If you think the space shuttle was for naught, you might look at what the shuttle was designed for?
Why do we have pickup trucks, 4 door sedans, station wagons, sports cars, buses, tractor-trailers, and trains? Different vehicles, different purposes.
Maybe you should have asked, "What if NASA had split time, money, and resources between two big projects over the past 30 years?"
Or, maybe you should have asked, "What if NASA has spent MORE money on two big projects? Would we still have the USSR and the cold war?"
Now that technology has advanced, we might see some gains from moon visits. However, the liberals will not like "wasting" money on frivolous trips to the moon. They definitely won't like non-reuseable rockets. They'll whine and complain. A trip to Mars? Bah!
Recently, there's been a political move to make the parents legally responsible for the childrens' actions. If a child in Minnesota vandalizes by graffiti, the parents are responsible for the damages. It's only a matter of time before burglary, assault, murder are next. Politicians want to leave their "legacy" to the citizens.
The RIAA will amend the complaint to include the mother. It would not surprise me if the RIAA didn't send a private investigator around to sniff out other offenders... like mom's boyfriend and relatives.
tax revenue.
The gov't is missing their share. Have you ever looked at your phone bill? Outside of long-distance, it's taxed at about 20%. The gov't would absolutely freak if 50 million American internet users went completely VoIP tomorrow.
50 million. The FCC would have to cut headcount, funding. The local Public Utilities Commissions in each state would have less funding, and less need to be around.
The gov't makes this country run.
Remember the east coast power outage? After the outage, the gov't reported that the gov't lost billions in tax revenue, and that this needed to be stopped.
Remember the Florida "LAN tax" under consideration?
Before this is over, we'll have a special tax on LAN switch ports (access charge), use tax (per byte), and "per seat taxes" (members of household or employees).
Believe me, some politician looking to "leave their legacy" will propose this stuff. They'll then turn it around and say that the money will be used to promote national broadband deployment. Baloney.
There's got to be a downside. Who owns the IP? Are there patents filed yet? How about domain names?
I can hear the politicians screaming to the press. "We need to regulate and tax these new power sources." Who approves this? FDA? EPA?
My county and city already have this. In fact, the data goes back to '97. I can see the votes on the city council, the school board, etc. Every variance, project, expenditure, etc. I can also find the value (including current taxes) of any piece of property in the city. If the property has been sold in the last 10 years, I can see what it sold for. Court records are next.
I've looked up statutes (what is a legal U-Turn) online. It's all there. In fact, I compared the local law with laws across the nation. How big is your town? The gov't might need to donate their Apple II+ to the Salvation Army and step into a late '90s PC. Teach them to use a wordprocessor. Help them put up a website. Hopefully, the gov't won't want to raise taxes, issue bonds, or hire a contractor to perform a "study".
Online vs. Person-to-person
on
Public Net-work
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Many people are not terribly considerate when online. People are quick to judge, are too sensitive, anger too quickly, they resort to flamewars or trolling, etc. when online. It's easy to do. There's very little accountability online. The reason? Anonymity.
Put your picture and a name/address/phone number alongside online behavior, and the 'Net will become a very polite place very quickly.
Occasionally, in a large group of people, you will run into a fearless troll, but they can quickly be shunned by the majority and rendered mostly ineffective. Online, trolls can be more effective at disrupting communications.
Slashdot works for those that read regularly. Moderation dies off after several hours of posts to a piece of news. For the readers that catch up occasionally, their chance to be heard and moderated up are slim.
...that these predictions are worthless to me today.
Here's my prediction: There's going to be a backlash against DRM. Whew. Am I glad I said it.
Where do these predictions come from? Who sits at work or at home looking for this stuff?
... to every business, charity, and political campaign.
You updated their list without any of "them" spending a dime. DUMB!
The Do Not Call list doesn't stop charities, political campaigns, or "existing" business clients from calling you.
What's the worst possible definition of "existing business relationship?"
That's what you can expect your next solicitor to use in court, should this get actually get to court.
Do Not Call lists prohibit cold-call sales. The law doesn't prevent someone from giving away "free" products, then charging you $10 for shipping and handling. Side note: Once you take a free product, you're on their "existing business" list.
It also doesn't stop anyone from "surveying" for something, then offering a product for sale.
The truth is, the marketing lobby has bought all of the politicians. How else do we get such worthless legislation? People think this list will work.
How do legislators think this will be enforced? The FBI? Local police? They don't respond to reports of a break-in for 20 minutes unless the use of a gun is reported, and then they show up in 2 minutes. Stolen cars get about an hours' worth of paperwork, and then play the waiting game. How do you think the courts and law enforcement will feel about the DO NOT CALL list?
