Hell, back in the day we held MTG tourneys. People had to sign in and out their decks, and every card was cross checked vs a list they provided themselves on the way in and out. We used a label printer to put their names on their deck boxes and cross checked their names with photo IDs.
For PC equipment, you'd have to label each piece. But just 1 guy at a desk at 1 door could do all that. Besides, it's expensive stuff, will pretty much be set up in one place and stay there most of the day, and I doubt few people that will be bringing their own LAN party system don;t have friends they play with who will also be bringing theirs to back them up and look after their stuff. I could not imaging going somewhere with $2000 worth of PC gear without at least 1 friend with me...
Security? no. A subtle reminder than the convention complex has video survailence in halls and at every enterance, and a check-in/check-out system should be good enough.
It's going to be at a convention center or hotel, not a house (no way can a house handle 60+ 4AMP currents... 5-6 ppl per room, how many rooms do you have?...not. The center will cover any personal liability issues (provided the wiring and table layout meets OSHA requirements for saftey).
A nice big "YOU are responsible for YOUR stuff" liability damage waiver (play at your own risk) works just fine, and a check-in/check-out system requiring a picture ID and a guy with a labling gun putting your name on your stuff and checking that name on the way out should be a good backup.
I've had a lot of issues wityh hotels not even being able to support a small DR server training lab for 16 people without getting an electrician involved (or running in extensions from other nearby conference rooms) to keep from blowing circuits.
A waiver at the door usually sufficed for my purposes, signed by a witness. I've even used waivers built into the invitation response.
My homeowners policy does cover guests, at up to $100,000 each. It does not cover business activity, but I don't think a LAN party could qualify as a business...
Either way, I suspect this is a a local hall, convention center, hjotel, etc. I can't imagine ANY house having a power grid capable of handling 60+ computers running concurrently. I have a 400AMP 3 phase system, but the hot-on-demand water heater eats 120 of that alone, and another 120 is dedicated off to other circuits for appliances, heat, AC, etc. I'm fairly certain everyone coming would be drawing more than 2 AMPS each... and that does not include the lights.
Actually, I ran a traveling training lab for a DR company. We brought a few servers, 8 workstations, some network equipment, a projector, and a few other items with us. In more than 1 hotel conference room we brew fuses. He needs to make REALLY sure he's communicated to the hosting conference center just what he expects the power draw to be. He's also going to have OSHA issues to deal with with all those power cords running across floors. They MUST be covered anywhere someone would walk, which is eather a nightmare for setting up tables, or is going to require a TON of prep work and lots of extansion cords, which the property will liekly charge extra for, a LOT extra.
I hope he's also got a couple of nice gig switches... Your typical BestBuy jobbers are not going to do it. 60+ ppl? Thats 3X 24 ports, plus uplink modules. 100MBit switches might do it... Still, that's a LOT of expensive equipment! The other plan would be simply using small switches and isolating players into small groups of 8-16 each, but that would mean eneryone has to move their hardware (or change ethernet ports) for each round of play...)...and then there's cabling. Ouch. You can't exactly ask everyone to bring a 50' cable with them...
Equipment theft? That's his LAST concern. 1 door in, one door out, and a kid at a desk with a labling machine and check photo IDs on the way out. That's easy...
More importantly, the basic cable maximum servgice rate is regulated by most cities. Many cable companies CAN'T increase their rates. ala carte will augment this when I can choose to stop paying for all the shopping networks, channels in spanish, and all the other crap channels I have never once watched. I can boil my 180+ channels down to 26 I'd keep (not including OTA networks which I'd get free from an anteanna), and some of those are only because the wife thinks the baby needs some cartoon channels like nioggin and other crap like it. (personally, I think the baby should not watch TV at all).
For an HD DVR, I'm happy to pay $6.99 a month (plus remote). and another $4.99 for "DVR service" I can't even come close to buying one for less over a 2-3 year term. Shit, just the Tivo monthly fee is higher than this before I even buy a unit... For basic cable boxes Digital or HD) I think I should be given the choice to Simply buy one. If they want $4.99 a month, I think $120 is a fair price (for a full featrued HD box), or $60 for a featureless basic digital decoder with not much more than a simple channel guide. Of course, if I buy one, while I'm a continuous subscriber, the box should come with a warranty, and I should only be expected to pay to replace it when it breaks if it's over 3 years old. I also think all the rental boxes should stop charging a monthly fee after 3 years (rent-to-own style).
...and when alla carte cable comes out, and I drop all the analod and digital chanels except about 12 (since the ones I watch most are free over the air, and there are not many others I care about) I might keep cable around at $10/month, once I can get my own boxes that support CableCard II. With netflix (if I signed up), I don't really need VoD...
When I started paying for Cable, it was $34.99 a month, plus HBO and the decoders. We had about 30 channels. The rate is still about the same for basic cable, but now we have 150+ channels. These other channels can't survive without advertising, and I don't mind it much at all. What I DO MIND, very much dislike, is the way the in-program advertising is ruining my viewing ability. They are not only splashing a tiny icon in the corner anymore, nor a small and innocuous banner at the instant return to a show, but now 2-3 minutes in thay're taking over 1/3rd or more of the screen, adding sound that drowns out the show, and are completely ruining the false reality immersion that I'm paying for.
Commercials don;t bother me as long as they don't detract from the program, and as long as they don't prevent me from saving a copy and watching it again years later. This new advertising is screwing with both, and I'm about ready to simply start dowloading shows from iTunes instead of paying for cable.
All the TV I watch is DVRed anyway, except live sports and news which I can mostly get for free with HD broadcasts over the air. My cable bill is $65 a month, and I don;t even get premium chanels (that's the base fees, digital tier, and the 4 boxes I'm being forced to rent just so I can watch the Sci-Fi channel and Food network, which are now digital only). For $35 a month, I can OWN complete TV series, so for the equivolent, I can still get NBC, ABC, Etc free in HD over an anteanna, and then download and keep nearly 20 entire TV series per year, all commercial free. This is starting to sound more and more like a great idea.
Also, your ISP may not be filtering, but the ISPs between you and the spammers may be. Also, a big botnet (Shadow) is in its death throws, currently seeding it's own bots with a file that disables the nodes, since investigators cought 2 of the people behind the network the other day.
