SBC got really nasty and start bombing the postal mailboxes of all of the residents with FUD mailings about how the new initiative would cost every homeowner a fortune in new taxes. The only indication as to the source of the FUD mailings was "SBC" written in tiny six point font in the corner. There were plenty of similar mailings over the month before the referendum, and it failed (narrowly) in a non-presidential election year. Generally, these tend to be smaller turnouts with mostly older voters.
This year, they got it back on the ballot again, and I hope that it goes through, if not for the "fiber", at least to stick it to SBC. I'm voting for it again.
(Side note: we already have power over leased ComEd lines, but bought from nearby Wisconsin, and our electric rates are relatively low.)
Two windows (pay) solutions that allow you to set it up on the base PC and record/stream/timeshift/etc.
http://www.snapstream.com/ (Beyond TV3)
http://www.sage.tv/
I've run into hardware issues where Snapstream wouldn't handle legacy video capture cards that didn't have current DirectX drivers (I think version 8). Don't know as much about Sage.
My brother also has run Windows Media Encoder 7 (Free download) and streamed stuff over the web to me before - I didn't have an interface to change channels, though. The advantage of the media encoder is that if bandwidth dropped, it could adapt and pick a thinner stream. You didn't mention whether you were running an a, b or g wireless connection, though, but I've had anything over 1500kbps stutter on my home 802.11b connection, so choose bitrate well.
Didn't he also send an email to 700 of his closest friends asking that they vote for one of his players to the all-star team, only to leave all 700 of these friends in the "to" line of the email, rather than bcc? Thus, all of them got each others' email addresses and begin the "Mark Cuban" listserv, where people started emailing EACH OTHER, including buying things from each other.
I don't remember the details and can't find the story online anymore - anyone know it? The total recipient list may have been closer to 5000. Saw it in Forbes a couple of years ago.
AAC actually allows multiple formats, or bit-rate controls. Some folks over at HydrogenAudio's forums had taken some AAC files from iTunes and looked at the bitrate as it varied. It seemed from their observations that the AAC files were wildly VBR for the first few seconds, and then settled down to a CBR. May be some logic going through guessing a quality level off the start of the song - dunno.
Generally, you're allowed much the same as MP3: ABR with small bit reservoir, ABR with regular bit reservoir, ABR with NO bit reservoir (essentially - CBR) and pure VBR.
Sometimes this means adding an expletive or two for the sole purpose of getting the movie up to PG instead of G.
Interesting, that. It also seems to go the other way on the higher end. All too often, a violent movie is produced that is pretty much assured of getting an "R" rating through violence alone. So, somebody along the way decides that they might as well throw in swearing and nudity. You can see it when it happens because when it does, it's an afterthought and not relevant to the plot. Steven Segal's "Under Siege" is an example that comes to mind. Bunch of people get their butt's kicked - R. Throw in the naked girl for free, 'cause your rating is already paying for it with the butt-kicking.
Maybe we at least need ratings the way the TV or video games do it, where they give the rating and (in smaller letters), codes explaining the reason. Or maybe that's just too complex for most people.
Oddly, it seems that the upshot is that the total number of ratings needed ends up staying about the same no matter what they add. Since the addition of the PG-13, it seems that everyone has fled the "G" rating. Adding an "NC-17" didn't reduce the number of "X"s (count ALL of the NC-17 movies), but gave a ceiling to the "R"s. Witness movies going back to the cutting floor for the sheer purpose of changing the rating.
Didn't he also send an email to 700 of his closest friends asking that they vote for one of his players to the all-star team, only to leave all 700 of these friends in the "to" line of the email, rather than bcc? Thus, all of them got each others' email addresses and begin the "Mark Cuban" listserv, where people started emailing EACH OTHER, including buying things from each other.
I don't remember the details and can't find the story online anymore - anyone know it?
I know my Honda Insight uses some IR blocking in the windows, but not sure what it is right now. Gives a slight green tint. The goal is to take a load off the A/C.
Recently had a coworker who told me about his experience in a parking lot.
