If you have a popular web comic strip, you could always post notices that the site was going to be taken down due to lawsuits from a major corporation. And for bonus points, you could get a geek.news site to go along with it...
This is why do-not-call lists could actually be good for telemarketers. Of those 400 people, most would probably sign up for the do-not-call list. Let's say 300 of them. That leaves 100 people being rude, and 100 willing to listen for every 200 calls. If you expand that out to the 500 calls you made a day, then you have 250 people willing to listen and 7-8 sales per day vs. 3. The people (like myself) who are going to sign up for the list will never buy anything from a telemarketer, so if we cut down on the number of calls that they make that are guaranteed to be unproductive, it's actually better for them.
I once had a tour of a linerboard mill as part of a teen career-options program (I wanted to be a ChemE at the time). Linerboard is the paper on the outside of cardboard. The place is noisy and smelly, but it was neat to see trees go in one end of the plant as chips and paper come out of the other end in rolls.
For most of the work I did as a support tech on a medium sized college campus, I carried my mini-mag flashlight, a gerber Multiplier, and a 4-in-1 screwdriver. I carried the 4-in-1 because, while the multiplier has both philips and flat screwdrivers on it, they're not very long and the body of the tool gets in the way in tight spaces.
If I carried my bag, I also had a screw retriever along, a set of OS cds, a CD of common software (drivers, browsers, mail clients, etc.) and an extra cat 5 cable or two. That assortment worked for about 99% of my calls. Generally, if I needed more tools than that to dismantle the computer, it was going back to the shop with me anyway.
While stuck in West Yellowstone one cold November night, I saw "Deep Impact" on the IMAX screen there. It was the normal theater size and shape, but they did use the IMAX sound system which was cool when the asteroids started hitting.
Can't do that. By then the copyright terms will be extended out to eternity plus one day. Then the lawyers of the future will come back in time to sue you. Assuming copyright violation isn't a capital crime by then...
While trying to disconnect from Earthlink last year, I made the mistake of pressing the button for canceling my account. I was hold for 2.75 hours, but finally got disconnected.
I helped set up and run a lab of 20 sunrays for the math department at the university I went to. They replaced 20 Ultra 1's. Administration became much easier.
They aren't incredibly cheap compared to what you could build low-end PCs for these days. But not having to maintain many individual wintel machines might make up for the price.
Another thing to watch is that the sunrays need their own 100Mb switched network. (AKA the Sunray Interconnect Fabric. Thank you marketing.) If you have Sunray Enterprise Appliances (again, thanks) in many different buildings, this may be a problem, as they would need their own switch in each building. And each switch needs it's own connection to the server. This could be a problem if you don't have dark fiber/copper in the ground. I seem to remember that you can't use vlans for this. Check the info on sun.com.
One very good thing about this solution is the 5-year warranty. If an appliance dies, you call sun, get the new one in 2-3 days, swap it with the old one and you're going again. no fixing PCs.
They do sound, you can surf the web, read e-mail, and use StarOffice for your office apps which is all most students might need.
First Point: Rural does not necessarily equal poor.
Many people live in rural areas because they want to, not because they are poor. Not wanting to live in a crowded, loud city doesn't mean that one is poor or stupid. It may just mean that they like the solitude and scenery. Also, just because someone lives in a rural area, doesn't necessarily mean they are a farmer. These people may want to use computers for all the same things that people in the cities do; you know, writing letters, doing taxes/finances, surfing the web, etc.
Which brings us to our second point: broadband isn't a necessity to using a computer. People used the Internet for a number of years with dial-up modems. The only reason that broadband seems like a necessity is that those writing many web pages don't consider the sizes of their pages or other content. These folks seem to believe that because they have broadband and the page loads quick for them, the same is true for the rest of the world.
I used to get lots of calls from local auto glass repair shops. They'd ask me if my windshield had any chips or cracks and they're having this wonderful special....
I'd respond that I do need windshield work (true) but I don't do business with companies that telemarket.
Slashdot Mirror
Catapult!
If you have a popular web comic strip, you could always post notices that the site was going to be taken down due to lawsuits from a major corporation. And for bonus points, you could get a geek.news site to go along with it...
wait a minute...
They just installed a patch, and now a bunch of booze is getting "lost"?
How much of that is getting delivered to the programmer's garage, do you suppose?
