I'll agree with that as soon as you find a way to stop dumping the waste on my state (Nevada). We don't even have a reactor and yet, somehow, we're expected to take care of the mess.
Well, that's no secret. I don't like government-supported media at all because of the potential influence they can have in the content.
On another note, the article seems to pretty much be a rehashed press release for PBS. No quotes from the FCC, no attempts to contact the FCC (that were mentioned), no opposing viewpoint at all. The bias is obvious.
According to the IRS, you can deduct the equipment costs for a computer that you purchased as a condition of employment. My suspicion is that you can tax-deduct a wide variety of such expenses, though only your accountant knows for sure. I personally do not allow my personal equipment to ever be used for business purposes unless I am shown a guaranteed compensation schedule for it.
Why don't you see if one of your senators is on the committee? Write them and let them know what a bad idea this is. Unfortunantly, many senators will not accept correspondence from someone outside their state, so bear this in mind when you get ready to use your pen.
The Monorail has been a big deal for years, and it looks like it won't be expanding anytime soon. Cabbies don't want it to go to the airport, and the Stratosphere hotel has been trying to tie their portion of the monorail funding to approval of some of their thrill rides by the city council and county commission. (These rides, I might add, are heavily opposed by the people living near the casino because of the noise they would generate.) There's too much politics in the thing already, and I'm surprised it's gotten as far as it has.
The existing portion will be nice for the tourists, or anyone else jaunting up and down the Strip, but it is significantly less useful until it goes from McCarran to Fremont Street. The ultimate plan is to have it run that length and tie into light rail to be built along US95 northbound from downtown, and following the I-215 beltway from Henderson on up.
At least, this is the plan I've heard. I think it's a waste of money. Las Vegas is a suburban sprawl. Mass transit works best in dense urban cities.
Law enforcement doesn't care. Period. End of story. Bye bye.
Go try and report a scam to a local police department and see how quickly they tell you "it's a civil matter", even though it involves criminal acts. Police departments have been largely transformed from a public protection agency into a revenue-generation agency. If they really wanted things safer on roads, they'd do more than have you go to traffic school and pay a small fine.
It's really sad to watch the slide from "peace officer" to "law enforcement officer". It used to be that a cop was the good guy in your neighborhood that helped peacefully resolve local problems. Now they are confrontational bullies that trample the law and our rights. I personally blame poor training for this somewhat sudden shift in attitude.
The only way to get law enforcement to go after these guys is to stir up people to action. Instead of asking what the FBI is doing about it, I should ask what are you doing about it? Organizing your neighbors? Writing your congressman? Filing lawsuits against them? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Sorry to sound like a total troll, but if you don't go out and fix the problem by getting involved, it won't get done. You can't just keep relying on law enforcement to do all the work for you.
Maybe I'm just over-simplifiying, but shouldn't telephone customers be able to block dialing out of their country/region by asking their telco? Isn't that a simpler approach to the problem?
There've been a lot of great responses to this so far. I definitely appreciate whiteboards, a large desk with lots of cabinet space (for the zillions of books I keep around as references), and a decent kitchen. I'm also big on whiteboards with a wide array of colored dry erase pens.
It's also nice to have plenty of spare phone and data ports everywhere, or at least have the spare cable run to support it. It doesn't cost that much in cable to just run them through the walls, and it saves a lot of frustration if you need to add a jack for someone's laptop. The office I'm in didn't run a lot of extra wires, and I had to setup a small switch to use my laptop.:(
Because I'm using qmail-scanner to check messages for broken headers, viruses and spam content, my mail server HAS to accept the message first. It would be nice if qmail-scanner would check to see if the recipient is valid first as I get a lot of enveloped addressed to users on my domain that don't even exist.
Heck, if I knew how to write Perl, I'd help them make something to do that.
I think you're on to something there. The reason it makes sense in airports is 1) you're there for a while, 2) business travellers go through with their laptops, and 3) airports actually have a source of revenue to pay for such things.
It wouldn't be the first time that some elected official has hooked up a buddy or 12...
When I first got a PS2, it wasn't because of any particular title that I wanted. It was because my PS1 was failing, and I figured my money was better spent on a system that would replace it AND let me buy the newer games that come out. If Microsoft is truly revamping the platform like this, I won't be surprised to see their sales figures sucking.
Did they forget how long it took to get decent sales numbers out of the thing? Maybe what happened is they got tired of bleeding so much red ink on the XBox that they decided that they need a cheaper design to stay competitive. Yes, I understand that MS can afford to just throw money at the problem, but if they did that on everything, they wouldn't be around too long, now would they?
