If I were a cellular phone provider I would go even further.
1) Setup a calling center at Houston's Astrodome. The folks who are being evacuated from the Superdome will be showing up soon.
2) Provide a phone for a nominal charge or even for free. With this free phone provide free service for 1 month, and then provide an extended plan at a discount.
Of course during the initial month, there would have to put a hard limit on minutes used.
There will certainly be some loss due to people using a phone for only a month and then selling/discarding it without signing up for additional service, but I bet many of those folks who don't already have a cell phone would keep it, especially if the price point of the plan is low enough.
Mindterm's Java-based SSH client is perfect for when you can't or don't want to install PuTTY on a public Windows machine and still need SSH access to a remote machine.
The SSH client is widely available from various sources, particularly universities. Just Google for "mindterm ssh" to find a location near you.
One caveat: I've only used this using Internet Explorer (since that is always on a public Windows machine), but the SSH client is also supposed to work with Netscape.
They have 9-12 months to design a robotic space mission. Then how many years will it take to build it and implement it?
Actually, NASA already has a working prototype/model of a robot.
I was able to see the robot at NASA's Community Day at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). (NASA opened up the campus of GSFC to the public in July for one day. I submitted a story about this to/., but it was rejected.)
The "sophisticated camera" that the original article referred to is the Wide Field Camera 3. At NASA's Community Day I was able to talk to the lead electrical engineer for the Wide Field Camera 3, and he has been succesfully been using the robot for the past couple of months to work with the camera installation.
Considering that NASA already has a working prototype/model, I'm sure that finalzing the design can be accomplished in the next year.
WHen you donate to Mozilla, where does the money go, is it purely on the server, does any of it go to the programmers?
501(c)3 organizations are required to file IRS Form 990, 'Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax', if the organziation's gross receipts are over $25,000 per year.
Form 990 will include functional expenses, a balance sheet and the salaries of board members and key employees. There is a great primer on how to read a Form 990 here.
Any 501(c)3 should be able to provide you a copy of their latest Form 990, and the IRS should also have a copy. Going those routes may be a bit arduous, so you can also use Guidestar, an organization that focuses on "...on facilitating access to information about the operations and finances of nonprofit organizations."
Full disclosure: I work for an environmental non-profit.
Non-profit's typically have to burn off their cash within a year of aquiring it if it is not for a specific aproved capital function (like buying a new building to house the organization).
Non-profits have a variety of different revenue streams including membership dues, donations, and grants.
Grants, which are typically given by foundations, often have a time period constraint, but they are not always one year.
As an example, see the financial reporting guidelines given by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Dues and membership fees, which might be burnt off in a year, are by no means required to do so unless stipulated by the donor.
If I had enough money to give a large donation ($1 million USD) to a non-profit, one of my own contraints as a major donor would be that the non-profit NOT burn that money in a year.
I'm a little slow to have finally caught on with the RSS & news aggregator bandwagons, but now that I have, my sources of information has easily increased by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude.
While Google is great, seeking out personal opinions through blogs and independent news is an incredible resource.
Slashdot Mirror
If I were a cellular phone provider I would go even further.
1) Setup a calling center at Houston's Astrodome.
The folks who are being evacuated from the Superdome will be showing up soon.
2) Provide a phone for a nominal charge or even for free.
With this free phone provide free service for 1 month, and then provide an extended plan at a discount.
Of course during the initial month, there would have to put a hard limit on minutes used.
There will certainly be some loss due to people using a phone for only a month and then selling/discarding it without signing up for additional service, but I bet many of those folks who don't already have a cell phone would keep it, especially if the price point of the plan is low enough.
Except the dehydrated stuff.
The SSH client is widely available from various sources, particularly universities. Just Google for "mindterm ssh" to find a location near you.
One caveat: I've only used this using Internet Explorer (since that is always on a public Windows machine), but the SSH client is also supposed to work with Netscape.
Actually, NASA already has a working prototype/model of a robot.
I was able to see the robot at NASA's Community Day at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). (NASA opened up the campus of GSFC to the public in July for one day. I submitted a story about this to /., but it was rejected.)
The "sophisticated camera" that the original article referred to is the Wide Field Camera 3. At NASA's Community Day I was able to talk to the lead electrical engineer for the Wide Field Camera 3, and he has been succesfully been using the robot for the past couple of months to work with the camera installation.
Considering that NASA already has a working prototype/model, I'm sure that finalzing the design can be accomplished in the next year.
501(c)3 organizations are required to file IRS Form 990, 'Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax', if the organziation's gross receipts are over $25,000 per year.
Form 990 will include functional expenses, a balance sheet and the salaries of board members and key employees. There is a great primer on how to read a Form 990 here.
Any 501(c)3 should be able to provide you a copy of their latest Form 990, and the IRS should also have a copy. Going those routes may be a bit arduous, so you can also use Guidestar, an organization that focuses on "...on facilitating access to information about the operations and finances of nonprofit organizations."
Full disclosure: I work for an environmental non-profit.
Non-profits have a variety of different revenue streams including membership dues, donations, and grants.
Grants, which are typically given by foundations, often have a time period constraint, but they are not always one year. As an example, see the financial reporting guidelines given by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Dues and membership fees, which might be burnt off in a year, are by no means required to do so unless stipulated by the donor.
If I had enough money to give a large donation ($1 million USD) to a non-profit, one of my own contraints as a major donor would be that the non-profit NOT burn that money in a year.
I'm a little slow to have finally caught on with the RSS & news aggregator bandwagons, but now that I have, my sources of information has easily increased by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude. While Google is great, seeking out personal opinions through blogs and independent news is an incredible resource.