Could also be you're domain was devalued by the spammers (not worth as much since you seem to be cathcing all the spam). That happened to my domain after about a year of good filtering and good user control.
There have been $50 games I've haved copies of and never given a penny to the dev. There have been freeware apps I've downloaded, that i could have used 100% of the features of for free forever, legally, and I've voluntarily sent in a donation.
There are certain developers or companies that do good work, and I'd like to send tham what I can to ensure they keep doing it. There are athers that release programs that are $50 that I feel are worth at best $10 or $20. If they lower their price, i might eventually buy it anyway, but I'll use it now in leu of payment since they're not giving me another option.
Programs are not to be through of in the same light as music or movies however. Someone created art, and you either like it or you don;t. It;s pretty cut and dry, and if you like it, you should pay for it. Software, even games, are not so much art, as utility. even a game, which is intended for entertainment, has a utility value to me. I can play for X # of hours and get a given enjoyment. Some games I enjoy more, or play more, others less. At $50 each, they have very different utility values, and some I'll pay for, and others I won't. Some I wait until the price comes down and buy later.
Some software costs hundreds of dollars for a copy, but i only need it once or twice a year (or less even). I don't feel I should pay the same price for it that a professional who uses it all day long should.
I spend a lot more on software than most people I know. I also have a lot fewer hacked programs than ANYONE I know. All of my currently hacked software is either in "trial mode" as I determine if it's useful or not, and I'll either delete or pay for soon enough. I spend a lot less than my friends on music or movies. I have no cracked DVDs nor stolen songs. I'm simply not interested in feeding the media culture that way, not except for a few bands I consider very good, or a movie I think should be shared (loaned) to friends and family who i believe otherwise would not be exposed to it. I use my income to influence the developers. If i had more money, I'd likely spend more of it. Since I don't, i give it to those who I feel deserve it more.
Piracy is rampant in the youth and in the poorer among us (I'm by no means rich myself). Since there's no material loss from piracy in this group, and because the risk is small, they do it. Those of us with money to spare are typically likely to spread it around. Is Turbine or SEGA any poorer because I can't afford their game? no. Market demographics will show there is a given amount of money in the pool. When video games are hot, DVD and music sales that are targeted at the same demographics are down. If a thousand companies each came out with great games all at once, none of them would profit. Same goes for the theater industry. Nothing made money opposite The Dark Night. They all knew this. They're not complaining about lost income, because they were well aware of how little they'd make. Hot games could have sequels published more often than they are. They're not because the game publishers understand they can't push that many titles and still have them all be successful.
A lot of games I could not first try (legally) that I did try (by cracking) I in fact never bought. However, I can count on one hand the number of games I cracked that I played for longer than 14 days, and I did eventually buy ALL of them. In this case, anything I hacked, was basically no different than trying a free demo.
Fact is, I have limited financial resources. I do honor good developers (and bands, and producers, etc) by purchasing what I can, when I deem permanently owning a copy is something worth doing.
If I'm going to play a game for longer than I'd typically get to play a demo for, then generally it's worth buying. In a couple of cases, I've gotten a good game and cracked it simply because I wanted to play it now, but didn't feel $49.99 was justified, but when it went on sale for $29, 19, or even some cases $9, I did retroactively buy a copy.
There is not a single stolen song on my computer today, and not a single ripped movie in my DVD collection. Do I occasionally get some files through non-legitimate sources? maybe. Do I keep them? not unless I fully intend to pay for them. Thanks to ala carte purchasing via iTunes, I have a lot more music today than I otherwise would have (I only have the specific songs I like)
As for programs on the computer, I'm beta testing (legally) a few games, and I have a few non-game small programs (nothing like photoshop or anything, just simple applications, mostly for role playing pen and paper style) that I'm toying with to see if they're useful or not. (I find most applications that are not available on retail shelves do not do what they advertise, so I always try them out first.) My copies of Windows, Office and other apps I use regularly are all legit.
If you distribute crap, I'm not going to buy it one way or the other. If your work is overpriced, I'll may bite into the hype when the getting is good, but I'll not pay you more than i feel it's worth, and that might mean delaying payment until you drop the price appropriately, since I have no other recourse.
It's not about "It's free if i steal it so why SHOULD I pay for it" it's about "is your stuff worth the money you're asking?" I'll happily contribute to your cause to ensure you keep releasing good stuff, if your price is reasonable (and when i have the cash to do so). If I need it, i'll usually find a way to buy it. If i don;t need it, I'll usually wait until I do, then get a real copy.
Since most good PC games are all online now, and have recurring fees, if I want to play, I must pay. Currently I don't play any MMOs since $10-$15 per month (X2 since my wife plays too) is too much money right now since with a newborn, we're lucky to get a few hours a week in for games. I have found several neat games from Aeria games that are actually completely free to play, so we're playing those (plus what I'm beta testing). All that's only until Diablo III comes out, which we WILL buy 2 copies of, and which will likely take all our gaming time for months after release (ie, well worth it).
At some point, a financial limit does impose itself for nearly all of us. It's one thing to crack a game because you can't afford to buy a copy, and promise one day you might actually give something other than lip service to the developer. It's another thing to hack games, yet spend money frivolously on other things when you could in fact afford the game. One is stealing and reasonably is costing them revenue, the other is money they'd never get otherwise. If stealing a game was as risky as stealing from a brick and mortar store, would you still have the same view? If you CAN afford it, it's stealing, and you should be punished. The artist DESERVES their reward for creating the content. If you can't afford it, there is no cost to them if you get a copy, but there should be a remorse that carries with that, and you should not simply be cracking and stealing just because you can.
most new cars only have a 2-3% AC penalty (4-5% on max AC setting). With the adoption of variable nozzle compressor technology (called variable displacement), the AC system in most cars only make air as cold as you're requesting it to, and the unit automatically disconnects during acceleration, allowing a smaller engine to feel like it has more power.