The banner ad I received at the top of the comments page was for telemarketing services and lists. I find this highly amusing.
Always more. Taxes will never go down for any reason. It's the first rule of government.
This is why do-not-call lists could actually be good for telemarketers. Of those 400 people, most would probably sign up for the do-not-call list. Let's say 300 of them. That leaves 100 people being rude, and 100 willing to listen for every 200 calls. If you expand that out to the 500 calls you made a day, then you have 250 people willing to listen and 7-8 sales per day vs. 3.
The people (like myself) who are going to sign up for the list will never buy anything from a telemarketer, so if we cut down on the number of calls that they make that are guaranteed to be unproductive, it's actually better for them.
I once had a tour of a linerboard mill as part of a teen career-options program (I wanted to be a ChemE at the time). Linerboard is the paper on the outside of cardboard. The place is noisy and smelly, but it was neat to see trees go in one end of the plant as chips and paper come out of the other end in rolls.
Do you suppose the phrase "a new center of frog diversity" will be showing up on their tourism literature soon?
For most of the work I did as a support tech on a medium sized college campus, I carried my mini-mag flashlight, a gerber Multiplier, and a 4-in-1 screwdriver. I carried the 4-in-1 because, while the multiplier has both philips and flat screwdrivers on it, they're not very long and the body of the tool gets in the way in tight spaces.
If I carried my bag, I also had a screw retriever along, a set of OS cds, a CD of common software (drivers, browsers, mail clients, etc.) and an extra cat 5 cable or two. That assortment worked for about 99% of my calls. Generally, if I needed more tools than that to dismantle the computer, it was going back to the shop with me anyway.
While stuck in West Yellowstone one cold November night, I saw "Deep Impact" on the IMAX screen there. It was the normal theater size and shape, but they did use the IMAX sound system which was cool when the asteroids started hitting.
Can't do that. By then the copyright terms will be extended out to eternity plus one day. Then the lawyers of the future will come back in time to sue you. Assuming copyright violation isn't a capital crime by then...
My graphic designer cousin named one of his twin daughters Cyan Magenta.
-BigT
While trying to disconnect from Earthlink last year, I made the mistake of pressing the button for canceling my account. I was hold for 2.75 hours, but finally got disconnected.
I helped set up and run a lab of 20 sunrays for the math department at the university I went to. They replaced 20 Ultra 1's. Administration became much easier.
They aren't incredibly cheap compared to what you could build low-end PCs for these days. But not having to maintain many individual wintel machines might make up for the price.
Another thing to watch is that the sunrays need their own 100Mb switched network. (AKA the Sunray Interconnect Fabric. Thank you marketing.) If you have Sunray Enterprise Appliances (again, thanks) in many different buildings, this may be a problem, as they would need their own switch in each building. And each switch needs it's own connection to the server. This could be a problem if you don't have dark fiber/copper in the ground. I seem to remember that you can't use vlans for this. Check the info on sun.com.
One very good thing about this solution is the 5-year warranty. If an appliance dies, you call sun, get the new one in 2-3 days, swap it with the old one and you're going again. no fixing PCs.
They do sound, you can surf the web, read e-mail, and use StarOffice for your office apps which is all most students might need.
my $0.02
-BigT
First Point: Rural does not necessarily equal poor.
Many people live in rural areas because they want to, not because they are poor. Not wanting to live in a crowded, loud city doesn't mean that one is poor or stupid. It may just mean that they like the solitude and scenery. Also, just because someone lives in a rural area, doesn't necessarily mean they are a farmer. These people may want to use computers for all the same things that people in the cities do; you know, writing letters, doing taxes/finances, surfing the web, etc.
Which brings us to our second point: broadband isn't a necessity to using a computer. People used the Internet for a number of years with dial-up modems. The only reason that broadband seems like a necessity is that those writing many web pages don't consider the sizes of their pages or other content. These folks seem to believe that because they have broadband and the page loads quick for them, the same is true for the rest of the world.
-BigT
I used to get lots of calls from local auto glass repair shops. They'd ask me if my windshield had any chips or cracks and they're having this wonderful special....
I'd respond that I do need windshield work (true) but I don't do business with companies that telemarket.
Haven't heard from any of them in awhile
-BigT
they've heard of nanotech, but nanites are hard to catch on camera.