how about a lateral approach: is it possible for you to take public transport and read a book / work on your laptop instead? or car share and then some of the time you could read/use your laptop and some of it knock interesting ideas around with your companions?
tinkering with bicycles is a far healthier hobby I reckon:-) Lots of moving parts to tinker with, and using it gets you fit. 8 miles to work, and back each day gives me regular tinkering with the bike and getting a bit fitter too!
But also consider total lifecycle analysis. I'd say using less of anything is likely to be ecologically better for all of us. 100 million people using batteries regularly? billion perhaps? throwing away billion x few grams every month of industrial byproducts is a lot of possible poisons pouring into the sea/ landfill. We're at the end of the foodchain, it will all come back eventually.
So these guys build a radio signal detector of sorts. WTF - call it a gun - call it a sniper rifle - paint it matt black - stick bits on to it so it actually looks more like a gun - pose for photos looking like they are bigging it up with a gun over their shoulder?
Geeks feeling that aligning themselves with gun culture makes them harder, more like big men? If I ever build one of these and want to drive round London with it, you can be sure it will be fluffy, happy coloured and definitely not gun shaped. Surely the gun shape is heavy on the arms? Why not put most of the guts of this thing in a backpack, and run a cable out to a light handheld unit?
How does this work legally? Is it an international treaty both countries have signed? Don't know much about law, sorry, how can the US start pulling people out of other countries? Is it because this guy is breaking US copyright laws in Oz? What happens if I broke another type of US law in my country... ?
because you know you want to believe that the Goldfish Fanciers are secretly controlling the Robot Sea Monsters that are actually behind the Republicans:-) fantastic game...
People are always going to be part of your equation. If you don't like this, you need to find another line of work. If you do like people, then part of the "getting things working" means including user education, user support, factoring in the human element. Hardware and software is going to change regularly so you'll need to update those skills regularly and rapidly, but learning people skills, and how to teach people, that will be useful in whatever you do for the rest of your life.
yeah, b+w radios are the way to go! but it did get me thinking, get rid of the slashdot hype and I think the current set up is a licence tied to a defined property, not a device. Mind, I guess this is probably something to do with the granularity of the monitoring kit, perhaps it is too much trouble to check on individual signals from a house? Perhaps if it was all digital then they could licence on a device basis (MAC addresses, something like that)? Not sure if I can be bothered to read the small print on my tv licence. Me student, 5 of us sharing the cost of a tv licence, 25 quid each a year, decent programmes with no advertising, a news service that's up for standing up to the govt. Fair enough deal for me.
It should be noted that current licence is effectively based around *households* if I remember rightly. You buy a licence, it doesn't matter how many TVs you've got in your house, they are all covered. I do believe though that when you buy a tv you are technically required to register it under your name and address still (old radio law?). However, if we are to assume that the BBC retains its status as the national broadcasting organisation, protected by law and financed by a licence fee, then it makes sense that they move away from a licence on TV sets. I think the slashdot crowd would agree with the BBC that the TV is not going to be the only device that people will use in future to receive AV broadcasting, so it is forward thinking of the BBC to move away from a model based around the TV. The question is therefore, what is the licence based on? individuals? devices? households? Of course we can step one step backwards and ask if a licence model is the way to go.
"My father actually prefers the satelite internet over broadband offered in his community."
Interesting statement.. why does your father prefer this? is it a simple cost issue (lower price), better customer support, higher bandwidth, lower contention ratio, even local network services... ? Not trolling, but I'm at university studying network access and interested in what 'value judgements' people place on their service. cheers.
That's a strong statement, very interesting. Can you point to some references to back it up? Would be intriguing to see these stats, plus some other crime ones for the UK.
... but at least the US won't accuse you of getting ready to build nuclear weapons and hence have to invade you. Only very bad people and the very righteous have nuclear weapons and all the righteous god-chosen seats have been taken...;-)
*they are just online diaries!* There are hyperlinks, these are something you can't do on paper, but apart from that, they are just diaries...
Diaries have worthy history. But there's everything from the notable (Pepys) through to your average teenage girl's ramblings.
Never given blogs too much attention. Nothing more, nothing less than diaries. ALA President is disingenious for disregarding some of the worthy diaries kept through history, but bloggers are a bit self righteous sometimes as well. Truth lies somewhere in the middle, methinks.