In fact, most cars, actually get better fuel economy with the AC than with windows open, when driving over 50 MPH. In stark contract, SUVs actually get less of a benefit than do small cars... 1st, there's already so much drag, opening your windows does not add much more. Also, large engines have ample torque, and have no trouble running larger (and thus more efficient) compressors. http://www.slate.com/id/2194536/.
Older cars, yes 8-10% was normal for AC efficiency loss, but not really anymore.
In other interesting news, they have actually shown that comfortable drivers actually get better fuel economy than uncomfortable drivers. On hot days, drivers tend to be more impatient, and accelerate harder and driver differently than on comfortable days. ventilated seats actually help this further since not only is your front cool, but your back as well is not self insulating and sweating into the seat behind you, and in most cars with ventilated seats, AC use will be decreased slightly (drivers are more comfortable at slightly warmer temps).
Rule of thumb: it varies from driver to driver,,ambient temp, and with humidity, but if it's over 85, keep the windows up regardless of driving speed. If you're going over 55MPH, keep em up regardless of outdoor temp. It's not only more efficient, but has safety implications as well.
If your car has variable temperature controls separate from the fan speed and vent position controls, generally, use the COLDEST setting, regardless of the temp you want to achieve. (most cars mix warm air with cold to make varying temps, so setting to a warmer temp does not reduce energy use). Use recycled air settings always with the AC. Use the fan speed to control your comfort level. The most efficient system will have automatic temp control (with digital temp readouts) but unfortunately there are typically only available in high end cars. Also note, in most cars, the defrost setting will use the AC unless you are blowing heat, even when the AC is off, so if you've got foggy windows in the summer, you might as well roll the windows up cuz the AC is going to be running one way or the other...
My AC unit on my old house was 26 year old. I had it replaced simply because it used too much energy to do the job. The new unit saves me about $200 annually in electric costs and has a 15 year warranty. Unfortunately, work had me move to another city not long after that.... Oops.
I have a chest freezer that I'm betting is close to 20 years old, and my second fridge in the garrage which is 18. Neither has ever had service. I also have a portable AC unit in the garrage which is 12 years old. We just bought a new fridge in the kitchen last year, but again, not because the first broke down, but because we needed a bigger fridge (could not fit anything larger than a medium pizza box in the old unit). The new one is super quiet and super energy efficient, and BestBuy gave us 10 years on the compressor and 6 years warranty on the rest of the unit (for which we've actually had 2 repairs already; the LCD for fridge temp died once, and the hose for the ice maker had a leak at the seal). 2 more repairs and they give us a new fridge under their lemon replacement rules...
no moving parts, this new cooler sounds very durable indeed... but I'll wait a good 10 years before I invest in it, unless someone offers 10 year+ warranties on this stuff too, and then I really don't care as long as it's price competitive and more efficient.
I rarely hear mine at all. (occasionally the ice tray dumping, or the water tank filling, but that's about it). The thing is damned quiet. There's also no blower inside the fridge for circulating air. "chilling channels" in the back of the fridge do this with simple convection. It's 4 CUft bigger than my old fridge, and uses a lot less power according the the EPA info. (hard to tell looking at the power bill if there's been a real impact since we had both a colder winter and hotter summer this year).
I have 2 thermometers in the fridge (as well as the one it has on the outside digital display) and there's only about 1 degree difference between the front top shelf and back bottom shelf temps. (my old fridge had a 6 degree variance there, and sounded like a shop compressor when running).
It's a samsung side by side with water and ice in door, and was about $900.
Unless it's smaller than peltier, it won't become something PC enthusiasts care about. PC gurus tend not to care much about saving 10 watts on cooling when they're cranking 900+ through their PS.
Since the EPA and EnergyStar are so involved in the process, unless it's more efficient than compressors, you won't see it in fridges or AC units. Peltier is both less efficient and costs more, it;s advantage is size.
Considering this requires an electrical field not just electricity in general, my guess is strong forces like this anywhere near your CPU would be a bad idea... Also, since you'd still need a heat sink and heat exchanger, it would be only slightly smaller than trying to get a refrigeration coil inside your PC (or in a separate case externally).
On the other hand, this technology could eliminate some of the spacial design limitations of compressor coil cooling, allowing the fridge to have more interior space with the same external volume, and thus store more red bull (and bigger pizza boxes)!:D
1) most gas stations now identify the difference between debit and credit, and do not put "liens" on your card. Instead, they debit $75 from your account, let you fill up, then rescind the $75 and replace it with the actual charge. For up to 36 hours, depending on where you fill up, you'll either see at $75 charge, or a $0.01 charge. The way it's placed on your account, even if this would result in you being overdrawn, you can still use your card for other transactions, and when the gas station reconciles, and the bank updates, you will not be charged overdraft fees. This was a problem a few years ago, but not now. Periodically, I get a letter from the bank indicating that happened to me, and that on my bank statement I'll find the automatic overdraft protection kicked in and deposited money into my account, but that it was automatically repaid back when it reconciled, and to disregard the charges.
2) In the US, it's illegal to charge more for debit or credit than for cash. If someone is, report them! It's a HEFTY fine. There is a fixed transaction fee with debit cards (of about $.70), which on small transactions can cost more than credit cards, but most charges at a business less than $25 each can be combined together into larger transactions. This was a deal negotiated by fast food chains, movie theaters, and more, and is why at many places, you neither sign or enter your pin at all. Of course, you can always choose NOT to enter your pin number, and sign your receipt for a debit transaction instead, and then it's processed as credit and costs the merchant less. They could simply request this of their customers.
3) first, VISA guarantees your security (most banks further back this up with added protections), and if reported stolen, or if you identify illegitimate transactions, they not only have to pay you back for the activity (typically within 24 hours), but they'll also cover all your late fees and send notes of reference to all your effected debtors and the 3 credit reporting agencies if you request it. I've used this system before personally when someone used my card number at a web site. 2nd, if you have a debit card, you also by nature have a checking account, and thus checks, with which to pay bills if they have locked access to your card because you reported it missing or stolen. 3rd, always have a backup (cash hidden at home, an emergency use credit card, whatever). if you can't access your bank account for some reason (system crash, storm, identity theft, overdrawn by mistake, lost card, whatever), you need SOME kind of backup system...
