I've seem [a few] games where there is a subtle choice to make in the middle, and making the wrong one causes you to loose much farther on. The idea is that you will be unable to manage hundreds of saves, and thus make the wrong choice and have to re-play to find the right one. This punishs those who save only for a way to get ahead. Some games limit how many games you can save. (Mostly really old APPLE// games where you could only save to the game disk)
Then there are games that are unwinnable without your cheat. I've seen a few where the only way to make money was gambling, but unless you saved after each win, and restored after each loss you will lose the game. At least I can't find any other way to get the money you need to win, or a different way around some puzzles other than buying supplies.
Re:Adds to the confusion
on
Aethera 1.0
·
· Score: 1
First, most competeing linux solutions make an attempt to be compateable undernieth. So you can pick one that you like best (if you try them all and can't decide, throw a dart), and leave the rest as something for the advanced user to use, without harm. Remember there are always people who want to feel like they have something better even if it doesn't change anything. (Withness all the spoilers on cars that aerodynamicly do nothing) Choice lets them choose something different. Just let them know they support themselves.
As most of/. is aware, the ISS and shuttle is a stupid program from all scientific and commercial standpoints. However the main purpose is politics, and there it is a success. The main purpose of keeping both programs in the US is to keep smart Russian scientist and rocket support personel from getting jobs in some other country (think IRAN, IRAQ) developing their long range misstle (nuke and conventional) delivery programs.
Thus that the Russians can and do supply the ISS is a good use of their abilities, and keeps them out of trouble. If it weren't for the loss of life I'd say the loss of the Shuttle was a good thing, it gets is suddenly that much less money that the US spends maintaining the expensive things, and gives the russians a chance to prove they can do it alone. A good thing overall.
Yes I know that not all Russians are evil and the only thing keeping them from developing such programs elsewhere is the program at home. Every bunch has a bad apple, and when you are desperite for food more would turn bad.
First of all, M.U.L.E should have been the first one on the list. I know there have been some re-makes, but it still deserves to be number one on the list, many things can be done without ruining the gameplay. (guns would of course ruin the game, but plenty else to do) All consoles needs this game.
Second, I see no text adventures. Plenty are still being made, but all are underground. I know this is aimed at console games, but Nintendo could easially bundle a bunch of games with a keyboard, and it would work. (plenty of free ones to start with, and I'm sure authors would like the chance to have their name on for a tiny royality for the rest)
Microsoft bundles a lot of stuff into Windows, into SQL Server, into the.Net framework ? if you?re looking to build a generic app and deploy it at an all-in price point, Windows is going to win hands down because you get so much bundled in.
Lets see, we have MySQL and PostrgesSQL. We have several frameworks to choose from (manmy are crossplatform so you can run windows or linux). Granted I don't know how they compare, but I would think you can find equivelent functionality for free for linux. These trems are so vague though that they can define some wierd subset that linux doesn't have, but we can do the same in reverse if it comes to it.
Evaluate all the packages, and decide what really fills your needs. Nobody can use all of the.NET framework, but the parts you use are what you need to look for.
Most universities have a newspaper of some sort, and the reporters are always looking for stories. A call that "Drom X" can't get on the internet because of all the viruses on the network. That won't nessicarly get to the right people at first, but it will get word out, and that will help.
Don't be afraid to firewall the dorm from the internet, telling the reporter that you did it to protect the rest of the network.
At the very least you will give some studnet reporter a chance to write a story, and educate herself (you wish) on the issue.
Overall this is good. Those overseas programers will spend money there, and that puts more people there to work, and they all spend money... They raise the standard of living. I understand that India is no longer the place to go to for cheap labor because their standard of living has gone up. Overall however their stnadard of living increases means mine can increase too. At least so long as standard of living is based on "new things", the most people who can create "new things" the more "new things" there are to choose from. (In quotes because there is a lot of there, not just the obvious toys, but also medical advances, and others I can't name now)
Already Japan has gone the whole way and increased my standard of living by increasing theirs. We wouldn't have Playstations without the Japanise. We might not have even had Atari (american except the name) if the founders had been too busy doing the things the Japanise were doing at the time instead, and the world would be a poorer place.