:-) given the choice I'd rather trust an ambulance to pick me and ferry me to hospital and do some data transmission on the way (e.g. send forward info about my condition to emergency doctors) if I was bleeding to death, than rely on Lufthansa to park a jet outside my house and then get downtown to the local emergency surgery:-)
Ambulances/other emergency service scenarios more humdrum but I'm happy if people are spending time and money working it out:-)
can you recommend one of these systems (or another) for me? I've never done any PBX before. I am looking for a system which would let me connect approx 30 properties in a small housing association together in the UK, unlikely to be more than 50 connection points. Some of the software discussed sounds like it is for really big projects, has way too much functionality... On a definitely tight budget, hence interested to find out if it's possible to set this up as a community rather than pay for a high end contractor to come in. Could you recommend particular software? warn of any potential pitfalls? Users are a mixed demographic, a geeks, mainly average computer users or novices who use their computers for web browsing and email Would be good to also connect houses where there is just a POTS telephone. cheers.
shop local, get to know the storekeeper, talk about Manchester United's chance this weekend (or whatever you're into) and get him to order the stuff you like. You choose to give money to Tescos, you get what they give you. Consume and obey! (or you could check out the slow food movement instead).
rant over. Me, I buy my hand made cakes from the Women's Institute stall in the community centre next door to Tescos.... I can even order my favourite cake a week in advance:-)
you'll love this - it was London Borough of Hackney. They've messed up a lot of stuff in their time but credit where credit's due (excuse the pun...), their staff were very polite and helpful.
Credit companies use it as a shorthand method of identifying if you're a moral and upstanding citizen and hence likely to pay back their money.. I believed it's tied into identifying you for local taxes (feedback welcomed), so I guess the theory is if you're trying to dodge/too lazy to register for local taxes you're probably generally dodgy. I shouldn't be suprised if there are other aspects to it, e.g. considering if you move around a lot (older generations probably consider this suspicious behaviour), and the places where you live giving some socioeconomic measures of your income...
But yup, for my part I have had no bad credit, no criminal record, have no credit agreements, and earnt a decent low end professional income for several years prior to applying for the mortgage, so can only assume the electoral register issue was the factor that stopped me getting a mortgage. This also means I now have an official refusal from a bank on my credit record (due to the incorrect data held on me) that will prejudice further attempts to get a loan to buy a house/ car etc. Be afraid people, and even if you're a young anarchist now, quietly fill in your electoral register forms when the other punx aren't looking! Mebbes five years from now you n your pierced up truck driving fire breathing girlfriend might want to buy a little cottage somewhere and need a bank to help you get started...
Experian is a company in the UK (I believe they may be USian) that holds credit information, and is used by many UK companies to check credit records.
A few years ago I applied for a mortgage, and got refused because the bank did a credit check with Experian, Experian told them I wasn't on the electoral register, so the bank turned me down. I knew I was on the electoral register, and had been for years. I went to the local council for my previous residence, and the helpful council officer checked my record, and even let me come round the desk and look at her screen to see my record. I phoned Experian "I know I am on the electoral register for this address" (Experian) "no, sorry sir, this isn't on your record" (me) "I'm looking at my name on the electoral register, I'm just handing you over to the council officer who will confirm" (nice govt. officer): "yes, he is" (Experian "ahh... we'll look into that" (me): "cheers, I've been turned down already for a mortgage, are there any other parts of my credit records you should be checking?".
I really recommend that anybody in the UK who is about to buy a house/car/other significant credit transaction to ask for their records first. Which of course costs you money that goes into the credit agencies pockets. It's a corrupt system, and there's nothing we can do about it. Private companies running (ruining?) peoples' lives. "Sue the company" might be ok for you big shots but I was on low wages then and I'm a student now. One day I'll be working again and the first thing I got to do is use *my time* and *my money* to unpick *their mistakes*. Experian's mistake f*cked up my life, be wary people.
amongst geeks maybe, but once you get away from highly developed first world countries, my experience is people are more likely to know their favourite (or the tourists' favourite) brand of soft drink than their prefered computer animation company. Places like rural Cambodia, Mali, islands off Thailand, for example...
Some truth in there as well as fun. I've backpacked around the world and quite a lot of countries ask where you're staying, who you're staying with, and often you don't have a clue. As another poster said, often the countries just want to make sure you've got enough money to cover your stay and you're not going to become an illegal immigrant (and hence presumably suck money from their society or something). Simple solution which seems to have worked for me so far is to borrow/buy a traveller's guide before you enter the country and find the address of a budget hotel in the town the airport is. Write this into the box which asks where you're staying. I've never been questioned about the validity of my answer, either in very democratic or very totalitarian countries, where this is the sole requirement on the forms. I've always been prepared for the customs guys to say "we've phoned them and they don't have your reservation" and I'm ready just to say "I phoned them last night and they said they had rooms, just turn up, could you therefore recommend another reasonably priced hotel for me to stay as a tourist please?". n.b. there are some countries which may require you to have a letter of welcome/ reservation confirmed at approved hotel in order to enter the country, this is a different issue.
come on, TV and movies have always been about money, so has the games industry. I seem to remember the Lumiere Brothers were in (film) for the money: they sold their rights to Pathe after all... Can you tell me about the early days of TV when programs were made not for profit? hmmm.... maybe I am wrong but I'd welcome some examples. Also I'd be interested to know about the games companies structured as not-for-profit legal entities, those that give their profits to AIDS charities/ clean water for Africa/ etc...
