Thats what a video camera is for. Video tape the light as you approach it, and the behavior. Then send a copy to the city and tell them to fix it. When they don't, start a class action lawsuit on behalf of everyone who has wasted gas at a light that is intentionally programed to waste gas.
Come to think of it, I know of a light in Eagan I should do that to.
Seriously, complain. Then get everyone else you know to do so as well. If things are not fixed within a month start a letter writing campaign. Include the newspapers and your congressmen.
Those sensors are adjustable. You just need to be annoying enough that they fix the problem.
Reporters are the problem. About two years ago the New York Times fired a reporter after discovering he had faked several stories! Just a couple months back, CBS' lead anchor, didn't check some memos that turned out to be forgeries. In the latter case it was more proof of the right wing's claim that the media is baised against them. (I don't claim this is true, but a significant majority of the news meida does lean left - even counting Fox - so you should be looking for the other side)
I hope you get your news from more than trained reporters, because it is proven that some will lie. There are plenty of examples of bais. It is impossible to be unbiased. Next time the media doesn't reports on someone joining my church, they are biased against my church, since that is the number one story to members of my church, and would be even if "the bomb" was droped. (Nobody, not even members of my church, would report on someone joining my church, but that isn't the point)
Its not MLM. Someone hires you to advertise a product. As in "five bucks (or some other amount) if you bring our saussages to the next pot luck you go to and tell everyone how much you like them". You are going to the party anyway, and you need to bring something. So it only costs a few words of your time to tell everyone what brand they are. You are not looking for other people who do the same, you are just trying to talk them into a brand.
It works because people trust word of mouth. You wouldn't tell me something is great unless you really liked it. Since you like it, and you are a friend I'll try it too, though I'm free to form my own opinion. It works because I, and most people I know, have tried something new and really liked it enough that we have done this to our friends without getting paid for it.
Several of the participants have said that they only do this for products they like. (that is they try the sassuages first, if they are junk they won't bring them). Though I wonder how much a little money helped them to like something?
I agree with you, about not wanting anything to do with it. However that wasn't your question.
Send my Five Bucks to charity please. If you don't know a good one I reccomend Ducks Unlimited.
Ahh, but if you are in that narrow focused community... In the case of gentoo that is good. I use unix myself and am deep into it, but it doesn't take me much reading about gentoo to realize that it is only for hard-core computer people. Gentoo's word of mouth is actually perfect, it is spread by and to the people who would use it for the most part, in such a way that it turns off people who shouldn't use it anyway.
By contrat, for the average person on the street linux is ready for their comptuer - IF they install Suse, mandrake, or the like. Everything works out of the box and is easy. (easier than Microsoft Windows if you install yourself) However for someone like me who grew up with BSD (back when you were either BSD ot SysV), those two just don't cut it. The do everything for you additude gets in my way. I love FreeBSD, but the experts there have told me that Gentoo (or slackware) are the best linux distributions if you need something that FreeBSD doesn't support as well.
Re:I know this is an oft repeated point but
on
Upbeat on E-books
·
· Score: 1
Sure. A real bath is a nice change of pace. It requires some time (minimum 1 hour) when you don't have to or want to do anything other than relax. Just fill the tub, jump in, and enjoy.
Most adult's dislike for baths is caused by the tiny bathtub most houses have. So if you have the choice (remodel) put in an oversized tub, and join those of us who enjoy a bath once in a while.
Most of the time I shower, it uses less water, and gets me cleaner. A nice warm bath is more replaxing though.
Maybe, depending on exactly what you can live with. There is a bluetooth module for asterisk, that can connect to some cell phones. It is not stable yet, but it in theory you can set a computer with bluetooth up near the window, running asterisk. When you get home you put your cell phone by the window (and on a charger), and Asterisk connects to the phone. Then you call from whereever you can connect to that machine. Either with VOIP from other computers in the house, or a FXS/FXO (I can never remember which is which without a lot of reading) board to your current phones. Not to mention all the VOIP networks asterisk can connect to.
Like I said, it isn't exactly what you asked for, and not all the modules are stable. However it is worth checking out anyway.
