To give Trend the benefit of the doubt, is it possible Trend sent the complaints to your upstream provider who just bit-binned them?

Re: Blame game....

I want to from the argument at hand until I have more time to look and think things over. However, I want to point out that your McDonald's lawsuit carried dual culpability: the woman and McDonald's. McDonald's had been told more than once the temperature at which its coffee was being held was too hot: between 180 and 190 degrees F, with over 700 burn claims against the company. At that temperature there's a lot of energy, and water is particularly good at holding and then very good at giving up its stored heat. The amount of energy transferred to skin at 180F versus a lower temperature of say 140F is not linear but exponential in difference.

Aside from the "duh" factor, the woman, who by the way was a passenger and not the driver, had several factors working against her: her clothing which held the hot water, the sensitive skin in the area, her age and thus additional skin sensitivity, and the excessive heat at which McDonald's served her coffee. The jury found both parties at fault and lessened the award to her in the case citing a fifth-liability on her part, and ultimately McDonald's was hit with almost $500,000 in punitive damages due to its proven wanton prior practices.

This is exactly what our legal system is for in this country and largely, IMNSHO, proof that government regulation isn't always necessary. If AT&T is knowingly culpable, then it should be punished civilly, and the subcontractors and contractors should be scrutinized by the same people. If AT&T is legitimately unaware that its contractors and subcontractors and subsequent employees are working unsafely, then those companies or individuals should be taken to task. Responsibility must also be levied at the subcontractor level since they can ultimately look at the job and say, there's no way we can get it done safely on that time line or pay. I also believe there is some onus on the subs to take legal action against AT&T if it is encouraging unsafe work practices, whether deliberately and knowingly or by nature of its work orders.

Paris, burn, baby, burn.

Re: @Magnus_Pym If they really knew...

Possibly not if he is Caucasian. However, if he is Asian, black, Latino, or other he may well say "the five white dudes..." It's what we tend to do with outgroups.

Smelling racism where none exists is a cancer killing our societies.

Paris, cancer killing culture.

Re: @JetSetJim, was Before anyone says "here comes big brother"...

I really don't know why it works, but I find a lengthy blast from the washers tends to help with this. It keeps my windscreen clean and encourages people behind me to back off gently without the need for locking up brakes and causing the twerp riding their ass not to eat their ass, and so on down the line.

Paris, because there really isn't an IT angle to this article, IMNSHO... unless it meshes with my home network and can be tinkered with.

Re: Before anyone says "here comes big brother"...

'round here, if you have to break the speed limit to pass then you are not allowed to pass.

Re: Another Amiga first

As much as this Amigoid would like to claim an Amiga First, I had a program on the Commodore 64 which played "Daisy" on the 1541 well before the Amiga.

Paris... dammit, I just don't have anything for this one.

Re: Movie

This pedant was thinking the same thing.

Paris, uh, the next generation.

Re: So which is it?

Actually, the point in this article, and in other cases, is the systematic debunking of various claimed significances. For instance, if IPCC claimed that the Himalayas would be void of glacial ice by 2035, or whenever, then shouted from its highest pulpit and repeated by its disciple groups that this was yet another proof of Global Warming/Global Climate Change (two terms which are largely incompatible.) But then when proven inaccurate the same groups sneer that this is an insignificant area, isolated anomaly, happening even though it shouldn't because we say so, etc.

Same with Al Gore and polar bears, record heat, record cold, record acne breakouts, record crops, record crop shortages, record rain fall, record drought, et al.

In short, the AGW/GCC crowd sets up pillars to support its arrogance, and those pillars keep getting knocked down. Yet they insist the building should still stand even without its foundation.

Paris, a pillar.

Re: Strangely...

I suspect this level of return will encourage more in the future, near or far. And not just with Java, but also by a slow spread into exploiting other known vulnerabilities in the MacOS.

Paris, slow spread?

Re: Translation: dont muscle in on our racket

I was thinking this, myself. I then carried it further to Facebook offering a "sneak peek" service for employers to buy into to investigate applicants.

