Telcos use microwave antennas to get carry phone lines over great distances for lower cost than fiber, but they would never point one at a building, as that would defeat the line-of-sight nature of their operation.
Wait a minute, you can afford a penthouse apt in manhattan, but you are unsure about the safety of living next to a cellular antenna array that (to use your words) is pointed right at your apartment, so you turn to Slashdot? I don't believe it.
I also don't believe that any company would install a cellular antenna array and point it at a structure - it would seriously impact the coverage area of the antenna, and they could probably just as easily installed the antenna on a taller building and avoid interference...
privacy, child protection, cybersecurity, copyright protection, and Internet governance
Privacy - You are allowed to feel like you have privacy, but if we can trump-up a good sounding reason, forget it.
Child Protection - Now we can go after offending websites, forgetting First Amendment protections, but don't worry, it's all for the sake of protecting the children.
Cyber-security - We can't out-smart our opponents, so we'll employ brute force and squash anything that even looks dangerous.
Copyright Protection - Hey, we're big fans of the major media players, and we think they deserve a little somethin'-somethin for their generosity in the last several campaigns. (You don't think this administrations election campaign really raised three-quarters of a trillion dollars from (essentially) untraceable $10-200 donations over the web, do you?
Internet Governance - Hey, why should we cede control of something we in America invented?
There, I hope that helps you understand what is going on.
Your dad's friend has a friend who's daughter had a problem with her car...
Did I ever tell you about my friend, who knows a guy that went on vacation in the islands for a few days, and when he got back found a photo on his camera of his toothbrush sticking handle-out of a black man's butt? It's true, I swear!
I've known drivers that keep a foot on each pedal, alternating gas and brake (he was a math teacher, and it was very annoying to ride with him to team sports events in the school vans). I can't comprehend when you would want to accelerate and decellerate at the same time (press gas and brakes at the same time), but I suspect my old math teacher could have some overlap... But very few people drive like that, right?
Exactly how long have you been in the software industry? I've never had a problem with firware upgrades, and your statement: "because a large percentage of firmware updates actually brick the hardware or cause other unforeseen consequences." points out your inexperience. Define large percentage - I'd put it at well under 1% of all firmware upgrades, likely well under 0.0001%, is that a "large percentage"?
This software was developed and tested, deployed in a world where EVERYTHING Toyota does is under Federal Scrutiny and Class Action lawyers salivating at the prospect of suing Toyota for any inor glitch. This software update likely is among the most scrutinized code in recent history (excepting the staggering review military aircraft and space ship software undergoes). You trust their earlier software more than this new code?
In America there are three "tiers" of pricing for most any medical procedure:
Free/Charity work - this is the oft-discussed "show up at the emergency room, get seen by a doctor" system, but it also included work done with no expectation of reimbursement (people at or below the poverty level, etc. and, of course, community clinics)
(Discounted) Insurance Company Rates - this is the best price for a paid procedure, the insurance companies pre-negotiate lower fees/payment schedules with hospitals and other medical providers. An insurance company may only pay $125/night for a hospital room while the "going rate" is $300-500/night. In some cases the "discount" rate is less than the cost of delivery - in others it may equal or exceed the cost of delivery, on the whole the hospital/medical provider likely just about covers expenses on this work.
Cash Rate - This rate is reserved for people who make too much money to qualify for "free" healthcare but are not party to any existing "alternative" rate card for medical procedures. In almost all cases, I imagine the fees charged exceed the cost of delivery for a given procedure by a significant margin to cover for folks that either can't or simply don't pay their bill after treatment is rendered AND to cover any losses from the discounted insurance rates and to help pay for the free "charity" work they provide.
When foreigners travel to the US, I imagine they are subject to the "cash rate," not the discounted insurance rate since their trip insurance provider likely has no agreement to pay under any discounted schedule.
If I had one simple wish for healthcare reform, it would be that each healthcare provider be required to have exactly one set of rates, so that those that were previously paying the "cash rate" would instead be asked to pay something closer to the discounted insurance company rate and that the Gov't involvement was limited to providing assistance to helathcare providers to compensate them for charity work provided.
Don't you understand, the helpful foks from the GOv't only want what is best for everyone - the free market has been proven not to work. Of course, the politicians had to regulate, investigate, and instigate against the very health care providers into working against their own self-interest to prove that they (the Gov't) was right.
When politicians say there is no competition, ask them why no one else has entered the market in their state? Ask them why companies can't compete across state lines?
