Building it yourself doesn't make it legal. It is still a jammer and jammers are illegal.
It may be illegal, but the chances of actually being 'busted' are very small unless the device happens to actually cause enough damage/disturbance to attract serious law enforcement attention. The same laws and FCC regs apply to CB radio, and those regulations...especially regarding transmitter power and intentional interference..are broken constantly and regularly with complete disregard and derision.
The FCC field investigation operations are woefully understaffed and underfunded, and availability of "export-only" and foreign manufactured radios whose transmitters exceed US CB transmitter power limits by a large margin, as well as covering frequencies outside band limits, and extremely high-powered external transmitter power amplifiers (known as 'linear amplifiers', many well in excess of 1 kw) is ubiquitous.
A person using one of these cell phone jammers would be in much, much greater danger of a beating from an aggrieved cell phone user than he would be of any possible legal action by the FCC.
Why was this post marked 'Troll'? GuyverDHs' comment may not sit well with many, but he does have some valid points, and 'Troll' it most certainly is not. I have never before asked for any post to be modded in any fashion, but c'mon mods! Correct this!
So as far as I can tell we have (at least) 3 companies claiming to hold a patent on sending telephone calls over a network.
Why are they all allowed to sue Vonage but aren't forced to settle the obvious patent disputes they have between them. Let's assume for a second that any one of them has a valid patent and had it first. Why aren't they suing the other 2 for getting settlement money out of Vonage that they as the rightful patent holder should have received?
Most likely, the companies in question all have patents which are very similar, but not exactly the same, coupled with the fact that they almost surely have patent cross-licensing agreements between them.
This helps both to avoid costly litigation amongst themselves, and to avoid having any patents being voided, thus maximizing the sheer number of patents, even though a large number may, in fact, conflict or be outright invalid. This situation also increases the size of the patent 'hammer' they collectively and individually can drop on any upstarts that may threaten to compete.
This is a common situation in todays' patent-litigation-crazy corporate world. They can thus legally form their own "good ol' boys" network (nearly identical in practical effect to the 'Trusts' of decades past) to keep competitors out of the market.
I seriously doubt government would be anxious to correct this problem, as VOIP is a destabilizing force to the status quo, (read: campaign contributions and money laundered by lobbyists) as well as presenting new difficulties in being able to effectively wiretap and monitor the communications of the public.
This is true especially as the more companies there are for government to deal with as to the monitoring, the more likely it is that the public in general will be made more aware of both the actual extent of the monitoring, as well as the simple fact that the monitoring is taking place at all, which is below most peoples' general awareness.
Anyways, I'm off to shut down Steam. They employ a Russian coder and this violates the pricing model that keeps my cushy North American job paying so much. They should know that they can't run a service on cheap Russian coding, that's only acceptable for third-world services. I'll stop the DDoS attack when they fire the foreigners, pay back all the lower wages for these years, and agree to hiring only union workers from first-world countries.
Makes one wonder what might happen if Steam happened to burn one of the major Storm botnet owners/controllers in this manner. I wonder if they'd think region locking/game deactivation was still worth it after their whole network was down for a week or more a multiple number of times over a long enough period that their sales tanked.
"If you save Hollywood for us you can become rich and powerful"? Does anyone really think the MPAA's lawyers are dumb enough to give a quote like that?
Apparently, you've never had any dealings with talent scouts or record label A&R reps. They routinely promise the world to their prospects, but end up bending them over with no lube. This is entertainment industry SOP.
Diamondmagic, this isn't aimed at you personally, but I feel I have to say a few things here.
~rant on
This is what I hate about strident anti-smoking groups and individuals. You could say the same about a multitude of perfectly legal accepted behaviors.
What about over-eaters? Those that participate in risky sports? People who work really hard at their jobs? Explorers? Astronauts? Scuba divers? Mountain climbers? Consumers of alcohol? Those that choose to live in high-crime areas? What about those irresponsible people that go outside in cold weather without a hat and heavy enough coat? Those that don't have an exercise regimen? Meat eaters? Those that (in someone elses' opinion) spend too much time at a computer/surfing the net/playing games that some may consider harmful?
How about people who deliberately expose themselves to harmful ultraviolet radiation to get a tan? Driving or traveling by automobile is one of the riskiest common behaviors, and far surpasses the costs to society of tobacco, even considering the insurance required of drivers in most states.