Seems a young woman was standing outstide her car and the remote on the keyfob (to unlock the doors) had run down its batteries. She just kept pushing the button, getting more and more frantic that she was locked out of the car. She considered even going to one of the stores at the lot and buying a battery, but didn't know what kind or how to do it.
So my friend walks up, asks for her car keys, and sticks the key in the car door lock and turns the key.
You are right, in part. The rule actually is "three out of five years" in profit. If a business doesn't make the profit for three out of five, it's not an automatic killer, but then new provisions come in, like being able to claim that the loss was due to circumstances out of your control, etc.
Good info on this at the IRS web site, via a search for "Is it a Business or a Hobby?"
As far as the Amazons of the world go - I think that part of the concern is what type of corporation, etc. you are. "S" corporations (sole proprietors) get the 3/5 rule. I think raising horses can give you a seven year window for profitibility, and there are truly many companies that bleed red ink for years, but I think these are the "C" corporations, and the other rules are much more intense.
Non-self-employed people in the US can only write off non-reimbursed business expenses to the extent that they exceed 2% of their Adjusted Gross Income.
You'd need to be paid very little (or pay a lot for broadband) to cross that line.
On the flip-side, you can also start a small business on the side (sell Beanie Babies on Ebay, for all it matters) and you can write off the broadband bill and computer stuff, too.*
*(To the extent that your profit from the side job exceeds your costs. You must make a net profit for two out of three years, or the IRS just calls it a "hobby", which has a different classification.)
As the owner of a Honda Insight, I agree. (BTW: the "people mover" in the family is a VW wagon.)
In most families, one (or both) cars makes a morning commute of 30-45 minutes, then another one back of the same time. The driver is almost always ALONE.
In these families, one vehicle is often larger than the other (a minivan or SUV) and takes the kids, dog, etc. all over town, but the smaller vehicle almost never does these chores.
Face it: nobody ever has said about a Corvette the same thing - "How am I going to tow my boat?" It's accepted that each car has a primary role that it's good at (commuting) and others that it's not.
In many middle and upper-middle class American houses, there are often three cars (before the kids drive): Mom mover, Dad mover and "fun car". For the geek set, this can be the fun car.
Potential market for the new Sparrow: retirement communities, where people need to only go one or two miles (or even to the store), but want to do so in any weather. Currently, these residents move around in golf carts (poor weather protection) or regular gas cars.
Well there compression is horid it's as bad as my local cables digital offerings or directv's local channels
I once had to talk to DishNetwork tech support about a bad box, and while I was on the phone (with level 2 support!), I asked in passing about the compression artifacts that had really started showing up. He informed me that if was referring to compression like on a computer file or something, that they don't do that, and that any compression I was seeing was due to THEIR content providers doing it. Apparently, some of their more experienced techs think that they're streaming raw video to us or something.
Oddly enough, by name it was the same guy who a year prior (then level 1) was telling me that the periodic cross-clusters on my PVR were probably due to being plugged into a surge suppressor, and that my problem would go away if I plugged the unit directly into the wall. This was in spite of tons of complaint boards that had posted the same issue on the same box.
My disabled mother-in-law lives with us and watches about 12 hours of TV a day, but when she moves out, we're pulling the plug on those idiots.
Considering that this is an industry that still takes about 10% off the gross for "breakage" of music media before computing any profits, I don't think this will change soon. They have a steady supply of money from a cross-section of music listeners and non-listeners; they won't give it up.
The "breakage" was originally worked out because that's the percent of SHELLAC RECORDS would break before they got to the stores. It's still in the book-keeping, and it's all gravy, now.
It used to be structured in the US that leases (and most consumer debt) was tax deductible, but that changed in the mid-80s. Now, a lease only offers a tax advantage if the vehicle is used in a business.
Two states in particular (Illinois and Texas) pack an extra hit for lessors of vehicles. Both states charge full vehicle sales tax on the sticker at lease start, and then charge sales tax on the residual value if you decide to buy at end of lease. If you don't decide to buy the vehicle, you're still out the partial sales tax from the upfront purchase.
In spite of this, I know that leasing is still pretty popular in Illinois (where I live).