These services are valuable, make no mistake. They monitor your credit monthly, which for some people can be important. You can get one report free per year, any more and you have to pay. So paying someone who will inform you of changes isn't a bad deal if you need your credit report more than once a year. True most people don't need a report more than once a year, but those people generally didn't sign up for these services before. (well they might have got their one free introductory report, but they didn't sign up for more)
One of my friends did sign up for this service. It made perfect sense for him. He was planning on buying a house in a few months so he knew he needed a loan. He also had bad credit from the past (some situations beyond his control, some bad decisions). The one free report told him who he had to contact to correct things. The monthly update told him who he needed to get in touch with again, and who had taken care of the problem. Very valuable if you are in that situation. Most people are not, but that still leaves a lot of people who need more.
Its a great thing when it works. Instead of spending 5-10 minutes waiting in line (watching the ice cream melt) I jump onto an open machine, and am done and out in minutes. No waiting for the gal in front of my to find her checkbook and cupons. No waiting for a clerk that needs 1 minute per item, and other annoyences of the normal lines.
The above is when it works. I don't use those things at Home Depot because they don't work. Many items don't scan, even when they do, there is a limit of one item every 5 seconds, which is longer than you would thing when you are trying to get a line going with both hands like the clerks do. (it is faster to wait behind a cleark scanning 50 items before getting to your order than to scan your 10 items yourself) Compare that to Wal-Mart where it works, and I done in much less time.
And also take out the former victum who just turned the tables on an attacker that was going to kill him.
Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6. Ideally it never comes to the point where anyone has to shoot anouther, but if it does, I'd prefer the person of sound mind shooting the violent criminal, than the other way around.
There are those who are poor, but doing the best they can, trying to create a better life. Then there are those who see nothing wrong with shooting other people. The latter is more likely to be poor, but includes all classes. (drugs are often involved, but they don't have to be)
The first group is who we should help. They are best helped by allowing them to live their life in peace. Allowing their children to get an education. Allowing them to walk to work safely. While their schools might not be as good as what the rich go to, they are good enough that you can get into Ivy League schools if you study hard, a requirement even the rich kids have to meet. (scholarships mean that you can pay for it)
I'd say a majority of infections can be chalked to irresponsibility, at least in North America and Europe. (Africa has other problems) Unfortunatly you are one of the many victums who are irresponsbile.
I'm sorry for you and people like you who are innocent victims. I have no sympathy for anyone who got it through irresponsible behavior after 1985.
A cure takes more than just money
on
HIV Vaccine
·
· Score: 1
I'm sure if Bill Gates got HIV/AIDS he would spend every penny he could to find a cure. However do not assume there is a direct cause and effect relation. To cure AIDS requires a mixture of knowledge, luck, time, and money.
Money is the easiest to provide. Bill Gates controls a lot. Many charities already do fund raisers to get money.
Only a few people hold knowledge in the right field (though I'm sure most/. readers could learn it), but worse than that, we simply do not know all there is to know. If the cure depends on knowledge that we will not discover for several hundred years, than a good cure will not happen for several hundred years.
Time can be bought only in small quanities, once you are talking the kind of money Bill Gates has (added to what is already being spent by others), you need to start at a lower level. Bill needs to start at a lower level, scholarships for anyone going into AIDS research is a good way to go, but it takes 4 years or more to get someone to this level. Results are not overnight. When you consider that lifespan after detection is 10-20 years (last I checked it was 10, but there have been advances since then), that doesn't leave a lot of time for the new researchers to get something working.
Well at least everyone who is legal to vote in the US. Starting a little over a year from now, your local political parties will be holding meetings to determine their direction for the next election. Find out when and where they are, then show up. For the two major parties this is public knowledge posted well in advance. (third parties hold them too, but finding out when and where is more difficult)
Once you are there, start talking, but make it intelligent. Find out the format in advance each party is slightly different. Prepare some resolutions in advance.
Normally the format is someone starts by reading a prepared sentence ("Be it resolved that abortion shall be illegal"), and then the floor is open for debate. Immediately someone will jump in and say no, they disagree ("Abortion is a women's choice"). After a few minutes the chair stops discussion and calls for a vote: yes, no, abstain. (Note I specifically picked an example you are likely to hear when you go! Your resolution will not be near as controversial, so it won't get near as much debate)
At some point they then pick people to represent their local area in the state convention. Get picked! (this isn't hard, in many areas anyone who shows up gets a position if they want it, and then they pick alternates from those who couldn't make it that night but have gone to state in the past) At the state convention much the same happens, except the debates are larger.
