Back in the early '90s our dept. all got pagers so we could all keep in touch with each other. We got a good deal with one of the dealers, and we got these monstrous things with multiple buttons being able to do many different things, from displaying messages that had been typed in through a messaging service, to setting and changing the time displayed, as well as cycling through the numbers left and when we were paged.
We all had those pagers for a short period of time as we got used to them, and the contract was smoothed out. When it was finalized, we all got new pagers with one button that did everything depending on how long you held the button down. Upon hearing how we were to interact with the new pagers, one of my colleagues quipped, "God save us from technology!"
The pay phone is provided by the phone company. They may rent the space from you, but it is the phone company's responsibility and liability. An Internet connection is provided by the business owner, who might assume resonsibility and liability for actions taken by patrons who use that service.
On a side note, if a local ISP were able to find a way to make money off a free WiFi connection (earlier comments mention a proxy server replacing all banner ads), they would be able to absolve small shops of any liability by providing the service for them, and may be able to work out a deal where the ISP pays no rent for their service. The ISP would attract patrons with their service, and the shop owner would not have to maintain the system (one less hassle).
A lot of what you are looking for has already been figured out by others who do not want to be locked into a single format, vendor, or system. There are many geneology programs out there, such as Gramps or Brothers Keeper who use a standardized file format, GEDCOM, that allows information stored in those specific programs to be transferred to other programs. This allows for easy upgrades in software, as well as the possibility of moving from one package to another as the information can be archived to the GEDCOM file, and then read in again once the new software has been installed.
As for hardware and other software, I would suggest you use what is familiar to you, or is compatible to the software package you have chosen.
Actually, the problem is solvable with a minimal amount of money. The camera is durable if treated correctly and properly maintained. Perhaps the solution relies upon an external remedy. Have you examined the travel case for the camera? A good one with at least 2 inches of padding on all sides can make all the difference in the world - and can cost much less than the price of a new camera.
Unless you are under contract, you don't even have to give them 2 weeks. This is where the "At Will" enployment cuts both ways. They can fire you for any reason whatsoever ("He has blue eyes! I never noticed before, but he has blue eyes! I don't like blue eyes. I terminated him."), and you can stop going to work tomorrow without fear of litigation from the company. Heck, I've even seen some people give their two week notice, and then use up two weeks of paid vacation.
Of course, stunts like that leave a bad taste in employeers mouths, and in such a specialized industry, you may find yourself at another company in another relationship with your former boss or employees. Leaving them in a lynch at other companies can come back to bite you in the ass.
If I were you, I would call an attourney first thing tomorrow morning. I would explain my situation, and tell them that I would like to draft a contract to define my relationship with this company beyond the two week period. For starters, after the two week period, I would be available for emergency service, provided I am not already predisposed with my current employeer, and tasks demanded of me by my new employeer. That I am available for contract rates of $200 per hour, with a minimum of four hours for a service call.
Many have said it before, I will just restate it: This situation should have been resolved a LONG time ago. It is not of your concern how your current employeer handles his business after you leave. Use the contract as a bargaining chip, as your response to his offer of 6 weeks and 3 months of subsidized rates. Somewhere between his desire, and your contract lies a happy medium for both of you. Perhaps a scare like losing you may be enough to guarantee further employement at much more favorable compensation.
If you had read the article, you would have seen it state near the bottom:
The war is futile... because both formats, so debated since the beginning of 2004, may find themselves outrun by the Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD).
While Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use the same laser, other producers thought of combining the two lasers (red and blue), in a single ray and thanks to Optware, on a disc the size of a CD or DVD, 1 TB of data could be stored (20 times more than on a Blu-Ray disc), with a transfer rate of 1 Gbit/s.
While it isn't "always on," the 2 second connect and authentication time lag makes you feel like it is always on. As well, since companies who provide dial-up also compete for ISDN, you are sure to get a very competative rate compared to broadband. Sounds exactly like what you want, and I would seriously recomment that you investigate ISDN options in your area.
Its not about an internet connection being required, its about the fact that the box doesn't mention having to install Steam to play it and how "internet connection required" != Steam.
