The parent was probably talking about personal, non-commercial use of high speed internet. You are talking about uploading 8 - 10 GB as part of your support of engineers, which I assume is work related... if that is the case, I'd think a commercial account with unlimited bandwidth cap would be more appropriate. Yes, they will charge you more, but you get what you pay for including terms of service more appropriate for a commercial use.
I agree with this, in fact I have previously downloaded Half-Life 2. I played through the first few hours and really enjoyed the game. My son also seemed to enjoy it, so now Valve will have an additional two sales of Orange Box for Christmas due to our enjoyment of the pirated HL2 game.
Not to say that I don't feel guilty for having pirated the game in the first place, but with only one or two game purchases available per year (we don't have much money for gaming) the try before you buy concept works well for me and typically enriches one or two game companies. The downside of this is that other companies that make not-fun games don't get any purchase - we did the same with Spore, just trying it out and really hated it so EA will not get any purchase this year and the game is no longer on our systems... we thought it sucked that badly (DRM issues aside).
So unfortunately I appear to have unintentionally invalidated both our points about the fairness of pirating. It is very fair to me, and it is fair some of the time to a limited number of developers, but it screws everyone else.
I think to combat this, and build upon the likelihood that someone trying a game and liking it will buy it, Steam has a really great try before you buy free download on some of the games. We just saw a game called Peggle, did the free download of X number of levels, and have had a really good time with it. I suspect that we will purchase this game also.
I have mod points that I rarely waste on ACs so I will post here in reply instead. I see that your post is currently modded "Funny". I think you are being extraordinarily rude and would have moderated you down just because of it. I appreciate the point that you are making, agree with it in many cases, however the simple fact of your rudeness deserves either an "Overrated" or "Flamebait" mod.
I always wanted to be a glider pilot, but due to funding had to settle for being a remote control sailplane pilot. Still fun, just without the thrill of looking for lift while thousand of feet in the air (or the bigger thrill of scratching for lift down low!)
I suspect weight may have something to do with the relative immobility of aircraft with gas engines. As you say, there are plenty of powered gliders but I think gliders have been designed from the ground up as soaring machines so weight is of primary importance, and the motors seem quite efficient when you have to put the engine on to *assist* flight (versus a airplane that relies more heavily on a fully functioning, and thus overbuilt/relatively heavy engine).
p.s. Another advantage of a glider is the ability to store it inside the trailer, not having to rent hangar space or worry about a passing hailstorm.
You can wrap your keyboard in tinfoil, or the cable or even put a tinfoil hat on your head. You can bet once it is proven effective that the government will invent new laws to make it illegal to possess tinfoil shielded computer equipment. The premise will be that such tools are "proof" of criminally minded activities. Never mind your right to privacy or your innocence until proven guilty.
We used to have anti-radar detector laws in my State - the reasoning was that anyone who used a radar detector was defacto guilty of speeding because a radar detector serves no other legitimate purpose. Fortunately the voters had enough and the state legislators repealed the law (Connecticut) about the same time the speed limit went up to 65.
Think of this as a proof of concept, with additional range yet to come. To you it might not be a big deal, but to others (e.g. the tinfoil hat crowd) it is likely a very small distance in time between the current 20 meter range and a 100 yards or more. And yet to others still, it is of concern now, for example apartment blocks, condos or dormitories where you may be less than 20 meters away from several other residents.
Solution to this: make a new tab called Gmail, move the Gmail widget to it. Then when you open your google homepage, there is no risk as you have to manually click over to the Gmail tab. Just remember to click back to another tab, such as Home, when you are done as there is tab persistency between sessions.
I think the operative noun in your statement is "widescreen". For those of us not on widescreen the extra, non-adjustable width of the tab area is lost screen real estate. Now I'd love to go drop a couple hundred on a new flatscreen, but my laptop is a good ole 1024x768 and the new iGoogle looks horrible on it. At least with the old view I could mousewheel past the header and the tabs to get to my content, and still have 3 columns of widgets.
Are you talking about creating a system of government like Slashdot? You must be new here... haven't you seen the flame wars, the off-topic rants, the herd moderation (e.g. agree with Microsoft, get moderated down, post something pro linux get moderated up).
Back in the day, when Karma was an actual score, there was competition to see who could get the most karma points. Many users figured out a way to game the system, by posting just the right kinds of opinions. Those users, in a Slashdot based system, would be the politicians! Say what the people want to hear, get rewarded! Say what you believe, get penalized!
Double check your power supply. I have had that same issue. Once it was the cheap power supply that came with my emachines. I replaced the power supply and all was good. Upon the failure of my 7600GS video card and subsequent warranty exchange for a 9600GT, then it was the replacement power supply (420W) unable to provide enough clean power. The replacement 8600GT (this was all done under warranty via EVGA) works just great.
