Hmm... thanks for the recommendation, but..... I prefer realistic combat games. I tried Killzone recently that is the new hype, however I do not really like it either. I play Socom, COD, GRAW1/2, RS3, Battlefield. That is pretty much it. I would play AA but that is Xbox only and US only.
Oh. I play on consoles and switched to Apple for work, so my old Win machine has like 10 minutes of use a month occasionally when I connect some exotic hardware (ACU computer, heart rate monitor, GPS and such).
I focus on FPS. These are getting dumber, dumber and simpler with every release
Rainbow six : 1. team of 10 -> team of 3. 2. full FPS with lean -> cover system 3rd person
Battlefield : 1. drive everything, huge maps, many players -> maps with mostly tanks and cars only 2. sniping game too - now you cannot even lie down
Ghost recon : 1. teams - one team 2. planning, positioning - run and gun
As the flight simulators died out almost completely people do not feel the need to have a good team experience and choose the fast paced run and gun gameplay where it is not needed to lean, go prone and plan a mission.....
Then again, socom, cod4 are still OK, but battlefield and all the clancy games are down the drain bigtime.... for me at least
Why not just straight restrict air conditioning in cars and allow them in government vehicles only?
I am really-really a tree hugger. Vegan, drive a small cc car and take my motorbike whenever I can/travel alone. But when a state is banning dirt bikes and allow 6liter SUVs (even the governor drives one) something stinks bad, and it is not the 10 liter 2-stroke mix most environmentally concious/correct tad filling in his atv/dirt bike.... it is the non-existent rail system and the SUVs....
You think I live at a different place? In Costa Rica the train system was systematically abandoned in favour of government officials who owned truck companies.
But hey, at least I can still ride a dirt-bike without too much hassle..... and before you have some comments: I am vegan, my family is vegetarian and even if I drove tank to work every day that would make me more environment friendly than than any of the meat-eaters...
I do not pay the extra 500 (only) for the logo and the sexy hardware....... I do it so it runs the system of my choice.
And before the flames start : I am programming on it and I NEED my UNIX tools and working GUI..... Something I do not have to restart daily and something I can turn on and works..... of course it makes me happy if the machine is as small and silent as my mac mini, as sexy as my macbook, as practical as my time capsule and I did not mention my iphone's interface (even though it is missing functionality)...... my windows memories: blue screen, loud big ugly box, virus scanner, annoying system crappy gui... yeah I also had 2 windows mobile phones and an IPAQ (serving as a kitchen remote running linux currently - web + x10 + remote camera/motion monitor)
If I had to use Windows I would probably change careers.....
I really-really wonder if that condition has anything to do with the controller being a wireless one. I heard someone telling how afraid they were seeing that kids have a wireless radio in between their legs (resting the controller on their laps while playing) and that how that could cause testicle cancer and other bad stuff.
There are also some electro-sensitive (not sure if this is the correct word) people who get all kinds of irritations/headaches/rashes when submitted to EMF fields of certain kinds. Some have problems with radios (phones, headsets, e, wifi/ bluetooth) while others go nuts from fluorescents, monitors or even a keyboard.
Of course many doctors seem to believe that it is not a threat and neither are cell phones.
I saw a toasted motherboard in the Peltier cooler times.
It worked fine, however it worked too fine, so the little thing started condensing water.... more and more, until the machine screeched to a halt.
At which point we opened the case and the motherboard and the processor was gently cooking there in liquid.......
Not sure if that was an isolated case or not, but when you extreme cool one side, extreme heat the other you can expect some condensing happening somewhere on the cold side...
also +1 on the great cooling, but extra heat too comments
For me it is a great idea, but I can imagine the non-geeky person saying "what's great about all this old @$@#$".....
It's like trying to show an ASCII only BBS from 18 years ago to your average younger colleague, and you just see their expressionless face wondering how much you had to care about a screen refresh on a menu to avoid high bandwidth usage even on a high tech 9600bps modem.
I quit from places where I was the 5-in-1 person and that was a chaos even though i gave them a 1 month notice. All the "ajjajj what do we do" calls....
Here is an other tip: learn some programming and take a programmer's job.
I program and that is a lot better schedule most of the time. I worked all holidays though because of an asshole colleague, but at least in Costa Rica that means double pay......