If I had mod points, I would mod you up. This is what it is all about, and most people are totally missing the point.
The sad thing about this, most of this could have been avoided if Valve and Vivendi could have worked it out. Instead, we the consumers are seeing the fallout from their war with each other. Could they have made consessions with the CD/DVD sets? Hell ya! The original Half-Life didn't come with Steam, but it can be added to Steam. The same could have been done with the CD/DVD sets to allow those who want the traditional gaming paradigm, and not be tied to Steam unless they wanted to (online gaming assumed). Instead, it doesn't matter if you bought the game through Steam or not, you are tied to Steam - willing or not.
If I may go on a tangent, I would argue that this is a problem with our society based on our lack of education. Instead of writing our leaders, our congresspeople, those in charge of consumer protection, we would rather take the easy way out, and either return the game, or complain about it on a community site that our leaders are not aware of, or both. German government is acting based on consumer complaints. Our government would do the same if we complained to them.
I'm British, I've seen the entire series already and it's fantastic stuff.
What does being British have to do with Battlestar Galactica, seeing Battlestar Galactica, or the show being a fantastic show? Did I miss something?
But I can't agree with you more about the digression of Star Trek. They tried to apply a forumla for mainstream success, and it failed miserably - so much so that the shows are losing respect of the original fan base.
I am not so sure about the fault being that of the writers. I am sure that they only create details that have been laid out by their superiors, those who direct the course of the show and series. I personally was never that much of a fan of a historical piece, like Enterprise. The show has always been about what a bright and wonderful future we have before us. If we can imagine it, we can accomplish it. ST:E seemed like a step backwards, not only in the timeline, but in the major theme of the Star Trek Universe. ST:E seemed to have a "sure the future is bright, but look at what we had to endure to get there" feel to it, and while it may work on some levels, that is not what Star Trek is all about.
Perhaps it will take someone with balls to create a show that isn't "edgy, gritty, or realistic" and give us what we want - optimism, hope, and fantasy. Give us something that will inspire our imagination, and not mirror reality.
Re:i interviewed
on
Defining Google
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
and I'm sure it is in the US too.
Unfortunately, most companies in the US listen to their legal dept. who tells them not to notify people when they do not get the job, for fear of legal reprisal. Instead if he had called back two weeks later, and they had hired someone else for the position he was interviewing for, the HR people would probably tell him that the position had been filled, and that they will keep his resume on file, should another position open for which he might be qualified. Although, chances are, his resume hit the circular file once the position had been filled.
If I had been in that position, and I felt the interview process had gone well, I would have made regular contact with the contact I had made from the company, or the person would would be my immediate superior should I fill the position. Calling them on a regular basis (daily even!) shows that you are eager for the position, and may help you win out in the decision process. If everything between yourself, and your competitors is generally even, your regular contact would bolster your image as you would be viewed as a "go-getter", and someone who takes the initiative. I would make a warning about this, however, as you would need to listen to the feedback you get, and respond accordingly. For example, if you call back the day after your interview, and they tell you they are still interviewing other candidates, respect that, and wait a few more days before making contact again.
Topic: Manouver to effectivly gain ridership from an unknown source.
Step 1: Extend arm.
Step 2: Make fist, then extend thumb to full open position.
Step 3: Bend elbow to move hand from starting position to the side of the head. Count to two, return hand to starting position, count to two, and repeat.
Step 4: Optional step for female austronauts - pull up right leg covering to expose skin.
With any luck, you will attract the attention of passing space craft who will give you a ride to your destination of choice, preferably the International Space Station.
This is the same tactic that TBS used in the '90s to keep viewer lock. All shows on TBS started and ended at 5 after the hour or half hour. The only difference now is that instead of really missing the beginning of a show on another channel, the DVR is not set up to handle a WHOLE MINUTE of scheduling conflicts. However, you can adjust start and stop times for the Tivo, but that is another step in the process, and most end users would rather complain than be forced to do more work. (Tivo is about convenience, right? Right?)
This is why I think the one reporting this came to the wrong conclusion. If you RTFA, you would see that Gabe says they are watching that. It could be that they are aware of the torrent, and since every tracker happily announces the IP address of everyone that connects to it, they could easily get a list off of the tracker, and match it up to the IP addresses of steam account holders.