I flatly refuse to believe all these 'secondary-smoke' alarmist advertisements, stories, and studies. They fly in the face of common sense, and I believe they are constructed as a reason to further regulate and legislate behaviors for the sake of politics power and money. They rarely work as "intended", witness Prohibition and the "War On Drugs", but usually succeed at expanding government power and reducing individual rights.
It is the nature of humans to engage in risky behaviors, even those that they know are harmful to themselves. The only way to stop it is to put everyone in a Matrix-type tube of goo for their entire lives.
Sure, by all means make sure people understand the risks, and try to place minimal, well-reasoned, and practical restrictions that are agreed to by the majority on the extremes, but drop the idea that you can or should try to regulate through law and taxes every behavior that someone thinks may be harmful, for it may be something that matters to *you* that may be the next crusade of the behavior-gestapo.
It gets more interesting if the occupants have rifles - then only trauma plates will save them, if they're lucky
Quite correct. Most tactical body armor will *not* protect against common civilian-owned weapons such as the M1 Garand or Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and their civilian variants which are commonly chambered for the Springfield 30-06 round.
Even with trauma-plates, a direct center-torso hit with a weapon like the M1 Garand or BAR at ranges under 100 feet will almost certainly take the target out of the fight, and likely cause serious internal injuries. Two to four rounds fired in slow or fast fully-automatic (a single burst) or semi-automatic firing modes from a BAR or two or three rounds from an M1 at close or point-blank range could easily be fatal even with trauma plates.
Even with standard-issue jacketed rounds, they will easily penetrate standard tactical body armor at close range, and with armor-piercing rounds, can take out a target with standard tactical body armor at up to 880 yards.
My father carried a BAR in WW2 and had a Sharpshooter certification. He said that he loved the weapon despite the weight, because there was very little he *couldn't* kill with it, including most light- and medium-armored vehicles up to a half-track. About the power and range of the weapon, he said that "If it was close enough see it, I could kill it, many times even without line-of-sight, through cover like the average wall or medium-size tree."
Nothing makes a tactical team member sweat more than learning that the target(s) is/are armed with these type weapons, especially if it's also learned he/they have military (especially Marine Corp.) training.
I won't be buying a digital TV anytime soon, probably not before I'm worm-food, as I'm over 50. My Sanyo 27-inch will probably last until then. If they switch off the analog signal, I guess I'll simply turn to watching the occasional DVD with my DVD player and TV, and any broadcast TV shows/movies/etc I really want to see on my PC from a website like TV-Links.
The nice thing about that is it will probably reduce the time I waste watching TV overall, and save me viewing advertising. I'll also save money by dropping TV service entirely from my cable provider, and simply retain internet access.
I do have the bad habit of drinking tea while soldering though:-)
My hobby projects are hardly high density though - mostly 0.1in pitch pin through hole ICs, maximum of 2 layer PCBs, and minimum design rules of 10 mil spacing/10 mil tracks, except in the rare instance I need to use something in an SSOP/QFN/TQFP type fine pitch SMD package (which is very slow and labourious to hand solder, so I generally avoid it, however it is satisfying once done because so many people tell me you can't hand solder fine pitch SMD:-))
I've found the 'tin-whisker' problem cropping up in even some point-to-point hand-wired assemblies, mostly around vacuum tube sockets (I build custom vacuum tube guitar amps). I could be wrong, but it seems that the presence of higher voltages seems to encourage whisker growth.
I understand the difficulty hand-soldering SMD components. I've done my share of it using hot-air and even pyro-pen type SMD soldering tools. I've amazed a few bosses and fellow-techs with some of the jobs I've been able to accomplish with even a simple pyro-pen SMD tool. When asked, "How the **** did you do that!?!?" I've simply answered, "Over thirty-five years of soldering teaches a lot if you're not asleep on the job!" Soldering well is truly an art.