I'd like to think so, but I have a feeling that ignorance won't matter if your equipment has been confiscated "for inspection", with no easy recourse for getting it back. You might have a better chance getting it back if it's strictly an RIAA or MPAA issue, but if someone releases the next new virus or pings *.gov using your IP address, it escalates quickly.
Related thought: depending on your ISP, you may find that they won't quibble and will just summarily shut you off.
You hit it right on the head. In my family, we have one Passat Wagon, and one Honda Insight (two seats).
The Passat stays at home, and my wife takes it to run errands with the kids, or take them somewhere, or whatever requires "cargo". Since it really makes a bunch of short trips, plus the occasional "road-trip", we only put gas in it once a month or so.
The Insight takes me to work every day, and takes me back. Occasionally, it goes to the grocery store, or a friend's house. I get ten gallons of gas about once a month, so the recent price hikes haven't really mattered.
Most people think of a car as a tool for "all jobs" than the right tool for "a job". When so many houses have multiple cars in the US, it shouldn't be that foreign that people would have cars for specific goals. For example, I don't think anyone has ever complained "oh, I don't want to buy the Corvette. How would I ever tow the boat and take the kids?"
I don't know about the font issue, but there's been one around since the dawn of time where Word's "Total # of Pages" field in the footer would drop the ball in pretty typical situations (such as if you had "Background Printing" turned on in Word).
It's gotten successively better with each version of Word, but only through more and more aggressive repagination events being fired by Word, esp. when accessing Word in code. Seems to kick off when documents get larger than about seven pages. It seems like their solution to the bug was basically to force a repaginate for each mouse or keyboard click or something.
Code that operated on Field Codes in Word got MUCH slower in Word 2002 compared to 2000 or 97. Haven't benchmarked 2003 lately.
Just start keeping an eye out for people with phones in public, and chat them up when they get off the phone (or when it's just on their waist)!
Seriously, I've gone through a bunch of phones with bad UI, unused features, or just too fragile, only to find out later from friends that I had made a mistake.
On the plus side, this can lead to job leads, dates, whatever! (I'm serious.)
If you especially ask people in your area, your more likely to get honest answers about coverage area than the guys at the local store.
As a parent of two tikes, I personally would like a phone that could take a few drops and keep ticking. Those leather cases provide a little cushioning, but not enough.
Note: my current Nokia 3650 causes really bad EM interference all around me - once every half hour or so, the monitor will shimmer, speakers will chirp, etc. The running joke around work is that either my head or my "guys" are going to suffer. The keys are in a non-standard arrangement, with several numbers pivoting off the same key at times, making dialing by feel or in the dark STILL nearly impossible. Also, color screens tend to have lower contrast than the BW ones, so it's not a great feature unless you end up buying a camera phone or something.
TechReport.com had a complete review ripped off in this manner. Complete with links to their server for the pics. The admin at TechReport replaced all of the pictures with new ones that were tasteful, and funny.
Slashdot Mirror
Cosmos. Also a book.
I loved that show when I was in jr high, but when I went back and checked it out it felt a bit dated, but still fascinating.
SBC got really nasty and start bombing the postal mailboxes of all of the residents with FUD mailings about how the new initiative would cost every homeowner a fortune in new taxes. The only indication as to the source of the FUD mailings was "SBC" written in tiny six point font in the corner. There were plenty of similar mailings over the month before the referendum, and it failed (narrowly) in a non-presidential election year. Generally, these tend to be smaller turnouts with mostly older voters.
This year, they got it back on the ballot again, and I hope that it goes through, if not for the "fiber", at least to stick it to SBC. I'm voting for it again.
(Side note: we already have power over leased ComEd lines, but bought from nearby Wisconsin, and our electric rates are relatively low.)
Ironically enough, since Moore's film has shown a profit, it would be the rare case of it enhancing the DNC/Kerry advertising budget.
http://www.snapstream.com/ (Beyond TV3)
http://www.sage.tv/
I've run into hardware issues where Snapstream wouldn't handle legacy video capture cards that didn't have current DirectX drivers (I think version 8). Don't know as much about Sage.