I can't find an online link to it, but there is according to Gary Larson, of Far Side comic fame, there is a special circle of hell reserved for "People who drive slow in the fast lane" next to muderers, rapist etc.
One of the all time funny Far Side cartoons, I have it hanging on my wall in my workshop at home.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia," but only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" [laughs maniacally, then falls over dead]
When you say "marry", do you really mean 'have children'? The concept of marriage, while common across many different cultures, is not a prerequisite for continuing the human race. Unprotected sex *or* artificial insemination are the requirements.
Besides, you are the Dad and can presumably order him to give up the root password anytime you like. I know my son and daughter will give up their passwords at a moments notice - knowing that failure to do so means a) no internet b) no TV c) no food, in that order based on the resistance I get.
Being a parent and willing to use the authority granted to me as such has its benefits along with the headaches.
Mandatory insurance is not meant as a restriction on drivers who want to under/uninsure their vehicles, but to protect everyone else from them. If I get hit by a driver without insurance, *my* rates go up regardless if I was at fault or not. In other words, I essentially get charged more for unsafe driving even though I may not have been doing anything wrong. Wrong place at the wrong time kind of thing. With mandatory insurance, it gives peace of mind to me that another driver isn't going to get to walk away without paying his/her share of the accident and it keeps me out of court, where it could take a year or more to settle for damages.
There is no question that insurance is legalized, regulated, and in some states, required gambling.
Apart from the "fact" that is legalized gambling, I am interested to hear why the industry is insane. It is highly regulated, for sure, but what makes you want to laugh or cry?
Care to cite a source or provide an example? In 1999 the unrestricted speed limit on public highways was eliminated after 4 years of Montanabahn. There may be other "areas" but they are likely a) race tracks or b) off-road.
Agreed. And if your teenager is helping to pay the bill, they might even accept the restricted key if it enables them to afford to drive versus not driving at all. My nephew pays $1500 per year *extra* on his parent's insurance, regardless whether he drives or not, simply because he is 17 and has a drivers license. If he had an opportunity to knock a hundred bucks off that bill, you can bet he'd be willing to do it especially if all he had to give up were the ability to go over 80 mph and driving after midnight.
It is the situation where a parent is paying the full bill that the teenager might squawk at some additional restrictions. Money FTW!
I think I have seen these images... disturbing, but the ones I have seen I do not believe she was in a Ford. I thought she was in her Father's Porsche Boxster. If yours are indeed in a Ford, then perhaps there are too many parents letting their kids behind the wheel. As I said in another post, there have been alarming numbers of parents killing off their kids by buying them Subaru WRXs and WRX-STIs as graduation presents.
Laws vary from state to state, but my insurer gives me a break for having airbags and ABS. Now that airbags are mandatory on new cars, you are not likely to see the break but when pricing an older car it is definitely there. Same with ABS, except that it is not mandatory.
You may also be eligible for a break on your insurance, or may already be getting it, for low mileage. Depending on your insurer, there is often a "low mileage" category, of X number of miles or lower per day. I think on my policy it is 8 miles or less per day, which is just slightly above the distance to and from the bus station for me.
It is quite complex, but overall the risk that *you* specifically pose is not adjusted into the rates except by the allowable demographics - age, driving experience, gender etc.. Other than that, it is a community based risk, as you say based on the value of your vehicle and its risk. So if you have a Subaru WRX-STI, not only do you have to pay a higher premium because of the performance potential, you also have to pay higher premium because of the number of accidents those vehicles are getting in (well, here lately parents have been buying them for teenagers and killing off their kids in record numbers)
Actuaries are not just about figuring how to screw the consumer more. It is all about balancing risk and revenue/profit. It is about coming up with new, creative ways to manage the risk or assign the risk to as granular a level as possible, while not overburdening either the company or consumer with too much detail. And as the GPP says, property & casualty insurance in the U.S. is highly regulated by each State Department of Insurance. The goal of these agencies is to regulate the industry so that no company is going to a) go out of business from too much exposure to risk, thereby leaving thousands of customers without coverage in a time of need or b) add illegal caveats, conditions or other fine print that will void policies in a time of need. Just about every piece of printed paper you receive from an insurance company (on the P&C side anyway) has been first past legal review and secondly with state regulators.
Is there a name for this trend? So we have Godwin's Law that describes how quickly a comparison will be made to the Nazi's in any (Usenet)online discussion. Perhaps we could name a new law, dubbed "Anonymous Coward's law" that describes how quickly a discussion will turn a) political or b) toward Bush bashing.
Slashdot Mirror
The parent was probably talking about personal, non-commercial use of high speed internet. You are talking about uploading 8 - 10 GB as part of your support of engineers, which I assume is work related... if that is the case, I'd think a commercial account with unlimited bandwidth cap would be more appropriate. Yes, they will charge you more, but you get what you pay for including terms of service more appropriate for a commercial use.
