Also, I found this tidbit out from working with our Sheriff's Office for the past 3 years....
Most of the time, a cell phone location can't be pinpointed. It does pinpoint on the mapping system, but it's a best guess based on triangulation between towers. Often, you have to assume it's within a square mile of where it shows on the mapping system.
It may be a lot different in larger cities with a higher tower density, but that's been my experience with cell phone mapping. Definitely not what you see in the movies!
I work in lower ed in the state of Minnesota. This is a mirror story to what I deal with here in our school system! In addition, I'm having trouble even buying computers from Dell. All of our sales reps won't return calls, even when we flat out say we're trying to give them money.
What summed Dell up for me was when we bought a lab of machines for CAD use... we naturally upgraded the video cards, but stayed with Optiplex's (our trusty line). When they arrived with the Dell flatscreen monitors we ordered, we noticed we couldn't plug DVI monitor cable into the video card. After several seconds, we realized that the ATI card has a proprietary ATI video connector... looks similar to DVI, but you need their adapter. The adapter is a Y cable which also allows you to use dual monitors.
I assume anyone reading this is up to speed with the issue at this point... DELL however, could not grasp this concept. After calling them, they sent us 32 DVI -> VGA converter cables which of course, didn't work. Calling our rep again, resulted in a different converter cable. A month passes. We still feel they are unable to grasp the issue at hand here. I take photos, google similar issues, send it off to them. Finally, the correct adapter arrives.
One would think this was an isolated incident, but I had the exact same issue 3 more times in the past two years. All with the same rep. I explain.... send the documentation.... and I still feel they can't grasp this. I too hang my head in shame when I tell people that we purchase Dell.
It's considered downright BAD to be good at math in this culture.
I have a major in math, and if I wanted to have friends, and preferably girlfriends, I made damn sure either to not tell them I was in mathematics, that I hated math, that I sucked at it, or some combination of those.
For that matter, it's generally perceived that girls go for a muscular man, not someone who worked to get their masters. It's so plainly visible in television, movies and commercials.
I couldn't imagine living in China, Japan, or any of the other countries where academic achievement is considered sexy by the culture itself.
That would kinda point to the solution to THAT problem, now wouldn't it? Separation of science and state would seem to be a requirement. It's worked great for religion, speech, the press, assembly, &etc.
From what I've seen, our current government and politicians are very much separated from science!
"In 2001, spam accounted for about five per cent of the traffic on the Internet; by 2004, that figure had risen to more than seventy per cent. This year, in some regions, it has edged above ninety per cent--more than a hundred billion unsolicited messages clogging the arterial passages of the world's computer networks every day. [2007] The flow of spam is often seasonal. It slows in the spring, and then, in the month that technology specialists call "black September"--when hundreds of thousands of students return to college, many armed with new computers and access to fast Internet connections--the levels rise sharply."
I was once on the other side of this debate... I was a network administrator at a large High School. One day, a teacher brought a [school] laptop to me for some work, and I saw that he had installed a data erasing tool, the kind that's meant to zero out data after you delete a file in Windows.
This immediately prompted me to look at the system closer, and I found evidence, mostly in the form of thumbnails, that the teacher had been downloading and viewing child porn on the laptop. This was definitely a probable cause for me to investigate the laptop, since we owned it. I often wondered how this would hold up if it were a private laptop, or if the police could use that as an excuse to investigate a computer.
Seriously, it's actually why it's in the law books. They were debating bringing this up at a federal level, to hit drug dealers harder. Jokes about the IRS aside, they really do care about lost revenue.
I suppose it makes sense that a planetary system could form in the same manner as ours,
but lack the mass to ignite a sustained fusion reaction in the core of the system.
How many others could be out there that we can't see?
While I haven't participated in a "fight club" per se, I was heavily into martial arts... you
may have seen my old instructor in UFC 2, taking one of the most memorable beatings in UFC history.
He was very tought on us, and I really got to liking it because it made you feel like you were a part of something no one else was, and it gave you a sense of pride. Of course, this is true of any cult as well.... I guess the point is that it really did put more excitement into a network administrator's life.
I really did enjoy anytime we practiced, but we never really used frying pans or the like. And yes, people do tell me I need help. Often.
I live in a small bubble in Minnesota where Charter Communications hasn't upgraded their equipment to be able to show any HIDEF channels. Glad I bought the 52" hidef widescreen television instead of waiting....
Slashdot Mirror
Also, I found this tidbit out from working with our Sheriff's Office for the past 3 years.... Most of the time, a cell phone location can't be pinpointed. It does pinpoint on the mapping system, but it's a best guess based on triangulation between towers. Often, you have to assume it's within a square mile of where it shows on the mapping system. It may be a lot different in larger cities with a higher tower density, but that's been my experience with cell phone mapping. Definitely not what you see in the movies!
I work in lower ed in the state of Minnesota. This is a mirror story to what I deal with here in our school system! In addition, I'm having trouble even buying computers from Dell. All of our sales reps won't return calls, even when we flat out say we're trying to give them money.
