the industry seem overwhelmingly positive about the announcement, not worried. For those who are focused on carriers, Microsoft's move into the enterprise space helps validate their offerings and, hopefully, stimulate demand among users for SIP-based services."
Sure.
Don't worry. I'm sure that MS has followed the IETF Open Standards to the letter. That competition will thrive for third party vendors of SIP solutions because Microsoft is elevating an interest in it.
How long is it now before your phone company is called Microsoft?
Are VoIP connections subject to the same WireTap
restrictions that analog voice calls are?
Can Carnivore listen in legally without any
special warrant?
Are there many VoIP clients with built in
encryption?
I don't really need to worry, I'm just curious...
I would have said -
Music will once again be a function, not an
object.
I'm surfing the web looking for content.
...
What is your content? That is why I came to your site.
Can I find and understand it easily?
If I can't figure out the content, the rest is useless.
Focus on your content. Why is your website there? Why am I looking at it?
Flashy == distracting == frustrating == waste of time
... unless your whole purpose is strictly to entertain
There are catalogs/companies that specialize in toys which help kids think and engineer and build and experiment. ToysRUS is not one. One of them can be found here: http://www.unitednow.com It is the only one I can remember the name of - not necessarily the best, mind you...
So this is where antimatter comes from...
... would be a pain killer that could cure a broken heart ...
Not to sound too much like an IndyMedia posting... But, there have been allegations of serious conflicts of interest in the selection and design of this site.
Here is one report.
Sort of.
You can map predictable data into very small sets.
For example:
Suppose I have a set of evenly spaced points on a sine curve.
I could have 10,000 or more elements in that set.
I could map that set to a much smaller set:
y(n)=a*sin(b * x(n)) {c -lt x -lt d: x(n+1) = x(n) + e}
All I'd need to store is:
(a, b, c, d, e}
I could restore my data every time.
Maybe the trick is to find a good function which maps most binary finite sets...
Actually this could be a handy way to quickly assess the health of your aquaculture system.
...
You might not want to engineer your crop, but you could collocate, or segregate, some sort of indicator fish which would tell you if water quality is getting poor. It might save on expensive test kits, which would only need to be dragged out when your fish start turning magenta, green, blue, or pretty polka-dot, stripey, fractal patterned.
--
Zebrafish are pretty hardy. Maybe you could just sell them to kids in the ornamental (aquarium) trade. Then you could sell them a bunch of eyedropper chemicals (where you make your real margin), that they can drip in to the tank to change the color of their fish for that day.
Throw in an e-Paper aquarium backdrop, and you could have a winning combination in time for Christmas 2002
Have you tried the voice portal - tellme?
Pretty cool stuff IMHO.I think the voice technology may have been around a long time, but it has been making a lot of strides in very recent times...
Microsoft claims it is responsible for the creation and all of the innovation in Linux, announces that its next release will be Linux based, and that everyone who uses Linux in any capacity will owe them royalties, license fees, and due homage.
You can look at commercial packages like that offered by VoiceGenie, or Nuance.
Bayonne, suggested earlier, has pretty strict licensing on it for commercial use.
VoiceGenie may be a little young yet with regards to their Linux offering, but it does seem to work ok.
You can check out LinuxTelephony.org, for more ideas.
Caveat with the Dialogic hardware:
It is dependent on the archaic LiS (Linux Streams) modules.
Good Luck trying to install security patches or upgrades.
Their hardware pricing is also very strange and counterintuitive.
Often, More Features != Higher Cost.
There is a new version of the Dialogic drivers coming out, but I've heard they are pretty unstable still, and may not be solid for many more months.
I think you have to write your own.
I'm not aware of any available for easy download.
I would install a utility that executes upon "autorun" and kills the screensaver (screen lock) application.
This would be very handy when you need to get into someone else's PC and the screen is locked.(When they are running the M$ OS.) You simply stick it in the CDROM and a few seconds later have access.
The smaller CD format would be handy to stick in your wallet or shirt pocket for just such occaisions.
Indeed, Microsoft single-handedly revolutionized the world economy by making powerful and inexpensive computing technology available to all.
There you have it. Truth in print. The rest of the article is as equally fact filled and interesting to read.