Paris, offering a "sneak peek," but not for free, of course.

Re: Microsoft Virtual Academy

Thanks. I'll definitely give it a look-see. I've generally found in the past that webinar-style offerings and on-line videos don't work well for me. Not sure what it is, but being in the same room as another meat-bag seems to impress information better for me. And SCVMM is a huge target for me, right now, so it'll be worth the look.

To belabor the point, a little, the in-person events also give a great opportunity to network with other in-the-trench workers.

Paris, in the trenches.

Re: ...and in a short post Microsofts success is explained

Offering free training on an upcoming product to technically adept people is win, IMNSHO. Call it bribery, if you desire. I know a number of people doing the same work I do, some longer than me, who didn't have a secure footing to sell or use 2003 to its fullest potential. I, on the other hand, was ready to go as soon as it hit the ground.

It was a great benefit to me, and to Microsoft, to have technically-capable presenters put on these TS2 seminars to show not just the front-line feature sets but also show the really "neat" things they know can be done with the system. Was the same for Windows Mobile and its ActiveSync integration. I can not only work with, but also push and support, a product much better with good training up-front.

And it's not just Microsoft: when I was a shoe-dog in a previous life, Nike, Reebok, Asics, and others often sent training materials which delved into some of the technical aspects of the various shoes. Regional, and I believe store managers, also went to training in which reps from the company made similar presentations.

So, yeah. I'll play with Server 8 and Hyper-V 8 (hoping that the later corrects the 2003 server lock-up issue present in Hyper-V 2008 R2,) but having a live presentation is golden.

Paris, golden, too.

Re: Censorship

I don't think the former is necessarily indicative of any nefarious plot on the part of Google. Rather, it points to a flaw in the direct advertising model, particularly when dealing with location.

Because I do a good bit of research for customers, I find that I have to some way confuddle the location sensing used in Google (for one) in order to get proper and relevant search results. Otherwise, I get a lot more returns which are considered relevant to my search based upon my location.

\I use Google only for business purposes. I will use Yahoo! or DDG for my personal stuff; more and more the latter. I remember back in the day that Yahoo! was king and Google was an up-and-comer, I switched to Google because the majority of the Yahoo! returns on the first page or two were advertisement sites or sites trying to sell something I was researching. That's pretty much come full-circle for me. Although, with the number specialized add-ons I have installed now, Google search results aren't so bad these days.

Paris, doesn't know where the hell she is, either.

Not if they prioritize numbers or allow emergency calls only. There's some areas around my stomping grounds in which cell phone service is provided, with really good strength, but only emergency calls are allowed.

I would think there should be pay phones (I know, antiquated technology) still available, or emergency call posts, for situations in which cell service is not operating whether intentional or otherwise.

Paris, nothing to see here.

Re: His remarks were offensive and uncalled-for

I listened to her so-called "testimony," and I am less than impressed. She was a last-minute replacement for the committee Democrats' original witness, and she was summarily disapproved as the committee did not have time to properly vet her, as is done with Congressional witnesses, before testimony was to be given. Instead, she gave "testimony" before a sub-committee, which had no binding or bearing against the actual committee.

Even so, her testimony would be irrelevant to the proceedings of the committee, which had the purpose to debate whether such a mandate is constitutional, not a reproductive rights or womens' health issue.

Her vague story references her friend as an unknown individual with the putative condition of polycystic ovarian syndrome. A gynecologist is recently on record in radio interview as saying that the condition is not only treated by the hormonal control offered by birth control, but also primarily by weight loss as the majority of his patients with the condition are obese. And, at the risk of sounding glib, she has two ovaries the same as I have two testicles -- the failure or loss of one does not necessarily mean the loss of fertility.

As well, he states that one can find generic birth control at many pharmacies for around $10 per month. I found references to Target and other big-box stores carrying generics for $4 under their own plans. Even without co-pays, I was able to find birth control pills for $30 for generics though name-brand ran around $110.