If they need to call you: demand a higher hourly late for every call..... charged 30 or 60 minute minimums.
They will do one of the other (if you are valuable)
1. pay you after the calls 2. hire someone else to take the calls, and call you only in emergencies (#1).....
If you are not valuable they hire an other idiot and fire you. In that case do not answer the phone for the "OMG what do we do" call..
I worked at the "largest" it corporation (OK probably top 3) and I noticed this:
1. even if you are 10x better in everything than the rest of your team if you do not lick ASS you are screwed (no, I am social, speak languages, look normal and wear a tie if needed and friends with most colleagues)
2. at a large corporation you are a "resource" not a person, 'nuff said I am a person not a resource, so thanks but no thanks
3. large corp : administration horror, any request takes 100 years
I moved back to a mid-sized biz where while I am not 100% happy, the owners knows my name and I can ask for things when I need them. Yeah I end up fixing crap out of my job description but hey.... I am happy to do ANYTHING else other than programming modules for the crappy software we are using.... even if it is some ridiculous crap like processing serial output from a PBX or help the infrastructure guys with a kernel problem....
Well... yeyeyey my life sucks too and I am programming 8 hours straigh and blabla....
but recently I wnt to my boss and told him that I WANT to get paid for every minute I stay over and every call that comes from the office, and that I want my salary to be a raised because new year's bonus sucked and I worked my ass of for an OK salary.
They switched me to an hourly pay and got a %25 raise.
I guess your balls need to drop and then stand up for yourself.
Needless to say I stay extra hours and when shit breaks they call me. Also I fix problems in other departments even though I am a programmer (networking, unix, DBs (mysql mostly) and sometimes help with OSX machines too)....
"Many of those working in IT will have used the Christmas break to recover from a tough 2008"
My colleague responsible for the "special holiday schedule" scheduled everyone around his needs.
This is how developers (like me), web designers and a bunch of people ended up sitting there in the office on EVERY SINGLE holiday during the "holidays".
This is of course a bunch of BS along with the others which made many people look for an other job starting this year.
When you are so overloaded you do not have time to document what you do (changes, code, db, net) your company will learn how expensive your leave is.
I for one do not have a single written line of contract as I work a full schedule as an external company. That means 2 things:
1. They can say bye and then I am out next day (they are FSCKD - no docs for anything due to the lack of time) 2. They keep pissing people off and I say bye, and then same as #1
I would like to make a good job, document stuff but there is NO CHANCE.... and at the end this is also my insurance in a way..... I do not like that but I hear many people are in the same shoes.
I worked on 3 different projects today switching from C/Perl to PHP then ended up fixing some ASP code and then automating some "emergency urgency (complete BS)" project so someone can look at colorful crap refreshed every 20 seconds......
This is a normal day considering I only stayed 30 minutes over-time, did not have a lunch break (ate breakfast at the desk)..... ohh after that I came home and migrated a site (with db and scripts) between 2 hosts (3 hours project work)....
Well..... not to cry or anything but I wonder where this puts me in the "abused/exploited" IT crowd.....
Yeah baby is on the way, construction 80% ready (home office/movie-play-room moving to other building due to baby coming)....... so that would be just a sucky time to quit considering that I am about to replace 1 car and get a second motor bike
Not sure if your calculus holds up or not, anyone speculating on this in a way just amazes me every time I see.:)
I also have the feeling on the other hand that hating the chinese bulbs for the distance just does not hold up. For quality on the other hand it might along with environmental/human damage for the lack of enforcement of pollutions over there.
I am (would be) all for LEDs, but my honest experience is that they just do not cut it at many places.
One area is dive lights and other flash lights. While batteries last forever with them and they are a good thing as a backup/emergency light, they come nowhere close to a Xenon bulb or a HID light. Nowhere. Whatever the watts, lumen and other specs say, they are just not there.
I also have to agree with the dim/cold comment. Most of them are just emitting this hideous blue light which I do not want to sit in at my home. I use a combination of low-voltage halogen lights and fluorescent lights at the home, and when buying the fluorescent ones I aim for the "sun light/natural light" ones that emit a warm light inside. For the garage and other work areas I prefer the cold fluorescent lights as they are sometimes better to see things in (e.g bike repair in the garage or shirt ironing in the washing room).
