Free landline internet to those that make their internet connection available to mobile users of the same carrier.
At least one UK broadband provider provide WiFi routers that present two networks: a private one, and a less-private one. The less-private one is available for use by anyone with that provider (so in return for potentially sharing your bandwidth, you can potentially get free WiFi. But probably only in residential areas.)
In the US, many, many places use yellow bulbs -- restaurants, shops, public transport, hotels. It was really odd -- everything looked dingy and dirty to me.
In all the bits of Europe I've been in (and live in) the general preference is white bulbs. The exceptions are places that want to look old-fashioned, like some pubs.
Bright white light makes some people think "sterile", but it makes me think clean, safe and modern.
One more time: this fabled "tax" ( technically a duty ) DOES NOT EXIST. There is no evidence of it. None. The Foundation have ignored all requests for information on it. MPs have raised questions about it in the Commons and no-one has the faintest idea what they're talking about.
That should be an easy statement to back up with a citation.
When I was back in secondary school in England, the main threat from bombing was the IRA. They weren't trying to kill people, but to cause economic damage and disruption.
For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing "At about 9:20 am on Saturday 15 June 1996, a red and white Ford Cargo truck was parked on Corporation Street... At 9:43 am, Granada Studios on Quay Street received a telephone call claiming that there was a bomb at the corner of Corporation Street and Cannon Street and that it would explode in one hour. The caller had an Irish accent and gave a codeword so that police would know the threat was genuine.... At 10:00 am, there were an estimated 75,000–80,000 people shopping and working in the vicinity. An evacuation of the area was undertaken by police officers... The bomb exploded at 11:17 am... Glass and masonry were thrown into the air, and behind the police cordon – up to 0.5 mi (0.80 km) away, people were showered by falling debris. On 20 June 1996, the IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, though it stated that it "sincerely regretted" causing injury to civilians"
You could still make the quiz (there's one for the Republican primaries, which I didn't notice before -- there may well be one in a few month's time for the US election).
Politicians not doing what they say they will do is a different problem, and I'm not sure how you could solve that one. Possibly if a new, small party can really concentrate on one area and actually win, do good things on a local level (and show a decent voting record nationally), it could later win other areas. That's not easy with the winner-takes-all voting system, but unless on of your two main parties splits, I don't see how you'll get any more diversity of opinion, leading to pressure to actually implement a "platform". Perhaps direct action and a general strike -- but that could be difficult, when things only gradually get worse it's difficult to motivate lots of people. Better, non-corporate media?
A group of geeks in the UK have made a series of websites, one of which is TheyWorkForYou. It parses the official record of proceedings in Parliament (called Hansard, no idea why) and present the voting record, list of speeches etc for each member. The Prime Minister is here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/david_cameron/witney . I get updates about every week or so when my MP speaks in Parliament -- since I signed up for them, she's not said much that's interesting, but I intend to write to her if she does.
If there is one thing I hear Europeans bitch about consistently, it is certain EU regulations.
Which Europeans? Because I know the British media does that a lot, and that's very likely the media you're most likely to read. But I wouldn't generalise that to the whole EU.
(I'm not saying it's not true -- I don't read enough non-British media to know either way -- but I think it's more likely to be not true.)
A lot (most, even) of the EU regulations are about harmonising similar regulations from the member state countries to make it easier for businesses (etc) to sell their products elsewhere, as they only need to look at one set of regulations.
The difference is that in the United States most people tend towards the center to center right.
My point is that most people in the US (or at least, the parties that get elected) are right to far-right -- certainly when compared to other western countries, and probably also when compared to the whole world (depends how you want to count).
They tend to shy away from the extremes so popular in Europe and other places.
Your examples would be less extreme in Europe (certainly the economic one, I'm less aware of racism/anti-immigration in the USA) but they are still extreme. [And the Republicans would be an extreme far-right party in Europe.]
