Not only do we have enough 2.4Ghz phones to fight each other for channels, but we also have a public 802.11a/b/g wireless network and a dedicated wireless (b) system for handheld scanners. Everything fights constantly.
Personlly, I've brought in an old 900Mhz phone to use, and it works fine. We're supposed to start using SIP phones on our network and that should remove most of the conflict.
This is one of those situations where the hot dog makers and the bun makers didn't get together before going to market.
Typing is still an important job skill because it relates to how fast someone can do their job and as we all know, time is money.
If you TOUCH a computer in your job, then it's 98% likely that you have to type. I don't know too many jobs that only require a person to point and click. Not only is it important in word processing, but also in accounting, creating presentations, database entry, programming and using e-mail. Voice recognition has a long way to go to match normal speech speed, whereas a good typist can type as fast as most people speak and be more accurate.
Personally, I think the typing should be learned as early as possible. A child should be exposed to a computer and learn the basic workings of it, but once they learn to type it opens the door to endless possibilities since the limitation of clicking is taken away. My children starting using a computer when they were 2 1/2 to 3 years old. They're quite proficient with the mouse now. As my elder child enters first grade this year, I'm certain it's time to introduce her to the keyboard.
As for me, I learned to touch type in 9th grade on an IBM selectric. I only attended half a year due to a "health class" requirement, but I reached 80-85wpm with 100%. Just took one of the free online tests (thanks for that), and it puts me at 72wpm with 98% accuracy. I type constantly all day: e-mails, documentation, purchase orders, cmd line. I don't even use UNIX that often. Ask a UNIX person how important typing is.
this satire is no worse than anything that Saturday Night Live, Mad TV or any other show on Comedy Central would create. Are they constantly fighting lawsuits because their target of the satire didn't like it? I think they are. Are they winning due to constituational rights? I think they are or they would have been out of business long before now.
Regardless of precedent, the existence of thousands of other very similar "skits", or the constituation, we all know who holds the power in this country and who will get their way: the politicians. I remember in school being taught that America was founded so we could get away from monarchy, aristocracy and people being treated like royalty, above the common man. Sure seems like the politicians have forgotten this and expect to be treated like royalty: no taxes, substantial pay raises every year, and immunity to laws.
Regardless of any laws or legalities, the politicians will win this lawsuit and the little man (JibJab) will lose. This will set a horrible precedent and raise even more doubt in our legal system.
I think for any console system to remain memorable for more than 18 months, they're going to have to come up to the standards of PCs. By the time that happens, PCs will be using futuristic technology not even conceived yet.
If you'll notice the trends, console makers are trying to make their consoles more like computers so that PC users will switch to them. You don't seen PCs trying to become more like consoles.
Consoles are lagging far behind technology-wise. The only reason they succeed is because the general populace of youth and young adults of America are so illiterate they don't know how to operate a computer.
I'm quite comfortable that my computer can emulate, perform better and look better than any console on the market.
Yes, I'm a Tolkien uber-geek. Though I despise what was left out and what was changed, the LotR movies are still the greatest presentation of the trilogy to date.
I missed the half day full trilogy showing at the release of RotK. Only one theater near me showed it, and the tickets were sold out the day it was announced, three days before I even heard about it. I'll be watching this time.
Too long? P'shaw. I have a strong bladder, and there's a restaurant right next to my favorite theater.
The DVD's announced release date is 12/17. I thought this odd because it's a Friday. Videos are typically released on Tuesdays. I was thinking this was going to coincide with a re-release in the theaters. October is much better. A couple of months to see it on the big screen before bringing it home.
I liked someone's idea of a festival. A theater would do well to have a gaming convention in parallel with showings of the LotR EE's. Have a regular daily schedule of movies, and have dealer tables and gaming rooms running all day and into the night. A 2 day con would go well with these movies.
If you watch all of the "Making of..." shorts on the EE of Two Towers, you'll see several scenes that will be in the EE RotK.
Here's a short list that I can remember or that I expect to be there due to discontinuity:
-interaction with Saruman at Isengard
-Wormtongue throwing the palantir down from Isengard
-Merry swearing fealty to Theoden before Rohan marches to Gondor (from DVD)
-Gandalf facing the witch king (leader of the Nazgul) as he tries to enter Minas Tirith just before Rohan arrives (from DVD)
-Sam struggling with the Watchers to enter Cirith Ungol using the Light of Galadriel (should be a similar scene to get out)
-scenes of Aragorn healing Merry, Eowyn and Faramir in the Minas Tirith house of healing
-speaking with the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor (from DVD)
-Frodo and Sam's march across Mordor, possibly including their involunatry inclusion in an orc regiment (did you notice that their orc armor disappeared without any explanation and they were suddenly on the far side of Mordor?)
No scouring of the shire, but 40-50 minutes of footage replaced.
I loved high school, but hated college. In general I've noticed numerous people have this mirror-image love-hate relationship with school. Love HS, hate college. Hated HS, love college. I think this mostly stems from the formats of how classes are tought. HS is very structured, predictable and most grades come from tests. If you're a good test-taker, like me, HS was a breeze. College is very free form. Classes and teachers are extremely different from each other, you often cannot tell what you should study or what might be in the next class, and work (lab, papers, projects) count for much more than they did in HS, i.e. making the tests count for less. I breezed through HS on knowledge, but I was unable to do all the work in college.
Point: you will probably enjoy college. Learn for learning's sake.