When politicians say insurance rates are to high, ask them why the Gov't insurance regulators approved EVERY RATE INCREASE?
I find it fascinating that many people think that the so-called Universal Healthcare Reform planned will result in (essentially) free insurance - the Gov't is requiring individuals to "prime the pump" under the theory if EVERYONE buys into the insurance industry the pools of insured will be big enough so that almost everyone pays cost-plus for medical care, and those with truely great medical needs will save money.
My brother for years had what is called "Catastrophic Coverage" and quite simply it makes the "who pays" calculation very simple. You agree to a pre-determined out-of-pocket toal for the year (say, $5K), then buy coverage for all medical expenses that exceed that amount up to whatever threshold you are comfortable with. Then, during the course of the year, you simply pay for all your medical bills out of pocket until you reach the threshold, then you prove to the insurance company how much you have paid and they will pay for the rest of the charges that occur that year.
There is a problem though - doctors will cut their fees becuase you are paying in cash, you will likely start to get a lot of free "samples" for prescription medicine and it may be quite hard for you to actually hit the threshold you set, but in the big scheme of things, that's an OK problem to have.;^)
Others have mentioned COBRA, but it typically covers way more than *most* people need, and you'll be paying a lot for your coverage. (I've been on COBRA before, and my overly-generous healthcare plan from my previous provider ran $1,500-1,750/month (at various employers at various times))... The high deductable coverage ("Catastrophic Coverage" I mentioned earlier) is likely your best option - you get to pick ANY doctor, ANY lab, and incidental items like eyeglasses may be covered...
I don't get it - he choose to go to college, he choose this college, he choose this work-study program and he chooses to comply with their requirements or not. He's not forced to do anything.
So, since no one is forcing him, what is the problem? In reality he simply doesn't understand the technology - they are storing an abstracted "profile" of his fingerprint for purposes of accurately recording his work hours - does he think no one else in any industry does this? Where I work they have a "hand reader" for the janitors to clock in and out (there was a problem/question of others clocking in/out coworkers)...
I love these folks that think their local newspaper will "shine a light on this grave injustice" - no competent newspaper will cover this non-story.
At a previous employer they had a few lunch-centric policies that I think worked out well.
The first was you had to have lunch with one of the two founders to get an offer - this had the added benefit that the owners knew you, and you knew (atleast one of) them, you'd feel connected instantly.
The second was that once you started working, your coworkers were encouraged to take you out to lunch on the companies dime. It only lasted for one week, but during that week you would be the most desirable lunch companion in the company, and you're bound to make a few friends that first week.
Lunch isn't the answer for everything, but it worked in the company I used to work at (I joined as employee 53, stayed with them past employee number 200, and the policy remained in-tact those ther/four years.
Geekmux, here in the US, it is almost unheard of for the IT group to get MORE space in a school after it is built. Over-specifying four racks instead of one or two allows you to build up a useful room size, ensures appropriate cooling, power, etc.
The main infrastructure at Albany Senior High only requires four servers, suggesting an almost 50-fold saving on hardware requirements.
No, it doesn't.
Merely by specifying four 42U racks doesn't mean they expect/assume the school will stuff each with 42 1U servers (some might be taller/use more Us), and it would be easier to build up the datacenter with racks now than straddle some random server purchase down the line with the need to buy a new server rack, UPSs capacity, KVM support,etc.
My local school district has 6x 42U racks in the data center, and it allows us tremendous flexibility in installing hardware (this is a test rack, not on generator power, these two are production servers, this rack is the SAN, another for web and other DMZ servers and one for future growth).
Each school has a 42U rack, but with only one or two local servers installed (one Windows, one OS X server), a UPS, switch or two, and fiber termination hardware with lots of room for future growth, if needed. We didn't need 42U, but the minimal cost savings didn't justify imposing limits on future growth...
Mark.JUK said "Nice to see everybody taking security so seriously then." Is there something inherently wrong with an AP that is connected right to a DSL (or other) internet connection to provide free access in, say, a coffee shop, library, city park, airport, or other common areas? McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, and many airports (thanks Google!) are offering "free WiFi" - by definition these can't be "closed"...
There are "wide open" residential gateways, but that number is dwindling (at least in my experience).
I work in a school district and we offer WiFi in all rooms in every building, but we have two "SSID"s - one secured (with access to our internal network, for administrators and district-supplied laptops) and one public (with only filtered access to the public internet, no internal resources available).