Remember, present your resolutions as non-controversial, good ideas. Most people will not be informed, so they will abstain. Then when it gets to state the only people who care are those from/. who took my advice, and are on your side.
Now get your party elected.
The above is the grassroots processes. It is how everything is done politically in the US. The power is by following the above, forget the party boss, they are nothing compared to the millions of little guys working together to get something done.
Note that it does not matter much which party you pick. Neither major party has a monopoly on doing the right thing as far as copyrights (both have done the wrong thing countless times). Pick one you generally agree with, and fix the parts you don't. This works even better when some pick the republicans, and others the democrats. Then when congress meets in 2 years, there is strong grassroots bi-partisan support for your issue, so congress passes it so they can be reelected for doing something non-controversial.
Of course the above is ideal. In the real world reform can take years, and many will oppose you. Keep at it. Good luck.
A school project about 10 years ago was to propose a device to help the blind. We quickly found that while not perfect, dogs and canes work just fine for near navigation. Any technology solution came up with ended up being worse than those two for the simple problem of obstical avoidance. (CPUs were not up to the task of what this device is doing though, at least not in portable packaging)
The real problem blind people have, and one that this doesn't appear to solve is long navigation and location. When a normal person goes to the mall the see many clues to tell them were they are. There are signs above the door. Compare to the blind. Is this store "The Gap", or is it "Victoria's Secret"? There is a large difference. Assuming they decide it is a store they want to go in, is that door this device sees the door, or the maintance passage?
It might be nice for the blind to know that some bus seat is empty, but it is much more important to know they are on the right bus.
This device is useful I guess, and I credit the designer for not claiming it replaces a cane/dog. It does not solve the most important problem the blind face.
Perhaps, but in return for fixing my Uncle's computer he gave me a $3000 iron filter for my water. (it was broke, but he had the parts to fix it)
Its the family joke, Christmas at his house to fix the computer, Thanksgiving at ours to fix the water. Easter, birthday parties, graduation, and other family get togethers you count on either a water softener being rebuilt, or a computer being cleaned up.
Not really. A good engineer can solve the problems. A heat exchanger will allow very good efficencies in heating things up. Take your >1000C gas leaving the first stage to heat the input stream. The hot gas looses tempature, while the cool gas gains. Then do the same to your second stage to get the gas down to -200C.
Mind the laws of thermodynamics are not mocked. Some energy must be input someplace to get the very last bit of heat (cold). Not nearly as much as you think.
As for explosion, yes it is a concern. I'm not sure how it is solved, but it can be done. (though making all your containers strong enough to handle an explosion just in case is a good idea)
The ones that have prevented any nuclear power plants from being built in the US in more than 20 (30?) years. The ones that have convinced people that it is better to build an expensive landfill in Nevada instead of recycling the "waste" from our current plants.
You knows, those types of thems. Sure some regulation might be a good idea, but clearly we have way too much when the above situation is the case.
Everyone who is interested in this should call ALL providers before doing anything to find out. The answer will be no, but the goal is to make our voice heard. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Yes I know the guy on the other end of the line rarely collects these statics, but you never know when you talk to the one guy who will be asked. Once management hears that the question comes up they start keeping track of how often it comes up (this will happen withing warning so we don't slashdot their phone lines). If there is enough people calling, the message will be recieved. Make sure your voice isn't lost.
If you get this working on an unsupported network (your only choice now), and suddenly it stops working with linux (make sure it is something they did, and not your mistake - check with others!), then it is time to slashdot their support lines, and don't accept "not supported" for an answer, talk to management (even though it is the guy at the next desk), and keep screaming. When nobody on a "supported OS" can get though because they broke the "unsupported OS", they will change.
The manager needs to have the password in a safe someplace so that if you all quit at once he can get someone else to keep the systems going.
Otherwise, whats the problem with giving him root? Just because says tradition is that account 0 one unix systems is called root doesn't mean yours has to be called root. Rename the root account to something else, and create a no privliges account called root that you can give anyone the password to.