I don't know where you live, but in the south, not only does the post office occasionally loose a bill, but so do the companies you're sending them to. (some companies are seedy enough to throw out a percentage of received checks just so they can charge late fees. We investigated our own city water company for this about 6 years ago and found this to be the case.) Electronic payments are guaranteed to be received, mailed payments, unless certified mail, get "lost" occasionally. I used to pay almost everything through my bank's free checking system (where they print and mail checks for me, and pay the postage for me). Of just over 100 checks sent in a year, 13 never arrived, all to South Carolina addresses (some business, some residential). It cost me nearly $400 in late fees. These were all automated (set and forget) monthly payments. only 2 of those "lost" 13 checks came back to the return address, and those were returned because the company I sent them to changed their PO box number and I didn't update the system to reflect that. The other 11 were never seen again. I had the bank call my debtors, and they successfully got some of the late fees refunded, but not all of them. As for personally mailed envelopes, I've had many come back to me because the stamp fell off, or because I wrote the address wrong (or illegibly). Using the post for processing payments simply isn't reliable.
no, but my bank backing the card does, fortunately, otherwise I'd not use it for transactions I did not do in person by entering a pin or signing on a line. Of course, my experience with "real" credit cards is that their own protections are not really all that good unless actual fraud has taken place.
Actually, you can be hired by a competing company, you just can't provide services to that company that you provided at your previous company, nor can you contact any former customers of that company, nor can you provide a directly competing service to new customers.
I work in IT sales at the moment. I used to sell a particular IT product for another firm. With this firm, I can sell all i want, but I can't sell any products of that particular product category to my customers. When I leave this firm, since we're general IT sales and services, I'll likely have to put my engineering hat back on to take another IT job, which I don't currently do because I was under a non-compete when I left my last engineering position....
If I was in insurance sales, I could leave the firm and go work for a competitor, but I'd simply have to take a non-sales position, or go work for a company that didn't do insurance. That's where the enforceability limits must lie. They couldn't say "you can't go work for BCBS" they can just say "you can not sell insurance to customers within states we're licensed to sell in"
I'm in a right to work state (SC). A former colleague tried to start her own company after leaving this one. They successfully prevented her from acquiring a business license, and got a court to issue an order barring her from performing any services or providing and products to companies that this firm might otherwise. She ended up mortgaging her house to pay the rent for 10 months for the business space he had already occupied, and for the T1 and telephone contracts she signed. It cost her more than $30K.
It's VERY enforceable in this state, even though it's actually against state law to even have an employment contract!
Protecting trade secrets is a process for the TO, the courts, due dilligence, and due process. If I left my firm, went to work for another, and took trade secrets, customer lists, or anything else with me, the new company I work for would get sued appropriately, as likely would I.
The legal need for protection of a non-compete is assuming that I will commit a crime before I actually do, restricts my activities and fair competition, gives my employer a measure of leverage over me, and in order to enforce it, they'd still have to go through a nearly identical legal process to sue me as they would to sue the competitor who actually would be stupid enough to USE the trade secrets I offered.
I think the only ground a non-compete might have is with a salesman who leaves one company to go to a competitor, then uses the company contact lists he acquired at a previous firm to actively sell the competitors competing services to his former clients. that can be handled simply by stating that all customers contact information if property of the parent firm, and distribution of those lists can be construed as privacy violations, not competitive contractual agreements.
Heck, I'm in a battle with the landlord at the moment as a new 1 year term lease I was "required" to sign to avoid a $75 per month rent increase on a month to month lease extension after my previous lease expired violates 6 separate SC laws, not including the coercion of being forced to sign the new lease...
The violations are very clear cut, and even copying and pasting SC legal code into a letter to the landlord and the attorney general of SC has gotten me basically nowhere. He was ordered to remove the clause or face prosecution, but he has not done so as the wait for a court date is more than 2 years, and I'll be long gone by then. I was advised by a lawyer to stop making rent payments until the case was arbitrated, but on the other hand, I'll be hit with collection notices and have to fight credit battles, and if I do, I'll likely be unable to buy a house and move out as planned next year if I fight it.
They can put whatever they want in a contract because they know that even if you fight it, it's a long and expensive process, and at most they get a slap on the wrist.
Unfortunately for a lot of us, we don't use credit cards, but Visa Debit, which is the only option from almost every bank in America. I have a few credit cards, but I never use them. Why should I buy on credit if I have the cash today (with the exception being interest free, which I always opt for)
Sure, I could pay it off immediately, and on most cards, still get it interest free within the grace period, but then I'm processing 2 transactions to buy something once, and if I forget, (or if the check is lost by the fools at the post office) then I'm out the finance charges...
besides, on those credit cards, I have fraud protection... same goes for the bank account i debit from. If they want to add security that inconveniences me and simultaneously reduces their own risk, potentially placing blame and responsibility on me instead, then they need to up the interest rate on my savings account!
Not to mention, a digital signal is a digital signal. It has virtually no degradation since all we need to be able to discern is a 1 from a 0 when it gets to the other end... Analog cables need to be VERY high quality to maintain a perfect picture fidelity. Digital cables only need to be good enough as to not pick up interference...
A $5 HDMI or DVI cable is virtually the same as a $90 one. No one ever needs to buy one. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw a Monster Fiber Optic cable as well! It's a clear glass tube 62 microns in diameter. it does not need to be in a 1/4" thick shield, nor is it susceptible to ANY magnetic interference...
If you want to run the signal several meters, or if you're crossing over a lot of power cables getting from the box the to TV, then yes, get a quality shielded digital cable, but typically, just smart cable management will solve this problem for you.
It's an expression... The idea is to have as little impact as possible. Yes, we need to build roads, buildings, dams, etc. We can't completely avoid impact, but what we can do is ensure that we're only leaving behind what we must.
The idea is that other than our footprints (buildings, infrastructure, etc) our great grand children should see the earth 100 years from now in exactly the same condition (overall) that it is today, or better yet, how it was 200 years ago before we started polluting it en mass.
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Hell, back in the day we held MTG tourneys. People had to sign in and out their decks, and every card was cross checked vs a list they provided themselves on the way in and out. We used a label printer to put their names on their deck boxes and cross checked their names with photo IDs.