Please, although I too enjoy having a beverage handy while working, do try to make sure you keep the tea a few feet away, and wash your hands before eating. A covered travel-cup is advisable to avoid contamination, (and keeps tea/coffee hot, and pop and other beverages cold) and has the added benefit of limiting spills. Just trying to look out for a fellow electron-pusher.;)
Lead free solder is a bit of a nightmare when making electronics at home. I've been going through soldering iron tips at a furious rate since starting to use it - you have to use a hotter bit temperature, and any slight wear on the tip's plating, and the lead free solder just starts dissolving the tip (and it then erodes amazingly fast).
The problem with lead free solder (and why I won't use it) is the problem of "tin whiskers". Tin tends to "grow" these crystalline "whiskers", which can and do bridge connections in electronic circuits, particularly high-density PCBs (printed circuit boards). There have been large industry-wide problems with whisker growth arising from lead-free solder use causing failures.
Here's an interesting list assembled by NASA of some notable failures attributed to the "tin whisker" phenomenon.
As to the personal risks of using regular lead-containing solders, simply wash your hands after using or handling. I've soldered as part of my employment for decades, and have experienced no health problems that I could attribute to using lead-containing solder.
THAT'S what I'd like to see continued/remade/sequeled/whatever! There's just nothing so full of sci-fi, geeky, nerdy fun, as piloting a heavily-armored, thermonuclear-powered, 100 ton walking death machine capable of quickly leveling a city, bristling with lasers, missile launchers, particle-projection cannons, and gauss-rifles, to name but a few. The story lines and the universe were also excellent. There's even a series of well-done sci-fi paperbacks.
I have all the MW3 and MW4/MW4-Mercs series, plus all the commercial and all the user-created expansions and maps/missions/etc that I can find.
The XBox version just didn't hold a candle to the PC versions, IMHO. I still play them fairly regularly. When it comes down to when I'll have to upgrade either/both hardware and OS to something that won't play these games, I'll buy a new PC, and pull this box off-line and keep the HDD imaged just in case, and use it just for these games.
Nah, obviously Praxis' detonation would have created a much broader spectrum of radiation over a much longer duration. I'd say offhand that it was some poor space-traders' ships' warp engine with malfunctioning antimatter injectors, experiencing a warp-core collapse. Let's just hope the poor slob was able to jettison the core before the collapse, or there'll be some *very* well-done tribbles floating in interstellar space!
"You've somehow changed the topic from "what went wrong with the USA" in terms of civil liberties, to "big government is bad"."
I don't think he changed the topic, per se, I rather think he expanded on one of the principal reasons for "what went wrong with the USA". The more a government expands in size, power, and scope, the more the rights of its' citizens tend to be restricted or eliminated.
(Older games in general...) are tending to break more than play these days. I remember a few weeks ago I tried to load up Mechwarrior 4 under winXP only to find that the program would minimize to the task tray at the beginning and never maximize afterwards. Sure this had nothing to do with the 3D drivers, most likely a video codec or something, but regardless... old games are getting harder and harder to play on current systems that shouldn't have a problem with backwards compatibility.
I'm running XP Pro on a D845EBG2 Intel mobo, P4 2.0 gHz, with an old GeForce2 MX/MX400 video card. I had problems with the "legacy" nVidia driver available currently, but found an old-version driver (don't recall the exact version...burned it to a CD for safekeeping) and that seemed to work fine. I've had problems with nVidias' "legacy" driver in linux and FreeBSD on the same box, causing the X server to not start. Same solution: found and installed an older driver version.
I've had a problem with MW4 Mercs starting when I have Kaspersky Antivirus running in normal protection mode, even with everything (including the copy protection) added to the "safe list". I find I have to suspend Kasperskys' protection, and reboot for MW4 Mercs to start and run.
I'm afraid to upgrade my video card, as I have the full MechWarrior 3 and 4 series, all the Mech-Packs, plus user-created add-ons and maps/missions. There's a lot of money and work tied up into it, and I still enjoy playing it. I saw the Mech game for console, and it pales compared to the PC version.
European Air War and Mig Alley are two more games I enjoy that I don't want to lose due to a video card upgrade. Looks like I'll have to purchase another PC and keep this one as is. Or not, as I really haven't seen too many games recently that persuade me in a compelling enough way to make purchasing another entire rig seem worth the cost, and XP Pro/linux/FreeBSD run just fine on the existing hardware.
Care to back that statement up with something a bit more substantive?