If nothing else that is a good way to weed out those who need higher access. The people who don't figure it out right away are either too incompitent to have account, or can be trusted to never even look at root until it is really needed. (which is left as an exercise to the user) Those who notice right away have enough of a clue that they might not break something.
Note that on a properly setup system you do not need a root password at all. sudo can run all the programs you need. At least that is what I'm told, I've never got my systems that far.
You are overlooking a number of other great medical institutions in Minnesota. As one person I know says "Mayo is the world's best collection of doctors under one roof (though I think the clinic covers more than one building), but if you are willing to work with several different orginizations, the Twin Cities has better medical care overall." They were willing to head down to Mayo, it is at most 3 hours drive from the Twin Cities.
Some people approach this question as if by making a few simple changes they could have avoided the need for correction, any by making them now they can [stop|reverse] the damage. That is not realistic. In most cases there is no damage that is causing the problem. It is just a fact of like that your eyes undergo drastic changes at certain times in your life. Many people suddenly start needing glasses at 10, and bifocals at 45. Get over it.. No exercise, diet, or strain elimination program will solve the problem for most people.
Yes you should eliminate eye strain, exercise regularly, eat healthy foods, and all those other things you keep hearing about. Not doing some of that is not the cause of your problems (though it might make it worse), so changing won't change your problem.
Maybe you can do this. However the law requires some record to be kept. Some places (stockbrokers) need to keep email for 7 years. Fail to keep the records, and they may not get you on the records, but typically not keeping records is a crime worse than what you hid. (if it was less everyone would destroy records and take the reduced sentence if caught)
Of course you would need a lawyer to figure out when you are allowed to delete what. I guess thats my point though: ask a lawyer what you should do.
One issue: you want more than a simple PC for your lawfirm's PBX. You want something the can at least recover automaticly from a crash. 2 PCs, RAID disks, UPS, and the like. You might already know this, but it is important to point it out so some idiot doesn't get the wrong idea.
The Boy Electrician is the best place to start. Published in 1940, so the tubes are a little hard to find, but most of the projects don't use tubes. Everything is easy yet informative, and the book is aimed at boys so it is easy and fun to read. Recommended, even for adults.
P.S. That site has several other books that you will find interesting, but this is the best.
Slashdot Mirror
Thats what a video camera is for. Video tape the light as you approach it, and the behavior. Then send a copy to the city and tell them to fix it. When they don't, start a class action lawsuit on behalf of everyone who has wasted gas at a light that is intentionally programed to waste gas.
Come to think of it, I know of a light in Eagan I should do that to.
Seriously, complain. Then get everyone else you know to do so as well. If things are not fixed within a month start a letter writing campaign. Include the newspapers and your congressmen.
Those sensors are adjustable. You just need to be annoying enough that they fix the problem.
Reporters are the problem. About two years ago the New York Times fired a reporter after discovering he had faked several stories! Just a couple months back, CBS' lead anchor, didn't check some memos that turned out to be forgeries. In the latter case it was more proof of the right wing's claim that the media is baised against them. (I don't claim this is true, but a significant majority of the news meida does lean left - even counting Fox - so you should be looking for the other side)
I hope you get your news from more than trained reporters, because it is proven that some will lie. There are plenty of examples of bais. It is impossible to be unbiased. Next time the media doesn't reports on someone joining my church, they are biased against my church, since that is the number one story to members of my church, and would be even if "the bomb" was droped. (Nobody, not even members of my church, would report on someone joining my church, but that isn't the point)
Its not MLM. Someone hires you to advertise a product. As in "five bucks (or some other amount) if you bring our saussages to the next pot luck you go to and tell everyone how much you like them". You are going to the party anyway, and you need to bring something. So it only costs a few words of your time to tell everyone what brand they are. You are not looking for other people who do the same, you are just trying to talk them into a brand.
It works because people trust word of mouth. You wouldn't tell me something is great unless you really liked it. Since you like it, and you are a friend I'll try it too, though I'm free to form my own opinion. It works because I, and most people I know, have tried something new and really liked it enough that we have done this to our friends without getting paid for it.
Several of the participants have said that they only do this for products they like. (that is they try the sassuages first, if they are junk they won't bring them). Though I wonder how much a little money helped them to like something?