For PC equipment, you'd have to label each piece. But just 1 guy at a desk at 1 door could do all that. Besides, it's expensive stuff, will pretty much be set up in one place and stay there most of the day, and I doubt few people that will be bringing their own LAN party system don;t have friends they play with who will also be bringing theirs to back them up and look after their stuff. I could not imaging going somewhere with $2000 worth of PC gear without at least 1 friend with me...
Security? no. A subtle reminder than the convention complex has video survailence in halls and at every enterance, and a check-in/check-out system should be good enough.
It's going to be at a convention center or hotel, not a house (no way can a house handle 60+ 4AMP currents... 5-6 ppl per room, how many rooms do you have? ...not. The center will cover any personal liability issues (provided the wiring and table layout meets OSHA requirements for saftey).
A nice big "YOU are responsible for YOUR stuff" liability damage waiver (play at your own risk) works just fine, and a check-in/check-out system requiring a picture ID and a guy with a labling gun putting your name on your stuff and checking that name on the way out should be a good backup.
I've had a lot of issues wityh hotels not even being able to support a small DR server training lab for 16 people without getting an electrician involved (or running in extensions from other nearby conference rooms) to keep from blowing circuits.
A waiver at the door usually sufficed for my purposes, signed by a witness. I've even used waivers built into the invitation response.
My homeowners policy does cover guests, at up to $100,000 each. It does not cover business activity, but I don't think a LAN party could qualify as a business...
Either way, I suspect this is a a local hall, convention center, hjotel, etc. I can't imagine ANY house having a power grid capable of handling 60+ computers running concurrently. I have a 400AMP 3 phase system, but the hot-on-demand water heater eats 120 of that alone, and another 120 is dedicated off to other circuits for appliances, heat, AC, etc. I'm fairly certain everyone coming would be drawing more than 2 AMPS each... and that does not include the lights.
Actually, I ran a traveling training lab for a DR company. We brought a few servers, 8 workstations, some network equipment, a projector, and a few other items with us. In more than 1 hotel conference room we brew fuses. He needs to make REALLY sure he's communicated to the hosting conference center just what he expects the power draw to be. He's also going to have OSHA issues to deal with with all those power cords running across floors. They MUST be covered anywhere someone would walk, which is eather a nightmare for setting up tables, or is going to require a TON of prep work and lots of extansion cords, which the property will liekly charge extra for, a LOT extra.
I hope he's also got a couple of nice gig switches... Your typical BestBuy jobbers are not going to do it. 60+ ppl? Thats 3X 24 ports, plus uplink modules. 100MBit switches might do it... Still, that's a LOT of expensive equipment! The other plan would be simply using small switches and isolating players into small groups of 8-16 each, but that would mean eneryone has to move their hardware (or change ethernet ports) for each round of play...) ...and then there's cabling. Ouch. You can't exactly ask everyone to bring a 50' cable with them...
Equipment theft? That's his LAST concern. 1 door in, one door out, and a kid at a desk with a labling machine and check photo IDs on the way out. That's easy...
More importantly, the basic cable maximum servgice rate is regulated by most cities. Many cable companies CAN'T increase their rates. ala carte will augment this when I can choose to stop paying for all the shopping networks, channels in spanish, and all the other crap channels I have never once watched. I can boil my 180+ channels down to 26 I'd keep (not including OTA networks which I'd get free from an anteanna), and some of those are only because the wife thinks the baby needs some cartoon channels like nioggin and other crap like it. (personally, I think the baby should not watch TV at all).
For an HD DVR, I'm happy to pay $6.99 a month (plus remote). and another $4.99 for "DVR service" I can't even come close to buying one for less over a 2-3 year term. Shit, just the Tivo monthly fee is higher than this before I even buy a unit... For basic cable boxes Digital or HD) I think I should be given the choice to Simply buy one. If they want $4.99 a month, I think $120 is a fair price (for a full featrued HD box), or $60 for a featureless basic digital decoder with not much more than a simple channel guide. Of course, if I buy one, while I'm a continuous subscriber, the box should come with a warranty, and I should only be expected to pay to replace it when it breaks if it's over 3 years old. I also think all the rental boxes should stop charging a monthly fee after 3 years (rent-to-own style).
...and when alla carte cable comes out, and I drop all the analod and digital chanels except about 12 (since the ones I watch most are free over the air, and there are not many others I care about) I might keep cable around at $10/month, once I can get my own boxes that support CableCard II. With netflix (if I signed up), I don't really need VoD...
When I started paying for Cable, it was $34.99 a month, plus HBO and the decoders. We had about 30 channels. The rate is still about the same for basic cable, but now we have 150+ channels. These other channels can't survive without advertising, and I don't mind it much at all. What I DO MIND, very much dislike, is the way the in-program advertising is ruining my viewing ability. They are not only splashing a tiny icon in the corner anymore, nor a small and innocuous banner at the instant return to a show, but now 2-3 minutes in thay're taking over 1/3rd or more of the screen, adding sound that drowns out the show, and are completely ruining the false reality immersion that I'm paying for.
Commercials don;t bother me as long as they don't detract from the program, and as long as they don't prevent me from saving a copy and watching it again years later. This new advertising is screwing with both, and I'm about ready to simply start dowloading shows from iTunes instead of paying for cable.
All the TV I watch is DVRed anyway, except live sports and news which I can mostly get for free with HD broadcasts over the air. My cable bill is $65 a month, and I don;t even get premium chanels (that's the base fees, digital tier, and the 4 boxes I'm being forced to rent just so I can watch the Sci-Fi channel and Food network, which are now digital only). For $35 a month, I can OWN complete TV series, so for the equivolent, I can still get NBC, ABC, Etc free in HD over an anteanna, and then download and keep nearly 20 entire TV series per year, all commercial free. This is starting to sound more and more like a great idea.
lol... yea, look for a bot in your network...
Also, your ISP may not be filtering, but the ISPs between you and the spammers may be. Also, a big botnet (Shadow) is in its death throws, currently seeding it's own bots with a file that disables the nodes, since investigators cought 2 of the people behind the network the other day.