I would be remiss to ignore the fact that Ms. Fluke and her unnamed friends are attending a college with tuition in the $40,000 to $50,000 range ($46,865. according to their web site.) Surely in their 30s capable of affording this tuition they can obtain individual insurance coverage which covers birth control pills, or even pay the $4 to $30 per month to obtain it without commercial coverage.

Her "testimony" is full of anecdotes and examples unprovable by her due to privacy requirements, and a survey percentage provided with no cited basis. She misrepresents the Association of Jesuit Colleges, the statement from which offers no definitive indication that it accepts the compromise as offered. And I fail to see how the ability to "exercise the rights and access the resources they need to thrive and to decide whether, when, and how to have and parent children with dignity, free from discrimination, coercion, or violence" has anything at all to do with real health issues.

Indeed, women who attend Georgetown University, or other Jesuit institutions, do absolutely "have the right and ability to make voluntary, informed decisions about their bodies, sexuality, and reproduction."

Ms. Fluke has a history of pro-birth control activism, and yet she chooses to attend a Jesuit institution with known aversions to contraception. If you believe her "testimony" was a cry for womens' health, then you have been fooled by this disgraceful show.

Paris, full of anecdotes.

Re: I STOPPED....

Sadly, I highly doubt this will happen. Especially if it means that the user won't be able to run their favorite app, or an app which everyone else is running. I can already hear the screams about not being able to play "Angry Birds" (not implicating Rovio, here, just that I honestly don't know any other games on the platform) JUST because it can snarf their pics.

Those screams would sound like customers who call me because their favorite website has been exploited and Google, Firefox, or their anti-virus is preventing them from visiting. But they REALLY REALLY REALLY need to get to the website, so can't we just drop those protections long enough to get some work done?

I've had to liken it to sexually transmitted diseases and unprotected sex before to get the point across. Even then, I'm not certain the conversation had lasting effect.

Paris, no conversation has a lasting effect.

Holy shit, I think I will use your reply to coin something along the lines of Godwin's Law. We've already seen climate skeptics decried as Holocaust Deniers (close enough, in my estimation, to the Law.) To apply Climate Skepticism and Denialism against selective review of articles which support one's opinion on Windows seems like a wonderfully new approach. Although, this does seem like the way research tends to work.

Well, unless you're a Linux or Mac fanboi and all you do is cite articles which talk about how wonderful said OS is versus Windoze. Or Amiga versus Mac, or Commodore 64 versus Nintendo (anybody remember those arguments?) or punch cards versus...

Paris, the longer a discussion continues, the more likely it is to not center around her.

Re: Have a look at the server

I haven't yet installed Server, but i had feared this. I also notice that in TechNet, Hyper-V Server 8 is available for download, and I almost cringe thinking about what's happening there.

Paris, cringing...

Re: Dunno yet - it's still installing...

Two hours? What's your underlying hardware? It took around 20 minutes on my Q6700 with 8GB on XP x64.

Paris, underlying hardware.

Re: Sad

Plenty here for guys... to buy for women-friends who want a little more action in their play-time.

Paris, a little more of whatever.

By-lines...

Except that it's a contributed article, the "personal musings" of, and part of regular contributions from, Dr. Peter Gleick, founder of the Pacific Institute. While PacInst has its main focus on water, it does make this statement directly from Dr. Gleick, himself: "The threat of climate change cuts across all of the Pacific Institute's programs and has been a focus of our work from the beginning." This posted under one of the institute's listed programs and initiatives called "Climate Impacts and Adaptation."

Paris, a focus of our work from the beginning.

Some people don't think it be the way it is, but it do.