... as my email client because my department *prefers* (i.e. insists) that I do. Same as parent poster. I'm a research student, therefore I am the bottom of the power chain. If I don't like it, fine, I can go study somewhere else. So I got to use what I am told, despite my protestations, on the box they give me for my desk.
Slashdot Mirror
how about a lateral approach: is it possible for you to take public transport and read a book / work on your laptop instead? or car share and then some of the time you could read/use your laptop and some of it knock interesting ideas around with your companions?
tinkering with bicycles is a far healthier hobby I reckon :-) Lots of moving parts to tinker with, and using it gets you fit. 8 miles to work, and back each day gives me regular tinkering with the bike and getting a bit fitter too!
But also consider total lifecycle analysis. I'd say using less of anything is likely to be ecologically better for all of us. 100 million people using batteries regularly? billion perhaps? throwing away billion x few grams every month of industrial byproducts is a lot of possible poisons pouring into the sea/ landfill. We're at the end of the foodchain, it will all come back eventually.
Geeks feeling that aligning themselves with gun culture makes them harder, more like big men? If I ever build one of these and want to drive round London with it, you can be sure it will be fluffy, happy coloured and definitely not gun shaped. Surely the gun shape is heavy on the arms? Why not put most of the guts of this thing in a backpack, and run a cable out to a light handheld unit?
How does this work legally? Is it an international treaty both countries have signed? Don't know much about law, sorry, how can the US start pulling people out of other countries? Is it because this guy is breaking US copyright laws in Oz? What happens if I broke another type of US law in my country... ?
because you know you want to believe that the Goldfish Fanciers are secretly controlling the Robot Sea Monsters that are actually behind the Republicans :-) fantastic game...
cheers for correction!
People are always going to be part of your equation. If you don't like this, you need to find another line of work. If you do like people, then part of the "getting things working" means including user education, user support, factoring in the human element. Hardware and software is going to change regularly so you'll need to update those skills regularly and rapidly, but learning people skills, and how to teach people, that will be useful in whatever you do for the rest of your life.
How does this work in Scotland? no trespass law there.
yeah, b+w radios are the way to go! but it did get me thinking, get rid of the slashdot hype and I think the current set up is a licence tied to a defined property, not a device. Mind, I guess this is probably something to do with the granularity of the monitoring kit, perhaps it is too much trouble to check on individual signals from a house? Perhaps if it was all digital then they could licence on a device basis (MAC addresses, something like that)? Not sure if I can be bothered to read the small print on my tv licence. Me student, 5 of us sharing the cost of a tv licence, 25 quid each a year, decent programmes with no advertising, a news service that's up for standing up to the govt. Fair enough deal for me.
It should be noted that current licence is effectively based around *households* if I remember rightly. You buy a licence, it doesn't matter how many TVs you've got in your house, they are all covered. I do believe though that when you buy a tv you are technically required to register it under your name and address still (old radio law?). However, if we are to assume that the BBC retains its status as the national broadcasting organisation, protected by law and financed by a licence fee, then it makes sense that they move away from a licence on TV sets. I think the slashdot crowd would agree with the BBC that the TV is not going to be the only device that people will use in future to receive AV broadcasting, so it is forward thinking of the BBC to move away from a model based around the TV. The question is therefore, what is the licence based on? individuals? devices? households? Of course we can step one step backwards and ask if a licence model is the way to go.
"My father actually prefers the satelite internet over broadband offered in his community."
Interesting statement.. why does your father prefer this? is it a simple cost issue (lower price), better customer support, higher bandwidth, lower contention ratio, even local network services... ? Not trolling, but I'm at university studying network access and interested in what 'value judgements' people place on their service. cheers.
That's a strong statement, very interesting. Can you point to some references to back it up? Would be intriguing to see these stats, plus some other crime ones for the UK.
... but at least the US won't accuse you of getting ready to build nuclear weapons and hence have to invade you. Only very bad people and the very righteous have nuclear weapons and all the righteous god-chosen seats have been taken... ;-)
*they are just online diaries!* There are hyperlinks, these are something you can't do on paper, but apart from that, they are just diaries...
Diaries have worthy history. But there's everything from the notable (Pepys) through to your average teenage girl's ramblings.