Your employer wants to treat it's professional, trained support staff as if they were members of Best Buy's Geek Squad, and the assumption is that by being easily spotted, you would now bw available for direct, in-person support questions while walking down the halls, on break, or at lunch.
If the support team wanted to do this and they came up with the idea, I'd have no problem with it, but until then, resist it.
There's a saying in business that you don't dress for the job you have, you dress for the job you want - and I can't believe your help desk folks want to dress "down" and be treated like unprofessional "computer guys", akin to the maint. staff or delivery boys.
Providing basic access to those currently with only dial-up access is a reasonable goal, even if it doesn't meet the highest definition of "high-speed broadband."
Your real issue is within the realm of the state and local regulatory agencies - your town, state enables monopolies, not the federal gov't.
No, we don't have "electricity neutrality" - you've never heard of "off-peak" KW/Hr rates? It only makes sense to offer it to commercial consumers of electricity, but they pay less for electricty used during off-peak hours...
Uhm, there's been NO INVESTMENT in the infrastructure since "the internet first went private"? Really? The network hasn't been upgraded or backbone capacity hasn't increased since then?
What a simplistic view of the telco/internet infrastructure...
Net Neutrality means the Internet backbone carriers should operate just like the post office - everyone buys a 44 cent stamp and takes their chances with delivery, you can't pay for better service, and there is no lower class of service than first class.
And substandard broadband? By who's definition? If I listen to some folks almost all US broadband pales in comparison to hand-picked alternatives (Finland, Japan), other folks think that anything that is several times faster than dial-up is better.
Wait, I get it - the idea is we should dip into our magic government printing presses, grab some of that free-flowing "Stimulus" money and roll out several megabit broadband to every house, apt, and trailer park in all 50 states (and territories, can't forget American Samoa, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico) and and carriers should never consider doing anything that looks like "quality of service" or offering anything better than this base offering... Right, that's it, isn't it?
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe the CEO of a major wireless company previously lived there, and his engineers NEVER wanted to get a "No Coverage" call from him/her! ;^)
Telcos use microwave antennas to get carry phone lines over great distances for lower cost than fiber, but they would never point one at a building, as that would defeat the line-of-sight nature of their operation.
Wait a minute, you can afford a penthouse apt in manhattan, but you are unsure about the safety of living next to a cellular antenna array that (to use your words) is pointed right at your apartment, so you turn to Slashdot? I don't believe it.
I also don't believe that any company would install a cellular antenna array and point it at a structure - it would seriously impact the coverage area of the antenna, and they could probably just as easily installed the antenna on a taller building and avoid interference...
Privacy - You are allowed to feel like you have privacy, but if we can trump-up a good sounding reason, forget it.
Child Protection - Now we can go after offending websites, forgetting First Amendment protections, but don't worry, it's all for the sake of protecting the children.
Cyber-security - We can't out-smart our opponents, so we'll employ brute force and squash anything that even looks dangerous.
Copyright Protection - Hey, we're big fans of the major media players, and we think they deserve a little somethin'-somethin for their generosity in the last several campaigns. (You don't think this administrations election campaign really raised three-quarters of a trillion dollars from (essentially) untraceable $10-200 donations over the web, do you?
Internet Governance - Hey, why should we cede control of something we in America invented?
There, I hope that helps you understand what is going on.
This code is *exceptionally* well commented...
Microsoft Vista has a reported 50 Million lines of code...
Your dad's friend has a friend who's daughter had a problem with her car...
Did I ever tell you about my friend, who knows a guy that went on vacation in the islands for a few days, and when he got back found a photo on his camera of his toothbrush sticking handle-out of a black man's butt? It's true, I swear!
I've known drivers that keep a foot on each pedal, alternating gas and brake (he was a math teacher, and it was very annoying to ride with him to team sports events in the school vans). I can't comprehend when you would want to accelerate and decellerate at the same time (press gas and brakes at the same time), but I suspect my old math teacher could have some overlap... But very few people drive like that, right?
Exactly how long have you been in the software industry? I've never had a problem with firware upgrades, and your statement: "because a large percentage of firmware updates actually brick the hardware or cause other unforeseen consequences." points out your inexperience. Define large percentage - I'd put it at well under 1% of all firmware upgrades, likely well under 0.0001%, is that a "large percentage"?