I would say that the chances are very slim that they actually released a WAREZ copy of the game just to ban those who would dare to download it. They are just making use of a golden opportunity to nab those who are dumb enough to download something illegally without changing their IP address.
I don't understand why people find this so hard to understand.
1) Valve contracts with Sierra (usual sign over your firstborn child contract) for money to produce Half-Life.
2) Half-Life is big hit, makes lots of money for Sierra.
3) Valve tells Sierra, give us our list of demands (ownership of Half-Life back, Internet distribution, higher percentage of games sold) or we will drag our feet, and waste your money. Sierra gives in.
4) Vivendi purchases Sierra.
5) Valve creates Steam because they can - new contract remember?
Any kind of backup solution is preferable to a single point of failure. USB Keys may not be the best solution out there, but it is certainly better than having only one copy on your hard drive. I would look at more than just USB keys, there are certainly plenty of options for copying and making backups of your data, from CD-Rs, and iPods, to zip disks, and external USB/Firewire hard drives.
While a USB key is certainly portable and convenient, it may also create another problem - easy theft of your work. How easy is it to lose a USB key, or have it stolen. And what happens if the finder claims your work as their own? If you did use a USB key, I would definately not keep it with you, but store it in a safe and secure location.
In that vein of thought, since you are working on a book, do you keep hard copy backups? I know it would be a pain to OCR all those pages back in if you lost everything, but it would be better than starting from scratch. If kept in a fire retardant safe, they would fare much better than digital media would.
The rumor going around at work is that traditionally when there is heavy turnout at the polls (like today's near record turnout) it is a sign of the masses rising up to throw out the party in power.
Exactly. While the kneejerk reactionaries in our legislative branch may have been able to pass the PATRIOT act, we are seeing the cool headed philosophers in the judicial branch nudering the PATRIOT act. While there are many laws in the code, until they have been tested in a court of law, they are pretty much worthless. This is something that most attournies realize, and many of them would jump at the chance to test a new law. This is also why many say the GPL is not valid -- again, it has not been tested in a court of law (although many who have taken a look at the agreement say it is enforcable).
I say that those in the legislative branch are kneejerk reactionaries. They are, because they have to be. They have to be sensative to everything that goes on, and usually overreact to a situation to appear as if they are "tough" on an issue, or weren't slacking off on the issue before it became important, i.e. terrorism. A representative's position is up for re-election every 2 years. They have to be on top of every minor complaint any of their constituants brings up, after all, dissappoint a constituant, and that is a vote against you (along with everyone they tell). Senators have a bit more cushion, after all, they have a longer term at 6 years. Also, they cover more area and constiuants, so they can afford to piss off someone on the south side, and still remain strong with their base on the north side. The goal of course is to be more concerned about long term health of the country, but they can be kneejerk reactionaries as well when something really important happens to the country.
In the judicial branch, things are a bit different. And while local judges may be elected, most in the federal government are appointed based on their track record as a judge. Therefore they can make "unpopular" decisions, and strike down legislation without fear of being voted out of office.
Take for instance the COPA legislation (Child Online Protection Act). A very popular bill with both legislators and a certain portion of the constituants whom they represent. Yet every version that has been tested in a court of law has been struck down so far. The legislative branch passes a new version, it goes to trial, and is struck down as being unconstitutional. The judges are free to rule in favor of defending the constitution without fear of retaliation from those who are upset with their unpopular decision. They can defend the constitution when the legislature has failed to defend it.
Unfortunately, the article doesn't go into too much depth about the situation. Whether he was fired, laid off, or left on his own for greener pastures. But here are my thoughts on it all:
Non-compete clauses are standard in the broadcast world, and a local radio station made a big stink about it on the air because a popular couple had been fired from their morning show, and the radio station that picked them up couldn't let them on the air for 6 months or face a lawsuit from the station that fired them in the first place! However, there are hundreds of markets in the US, and stations that are always looking for better talent, so there wasn't much threat of them going hungry - they could just move 50 miles to the next radio market and get a job if they were hard up for cash.