If someone stops me for questioning under the color of law, I immediately ask for ID, even if it's a police officer in uniform in his squad car. I've gotten a lot of hostile responses to that, even though I'm well within my rights. In these days of ID theft, I'm sure as hell not going to hand over my ID to any shmoe that says he's law enforcement.
A friend of mine has an even more interesting time: he has no ID. He doesn't even have an SSN. When it comes down to federal goons breaking down doors, he'll be the toughest one to find.
I think you focus on the greater issue of conservation shouldn't be such a microcosm.
The national power grid operates at a whopping 18% efficiency. That's right, 82% of the energy made by power plants is lost to transmission, heat, etc. The real solution to conservation is to use locally-generated power to reduce transmission and heat loss. If homes were using Microturbines, they could generate their own power AND heat their water. From my best recollections, these things get 86% efficiency and generate enough power for 4 homes.
Let's not forget about solar panels (great for the southwest!) and wind turbines (also good for the southwest, and the midwest). Really, if we want to improve efficiency, let's go straight to the source, eh?
Sony is taking heat from MS? In what kind of bizzaro world is that happening? Based on my own observations, the PS2 is MUCH more popular than the XBox due to its plethora of PS2 and PS1 titles. I know a lot more people that own a PS2 over an XBox. Heck, I know more people that own Gamecubes than own an XBox. That says something.
The Horde Project does the same thing. They have bounties for writing specific features for their framework.
So long as the project is very narrow and specialized, I don't think it's a bad thing. This particular example, though, is very broad and we as the end users may not end up getting good code from the "losers" incorporated into that driver.
Re:That's a genuine problem
on
Linux Unwired
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I could have told you that! *grins* WinXP's utility is useless. On a lot of systems, I couldn't get it to hook up to a router of the same brand 2 feet away with the default settings. I tell Microsoft what it can do with it's utility, install the one from the manufacturer, and BAM, it works.
I should have known better than to trust software from Microsoft over the software from the manufacturer.
If you want to do something about it, go run for a legislature seat. You sure won't be able to change where the runaway train is going if you don't get off your duff and take the reins.
A local telco consists of two businesses: one that builds a telecommunications network, and one that handles billing. The only way to get real competition is to seperate the two companies, and have the company that maintains the plant charge uniform rates to everyone. As long as the ILECs can control both ends of the business, there will never be true competition.
Cox Cable got an A rating from PC World in a reader's poll, and they deserve every bit of it. I've never seen a large company with such good support. The hold times are usually pretty short, all of the support is done locally during the daytime, and the repair people are often early and work very quickly.
Compare this to Sprint, the local DSL provider. You constantly get bounced between them and Earthlink, the hold times are usually 30 minutes or longer, and it takes talking to several people before you can get the problem fixed. I had them out on a DSL problem at the company I worked for, and the guy was here for 4 solid days (6 hours each day) until they found a provisioning problem that was causing our connection to constantly drop. Heap on top of that their billing department that doesn't know right from left and their TOTAL lack of local support (it all goes through Phoenix), and a loser is you.
I think you're dead on about DSL. Telcos have been criminal in the way they operate for decades because they have no competition. At least cable companies make the effort to try and compete with satellite.
Exactly the reason I like to copy my CDs. I play with the copy, abuse it terribly, and then make a new one when I need it. Games are one of the few pieces of software that I don't have issues paying for because I usually get my money's worth out of them (with the notable exception of MOO3 which wouldn't have been worth $5).
It's terrifying to see fair use laws tossed out on every front and us being stuck with the bill. If I ran a games company, I'd definitely have a game replacement program with a small fee for the new piece of media and shipping. In this age of DVD burners, it's silly to not do it.
And there are some people that wonder why I, as a Mormon, would never live in Utah...
Seriously though, I think Orin Hatch is the Harry Reid of Utah. He pulls out his "I'm a Mormon" card every election to cruise back into office, regardless of the poor job being done. He, like Reid, will pay a little lip service to what church members want to hear, and then go and promote socialism/fascism, which we have been taught to vigorously oppose by MULTIPLE prophets.
I personally find the idea of amending the United States Constitution to define marriage to be appalling at best. Sure, let's hand over to the feds one more of the shrinking pool of powers that the states actually hold on to. If you want marriage defined, take Nevada's lead and go amend your OWN state constitution.
I really get sick of how in the dark members of my church can be on politics.
I don't want convergence on that scale. I look at what happens when you build too many things together into one device, and you generally will get something that does it all, but is mediocre at best. Take a look at combo VCR/DVD players. They don't do either task exceedingly well, and the only real benefit is saving a miniscule amount of space.
I'll believe in convergence when their predecessors stop sucking so bad.
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I'll agree with that as soon as you find a way to stop dumping the waste on my state (Nevada). We don't even have a reactor and yet, somehow, we're expected to take care of the mess.