-break-
Sure. Try this on for size. (URL redacted) Or his views on subjugating weaker animals to violent death for entertainment. Or this quote: "America is like Canada. If you can't speak English, get the f**k out!" Or his anti-gay stance. Or his recent wearing of a confederate flag on stage. Really, the man is a train wreck when it comes to exhibiting reason and positions derived by reason.
That's not to say that you aren't entitled to your own opinion of the man; mine is simply that he's not a very bright fellow. Loud, in firm possession of a platform to speak from, and with no shortage of sycophants, but none of that in and of itself is any indicator of above-average intelligence at work.
Ah, I see. So, it's having a liberal social and political belief system that is the indication for intelligence, and a conservative social and political belief system that is an indicator against.
I think that before you start making broad statements about some persons' level of intelligence based upon nothing more than your beliefs about their social/political/religious beliefs and/or opinions, regardless of who they are or what they may be, you might want to take a long, hard look in the mirror first.
As an aside, my favorite reply to evangelic atheists is: "Albert Einstein believed in God, and you, sir, are no Einstein."
If you don't like windows that much that you think they are completely evil, then just stop using it. If enough people do it, then maybe they will change their ways, or, if they don't and people continue not use it, they could even go out of business, or at least the OS market.
No. Long before they went out of business or lost their desktop monopoly, the US government would step in. Laws and/or regulations would get passed or reinterpreted under some 'homeland security', 'think of the children', or 'intellectual property protection' heading that would effectively insure their continued monopoly.
I hate being so cynical, but there's just too much money being made all around, as well as such a convenient way for the government to be able to gather intelligence data. MS and the US government would go kicking and screaming before MS would be allowed to lose their monopoly in the desktop OS market.
I stuck the Designed for Windows 98 sticker off of one my laptops on the front of a Sparc20 just for giggles. Yes, I realize I'm going to hell for it.:)
I stuck a "Certified For Windows® Vista®" sticker on an SGI Octane box I have here. If what you did to just a Sparc20 will send you to hell, I'm scared...*very* scared!
Gee, ya think? I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to make the site as unusable as possible for artists and webcasters, to try to discourage artists from actually registering and attempting to collect royalties, or for webcasters to register artist/webcaster royalty agreements. Every one of the above that gave up would be either money in SoundExchanges' pocket, or a nail they could drive into the coffin of non-label-controlled internet radio.
Sorry though people...I was going to include a flash-only warning myself, but forgot.
I apologize if this is a dumb question but does this whole shitstorm impact Internet radio stations that play only completely independent stuff (ie. non-label content)? Or is SoundExchange trying to extract a pound of flesh from anyone running their own station regardless of what actually plays?
In a word, yes. Technically, *if* the station and artist sign an agreement, and *register* it with SoundExchange, then no royalties will be taken. However, lacking an agreement that is registered with SoundExchange, the station *is* liable for standard royalty payments to SoundExchange, and the artist must then register with SoundExchange to receive said royalties (minus SoundExchange fees).
This places a burden on both stations and artists to manage and archive copies of agreements. There is no central clearinghouse to which independent stations and artists can turn to, to assist in streamlining this process, akin to a 'Indie-SoundExchange'. This might be a good idea, if a way were found to pay for it, and if the RIAA doesn't litigate or legislate it into illegality.
Slashdot Mirror
Building it yourself doesn't make it legal. It is still a jammer and jammers are illegal.
It may be illegal, but the chances of actually being 'busted' are very small unless the device happens to actually cause enough damage/disturbance to attract serious law enforcement attention. The same laws and FCC regs apply to CB radio, and those regulations...especially regarding transmitter power and intentional interference..are broken constantly and regularly with complete disregard and derision.
The FCC field investigation operations are woefully understaffed and underfunded, and availability of "export-only" and foreign manufactured radios whose transmitters exceed US CB transmitter power limits by a large margin, as well as covering frequencies outside band limits, and extremely high-powered external transmitter power amplifiers (known as 'linear amplifiers', many well in excess of 1 kw) is ubiquitous.
A person using one of these cell phone jammers would be in much, much greater danger of a beating from an aggrieved cell phone user than he would be of any possible legal action by the FCC.
Cheers!