Of course if you are stuck in the middle without a job, it sucks, but people can adjust. You need to adjust too. Maybe it is find a new field. Maybe it is make yourself better in your field. Maybe it means accepting less money. Maybe it means moving elsewhere. Maybe it means something I haven't thought of, but do it. Don't be like the US steel industry, sit on your current ability until it becomes obsolete and you can do nothing. Even if you have a job you should take this advice.
I was just thinking that $60k/yr sounds right for a good plumber. For that matter is should be doable (after overtime) for anyone in the construction trades that has been around a while and is willing to work.
I know several people in construction trades that have intentionally limited how much they can earn because they now make enough (30k? obviously they won't tell me) to live comfortable, and would prefer to spend their time playing, looking at girls, and so on. They could make more, but with the salery of a foreman (the next position, and the company needs more foremen) comes responsibility they don't want.
I wouldn't be surprized if IBM, given ownership of SysV spins it off into a foundation of some sort, with a board of directors made up of one executive from each: IBM, SGI, SUN, HP. (any others? I can't think of anyone else who uses it, but there could be some)
IBM doesn't have any use for this code, and has learned for the most part that they don't benifit from keeping things like this from others.
People tend to hire, and like to be hired by people who are like them. Thus most people will want the same thing. 3:00 nerf ball fight is expected for some, grounds for dissmissial in others. So customise all the rules you read for your enviorment.]
When you read all the funny posts that others have made, try to figgure out how violating that rule can be useful. In tech support you might want to turn up the speakerphone volumn when a really dumb caller is on for instance, so everyone can share the laugh. (or maybe not? what works for you)
Anyone who doesn't decorate their cube with pictures of the kids/spouse, and their "art" is not human and not someone you want to work with. I mention this because some companies try to enforce a no cube decerations policy. That said, keep it up to standards. (Even if everyone in the office is a nudist don't have nude pictures, customers may visit if nothing else)
Make sure their are whiteboards in every cube. I found that the whiteboard was the most useful thing in my cube, and so did most of the others I knew.
Really? Instead of saying that, pull up an emulator and some old games. I have about 100 atari 8 bit games on my computer. All but about 10 are not worth playing. The emulator does fine, the problem is there is no game play, and the graphics suck.
The good games have good graphics, limited by the hardware, but still fairly good, and they have good gameplay. MULE wouldn't win awards today for graphics, but they are good compared to the other games, and there is gameplay. Ditto for miner2049er, Star Raider, and a few others. Good games. Enough effort went into the graphics to support the gameplay.
Of course ZORK has the best graphics of any computer game (well adventure gets really good too...), but they run on a much more powerful graphics engine so I don't count them, and besides I no longer have copies of either for the 8bit.
Make sure you are charging enough. Most people don't realise how much overheard there is in a buisness. When I was in a resteraunt anytime payroll went over 30% of gross income we lost money. Utilities, food, rent, and taxes consumed far more money that you would think. Now your buiesness is different, but you should still assume that not less than half of what you charge is avaiable for your own pay.
Best is get an accountant to figgure out this stuff for you. Keep your books up to date, and then have a professional check over all your work, and tell you what you missed. Do this minimun of every 3 months, because in some cases you have to pay taxes every 3 months and you don't want to miss that.
BTW, have you seen a lawyer yet? If not find one before you do another penny of buisness. Coporations are easy to set up, and protect you from a lot of mistakes. A lawyer can tell you if they are right for you, and do the paperwork for it. If you are doing something illegal the lawyer will stop you now, before you are caught. (or tell you how you can fight the law) Well worth paying for, find a good one localy
I don't know golden retrievers well, but if they are anything like my black lab (and most people tell me they are different, but close) the only security you will get is from likcing a burgler to death.
My lab is perfectly happy to point out the TV, computer, and so on to a thief. Just throw a stick in return please.
I didn't mean to say that good programers can't be good writers, only that they can't be both on the same piece of code. I can (if I take far more time than a good writer) write good documentation. I can write good code (faster than many other programers). However I can't write good documentation about something I've already coded.