I agree with you, about not wanting anything to do with it. However that wasn't your question.
Send my Five Bucks to charity please. If you don't know a good one I reccomend Ducks Unlimited.
Ahh, but if you are in that narrow focused community... In the case of gentoo that is good. I use unix myself and am deep into it, but it doesn't take me much reading about gentoo to realize that it is only for hard-core computer people. Gentoo's word of mouth is actually perfect, it is spread by and to the people who would use it for the most part, in such a way that it turns off people who shouldn't use it anyway.
By contrat, for the average person on the street linux is ready for their comptuer - IF they install Suse, mandrake, or the like. Everything works out of the box and is easy. (easier than Microsoft Windows if you install yourself) However for someone like me who grew up with BSD (back when you were either BSD ot SysV), those two just don't cut it. The do everything for you additude gets in my way. I love FreeBSD, but the experts there have told me that Gentoo (or slackware) are the best linux distributions if you need something that FreeBSD doesn't support as well.
Sure. A real bath is a nice change of pace. It requires some time (minimum 1 hour) when you don't have to or want to do anything other than relax. Just fill the tub, jump in, and enjoy.
Most adult's dislike for baths is caused by the tiny bathtub most houses have. So if you have the choice (remodel) put in an oversized tub, and join those of us who enjoy a bath once in a while.
Most of the time I shower, it uses less water, and gets me cleaner. A nice warm bath is more replaxing though.
Maybe, depending on exactly what you can live with. There is a bluetooth module for asterisk, that can connect to some cell phones. It is not stable yet, but it in theory you can set a computer with bluetooth up near the window, running asterisk. When you get home you put your cell phone by the window (and on a charger), and Asterisk connects to the phone. Then you call from whereever you can connect to that machine. Either with VOIP from other computers in the house, or a FXS/FXO (I can never remember which is which without a lot of reading) board to your current phones. Not to mention all the VOIP networks asterisk can connect to.
Like I said, it isn't exactly what you asked for, and not all the modules are stable. However it is worth checking out anyway.
These services are valuable, make no mistake. They monitor your credit monthly, which for some people can be important. You can get one report free per year, any more and you have to pay. So paying someone who will inform you of changes isn't a bad deal if you need your credit report more than once a year. True most people don't need a report more than once a year, but those people generally didn't sign up for these services before. (well they might have got their one free introductory report, but they didn't sign up for more)
One of my friends did sign up for this service. It made perfect sense for him. He was planning on buying a house in a few months so he knew he needed a loan. He also had bad credit from the past (some situations beyond his control, some bad decisions). The one free report told him who he had to contact to correct things. The monthly update told him who he needed to get in touch with again, and who had taken care of the problem. Very valuable if you are in that situation. Most people are not, but that still leaves a lot of people who need more.
Its a great thing when it works. Instead of spending 5-10 minutes waiting in line (watching the ice cream melt) I jump onto an open machine, and am done and out in minutes. No waiting for the gal in front of my to find her checkbook and cupons. No waiting for a clerk that needs 1 minute per item, and other annoyences of the normal lines.
The above is when it works. I don't use those things at Home Depot because they don't work. Many items don't scan, even when they do, there is a limit of one item every 5 seconds, which is longer than you would thing when you are trying to get a line going with both hands like the clerks do. (it is faster to wait behind a cleark scanning 50 items before getting to your order than to scan your 10 items yourself) Compare that to Wal-Mart where it works, and I done in much less time.
And also take out the former victum who just turned the tables on an attacker that was going to kill him.
Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6. Ideally it never comes to the point where anyone has to shoot anouther, but if it does, I'd prefer the person of sound mind shooting the violent criminal, than the other way around.
There are those who are poor, but doing the best they can, trying to create a better life. Then there are those who see nothing wrong with shooting other people. The latter is more likely to be poor, but includes all classes. (drugs are often involved, but they don't have to be)
The first group is who we should help. They are best helped by allowing them to live their life in peace. Allowing their children to get an education. Allowing them to walk to work safely. While their schools might not be as good as what the rich go to, they are good enough that you can get into Ivy League schools if you study hard, a requirement even the rich kids have to meet. (scholarships mean that you can pay for it)
I'd say a majority of infections can be chalked to irresponsibility, at least in North America and Europe. (Africa has other problems) Unfortunatly you are one of the many victums who are irresponsbile.