Strat
We're like the damned Fremen [wikipedia.org] - we're practically everywhere, yet no authority really sees but few of us ;)
Hmm...good point, and also segues nicely to another Dune semi-quote:
"He who controls the SPICE (Specially Priced Institutional Computers for Education) controls the universe!"
Cheers!
Strat
Why was this post marked 'Troll'? GuyverDHs' comment may not sit well with many, but he does have some valid points, and 'Troll' it most certainly is not. I have never before asked for any post to be modded in any fashion, but c'mon mods! Correct this!
Strat
So as far as I can tell we have (at least) 3 companies claiming to hold a patent on sending telephone calls over a network.
Why are they all allowed to sue Vonage but aren't forced to settle the obvious patent disputes they have between them. Let's assume for a second that any one of them has a valid patent and had it first. Why aren't they suing the other 2 for getting settlement money out of Vonage that they as the rightful patent holder should have received?
Most likely, the companies in question all have patents which are very similar, but not exactly the same, coupled with the fact that they almost surely have patent cross-licensing agreements between them.
This helps both to avoid costly litigation amongst themselves, and to avoid having any patents being voided, thus maximizing the sheer number of patents, even though a large number may, in fact, conflict or be outright invalid. This situation also increases the size of the patent 'hammer' they collectively and individually can drop on any upstarts that may threaten to compete.
This is a common situation in todays' patent-litigation-crazy corporate world. They can thus legally form their own "good ol' boys" network (nearly identical in practical effect to the 'Trusts' of decades past) to keep competitors out of the market.
I seriously doubt government would be anxious to correct this problem, as VOIP is a destabilizing force to the status quo, (read: campaign contributions and money laundered by lobbyists) as well as presenting new difficulties in being able to effectively wiretap and monitor the communications of the public.
This is true especially as the more companies there are for government to deal with as to the monitoring, the more likely it is that the public in general will be made more aware of both the actual extent of the monitoring, as well as the simple fact that the monitoring is taking place at all, which is below most peoples' general awareness.
Cheers!
Strat
Anyways, I'm off to shut down Steam. They employ a Russian coder and this violates the pricing model that keeps my cushy North American job paying so much. They should know that they can't run a service on cheap Russian coding, that's only acceptable for third-world services. I'll stop the DDoS attack when they fire the foreigners, pay back all the lower wages for these years, and agree to hiring only union workers from first-world countries.
Makes one wonder what might happen if Steam happened to burn one of the major Storm botnet owners/controllers in this manner. I wonder if they'd think region locking/game deactivation was still worth it after their whole network was down for a week or more a multiple number of times over a long enough period that their sales tanked.
Cheers!
Strat
Sum of Products?
Son of a pitch?
I'm curious. what's your acronym stand for?
Just in case your question wasn't sarcasm, and for general informational purposes, SOP stands for "Standard Operating Procedure".
Strat
"If you save Hollywood for us you can become rich and powerful"? Does anyone really think the MPAA's lawyers are dumb enough to give a quote like that?
Apparently, you've never had any dealings with talent scouts or record label A&R reps. They routinely promise the world to their prospects, but end up bending them over with no lube. This is entertainment industry SOP.
Cheers!
Strat
Treatment of a smoker is even more expensive then the longer life of the average non-smoker, and there are plenty of sources to back it up. Google pulled up these articles:
http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5114a2.htm
http://www.bera.com/smoking.htm
Diamondmagic, this isn't aimed at you personally, but I feel I have to say a few things here.
~rant on
This is what I hate about strident anti-smoking groups and individuals. You could say the same about a multitude of perfectly legal accepted behaviors.
What about over-eaters? Those that participate in risky sports? People who work really hard at their jobs? Explorers? Astronauts? Scuba divers? Mountain climbers? Consumers of alcohol? Those that choose to live in high-crime areas? What about those irresponsible people that go outside in cold weather without a hat and heavy enough coat? Those that don't have an exercise regimen? Meat eaters? Those that (in someone elses' opinion) spend too much time at a computer/surfing the net/playing games that some may consider harmful?
How about people who deliberately expose themselves to harmful ultraviolet radiation to get a tan? Driving or traveling by automobile is one of the riskiest common behaviors, and far surpasses the costs to society of tobacco, even considering the insurance required of drivers in most states.