On the other hand, if what you do is highly specialized work, such as working on the read/write heads of hard drives, there aren't that many job opportunities available to you. So if there are only 3 companies that do what you specialize in, and you leave one to work at another, you are going to be in trouble if you are forced to take a 2 year hiatus. However, I wouldn't have a problem staying out of the field for 2 years if my first company compensated me for staying out of my chosen profession for the duration of time.
No kidding! He was my idol in Robotech...well, maybe not the Lancer character...Max Sterling was an awesome pilot!
And yes, I know exactly what you mean. I'll be listening to something and I'll be like, "OMG! That's MAX!" Ya, here is someone who has done a lot of work. What a voice!
I would have to agree with the parent poster on this one. The voice acting blew me away. Carth Onasi was great! I loved how you could make him put his foot in his mouth, and he kept stumbling over himself trying to apologise! Not to mention Jolee Bindo! I first took notice of this actor in Animatrix, and was surprised to see him in Lilo & Stich. Incredible voice actor, as he has already been in 25 productions since finishing KOTOR.
But I think what blew me away the most was the use of well known hollywoodactors to play bit parts! If I were to make assumptions, I would assume that these are the people who really love their craft, and are willing to take any job, even if it isn't some high profile production with their name in lights. Those are the actors I respect the most.
If I were to push my assumptions even further, if voice acting like this were combined with the details in characters that we will see in Half-Life 2, I think we are going to see some extremely memorable performances by some unknown actors, and it just might shake up how actors and characters are viewed by the Hollywood Studios.
You can, of course, read about how the process works from the RIAA website or I can attempt to summarize: They log onto the same p2p networks using the same p2p software that everyone else can freely download from the internet. They look for songs from their signed artists, and if possible those who have large collections. They download several songs, documenting when, and from which IP address. They confirm that those songs are what they claim to be (artist, and title), then file a lawsuit with the IP address instead of the name of the person.
Once the lawsuit has been filed they can legally demand that the ISP connect the IP address and time of download to a name. Once they have a name and street address, they can send legal notice, and carry out their former scheme (settle for $3000, or be convicted and pay $MILLIONS later!). On their website, they bemoan this path in that they can no longer offer pre-lawsuit notification (less legal fees), so they are implying that with the court mandated extra steps, they have to spend more money to find the identity of the infringing party - which of course gets passed on to the infringing party as a higher settlement cost.
Before they switched the the card (a la "Magic the Gathering") format. It was cut-throat, and a LOT of fun! Be careful who you play with. I've only played it with close friends, but I wonder if being a total bastard in the game would affect friendships that aren't so close...
I thought the same thing, in fact I setup my hotmail account specifically so that when web sites required me to register, that I would use this hotmail account that I would never use. After a year or two of that, my hotmail account looked horrendus. Spam galore, but how Hotmail opperated back then, it wouldn't refuse e-mail, it would just delete old e-mail to make room for the new e-mail. (they have since changed that - now if the account is full, it will not accept e-mail)
Since I had considered my hotmail account as a junk account, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what would happen if I did try to unsubscribe. Especially when I found out that we could forward spam e-mail to uce@ftc.gov, I started unsubscribing, and sending copies to the FTC.
It was about this time that hotmail started implimenting their own spam filter which would catch e-mail from spoofed domains, as well as other protections to catch spam, and I noticed a huge decline in the amount of spam I was getting. Those who were legitimate (HA!) would take the unsubscribe seriously, and if they did sell my e-mail to someone even more unscrupulous, their unscrupulous nature would be caught by the built in spam blocking offered by hotmail.
Oddly enough, my hotmail account has become my main account, and the cleanup was a total success. I get perhaps 1 spam a week that finds its way through Hotmail's spam filter, and I always check for an unsubscribe method.
Second, I find that hard to believe. Any police force would like to have any available tool open to them to use in investigations, and I find it hard to believe that legislators would burden businesses with legislation that would actually hamper the implementation of such a tool. Why would they purposely make it more difficult to install security cameras?