I'm sorry for you and people like you who are innocent victims. I have no sympathy for anyone who got it through irresponsible behavior after 1985.
I'm sure if Bill Gates got HIV/AIDS he would spend every penny he could to find a cure. However do not assume there is a direct cause and effect relation. To cure AIDS requires a mixture of knowledge, luck, time, and money.
Money is the easiest to provide. Bill Gates controls a lot. Many charities already do fund raisers to get money.
Only a few people hold knowledge in the right field (though I'm sure most /. readers could learn it), but worse than that, we simply do not know all there is to know. If the cure depends on knowledge that we will not discover for several hundred years, than a good cure will not happen for several hundred years.
Time can be bought only in small quanities, once you are talking the kind of money Bill Gates has (added to what is already being spent by others), you need to start at a lower level. Bill needs to start at a lower level, scholarships for anyone going into AIDS research is a good way to go, but it takes 4 years or more to get someone to this level. Results are not overnight. When you consider that lifespan after detection is 10-20 years (last I checked it was 10, but there have been advances since then), that doesn't leave a lot of time for the new researchers to get something working.
Well at least everyone who is legal to vote in the US. Starting a little over a year from now, your local political parties will be holding meetings to determine their direction for the next election. Find out when and where they are, then show up. For the two major parties this is public knowledge posted well in advance. (third parties hold them too, but finding out when and where is more difficult)
Once you are there, start talking, but make it intelligent. Find out the format in advance each party is slightly different. Prepare some resolutions in advance.
Normally the format is someone starts by reading a prepared sentence ("Be it resolved that abortion shall be illegal"), and then the floor is open for debate. Immediately someone will jump in and say no, they disagree ("Abortion is a women's choice"). After a few minutes the chair stops discussion and calls for a vote: yes, no, abstain. (Note I specifically picked an example you are likely to hear when you go! Your resolution will not be near as controversial, so it won't get near as much debate)
At some point they then pick people to represent their local area in the state convention. Get picked! (this isn't hard, in many areas anyone who shows up gets a position if they want it, and then they pick alternates from those who couldn't make it that night but have gone to state in the past) At the state convention much the same happens, except the debates are larger.
Remember, present your resolutions as non-controversial, good ideas. Most people will not be informed, so they will abstain. Then when it gets to state the only people who care are those from /. who took my advice, and are on your side.
Now get your party elected.
The above is the grassroots processes. It is how everything is done politically in the US. The power is by following the above, forget the party boss, they are nothing compared to the millions of little guys working together to get something done.
Note that it does not matter much which party you pick. Neither major party has a monopoly on doing the right thing as far as copyrights (both have done the wrong thing countless times). Pick one you generally agree with, and fix the parts you don't. This works even better when some pick the republicans, and others the democrats. Then when congress meets in 2 years, there is strong grassroots bi-partisan support for your issue, so congress passes it so they can be reelected for doing something non-controversial.
Of course the above is ideal. In the real world reform can take years, and many will oppose you. Keep at it. Good luck.
A school project about 10 years ago was to propose a device to help the blind. We quickly found that while not perfect, dogs and canes work just fine for near navigation. Any technology solution came up with ended up being worse than those two for the simple problem of obstical avoidance. (CPUs were not up to the task of what this device is doing though, at least not in portable packaging)
The real problem blind people have, and one that this doesn't appear to solve is long navigation and location. When a normal person goes to the mall the see many clues to tell them were they are. There are signs above the door. Compare to the blind. Is this store "The Gap", or is it "Victoria's Secret"? There is a large difference. Assuming they decide it is a store they want to go in, is that door this device sees the door, or the maintance passage?
It might be nice for the blind to know that some bus seat is empty, but it is much more important to know they are on the right bus.
This device is useful I guess, and I credit the designer for not claiming it replaces a cane/dog. It does not solve the most important problem the blind face.
Perhaps, but in return for fixing my Uncle's computer he gave me a $3000 iron filter for my water. (it was broke, but he had the parts to fix it)
Its the family joke, Christmas at his house to fix the computer, Thanksgiving at ours to fix the water. Easter, birthday parties, graduation, and other family get togethers you count on either a water softener being rebuilt, or a computer being cleaned up.