What you seem to be missing is a moderate left party. Where is the American party that isn't aiming for communism, but would increase taxes on the rich, using the money to pay for improved infrastructure and social services (e.g. public transport, more money/help for the unemployed or low income people, single-parent families, investment in bad bits of cities, etc)?
Americans are often derided for their perceived or actual ignorance about the world, but this time it looks like the shoe is on the other foot.
Do communists or fascists (the latter are neither left nor right, economically) have any elected representatives in the USA? (Even if it's a mayor of a small town in California, or something).
I can see there are a few Green Party members in office in various positions, but I've never seen the American Green Party mentioned in coverage of your elections (in my local media, or in American media).
Sorry, I got distracted and couldn't finish my post.
The left (the real left, as seen in Europe, Australia, etc) includes people who tolerate "cultural enemies", and are against big-brother laws.
Your "if you believe" is quite American, culturally (guns, abortion, tax), so I don't know of a party with those aims. The combination would be quite unusual here.
It's UK-centric, but try this site: http://www.votematch.org.uk/2010/ (no need for a postcode, just click "England"). The people who made the site asked for questions to ask politicians, then asked the politicians, and (possibly?) checked voting records, and match this against the same questions asked of website users. It's from 2010.
Sorry, but in the USA you don't have left and right. You have right and further-right. (On a world scale, anyway.)
But anyway, economic left/right views should be considered separately from the social authoritarian/libertarian views. Have a look at http://www.politicalcompass.org/
European competition law required Everything Everywhere to sell spectrum to its rivals when it was formed from the UK networks of T-Mobile and Orange.
And the Eurotrash wonder why they are driving companies away to the far east?
Good luck providing phone service to people in the UK without operating there.
The requirement was because otherwise there would be too few infrastructure-owning mobile phone companies in the UK for competition. There were five: Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Three. Orange and T-Mobile have now merged.
(Also, what does "eurotrash" mean? Wikipedia says "[Europeans] perceived to be arrogant, affluent, and expatriates in the United States". I've never heard the term in Britain.)
Thanks, that's reassuring. Last time I asked someone about this, they said, "Firma GmbH wouldn't employ you, when they can employ a fluent-German person who also speaks good English".
I've been taking German evening classes for over a year, but it's slow-going with only a couple of hours a week practise. It would be a good start though, if I were to move there.
As an EU citizen I wouldn't need to meet any financial requirements to move to anywhere in the EU (or EEA). All that's stopping me, really, is that I like the job I have in London, and the next year looks quite promising for developing my technical skills / gaining very useful experience (we're doing lots of new stuff). I certainly wouldn't look for a different job in the UK.
I get 31 days paid holiday (30 days when I started, 1 extra for "long service" = 3 years). I also get the standard 8 paid public holidays (Christmas Day, etc, I think there's an extra one this year for the queen).
The official guidelines are that I should give twice as many days notice as I want to take off (so I can take two days off with four working days notice). The maximum I'm entitled to is two (real) weeks in a row, but if it's OK with my manager I can take the whole lot off at once.
It's unusual, but one of my colleagues (project manager) took six weeks off last summer. He was flexible about it, and arranged it so he went away after his project had completely finished, when there was a convenient gap with no new work (lots of holidays means no one gets much done in the summer anyway).
The legal minimum is 28 days, including public holidays, so for me that means I have to use at least 20 of my 31 days, otherwise my employer is breaking the law. (We had a workaholic who had to be reminded of this.)
How easy was it to find work in Denmark without speaking Danish?
I'm seriously considering moving elsewhere in Europe. There's no legal obstacles for me, I'm British, so the only question is how easy it is to find a job.
(However, I do quite like the job & friends I have here at the moment.)
The teaching unions in the UK are pretty powerful, but that didn't prevent my parents (both teachers) doing reports using special software since about 1998. It essentially did what you describe.