Slashdot Mirror
Back in the early '90s our dept. all got pagers so we could all keep in touch with each other. We got a good deal with one of the dealers, and we got these monstrous things with multiple buttons being able to do many different things, from displaying messages that had been typed in through a messaging service, to setting and changing the time displayed, as well as cycling through the numbers left and when we were paged.
We all had those pagers for a short period of time as we got used to them, and the contract was smoothed out. When it was finalized, we all got new pagers with one button that did everything depending on how long you held the button down. Upon hearing how we were to interact with the new pagers, one of my colleagues quipped, "God save us from technology!"
PONG!
The pay phone is provided by the phone company. They may rent the space from you, but it is the phone company's responsibility and liability. An Internet connection is provided by the business owner, who might assume resonsibility and liability for actions taken by patrons who use that service.
On a side note, if a local ISP were able to find a way to make money off a free WiFi connection (earlier comments mention a proxy server replacing all banner ads), they would be able to absolve small shops of any liability by providing the service for them, and may be able to work out a deal where the ISP pays no rent for their service. The ISP would attract patrons with their service, and the shop owner would not have to maintain the system (one less hassle).
A lot of what you are looking for has already been figured out by others who do not want to be locked into a single format, vendor, or system. There are many geneology programs out there, such as Gramps or Brothers Keeper who use a standardized file format, GEDCOM, that allows information stored in those specific programs to be transferred to other programs. This allows for easy upgrades in software, as well as the possibility of moving from one package to another as the information can be archived to the GEDCOM file, and then read in again once the new software has been installed.
As for hardware and other software, I would suggest you use what is familiar to you, or is compatible to the software package you have chosen.
Actually, the problem is solvable with a minimal amount of money. The camera is durable if treated correctly and properly maintained. Perhaps the solution relies upon an external remedy. Have you examined the travel case for the camera? A good one with at least 2 inches of padding on all sides can make all the difference in the world - and can cost much less than the price of a new camera.
He cannot require more than 2 weeks notice...
Unless you are under contract, you don't even have to give them 2 weeks. This is where the "At Will" enployment cuts both ways. They can fire you for any reason whatsoever ("He has blue eyes! I never noticed before, but he has blue eyes! I don't like blue eyes. I terminated him."), and you can stop going to work tomorrow without fear of litigation from the company. Heck, I've even seen some people give their two week notice, and then use up two weeks of paid vacation.
Of course, stunts like that leave a bad taste in employeers mouths, and in such a specialized industry, you may find yourself at another company in another relationship with your former boss or employees. Leaving them in a lynch at other companies can come back to bite you in the ass.
If I were you, I would call an attourney first thing tomorrow morning. I would explain my situation, and tell them that I would like to draft a contract to define my relationship with this company beyond the two week period. For starters, after the two week period, I would be available for emergency service, provided I am not already predisposed with my current employeer, and tasks demanded of me by my new employeer. That I am available for contract rates of $200 per hour, with a minimum of four hours for a service call.
Many have said it before, I will just restate it: This situation should have been resolved a LONG time ago. It is not of your concern how your current employeer handles his business after you leave. Use the contract as a bargaining chip, as your response to his offer of 6 weeks and 3 months of subsidized rates. Somewhere between his desire, and your contract lies a happy medium for both of you. Perhaps a scare like losing you may be enough to guarantee further employement at much more favorable compensation.
If you had read the article, you would have seen it state near the bottom:
... because both formats, so debated since the beginning of 2004, may find themselves outrun by the Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD).
While Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use the same laser, other producers thought of combining the two lasers (red and blue), in a single ray and thanks to Optware, on a disc the size of a CD or DVD, 1 TB of data could be stored (20 times more than on a Blu-Ray disc), with a transfer rate of 1 Gbit/s.
The war is futile
While it isn't "always on," the 2 second connect and authentication time lag makes you feel like it is always on. As well, since companies who provide dial-up also compete for ISDN, you are sure to get a very competative rate compared to broadband. Sounds exactly like what you want, and I would seriously recomment that you investigate ISDN options in your area.
Its not about an internet connection being required, its about the fact that the box doesn't mention having to install Steam to play it and how "internet connection required" != Steam.