For reading/computing environments nothing beats halogen lights: they can be dimmed as needed and they do not flicker. This is an application I imagine led light in actually.
Where else ? Additional lights (supporting a main source) or indicators : directional lights on vehicles, break lights and safety lights, inside lighting. For bikes as "blinkers" front and rear, for motorwikes they could be great for near surface illumination (e.g. a couple mounted on a fork on a dirt bike would give great treal visibility on slow technical sessions where you see NOTHING with a traditional light.
By the way, Taxation through fuel is a good way to put a bigger tax on gas guzzling SUV's.
An other good way in combination to this is a weight tax. So a heavier road demolisher Hummer pays more than your Miata.
I also feel, that off-road vehicles in this taxation scheme should be allowed to be tax exempt as they do not use public roads in many cases, but pay trail/offroad park/track fees. Then again, It would not apply on my enduro bikes as they are plated and use them to commute besides the 200-300km weekend trail rides......
Then again in Costa Rica there is a huge importation tax on vehicles (registered street legal ones), and then there is a ridiculous tax "circulation" you have to pay after the value of the car.
This way I am paying the same for my 95 BMW 318i as my wife does for her 2003 VW Gol 1.8, which is the same amount for my 2008 KTM exc-r 450, and almost the same as my 2003 Honda 250 XR (bike). This is all wrong and STUPID. It also makes me look at OLD pickups/offroaders instead of a new one, as the tax is $200 vs $2000 a year for a 90 Land rover vs a new Mitsubishi for example.
No, really, get a bike, have a way to disconnect the GPS and install a bike computer you can easily reset (for dirt bikes Trail Tech is one). Here in Costa Rica you are allowed to use a bicycle odometer (MTB computers) as far as it displays speed. I know, I know you need a car to lug your family. dive gear, etc around and have a "normal transportation" when the weather sucks. I agree.
I just feel like this is just another kick in the shin for those who have to travel long distances on a daily basis.
And do not get me wrong, I work 2.5kms from home and whenever weather is better than overcast I ride my motorbike (450cc dirt/enduro bike) which is somewhat more fuel economic, and does not add to traffic jams. In fact I am changing to a 2-3days a week telecommute as well.
I know many cannot do this, but with all the crap governments want to force in your vehicles (and other creepy stuff like lo-jack and on-star even though they have their place in existence), I just want a vehicle I can manipulate the way I want. Not because I am a criminal, but because these are efforts to screw with personal privacy and freedom. The only thing a GPS should do in my car is show me my location, and send me the location if the vehicle is stolen. That is it. I just FREAK out of the idea someone tracking my movement all the time for whatever reason.
Yeah. I always wanted a keyboard that either felt like a laptop keyboard or like the m-series IBM keyboard...... then I got introduced to the ergonomic range (Microsoft (good), Belkin (terrible), Fellowes (good)) keyboards. Then needed mobile computing and realized that after getting used to an ergo keyboard I feel like an alien trying to use some old tech every time I have to type on a "normal keyboard"......
So I got a macbook and for the desktop I settled with an Aluminium Apple keyboard and even got a wireless Apple for "home applications" (lazy-ass living room browsing - PS3 computing now).....
Now instead of receiving flames (as I did before on/.) what I would like you to do, is to imagine a laptop-like keyboard which can be split as you wish. Whether laptop or the Aluminium (no I am from Europe and it is not Aluminum), you should be able to split the damn thing and take it apart.
Simple, nice, ergonomic. And no. I have to use a laptop, and after using an MS ergo I just CAN NOT DO IT without suffering.
I work 7-3 at a place as a lead developer (well now leading myself as most all other developers quit because of pressure - they are lame, sorry... no I did not make them quit, they just cannot handle it).... and spend 2-3 hours (sometimes a lot more) on my personal/freelance projects.
I earn 2x+ on my freelance per hour, but due to my day job I can only do around 3 hours. Then there are good days (like today) when I make as much in 8 hours on a weekend what I make over a week at my morning job.