Could also be you're domain was devalued by the spammers (not worth as much since you seem to be cathcing all the spam). That happened to my domain after about a year of good filtering and good user control.
Mod this guy up. He's exactly right.
There have been $50 games I've haved copies of and never given a penny to the dev. There have been freeware apps I've downloaded, that i could have used 100% of the features of for free forever, legally, and I've voluntarily sent in a donation.
There are certain developers or companies that do good work, and I'd like to send tham what I can to ensure they keep doing it. There are athers that release programs that are $50 that I feel are worth at best $10 or $20. If they lower their price, i might eventually buy it anyway, but I'll use it now in leu of payment since they're not giving me another option.
Programs are not to be through of in the same light as music or movies however. Someone created art, and you either like it or you don;t. It;s pretty cut and dry, and if you like it, you should pay for it. Software, even games, are not so much art, as utility. even a game, which is intended for entertainment, has a utility value to me. I can play for X # of hours and get a given enjoyment. Some games I enjoy more, or play more, others less. At $50 each, they have very different utility values, and some I'll pay for, and others I won't. Some I wait until the price comes down and buy later.
Some software costs hundreds of dollars for a copy, but i only need it once or twice a year (or less even). I don't feel I should pay the same price for it that a professional who uses it all day long should.
I spend a lot more on software than most people I know. I also have a lot fewer hacked programs than ANYONE I know. All of my currently hacked software is either in "trial mode" as I determine if it's useful or not, and I'll either delete or pay for soon enough. I spend a lot less than my friends on music or movies. I have no cracked DVDs nor stolen songs. I'm simply not interested in feeding the media culture that way, not except for a few bands I consider very good, or a movie I think should be shared (loaned) to friends and family who i believe otherwise would not be exposed to it. I use my income to influence the developers. If i had more money, I'd likely spend more of it. Since I don't, i give it to those who I feel deserve it more.
Piracy is rampant in the youth and in the poorer among us (I'm by no means rich myself). Since there's no material loss from piracy in this group, and because the risk is small, they do it. Those of us with money to spare are typically likely to spread it around. Is Turbine or SEGA any poorer because I can't afford their game? no. Market demographics will show there is a given amount of money in the pool. When video games are hot, DVD and music sales that are targeted at the same demographics are down. If a thousand companies each came out with great games all at once, none of them would profit. Same goes for the theater industry. Nothing made money opposite The Dark Night. They all knew this. They're not complaining about lost income, because they were well aware of how little they'd make. Hot games could have sequels published more often than they are. They're not because the game publishers understand they can't push that many titles and still have them all be successful.
A lot of games I could not first try (legally) that I did try (by cracking) I in fact never bought. However, I can count on one hand the number of games I cracked that I played for longer than 14 days, and I did eventually buy ALL of them. In this case, anything I hacked, was basically no different than trying a free demo.
Fact is, I have limited financial resources. I do honor good developers (and bands, and producers, etc) by purchasing what I can, when I deem permanently owning a copy is something worth doing.
If I'm going to play a game for longer than I'd typically get to play a demo for, then generally it's worth buying. In a couple of cases, I've gotten a good game and cracked it simply because I wanted to play it now, but didn't feel $49.99 was justified, but when it went on sale for $29, 19, or even some cases $9, I did retroactively buy a copy.
There is not a single stolen song on my computer today, and not a single ripped movie in my DVD collection. Do I occasionally get some files through non-legitimate sources? maybe. Do I keep them? not unless I fully intend to pay for them. Thanks to ala carte purchasing via iTunes, I have a lot more music today than I otherwise would have (I only have the specific songs I like)
As for programs on the computer, I'm beta testing (legally) a few games, and I have a few non-game small programs (nothing like photoshop or anything, just simple applications, mostly for role playing pen and paper style) that I'm toying with to see if they're useful or not. (I find most applications that are not available on retail shelves do not do what they advertise, so I always try them out first.) My copies of Windows, Office and other apps I use regularly are all legit.
If you distribute crap, I'm not going to buy it one way or the other. If your work is overpriced, I'll may bite into the hype when the getting is good, but I'll not pay you more than i feel it's worth, and that might mean delaying payment until you drop the price appropriately, since I have no other recourse.
It's not about "It's free if i steal it so why SHOULD I pay for it" it's about "is your stuff worth the money you're asking?" I'll happily contribute to your cause to ensure you keep releasing good stuff, if your price is reasonable (and when i have the cash to do so). If I need it, i'll usually find a way to buy it. If i don;t need it, I'll usually wait until I do, then get a real copy.
Since most good PC games are all online now, and have recurring fees, if I want to play, I must pay. Currently I don't play any MMOs since $10-$15 per month (X2 since my wife plays too) is too much money right now since with a newborn, we're lucky to get a few hours a week in for games. I have found several neat games from Aeria games that are actually completely free to play, so we're playing those (plus what I'm beta testing). All that's only until Diablo III comes out, which we WILL buy 2 copies of, and which will likely take all our gaming time for months after release (ie, well worth it).
At some point, a financial limit does impose itself for nearly all of us. It's one thing to crack a game because you can't afford to buy a copy, and promise one day you might actually give something other than lip service to the developer. It's another thing to hack games, yet spend money frivolously on other things when you could in fact afford the game. One is stealing and reasonably is costing them revenue, the other is money they'd never get otherwise. If stealing a game was as risky as stealing from a brick and mortar store, would you still have the same view? If you CAN afford it, it's stealing, and you should be punished. The artist DESERVES their reward for creating the content. If you can't afford it, there is no cost to them if you get a copy, but there should be a remorse that carries with that, and you should not simply be cracking and stealing just because you can.
most new cars only have a 2-3% AC penalty (4-5% on max AC setting). With the adoption of variable nozzle compressor technology (called variable displacement), the AC system in most cars only make air as cold as you're requesting it to, and the unit automatically disconnects during acceleration, allowing a smaller engine to feel like it has more power.
In fact, most cars, actually get better fuel economy with the AC than with windows open, when driving over 50 MPH. In stark contract, SUVs actually get less of a benefit than do small cars... 1st, there's already so much drag, opening your windows does not add much more. Also, large engines have ample torque, and have no trouble running larger (and thus more efficient) compressors. http://www.slate.com/id/2194536/.