I flatly refuse to believe all these 'secondary-smoke' alarmist advertisements, stories, and studies. They fly in the face of common sense, and I believe they are constructed as a reason to further regulate and legislate behaviors for the sake of politics power and money. They rarely work as "intended", witness Prohibition and the "War On Drugs", but usually succeed at expanding government power and reducing individual rights.
It is the nature of humans to engage in risky behaviors, even those that they know are harmful to themselves. The only way to stop it is to put everyone in a Matrix-type tube of goo for their entire lives.
Sure, by all means make sure people understand the risks, and try to place minimal, well-reasoned, and practical restrictions that are agreed to by the majority on the extremes, but drop the idea that you can or should try to regulate through law and taxes every behavior that someone thinks may be harmful, for it may be something that matters to *you* that may be the next crusade of the behavior-gestapo.
~rant off
Strat
It gets more interesting if the occupants have rifles - then only trauma plates will save them, if they're lucky
Quite correct. Most tactical body armor will *not* protect against common civilian-owned weapons such as the M1 Garand or Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and their civilian variants which are commonly chambered for the Springfield 30-06 round.
Even with trauma-plates, a direct center-torso hit with a weapon like the M1 Garand or BAR at ranges under 100 feet will almost certainly take the target out of the fight, and likely cause serious internal injuries. Two to four rounds fired in slow or fast fully-automatic (a single burst) or semi-automatic firing modes from a BAR or two or three rounds from an M1 at close or point-blank range could easily be fatal even with trauma plates.
Even with standard-issue jacketed rounds, they will easily penetrate standard tactical body armor at close range, and with armor-piercing rounds, can take out a target with standard tactical body armor at up to 880 yards.
My father carried a BAR in WW2 and had a Sharpshooter certification. He said that he loved the weapon despite the weight, because there was very little he *couldn't* kill with it, including most light- and medium-armored vehicles up to a half-track. About the power and range of the weapon, he said that "If it was close enough see it, I could kill it, many times even without line-of-sight, through cover like the average wall or medium-size tree."
Nothing makes a tactical team member sweat more than learning that the target(s) is/are armed with these type weapons, especially if it's also learned he/they have military (especially Marine Corp.) training.
Cheers!
Strat
I won't be buying a digital TV anytime soon, probably not before I'm Soylent Green,
:^)
:P
There, fixed that for you.
Heh, have you been reading one of my other posts on another thread?
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=330873&cid=21014855
Cheers!
Strat
I won't be buying a digital TV anytime soon, probably not before I'm worm-food, as I'm over 50. My Sanyo 27-inch will probably last until then. If they switch off the analog signal, I guess I'll simply turn to watching the occasional DVD with my DVD player and TV, and any broadcast TV shows/movies/etc I really want to see on my PC from a website like TV-Links.
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/
The nice thing about that is it will probably reduce the time I waste watching TV overall, and save me viewing advertising. I'll also save money by dropping TV service entirely from my cable provider, and simply retain internet access.
Cheers!
Strat
Does he eat the Ewoks, or something far more sinister?
Ewoks are Soylent Furry!!!!
Apologies,
Strat
I do have the bad habit of drinking tea while soldering though :-)
:-))
;)
My hobby projects are hardly high density though - mostly 0.1in pitch pin through hole ICs, maximum of 2 layer PCBs, and minimum design rules of 10 mil spacing/10 mil tracks, except in the rare instance I need to use something in an SSOP/QFN/TQFP type fine pitch SMD package (which is very slow and labourious to hand solder, so I generally avoid it, however it is satisfying once done because so many people tell me you can't hand solder fine pitch SMD
I've found the 'tin-whisker' problem cropping up in even some point-to-point hand-wired assemblies, mostly around vacuum tube sockets (I build custom vacuum tube guitar amps). I could be wrong, but it seems that the presence of higher voltages seems to encourage whisker growth.
I understand the difficulty hand-soldering SMD components. I've done my share of it using hot-air and even pyro-pen type SMD soldering tools. I've amazed a few bosses and fellow-techs with some of the jobs I've been able to accomplish with even a simple pyro-pen SMD tool. When asked, "How the **** did you do that!?!?" I've simply answered, "Over thirty-five years of soldering teaches a lot if you're not asleep on the job!" Soldering well is truly an art.