I agree with the "write documentation first" posts that others have writen, but that doesn't cover all cases. If you have written code, perhaps with good coments, you still cannot take those comments and write a good overall introduction to the code. A good overall introduction to the code will help someone understand it better than all the comments in the world.
As a programer I've learned that you cannot write and program at the same time. Some programers are good writers, but when they are writing about their program they do a terribal job. Others (like me) are bad writters all the time. Still others can't program, or don't program, but write about code very well. Therefore I like having writers who can look over my shoulder and write something useful about my code.
There are several leveal of documentation, and most people and companies forget it. There is the "Do to X, do this, then that." Then there is the level of "This is how the program works externally", and finially there is the "This is how the program works internally"
The last is aimed at programers and in most cases isn't used outside of the company. It is also the only one you have a chance of getting a programer to write, even then the source code is often a better more readable source of information. However there is much call to take this as the programer writes it, and transform it into API documentation that other programers can use, often with the requirement that critical company ideas are not exposed to those outside the company who will read this.
The first, is a step by step how to. Click on A, drag to B, or some such sequence. If the user interface was any good, and people more willing to expitiment there would be no need for this, but most people are not comfortable figguring out computers. As a programer I have a real problem with this: I'm often required to sit though hours and hours of it to learn something I could have figgured out in 5 minutes. (often I know already, but don't skip ahead in the lession, we have to teach you how to double click before we can teach you the next step)
The other is something I rarely see, but consider most important. What is the program good for, and why do it that way. When I know that information the program is obvious, and more importantly, these manuals should be easy to read so I learn all the features. For example, I have seen plenty of examples of how to do a "mail merge", but nobody has defined what that term means, or why I would want to use it, and not knowing that I ignore all the instruction on how to do it - it may or may not be useful, and I may in fact do it.
I'm sure there is much more, but I don't know much more myself. I'm not a good writer, so I stay with things I am good at.
You got it wrong: by signing with your public key you, and only you can verify that it was intended for you. That is not what you want, what you want is email signed with their private key, so you can use their public key to verify who sent it. If I sign all my email with my private key, everyone in the world knows that it is me who sent it, and I cannot deny it. If I sign outgoing email with your public key (because I can't know your private key) then only you can verify it, and then all you know is I inteded for you to read it. To a Spammer that may cost enough CPU that it isn't worth it, but it does nothing to help you track down who sent it. (Since much spam is for illegal things tracking down who sent it would be very useful)
It is a long shot, but if you can track these people down, you have plenty of grounds for a lawsuit against them. Just prove they used your idenity without your permission. Even if they are in one of the few countries that won't help you out, there is a good chance that they have backers in a country, and you can sue the backers. Or if you can find who they are, and who the customers are, you can get the goverment to watch money transfers, and force all customers money inro your account (A very big maybe here). But you need a lawyer to 1) win the case for you, and 2) tell you how you can collect.
Good luck, but I urge you to do this. You should have plenty of grounds, and you might join the few guys who have actually shut down a spammer.
Reversing motions is one way to solve it. However that is not (nessicarly) the optimal way to solve it. Often there is a different sequence that can be followed to solve the thing. If I've been trying to solve it for a while there is sure to be a better way.
PTT is used mostly for buisness use, and mostly by construction workers. The normal use for PTT is not to talk to one person, but to the entire crew. When the foreman asks the boss how something should be done, after getting the answer he turns to me and says "you heard that, now go do it".
Just today I heard several conversations between the foreman and the boss that I had a interest in. Some I heard and forgot as they were of no interest. Some I commented on afterwards. Some I provided more information when it was clear the message wasn't getting across, and the person on the phone couldn't explain it better. And of course there are the messages directed at me, but I don't have the phone to ask.
Nextel seems instance, because it is "quick enough" that you don't notice that it isn't. However there is about a half a second lag time. (I have not measured it). I only know it exists because I was in the car talking to someone in the car next to me (we met for lunch and were going opposite ways out of the parking lot) and could watch her lips move, and a moment latter hear what she was saying.
For all practical purposes NexTel has no lag time. For all engineering purposes Nextel has lag.