Older cars, yes 8-10% was normal for AC efficiency loss, but not really anymore.
In other interesting news, they have actually shown that comfortable drivers actually get better fuel economy than uncomfortable drivers. On hot days, drivers tend to be more impatient, and accelerate harder and driver differently than on comfortable days. ventilated seats actually help this further since not only is your front cool, but your back as well is not self insulating and sweating into the seat behind you, and in most cars with ventilated seats, AC use will be decreased slightly (drivers are more comfortable at slightly warmer temps).
Rule of thumb: it varies from driver to driver, ,ambient temp, and with humidity, but if it's over 85, keep the windows up regardless of driving speed. If you're going over 55MPH, keep em up regardless of outdoor temp. It's not only more efficient, but has safety implications as well.
If your car has variable temperature controls separate from the fan speed and vent position controls, generally, use the COLDEST setting, regardless of the temp you want to achieve. (most cars mix warm air with cold to make varying temps, so setting to a warmer temp does not reduce energy use). Use recycled air settings always with the AC. Use the fan speed to control your comfort level. The most efficient system will have automatic temp control (with digital temp readouts) but unfortunately there are typically only available in high end cars. Also note, in most cars, the defrost setting will use the AC unless you are blowing heat, even when the AC is off, so if you've got foggy windows in the summer, you might as well roll the windows up cuz the AC is going to be running one way or the other...
My AC unit on my old house was 26 year old. I had it replaced simply because it used too much energy to do the job. The new unit saves me about $200 annually in electric costs and has a 15 year warranty. Unfortunately, work had me move to another city not long after that.... Oops.
I have a chest freezer that I'm betting is close to 20 years old, and my second fridge in the garrage which is 18. Neither has ever had service. I also have a portable AC unit in the garrage which is 12 years old. We just bought a new fridge in the kitchen last year, but again, not because the first broke down, but because we needed a bigger fridge (could not fit anything larger than a medium pizza box in the old unit). The new one is super quiet and super energy efficient, and BestBuy gave us 10 years on the compressor and 6 years warranty on the rest of the unit (for which we've actually had 2 repairs already; the LCD for fridge temp died once, and the hose for the ice maker had a leak at the seal). 2 more repairs and they give us a new fridge under their lemon replacement rules...
no moving parts, this new cooler sounds very durable indeed... but I'll wait a good 10 years before I invest in it, unless someone offers 10 year+ warranties on this stuff too, and then I really don't care as long as it's price competitive and more efficient.
I rarely hear mine at all. (occasionally the ice tray dumping, or the water tank filling, but that's about it). The thing is damned quiet. There's also no blower inside the fridge for circulating air. "chilling channels" in the back of the fridge do this with simple convection. It's 4 CUft bigger than my old fridge, and uses a lot less power according the the EPA info. (hard to tell looking at the power bill if there's been a real impact since we had both a colder winter and hotter summer this year).
I have 2 thermometers in the fridge (as well as the one it has on the outside digital display) and there's only about 1 degree difference between the front top shelf and back bottom shelf temps. (my old fridge had a 6 degree variance there, and sounded like a shop compressor when running).
It's a samsung side by side with water and ice in door, and was about $900.
Unless it's smaller than peltier, it won't become something PC enthusiasts care about. PC gurus tend not to care much about saving 10 watts on cooling when they're cranking 900+ through their PS.
Since the EPA and EnergyStar are so involved in the process, unless it's more efficient than compressors, you won't see it in fridges or AC units. Peltier is both less efficient and costs more, it;s advantage is size.
How so you overcome the condensation issues? I'm constantly battling that in my own walk-in PC...
Considering this requires an electrical field not just electricity in general, my guess is strong forces like this anywhere near your CPU would be a bad idea... Also, since you'd still need a heat sink and heat exchanger, it would be only slightly smaller than trying to get a refrigeration coil inside your PC (or in a separate case externally).
On the other hand, this technology could eliminate some of the spacial design limitations of compressor coil cooling, allowing the fridge to have more interior space with the same external volume, and thus store more red bull (and bigger pizza boxes)! :D
1) most gas stations now identify the difference between debit and credit, and do not put "liens" on your card. Instead, they debit $75 from your account, let you fill up, then rescind the $75 and replace it with the actual charge. For up to 36 hours, depending on where you fill up, you'll either see at $75 charge, or a $0.01 charge. The way it's placed on your account, even if this would result in you being overdrawn, you can still use your card for other transactions, and when the gas station reconciles, and the bank updates, you will not be charged overdraft fees. This was a problem a few years ago, but not now. Periodically, I get a letter from the bank indicating that happened to me, and that on my bank statement I'll find the automatic overdraft protection kicked in and deposited money into my account, but that it was automatically repaid back when it reconciled, and to disregard the charges.
2) In the US, it's illegal to charge more for debit or credit than for cash. If someone is, report them! It's a HEFTY fine. There is a fixed transaction fee with debit cards (of about $.70), which on small transactions can cost more than credit cards, but most charges at a business less than $25 each can be combined together into larger transactions. This was a deal negotiated by fast food chains, movie theaters, and more, and is why at many places, you neither sign or enter your pin at all. Of course, you can always choose NOT to enter your pin number, and sign your receipt for a debit transaction instead, and then it's processed as credit and costs the merchant less. They could simply request this of their customers.
3) first, VISA guarantees your security (most banks further back this up with added protections), and if reported stolen, or if you identify illegitimate transactions, they not only have to pay you back for the activity (typically within 24 hours), but they'll also cover all your late fees and send notes of reference to all your effected debtors and the 3 credit reporting agencies if you request it. I've used this system before personally when someone used my card number at a web site. 2nd, if you have a debit card, you also by nature have a checking account, and thus checks, with which to pay bills if they have locked access to your card because you reported it missing or stolen. 3rd, always have a backup (cash hidden at home, an emergency use credit card, whatever). if you can't access your bank account for some reason (system crash, storm, identity theft, overdrawn by mistake, lost card, whatever), you need SOME kind of backup system...