I too have a wide variety of interests. I would try something new, someone would tell me I was good at it and could become a professional at it, so I'd add it to my toolbox. I never did find exactly what I wanted to do as a dream job. I never could focus on any one thing long enough to make it a career, or I'd become uninterested in something when I found out the details of what it meant to do that job (reports, differential equations every day, dealing with insurance companies, and so forth).
Only now that I'm in a fairly successful computer career am I discovering that I actually dislike *working* with computers and the people that only use them as a tool for their jobs. I like tinkering and playing with computers, but work has taken that enjoyment away. I'm finding that I should have been a healer in some form or fashion, and I should be a public speaker about healing. As it is I'm a computer healer, and I find no reward in that.
Point: do what you like or what you have a passion for. Work (and income) will follow.
Obviously, no one can decide what's right for you except you. You're going to make some decisions, and you're going to make some mistakes. We all have. What's important is that you can accept yourself for who you are.
1. Help your SO understand why you enjoy the game so much. Secondly, let him/her know that ALL MMORPGs start losing players' interest after a certain amount of time. That time may be only two weeks, or it may be as long as 6 months. Obviously, YOU hope the game devs come out with new stuff every month or so to keep you interested which is also something you should share with your SO.
2. Once your SO understands the games importance to you, agree upon a reasonable schedule for you to play and for him/her to do something s/he likes. If you spend 3 hours Tuesday night playing CH with your buds, then she can spend 3 hours at a spa, or at the mall, or out with the girls, or whatever else she wants.
3. Cut back on your other hobbies to compensate for the time you spend gaming. Just because you played CH for 5 hours straight doesn't mean you can now log out, start reading blogs, posting on/., or tinkering with your hardware. The time you spend away from you SO is lost regardless, so make it count and use it to its maximum.
4. Take time off from the game at least one day a week and go do something TOGETHER with your SO. What's going to last longer? City of Heroes or your relationship? Go for longevity.
I've been playing UO for nearly 7 years and an assortment of other games off and on. I'm fortunate that my wife enjoys playing computer games, too, so when she sits down to play, I can sit down and really play.
I live in Dallas, TX and for a short while we had access to several grocery delivery companies. We tried two different ones and noticed a remarkable difference.
I forget the name of the first company we used, but I recall they were a bit sloppy with their choice of items, and not very polite when they delivered them.
We tried GroceryWorks and were amazed. The produce and bread they selected for us was top notch. When they arrived they were very polite, applied OR-type booties to their shoes as they entered, and delivered the bags right to our counter. It was a pleasant experience. Unfortunately, GW disappeared.
We later tried the store's version of home delivery and were greatly disappointed. The list of groceries you could buy was limited. The selections and delivery were less than pleasing.
If it becomes available again, we'll try it, but we'll use our experience to our advantage, and that's what advice I'd offer to anyone considering this service:
1) Shop around. Hopefully you have more than one choice of service provider.
2) If you are choosy, limit what you order. Canned and boxed items are completely safe as long as you get the brand you want. Produce, bread or any other item that requires personal attention should be picked out by you.
3) Look for good customer service. If you have to call someone placing the order or for problems, make sure they're customer-oriented. When they deliver, watch for politeness and consideration.
In summary, for ordering all those bulk items like canned goods, crackers, chips, cereal, etc. and so forth, these services are perfect. For produce, breads, refrigerated or frozen items, or anything else that requires selective choice or careful handling, you should still visit the store. What this really provides is reducing the amount of time you spend in the store.
...but I can't use the words "Hewlett-Packard" or "Compaq" in the same sentence with "gaming PC" without laughing.
Aside from the fact that whatever system you get from them will be 3 months behind the latest technology and cost 2-3 times more, who knows how compatible it will be.
They should stick to high-end, enterprise level servers.
While it is great to have a broad background, employers do not care to see that when they are looking to fill a specific position. I personally have a strong background in programming several languages, but there is no way I'd ever be a programmer. However, my programming experience provides me with a logical way of thinking and I understand why an application or OS might have an error, thus I'm able to troubleshoot problems on servers, networks, desktop and just about anything else related to computers.
Decide what you want to do and present yourself and your strongest skills in that area on your resume. Not sure what you want to do? Make multiple resumes each one focused on your different areas of expertise and present the appropriate one when applying for a job. I was a jack of all trades, too, but I finally settled into disaster recovery and network administration, and I'm finally in a focused job with a decent salary that I hope will be the rest of my career.
Certification vs. degree? Degrees in IT are only valuable if you're looking towards management. Certifications do make a difference, but you need the experience to go with it. The paper alone will not land you the job you want, but it may get you in that job at a lower level, provide you the chance to get the experience, and allow you to work your way up.
Let's say you aim for CCIE. Do you know anyone that has their CCIE and/or is working in a job dealing with network configuration? While you work on your certification, ask them if they'll help you along. If possible shadow them while they're configuring a router or designing a LAN or WAN. See if you can find side jobs supporting small businesses with networks. Any work you do and get paid for is considered experience.
If I were re-starting my career right now, I'd aim for wireless technologies and security. Companies right now want wireless networks, but they also want them secure, unhackable and up 99.999%. I'm expecting soon there will be a certification in WLANs, if it doesn't exist already.
