I see this all the time in submissions on Slashdot, when people talk about personal experience with ISPs in their local areas. Few people want to mention *where the hell they are* when they comment. Why are so many people afraid to mention where they are from? Post anonymously if you're so afraid of being identified, but without a location, your story is far, FAR less useful!

If we knew what city you are talking about, we'd be able to find out more information about what happened and how the citizenry overcame the state law. That is a compelling story that should be known, so that others can attempt to duplicate the effort. You even state that "few cities around the USA that have done this": come on, man! If you're one of them, shout out your success story! Name the city, let us find out more!

Completely agree with the sentiment. My computer is required by law (the wife) to be as far away as possible if I use the Model M, hence in the basement it goes.

In case it ever dies (yeah right), I still have 4 more stockpiled as replacements.

Hmm, according to the whitepaper you linked it says "As containment renders any standard 802.11 network completely ineffective, containment measures should taken in your airspace(emphasis mine). Extreme caution should be taken to ensure that containment is not being performed on a legitimate network nearby and, action should only be taken as a last resort. Unauthorized containment is prosecutable by law (subject to the FCC’s Communications Act of 1934, Section 333, ‘Willful or Malicious Interference’). "

So provided that the "containment" effort took place only on Marriott's property (not a public space), I'm having trouble seeing how Marriott is legally in the wrong. Obviously, it's sleazy (and the FCC found reason to fine them, as well, so what do I know). Perhaps there is an implied right to the public use of the air in a building that, while not freely "open to the public" per se, is also not "closed off" private, either?

Would a retail store be prevented from doing the same thing?

Well, good, because (as anyone who is considering running RAID should know) RAID is not a backup! "RAID" and "backup" are mutually exclusive. As you point out, RAID is only useful when you need high availability and ability to recover from drive failure with minimum fuss. Your horror story was caused by trying to build a RAID5 array (only one drive's capacity of redundancy) on a computer where the loss of either of 2 controllers meant the loss of the entire array. And using cheap controllers, on top of that.

Backup is for when your primary copy (whether it is a single drive or a RAID, it is still a "single" copy) fails for any reason at all.

Don't remember what podcast I was listening to, but someone was saying that he read the source code and found it to be *beautifully* written! Although I certainly have no skill to confirm this, "beautiful" is not an adjective to be used if he thought it couldn't be understood or needed "unraveling".

I was in with DOOM when it came out. My residence had a 6 PC computer lab that I helped administrate (Windows 3.1 and Novell Netware 3.12: *ouch*), and in early '95 I installed a 4-user game of DOOM for the first multi-player deathmatch any of us had played. I was reasonably skilled, but other guys (who played way single-player more than I) schooled me.

Still, it was fun and I enjoyed the heck out of DOOM. Although it was "3-D", the entire map of the playing area was flat, and it wasn't too difficult to keep my bearings of where I was and where I needed to go, which it turns out is a requirement for me to playing FPS games because..... ... the next year Descent came out, and its *legit* 3-D! Holy crap, the tunnels and passageways branch out and curve in every direction! I can't figure where I am, there's no "up" or "down"! Arrgh!!!! (and shoves keyboard and mouse back in frustration). Let the young whipersnappers do this, I'm out! (I was 24 at the time :-P )

I've not played FPS since. I now understand that most games since have been closer to DOOM than Descent (in this regard), but I discovered this too late: 2 decades have gone by, and now the complexity of gameplay and controls is beyond my ability to climb the learning curve. I'm officially old!

Just last night, I discovered a bit of a bonus for TekSavvy-over-Rogers cable clients.

TekSavvy offers a 300GB/month plan, and unlimited plan that is >$10/month more. I am on the 300GB/month plan, but just recently got Netflix, and my wife and kid are addicted. I phoned up TekSavvy and asked them the penalty for going over the 300GB in a month, and would they send me a warning before I went over.