I agree with this, in fact I have previously downloaded Half-Life 2. I played through the first few hours and really enjoyed the game. My son also seemed to enjoy it, so now Valve will have an additional two sales of Orange Box for Christmas due to our enjoyment of the pirated HL2 game.
Not to say that I don't feel guilty for having pirated the game in the first place, but with only one or two game purchases available per year (we don't have much money for gaming) the try before you buy concept works well for me and typically enriches one or two game companies. The downside of this is that other companies that make not-fun games don't get any purchase - we did the same with Spore, just trying it out and really hated it so EA will not get any purchase this year and the game is no longer on our systems... we thought it sucked that badly (DRM issues aside).
So unfortunately I appear to have unintentionally invalidated both our points about the fairness of pirating. It is very fair to me, and it is fair some of the time to a limited number of developers, but it screws everyone else.
I think to combat this, and build upon the likelihood that someone trying a game and liking it will buy it, Steam has a really great try before you buy free download on some of the games. We just saw a game called Peggle, did the free download of X number of levels, and have had a really good time with it. I suspect that we will purchase this game also.
I have mod points that I rarely waste on ACs so I will post here in reply instead. I see that your post is currently modded "Funny". I think you are being extraordinarily rude and would have moderated you down just because of it. I appreciate the point that you are making, agree with it in many cases, however the simple fact of your rudeness deserves either an "Overrated" or "Flamebait" mod.
I always wanted to be a glider pilot, but due to funding had to settle for being a remote control sailplane pilot. Still fun, just without the thrill of looking for lift while thousand of feet in the air (or the bigger thrill of scratching for lift down low!)
I suspect weight may have something to do with the relative immobility of aircraft with gas engines. As you say, there are plenty of powered gliders but I think gliders have been designed from the ground up as soaring machines so weight is of primary importance, and the motors seem quite efficient when you have to put the engine on to *assist* flight (versus a airplane that relies more heavily on a fully functioning, and thus overbuilt/relatively heavy engine).
p.s. Another advantage of a glider is the ability to store it inside the trailer, not having to rent hangar space or worry about a passing hailstorm.
You can wrap your keyboard in tinfoil, or the cable or even put a tinfoil hat on your head. You can bet once it is proven effective that the government will invent new laws to make it illegal to possess tinfoil shielded computer equipment. The premise will be that such tools are "proof" of criminally minded activities. Never mind your right to privacy or your innocence until proven guilty.
We used to have anti-radar detector laws in my State - the reasoning was that anyone who used a radar detector was defacto guilty of speeding because a radar detector serves no other legitimate purpose. Fortunately the voters had enough and the state legislators repealed the law (Connecticut) about the same time the speed limit went up to 65.
Think of this as a proof of concept, with additional range yet to come. To you it might not be a big deal, but to others (e.g. the tinfoil hat crowd) it is likely a very small distance in time between the current 20 meter range and a 100 yards or more. And yet to others still, it is of concern now, for example apartment blocks, condos or dormitories where you may be less than 20 meters away from several other residents.
Holy smokes. Either a coincidence or you have been snooping my network, but that is exactly the beginning of my AES key...
Solution to this: make a new tab called Gmail, move the Gmail widget to it. Then when you open your google homepage, there is no risk as you have to manually click over to the Gmail tab. Just remember to click back to another tab, such as Home, when you are done as there is tab persistency between sessions.
I think the operative noun in your statement is "widescreen". For those of us not on widescreen the extra, non-adjustable width of the tab area is lost screen real estate. Now I'd love to go drop a couple hundred on a new flatscreen, but my laptop is a good ole 1024x768 and the new iGoogle looks horrible on it. At least with the old view I could mousewheel past the header and the tabs to get to my content, and still have 3 columns of widgets.
Are you talking about creating a system of government like Slashdot? You must be new here... haven't you seen the flame wars, the off-topic rants, the herd moderation (e.g. agree with Microsoft, get moderated down, post something pro linux get moderated up).
Back in the day, when Karma was an actual score, there was competition to see who could get the most karma points. Many users figured out a way to game the system, by posting just the right kinds of opinions. Those users, in a Slashdot based system, would be the politicians! Say what the people want to hear, get rewarded! Say what you believe, get penalized!
Double check your power supply. I have had that same issue. Once it was the cheap power supply that came with my emachines. I replaced the power supply and all was good. Upon the failure of my 7600GS video card and subsequent warranty exchange for a 9600GT, then it was the replacement power supply (420W) unable to provide enough clean power. The replacement 8600GT (this was all done under warranty via EVGA) works just great.
I was not impressed until I answered one of Elbot's questions: What brings you to me?
I said something about visiting from Slashdot.
The reply was "Well that explains all these geeks visiting me!"