I did well during the past year while the economy was struggling and technical jobs were still being laid off. I quit my 5 year job with CSC and found my current, much better job 4 weeks later. It is possible, but sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Of course, I couldn't have a complete post if I didn't promote my favorite group, Toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org) In a TM club you can learn communication skills (listening and speaking), gain confidence, practice leadership (management) skills, and network with hundreds of other people in a variety of fields. Who knows, you might find a connection that could lead to your new career. Find a club near you on the website.
I was actually thinking of a way to make oodles of money, but providing safe, fast transport where a person's thought process is involved very little is beneficial, too.
I foresee an upper (or lower) layer to our existing interstates. These will be "channels," one vehicle wide, with computer sensors every few feet. With newer, auto-drive equipped, or retro-fitted cars, you would drive from your house out to the interstate like normal. Once you reach the interstate, you have a choice of taking the regular, manual-drive highway for shorter (less than 30 mi) trips, or you can enter the high-speed channel for longer trips.
Once in the channel, you engage your cruise control, auto-drive computer and set your destination alarm. Now you sit back, read, talk on the phone, eat, sleep, watch a movie on your digital LCD windshield or whatever. When you get close to your destination, a reminder will sound. Then you'll take manual control again and exit the HSC.
Consistancy of speed is an issue that comes to mind. Sure you could set a mandatory speed, but people will disregard it just like they disregard speed limits now. By letting the computers set and manage the speed, they can adjust for cars entering and exiting. Multiple cars communicating together could form up convoys of cars and control the speed of the whole group.
Another issue with this idea is vehicle breakdown. What if you have a flat or engine trouble? The thought of emergency segments came to mind. If you're between exits, if you can get your car onto a special section of the HSC and send an emergency signal, the segment would shift you over to the side of the HSC ala sliding plate, to allow for traffic to keep flowing. You'd have space to fix a flat or wait for assistance. Of course, if the car is computer controlled anyway, it would alert you in plenty of time if you were about to have trouble.:-)
The real problem would be making sure Microsoft would have nothing to do with vehicle operating systems. It would suck to have to reboot your car every 100 miles. Heaven forbid you have a blue screen of death... literally.
This doesn't make me think of the blipverts; it makes me think of the interactive information service portrayed in "Starship Troopers."
I can see TiVO selling space on their startup screen (I don't have/want one so I'm not sure how it works.), and the menus. If you select the commercial channel, you'll get a Bloomberg type of display with a commercial spots that you can skip through (car ads, drug ads, movie trailers) while news headline and stock ticker crawls go across the bottom, and your localized weather/information takes up a sidebar. All of this interactive and controllable.
I don't watch commercial TV (except for hockey games), and I don't watch the news. What information I want I pull off the web. If I could pull this info with this device using PiP while watching something else, I'd be sold on it. Plus it would have to integrate with a DTS sound system, and of course, record HDTV content from satellite.
From what I do know about PVRs so far, I know not all of that is possible yet.
In the past I would have encouraged students to study CS and enter the IT field. Now, I think we're still oversaturated in the IT market and I know highly skilled and experienced techs who are doing manual labor.
Why bring another wave of newbies into the mix? The jobs they'll be doing to gain experience are exactly the jobs that are getting offshored: help desk, programming, web development, etc.
I was lucky and have been lucky throughout my 20 years in IT. I started at a small office while in HS, worked my way through college, was confused as to what degree to pursue (I didn't know you could get paid for playing... er, working, with computers.), and started climbing the technical ladder 10 years ago.
Now I'm a network administrator, learning more every day, earning a comfortable (but unfortunately not opulent) salary, and finally, after all this time I'll get my MCSE in July. Maybe next year I'll finish those 6 hours to have my BS in CS and eventually become a manager.
Bring in a fresh wave of techies? No way. That's more, less expensive competition for the guys with skills and experience. I seriously doubt the retirement/departure rate of IT professionals can match the incoming numbers. In case you haven't noticed, the trend has been to do more with less, work smarter not harder, and for systems to be manageable by fewer people. I see no reason why this trend will change anytime soon.
Sure we need fresh recruits in some areas, but I feel they'll have to be specialized in the latest technology. If you're coming out of college without.NET coding skills, a great deal of Linux experience, or extensive IP experience, you're just another coder or toolie waiting to be outsourced.
I think these students are right to be pessimistic, and eventually things will reach a balance.
It wasn't until I was 19 that I had any inkling of social skills. This is what I'd have done for myself if I'd known then what I know now.
Multiplayer RPGs:
This will have good and bad aspects. If the kid is as smart as you say, I'm fairly certain he'll know the difference and gain from it.
Whether these are played live, online or in LAN parties, there is some aspect of social interaction. The online versions are a good first step. Talking to someone annonymously is very safe, and he can leave whenever he wants. LAN parties take it to the next step. There is live interaction as well as the on-screen kind. Live, pencil and paper RPGs take it a third step. Not only roleplaying interaction and direct interaction with the players, but there's an open social/party atmosphere as well.
Academic events:
UIL competitions, Academic Decathlon, or any live competitions where academics is the core event. During study groups, typical talking and humor breaks out. At the events, after the tests, it devolves to a party.
Toastmasters:
This is an international, non-profit organization (http://www.toastmasters.org) that focuses on communication, leadership skills, and a variety of other professional and social interaction skills. Local TM clubs are usually only for adults, but often there are youth clubs for high school age or younger.
Exposure:
If this kid is at all like I was, he has a huge vocabulary, but is afraid to use it. He can solve complex problems, but gets strange looks when he does. He knows solutions to problems, but is afraid to speak up because he'll be called brainiac or worse.