They told me (after a certain amount of prodding on my part) that TekSavvy currently has no way for Rogers to tell them (on an account-by-account basis) how much data is being used: they buy access from Rogers in bulk only. So until they have this capability (and from the tech support worker's tone, it didn't sound like it would be anytime soon), there is no way to rack up *any* overage charges on the cheaper $300GB/month plan. There is no need to be on the unlimited plan.

Note that the operator told me that this is not the case if you are in Cogeco's area, or a DSL client. This is Rogers only. Enjoy.

Just getting another Wind customer's opinion (I've only been able to identify 2 among the people I know)....

Both the Wind customers I know in the Toronto area complain about rotten coverage, even within Toronto boundaries. Phone calls drop regularly while driving down the 401. Data stops inexplicably for minutes at a time. There are more "dead" areas, and going down in the basement of their homes inevitably leads to zero signal. One has an older Blackberry Bold, the other a Nexus 4.

What's your experience? I can't "try out" Wind and see for myself without buying a phone outright first. Have you had better luck?

I agree that desperate measures are needed. Too many people needlessly get infections when proper cleanliness on the part of hospital staff would have prevented it. (Full disclosure: my father died in hospital. He had major surgery on his heart, then caught MRSA following surgery. The guy in the same room as him brought the infection in, the room was put under "infection protocol" meaning the staff and visitors are supposed to follow cleanliness guidelines and wear disposable garb, but he got it anyways. He was gone barely a week after his "successful" surgery.)

Since this first experience, I've observed hospital staff and visitors in many similar situations with other sick relatives. In *every* case, in multiple hospitals, there was blatant disregard for the policies of cleanliness by nurses and families of patients. If you complain, you're marked as a troublemaker as treated with hostility by the (admittedly overworked) staff.

My feeling is that unless there is an infection which passes as easily as MRSA does, but also makes *healthy* people (meaning nurses and doctors) as sick as the patients, nothing will ever change without onerous big-brother-style solutions like monitoring. I feel guilty wishing for hospital workers to get sick and possibly die, but that sure as heck would successfully get the point across.

Maybe you won't find your ultimate pen there, but you gotta admit, "penisland.net" is a great URL!

This all comes down to if you want to play it safe (stability motivates you), or if you want to roll the dice and gamble (change motivates you).

I speak from experience. I made a risky choice in 2000 and joined a startup, quitting a secure job at IBM that I would (in all likelihood) still have today. The job I went to paid better, was a lot of fun, exciting, challenging, and in the end a failure. My career has never fully recovered, and I am certain that had I stayed at IBM I would be finincially way further ahead than I am now. By all reasonalble criteria, I should regret my decision.

Yet I *had* to do it: I crave re-invention and change. I wouldn't be happy stuck in the douldrums of a stagnant work environment. I work for myself now, but I have no problems envisioning myself going back to being a cog in a big machine again. I'm open to, and embrace, the possibilities.

But as for you, you have to make that decision for yourself. The operative word about your job is not "fun", it's "happiness". You're in a fortunate position of being satisfied with your career, so you need to decide if you will regret not taking the opportunity to do more (and risk that you will fail). Good luck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Summer_Olympics#Highlights

Princess Anne of Great Britain competed in the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal (equestrian). Unsurprisingly, she happens to be the *only* female competitor to not have to submit to a "sex test" at that games.

Strange, I'd have thought that offering an fiber-based alternative infrastructure to a pretty good sized city would have qualified as pretty damn innovative. Who else is trying that?

Google has been publicly traded for many years now, and as such "hostage" to outside investors. In that time they've started this project, the self-driving cars, Google Glass, and a bunch of other stuff that "hasn't been done before", certainly not to the scale that Google is attempting.

Obviously, we need our law schools to start teaching the use of carriage returns!

Amen, brother. I also have a stockpile built up of these keyboards. The only keyboard that I'd like to find would be one that has a trackpoint built in. I know IBM made some of these, but I've not been able to find one at an affordable price.