Maybe so, but if I put up enough windmills to completely cancel out any dependency on the local power grid, I can close my account with FPL entirely, making it exactly $0 that I have to pay them. The whole point of my comment is that either way, I will save money if I add just 1 windmill to the mix.
Yes I did see it, however, the total cost to me of power provided by my electricity company includes taxes, utility fees, and whatever other bullshit they tack on. The total cost to me of a windmill is exactly $9000 (and since it will likely be bought from a supplier out of state, there is NO sales tax). For a valid comparison of cost-to-consumer, you must include everything.
This is my FPL bill for the current month - region is South Florida (Pompano Beach)
Current reading: 14714
Previous reading: 12070
kWh used: 2644
**The electric service amount
includes the following charges:
Customer charge: $5.17 per month
Fuel: $170.88
(First 1000 kWh at $0.058410)
(Over 1000 kWh at $0.068410)
Non-fuel: $128.30
(First 1000 kWh at $0.042310)
(Over 1000 kWh at $0.052310)
New charges (Rate: RS-1 RESIDENTIAL SERVICE )
Electric service amount: 304.35**
On call credit: 4.50CR
Gross receipts tax: 7.69
Franchise charge: 18.51
Utility tax: 17.08
Total new charges: $343.13
$343.13 for 2644kWh - that's 12.9 cents per kWh (0.129/kWh) - windmill seems cheaper to me.
...I've never seen a POTS line go down for any other reason then physical damage to infrastructure (car hits telephone pole)...
You've apparently never dealt with BellSouth before. My mother's BellSouth service is down on average once a month. Sometimes I'll try to call her and I get what sounds like a fax machine - at the same time, they are unable to call out or even get a dial-tone. This has been occurring for the past 10 years, and lasts about 2-4 hours every occurrance.
Just because it doesn't happen to you, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen to anybody else.
For toys like remote-control model cars or model airplanes, Nickel Cadmium is the main choice...
Actually, if you look at the r/c hobby scene, LiPo batteries are the big thing these days. The voltage-per-cell is higher (3.7V per cell) than both NiMH and NiCd (1.2V per cell). But they are considerably more expensive and require special speed controllers as well as special chargers. An improperly charged/discharged LiPo battery can literally result in a fireball.
Apology rejected. You state that you know how seriously off-topic this is, and yet you post it anyway. Frankly, I'm glad I have someplace to go that doesn't try to cram more 9/11 crap down my throat.
however I can't simply not sell them the phone as that is illegal
By most state laws in the US, any retailer can refuse service to any customer for any reason whatsoever. The only person you have to answer to for refusing a customer service is your manager, however, I would think that the customer providing fraudulent credentials is certainly a valid reason in any manager's eyes.
who isn't? the real question here, though, is are you all for your isp blocking spam for you... without your consent, approval or even, apparently, notification.
letting isp's make decisions for their customers' "own good" is a dangerous path to start on.
Assuming for a moment that your own ISP only has 1000 customers, you are 1 out of 1000 who has a functional brain. The other 999 don't and all bitch about how much spam they get and demand that the ISP do something about it. From any ISP's point of view, making 999 customers shut up is easily a better bet.
I've seen that argument so many times, but let me present you with this scenario. If you come up with an idea that is unique, and some schmuck takes that idea and beats you to the USPTO with it, don't you consider that idea stolen? Of course you do. But why? You haven't lost the idea.
Sure, copyright infringement does not literally equate to actually stealing the music since you are only making a copy, but you are stealing the "right to copy", the literal definition of copyright. A simple lookup on dictionary.com yields this result:
copyright...The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.
It seems to me that not only by the letter of copyright law, but also by the definition of the very word "copyright", it's a pretty clear case. Don't get me wrong, I too believe the RIAA is satan-incarnate, but if you are going to make arguments against them, make damn sure that you do it properly and don't keep repeating some bogus argument such as copyright infringement is not theft, because according to the law, it is.
"I have seen customers threaten former pc shops where I work with violence or come in and dude you are going to be soooo sorry bla bla."
This has happened to me, rather recently actually. I work for a domain registration and hosting company, and the customer in question just happened to live about 3 miles from our office. About 4 months ago, his problem was that he was trying to transfer his domain and wanted us to unlock it, but he could not verify any info we requested - userID, password, security question, etc... He even refused to fax a copy of his driver's license. So I told him that there was absolutely nothing we would do for him unless he was willing to cooperate with us to verify his identity. He bitched and bitched, then threatened to come to our office (hinting at bodily injury), to which I replied happily "OK".
So an hour later he arrives in my office. I don't think he expected what he walked into. I'm a pretty thick guy, rather intimidating, and certainly capable of pummeling your average joe into the ground. This customer was about 5-foot tall and weighed maybe 140lbs. He looked at me and asked if I were the one he were speaking to on the phone. I grinned and answered "Yep". He immediately turned around and walked out of the office and never came back.
A couple of days later, a money order arrived in the mail along with a copy of his driver's license, and a request to renew the domain (instead of unlocking it).
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe so, but if I put up enough windmills to completely cancel out any dependency on the local power grid, I can close my account with FPL entirely, making it exactly $0 that I have to pay them. The whole point of my comment is that either way, I will save money if I add just 1 windmill to the mix.
Yes I did see it, however, the total cost to me of power provided by my electricity company includes taxes, utility fees, and whatever other bullshit they tack on. The total cost to me of a windmill is exactly $9000 (and since it will likely be bought from a supplier out of state, there is NO sales tax). For a valid comparison of cost-to-consumer, you must include everything.