A part-time job (if this is possible due to his age) in a white-collar enfironment would be good exposure, especially if it is related to something he likes to do. If he's a math wiz, let him find out how a bank or accounting firm works. If he's a science nut, let him work for a local lab, hospital, pharmacy, engineering firm, computer shop, or telecomm company.
Main thing is that he'll be around adults, most of whom (generally) don't care about looks or how old he is. All they'll see is results of his work. Very likely he has the IQ of a 40-50 year old; he should be communicating with that age group when possible. Both he and they will benefit.
Style:
Kids will make fun of anyone who is different from the majority clique. Let him know this and get him to understand it. Show him it doesn't matter by matching his style one day. Suggest little things to change such as hairstyle, shirts or shoes. Take him shopping. Interacting with a salesperson or watching people in the mall are good chances for building social skills.
I started wearing glasses at age 5. The ridicule started. It finally slowed a bit around age 11, but then I got contacts, and the ridicule started up again because I didn't have my glasses. It's a no win situation for nerds regardless of what we do. Only when we find our niche and can grow our skills are we comfortable with everything else around us.
Above all else, give him confidence and let him know there is nothing wrong with him. He's actually special, and one day he'll very likely make a difference.
Being honest with your (hopefully) future employer is the best way to start a new occupational relationship. Every company, especially any dealing with IT, knows how harsh the market has been the last few years. They'll understand the situation well.
What will make the difference is how you reacted to those situations and in what frame of mind it has left you.
Are you bitter with your past companies for what occured? A new place won't want a vengeful or bitter employee because they'll eventually do something unpleasant.
Be honest, describe your experiences briefly. Gloss over the negative aspects or just stay away from them completely. Instead turn it around into a more positive learning experience. What did you gain from it?
"As others left, I was assigned their tasks. This gave me more opportunities to prove myself, allowed me to learn other duties, and challenged me to manage my time more actively."
I was in the same boat as you. I finally just brushed all the bad experiences under the rug and concentrated on what I gained.
Good luck to you.
I can't tell you exactly what you need, but I know some guys who can.
http://www.shmoo.com/members.html
E-mail Bruce Potter or Beetle at the Shmoo group. I met these two at a wireless course recently. They are definitely experts in this field. Beetle runs a wireless ISP for his whole neighborhood, similar to what you're planning to do.
As for implementation or money:
If you're just talking a wireless LAN so everyone can join games and share things with each other, by all means, that can and should be free to the tenants.
If you're talking sharing an internet connection amongst the tenants, then I'd suggest charging a minimal amount to everyone who uses it. The more people use it, the less expensive it is. Business DSL should run about $250 a month, depending upon your service provider. If 25 people use it, just charge $10 each so you can break even, not profit off your neighbors nor keep spending money out of your pocket.
If you're talking ISP, that's where Beetle can help you the most. The $7k will get you up and running, but again you need to charge for people to use your internet connection and to provide maintenance for your servers.
Personally, the 2nd option is your best bet.
Good luck, enjoy your inheritance, and regardless of what anyone else says, it's yours to do with as you wish.
I laugh when I hear or see the cable commercials because they know their days are numbered. Their "proof" against satellite is greatly overexagerated or completely fabricated.
From my own experience, I was on cable (pre-digital days) for years. From time to time we would lose service. It got so bad we finally started keeping track. One month we had been without service for a total of a week (this was only when we were home from work). My wife sent our list of dates and times of outages to the cable company with only 75% of the payment and stated "cancel our subscription." We bought a DirecTV system secondhand and we've never looked back.
Does the weather affect the signal? We live in Texas, and only the most torrential rains of thunderstorms will degrade or cause a loss of our signal. Once in the past 8 years solar activity caused a loss of signal for about 15 minutes. Other than that, we always have a crisp, clean picture.
I can guess where some of the exaggerations cable tells come from. If a dish is not mounted properly, the wind could blow it off signal line.
If the inclination is too high, it could collect snow or water and lose signal reflection.
My retort for cable companies is, "Okay, weather may have an adverse affect on dishes. It's apparent what causes the problem when it happens. What is cable's excuse for losing signal? Earthworms? Tectonic shift?"
Satellite has no hidden costs. Just like any product, you'll see ads promising such and such for a certain price. Any smart consumer knows to ask all the right questions before approaching the checkout line. Anyone just blindly buying a product as advertised deserves what they get.
Pay extra for local channels? Not really. Dish and DirecTV have bundled local channels into packages. Yes, you're paying some extra, but it's not $5 as most people say. I pay $2.50 for 9 local channels.
Pay extra per receiver? Yes, just like the mobile phone services, you pay for how many devices are receiving the service.
I don't even know how to answer the other allegations cable has because I've never heard of them. Insurance? Service fees? Outlet fees? Never seen any of them.
I have little experience with DVRs, but I can support what others have said. TiVO works well with almost any satellite receiver. You have all the choices you want in selecting equipment, however, know that you will not receive any package deals.
If you choose some $99 multi-room, installed deal, you'll get basic receivers with no frills. However, if you do some research of which service you choose and which equipment is preferred, you'll have a wide variety of choices: basic receiver, 5.1 Dolby receiver, receiver with DVR, HDTV receiver, or some combination of those options. (HDTV with DVR is on the horizon.)