This is in Costa Rica and I am (considered) a rare breed with years of networking and programming experience with a Unix/Linux background. Technically I am a developer who is asked to sometimes help with kernels, networking and debug mail server problems. That is not to praise myself just to give an idea.
Why I work that much ?
Baby is on the way (1st one) construction is half way, and I have hobbies like scuba, enduro (that is off-road bikes where you break some shit every weekend if you push it).......
I have nothing (really.. almost) but do not owe the bank:) a penny.....
Then again, your experience, needs, situation might vary, that is just me, and if I did not have a baby coming I would go back 100% freelancing and just gave up the day job (did that for looooong years before)
Lol.. actually chemistry was not part of the program - my mistake here, but we had a strong physics education.
Other than that: yep I have no experience in the field other than using the technology, and still keep my opinion that whenever you leave wires behind and use the airwaves you deal with interference and increased needs in consumption.
Well, then again you believe who you want to believe, no hate here.
Well, not sure what kind of software engineer you are if you did not study physics, mathematics, chemistry and economics at your university.
As of now my studies and experience suggests that transmitting whatever over wireless is far more expensive (as in needs more effort) then doing the same thing over a solid connection (copper, aluminium, gold, zinc, silver..... etc)....
But hey my studies are dated as I finished my IT studies in 1996. Sure with that attitude you are at least... hmm for 3 years in "the industry" or maybe still at school?
(only a software engineer)... but when you tell me that replacing copper wires with a (wireless) transmitter and receiver helps save power: well I am a non-believer. Sorry. Just does not cut it whatever the headlines say. How about quality ?
While I am a true geek and nerd and whatever else (having 5x more networked devices than the average Joe), I am just SCARED of this idea.
I have cell phones and wireless access points (which I keep FAR away from my pregnant wife and will keep away from the young man), I DEFINITELY deny using a microwave oven unless absolutely unavoidable (once a month?). No I do not have air purifiers and spray "kill 99% germs" shit all around the house, and better have my kids play with my dogs' shit other than operate a microwave oven, I think that wireless power is something I definitely something I want to keep away from: young souls, pregnant women and my testicles. Sure, I am an old FSCK or whatever but I better give it 20 years before using it, so they find out what new crap it will bring around.
Just my 2c. I have all these colleagues (looking like sick old man) eating fastfood every day while I am a vegan (yeah, pleas flame/troll me on this/// or be a true nerd/geek and thing why I am one)........
No. While I see a decent point I bet that you are from the US and playing the blame-game.
They finance, buy, rent, own.... whatever, really. It is their responsibility to access legal and decent content.
Let's put it this way: your parents tell you not to do XYZ at the age of 14, you WILL seek it.
Filters do not work for kids who really want to access something (they will even pay for someone to bypass it). For the rest it is just something with false positives that will render the laptop useless in many cases.
Do not get me wrong. I am in a department doing programming and seeing STRONG filtering for other (non-tech) employees. The amount of complaints about false positives: HUGE. Our load balancer costs $50k+ and our content filter is not a cheep one. Still...... what is your budget and what are your goals? Have kids go and buy their own or NOT to be a content NAZI and let them enjoy until it lasts and then drop into reality when they finish school.
I recommend #2, but hey our mileage might differ and that smile in the mirror might be bigger on this end.
Seriously. If that is a laptop the College provides I get my own, then run OSX/Linux on it and download/watch/install whatever I want.
WTF... seriously. It is like On-Star on steroids for a laptop. Thanks but no thanks. 78 Land rover, no electronics........ if that is our laptop I would better have a 486sx with slackware 1.too.unstable other than some new crap YOU monitor!
KNOW how a specification should look like, act for your team as the XYZ department was your client:
1. require a specification 2. provide a quote ($$ or man hours) 3. Write a contract (terms and conditions)
4. enforce it these !
when XYZ walks in, and tries to change stuff, point them to the project/ticker system, and ensure your team that the change WILL effect deadlines and not effect THEIR free time/holidays.
OR: they will start to freelance, leave you and enforce these themselves
OR: find a company with a manager who does all that.....
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm ... thanks for the recommendation, but ..... I prefer realistic combat games. I tried Killzone recently that is the new hype, however I do not really like it either. I play Socom, COD, GRAW1/2, RS3, Battlefield. That is pretty much it. I would play AA but that is Xbox only and US only.