Well, that's no secret. I don't like government-supported media at all because of the potential influence they can have in the content.
On another note, the article seems to pretty much be a rehashed press release for PBS. No quotes from the FCC, no attempts to contact the FCC (that were mentioned), no opposing viewpoint at all. The bias is obvious.
According to the IRS, you can deduct the equipment costs for a computer that you purchased as a condition of employment. My suspicion is that you can tax-deduct a wide variety of such expenses, though only your accountant knows for sure. I personally do not allow my personal equipment to ever be used for business purposes unless I am shown a guaranteed compensation schedule for it.
Why don't you see if one of your senators is on the committee? Write them and let them know what a bad idea this is. Unfortunantly, many senators will not accept correspondence from someone outside their state, so bear this in mind when you get ready to use your pen.
The Monorail has been a big deal for years, and it looks like it won't be expanding anytime soon. Cabbies don't want it to go to the airport, and the Stratosphere hotel has been trying to tie their portion of the monorail funding to approval of some of their thrill rides by the city council and county commission. (These rides, I might add, are heavily opposed by the people living near the casino because of the noise they would generate.) There's too much politics in the thing already, and I'm surprised it's gotten as far as it has.
The existing portion will be nice for the tourists, or anyone else jaunting up and down the Strip, but it is significantly less useful until it goes from McCarran to Fremont Street. The ultimate plan is to have it run that length and tie into light rail to be built along US95 northbound from downtown, and following the I-215 beltway from Henderson on up.
At least, this is the plan I've heard. I think it's a waste of money. Las Vegas is a suburban sprawl. Mass transit works best in dense urban cities.
Every time you pay your taxes, you pay his salary.
Stop using a Social Security Number, stop paying income taxes, and stop being part of what perpetuates this. I'm already well on my way.
Law enforcement doesn't care. Period. End of story. Bye bye.
Go try and report a scam to a local police department and see how quickly they tell you "it's a civil matter", even though it involves criminal acts. Police departments have been largely transformed from a public protection agency into a revenue-generation agency. If they really wanted things safer on roads, they'd do more than have you go to traffic school and pay a small fine.
It's really sad to watch the slide from "peace officer" to "law enforcement officer". It used to be that a cop was the good guy in your neighborhood that helped peacefully resolve local problems. Now they are confrontational bullies that trample the law and our rights. I personally blame poor training for this somewhat sudden shift in attitude.
The only way to get law enforcement to go after these guys is to stir up people to action. Instead of asking what the FBI is doing about it, I should ask what are you doing about it? Organizing your neighbors? Writing your congressman? Filing lawsuits against them? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Sorry to sound like a total troll, but if you don't go out and fix the problem by getting involved, it won't get done. You can't just keep relying on law enforcement to do all the work for you.
Maybe I'm just over-simplifiying, but shouldn't telephone customers be able to block dialing out of their country/region by asking their telco? Isn't that a simpler approach to the problem?
There've been a lot of great responses to this so far. I definitely appreciate whiteboards, a large desk with lots of cabinet space (for the zillions of books I keep around as references), and a decent kitchen. I'm also big on whiteboards with a wide array of colored dry erase pens.
It's also nice to have plenty of spare phone and data ports everywhere, or at least have the spare cable run to support it. It doesn't cost that much in cable to just run them through the walls, and it saves a lot of frustration if you need to add a jack for someone's laptop. The office I'm in didn't run a lot of extra wires, and I had to setup a small switch to use my laptop. :(
Because I'm using qmail-scanner to check messages for broken headers, viruses and spam content, my mail server HAS to accept the message first. It would be nice if qmail-scanner would check to see if the recipient is valid first as I get a lot of enveloped addressed to users on my domain that don't even exist.
Heck, if I knew how to write Perl, I'd help them make something to do that.
I think you're on to something there. The reason it makes sense in airports is 1) you're there for a while, 2) business travellers go through with their laptops, and 3) airports actually have a source of revenue to pay for such things.
It wouldn't be the first time that some elected official has hooked up a buddy or 12...
I think you're totally on-target here.
When I first got a PS2, it wasn't because of any particular title that I wanted. It was because my PS1 was failing, and I figured my money was better spent on a system that would replace it AND let me buy the newer games that come out. If Microsoft is truly revamping the platform like this, I won't be surprised to see their sales figures sucking.
Did they forget how long it took to get decent sales numbers out of the thing? Maybe what happened is they got tired of bleeding so much red ink on the XBox that they decided that they need a cheaper design to stay competitive. Yes, I understand that MS can afford to just throw money at the problem, but if they did that on everything, they wouldn't be around too long, now would they?
Heeey...