What we need is a PRIVACY list. No ifs, ands, or buts. No calls from any charity, political campaign, or business. Ever.
If you need to give out a telephone number to a solicitor, give them your local politicians' campaign office number. Let the politicians' staff deal with cold-calling telemarketers.
Personally, I tell people I don't have a phone, I cancelled it due to too many telemarketing calls. It's not true, but they don't know that, and I don't have to give it to them.
Should I tell my friends and co-workers to avoid water-cooled solutions until the noise problem is solved?
Seriously, when did water pump noise become a problem?
There are very reliable and quiet water pumps out there. Here's an example:
http://www.petguys.com/-015561105650.html
This pump runs for years without any maintenance. IMO, this brand is tops, most all are very quiet in airless mode. This particular model pumps 270 gallons per hour (283ml per second), and costs $18.99 mail order. I've had several that have run for 4+ years without any maintenance. Also, this is the mid-level pump from this manufacturer. There are several that are smaller, and quite a few that are larger.
I don't think anyone will ever be able to seel broadband for $20/month. It's just not feasible.
I had a large selection of ISPs (20+) to use with Qwest DSL, but then I moved, and could only get cable modem through Comcast. With Comcast, you don't get a choice of ISP. And, the courts seem to think that cableTV can do whatever they want.
To top it off, Comcast raised my monthly fee to $60.00 if I don't order cableTV. I cancelled my digital cable TV and ordered DirecTV months earlier, much better picture. Talk about a monopoly!!! And no one will do anything about it. The city could revoke their charter, but they won't do that.
Someone call Gephardt and Daschle... there's TAXES to be made on sunlight!!! We're going to need plenty of government regulations. The liberals should be beside themselves with joy!!! Someone will have to make solar meters to measure useage. Standards will have to be developed. Legislators will have to get involved. We'll need to hire government solar meter inspectors, meter readers, technicians... the weights and measures department will have to grow! The DMV can sell solar licenses!!! Keep the government employed! When the solar tax money starts to run thin, we can start taxing batteries!
Cottage industries will sprout. Meters will need to be calibrated. The Mob will make money rolling back solar meters.
Which wing of the government would be in charge of solar power? We'd better spread it across many departments so we can minimize return while maximizing taxpayer expense. Liberals will have to create more legislation to enforce taxation. Can you imagine law enforcement? Will there be police driving around with panels to clamp on top of your vehicle to induce payment of "solar taxes?" Police... hmmm... we might need a new department... solar tax revenue. The liberals will give them carte-blanche to arrect tax-dodgers and collect taxes.
Imagine the black market for solar panels! Until the cost comes down, anyone with a SawzAll or a can of spray paint will be a threat! Imagine driving into the city, and competing for the top floor of the parking ramp? After work, find your hood, trunk lid, and roof Sawzall'd off! Imagine the drive home!
Fiber changes. Single mode fiber from 5 years ago won't handle the newer services today. It'll handle some of them, but not all. If you really want to gamble, be my guest. It could be a really expensive proposition. Gig-E is plenty cheap over copper.
If you have the budget, and want to install new cable to each apartment, consider putting in conduit. That way, you can put in a run of Cat 5 today (or 5E, or 6,) and fiber in the future. Ethernet access has drawbacks. You need a router, and you need to secure it. If you partner w/ a local ISP, fine. They can share responsibility. I've dealt with users. It's not pretty. Trust me. You want someone else answering those phone calls at 2am.
As far as DSL is concerned, you can buy a fully carded Cisco 6100 chassis $500 and set it up over whatever in-house wiring is in the building. A basic 6100 with 2-port CAP cards will serve up to 64 apartments with ADSL at line rates up to 7meg. I'd approach a local ISP about administering the user base, and providing internet access. Then, call the local telco and price out T1 and T3 access, decide what you want for bandwidth and cost, and place your order.
Bolt in a 7' Hendry or Newton rack, bolt in the DSLAM, some patch panels, a $500 POTS splitter, wait for the T1/T3 to get installed, and tell the users to go down to Best Buy or Ebay and buy modems. If they need help with their mail passwords, they can call the ISP. The ISP will provide IPs. The users provide their own security. I would negotiate price with the ISP-- you're providing them with 30 customers, no advertising. Drop me a message, I can answer more questions. There big decision is whether to go with T1 or T3. T1 won't be enough bandwidth, T3 would be great, but really expensive. You might find an ISP willing to try wireless T3. I've seen some line-of-sight DS3's that would allow you to forget the local Telco. Some of them are line-of-sight, some are not. Range is as high as 15 miles. Again, send me a message and I'll provide you with more info.