When you buy any of these receivers, you'll receive a package of how to sign up for the service. Some stores may offer a sale price if you sign a 1 or 2 year contract. Go ahead if you're comfortable with the committment and it saves a large amount.
As for which service, DirecTV and Dish both have pros and cons. DirecTV has sports packages that Dish does not. Dish has some channels that DirecTV does not. For instance, the Nasa channel you mentioned is only available on Dish. While DirecTV does provide regional sports channels, sometimes a blacked out game may be pushed to an alternative channel which you may not receive, but Dish does. Likewise with HBO and other movie packages, Dish may offer more alternative channels within those packages. Digital cable may offer similar advantages, but all the drawbacks to cable make it a no-brainer for me. Research both services websites. They provide great detail of their package listings. I personally prefer DirecTV because the interfaces (receiver dependent) are newer-looking, better organized and have extra options (searches and block lists) that I have yet to see on multiple Dish receivers.
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Personlly, I've brought in an old 900Mhz phone to use, and it works fine. We're supposed to start using SIP phones on our network and that should remove most of the conflict.
This is one of those situations where the hot dog makers and the bun makers didn't get together before going to market.
If you TOUCH a computer in your job, then it's 98% likely that you have to type. I don't know too many jobs that only require a person to point and click. Not only is it important in word processing, but also in accounting, creating presentations, database entry, programming and using e-mail. Voice recognition has a long way to go to match normal speech speed, whereas a good typist can type as fast as most people speak and be more accurate.
Personally, I think the typing should be learned as early as possible. A child should be exposed to a computer and learn the basic workings of it, but once they learn to type it opens the door to endless possibilities since the limitation of clicking is taken away. My children starting using a computer when they were 2 1/2 to 3 years old. They're quite proficient with the mouse now. As my elder child enters first grade this year, I'm certain it's time to introduce her to the keyboard.
As for me, I learned to touch type in 9th grade on an IBM selectric. I only attended half a year due to a "health class" requirement, but I reached 80-85wpm with 100%. Just took one of the free online tests (thanks for that), and it puts me at 72wpm with 98% accuracy. I type constantly all day: e-mails, documentation, purchase orders, cmd line. I don't even use UNIX that often. Ask a UNIX person how important typing is.
Still an important skill IMO.
Regardless of precedent, the existence of thousands of other very similar "skits", or the constituation, we all know who holds the power in this country and who will get their way: the politicians. I remember in school being taught that America was founded so we could get away from monarchy, aristocracy and people being treated like royalty, above the common man. Sure seems like the politicians have forgotten this and expect to be treated like royalty: no taxes, substantial pay raises every year, and immunity to laws.
Regardless of any laws or legalities, the politicians will win this lawsuit and the little man (JibJab) will lose. This will set a horrible precedent and raise even more doubt in our legal system.
If you'll notice the trends, console makers are trying to make their consoles more like computers so that PC users will switch to them. You don't seen PCs trying to become more like consoles.
Consoles are lagging far behind technology-wise. The only reason they succeed is because the general populace of youth and young adults of America are so illiterate they don't know how to operate a computer.
I'm quite comfortable that my computer can emulate, perform better and look better than any console on the market.
I missed the half day full trilogy showing at the release of RotK. Only one theater near me showed it, and the tickets were sold out the day it was announced, three days before I even heard about it. I'll be watching this time.
Too long? P'shaw. I have a strong bladder, and there's a restaurant right next to my favorite theater.
The DVD's announced release date is 12/17. I thought this odd because it's a Friday. Videos are typically released on Tuesdays. I was thinking this was going to coincide with a re-release in the theaters. October is much better. A couple of months to see it on the big screen before bringing it home.
I liked someone's idea of a festival. A theater would do well to have a gaming convention in parallel with showings of the LotR EE's. Have a regular daily schedule of movies, and have dealer tables and gaming rooms running all day and into the night. A 2 day con would go well with these movies.
Here's a short list that I can remember or that I expect to be there due to discontinuity:
-interaction with Saruman at Isengard
-Wormtongue throwing the palantir down from Isengard
-Merry swearing fealty to Theoden before Rohan marches to Gondor (from DVD)
-Gandalf facing the witch king (leader of the Nazgul) as he tries to enter Minas Tirith just before Rohan arrives (from DVD)
-Sam struggling with the Watchers to enter Cirith Ungol using the Light of Galadriel (should be a similar scene to get out)
-scenes of Aragorn healing Merry, Eowyn and Faramir in the Minas Tirith house of healing
-speaking with the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor (from DVD)
-Frodo and Sam's march across Mordor, possibly including their involunatry inclusion in an orc regiment (did you notice that their orc armor disappeared without any explanation and they were suddenly on the far side of Mordor?)
No scouring of the shire, but 40-50 minutes of footage replaced.
It will be worth every minute.
I loved high school, but hated college. In general I've noticed numerous people have this mirror-image love-hate relationship with school. Love HS, hate college. Hated HS, love college. I think this mostly stems from the formats of how classes are tought. HS is very structured, predictable and most grades come from tests. If you're a good test-taker, like me, HS was a breeze. College is very free form. Classes and teachers are extremely different from each other, you often cannot tell what you should study or what might be in the next class, and work (lab, papers, projects) count for much more than they did in HS, i.e. making the tests count for less. I breezed through HS on knowledge, but I was unable to do all the work in college.
Point: you will probably enjoy college. Learn for learning's sake.