If someone stops me for questioning under the color of law, I immediately ask for ID, even if it's a police officer in uniform in his squad car. I've gotten a lot of hostile responses to that, even though I'm well within my rights. In these days of ID theft, I'm sure as hell not going to hand over my ID to any shmoe that says he's law enforcement.
A friend of mine has an even more interesting time: he has no ID. He doesn't even have an SSN. When it comes down to federal goons breaking down doors, he'll be the toughest one to find.
I think you focus on the greater issue of conservation shouldn't be such a microcosm.
The national power grid operates at a whopping 18% efficiency. That's right, 82% of the energy made by power plants is lost to transmission, heat, etc. The real solution to conservation is to use locally-generated power to reduce transmission and heat loss. If homes were using Microturbines, they could generate their own power AND heat their water. From my best recollections, these things get 86% efficiency and generate enough power for 4 homes.
Let's not forget about solar panels (great for the southwest!) and wind turbines (also good for the southwest, and the midwest). Really, if we want to improve efficiency, let's go straight to the source, eh?
And how much do you think that rocket cost? It's a real shame to see what is likely millions of dollars having gone to waste like this.
Sony is taking heat from MS? In what kind of bizzaro world is that happening? Based on my own observations, the PS2 is MUCH more popular than the XBox due to its plethora of PS2 and PS1 titles. I know a lot more people that own a PS2 over an XBox. Heck, I know more people that own Gamecubes than own an XBox. That says something.
The Horde Project does the same thing. They have bounties for writing specific features for their framework.
So long as the project is very narrow and specialized, I don't think it's a bad thing. This particular example, though, is very broad and we as the end users may not end up getting good code from the "losers" incorporated into that driver.
I could have told you that! *grins* WinXP's utility is useless. On a lot of systems, I couldn't get it to hook up to a router of the same brand 2 feet away with the default settings. I tell Microsoft what it can do with it's utility, install the one from the manufacturer, and BAM, it works.
I should have known better than to trust software from Microsoft over the software from the manufacturer.
Heck, I've been saying that for years. :)
If you want to do something about it, go run for a legislature seat. You sure won't be able to change where the runaway train is going if you don't get off your duff and take the reins.
A local telco consists of two businesses: one that builds a telecommunications network, and one that handles billing. The only way to get real competition is to seperate the two companies, and have the company that maintains the plant charge uniform rates to everyone. As long as the ILECs can control both ends of the business, there will never be true competition.
Cox Cable got an A rating from PC World in a reader's poll, and they deserve every bit of it. I've never seen a large company with such good support. The hold times are usually pretty short, all of the support is done locally during the daytime, and the repair people are often early and work very quickly.
Compare this to Sprint, the local DSL provider. You constantly get bounced between them and Earthlink, the hold times are usually 30 minutes or longer, and it takes talking to several people before you can get the problem fixed. I had them out on a DSL problem at the company I worked for, and the guy was here for 4 solid days (6 hours each day) until they found a provisioning problem that was causing our connection to constantly drop. Heap on top of that their billing department that doesn't know right from left and their TOTAL lack of local support (it all goes through Phoenix), and a loser is you.
I think you're dead on about DSL. Telcos have been criminal in the way they operate for decades because they have no competition. At least cable companies make the effort to try and compete with satellite.
Exactly the reason I like to copy my CDs. I play with the copy, abuse it terribly, and then make a new one when I need it. Games are one of the few pieces of software that I don't have issues paying for because I usually get my money's worth out of them (with the notable exception of MOO3 which wouldn't have been worth $5).
It's terrifying to see fair use laws tossed out on every front and us being stuck with the bill. If I ran a games company, I'd definitely have a game replacement program with a small fee for the new piece of media and shipping. In this age of DVD burners, it's silly to not do it.
And there are some people that wonder why I, as a Mormon, would never live in Utah...
Seriously though, I think Orin Hatch is the Harry Reid of Utah. He pulls out his "I'm a Mormon" card every election to cruise back into office, regardless of the poor job being done. He, like Reid, will pay a little lip service to what church members want to hear, and then go and promote socialism/fascism, which we have been taught to vigorously oppose by MULTIPLE prophets.
I personally find the idea of amending the United States Constitution to define marriage to be appalling at best. Sure, let's hand over to the feds one more of the shrinking pool of powers that the states actually hold on to. If you want marriage defined, take Nevada's lead and go amend your OWN state constitution.
I really get sick of how in the dark members of my church can be on politics.
You know, we could nip that problem in the bud if a few more fellow geeks would run for office...
I don't want convergence on that scale. I look at what happens when you build too many things together into one device, and you generally will get something that does it all, but is mediocre at best. Take a look at combo VCR/DVD players. They don't do either task exceedingly well, and the only real benefit is saving a miniscule amount of space. I'll believe in convergence when their predecessors stop sucking so bad.