My brother also has run Windows Media Encoder 7 (Free download) and streamed stuff over the web to me before - I didn't have an interface to change channels, though. The advantage of the media encoder is that if bandwidth dropped, it could adapt and pick a thinner stream. You didn't mention whether you were running an a, b or g wireless connection, though, but I've had anything over 1500kbps stutter on my home 802.11b connection, so choose bitrate well.
I don't remember the details and can't find the story online anymore - anyone know it? The total recipient list may have been closer to 5000. Saw it in Forbes a couple of years ago.
Generally, you're allowed much the same as MP3: ABR with small bit reservoir, ABR with regular bit reservoir, ABR with NO bit reservoir (essentially - CBR) and pure VBR.
Hydrogen Audio Link Here
Interesting, that. It also seems to go the other way on the higher end. All too often, a violent movie is produced that is pretty much assured of getting an "R" rating through violence alone. So, somebody along the way decides that they might as well throw in swearing and nudity. You can see it when it happens because when it does, it's an afterthought and not relevant to the plot. Steven Segal's "Under Siege" is an example that comes to mind. Bunch of people get their butt's kicked - R. Throw in the naked girl for free, 'cause your rating is already paying for it with the butt-kicking.
Maybe we at least need ratings the way the TV or video games do it, where they give the rating and (in smaller letters), codes explaining the reason. Or maybe that's just too complex for most people.
Oddly, it seems that the upshot is that the total number of ratings needed ends up staying about the same no matter what they add. Since the addition of the PG-13, it seems that everyone has fled the "G" rating. Adding an "NC-17" didn't reduce the number of "X"s (count ALL of the NC-17 movies), but gave a ceiling to the "R"s. Witness movies going back to the cutting floor for the sheer purpose of changing the rating.
Of course, if you've got a little more discipline, you probably could add slashdot to your hosts file to send to loopback.
Didn't he also send an email to 700 of his closest friends asking that they vote for one of his players to the all-star team, only to leave all 700 of these friends in the "to" line of the email, rather than bcc? Thus, all of them got each others' email addresses and begin the "Mark Cuban" listserv, where people started emailing EACH OTHER, including buying things from each other.
I don't remember the details and can't find the story online anymore - anyone know it?
I know my Honda Insight uses some IR blocking in the windows, but not sure what it is right now. Gives a slight green tint. The goal is to take a load off the A/C.
Check the terms of the agreement if you wish to use their schema. License here
Not as silly as this would seem. This works out to our advantage, as you can have private conversations without being overheard.
Seems a young woman was standing outstide her car and the remote on the keyfob (to unlock the doors) had run down its batteries. She just kept pushing the button, getting more and more frantic that she was locked out of the car. She considered even going to one of the stores at the lot and buying a battery, but didn't know what kind or how to do it.
So my friend walks up, asks for her car keys, and sticks the key in the car door lock and turns the key.
He said her expression was priceless.
Good info on this at the IRS web site, via a search for "Is it a Business or a Hobby?"
As far as the Amazons of the world go - I think that part of the concern is what type of corporation, etc. you are. "S" corporations (sole proprietors) get the 3/5 rule. I think raising horses can give you a seven year window for profitibility, and there are truly many companies that bleed red ink for years, but I think these are the "C" corporations, and the other rules are much more intense.
You'd need to be paid very little (or pay a lot for broadband) to cross that line.
On the flip-side, you can also start a small business on the side (sell Beanie Babies on Ebay, for all it matters) and you can write off the broadband bill and computer stuff, too.*
*(To the extent that your profit from the side job exceeds your costs. You must make a net profit for two out of three years, or the IRS just calls it a "hobby", which has a different classification.)
In most families, one (or both) cars makes a morning commute of 30-45 minutes, then another one back of the same time. The driver is almost always ALONE.
In these families, one vehicle is often larger than the other (a minivan or SUV) and takes the kids, dog, etc. all over town, but the smaller vehicle almost never does these chores.
Face it: nobody ever has said about a Corvette the same thing - "How am I going to tow my boat?" It's accepted that each car has a primary role that it's good at (commuting) and others that it's not.