I don't know where you live, but in the south, not only does the post office occasionally loose a bill, but so do the companies you're sending them to. (some companies are seedy enough to throw out a percentage of received checks just so they can charge late fees. We investigated our own city water company for this about 6 years ago and found this to be the case.) Electronic payments are guaranteed to be received, mailed payments, unless certified mail, get "lost" occasionally. I used to pay almost everything through my bank's free checking system (where they print and mail checks for me, and pay the postage for me). Of just over 100 checks sent in a year, 13 never arrived, all to South Carolina addresses (some business, some residential). It cost me nearly $400 in late fees. These were all automated (set and forget) monthly payments. only 2 of those "lost" 13 checks came back to the return address, and those were returned because the company I sent them to changed their PO box number and I didn't update the system to reflect that. The other 11 were never seen again. I had the bank call my debtors, and they successfully got some of the late fees refunded, but not all of them. As for personally mailed envelopes, I've had many come back to me because the stamp fell off, or because I wrote the address wrong (or illegibly). Using the post for processing payments simply isn't reliable.
I'm really not worried about robbery...
no, but my bank backing the card does, fortunately, otherwise I'd not use it for transactions I did not do in person by entering a pin or signing on a line. Of course, my experience with "real" credit cards is that their own protections are not really all that good unless actual fraud has taken place.
Must be a regional thing. Can't get one here at all. Not even from the national banks that operate here (BoA, Wachovia, etc).
Actually, you can be hired by a competing company, you just can't provide services to that company that you provided at your previous company, nor can you contact any former customers of that company, nor can you provide a directly competing service to new customers.
I work in IT sales at the moment. I used to sell a particular IT product for another firm. With this firm, I can sell all i want, but I can't sell any products of that particular product category to my customers. When I leave this firm, since we're general IT sales and services, I'll likely have to put my engineering hat back on to take another IT job, which I don't currently do because I was under a non-compete when I left my last engineering position....
If I was in insurance sales, I could leave the firm and go work for a competitor, but I'd simply have to take a non-sales position, or go work for a company that didn't do insurance. That's where the enforceability limits must lie. They couldn't say "you can't go work for BCBS" they can just say "you can not sell insurance to customers within states we're licensed to sell in"
I'm in a right to work state (SC). A former colleague tried to start her own company after leaving this one. They successfully prevented her from acquiring a business license, and got a court to issue an order barring her from performing any services or providing and products to companies that this firm might otherwise. She ended up mortgaging her house to pay the rent for 10 months for the business space he had already occupied, and for the T1 and telephone contracts she signed. It cost her more than $30K.
It's VERY enforceable in this state, even though it's actually against state law to even have an employment contract!
Protecting trade secrets is a process for the TO, the courts, due dilligence, and due process. If I left my firm, went to work for another, and took trade secrets, customer lists, or anything else with me, the new company I work for would get sued appropriately, as likely would I.
The legal need for protection of a non-compete is assuming that I will commit a crime before I actually do, restricts my activities and fair competition, gives my employer a measure of leverage over me, and in order to enforce it, they'd still have to go through a nearly identical legal process to sue me as they would to sue the competitor who actually would be stupid enough to USE the trade secrets I offered.
I think the only ground a non-compete might have is with a salesman who leaves one company to go to a competitor, then uses the company contact lists he acquired at a previous firm to actively sell the competitors competing services to his former clients. that can be handled simply by stating that all customers contact information if property of the parent firm, and distribution of those lists can be construed as privacy violations, not competitive contractual agreements.
Heck, I'm in a battle with the landlord at the moment as a new 1 year term lease I was "required" to sign to avoid a $75 per month rent increase on a month to month lease extension after my previous lease expired violates 6 separate SC laws, not including the coercion of being forced to sign the new lease...
The violations are very clear cut, and even copying and pasting SC legal code into a letter to the landlord and the attorney general of SC has gotten me basically nowhere. He was ordered to remove the clause or face prosecution, but he has not done so as the wait for a court date is more than 2 years, and I'll be long gone by then. I was advised by a lawyer to stop making rent payments until the case was arbitrated, but on the other hand, I'll be hit with collection notices and have to fight credit battles, and if I do, I'll likely be unable to buy a house and move out as planned next year if I fight it.
They can put whatever they want in a contract because they know that even if you fight it, it's a long and expensive process, and at most they get a slap on the wrist.
Unfortunately for a lot of us, we don't use credit cards, but Visa Debit, which is the only option from almost every bank in America. I have a few credit cards, but I never use them. Why should I buy on credit if I have the cash today (with the exception being interest free, which I always opt for)
Sure, I could pay it off immediately, and on most cards, still get it interest free within the grace period, but then I'm processing 2 transactions to buy something once, and if I forget, (or if the check is lost by the fools at the post office) then I'm out the finance charges...
besides, on those credit cards, I have fraud protection... same goes for the bank account i debit from. If they want to add security that inconveniences me and simultaneously reduces their own risk, potentially placing blame and responsibility on me instead, then they need to up the interest rate on my savings account!
Not to mention, a digital signal is a digital signal. It has virtually no degradation since all we need to be able to discern is a 1 from a 0 when it gets to the other end... Analog cables need to be VERY high quality to maintain a perfect picture fidelity. Digital cables only need to be good enough as to not pick up interference...
A $5 HDMI or DVI cable is virtually the same as a $90 one. No one ever needs to buy one. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw a Monster Fiber Optic cable as well! It's a clear glass tube 62 microns in diameter. it does not need to be in a 1/4" thick shield, nor is it susceptible to ANY magnetic interference...
If you want to run the signal several meters, or if you're crossing over a lot of power cables getting from the box the to TV, then yes, get a quality shielded digital cable, but typically, just smart cable management will solve this problem for you.
It's an expression... The idea is to have as little impact as possible. Yes, we need to build roads, buildings, dams, etc. We can't completely avoid impact, but what we can do is ensure that we're only leaving behind what we must.
The idea is that other than our footprints (buildings, infrastructure, etc) our great grand children should see the earth 100 years from now in exactly the same condition (overall) that it is today, or better yet, how it was 200 years ago before we started polluting it en mass.