I just did that in fact. I sent an email that contained only attachments, no text. I have one of those camera phones, and I took an interesting picture that I sent to some people I know who would be interested. Since writing text is hard on a cell phone I put in a subject that didn't say much, with some attachments. I'm hoping that it is enough for those who care to open the attachments. Since they are.jpg pictures that shouldn't be a problem to view them, and because they are from me, they might be looked at.
Unfortunatly I know for a fact that some spammers have used my email address as the from address (without my permission of course), so I can no longer be sure that attachments from me that look so much like spam will really be seen.
Never is a strong word. All mechanical things break. Often there is some warning, but not always. Helicopters are inspected often to make sure problems are coming up. I doupt that the political observers have any clue how to look for something that is close to the breaking point.
Detecting an error isn't the same as correcting it. If there is one error, and a tech reveals a broken gear, it is easy to mathimaticly find the correct votes based on what effect that gear had. If more than one part is broken than there may not be any math to find the correct totals.
California needs to solve their problem then. I've never had it take more than 20 minutes from the time I parked my car until I was in a booth. That includes the times I registered to vote onsite and had to fill out some paperwork. When I was registered before hand the line was never longer than 10 minutes (the last presidential election where turnout was much higher than expected)
Of course in Minnesota we have one machine, and paper ballots. A voting booth is anyplace you can be in private. We have a lot of them, but if you are comfortable in a hidden corner than you don't technically need to use a booth. Once you fill out the ballot, then you put it in the counting machine and leave. (Unless there are problems, if the machine isn't 100% sure of your vote it should reject it - I've seen it reject several)
Sounds good, until something breaks. I'd hate to be vote on a machine where a gear broke, and suddenly all votes for some canidate didn't advance the counter. Sure you might be able to detect afterwords that something is wrong, but can you tell who should have gotten the votes? What if there are multipul failures? Now you can't reconstruct from summery information who should have been voted for.
Are you saying that I can't split my votes? I have to vote for one party? I know that in the last ellection I voted for canidates from at least three different parties.
Even if you can vote for canidates without looking at party lines, I don't like that idea. I want people to have to put some effort into it. We already have too many people who think there is no point in voting outside of the two major parties, we don't need to make more effort for those who want to vote differently.
Slashdot Mirror
I've seem [a few] games where there is a subtle choice to make in the middle, and making the wrong one causes you to loose much farther on. The idea is that you will be unable to manage hundreds of saves, and thus make the wrong choice and have to re-play to find the right one. This punishs those who save only for a way to get ahead. Some games limit how many games you can save. (Mostly really old APPLE// games where you could only save to the game disk)
Then there are games that are unwinnable without your cheat. I've seen a few where the only way to make money was gambling, but unless you saved after each win, and restored after each loss you will lose the game. At least I can't find any other way to get the money you need to win, or a different way around some puzzles other than buying supplies.
First, most competeing linux solutions make an attempt to be compateable undernieth. So you can pick one that you like best (if you try them all and can't decide, throw a dart), and leave the rest as something for the advanced user to use, without harm. Remember there are always people who want to feel like they have something better even if it doesn't change anything. (Withness all the spoilers on cars that aerodynamicly do nothing) Choice lets them choose something different. Just let them know they support themselves.
As most of /. is aware, the ISS and shuttle is a stupid program from all scientific and commercial standpoints. However the main purpose is politics, and there it is a success. The main purpose of keeping both programs in the US is to keep smart Russian scientist and rocket support personel from getting jobs in some other country (think IRAN, IRAQ) developing their long range misstle (nuke and conventional) delivery programs.
Thus that the Russians can and do supply the ISS is a good use of their abilities, and keeps them out of trouble. If it weren't for the loss of life I'd say the loss of the Shuttle was a good thing, it gets is suddenly that much less money that the US spends maintaining the expensive things, and gives the russians a chance to prove they can do it alone. A good thing overall.
Yes I know that not all Russians are evil and the only thing keeping them from developing such programs elsewhere is the program at home. Every bunch has a bad apple, and when you are desperite for food more would turn bad.
First of all, M.U.L.E should have been the first one on the list. I know there have been some re-makes, but it still deserves to be number one on the list, many things can be done without ruining the gameplay. (guns would of course ruin the game, but plenty else to do) All consoles needs this game.