In many middle and upper-middle class American houses, there are often three cars (before the kids drive): Mom mover, Dad mover and "fun car". For the geek set, this can be the fun car.
Potential market for the new Sparrow: retirement communities, where people need to only go one or two miles (or even to the store), but want to do so in any weather. Currently, these residents move around in golf carts (poor weather protection) or regular gas cars.
I once had to talk to DishNetwork tech support about a bad box, and while I was on the phone (with level 2 support!), I asked in passing about the compression artifacts that had really started showing up. He informed me that if was referring to compression like on a computer file or something, that they don't do that, and that any compression I was seeing was due to THEIR content providers doing it. Apparently, some of their more experienced techs think that they're streaming raw video to us or something.
Oddly enough, by name it was the same guy who a year prior (then level 1) was telling me that the periodic cross-clusters on my PVR were probably due to being plugged into a surge suppressor, and that my problem would go away if I plugged the unit directly into the wall. This was in spite of tons of complaint boards that had posted the same issue on the same box.
My disabled mother-in-law lives with us and watches about 12 hours of TV a day, but when she moves out, we're pulling the plug on those idiots.
The "breakage" was originally worked out because that's the percent of SHELLAC RECORDS would break before they got to the stores. It's still in the book-keeping, and it's all gravy, now.
It used to be structured in the US that leases (and most consumer debt) was tax deductible, but that changed in the mid-80s. Now, a lease only offers a tax advantage if the vehicle is used in a business.
Two states in particular (Illinois and Texas) pack an extra hit for lessors of vehicles. Both states charge full vehicle sales tax on the sticker at lease start, and then charge sales tax on the residual value if you decide to buy at end of lease. If you don't decide to buy the vehicle, you're still out the partial sales tax from the upfront purchase.
In spite of this, I know that leasing is still pretty popular in Illinois (where I live).
Related thought: depending on your ISP, you may find that they won't quibble and will just summarily shut you off.
The Passat stays at home, and my wife takes it to run errands with the kids, or take them somewhere, or whatever requires "cargo". Since it really makes a bunch of short trips, plus the occasional "road-trip", we only put gas in it once a month or so.
The Insight takes me to work every day, and takes me back. Occasionally, it goes to the grocery store, or a friend's house. I get ten gallons of gas about once a month, so the recent price hikes haven't really mattered.
Most people think of a car as a tool for "all jobs" than the right tool for "a job". When so many houses have multiple cars in the US, it shouldn't be that foreign that people would have cars for specific goals. For example, I don't think anyone has ever complained "oh, I don't want to buy the Corvette. How would I ever tow the boat and take the kids?"
Yes, saddest thing ever. They were able to run the entire last season off of episodes that got pre-empted by football the prior season.
It's gotten successively better with each version of Word, but only through more and more aggressive repagination events being fired by Word, esp. when accessing Word in code. Seems to kick off when documents get larger than about seven pages. It seems like their solution to the bug was basically to force a repaginate for each mouse or keyboard click or something.
Code that operated on Field Codes in Word got MUCH slower in Word 2002 compared to 2000 or 97. Haven't benchmarked 2003 lately.
Seriously, I've gone through a bunch of phones with bad UI, unused features, or just too fragile, only to find out later from friends that I had made a mistake.
On the plus side, this can lead to job leads, dates, whatever! (I'm serious.)
If you especially ask people in your area, your more likely to get honest answers about coverage area than the guys at the local store.
As a parent of two tikes, I personally would like a phone that could take a few drops and keep ticking. Those leather cases provide a little cushioning, but not enough.
Note: my current Nokia 3650 causes really bad EM interference all around me - once every half hour or so, the monitor will shimmer, speakers will chirp, etc. The running joke around work is that either my head or my "guys" are going to suffer. The keys are in a non-standard arrangement, with several numbers pivoting off the same key at times, making dialing by feel or in the dark STILL nearly impossible. Also, color screens tend to have lower contrast than the BW ones, so it's not a great feature unless you end up buying a camera phone or something.
Tech Report stolen story