I don't often have reason to look at school websites, but I sometimes do (I've taken evening classes at two different local schools). All the school websites I've seen have a "Parents Area". You need a password, but they seem to have the information I used to have to take home as bits of paper.
The school I do my current evening class at, which is just a normal, state-funded school in London for 11-16 year olds, have digital projectors in every classroom, and a touch-sensitive whiteboard.
My sister spends close to a month doing report cards, then re-doing the ones the principal sends back.
I think my dad purchased the first report software himself, since the time he'd save made it worthwhile and the senior teachers were a bit old. The school bought it soon enough, once he'd shown other teachers. This is the first result, but £23 ($35?) is probably a worthwhile investment for your sister. There's even a free trial.
Nope. If I put it on there, and I want it removed, my friends, the owners of the website will take it down and destroy it.
Right?
Anyone?
In this particular case, the Gaydar app is from a British company, so I would trust them to destroy the data once it's no longer needed: "We take the privacy rights of users of this Site very seriously and seek to ensure the highest standards of compliance with UK Data Protection Laws and Regulations."
I was going to post something, but then I realised I didn't know what I was talking about.
All that I'm confident about is: * It's probably more about airports * If I ran a mix of short and long-distance flights into busy airports, I'd think carefully about which gets priority to land (if possible) when there are delays. * If I ran an airport, with a mix of cheap and expensive airlines, I'd think about the same thing.
Don't you ever leave 10 minutes early to ensure you make an appointment on time? Is that also considered a "game"?
Hmm... I think I'd rather that was my responsibility or risk.
The first train I catch to visit my parents used to have a scheduled time of 72 minutes. There is only one intermediate stop. It used to arrive about a minute or two early, and very occasionally five minutes late -- generally if there was a big football match at the intermediate stop's town. Now, the time is supposedly 77 minutes. However, the train still arrives at the same time -- so it's normally 6-7 minutes early.
Many people change trains at this station, and the journey planning software allows some time (5 minutes?) to do that. Previously, with a scheduled arrival of 18:00 it would recommend taking the 18:06 train to somewhere else. But, even though the first train still arrives at 17:59, the journey planner now recommends waiting for the next half-hourly train at 18:36. That makes the journey seem half an hour longer, which makes people less likely to use the train in the first place. If you actually do the journey, you get a pleasant surprise if you get there, realise there's another train leaving in a couple of minutes, and arrive 30 minutes earlier than you expected to.
I wouldn't rely on making that close connection for a job interview, a wedding, or an unflexible flight. But I could easily rely on it for work, and I'd certainly take the risk for leisure trip.
A while back I was chatting to a friend in a bar, who suddenly said, "wow, he's hot! I wonder if he's single?" and pulled out his phone to check.
I think the app on the phone was called Gaydar. It did essentially the same thing -- showed nearby men's pictures, and some basic profile information. However, the big difference is the men had all very clearly opted in to this service.
(The man was not on Gaydar, so my friend had to do things the old-fashioned way, and go and talk to him.)
How precision is "precision"? What do model builders need, and what for?
In Europe most people weigh cooking ingredients (rather than measure volume, as in the US). My pretty average digital kitchen balance cost about £15 and is accurate to 1g (up to 5kg).
(I've also never bought coke. Is 1g a small enough amount, or do you need to measure 0.1g or whatever?)
Slashdot Mirror
Free landline internet to those that make their internet connection available to mobile users of the same carrier.
At least one UK broadband provider provide WiFi routers that present two networks: a private one, and a less-private one. The less-private one is available for use by anyone with that provider (so in return for potentially sharing your bandwidth, you can potentially get free WiFi. But probably only in residential areas.)
http://www.bt.com/btfon is one, but I think there's another.
I think this varies by culture.
In the US, many, many places use yellow bulbs -- restaurants, shops, public transport, hotels. It was really odd -- everything looked dingy and dirty to me.
In all the bits of Europe I've been in (and live in) the general preference is white bulbs. The exceptions are places that want to look old-fashioned, like some pubs.