Oh. I play on consoles and switched to Apple for work, so my old Win machine has like 10 minutes of use a month occasionally when I connect some exotic hardware (ACU computer, heart rate monitor, GPS and such).
Cheers
Dindi
I focus on FPS. These are getting dumber, dumber and simpler with every release
Rainbow six :
1. team of 10 -> team of 3.
2. full FPS with lean -> cover system 3rd person
Battlefield :
1. drive everything, huge maps, many players -> maps with mostly tanks and cars only
2. sniping game too - now you cannot even lie down
Ghost recon :
1. teams - one team
2. planning, positioning - run and gun
As the flight simulators died out almost completely people do not feel the need to have a good team experience and choose the fast paced run and gun gameplay where it is not needed to lean, go prone and plan a mission.....
Then again, socom, cod4 are still OK, but battlefield and all the clancy games are down the drain bigtime .... for me at least
Why not just straight restrict air conditioning in cars and allow them in government vehicles only?
I am really-really a tree hugger. Vegan, drive a small cc car and take my motorbike whenever I can/travel alone. But when a state is banning dirt bikes and allow 6liter SUVs (even the governor drives one) something stinks bad, and it is not the 10 liter 2-stroke mix most environmentally concious/correct tad filling in his atv/dirt bike .... it is the non-existent rail system and the SUVs ....
You think I live at a different place? In Costa Rica the train system was systematically abandoned in favour of government officials who owned truck companies.
But hey, at least I can still ride a dirt-bike without too much hassle..... and before you have some comments: I am vegan, my family is vegetarian and even if I drove tank to work every day that would make me more environment friendly than than any of the meat-eaters ...
Haha... so true...
I do not pay the extra 500 (only) for the logo and the sexy hardware....... I do it so it runs the system of my choice.
And before the flames start : I am programming on it and I NEED my UNIX tools and working GUI..... Something I do not have to restart daily and something I can turn on and works..... of course it makes me happy if the machine is as small and silent as my mac mini, as sexy as my macbook, as practical as my time capsule and I did not mention my iphone's interface (even though it is missing functionality)...... my windows memories: blue screen, loud big ugly box, virus scanner, annoying system crappy gui ... yeah I also had 2 windows mobile phones and an IPAQ (serving as a kitchen remote running linux currently - web + x10 + remote camera/motion monitor)
If I had to use Windows I would probably change careers.....
I really-really wonder if that condition has anything to do with the controller being a wireless one. I heard someone telling how afraid they were seeing that kids have a wireless radio in between their legs (resting the controller on their laps while playing) and that how that could cause testicle cancer and other bad stuff.
There are also some electro-sensitive (not sure if this is the correct word) people who get all kinds of irritations/headaches/rashes when submitted to EMF fields of certain kinds. Some have problems with radios (phones, headsets, e, wifi/ bluetooth) while others go nuts from fluorescents, monitors or even a keyboard.
Of course many doctors seem to believe that it is not a threat and neither are cell phones.
Just my 2c
I saw a toasted motherboard in the Peltier cooler times.
It worked fine, however it worked too fine, so the little thing started condensing water .... more and more, until the machine screeched to a halt.
At which point we opened the case and the motherboard and the processor was gently cooking there in liquid .......
Not sure if that was an isolated case or not, but when you extreme cool one side, extreme heat the other you can expect some condensing happening somewhere on the cold side...
also +1 on the great cooling, but extra heat too comments
For me it is a great idea, but I can imagine the non-geeky person saying "what's great about all this old @$@#$".....
It's like trying to show an ASCII only BBS from 18 years ago to your average younger colleague, and you just see their expressionless face wondering how much you had to care about a screen refresh on a menu to avoid high bandwidth usage even on a high tech 9600bps modem.
+ one .... agreed
have your nuts drop and stand up.
I quit from places where I was the 5-in-1 person and that was a chaos even though i gave them a 1 month notice. All the "ajjajj what do we do" calls....
Here is an other tip: learn some programming and take a programmer's job.
I program and that is a lot better schedule most of the time. I worked all holidays though because of an asshole colleague, but at least in Costa Rica that means double pay......
If they need to call you: demand a higher hourly late for every call..... charged 30 or 60 minute minimums.