Please, although I too enjoy having a beverage handy while working, do try to make sure you keep the tea a few feet away, and wash your hands before eating. A covered travel-cup is advisable to avoid contamination, (and keeps tea/coffee hot, and pop and other beverages cold) and has the added benefit of limiting spills. Just trying to look out for a fellow electron-pusher.
Cheers!
Strat
Lead free solder is a bit of a nightmare when making electronics at home. I've been going through soldering iron tips at a furious rate since starting to use it - you have to use a hotter bit temperature, and any slight wear on the tip's plating, and the lead free solder just starts dissolving the tip (and it then erodes amazingly fast).
The problem with lead free solder (and why I won't use it) is the problem of "tin whiskers". Tin tends to "grow" these crystalline "whiskers", which can and do bridge connections in electronic circuits, particularly high-density PCBs (printed circuit boards). There have been large industry-wide problems with whisker growth arising from lead-free solder use causing failures.
Here's an interesting list assembled by NASA of some notable failures attributed to the "tin whisker" phenomenon.
http://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/failures/index.htm
As to the personal risks of using regular lead-containing solders, simply wash your hands after using or handling. I've soldered as part of my employment for decades, and have experienced no health problems that I could attribute to using lead-containing solder.
Cheers!
Strat
THAT'S what I'd like to see continued/remade/sequeled/whatever! There's just nothing so full of sci-fi, geeky, nerdy fun, as piloting a heavily-armored, thermonuclear-powered, 100 ton walking death machine capable of quickly leveling a city, bristling with lasers, missile launchers, particle-projection cannons, and gauss-rifles, to name but a few. The story lines and the universe were also excellent. There's even a series of well-done sci-fi paperbacks.
I have all the MW3 and MW4/MW4-Mercs series, plus all the commercial and all the user-created expansions and maps/missions/etc that I can find.
The XBox version just didn't hold a candle to the PC versions, IMHO. I still play them fairly regularly. When it comes down to when I'll have to upgrade either/both hardware and OS to something that won't play these games, I'll buy a new PC, and pull this box off-line and keep the HDD imaged just in case, and use it just for these games.
Cheers!
Strat
Praxis?
Nah, obviously Praxis' detonation would have created a much broader spectrum of radiation over a much longer duration. I'd say offhand that it was some poor space-traders' ships' warp engine with malfunctioning antimatter injectors, experiencing a warp-core collapse. Let's just hope the poor slob was able to jettison the core before the collapse, or there'll be some *very* well-done tribbles floating in interstellar space!
Cheers!
Strat
"You've somehow changed the topic from "what went wrong with the USA" in terms of civil liberties, to "big government is bad"."
I don't think he changed the topic, per se, I rather think he expanded on one of the principal reasons for "what went wrong with the USA". The more a government expands in size, power, and scope, the more the rights of its' citizens tend to be restricted or eliminated.
Cheers!
Strat
"The content producers want it both ways."
Of course they do, silly! Call girls, cocaine, Ferraris, yachts, mansions, and politicians haven't gotten any cheaper, you know!
Strat
(Older games in general...) are tending to break more than play these days. I remember a few weeks ago I tried to load up Mechwarrior 4 under winXP only to find that the program would minimize to the task tray at the beginning and never maximize afterwards. Sure this had nothing to do with the 3D drivers, most likely a video codec or something, but regardless... old games are getting harder and harder to play on current systems that shouldn't have a problem with backwards compatibility.
I'm running XP Pro on a D845EBG2 Intel mobo, P4 2.0 gHz, with an old GeForce2 MX/MX400 video card. I had problems with the "legacy" nVidia driver available currently, but found an old-version driver (don't recall the exact version...burned it to a CD for safekeeping) and that seemed to work fine. I've had problems with nVidias' "legacy" driver in linux and FreeBSD on the same box, causing the X server to not start. Same solution: found and installed an older driver version.
I've had a problem with MW4 Mercs starting when I have Kaspersky Antivirus running in normal protection mode, even with everything (including the copy protection) added to the "safe list". I find I have to suspend Kasperskys' protection, and reboot for MW4 Mercs to start and run.
I'm afraid to upgrade my video card, as I have the full MechWarrior 3 and 4 series, all the Mech-Packs, plus user-created add-ons and maps/missions. There's a lot of money and work tied up into it, and I still enjoy playing it. I saw the Mech game for console, and it pales compared to the PC version.