Bright white light makes some people think "sterile", but it makes me think clean, safe and modern.
The Raspberry Pi charity is trying to improve computer education in British schools. Better education is important for the country.
What have you done to help?
One more time: this fabled "tax" ( technically a duty ) DOES NOT EXIST. There is no evidence of it. None. The Foundation have ignored all requests for information on it. MPs have raised questions about it in the Commons and no-one has the faintest idea what they're talking about.
That should be an easy statement to back up with a citation.
I can't find one. Can you?
When I was back in secondary school in England, the main threat from bombing was the IRA. They weren't trying to kill people, but to cause economic damage and disruption.
For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing ... At 9:43 am, Granada Studios on Quay Street received a telephone call claiming that there was a bomb at the corner of Corporation Street and Cannon Street and that it would explode in one hour. The caller had an Irish accent and gave a codeword so that police would know the threat was genuine. ... At 10:00 am, there were an estimated 75,000–80,000 people shopping and working in the vicinity. An evacuation of the area was undertaken by police officers ... The bomb exploded at 11:17 am ... Glass and masonry were thrown into the air, and behind the police cordon – up to 0.5 mi (0.80 km) away, people were showered by falling debris.
"At about 9:20 am on Saturday 15 June 1996, a red and white Ford Cargo truck was parked on Corporation Street
On 20 June 1996, the IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, though it stated that it "sincerely regretted" causing injury to civilians"
You could still make the quiz (there's one for the Republican primaries, which I didn't notice before -- there may well be one in a few month's time for the US election).
Politicians not doing what they say they will do is a different problem, and I'm not sure how you could solve that one. Possibly if a new, small party can really concentrate on one area and actually win, do good things on a local level (and show a decent voting record nationally), it could later win other areas. That's not easy with the winner-takes-all voting system, but unless on of your two main parties splits, I don't see how you'll get any more diversity of opinion, leading to pressure to actually implement a "platform". Perhaps direct action and a general strike -- but that could be difficult, when things only gradually get worse it's difficult to motivate lots of people. Better, non-corporate media?
A group of geeks in the UK have made a series of websites, one of which is TheyWorkForYou. It parses the official record of proceedings in Parliament (called Hansard, no idea why) and present the voting record, list of speeches etc for each member. The Prime Minister is here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/david_cameron/witney . I get updates about every week or so when my MP speaks in Parliament -- since I signed up for them, she's not said much that's interesting, but I intend to write to her if she does.
The charity behind that website has other projects too: http://www.mysociety.org/projects/
If there is one thing I hear Europeans bitch about consistently, it is certain EU regulations.
Which Europeans? Because I know the British media does that a lot, and that's very likely the media you're most likely to read. But I wouldn't generalise that to the whole EU.
(I'm not saying it's not true -- I don't read enough non-British media to know either way -- but I think it's more likely to be not true.)
A lot (most, even) of the EU regulations are about harmonising similar regulations from the member state countries to make it easier for businesses (etc) to sell their products elsewhere, as they only need to look at one set of regulations.
The difference is that in the United States most people tend towards the center to center right.
My point is that most people in the US (or at least, the parties that get elected) are right to far-right -- certainly when compared to other western countries, and probably also when compared to the whole world (depends how you want to count).
They tend to shy away from the extremes so popular in Europe and other places.
Your examples would be less extreme in Europe (certainly the economic one, I'm less aware of racism/anti-immigration in the USA) but they are still extreme. [And the Republicans would be an extreme far-right party in Europe.]
What you seem to be missing is a moderate left party. Where is the American party that isn't aiming for communism, but would increase taxes on the rich, using the money to pay for improved infrastructure and social services (e.g. public transport, more money/help for the unemployed or low income people, single-parent families, investment in bad bits of cities, etc)?
Americans are often derided for their perceived or actual ignorance about the world, but this time it looks like the shoe is on the other foot.