Second, I see no text adventures. Plenty are still being made, but all are underground. I know this is aimed at console games, but Nintendo could easially bundle a bunch of games with a keyboard, and it would work. (plenty of free ones to start with, and I'm sure authors would like the chance to have their name on for a tiny royality for the rest)
Can someone tell me how linux is worse off here?
Microsoft bundles a lot of stuff into Windows, into SQL Server, into the .Net framework ? if you?re looking to build a generic app and deploy it at an all-in price point, Windows is going to win hands down because you get so much bundled in.
Lets see, we have MySQL and PostrgesSQL. We have several frameworks to choose from (manmy are crossplatform so you can run windows or linux). Granted I don't know how they compare, but I would think you can find equivelent functionality for free for linux. These trems are so vague though that they can define some wierd subset that linux doesn't have, but we can do the same in reverse if it comes to it.
Evaluate all the packages, and decide what really fills your needs. Nobody can use all of the .NET framework, but the parts you use are what you need to look for.
Most universities have a newspaper of some sort, and the reporters are always looking for stories. A call that "Drom X" can't get on the internet because of all the viruses on the network. That won't nessicarly get to the right people at first, but it will get word out, and that will help.
Don't be afraid to firewall the dorm from the internet, telling the reporter that you did it to protect the rest of the network.
At the very least you will give some studnet reporter a chance to write a story, and educate herself (you wish) on the issue.
Overall this is good. Those overseas programers will spend money there, and that puts more people there to work, and they all spend money... They raise the standard of living. I understand that India is no longer the place to go to for cheap labor because their standard of living has gone up. Overall however their stnadard of living increases means mine can increase too. At least so long as standard of living is based on "new things", the most people who can create "new things" the more "new things" there are to choose from. (In quotes because there is a lot of there, not just the obvious toys, but also medical advances, and others I can't name now)
Already Japan has gone the whole way and increased my standard of living by increasing theirs. We wouldn't have Playstations without the Japanise. We might not have even had Atari (american except the name) if the founders had been too busy doing the things the Japanise were doing at the time instead, and the world would be a poorer place.
Of course if you are stuck in the middle without a job, it sucks, but people can adjust. You need to adjust too. Maybe it is find a new field. Maybe it is make yourself better in your field. Maybe it means accepting less money. Maybe it means moving elsewhere. Maybe it means something I haven't thought of, but do it. Don't be like the US steel industry, sit on your current ability until it becomes obsolete and you can do nothing. Even if you have a job you should take this advice.
I was just thinking that $60k/yr sounds right for a good plumber. For that matter is should be doable (after overtime) for anyone in the construction trades that has been around a while and is willing to work.
I know several people in construction trades that have intentionally limited how much they can earn because they now make enough (30k? obviously they won't tell me) to live comfortable, and would prefer to spend their time playing, looking at girls, and so on. They could make more, but with the salery of a foreman (the next position, and the company needs more foremen) comes responsibility they don't want.
I wouldn't be surprized if IBM, given ownership of SysV spins it off into a foundation of some sort, with a board of directors made up of one executive from each: IBM, SGI, SUN, HP. (any others? I can't think of anyone else who uses it, but there could be some)
IBM doesn't have any use for this code, and has learned for the most part that they don't benifit from keeping things like this from others.
People tend to hire, and like to be hired by people who are like them. Thus most people will want the same thing. 3:00 nerf ball fight is expected for some, grounds for dissmissial in others. So customise all the rules you read for your enviorment.]
When you read all the funny posts that others have made, try to figgure out how violating that rule can be useful. In tech support you might want to turn up the speakerphone volumn when a really dumb caller is on for instance, so everyone can share the laugh. (or maybe not? what works for you)
Anyone who doesn't decorate their cube with pictures of the kids/spouse, and their "art" is not human and not someone you want to work with. I mention this because some companies try to enforce a no cube decerations policy. That said, keep it up to standards. (Even if everyone in the office is a nudist don't have nude pictures, customers may visit if nothing else)
Make sure their are whiteboards in every cube. I found that the whiteboard was the most useful thing in my cube, and so did most of the others I knew.