Or, as in the case now, developed countries impose standards upon third-world nations which have the effect of preventing them from developing and essentially doom them to famine, disease, and warfare. But, we give them clean water, mosquito nets, and solar power, which makes it all better. And the brain-washing perpetrated by parents is part of their parental guidance. Whether good or bad, parents are free to raise their children as they see fit. And this is a Good Thing(tm) to a large degree: think about the one or two children who stray from their parents' guidance/brain-washing to establish their own way of religious, political, moral, or ethical thinking. The issue is that while children develop, they rely upon authority to help them make sense of the world. And if the parents don't provide that authority, someone must, which begs the question: who knows better how to raise our children? Paris, better not to raise children, but free to do so.

Every person is an asset, not a liability

"How about a child tax -in contrast to child allowance- to cover for all the external costs a human being is likely to cause in its life time?" If you buy into the idea that every person on the planet consumes and does not produce. This logic is deeply flawed in a productive society. You apparently buy into the central planning ideas in which the amount of supportive resources are limited. Therefore, only the central planners can properly distribute those resources and only to a limited number of dependents. But consider a different line of thought. A line of thought in which during the formative years of dependency upon its parents, the child learns to become productive. Once the child reaches maturity it would, as an adult, produce and therefore put into the system. (Of course, once dependents became productive, then the power and authority of the central planners evaporates.) A family of seven children should mean seven more people building houses or railways, providing medical services, etc. But to the central planner, seven more people equates to seven more mouths to feed and consumption of even more limited resources. Depending upon which boffin you wish to follow for the day, the Earth cannot sustain its population given ground for crops and livestock or it can produce much more. Both sides agree that, indeed, the Earth has limited natural resources (the limits of which are then argued upon,) but only one side agrees that the past few decades of recycling and reusing has made any strides while the other side insists that 80% or more post-consumer content in just about everything we consume is not enough and it is time to start culling the human herd. And yet, somehow, the human population continues to increase. Sustainably. Even with starvation and disease deaths in third-world populations, somehow. Even amidst farmers being paid not to grow certain crops on their otherwise useful, fertile, and productive lands. Paris, fertile... somehow.

Cyclic deniers

Again with the Global Climate Cyclic Denialism commentards on elreg? Paris, like the Sahara Desert, she was once lush, too. Wait, isn't she still a lush?

That bloody guy who cut the serial

According to Bagnall's book, and other sources I've read (not gonna Google it for ya,) and from memory, the fast serial port for peripherals was lost due to a "miscommunication" between Commodore East and Commodore West. IIRC, when East sent the designs out to West for fabrication, someone noticed what seemed to be an errant trace running to the serial port and removed it -- this was the line responsible for fast handshaking. By the time West found out, it was too late to change the fabrications (either too many units were produced or the deadline was looming, as Jack Tramiel was very fond of short deadlines.) So the Kernal had to be changed to accommodate the hardware foul up. Additionally, due to its VIC-II video chip, the timing of the 64 is different than the VIC-20, thus disk drive serial access is actually slower on the 64 than the VIC-20.

Another thing ISTR is that the serial port (user port) was also supposed to have a hardware serial interface similar to the 6551 UART. However, a bug exists in the 6526 CIA shift register so the Kernal had to be modified to emulate the 6551 in software and bit-bang rather than byte-bang serial communications out the user port. Supposedly the user port was not supposed to produce anything over 1200 bps, but several programs are capable of running 2400 using optimized serial routines (Transactor magazine published a great set of routines dubbed "CBAT" in the article "Toward 2400,") and the 128 can run 9600.

Okay, the above is from memory. I believe them to be accurate, and I wholly expect someone to correct me if I am wrong. In the meantime, after some rest, I'll pull up my docs on the matter to fact-check myself. But for now, these stand as either fact or rumors eternally etched into Internet lore.

Paris, eternal Internet lore.

(Another lament I have is back in the mid-90s, Grapevine Group had a number of C65 systems they were blowing out. The price was too high for me at the time. Had I known they would be collectible, and really damn cool, I might have grabbed one. Hind sight is 20/200.)

20k ROM in multiple chips...

Nice catch. I was so stuck on the "copy" thing I completely missed that bit.

Paris, I completely missed that bit.

Separated at posting

I don't know how my post above got detached, but it was a replay to Johan Bastiaansen.