They will do one of the other (if you are valuable)
1. pay you after the calls
2. hire someone else to take the calls, and call you only in emergencies (#1).....
If you are not valuable they hire an other idiot and fire you. In that case do not answer the phone for the "OMG what do we do" call..
I worked at the "largest" it corporation (OK probably top 3) and I noticed this:
1. even if you are 10x better in everything than the rest of your team if you do not lick ASS you are screwed (no, I am social, speak languages, look normal and wear a tie if needed and friends with most colleagues)
2. at a large corporation you are a "resource" not a person, 'nuff said I am a person not a resource, so thanks but no thanks
3. large corp : administration horror, any request takes 100 years
I moved back to a mid-sized biz where while I am not 100% happy, the owners knows my name and I can ask for things when I need them. Yeah I end up fixing crap out of my job description but hey .... I am happy to do ANYTHING else other than programming modules for the crappy software we are using.... even if it is some ridiculous crap like processing serial output from a PBX or help the infrastructure guys with a kernel problem....
Well ... yeyeyey my life sucks too and I am programming 8 hours straigh and blabla ....
but recently I wnt to my boss and told him that I WANT to get paid for every minute I stay over and every call that comes from the office, and that I want my salary to be a raised because new year's bonus sucked and I worked my ass of for an OK salary.
They switched me to an hourly pay and got a %25 raise.
I guess your balls need to drop and then stand up for yourself.
Needless to say I stay extra hours and when shit breaks they call me. Also I fix problems in other departments even though I am a programmer (networking, unix, DBs (mysql mostly) and sometimes help with OSX machines too)....
But at least I get paid for it now....
"Many of those working in IT will have used the Christmas break to recover from a tough 2008"
My colleague responsible for the "special holiday schedule" scheduled everyone around his needs.
This is how developers (like me), web designers and a bunch of people ended up sitting there in the office on EVERY SINGLE holiday during the "holidays".
This is of course a bunch of BS along with the others which made many people look for an other job starting this year.
When you are so overloaded you do not have time to document what you do (changes, code, db, net) your company will learn how expensive your leave is.
I for one do not have a single written line of contract as I work a full schedule as an external company. That means 2 things:
1. They can say bye and then I am out next day (they are FSCKD - no docs for anything due to the lack of time)
2. They keep pissing people off and I say bye, and then same as #1
I would like to make a good job, document stuff but there is NO CHANCE.... and at the end this is also my insurance in a way ..... I do not like that but I hear many people are in the same shoes.
I worked on 3 different projects today switching from C/Perl to PHP then ended up fixing some ASP code and then automating some "emergency urgency (complete BS)" project so someone can look at colorful crap refreshed every 20 seconds ......
This is a normal day considering I only stayed 30 minutes over-time, did not have a lunch break (ate breakfast at the desk) ..... ohh after that I came home and migrated a site (with db and scripts) between 2 hosts (3 hours project work) ....
Well ..... not to cry or anything but I wonder where this puts me in the "abused/exploited" IT crowd .....
Yeah baby is on the way, construction 80% ready (home office/movie-play-room moving to other building due to baby coming) ....... so that would be just a sucky time to quit considering that I am about to replace 1 car and get a second motor bike
just my 2c ...
Sir, you are a true nerd:)
Not sure if your calculus holds up or not, anyone speculating on this in a way just amazes me every time I see. :)
I also have the feeling on the other hand that hating the chinese bulbs for the distance just does not hold up. For quality on the other hand it might along with environmental/human damage for the lack of enforcement of pollutions over there.
I am (would be) all for LEDs, but my honest experience is that they just do not cut it at many places.
One area is dive lights and other flash lights. While batteries last forever with them and they are a good thing as a backup/emergency light, they come nowhere close to a Xenon bulb or a HID light. Nowhere. Whatever the watts, lumen and other specs say, they are just not there.
I also have to agree with the dim/cold comment. Most of them are just emitting this hideous blue light which I do not want to sit in at my home. I use a combination of low-voltage halogen lights and fluorescent lights at the home, and when buying the fluorescent ones I aim for the "sun light/natural light" ones that emit a warm light inside. For the garage and other work areas I prefer the cold fluorescent lights as they are sometimes better to see things in (e.g bike repair in the garage or shirt ironing in the washing room).