Not really. A good engineer can solve the problems. A heat exchanger will allow very good efficencies in heating things up. Take your >1000C gas leaving the first stage to heat the input stream. The hot gas looses tempature, while the cool gas gains. Then do the same to your second stage to get the gas down to -200C.
Mind the laws of thermodynamics are not mocked. Some energy must be input someplace to get the very last bit of heat (cold). Not nearly as much as you think.
As for explosion, yes it is a concern. I'm not sure how it is solved, but it can be done. (though making all your containers strong enough to handle an explosion just in case is a good idea)
The ones that have prevented any nuclear power plants from being built in the US in more than 20 (30?) years. The ones that have convinced people that it is better to build an expensive landfill in Nevada instead of recycling the "waste" from our current plants.
You knows, those types of thems. Sure some regulation might be a good idea, but clearly we have way too much when the above situation is the case.
Everyone who is interested in this should call ALL providers before doing anything to find out. The answer will be no, but the goal is to make our voice heard. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Yes I know the guy on the other end of the line rarely collects these statics, but you never know when you talk to the one guy who will be asked. Once management hears that the question comes up they start keeping track of how often it comes up (this will happen withing warning so we don't slashdot their phone lines). If there is enough people calling, the message will be recieved. Make sure your voice isn't lost.
If you get this working on an unsupported network (your only choice now), and suddenly it stops working with linux (make sure it is something they did, and not your mistake - check with others!), then it is time to slashdot their support lines, and don't accept "not supported" for an answer, talk to management (even though it is the guy at the next desk), and keep screaming. When nobody on a "supported OS" can get though because they broke the "unsupported OS", they will change.
The manager needs to have the password in a safe someplace so that if you all quit at once he can get someone else to keep the systems going.
Otherwise, whats the problem with giving him root? Just because says tradition is that account 0 one unix systems is called root doesn't mean yours has to be called root. Rename the root account to something else, and create a no privliges account called root that you can give anyone the password to.
If nothing else that is a good way to weed out those who need higher access. The people who don't figure it out right away are either too incompitent to have account, or can be trusted to never even look at root until it is really needed. (which is left as an exercise to the user) Those who notice right away have enough of a clue that they might not break something.
Note that on a properly setup system you do not need a root password at all. sudo can run all the programs you need. At least that is what I'm told, I've never got my systems that far.
You are overlooking a number of other great medical institutions in Minnesota. As one person I know says "Mayo is the world's best collection of doctors under one roof (though I think the clinic covers more than one building), but if you are willing to work with several different orginizations, the Twin Cities has better medical care overall." They were willing to head down to Mayo, it is at most 3 hours drive from the Twin Cities.
Some people approach this question as if by making a few simple changes they could have avoided the need for correction, any by making them now they can [stop|reverse] the damage. That is not realistic. In most cases there is no damage that is causing the problem. It is just a fact of like that your eyes undergo drastic changes at certain times in your life. Many people suddenly start needing glasses at 10, and bifocals at 45. Get over it.. No exercise, diet, or strain elimination program will solve the problem for most people.
Yes you should eliminate eye strain, exercise regularly, eat healthy foods, and all those other things you keep hearing about. Not doing some of that is not the cause of your problems (though it might make it worse), so changing won't change your problem.
Maybe you can do this. However the law requires some record to be kept. Some places (stockbrokers) need to keep email for 7 years. Fail to keep the records, and they may not get you on the records, but typically not keeping records is a crime worse than what you hid. (if it was less everyone would destroy records and take the reduced sentence if caught)
Of course you would need a lawyer to figure out when you are allowed to delete what. I guess thats my point though: ask a lawyer what you should do.
One issue: you want more than a simple PC for your lawfirm's PBX. You want something the can at least recover automaticly from a crash. 2 PCs, RAID disks, UPS, and the like. You might already know this, but it is important to point it out so some idiot doesn't get the wrong idea.
The Boy Electrician is the best place to start. Published in 1940, so the tubes are a little hard to find, but most of the projects don't use tubes. Everything is easy yet informative, and the book is aimed at boys so it is easy and fun to read. Recommended, even for adults.
P.S. That site has several other books that you will find interesting, but this is the best.