European Air War and Mig Alley are two more games I enjoy that I don't want to lose due to a video card upgrade. Looks like I'll have to purchase another PC and keep this one as is. Or not, as I really haven't seen too many games recently that persuade me in a compelling enough way to make purchasing another entire rig seem worth the cost, and XP Pro/linux/FreeBSD run just fine on the existing hardware.
Cheers!
Strat
Care to back that statement up with something a bit more substantive?
-break-
Sure. Try this on for size. (URL redacted) Or his views on subjugating weaker animals to violent death for entertainment. Or this quote: "America is like Canada. If you can't speak English, get the f**k out!" Or his anti-gay stance. Or his recent wearing of a confederate flag on stage. Really, the man is a train wreck when it comes to exhibiting reason and positions derived by reason.
That's not to say that you aren't entitled to your own opinion of the man; mine is simply that he's not a very bright fellow. Loud, in firm possession of a platform to speak from, and with no shortage of sycophants, but none of that in and of itself is any indicator of above-average intelligence at work.
Ah, I see. So, it's having a liberal social and political belief system that is the indication for intelligence, and a conservative social and political belief system that is an indicator against.
I think that before you start making broad statements about some persons' level of intelligence based upon nothing more than your beliefs about their social/political/religious beliefs and/or opinions, regardless of who they are or what they may be, you might want to take a long, hard look in the mirror first.
As an aside, my favorite reply to evangelic atheists is: "Albert Einstein believed in God, and you, sir, are no Einstein."
Strat
If you don't like windows that much that you think they are completely evil, then just stop using it. If enough people do it, then maybe they will change their ways, or, if they don't and people continue not use it, they could even go out of business, or at least the OS market.
No. Long before they went out of business or lost their desktop monopoly, the US government would step in. Laws and/or regulations would get passed or reinterpreted under some 'homeland security', 'think of the children', or 'intellectual property protection' heading that would effectively insure their continued monopoly.
I hate being so cynical, but there's just too much money being made all around, as well as such a convenient way for the government to be able to gather intelligence data. MS and the US government would go kicking and screaming before MS would be allowed to lose their monopoly in the desktop OS market.
Strat
I stuck the Designed for Windows 98 sticker off of one my laptops on the front of a Sparc20 just for giggles. Yes, I realize I'm going to hell for it. :)
I stuck a "Certified For Windows® Vista®" sticker on an SGI Octane box I have here. If what you did to just a Sparc20 will send you to hell, I'm scared...*very* scared!
what free alternatives exist that can replace this much-needed service?"
Easy. Get up and walk off some of those calories.
You mean there's a free listing service he can sign up with that's within walking distance!?!? Cool!
Must be a bunch of fools running that place.
Gee, ya think? I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to make the site as unusable as possible for artists and webcasters, to try to discourage artists from actually registering and attempting to collect royalties, or for webcasters to register artist/webcaster royalty agreements. Every one of the above that gave up would be either money in SoundExchanges' pocket, or a nail they could drive into the coffin of non-label-controlled internet radio.
Sorry though people...I was going to include a flash-only warning myself, but forgot.
Strat
I apologize if this is a dumb question but does this whole shitstorm impact Internet radio stations that play only completely independent stuff (ie. non-label content)? Or is SoundExchange trying to extract a pound of flesh from anyone running their own station regardless of what actually plays?
In a word, yes. Technically, *if* the station and artist sign an agreement, and *register* it with SoundExchange, then no royalties will be taken. However, lacking an agreement that is registered with SoundExchange, the station *is* liable for standard royalty payments to SoundExchange, and the artist must then register with SoundExchange to receive said royalties (minus SoundExchange fees).
This places a burden on both stations and artists to manage and archive copies of agreements. There is no central clearinghouse to which independent stations and artists can turn to, to assist in streamlining this process, akin to a 'Indie-SoundExchange'. This might be a good idea, if a way were found to pay for it, and if the RIAA doesn't litigate or legislate it into illegality.
Here's the scoop from the SoundExchange site:
http://www.soundexchange.com/ Click on the "Licensing 101" link in the right-hand column.
Cheers!
Strat