For reading/computing environments nothing beats halogen lights: they can be dimmed as needed and they do not flicker. This is an application I imagine led light in actually.
Where else ? Additional lights (supporting a main source) or indicators : directional lights on vehicles, break lights and safety lights, inside lighting. For bikes as "blinkers" front and rear, for motorwikes they could be great for near surface illumination (e.g. a couple mounted on a fork on a dirt bike would give great treal visibility on slow technical sessions where you see NOTHING with a traditional light.
By the way, Taxation through fuel is a good way to put a bigger tax on gas guzzling SUV's.
An other good way in combination to this is a weight tax. So a heavier road demolisher Hummer pays more than your Miata.
I also feel, that off-road vehicles in this taxation scheme should be allowed to be tax exempt as they do not use public roads in many cases, but pay trail/offroad park/track fees. Then again, It would not apply on my enduro bikes as they are plated and use them to commute besides the 200-300km weekend trail rides ......
Then again in Costa Rica there is a huge importation tax on vehicles (registered street legal ones), and then there is a ridiculous tax "circulation" you have to pay after the value of the car.
This way I am paying the same for my 95 BMW 318i as my wife does for her 2003 VW Gol 1.8, which is the same amount for my 2008 KTM exc-r 450, and almost the same as my 2003 Honda 250 XR (bike). This is all wrong and STUPID. It also makes me look at OLD pickups/offroaders instead of a new one, as the tax is $200 vs $2000 a year for a 90 Land rover vs a new Mitsubishi for example.
No, really, get a bike, have a way to disconnect the GPS and install a bike computer you can easily reset (for dirt bikes Trail Tech is one). Here in Costa Rica you are allowed to use a bicycle odometer (MTB computers) as far as it displays speed.
I know, I know you need a car to lug your family. dive gear, etc around and have a "normal transportation" when the weather sucks. I agree.
I just feel like this is just another kick in the shin for those who have to travel long distances on a daily basis.
And do not get me wrong, I work 2.5kms from home and whenever weather is better than overcast I ride my motorbike (450cc dirt/enduro bike) which is somewhat more fuel economic, and does not add to traffic jams. In fact I am changing to a 2-3days a week telecommute as well.
I know many cannot do this, but with all the crap governments want to force in your vehicles (and other creepy stuff like lo-jack and on-star even though they have their place in existence), I just want a vehicle I can manipulate the way I want. Not because I am a criminal, but because these are efforts to screw with personal privacy and freedom. The only thing a GPS should do in my car is show me my location, and send me the location if the vehicle is stolen. That is it. I just FREAK out of the idea someone tracking my movement all the time for whatever reason.
Apple what ?
Yeah. I always wanted a keyboard that either felt like a laptop keyboard or like the m-series IBM keyboard...... then I got introduced to the ergonomic range (Microsoft (good), Belkin (terrible), Fellowes (good)) keyboards. Then needed mobile computing and realized that after getting used to an ergo keyboard I feel like an alien trying to use some old tech every time I have to type on a "normal keyboard"......
So I got a macbook and for the desktop I settled with an Aluminium Apple keyboard and even got a wireless Apple for "home applications" (lazy-ass living room browsing - PS3 computing now).....
Now instead of receiving flames (as I did before on /.) what I would like you to do, is to imagine a laptop-like keyboard which can be split as you wish. Whether laptop or the Aluminium (no I am from Europe and it is not Aluminum), you should be able to split the damn thing and take it apart.
Simple, nice, ergonomic. And no. I have to use a laptop, and after using an MS ergo I just CAN NOT DO IT without suffering.
I work 7-3 at a place as a lead developer (well now leading myself as most all other developers quit because of pressure - they are lame, sorry... no I did not make them quit, they just cannot handle it).... and spend 2-3 hours (sometimes a lot more) on my personal/freelance projects.
I earn 2x+ on my freelance per hour, but due to my day job I can only do around 3 hours. Then there are good days (like today) when I make as much in 8 hours on a weekend what I make over a week at my morning job.