Really? Instead of saying that, pull up an emulator and some old games. I have about 100 atari 8 bit games on my computer. All but about 10 are not worth playing. The emulator does fine, the problem is there is no game play, and the graphics suck.
The good games have good graphics, limited by the hardware, but still fairly good, and they have good gameplay. MULE wouldn't win awards today for graphics, but they are good compared to the other games, and there is gameplay. Ditto for miner2049er, Star Raider, and a few others. Good games. Enough effort went into the graphics to support the gameplay.
Of course ZORK has the best graphics of any computer game (well adventure gets really good too...), but they run on a much more powerful graphics engine so I don't count them, and besides I no longer have copies of either for the 8bit.
Make sure you are charging enough. Most people don't realise how much overheard there is in a buisness. When I was in a resteraunt anytime payroll went over 30% of gross income we lost money. Utilities, food, rent, and taxes consumed far more money that you would think. Now your buiesness is different, but you should still assume that not less than half of what you charge is avaiable for your own pay.
Best is get an accountant to figgure out this stuff for you. Keep your books up to date, and then have a professional check over all your work, and tell you what you missed. Do this minimun of every 3 months, because in some cases you have to pay taxes every 3 months and you don't want to miss that.
BTW, have you seen a lawyer yet? If not find one before you do another penny of buisness. Coporations are easy to set up, and protect you from a lot of mistakes. A lawyer can tell you if they are right for you, and do the paperwork for it. If you are doing something illegal the lawyer will stop you now, before you are caught. (or tell you how you can fight the law) Well worth paying for, find a good one localy
I don't know golden retrievers well, but if they are anything like my black lab (and most people tell me they are different, but close) the only security you will get is from likcing a burgler to death.
My lab is perfectly happy to point out the TV, computer, and so on to a thief. Just throw a stick in return please.
I didn't mean to say that good programers can't be good writers, only that they can't be both on the same piece of code. I can (if I take far more time than a good writer) write good documentation. I can write good code (faster than many other programers). However I can't write good documentation about something I've already coded.
I agree with the "write documentation first" posts that others have writen, but that doesn't cover all cases. If you have written code, perhaps with good coments, you still cannot take those comments and write a good overall introduction to the code. A good overall introduction to the code will help someone understand it better than all the comments in the world.
As a programer I've learned that you cannot write and program at the same time. Some programers are good writers, but when they are writing about their program they do a terribal job. Others (like me) are bad writters all the time. Still others can't program, or don't program, but write about code very well. Therefore I like having writers who can look over my shoulder and write something useful about my code.
There are several leveal of documentation, and most people and companies forget it. There is the "Do to X, do this, then that." Then there is the level of "This is how the program works externally", and finially there is the "This is how the program works internally"
The last is aimed at programers and in most cases isn't used outside of the company. It is also the only one you have a chance of getting a programer to write, even then the source code is often a better more readable source of information. However there is much call to take this as the programer writes it, and transform it into API documentation that other programers can use, often with the requirement that critical company ideas are not exposed to those outside the company who will read this.
The first, is a step by step how to. Click on A, drag to B, or some such sequence. If the user interface was any good, and people more willing to expitiment there would be no need for this, but most people are not comfortable figguring out computers. As a programer I have a real problem with this: I'm often required to sit though hours and hours of it to learn something I could have figgured out in 5 minutes. (often I know already, but don't skip ahead in the lession, we have to teach you how to double click before we can teach you the next step)
The other is something I rarely see, but consider most important. What is the program good for, and why do it that way. When I know that information the program is obvious, and more importantly, these manuals should be easy to read so I learn all the features. For example, I have seen plenty of examples of how to do a "mail merge", but nobody has defined what that term means, or why I would want to use it, and not knowing that I ignore all the instruction on how to do it - it may or may not be useful, and I may in fact do it.
I'm sure there is much more, but I don't know much more myself. I'm not a good writer, so I stay with things I am good at.