Never given blogs too much attention. Nothing more, nothing less than diaries. ALA President is disingenious for disregarding some of the worthy diaries kept through history, but bloggers are a bit self righteous sometimes as well. Truth lies somewhere in the middle, methinks.
Ambulances
can you recommend one of these systems (or another) for me? I've never done any PBX before. I am looking for a system which would let me connect approx 30 properties in a small housing association together in the UK, unlikely to be more than 50 connection points. Some of the software discussed sounds like it is for really big projects, has way too much functionality... On a definitely tight budget, hence interested to find out if it's possible to set this up as a community rather than pay for a high end contractor to come in. Could you recommend particular software? warn of any potential pitfalls? Users are a mixed demographic, a geeks, mainly average computer users or novices who use their computers for web browsing and email Would be good to also connect houses where there is just a POTS telephone. cheers.
rant over. Me, I buy my hand made cakes from the Women's Institute stall in the community centre next door to Tescos.... I can even order my favourite cake a week in advance :-)
you'll love this - it was London Borough of Hackney. They've messed up a lot of stuff in their time but credit where credit's due (excuse the pun...), their staff were very polite and helpful.
But yup, for my part I have had no bad credit, no criminal record, have no credit agreements, and earnt a decent low end professional income for several years prior to applying for the mortgage, so can only assume the electoral register issue was the factor that stopped me getting a mortgage. This also means I now have an official refusal from a bank on my credit record (due to the incorrect data held on me) that will prejudice further attempts to get a loan to buy a house/ car etc. Be afraid people, and even if you're a young anarchist now, quietly fill in your electoral register forms when the other punx aren't looking! Mebbes five years from now you n your pierced up truck driving fire breathing girlfriend might want to buy a little cottage somewhere and need a bank to help you get started...
A few years ago I applied for a mortgage, and got refused because the bank did a credit check with Experian, Experian told them I wasn't on the electoral register, so the bank turned me down. I knew I was on the electoral register, and had been for years. I went to the local council for my previous residence, and the helpful council officer checked my record, and even let me come round the desk and look at her screen to see my record. I phoned Experian "I know I am on the electoral register for this address" (Experian) "no, sorry sir, this isn't on your record" (me) "I'm looking at my name on the electoral register, I'm just handing you over to the council officer who will confirm" (nice govt. officer): "yes, he is" (Experian "ahh... we'll look into that" (me): "cheers, I've been turned down already for a mortgage, are there any other parts of my credit records you should be checking?".
I really recommend that anybody in the UK who is about to buy a house/car/other significant credit transaction to ask for their records first. Which of course costs you money that goes into the credit agencies pockets. It's a corrupt system, and there's nothing we can do about it. Private companies running (ruining?) peoples' lives. "Sue the company" might be ok for you big shots but I was on low wages then and I'm a student now. One day I'll be working again and the first thing I got to do is use *my time* and *my money* to unpick *their mistakes*. Experian's mistake f*cked up my life, be wary people.
amongst geeks maybe, but once you get away from highly developed first world countries, my experience is people are more likely to know their favourite (or the tourists' favourite) brand of soft drink than their prefered computer animation company. Places like rural Cambodia, Mali, islands off Thailand, for example...
Some truth in there as well as fun. I've backpacked around the world and quite a lot of countries ask where you're staying, who you're staying with, and often you don't have a clue. As another poster said, often the countries just want to make sure you've got enough money to cover your stay and you're not going to become an illegal immigrant (and hence presumably suck money from their society or something). Simple solution which seems to have worked for me so far is to borrow/buy a traveller's guide before you enter the country and find the address of a budget hotel in the town the airport is. Write this into the box which asks where you're staying. I've never been questioned about the validity of my answer, either in very democratic or very totalitarian countries, where this is the sole requirement on the forms. I've always been prepared for the customs guys to say "we've phoned them and they don't have your reservation" and I'm ready just to say "I phoned them last night and they said they had rooms, just turn up, could you therefore recommend another reasonably priced hotel for me to stay as a tourist please?".
n.b. there are some countries which may require you to have a letter of welcome/ reservation confirmed at approved hotel in order to enter the country, this is a different issue.
come on, TV and movies have always been about money, so has the games industry. I seem to remember the Lumiere Brothers were in (film) for the money: they sold their rights to Pathe after all... Can you tell me about the early days of TV when programs were made not for profit? hmmm.... maybe I am wrong but I'd welcome some examples. Also I'd be interested to know about the games companies structured as not-for-profit legal entities, those that give their profits to AIDS charities/ clean water for Africa/ etc...
... as my email client because my department *prefers* (i.e. insists) that I do. Same as parent poster. I'm a research student, therefore I am the bottom of the power chain. If I don't like it, fine, I can go study somewhere else. So I got to use what I am told, despite my protestations, on the box they give me for my desk.