This is in Costa Rica and I am (considered) a rare breed with years of networking and programming experience with a Unix/Linux background. Technically I am a developer who is asked to sometimes help with kernels, networking and debug mail server problems. That is not to praise myself just to give an idea.
Why I work that much ?
Baby is on the way (1st one) construction is half way, and I have hobbies like scuba, enduro (that is off-road bikes where you break some shit every weekend if you push it).......
I have nothing (really .. almost) but do not owe the bank :) a penny.....
Then again, your experience, needs, situation might vary, that is just me, and if I did not have a baby coming I would go back 100% freelancing and just gave up the day job (did that for looooong years before)
Lol.. actually chemistry was not part of the program - my mistake here, but we had a strong physics education.
Other than that: yep I have no experience in the field other than using the technology, and still keep my opinion that whenever you leave wires behind and use the airwaves you deal with interference and increased needs in consumption.
Well, then again you believe who you want to believe, no hate here.
Cheers
start eating the pringles out of it, that reduces interference with the other components inside. That is a good start IMO
Well, not sure what kind of software engineer you are if you did not study physics, mathematics, chemistry and economics at your university.
As of now my studies and experience suggests that transmitting whatever over wireless is far more expensive (as in needs more effort) then doing the same thing over a solid connection (copper, aluminium, gold, zinc, silver ..... etc)....
But hey my studies are dated as I finished my IT studies in 1996. Sure with that attitude you are at least ... hmm for 3 years in "the industry" or maybe still at school?
(only a software engineer) ... but when you tell me that replacing copper wires with a (wireless) transmitter and receiver helps save power: well I am a non-believer. Sorry. Just does not cut it whatever the headlines say. How about quality ?
While I am a true geek and nerd and whatever else (having 5x more networked devices than the average Joe), I am just SCARED of this idea.
I have cell phones and wireless access points (which I keep FAR away from my pregnant wife and will keep away from the young man), I DEFINITELY deny using a microwave oven unless absolutely unavoidable (once a month?). No I do not have air purifiers and spray "kill 99% germs" shit all around the house, and better have my kids play with my dogs' shit other than operate a microwave oven, I think that wireless power is something I definitely something I want to keep away from: young souls, pregnant women and my testicles. Sure, I am an old FSCK or whatever but I better give it 20 years before using it, so they find out what new crap it will bring around.
Just my 2c. I have all these colleagues (looking like sick old man) eating fastfood every day while I am a vegan (yeah, pleas flame/troll me on this /// or be a true nerd/geek and thing why I am one) ........
No. While I see a decent point I bet that you are from the US and playing the blame-game.
They finance, buy, rent, own.... whatever, really. It is their responsibility to access legal and decent content.
Let's put it this way: your parents tell you not to do XYZ at the age of 14, you WILL seek it.
Filters do not work for kids who really want to access something (they will even pay for someone to bypass it). For the rest it is just something with false positives that will render the laptop useless in many cases.
Do not get me wrong. I am in a department doing programming and seeing STRONG filtering for other (non-tech) employees. The amount of complaints about false positives: HUGE. Our load balancer costs $50k+ and our content filter is not a cheep one. Still...... what is your budget and what are your goals? Have kids go and buy their own or NOT to be a content NAZI and let them enjoy until it lasts and then drop into reality when they finish school.
I recommend #2, but hey our mileage might differ and that smile in the mirror might be bigger on this end.
+1
Monitor usage ? Shut down? Educational?
Seriously. If that is a laptop the College provides I get my own, then run OSX/Linux on it and download/watch/install whatever I want.
WTF ... seriously. It is like On-Star on steroids for a laptop. Thanks but no thanks. 78 Land rover, no electronics........ if that is our laptop I would better have a 486sx with slackware 1.too.unstable other than some new crap YOU monitor!
WAKE UP before there is a chip in your body!
Besides all that....
KNOW how a specification should look like, act for your team as the XYZ department was your client:
1. require a specification
2. provide a quote ($$ or man hours)
3. Write a contract (terms and conditions)
4. enforce it these !
when XYZ walks in, and tries to change stuff, point them to the project/ticker system, and ensure your team that the change WILL effect deadlines and not effect THEIR free time/holidays.
OR: they will start to freelance, leave you and enforce these themselves
OR: find a company with a manager who does all that.....