Do communists or fascists (the latter are neither left nor right, economically) have any elected representatives in the USA? (Even if it's a mayor of a small town in California, or something).
I can see there are a few Green Party members in office in various positions, but I've never seen the American Green Party mentioned in coverage of your elections (in my local media, or in American media).
Sorry, I got distracted and couldn't finish my post.
The left (the real left, as seen in Europe, Australia, etc) includes people who tolerate "cultural enemies", and are against big-brother laws.
Your "if you believe" is quite American, culturally (guns, abortion, tax), so I don't know of a party with those aims. The combination would be quite unusual here.
It's UK-centric, but try this site: http://www.votematch.org.uk/2010/ (no need for a postcode, just click "England"). The people who made the site asked for questions to ask politicians, then asked the politicians, and (possibly?) checked voting records, and match this against the same questions asked of website users. It's from 2010.
There already is one... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_2
That's not "another internet", any more than any Tier 1 Network is (or something like JANet, which is exactly the same but in the UK).
In the USA left and right...
Sorry, but in the USA you don't have left and right. You have right and further-right. (On a world scale, anyway.)
But anyway, economic left/right views should be considered separately from the social authoritarian/libertarian views. Have a look at http://www.politicalcompass.org/
I'm not sure how complicated a tax return he would have in the UK, but for most people it's either non-existent or very simple.
There's an online tool (provided by the government). The paper form is 6 pages, but there's lots of space, guidelines and explanatory text.
They are Mobile Virtual Network Operators: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator
There are lots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UK_MVNO#United_Kingdom
European competition law required Everything Everywhere to sell spectrum to its rivals when it was formed from the UK networks of T-Mobile and Orange.
And the Eurotrash wonder why they are driving companies away to the far east?
Good luck providing phone service to people in the UK without operating there.
The requirement was because otherwise there would be too few infrastructure-owning mobile phone companies in the UK for competition. There were five: Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Three. Orange and T-Mobile have now merged.
(Also, what does "eurotrash" mean? Wikipedia says "[Europeans] perceived to be arrogant, affluent, and expatriates in the United States". I've never heard the term in Britain.)
Get your politics and public issues out of my video games. I just want to blow shit up not be grossed out by dudes going at it.
I don't want to blow shit up (I abhor violence). I think we should get that out of video games.
Hmm... my preferred paper reported that hardly anyone turned up to the "all Europe" fascist meeting in Copenhagen last week: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/01/english-defence-league-european-summit-aarhus
Anyway, I was born and live in Europe anyway, and I'm not considering moving to the US.
Thanks, that's reassuring. Last time I asked someone about this, they said, "Firma GmbH wouldn't employ you, when they can employ a fluent-German person who also speaks good English".
I've been taking German evening classes for over a year, but it's slow-going with only a couple of hours a week practise. It would be a good start though, if I were to move there.
As an EU citizen I wouldn't need to meet any financial requirements to move to anywhere in the EU (or EEA). All that's stopping me, really, is that I like the job I have in London, and the next year looks quite promising for developing my technical skills / gaining very useful experience (we're doing lots of new stuff). I certainly wouldn't look for a different job in the UK.
I get 31 days paid holiday (30 days when I started, 1 extra for "long service" = 3 years). I also get the standard 8 paid public holidays (Christmas Day, etc, I think there's an extra one this year for the queen).
The official guidelines are that I should give twice as many days notice as I want to take off (so I can take two days off with four working days notice). The maximum I'm entitled to is two (real) weeks in a row, but if it's OK with my manager I can take the whole lot off at once.
It's unusual, but one of my colleagues (project manager) took six weeks off last summer. He was flexible about it, and arranged it so he went away after his project had completely finished, when there was a convenient gap with no new work (lots of holidays means no one gets much done in the summer anyway).