This software was developed and tested, deployed in a world where EVERYTHING Toyota does is under Federal Scrutiny and Class Action lawyers salivating at the prospect of suing Toyota for any inor glitch. This software update likely is among the most scrutinized code in recent history (excepting the staggering review military aircraft and space ship software undergoes). You trust their earlier software more than this new code?
In America there are three "tiers" of pricing for most any medical procedure:
Free/Charity work - this is the oft-discussed "show up at the emergency room, get seen by a doctor" system, but it also included work done with no expectation of reimbursement (people at or below the poverty level, etc. and, of course, community clinics)
(Discounted) Insurance Company Rates - this is the best price for a paid procedure, the insurance companies pre-negotiate lower fees/payment schedules with hospitals and other medical providers. An insurance company may only pay $125/night for a hospital room while the "going rate" is $300-500/night. In some cases the "discount" rate is less than the cost of delivery - in others it may equal or exceed the cost of delivery, on the whole the hospital/medical provider likely just about covers expenses on this work.
Cash Rate - This rate is reserved for people who make too much money to qualify for "free" healthcare but are not party to any existing "alternative" rate card for medical procedures. In almost all cases, I imagine the fees charged exceed the cost of delivery for a given procedure by a significant margin to cover for folks that either can't or simply don't pay their bill after treatment is rendered AND to cover any losses from the discounted insurance rates and to help pay for the free "charity" work they provide.
When foreigners travel to the US, I imagine they are subject to the "cash rate," not the discounted insurance rate since their trip insurance provider likely has no agreement to pay under any discounted schedule.
If I had one simple wish for healthcare reform, it would be that each healthcare provider be required to have exactly one set of rates, so that those that were previously paying the "cash rate" would instead be asked to pay something closer to the discounted insurance company rate and that the Gov't involvement was limited to providing assistance to helathcare providers to compensate them for charity work provided.
Don't you understand, the helpful foks from the GOv't only want what is best for everyone - the free market has been proven not to work. Of course, the politicians had to regulate, investigate, and instigate against the very health care providers into working against their own self-interest to prove that they (the Gov't) was right.
When politicians say there is no competition, ask them why no one else has entered the market in their state? Ask them why companies can't compete across state lines?
When politicians say insurance rates are to high, ask them why the Gov't insurance regulators approved EVERY RATE INCREASE?
I find it fascinating that many people think that the so-called Universal Healthcare Reform planned will result in (essentially) free insurance - the Gov't is requiring individuals to "prime the pump" under the theory if EVERYONE buys into the insurance industry the pools of insured will be big enough so that almost everyone pays cost-plus for medical care, and those with truely great medical needs will save money.
My brother for years had what is called "Catastrophic Coverage" and quite simply it makes the "who pays" calculation very simple. You agree to a pre-determined out-of-pocket toal for the year (say, $5K), then buy coverage for all medical expenses that exceed that amount up to whatever threshold you are comfortable with. Then, during the course of the year, you simply pay for all your medical bills out of pocket until you reach the threshold, then you prove to the insurance company how much you have paid and they will pay for the rest of the charges that occur that year.
There is a problem though - doctors will cut their fees becuase you are paying in cash, you will likely start to get a lot of free "samples" for prescription medicine and it may be quite hard for you to actually hit the threshold you set, but in the big scheme of things, that's an OK problem to have. ;^)
Others have mentioned COBRA, but it typically covers way more than *most* people need, and you'll be paying a lot for your coverage. (I've been on COBRA before, and my overly-generous healthcare plan from my previous provider ran $1,500-1,750/month (at various employers at various times))... The high deductable coverage ("Catastrophic Coverage" I mentioned earlier) is likely your best option - you get to pick ANY doctor, ANY lab, and incidental items like eyeglasses may be covered...
I don't get it - he choose to go to college, he choose this college, he choose this work-study program and he chooses to comply with their requirements or not. He's not forced to do anything.
So, since no one is forcing him, what is the problem? In reality he simply doesn't understand the technology - they are storing an abstracted "profile" of his fingerprint for purposes of accurately recording his work hours - does he think no one else in any industry does this? Where I work they have a "hand reader" for the janitors to clock in and out (there was a problem/question of others clocking in/out coworkers)...
I love these folks that think their local newspaper will "shine a light on this grave injustice" - no competent newspaper will cover this non-story.
Do the OLPC XOs have webcams?
Yes they do... http://laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/specs.shtml
Any chance George Soros would count as a foreign organization plotting the overthrow of the US Gov't?
Just a thought...