This is my FPL bill for the current month - region is South Florida (Pompano Beach)
Current reading: 14714
Previous reading: 12070
kWh used: 2644
**The electric service amount
includes the following charges:
Customer charge: $5.17 per month
Fuel: $170.88
(First 1000 kWh at $0.058410)
(Over 1000 kWh at $0.068410)
Non-fuel: $128.30
(First 1000 kWh at $0.042310)
(Over 1000 kWh at $0.052310)
New charges (Rate: RS-1 RESIDENTIAL SERVICE )
Electric service amount: 304.35**
On call credit: 4.50CR
Gross receipts tax: 7.69
Franchise charge: 18.51
Utility tax: 17.08
Total new charges: $343.13
$343.13 for 2644kWh - that's 12.9 cents per kWh (0.129/kWh) - windmill seems cheaper to me.
There's nothing to think about. You are talking about people on Slashdot.
Last I checked, hurricanes were named storms.
...I've never seen a POTS line go down for any other reason then physical damage to infrastructure (car hits telephone pole)...
You've apparently never dealt with BellSouth before. My mother's BellSouth service is down on average once a month. Sometimes I'll try to call her and I get what sounds like a fax machine - at the same time, they are unable to call out or even get a dial-tone. This has been occurring for the past 10 years, and lasts about 2-4 hours every occurrance.
Just because it doesn't happen to you, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen to anybody else.
And you trust Government-supplied security?
For toys like remote-control model cars or model airplanes, Nickel Cadmium is the main choice...
Actually, if you look at the r/c hobby scene, LiPo batteries are the big thing these days. The voltage-per-cell is higher (3.7V per cell) than both NiMH and NiCd (1.2V per cell). But they are considerably more expensive and require special speed controllers as well as special chargers. An improperly charged/discharged LiPo battery can literally result in a fireball.
I'm not ashamed to be American, but I am pissed off at the other idiot Americans that allow crap like this to occur.
You act like this is something new...
The statement you are quoting was made by Hurd, not Dunn.
Apology rejected. You state that you know how seriously off-topic this is, and yet you post it anyway. Frankly, I'm glad I have someplace to go that doesn't try to cram more 9/11 crap down my throat.
From what I remember reading somewhere, Halo 2 will be out on PC, but for Windows Vista only...
Just google for "full mesh fail-over" "ppp links" and...no, wait, forget that....
Shhhhhh, you wouldn't want Google to send you a warning letter, would you?
however I can't simply not sell them the phone as that is illegal
By most state laws in the US, any retailer can refuse service to any customer for any reason whatsoever. The only person you have to answer to for refusing a customer service is your manager, however, I would think that the customer providing fraudulent credentials is certainly a valid reason in any manager's eyes.
From the article:
...at 6 square kilometers said to be the largest in North America by the time rollout is complete in December...
You must have missed that North America part...
I doubt they'd cost less. You can get xBoxes on eBay for less than $100 all day long.
It sorta reminded me of a herd of {{insert herd of African beasts}} running from a pack of {{insert likely feline predators}}...
who isn't? the real question here, though, is are you all for your isp blocking spam for you... without your consent, approval or even, apparently, notification.
letting isp's make decisions for their customers' "own good" is a dangerous path to start on.
Assuming for a moment that your own ISP only has 1000 customers, you are 1 out of 1000 who has a functional brain. The other 999 don't and all bitch about how much spam they get and demand that the ISP do something about it. From any ISP's point of view, making 999 customers shut up is easily a better bet.
I'll have to keep your comment in mind when my 16 year old son impregnates your 15 year old daughter. You gonna raise the child? I didn't think so.
Unfortunately, nobody seems to have the "right hands". Maybe they should supply correctly configured prostetic hands with this...
Copyright infringement is NOT theft.
I've seen that argument so many times, but let me present you with this scenario. If you come up with an idea that is unique, and some schmuck takes that idea and beats you to the USPTO with it, don't you consider that idea stolen? Of course you do. But why? You haven't lost the idea.
Sure, copyright infringement does not literally equate to actually stealing the music since you are only making a copy, but you are stealing the "right to copy", the literal definition of copyright. A simple lookup on dictionary.com yields this result:
copyright...The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.
It seems to me that not only by the letter of copyright law, but also by the definition of the very word "copyright", it's a pretty clear case. Don't get me wrong, I too believe the RIAA is satan-incarnate, but if you are going to make arguments against them, make damn sure that you do it properly and don't keep repeating some bogus argument such as copyright infringement is not theft, because according to the law, it is.
"I have seen customers threaten former pc shops where I work with violence or come in and dude you are going to be soooo sorry bla bla."
This has happened to me, rather recently actually. I work for a domain registration and hosting company, and the customer in question just happened to live about 3 miles from our office. About 4 months ago, his problem was that he was trying to transfer his domain and wanted us to unlock it, but he could not verify any info we requested - userID, password, security question, etc... He even refused to fax a copy of his driver's license. So I told him that there was absolutely nothing we would do for him unless he was willing to cooperate with us to verify his identity. He bitched and bitched, then threatened to come to our office (hinting at bodily injury), to which I replied happily "OK".
So an hour later he arrives in my office. I don't think he expected what he walked into. I'm a pretty thick guy, rather intimidating, and certainly capable of pummeling your average joe into the ground. This customer was about 5-foot tall and weighed maybe 140lbs. He looked at me and asked if I were the one he were speaking to on the phone. I grinned and answered "Yep". He immediately turned around and walked out of the office and never came back.
A couple of days later, a money order arrived in the mail along with a copy of his driver's license, and a request to renew the domain (instead of unlocking it).
So why not sue Sony as well - the PS2 came out in 2000 with the new controllers that had analog joysticks...
People actually pay for lessons for skills that are useless away from video games? What's next, degrees and certifications?!