Slashdot Mirror
If you think the space shuttle was for naught, you might look at what the shuttle was designed for? Why do we have pickup trucks, 4 door sedans, station wagons, sports cars, buses, tractor-trailers, and trains? Different vehicles, different purposes. Maybe you should have asked, "What if NASA had split time, money, and resources between two big projects over the past 30 years?" Or, maybe you should have asked, "What if NASA has spent MORE money on two big projects? Would we still have the USSR and the cold war?" Now that technology has advanced, we might see some gains from moon visits. However, the liberals will not like "wasting" money on frivolous trips to the moon. They definitely won't like non-reuseable rockets. They'll whine and complain. A trip to Mars? Bah!
Recently, there's been a political move to make the parents legally responsible for the childrens' actions. If a child in Minnesota vandalizes by graffiti, the parents are responsible for the damages. It's only a matter of time before burglary, assault, murder are next. Politicians want to leave their "legacy" to the citizens. The RIAA will amend the complaint to include the mother. It would not surprise me if the RIAA didn't send a private investigator around to sniff out other offenders... like mom's boyfriend and relatives.
there's been no comic worth reading. Zippy the Pinhead used to be funny... 15 years ago. I must be getting old.
tax revenue. The gov't is missing their share. Have you ever looked at your phone bill? Outside of long-distance, it's taxed at about 20%. The gov't would absolutely freak if 50 million American internet users went completely VoIP tomorrow. 50 million. The FCC would have to cut headcount, funding. The local Public Utilities Commissions in each state would have less funding, and less need to be around. The gov't makes this country run. Remember the east coast power outage? After the outage, the gov't reported that the gov't lost billions in tax revenue, and that this needed to be stopped. Remember the Florida "LAN tax" under consideration? Before this is over, we'll have a special tax on LAN switch ports (access charge), use tax (per byte), and "per seat taxes" (members of household or employees). Believe me, some politician looking to "leave their legacy" will propose this stuff. They'll then turn it around and say that the money will be used to promote national broadband deployment. Baloney.
Michael J Fox and his DeLorean?
There's got to be a downside. Who owns the IP? Are there patents filed yet? How about domain names? I can hear the politicians screaming to the press. "We need to regulate and tax these new power sources." Who approves this? FDA? EPA?
My county and city already have this. In fact, the data goes back to '97. I can see the votes on the city council, the school board, etc. Every variance, project, expenditure, etc. I can also find the value (including current taxes) of any piece of property in the city. If the property has been sold in the last 10 years, I can see what it sold for. Court records are next. I've looked up statutes (what is a legal U-Turn) online. It's all there. In fact, I compared the local law with laws across the nation. How big is your town? The gov't might need to donate their Apple II+ to the Salvation Army and step into a late '90s PC. Teach them to use a wordprocessor. Help them put up a website. Hopefully, the gov't won't want to raise taxes, issue bonds, or hire a contractor to perform a "study".
Many people are not terribly considerate when online. People are quick to judge, are too sensitive, anger too quickly, they resort to flamewars or trolling, etc. when online. It's easy to do. There's very little accountability online. The reason? Anonymity. Put your picture and a name/address/phone number alongside online behavior, and the 'Net will become a very polite place very quickly. Occasionally, in a large group of people, you will run into a fearless troll, but they can quickly be shunned by the majority and rendered mostly ineffective. Online, trolls can be more effective at disrupting communications. Slashdot works for those that read regularly. Moderation dies off after several hours of posts to a piece of news. For the readers that catch up occasionally, their chance to be heard and moderated up are slim.
I can leave the house and take 2 weeks of vacation!
...that these predictions are worthless to me today. Here's my prediction: There's going to be a backlash against DRM. Whew. Am I glad I said it. Where do these predictions come from? Who sits at work or at home looking for this stuff?
... to every business, charity, and political campaign. You updated their list without any of "them" spending a dime. DUMB! The Do Not Call list doesn't stop charities, political campaigns, or "existing" business clients from calling you. What's the worst possible definition of "existing business relationship?" That's what you can expect your next solicitor to use in court, should this get actually get to court. Do Not Call lists prohibit cold-call sales. The law doesn't prevent someone from giving away "free" products, then charging you $10 for shipping and handling. Side note: Once you take a free product, you're on their "existing business" list. It also doesn't stop anyone from "surveying" for something, then offering a product for sale. The truth is, the marketing lobby has bought all of the politicians. How else do we get such worthless legislation? People think this list will work. How do legislators think this will be enforced? The FBI? Local police? They don't respond to reports of a break-in for 20 minutes unless the use of a gun is reported, and then they show up in 2 minutes. Stolen cars get about an hours' worth of paperwork, and then play the waiting game. How do you think the courts and law enforcement will feel about the DO NOT CALL list? What we need is a PRIVACY list. No ifs, ands, or buts. No calls from any charity, political campaign, or business. Ever. If you need to give out a telephone number to a solicitor, give them your local politicians' campaign office number. Let the politicians' staff deal with cold-calling telemarketers. Personally, I tell people I don't have a phone, I cancelled it due to too many telemarketing calls. It's not true, but they don't know that, and I don't have to give it to them.