Any reason to think this would withstand a constitutional challenge?
Or am I supposed to take breaks (meaning it will actually take more than 24 hours ;^)?
At a previous employer they had a few lunch-centric policies that I think worked out well.
The first was you had to have lunch with one of the two founders to get an offer - this had the added benefit that the owners knew you, and you knew (atleast one of) them, you'd feel connected instantly.
The second was that once you started working, your coworkers were encouraged to take you out to lunch on the companies dime. It only lasted for one week, but during that week you would be the most desirable lunch companion in the company, and you're bound to make a few friends that first week.
Lunch isn't the answer for everything, but it worked in the company I used to work at (I joined as employee 53, stayed with them past employee number 200, and the policy remained in-tact those ther/four years.
Geekmux, here in the US, it is almost unheard of for the IT group to get MORE space in a school after it is built. Over-specifying four racks instead of one or two allows you to build up a useful room size, ensures appropriate cooling, power, etc.
Capacity does not equal configuration.
The main infrastructure at Albany Senior High only requires four servers, suggesting an almost 50-fold saving on hardware requirements.
No, it doesn't.
Merely by specifying four 42U racks doesn't mean they expect/assume the school will stuff each with 42 1U servers (some might be taller/use more Us), and it would be easier to build up the datacenter with racks now than straddle some random server purchase down the line with the need to buy a new server rack, UPSs capacity, KVM support,etc.
My local school district has 6x 42U racks in the data center, and it allows us tremendous flexibility in installing hardware (this is a test rack, not on generator power, these two are production servers, this rack is the SAN, another for web and other DMZ servers and one for future growth).
Each school has a 42U rack, but with only one or two local servers installed (one Windows, one OS X server), a UPS, switch or two, and fiber termination hardware with lots of room for future growth, if needed. We didn't need 42U, but the minimal cost savings didn't justify imposing limits on future growth...
Mark.JUK said "Nice to see everybody taking security so seriously then." Is there something inherently wrong with an AP that is connected right to a DSL (or other) internet connection to provide free access in, say, a coffee shop, library, city park, airport, or other common areas? McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, and many airports (thanks Google!) are offering "free WiFi" - by definition these can't be "closed"...
There are "wide open" residential gateways, but that number is dwindling (at least in my experience).
I work in a school district and we offer WiFi in all rooms in every building, but we have two "SSID"s - one secured (with access to our internal network, for administrators and district-supplied laptops) and one public (with only filtered access to the public internet, no internal resources available).
Your employer wants to treat it's professional, trained support staff as if they were members of Best Buy's Geek Squad, and the assumption is that by being easily spotted, you would now bw available for direct, in-person support questions while walking down the halls, on break, or at lunch.
If the support team wanted to do this and they came up with the idea, I'd have no problem with it, but until then, resist it.
There's a saying in business that you don't dress for the job you have, you dress for the job you want - and I can't believe your help desk folks want to dress "down" and be treated like unprofessional "computer guys", akin to the maint. staff or delivery boys.
Providing basic access to those currently with only dial-up access is a reasonable goal, even if it doesn't meet the highest definition of "high-speed broadband."
Your real issue is within the realm of the state and local regulatory agencies - your town, state enables monopolies, not the federal gov't.
No, we don't have "electricity neutrality" - you've never heard of "off-peak" KW/Hr rates? It only makes sense to offer it to commercial consumers of electricity, but they pay less for electricty used during off-peak hours...
Where would we store all the convicted politicians once your proposed law goes into effect?
Uhm, there's been NO INVESTMENT in the infrastructure since "the internet first went private"? Really? The network hasn't been upgraded or backbone capacity hasn't increased since then?
What a simplistic view of the telco/internet infrastructure...
Net Neutrality means the Internet backbone carriers should operate just like the post office - everyone buys a 44 cent stamp and takes their chances with delivery, you can't pay for better service, and there is no lower class of service than first class.
And substandard broadband? By who's definition? If I listen to some folks almost all US broadband pales in comparison to hand-picked alternatives (Finland, Japan), other folks think that anything that is several times faster than dial-up is better.
Wait, I get it - the idea is we should dip into our magic government printing presses, grab some of that free-flowing "Stimulus" money and roll out several megabit broadband to every house, apt, and trailer park in all 50 states (and territories, can't forget American Samoa, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico) and and carriers should never consider doing anything that looks like "quality of service" or offering anything better than this base offering... Right, that's it, isn't it?