If I had mod points, I would mod you up. This is what it is all about, and most people are totally missing the point.
The sad thing about this, most of this could have been avoided if Valve and Vivendi could have worked it out. Instead, we the consumers are seeing the fallout from their war with each other. Could they have made consessions with the CD/DVD sets? Hell ya! The original Half-Life didn't come with Steam, but it can be added to Steam. The same could have been done with the CD/DVD sets to allow those who want the traditional gaming paradigm, and not be tied to Steam unless they wanted to (online gaming assumed). Instead, it doesn't matter if you bought the game through Steam or not, you are tied to Steam - willing or not.
If I may go on a tangent, I would argue that this is a problem with our society based on our lack of education. Instead of writing our leaders, our congresspeople, those in charge of consumer protection, we would rather take the easy way out, and either return the game, or complain about it on a community site that our leaders are not aware of, or both. German government is acting based on consumer complaints. Our government would do the same if we complained to them.
I'm British, I've seen the entire series already and it's fantastic stuff.
What does being British have to do with Battlestar Galactica, seeing Battlestar Galactica, or the show being a fantastic show? Did I miss something?
But I can't agree with you more about the digression of Star Trek. They tried to apply a forumla for mainstream success, and it failed miserably - so much so that the shows are losing respect of the original fan base.
I am not so sure about the fault being that of the writers. I am sure that they only create details that have been laid out by their superiors, those who direct the course of the show and series. I personally was never that much of a fan of a historical piece, like Enterprise. The show has always been about what a bright and wonderful future we have before us. If we can imagine it, we can accomplish it. ST:E seemed like a step backwards, not only in the timeline, but in the major theme of the Star Trek Universe. ST:E seemed to have a "sure the future is bright, but look at what we had to endure to get there" feel to it, and while it may work on some levels, that is not what Star Trek is all about.
Perhaps it will take someone with balls to create a show that isn't "edgy, gritty, or realistic" and give us what we want - optimism, hope, and fantasy. Give us something that will inspire our imagination, and not mirror reality.
and I'm sure it is in the US too.
Unfortunately, most companies in the US listen to their legal dept. who tells them not to notify people when they do not get the job, for fear of legal reprisal. Instead if he had called back two weeks later, and they had hired someone else for the position he was interviewing for, the HR people would probably tell him that the position had been filled, and that they will keep his resume on file, should another position open for which he might be qualified. Although, chances are, his resume hit the circular file once the position had been filled.
If I had been in that position, and I felt the interview process had gone well, I would have made regular contact with the contact I had made from the company, or the person would would be my immediate superior should I fill the position. Calling them on a regular basis (daily even!) shows that you are eager for the position, and may help you win out in the decision process. If everything between yourself, and your competitors is generally even, your regular contact would bolster your image as you would be viewed as a "go-getter", and someone who takes the initiative. I would make a warning about this, however, as you would need to listen to the feedback you get, and respond accordingly. For example, if you call back the day after your interview, and they tell you they are still interviewing other candidates, respect that, and wait a few more days before making contact again.
Addendum information class, 44535i
Topic: Manouver to effectivly gain ridership from an unknown source.
Step 1: Extend arm.
Step 2: Make fist, then extend thumb to full open position.
Step 3: Bend elbow to move hand from starting position to the side of the head. Count to two, return hand to starting position, count to two, and repeat.
Step 4: Optional step for female austronauts - pull up right leg covering to expose skin.
With any luck, you will attract the attention of passing space craft who will give you a ride to your destination of choice, preferably the International Space Station.
This is the same tactic that TBS used in the '90s to keep viewer lock. All shows on TBS started and ended at 5 after the hour or half hour. The only difference now is that instead of really missing the beginning of a show on another channel, the DVR is not set up to handle a WHOLE MINUTE of scheduling conflicts. However, you can adjust start and stop times for the Tivo, but that is another step in the process, and most end users would rather complain than be forced to do more work. (Tivo is about convenience, right? Right?)
This is why I think the one reporting this came to the wrong conclusion. If you RTFA, you would see that Gabe says they are watching that. It could be that they are aware of the torrent, and since every tracker happily announces the IP address of everyone that connects to it, they could easily get a list off of the tracker, and match it up to the IP addresses of steam account holders.