What summed Dell up for me was when we bought a lab of machines for CAD use... we naturally upgraded the video cards, but stayed with Optiplex's (our trusty line). When they arrived with the Dell flatscreen monitors we ordered, we noticed we couldn't plug DVI monitor cable into the video card. After several seconds, we realized that the ATI card has a proprietary ATI video connector... looks similar to DVI, but you need their adapter. The adapter is a Y cable which also allows you to use dual monitors.
I assume anyone reading this is up to speed with the issue at this point... DELL however, could not grasp this concept. After calling them, they sent us 32 DVI -> VGA converter cables which of course, didn't work. Calling our rep again, resulted in a different converter cable. A month passes. We still feel they are unable to grasp the issue at hand here. I take photos, google similar issues, send it off to them. Finally, the correct adapter arrives.
One would think this was an isolated incident, but I had the exact same issue 3 more times in the past two years. All with the same rep. I explain.... send the documentation.... and I still feel they can't grasp this. I too hang my head in shame when I tell people that we purchase Dell.
How did they get footage of my wife???
It's considered downright BAD to be good at math in this culture.
I have a major in math, and if I wanted to have friends, and preferably girlfriends, I made damn sure either to not tell them I was in mathematics, that I hated math, that I sucked at it, or some combination of those.
For that matter, it's generally perceived that girls go for a muscular man, not someone who worked to get their masters. It's so plainly visible in television, movies and commercials. I couldn't imagine living in China, Japan, or any of the other countries where academic achievement is considered sexy by the culture itself.
That would kinda point to the solution to THAT problem, now wouldn't it? Separation of science and state would seem to be a requirement. It's worked great for religion, speech, the press, assembly, &etc.
From what I've seen, our current government and politicians are very much separated from science!
"In 2001, spam accounted for about five per cent of the traffic on the Internet; by 2004, that figure had risen to more than seventy per cent. This year, in some regions, it has edged above ninety per cent--more than a hundred billion unsolicited messages clogging the arterial passages of the world's computer networks every day. [2007] The flow of spam is often seasonal. It slows in the spring, and then, in the month that technology specialists call "black September"--when hundreds of thousands of students return to college, many armed with new computers and access to fast Internet connections--the levels rise sharply."
Source: The New Yorker, August 2007
I was once on the other side of this debate... I was a network administrator at a large High School. One day, a teacher brought a [school] laptop to me for some work, and I saw that he had installed a data erasing tool, the kind that's meant to zero out data after you delete a file in Windows.
This immediately prompted me to look at the system closer, and I found evidence, mostly in the form of thumbnails, that the teacher had been downloading and viewing child porn on the laptop. This was definitely a probable cause for me to investigate the laptop, since we owned it. I often wondered how this would hold up if it were a private laptop, or if the police could use that as an excuse to investigate a computer.
Does this take into account the several inches of lead required on all vehicle bodies to keep the radiation out?
I suppose this is why he uses tape to cover other parts than the ones he's cleaning
Which then, of course, requires suguar to remove the tape residue... Clearly a plot by the Mexican sugar industry.
...the mystery of Toxic Moondust Bouncing Like Cannonballs!
Seriously, it's actually why it's in the law books. They were debating bringing this up at a federal level, to hit drug dealers harder. Jokes about the IRS aside, they really do care about lost revenue.
Yes, but can they be used to sort tiny screws in space?
I suppose it makes sense that a planetary system could form in the same manner as ours,
but lack the mass to ignite a sustained fusion reaction in the core of the system.
How many others could be out there that we can't see?
While I haven't participated in a "fight club" per se, I was heavily into martial arts... you may have seen my old instructor in UFC 2, taking one of the most memorable beatings in UFC history.
He was very tought on us, and I really got to liking it because it made you feel like you were a part of something no one else was, and it gave you a sense of pride. Of course, this is true of any cult as well.... I guess the point is that it really did put more excitement into a network administrator's life.
I really did enjoy anytime we practiced, but we never really used frying pans or the like. And yes, people do tell me I need help. Often.
Traction
...OneCare online backup and security service...
I for one, welcome our new OneCare backup and security overlords!
Not even a bunker would help -- the dust bounces like cannonballs!
In soviet russia, nature deals with you!
Disabled Fans Shut Out of Galaxies
Did anyone else think that this was an astronomy story in the wrong section, at first? The things I was picturing....
I live in a small bubble in Minnesota where Charter Communications hasn't upgraded their equipment to be able to show any HIDEF channels. Glad I bought the 52" hidef widescreen television instead of waiting....
I think the key to the odd headline is perhaps the time of the slashdot submission...
...with no apparent downside...
What could possibly go wrong!?
Purple monkey dishwasher!
[simpsons]
America's definition of poverty is much different than China's. America's poverty threshold for 1 person is at about $10,000.
I'm sure that China's definition of poverty is quite different.
This is why I *REFUSE* to wash my hands or brush my teeth!