You got it wrong: by signing with your public key you, and only you can verify that it was intended for you. That is not what you want, what you want is email signed with their private key, so you can use their public key to verify who sent it. If I sign all my email with my private key, everyone in the world knows that it is me who sent it, and I cannot deny it. If I sign outgoing email with your public key (because I can't know your private key) then only you can verify it, and then all you know is I inteded for you to read it. To a Spammer that may cost enough CPU that it isn't worth it, but it does nothing to help you track down who sent it. (Since much spam is for illegal things tracking down who sent it would be very useful)
It is a long shot, but if you can track these people down, you have plenty of grounds for a lawsuit against them. Just prove they used your idenity without your permission. Even if they are in one of the few countries that won't help you out, there is a good chance that they have backers in a country, and you can sue the backers. Or if you can find who they are, and who the customers are, you can get the goverment to watch money transfers, and force all customers money inro your account (A very big maybe here). But you need a lawyer to 1) win the case for you, and 2) tell you how you can collect.
Good luck, but I urge you to do this. You should have plenty of grounds, and you might join the few guys who have actually shut down a spammer.
Reversing motions is one way to solve it. However that is not (nessicarly) the optimal way to solve it. Often there is a different sequence that can be followed to solve the thing. If I've been trying to solve it for a while there is sure to be a better way.
PTT is used mostly for buisness use, and mostly by construction workers. The normal use for PTT is not to talk to one person, but to the entire crew. When the foreman asks the boss how something should be done, after getting the answer he turns to me and says "you heard that, now go do it".
Just today I heard several conversations between the foreman and the boss that I had a interest in. Some I heard and forgot as they were of no interest. Some I commented on afterwards. Some I provided more information when it was clear the message wasn't getting across, and the person on the phone couldn't explain it better. And of course there are the messages directed at me, but I don't have the phone to ask.
Nextel seems instance, because it is "quick enough" that you don't notice that it isn't. However there is about a half a second lag time. (I have not measured it). I only know it exists because I was in the car talking to someone in the car next to me (we met for lunch and were going opposite ways out of the parking lot) and could watch her lips move, and a moment latter hear what she was saying.
For all practical purposes NexTel has no lag time. For all engineering purposes Nextel has lag.
I just did that in fact. I sent an email that contained only attachments, no text. I have one of those camera phones, and I took an interesting picture that I sent to some people I know who would be interested. Since writing text is hard on a cell phone I put in a subject that didn't say much, with some attachments. I'm hoping that it is enough for those who care to open the attachments. Since they are .jpg pictures that shouldn't be a problem to view them, and because they are from me, they might be looked at.
Unfortunatly I know for a fact that some spammers have used my email address as the from address (without my permission of course), so I can no longer be sure that attachments from me that look so much like spam will really be seen.
Never is a strong word. All mechanical things break. Often there is some warning, but not always. Helicopters are inspected often to make sure problems are coming up. I doupt that the political observers have any clue how to look for something that is close to the breaking point.
Detecting an error isn't the same as correcting it. If there is one error, and a tech reveals a broken gear, it is easy to mathimaticly find the correct votes based on what effect that gear had. If more than one part is broken than there may not be any math to find the correct totals.
California needs to solve their problem then. I've never had it take more than 20 minutes from the time I parked my car until I was in a booth. That includes the times I registered to vote onsite and had to fill out some paperwork. When I was registered before hand the line was never longer than 10 minutes (the last presidential election where turnout was much higher than expected)
Of course in Minnesota we have one machine, and paper ballots. A voting booth is anyplace you can be in private. We have a lot of them, but if you are comfortable in a hidden corner than you don't technically need to use a booth. Once you fill out the ballot, then you put it in the counting machine and leave. (Unless there are problems, if the machine isn't 100% sure of your vote it should reject it - I've seen it reject several)
Sounds good, until something breaks. I'd hate to be vote on a machine where a gear broke, and suddenly all votes for some canidate didn't advance the counter. Sure you might be able to detect afterwords that something is wrong, but can you tell who should have gotten the votes? What if there are multipul failures? Now you can't reconstruct from summery information who should have been voted for.
Are you saying that I can't split my votes? I have to vote for one party? I know that in the last ellection I voted for canidates from at least three different parties.
Even if you can vote for canidates without looking at party lines, I don't like that idea. I want people to have to put some effort into it. We already have too many people who think there is no point in voting outside of the two major parties, we don't need to make more effort for those who want to vote differently.