The legal minimum is 28 days, including public holidays, so for me that means I have to use at least 20 of my 31 days, otherwise my employer is breaking the law. (We had a workaholic who had to be reminded of this.)
How easy was it to find work in Denmark without speaking Danish?
I'm seriously considering moving elsewhere in Europe. There's no legal obstacles for me, I'm British, so the only question is how easy it is to find a job.
(However, I do quite like the job & friends I have here at the moment.)
The teaching unions in the UK are pretty powerful, but that didn't prevent my parents (both teachers) doing reports using special software since about 1998. It essentially did what you describe.
I don't often have reason to look at school websites, but I sometimes do (I've taken evening classes at two different local schools). All the school websites I've seen have a "Parents Area". You need a password, but they seem to have the information I used to have to take home as bits of paper.
The school I do my current evening class at, which is just a normal, state-funded school in London for 11-16 year olds, have digital projectors in every classroom, and a touch-sensitive whiteboard.
My sister spends close to a month doing report cards, then re-doing the ones the principal sends back.
I think my dad purchased the first report software himself, since the time he'd save made it worthwhile and the senior teachers were a bit old. The school bought it soon enough, once he'd shown other teachers. This is the first result, but £23 ($35?) is probably a worthwhile investment for your sister. There's even a free trial.
Nope. If I put it on there, and I want it removed, my friends, the owners of the website will take it down and destroy it.
Right?
Anyone?
In this particular case, the Gaydar app is from a British company, so I would trust them to destroy the data once it's no longer needed: "We take the privacy rights of users of this Site very seriously and seek to ensure the highest standards of compliance with UK Data Protection Laws and Regulations."
But in general, I understand your point.
I was going to post something, but then I realised I didn't know what I was talking about.
All that I'm confident about is:
* It's probably more about airports
* If I ran a mix of short and long-distance flights into busy airports, I'd think carefully about which gets priority to land (if possible) when there are delays.
* If I ran an airport, with a mix of cheap and expensive airlines, I'd think about the same thing.
How's that a "game"? Sounds like good planning.
Don't you ever leave 10 minutes early to ensure you make an appointment on time? Is that also considered a "game"?
Hmm... I think I'd rather that was my responsibility or risk.
The first train I catch to visit my parents used to have a scheduled time of 72 minutes. There is only one intermediate stop. It used to arrive about a minute or two early, and very occasionally five minutes late -- generally if there was a big football match at the intermediate stop's town. Now, the time is supposedly 77 minutes. However, the train still arrives at the same time -- so it's normally 6-7 minutes early.
Many people change trains at this station, and the journey planning software allows some time (5 minutes?) to do that. Previously, with a scheduled arrival of 18:00 it would recommend taking the 18:06 train to somewhere else. But, even though the first train still arrives at 17:59, the journey planner now recommends waiting for the next half-hourly train at 18:36. That makes the journey seem half an hour longer, which makes people less likely to use the train in the first place. If you actually do the journey, you get a pleasant surprise if you get there, realise there's another train leaving in a couple of minutes, and arrive 30 minutes earlier than you expected to.
I wouldn't rely on making that close connection for a job interview, a wedding, or an unflexible flight. But I could easily rely on it for work, and I'd certainly take the risk for leisure trip.
A while back I was chatting to a friend in a bar, who suddenly said, "wow, he's hot! I wonder if he's single?" and pulled out his phone to check.
I think the app on the phone was called Gaydar. It did essentially the same thing -- showed nearby men's pictures, and some basic profile information. However, the big difference is the men had all very clearly opted in to this service.
(The man was not on Gaydar, so my friend had to do things the old-fashioned way, and go and talk to him.)
How precision is "precision"? What do model builders need, and what for?
In Europe most people weigh cooking ingredients (rather than measure volume, as in the US). My pretty average digital kitchen balance cost about £15 and is accurate to 1g (up to 5kg).
(I've also never bought coke. Is 1g a small enough amount, or do you need to measure 0.1g or whatever?)