I would say that the chances are very slim that they actually released a WAREZ copy of the game just to ban those who would dare to download it. They are just making use of a golden opportunity to nab those who are dumb enough to download something illegally without changing their IP address.
I don't understand why people find this so hard to understand.
1) Valve contracts with Sierra (usual sign over your firstborn child contract) for money to produce Half-Life.
2) Half-Life is big hit, makes lots of money for Sierra.
3) Valve tells Sierra, give us our list of demands (ownership of Half-Life back, Internet distribution, higher percentage of games sold) or we will drag our feet, and waste your money. Sierra gives in.
4) Vivendi purchases Sierra.
5) Valve creates Steam because they can - new contract remember?
6) Vivendi doesn't like Steam, sues Valve.
Any kind of backup solution is preferable to a single point of failure. USB Keys may not be the best solution out there, but it is certainly better than having only one copy on your hard drive. I would look at more than just USB keys, there are certainly plenty of options for copying and making backups of your data, from CD-Rs, and iPods, to zip disks, and external USB/Firewire hard drives.
While a USB key is certainly portable and convenient, it may also create another problem - easy theft of your work. How easy is it to lose a USB key, or have it stolen. And what happens if the finder claims your work as their own? If you did use a USB key, I would definately not keep it with you, but store it in a safe and secure location.
In that vein of thought, since you are working on a book, do you keep hard copy backups? I know it would be a pain to OCR all those pages back in if you lost everything, but it would be better than starting from scratch. If kept in a fire retardant safe, they would fare much better than digital media would.
The rumor going around at work is that traditionally when there is heavy turnout at the polls (like today's near record turnout) it is a sign of the masses rising up to throw out the party in power.
Exactly. While the kneejerk reactionaries in our legislative branch may have been able to pass the PATRIOT act, we are seeing the cool headed philosophers in the judicial branch nudering the PATRIOT act. While there are many laws in the code, until they have been tested in a court of law, they are pretty much worthless. This is something that most attournies realize, and many of them would jump at the chance to test a new law. This is also why many say the GPL is not valid -- again, it has not been tested in a court of law (although many who have taken a look at the agreement say it is enforcable).
I say that those in the legislative branch are kneejerk reactionaries. They are, because they have to be. They have to be sensative to everything that goes on, and usually overreact to a situation to appear as if they are "tough" on an issue, or weren't slacking off on the issue before it became important, i.e. terrorism. A representative's position is up for re-election every 2 years. They have to be on top of every minor complaint any of their constituants brings up, after all, dissappoint a constituant, and that is a vote against you (along with everyone they tell). Senators have a bit more cushion, after all, they have a longer term at 6 years. Also, they cover more area and constiuants, so they can afford to piss off someone on the south side, and still remain strong with their base on the north side. The goal of course is to be more concerned about long term health of the country, but they can be kneejerk reactionaries as well when something really important happens to the country.
In the judicial branch, things are a bit different. And while local judges may be elected, most in the federal government are appointed based on their track record as a judge. Therefore they can make "unpopular" decisions, and strike down legislation without fear of being voted out of office.
Take for instance the COPA legislation (Child Online Protection Act). A very popular bill with both legislators and a certain portion of the constituants whom they represent. Yet every version that has been tested in a court of law has been struck down so far. The legislative branch passes a new version, it goes to trial, and is struck down as being unconstitutional. The judges are free to rule in favor of defending the constitution without fear of retaliation from those who are upset with their unpopular decision. They can defend the constitution when the legislature has failed to defend it.
Unfortunately, the article doesn't go into too much depth about the situation. Whether he was fired, laid off, or left on his own for greener pastures. But here are my thoughts on it all:
Non-compete clauses are standard in the broadcast world, and a local radio station made a big stink about it on the air because a popular couple had been fired from their morning show, and the radio station that picked them up couldn't let them on the air for 6 months or face a lawsuit from the station that fired them in the first place! However, there are hundreds of markets in the US, and stations that are always looking for better talent, so there wasn't much threat of them going hungry - they could just move 50 miles to the next radio market and get a job if they were hard up for cash.