I too have a wide variety of interests. I would try something new, someone would tell me I was good at it and could become a professional at it, so I'd add it to my toolbox. I never did find exactly what I wanted to do as a dream job. I never could focus on any one thing long enough to make it a career, or I'd become uninterested in something when I found out the details of what it meant to do that job (reports, differential equations every day, dealing with insurance companies, and so forth).
Only now that I'm in a fairly successful computer career am I discovering that I actually dislike *working* with computers and the people that only use them as a tool for their jobs. I like tinkering and playing with computers, but work has taken that enjoyment away. I'm finding that I should have been a healer in some form or fashion, and I should be a public speaker about healing. As it is I'm a computer healer, and I find no reward in that.
Point: do what you like or what you have a passion for. Work (and income) will follow.
Obviously, no one can decide what's right for you except you. You're going to make some decisions, and you're going to make some mistakes. We all have. What's important is that you can accept yourself for who you are.
2. Once your SO understands the games importance to you, agree upon a reasonable schedule for you to play and for him/her to do something s/he likes. If you spend 3 hours Tuesday night playing CH with your buds, then she can spend 3 hours at a spa, or at the mall, or out with the girls, or whatever else she wants.
3. Cut back on your other hobbies to compensate for the time you spend gaming. Just because you played CH for 5 hours straight doesn't mean you can now log out, start reading blogs, posting on /., or tinkering with your hardware. The time you spend away from you SO is lost regardless, so make it count and use it to its maximum.
4. Take time off from the game at least one day a week and go do something TOGETHER with your SO. What's going to last longer? City of Heroes or your relationship? Go for longevity.
I've been playing UO for nearly 7 years and an assortment of other games off and on. I'm fortunate that my wife enjoys playing computer games, too, so when she sits down to play, I can sit down and really play.
Balance is the key.
Now if I can find a team sponsor for the games I'm good at. Roller Coaster Tycoon anyone?
I forget the name of the first company we used, but I recall they were a bit sloppy with their choice of items, and not very polite when they delivered them.
We tried GroceryWorks and were amazed. The produce and bread they selected for us was top notch. When they arrived they were very polite, applied OR-type booties to their shoes as they entered, and delivered the bags right to our counter. It was a pleasant experience. Unfortunately, GW disappeared.
We later tried the store's version of home delivery and were greatly disappointed. The list of groceries you could buy was limited. The selections and delivery were less than pleasing.
If it becomes available again, we'll try it, but we'll use our experience to our advantage, and that's what advice I'd offer to anyone considering this service: 1) Shop around. Hopefully you have more than one choice of service provider. 2) If you are choosy, limit what you order. Canned and boxed items are completely safe as long as you get the brand you want. Produce, bread or any other item that requires personal attention should be picked out by you. 3) Look for good customer service. If you have to call someone placing the order or for problems, make sure they're customer-oriented. When they deliver, watch for politeness and consideration.
In summary, for ordering all those bulk items like canned goods, crackers, chips, cereal, etc. and so forth, these services are perfect. For produce, breads, refrigerated or frozen items, or anything else that requires selective choice or careful handling, you should still visit the store. What this really provides is reducing the amount of time you spend in the store.
Aside from the fact that whatever system you get from them will be 3 months behind the latest technology and cost 2-3 times more, who knows how compatible it will be.
They should stick to high-end, enterprise level servers.
Think I should go erase all those old girlfriends' numbers?
Nah, I'll just let her think that I've been fooling around these past 10 years. hehe
She knows I'm one of the few truly loyal husbands that know what vows mean still in existence.
While it is great to have a broad background, employers do not care to see that when they are looking to fill a specific position. I personally have a strong background in programming several languages, but there is no way I'd ever be a programmer. However, my programming experience provides me with a logical way of thinking and I understand why an application or OS might have an error, thus I'm able to troubleshoot problems on servers, networks, desktop and just about anything else related to computers.
Decide what you want to do and present yourself and your strongest skills in that area on your resume. Not sure what you want to do? Make multiple resumes each one focused on your different areas of expertise and present the appropriate one when applying for a job. I was a jack of all trades, too, but I finally settled into disaster recovery and network administration, and I'm finally in a focused job with a decent salary that I hope will be the rest of my career.
Certification vs. degree? Degrees in IT are only valuable if you're looking towards management. Certifications do make a difference, but you need the experience to go with it. The paper alone will not land you the job you want, but it may get you in that job at a lower level, provide you the chance to get the experience, and allow you to work your way up.
Let's say you aim for CCIE. Do you know anyone that has their CCIE and/or is working in a job dealing with network configuration? While you work on your certification, ask them if they'll help you along. If possible shadow them while they're configuring a router or designing a LAN or WAN. See if you can find side jobs supporting small businesses with networks. Any work you do and get paid for is considered experience.
If I were re-starting my career right now, I'd aim for wireless technologies and security. Companies right now want wireless networks, but they also want them secure, unhackable and up 99.999%. I'm expecting soon there will be a certification in WLANs, if it doesn't exist already.
I did well during the past year while the economy was struggling and technical jobs were still being laid off. I quit my 5 year job with CSC and found my current, much better job 4 weeks later. It is possible, but sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Of course, I couldn't have a complete post if I didn't promote my favorite group, Toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org) In a TM club you can learn communication skills (listening and speaking), gain confidence, practice leadership (management) skills, and network with hundreds of other people in a variety of fields. Who knows, you might find a connection that could lead to your new career. Find a club near you on the website.
