Guard Dog

I'm working on a new project and I have not been to class or gotten a good nights sleep since taking it over. I'm redesigning the microwave network for the West Central and South West Florida markets. It currently has 64 DS3s spread over 200 hops and it connects 3 switches and 117 cell base stations. We are eliminating a number of the hubs so I need to figure out a way to provide T1 transport to those 117 sites and 3 switches while cutting those 64 DS3s down to 28, and rerouting to accomedate for the hubs we are shutting down. And on top of that, I can only use assets at hand. No landline T1s, no new microwave radios. And of course, I am on this project alone. And I just found out today that we will relinquish our 10 GHz spectrum license at the end of the year so that leaves me with just five 6 GHz channels to work with and the FCC requires us to maintain N+2 channel spacing. This is...STRESS! Pixies, best of luck in your degree choice. But as Enoch said, keep your mind open and leave yourself an out to switch if you change your mind.

Either way it was an exceedingly stupid thing for the AG to say. True, the Suspension Clause does give the government oblique authority to disregard HC it in times of "Rebellion" and "Invasion". But 5 times in US History the congress or President has attempted to intrude upon it and the Supreme Court has knocked them down every time, as recently as last year. Now the prisoners in Guantanamo are not US citizens and were not taken on US soil. Additionally the country they were taken in was not a Geneva signitory and the organization they were fighting in (Al-Queda) certainly was not. To me that means they are SOL. But despite that they have been decently treated, much better than a captive in their hands would have been.

Correct! Hmmm Taks, I thought we went through the whole Habeas Corpus thing with evertone already?

I have only three bits of advice Pixies. 1) Complete every degree you want to earn at once. Because it really sucks to do it in your mid 30's. 2) If you are considering Electronics Engineering as a major, reconsider. The pay is not comesurate with the stress levels. 3) Over indulging in malt beverages like Bacardi Silver (or Zima when i did it) results in utterly debilitating hangovers that last three days. Stick to beer.

I guessing he will get 6 months in prision and the max on fines. Far better than he deserves. The question is does the NFL impose a lifetime ban on him? I'd say an emphatic YES. But I will admit I am very biased because I know first hand how brutal, despicable, and inhumane dog fighting really is.

That is exactly correct. As is Hurlshot when we pointed out that Bush will be gone in a little over a year. Not enough time at all with obligations in Iraq and Afghanistan already. I would not worry about it.

Good point! Thats probably a fair assesment too. I have pretty narrow tastes when it comes to games.

Actually, when you look at all of the broad field of video games, I agree with Ebert. As far a quality is concerned at least. Video games are just simple trashy fun. Playing them will not make you smarter, more cultured and they will not broaden your mind or experience. Reading good books can do those things. Even seeing good movies I guess. Video games are just a simple, fun, and unusually engrossing distraction and sometimes even stress reliever. I think comparing video games to more classical forms of entertainment does them a disservice anyway. It really is a very different form of entertainment produced by a very different industry. You can hold up Torment as an example of great writing (as every other poster does in another thread on this same forum) but it really is the exception. There are flashes of brilliance in a few games from time to time but by and large, the work of game writers cannot be credibly compared with Hemingway, Jack London, Tolstoy, Martin, Matheson, Kipling (all my favs) or the like. But all of those writers only had to write one story at a time from one perspective. When they were writing NWN2 they had to write 3-4 different responses for the player, some of which altered available choices and writing later in the game. You end up writing the same story four or five different ways simultaneously when you are a game writer. That is not a level playing field to be on and be compared to a great fiction writer. A video game cannot shock you like Tarentino can, of move you like Ron Maxwell can, or thrill you like Spielberg can. But those guys all have a lot bigger budgets to work with too. Give Josh and Chris a Spielberg-esqe budget, staff, and creative authority over a title of his own design and maybe he could give the great directors a run for their money in quality. In terms of "quality" it is unfair to compare movies to books. It is equally unfair to compare video games to either. In terms of entertainment value, I have spent several hundred happy hours playing Baldur's Gate and all of it's expansions and sequels. I've never spent so long or gotten so much enjoyment from a book or a movie.

Woah...I must have missed something here. You were able to help her? How? It just goes to show, you can play Torment a dozen times and still miss a detail here and there.

Well, its either Democrat or Republican for the most part and I don't want to see a single Republican holding a public office.. If there is an Independent that looks like he or she have the possibility of winning then I may vote that way, but I will vote against Republican down the line. If history has taught us anything it's that bad things happen when one party or the other holds all the cards. Better to have congress split whoever is in the White House.