The government will step in and declare EMP a weapon of mass destruction if they haven't already.
Should I tell my friends and co-workers to avoid water-cooled solutions until the noise problem is solved? Seriously, when did water pump noise become a problem? There are very reliable and quiet water pumps out there. Here's an example: http://www.petguys.com/-015561105650.html This pump runs for years without any maintenance. IMO, this brand is tops, most all are very quiet in airless mode. This particular model pumps 270 gallons per hour (283ml per second), and costs $18.99 mail order. I've had several that have run for 4+ years without any maintenance. Also, this is the mid-level pump from this manufacturer. There are several that are smaller, and quite a few that are larger.
I don't think anyone will ever be able to seel broadband for $20/month. It's just not feasible. I had a large selection of ISPs (20+) to use with Qwest DSL, but then I moved, and could only get cable modem through Comcast. With Comcast, you don't get a choice of ISP. And, the courts seem to think that cableTV can do whatever they want. To top it off, Comcast raised my monthly fee to $60.00 if I don't order cableTV. I cancelled my digital cable TV and ordered DirecTV months earlier, much better picture. Talk about a monopoly!!! And no one will do anything about it. The city could revoke their charter, but they won't do that.
Someone call Gephardt and Daschle... there's TAXES to be made on sunlight!!!
We're going to need plenty of government regulations.
The liberals should be beside themselves with joy!!!
Someone will have to make solar meters to measure useage. Standards will have to be developed. Legislators will have to get involved.
We'll need to hire government solar meter inspectors, meter readers, technicians... the weights and measures department will have to grow!
The DMV can sell solar licenses!!!
Keep the government employed!
When the solar tax money starts to run thin, we can start taxing batteries!
Cottage industries will sprout. Meters will need to be calibrated. The Mob will make money rolling back solar meters.
Which wing of the government would be in charge of solar power?
We'd better spread it across many departments so we can minimize return while maximizing taxpayer expense.
Liberals will have to create more legislation to enforce taxation.
Can you imagine law enforcement?
Will there be police driving around with panels to clamp on top of your vehicle to induce payment of "solar taxes?"
Police... hmmm... we might need a new department... solar tax revenue. The liberals will give them carte-blanche to arrect tax-dodgers and collect taxes.
Imagine the black market for solar panels!
Until the cost comes down, anyone with a SawzAll or a can of spray paint will be a threat!
Imagine driving into the city, and competing for the top floor of the parking ramp?
After work, find your hood, trunk lid, and roof Sawzall'd off!
Imagine the drive home!
Fiber changes. Single mode fiber from 5 years ago won't handle the newer services today. It'll handle some of them, but not all. If you really want to gamble, be my guest. It could be a really expensive proposition. Gig-E is plenty cheap over copper. If you have the budget, and want to install new cable to each apartment, consider putting in conduit. That way, you can put in a run of Cat 5 today (or 5E, or 6,) and fiber in the future. Ethernet access has drawbacks. You need a router, and you need to secure it. If you partner w/ a local ISP, fine. They can share responsibility. I've dealt with users. It's not pretty. Trust me. You want someone else answering those phone calls at 2am. As far as DSL is concerned, you can buy a fully carded Cisco 6100 chassis $500 and set it up over whatever in-house wiring is in the building. A basic 6100 with 2-port CAP cards will serve up to 64 apartments with ADSL at line rates up to 7meg. I'd approach a local ISP about administering the user base, and providing internet access. Then, call the local telco and price out T1 and T3 access, decide what you want for bandwidth and cost, and place your order. Bolt in a 7' Hendry or Newton rack, bolt in the DSLAM, some patch panels, a $500 POTS splitter, wait for the T1/T3 to get installed, and tell the users to go down to Best Buy or Ebay and buy modems. If they need help with their mail passwords, they can call the ISP. The ISP will provide IPs. The users provide their own security. I would negotiate price with the ISP-- you're providing them with 30 customers, no advertising. Drop me a message, I can answer more questions. There big decision is whether to go with T1 or T3. T1 won't be enough bandwidth, T3 would be great, but really expensive. You might find an ISP willing to try wireless T3. I've seen some line-of-sight DS3's that would allow you to forget the local Telco. Some of them are line-of-sight, some are not. Range is as high as 15 miles. Again, send me a message and I'll provide you with more info.