Witnesses differ on account

According to witnesses, Mr. Baldwin threw a tantrum which got the attention of the captain, for which he was summarily ejected.

And rightly so. Rules are rules, Mr. Baldwin, irrespective of what sinking ship TV show you sail or credit card you flog.

(Was he playing "Words with Friends" with his daughter? Might explain a few things.)

In another direction, the AAIB's report on the Heathrow flight, which dropped like a stone just short of the runway, noted some tests run on the avionics and controlled devices. The tests found that, even at significant strength (something like 100 times normal broadcast strength from a mobile phone,) cellular signals did not interfere with the systems. As a layman with moderate exposure to RF-noisy electronics and signal busses since childhood, I am inclined to agree with ArmanX who purports to possess an EE degree.

Paris, 100 times normal broadcast strength.

A point less taken

I've only ever given a glancing thought to how those metrics are contrived, and I think you raise a good point. I would estimate that a vast number of Firefox users are using configurations and/or add-ons which would confound metric gathering in some form or another. The configurations and add-ons come from either self investigation or recommendation from another savvy user. If the metrics are by way of cookies, web bugs, Google data, third-party advertisements, JavaScript, etc., there's a config or add-on to break those and more. And forget about trusting the User-Agent.

Paris, forget about trusting...

Lack of apps not unsurmountable

I will agree that the largest problem with WebOS is a general lack of apps. While there isn't a cacophony of applications coming down the pike from product developers, such as GoToMyPC, and every commercial these days seems to refer to an Android and/or iPhone app, I cannot see that this wouldn't be turned around by a strong investment and commitment from HP.

I see new apps in the App Catalog at least weekly, and a lot of apps by major vendors (CBS Sports, iHeartRadio, Hexage games, Rovio) are still receiving updates. HP needs to consider the existing market of great supporters in both developers and users, and how that can move them forward. Right now there really isn't anything out there to compete well with the iPhone as a vertical platform (yeah, sorry RIM, you still suck,) and Android tablets are as disjoint as Android phones.

I have rarely read negative reviews about WebOS, even with several of its shortcomings I have faith would be corrected with a commitment from HP. I've used a number of friends and customers as test beds for various platforms and all who have touched WebOS have been positive about it.

And I should mentioned the ease at which one can "root" a WebOS device. PreCentral is an excellent resource.

HP is about ready to commit to the Palm curse when it has the opportunity to turn around the platform and be competitive. Having said that, HP needs to realize that, perhaps just for the time being, one will not buy a non-iPad for iPad prices; the eBay going rate for a 32GB unit during the TouchPad fire-sale was around $300. Take this into account when planning a strategy, and realize that selling for a loss is going to require aggressive marketing and a responsive core within the company in order to grab hold and retain a strong base of users and developers.

I use my TouchPad quite a bit, and it is actually an enjoyable experience. I have a few complaints that, again, I can see being taken care of in short order after HP commits to WebOS: no native RDP application (a $.99 one has been made available which works very well, as well as another one more recently,) no native Windows Networking capabilities, the WiFi only TouchPad cannot use the PAN or DUN profile of a paired Bluetooth phone, let me turn off HTML rendering in the email client, and those darned cracks around the speakers. It already offers a PPTP client which allows me to connect to customer networks and use the RDP client to manage, and PreCentral gives me an SSH client to manage my Solaris machines.

I admit I took a gamble when I bought my TouchPad during the blow-out, but I have yet to regret it. And as disappointed as I may be if HP decides to drop WebOS (assuming no one else picks it up and continues support and development,) I don't think I'll regret it for a while to come.

Paris, what the fsck does any of this have to do with her??

Indoors...

I suppose it all depends. Mine works just fine around the house and in most offices. Even so, the tower location data still gets you located pretty well.

Paris works fine around the house, too.

If only Sarah...

Or, she might give said culpable individual a sound thrashing. Now THAT is most certainly PlayMobil-worthy.

Paris... why not?