Best of luck to you.
I foresee an upper (or lower) layer to our existing interstates. These will be "channels," one vehicle wide, with computer sensors every few feet. With newer, auto-drive equipped, or retro-fitted cars, you would drive from your house out to the interstate like normal. Once you reach the interstate, you have a choice of taking the regular, manual-drive highway for shorter (less than 30 mi) trips, or you can enter the high-speed channel for longer trips.
Once in the channel, you engage your cruise control, auto-drive computer and set your destination alarm. Now you sit back, read, talk on the phone, eat, sleep, watch a movie on your digital LCD windshield or whatever. When you get close to your destination, a reminder will sound. Then you'll take manual control again and exit the HSC.
Consistancy of speed is an issue that comes to mind. Sure you could set a mandatory speed, but people will disregard it just like they disregard speed limits now. By letting the computers set and manage the speed, they can adjust for cars entering and exiting. Multiple cars communicating together could form up convoys of cars and control the speed of the whole group.
Another issue with this idea is vehicle breakdown. What if you have a flat or engine trouble? The thought of emergency segments came to mind. If you're between exits, if you can get your car onto a special section of the HSC and send an emergency signal, the segment would shift you over to the side of the HSC ala sliding plate, to allow for traffic to keep flowing. You'd have space to fix a flat or wait for assistance. Of course, if the car is computer controlled anyway, it would alert you in plenty of time if you were about to have trouble. :-)
The real problem would be making sure Microsoft would have nothing to do with vehicle operating systems. It would suck to have to reboot your car every 100 miles. Heaven forbid you have a blue screen of death... literally.
I can see TiVO selling space on their startup screen (I don't have/want one so I'm not sure how it works.), and the menus. If you select the commercial channel, you'll get a Bloomberg type of display with a commercial spots that you can skip through (car ads, drug ads, movie trailers) while news headline and stock ticker crawls go across the bottom, and your localized weather/information takes up a sidebar. All of this interactive and controllable.
I don't watch commercial TV (except for hockey games), and I don't watch the news. What information I want I pull off the web. If I could pull this info with this device using PiP while watching something else, I'd be sold on it. Plus it would have to integrate with a DTS sound system, and of course, record HDTV content from satellite.
From what I do know about PVRs so far, I know not all of that is possible yet.
Why bring another wave of newbies into the mix? The jobs they'll be doing to gain experience are exactly the jobs that are getting offshored: help desk, programming, web development, etc.
I was lucky and have been lucky throughout my 20 years in IT. I started at a small office while in HS, worked my way through college, was confused as to what degree to pursue (I didn't know you could get paid for playing... er, working, with computers.), and started climbing the technical ladder 10 years ago.
Now I'm a network administrator, learning more every day, earning a comfortable (but unfortunately not opulent) salary, and finally, after all this time I'll get my MCSE in July. Maybe next year I'll finish those 6 hours to have my BS in CS and eventually become a manager.
Bring in a fresh wave of techies? No way. That's more, less expensive competition for the guys with skills and experience. I seriously doubt the retirement/departure rate of IT professionals can match the incoming numbers. In case you haven't noticed, the trend has been to do more with less, work smarter not harder, and for systems to be manageable by fewer people. I see no reason why this trend will change anytime soon.
Sure we need fresh recruits in some areas, but I feel they'll have to be specialized in the latest technology. If you're coming out of college without .NET coding skills, a great deal of Linux experience, or extensive IP experience, you're just another coder or toolie waiting to be outsourced.
I think these students are right to be pessimistic, and eventually things will reach a balance.
Multiplayer RPGs:
This will have good and bad aspects. If the kid is as smart as you say, I'm fairly certain he'll know the difference and gain from it.
Whether these are played live, online or in LAN parties, there is some aspect of social interaction. The online versions are a good first step. Talking to someone annonymously is very safe, and he can leave whenever he wants. LAN parties take it to the next step. There is live interaction as well as the on-screen kind. Live, pencil and paper RPGs take it a third step. Not only roleplaying interaction and direct interaction with the players, but there's an open social/party atmosphere as well.
Academic events:
UIL competitions, Academic Decathlon, or any live competitions where academics is the core event. During study groups, typical talking and humor breaks out. At the events, after the tests, it devolves to a party.
Toastmasters:
This is an international, non-profit organization (http://www.toastmasters.org) that focuses on communication, leadership skills, and a variety of other professional and social interaction skills. Local TM clubs are usually only for adults, but often there are youth clubs for high school age or younger.
Exposure:
If this kid is at all like I was, he has a huge vocabulary, but is afraid to use it. He can solve complex problems, but gets strange looks when he does. He knows solutions to problems, but is afraid to speak up because he'll be called brainiac or worse.
A part-time job (if this is possible due to his age) in a white-collar enfironment would be good exposure, especially if it is related to something he likes to do. If he's a math wiz, let him find out how a bank or accounting firm works. If he's a science nut, let him work for a local lab, hospital, pharmacy, engineering firm, computer shop, or telecomm company.
Main thing is that he'll be around adults, most of whom (generally) don't care about looks or how old he is. All they'll see is results of his work. Very likely he has the IQ of a 40-50 year old; he should be communicating with that age group when possible. Both he and they will benefit.