I can't find an online link to it, but there is according to Gary Larson, of Far Side comic fame, there is a special circle of hell reserved for "People who drive slow in the fast lane" next to muderers, rapist etc.
One of the all time funny Far Side cartoons, I have it hanging on my wall in my workshop at home.
Nice summary of metamoderation!
Or is that a whoosh going over my head?
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia," but only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" [laughs maniacally, then falls over dead]
When you say "marry", do you really mean 'have children'? The concept of marriage, while common across many different cultures, is not a prerequisite for continuing the human race. Unprotected sex *or* artificial insemination are the requirements.
Besides, you are the Dad and can presumably order him to give up the root password anytime you like. I know my son and daughter will give up their passwords at a moments notice - knowing that failure to do so means a) no internet b) no TV c) no food, in that order based on the resistance I get.
Being a parent and willing to use the authority granted to me as such has its benefits along with the headaches.
Steve, is that you? C'mon man, Slashdot is a safe place, stop posting AC!
Just how long is an 'age'?
Is that like Libraries of Congress in measuring words or Elephants in measuring weight?
Mandatory insurance is not meant as a restriction on drivers who want to under/uninsure their vehicles, but to protect everyone else from them. If I get hit by a driver without insurance, *my* rates go up regardless if I was at fault or not. In other words, I essentially get charged more for unsafe driving even though I may not have been doing anything wrong. Wrong place at the wrong time kind of thing. With mandatory insurance, it gives peace of mind to me that another driver isn't going to get to walk away without paying his/her share of the accident and it keeps me out of court, where it could take a year or more to settle for damages.
There is no question that insurance is legalized, regulated, and in some states, required gambling.
Apart from the "fact" that is legalized gambling, I am interested to hear why the industry is insane. It is highly regulated, for sure, but what makes you want to laugh or cry?
Care to cite a source or provide an example? In 1999 the unrestricted speed limit on public highways was eliminated after 4 years of Montanabahn. There may be other "areas" but they are likely a) race tracks or b) off-road.
http://www.us-highways.com/montana/mtspeed.htm
Agreed. And if your teenager is helping to pay the bill, they might even accept the restricted key if it enables them to afford to drive versus not driving at all. My nephew pays $1500 per year *extra* on his parent's insurance, regardless whether he drives or not, simply because he is 17 and has a drivers license. If he had an opportunity to knock a hundred bucks off that bill, you can bet he'd be willing to do it especially if all he had to give up were the ability to go over 80 mph and driving after midnight.
It is the situation where a parent is paying the full bill that the teenager might squawk at some additional restrictions. Money FTW!
I think I have seen these images... disturbing, but the ones I have seen I do not believe she was in a Ford. I thought she was in her Father's Porsche Boxster. If yours are indeed in a Ford, then perhaps there are too many parents letting their kids behind the wheel. As I said in another post, there have been alarming numbers of parents killing off their kids by buying them Subaru WRXs and WRX-STIs as graduation presents.
Laws vary from state to state, but my insurer gives me a break for having airbags and ABS. Now that airbags are mandatory on new cars, you are not likely to see the break but when pricing an older car it is definitely there. Same with ABS, except that it is not mandatory.
You may also be eligible for a break on your insurance, or may already be getting it, for low mileage. Depending on your insurer, there is often a "low mileage" category, of X number of miles or lower per day. I think on my policy it is 8 miles or less per day, which is just slightly above the distance to and from the bus station for me.
It is quite complex, but overall the risk that *you* specifically pose is not adjusted into the rates except by the allowable demographics - age, driving experience, gender etc.. Other than that, it is a community based risk, as you say based on the value of your vehicle and its risk. So if you have a Subaru WRX-STI, not only do you have to pay a higher premium because of the performance potential, you also have to pay higher premium because of the number of accidents those vehicles are getting in (well, here lately parents have been buying them for teenagers and killing off their kids in record numbers)
Actuaries are not just about figuring how to screw the consumer more. It is all about balancing risk and revenue/profit. It is about coming up with new, creative ways to manage the risk or assign the risk to as granular a level as possible, while not overburdening either the company or consumer with too much detail. And as the GPP says, property & casualty insurance in the U.S. is highly regulated by each State Department of Insurance. The goal of these agencies is to regulate the industry so that no company is going to a) go out of business from too much exposure to risk, thereby leaving thousands of customers without coverage in a time of need or b) add illegal caveats, conditions or other fine print that will void policies in a time of need. Just about every piece of printed paper you receive from an insurance company (on the P&C side anyway) has been first past legal review and secondly with state regulators.
Is there a name for this trend? So we have Godwin's Law that describes how quickly a comparison will be made to the Nazi's in any (Usenet)online discussion. Perhaps we could name a new law, dubbed "Anonymous Coward's law" that describes how quickly a discussion will turn a) political or b) toward Bush bashing.