On the other hand, if what you do is highly specialized work, such as working on the read/write heads of hard drives, there aren't that many job opportunities available to you. So if there are only 3 companies that do what you specialize in, and you leave one to work at another, you are going to be in trouble if you are forced to take a 2 year hiatus. However, I wouldn't have a problem staying out of the field for 2 years if my first company compensated me for staying out of my chosen profession for the duration of time.
No kidding! He was my idol in Robotech...well, maybe not the Lancer character...Max Sterling was an awesome pilot!
And yes, I know exactly what you mean. I'll be listening to something and I'll be like, "OMG! That's MAX!" Ya, here is someone who has done a lot of work. What a voice!
I would have to agree with the parent poster on this one. The voice acting blew me away. Carth Onasi was great! I loved how you could make him put his foot in his mouth, and he kept stumbling over himself trying to apologise! Not to mention Jolee Bindo! I first took notice of this actor in Animatrix, and was surprised to see him in Lilo & Stich. Incredible voice actor, as he has already been in 25 productions since finishing KOTOR.
But I think what blew me away the most was the use of well known hollywood actors to play bit parts! If I were to make assumptions, I would assume that these are the people who really love their craft, and are willing to take any job, even if it isn't some high profile production with their name in lights. Those are the actors I respect the most.
If I were to push my assumptions even further, if voice acting like this were combined with the details in characters that we will see in Half-Life 2, I think we are going to see some extremely memorable performances by some unknown actors, and it just might shake up how actors and characters are viewed by the Hollywood Studios.
You can, of course, read about how the process works from the RIAA website or I can attempt to summarize: They log onto the same p2p networks using the same p2p software that everyone else can freely download from the internet. They look for songs from their signed artists, and if possible those who have large collections. They download several songs, documenting when, and from which IP address. They confirm that those songs are what they claim to be (artist, and title), then file a lawsuit with the IP address instead of the name of the person.
Once the lawsuit has been filed they can legally demand that the ISP connect the IP address and time of download to a name. Once they have a name and street address, they can send legal notice, and carry out their former scheme (settle for $3000, or be convicted and pay $MILLIONS later!). On their website, they bemoan this path in that they can no longer offer pre-lawsuit notification (less legal fees), so they are implying that with the court mandated extra steps, they have to spend more money to find the identity of the infringing party - which of course gets passed on to the infringing party as a higher settlement cost.
Before they switched the the card (a la "Magic the Gathering") format. It was cut-throat, and a LOT of fun! Be careful who you play with. I've only played it with close friends, but I wonder if being a total bastard in the game would affect friendships that aren't so close...
I thought the same thing, in fact I setup my hotmail account specifically so that when web sites required me to register, that I would use this hotmail account that I would never use. After a year or two of that, my hotmail account looked horrendus. Spam galore, but how Hotmail opperated back then, it wouldn't refuse e-mail, it would just delete old e-mail to make room for the new e-mail. (they have since changed that - now if the account is full, it will not accept e-mail)
Since I had considered my hotmail account as a junk account, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what would happen if I did try to unsubscribe. Especially when I found out that we could forward spam e-mail to uce@ftc.gov, I started unsubscribing, and sending copies to the FTC.
It was about this time that hotmail started implimenting their own spam filter which would catch e-mail from spoofed domains, as well as other protections to catch spam, and I noticed a huge decline in the amount of spam I was getting. Those who were legitimate (HA!) would take the unsubscribe seriously, and if they did sell my e-mail to someone even more unscrupulous, their unscrupulous nature would be caught by the built in spam blocking offered by hotmail.
Oddly enough, my hotmail account has become my main account, and the cleanup was a total success. I get perhaps 1 spam a week that finds its way through Hotmail's spam filter, and I always check for an unsubscribe method.
First off, which state are you talking about?
Second, I find that hard to believe. Any police force would like to have any available tool open to them to use in investigations, and I find it hard to believe that legislators would burden businesses with legislation that would actually hamper the implementation of such a tool. Why would they purposely make it more difficult to install security cameras?