Style:
Kids will make fun of anyone who is different from the majority clique. Let him know this and get him to understand it. Show him it doesn't matter by matching his style one day. Suggest little things to change such as hairstyle, shirts or shoes. Take him shopping. Interacting with a salesperson or watching people in the mall are good chances for building social skills.
I started wearing glasses at age 5. The ridicule started. It finally slowed a bit around age 11, but then I got contacts, and the ridicule started up again because I didn't have my glasses. It's a no win situation for nerds regardless of what we do. Only when we find our niche and can grow our skills are we comfortable with everything else around us.
Above all else, give him confidence and let him know there is nothing wrong with him. He's actually special, and one day he'll very likely make a difference.
Being honest with your (hopefully) future employer is the best way to start a new occupational relationship. Every company, especially any dealing with IT, knows how harsh the market has been the last few years. They'll understand the situation well. What will make the difference is how you reacted to those situations and in what frame of mind it has left you. Are you bitter with your past companies for what occured? A new place won't want a vengeful or bitter employee because they'll eventually do something unpleasant. Be honest, describe your experiences briefly. Gloss over the negative aspects or just stay away from them completely. Instead turn it around into a more positive learning experience. What did you gain from it? "As others left, I was assigned their tasks. This gave me more opportunities to prove myself, allowed me to learn other duties, and challenged me to manage my time more actively." I was in the same boat as you. I finally just brushed all the bad experiences under the rug and concentrated on what I gained. Good luck to you.
I can't tell you exactly what you need, but I know some guys who can. http://www.shmoo.com/members.html E-mail Bruce Potter or Beetle at the Shmoo group. I met these two at a wireless course recently. They are definitely experts in this field. Beetle runs a wireless ISP for his whole neighborhood, similar to what you're planning to do. As for implementation or money: If you're just talking a wireless LAN so everyone can join games and share things with each other, by all means, that can and should be free to the tenants. If you're talking sharing an internet connection amongst the tenants, then I'd suggest charging a minimal amount to everyone who uses it. The more people use it, the less expensive it is. Business DSL should run about $250 a month, depending upon your service provider. If 25 people use it, just charge $10 each so you can break even, not profit off your neighbors nor keep spending money out of your pocket. If you're talking ISP, that's where Beetle can help you the most. The $7k will get you up and running, but again you need to charge for people to use your internet connection and to provide maintenance for your servers. Personally, the 2nd option is your best bet. Good luck, enjoy your inheritance, and regardless of what anyone else says, it's yours to do with as you wish.
From my own experience, I was on cable (pre-digital days) for years. From time to time we would lose service. It got so bad we finally started keeping track. One month we had been without service for a total of a week (this was only when we were home from work). My wife sent our list of dates and times of outages to the cable company with only 75% of the payment and stated "cancel our subscription." We bought a DirecTV system secondhand and we've never looked back.
Does the weather affect the signal? We live in Texas, and only the most torrential rains of thunderstorms will degrade or cause a loss of our signal. Once in the past 8 years solar activity caused a loss of signal for about 15 minutes. Other than that, we always have a crisp, clean picture.
I can guess where some of the exaggerations cable tells come from. If a dish is not mounted properly, the wind could blow it off signal line. If the inclination is too high, it could collect snow or water and lose signal reflection. My retort for cable companies is, "Okay, weather may have an adverse affect on dishes. It's apparent what causes the problem when it happens. What is cable's excuse for losing signal? Earthworms? Tectonic shift?"
Satellite has no hidden costs. Just like any product, you'll see ads promising such and such for a certain price. Any smart consumer knows to ask all the right questions before approaching the checkout line. Anyone just blindly buying a product as advertised deserves what they get.
Pay extra for local channels? Not really. Dish and DirecTV have bundled local channels into packages. Yes, you're paying some extra, but it's not $5 as most people say. I pay $2.50 for 9 local channels.
Pay extra per receiver? Yes, just like the mobile phone services, you pay for how many devices are receiving the service. I don't even know how to answer the other allegations cable has because I've never heard of them. Insurance? Service fees? Outlet fees? Never seen any of them.
I have little experience with DVRs, but I can support what others have said. TiVO works well with almost any satellite receiver. You have all the choices you want in selecting equipment, however, know that you will not receive any package deals.
If you choose some $99 multi-room, installed deal, you'll get basic receivers with no frills. However, if you do some research of which service you choose and which equipment is preferred, you'll have a wide variety of choices: basic receiver, 5.1 Dolby receiver, receiver with DVR, HDTV receiver, or some combination of those options. (HDTV with DVR is on the horizon.)
When you buy any of these receivers, you'll receive a package of how to sign up for the service. Some stores may offer a sale price if you sign a 1 or 2 year contract. Go ahead if you're comfortable with the committment and it saves a large amount.
As for which service, DirecTV and Dish both have pros and cons. DirecTV has sports packages that Dish does not. Dish has some channels that DirecTV does not. For instance, the Nasa channel you mentioned is only available on Dish. While DirecTV does provide regional sports channels, sometimes a blacked out game may be pushed to an alternative channel which you may not receive, but Dish does. Likewise with HBO and other movie packages, Dish may offer more alternative channels within those packages. Digital cable may offer similar advantages, but all the drawbacks to cable make it a no-brainer for me. Research both services websites. They provide great detail of their package listings. I personally prefer DirecTV because the interfaces (receiver dependent) are newer-looking, better organized and have extra options (searches and block lists) that I have yet to see on multiple Dish receivers.
Good luck.