You know Gorgon, you do say some off the wall things from time to time but are you seriously suggesting that if Hamas does a few good things it mitigates this: Hamas Terrorist Attacks Dec 2001 to Jan 2006? If you think it does then I simply do not understand you. Or were you making a joke and I didn't get it?

Of course you know I'm olny picking on you because you have not been around much lately.

And Germany don't forget.

Those bullets haven't been fired. They are still in the cartridge. I'm going to assume there was some accompanying text with the picture, in which case I ignored it, focusing solely on the picture. As such, I didn't see anything inherently wrong with the picture... The caption claimed those bullets hit the womans house. The only way that could have happened would be if someone threw them. Like Tale said.

Great link!

That is correct. Standard US (and NATO i believe) issue 5.56mm does have green tips. Tracers have red tips.

You would think NWN1 modding would be at it's pinnacle right now. With all of the content, tools, and haks available ene a rank amatuer can turn out a nice mod if they can dream up a good story. But it is pretty dead. That is how it goes though. I would imagine there is a hard core fan base of modders and players still around. And there always will be.

Those rounds have not been fired. Not only do they feed us propaganda, they think we are stupid

I do not think what Hurlshot is saying is either crazy or post apocolyptic. He is correct in pointing out that if the illegals are all sent home it would create a change in the economic dynamic of many US marketplaces. Most noteably in agri-business. I'm saying the only way that change does not happen is if we do nothing (which we have been for over 20 years). But if we do nothing we are tacitly allowing the creation of a "slave" class which should also be unacceptable to everyone. The US needs to act in the best interests of the US. Not in the best interests on Mexico, or anyone else. IMO that means regaining control of the border because as Taks correctly points out, there is more than just Mexicans looking for work coming accross. Beyond lower prices of goods due to lower cost of labor, the US as a whole does not benefit from illegal workers at all. Quite the contrary, they are a tremendous drain on the social infrastructure. Their kids attend schools they do not pay taxes to support. They receive free medical care in emergency rooms that the taxpayers pay for becasue they simply cannot. Do not even get me started on crime. If we are facing an economic shift no matter what, i'd say we err on the side of security. As for Swedens immigration problems, it's all their own fault. If the women were not so good looking there would no be so many men lining up to move there.

One thing to note here. Hurlshot is making the argument that because illegal immigrants are willing to come here and work for below minimum wage they are helping to lift are economy by keeping agriculture prices lower. If they were to be deported and farming interests forced to pay higher wages (we'll say minimum wage for the sake of discussion) then that would push the price of produce up to the point where US farm products would be more expensive than imported products. The implications there would be self evident. Here is the thing, if all of the illegal workers were to be given legal status, they would then fall under the US labor laws concerning minimum wages, overtime pay, etc. Farms would then be forced to pay higher wages which would of course create the exact same scenario as if they were deported. Economically speaking. So we would be no better off and we would have millions of formerly illegal immigrants now living here. Now if we do nothing, then these same illegal immigrants will still be living and working here, earning less than minimum wage (which is still better than Mexico), with no legal status, rights, or even ability to help themselves. That option sounds a little like slavery to me. Incidently, the argument that the southern economy depended on free labor was the used by the southern states to defend slavery prior to 1862. So what is the answer? I do not have one. But it seems to me that waving a magic wand and giving legal status to ones here will have a lot on unintended bad consequences and few good ones. I am in favor of sealing the southern border and implementing a work visa that is regimented and enforced. And perfoming as complete a sweep as possible of the illegals living here now. Sand was right, the law may upset reason but reason may not upset the law. Or there is no law. Now this may ultimately lead to the demise of big "super farms" such as the ones that US Sugar runs here in S. Florida. But this land is sutible for nothing other than agriculture and as the "super farms" fail they will parcel and sell their land back to private owners. Agriclture works on a smaller scale because costs are more controlled. Plus the federal government has never been shy about bolstering US agriculture by imposing tariffs on imports and subsidising US production (which is constitutionally allowed so no complaints from me ). And you all know I have never been a fan of macro-economics anyway.

I hates the flaming moon! The sun is evil. It blinds you, darkens the skin and causes cancer. When it goes through its solar flares stage, it effects the climate of this planet. Plus solar flares disrupt microwave transmissios and that makes for long, headache filled, work days for me.

If you are looking for government waste and abuse you will be in the right place.

I'm with Sand and Taks.