[sigh] Yet another contractor who seems to have been doing the minimum required to get paid. Fire suppression turned off, flammable materieals stored after repeated inspections required that they be removed. Outsource responsibility and this seems to be the result. Words cannot express how disappointed I am that "business" seems to be going on "as usual" even when managing something as hazardous as nuclear waste.

I wonder what the FAA's reaction would have been to a kite photo platform? It would have arguably been the same level of hazard to people and helicopters.

And the "active heliport" sounds like BS to me. If the guy was taking an advertising video, I'm assuming he at least mentioned it to the operations department at the medical center, who would have verified that no activity was planned at the heliport while the video was being shot. "Active" in the FAA sense probably means "approved for use", not "helicopters coming in and out while the model was in the air".

Written authorization from the executor of the estate should be all that's required, as s/he is the legal representative of the deceased for the purpose of winding up the estate.

Absolutely agree that Apple is not perfect. Apple's OS and devices are good, not great (better than Windows, though). However, the entire iDevice ecosystem is built on creating the "Ooooh! Shiny! Want!" reaction in their customers, even to the extent of getting the owner of a current device to upgrade to the next one. My point is that Apple's business *depends* on being in touch with their customer base, creating things that customers "have to have" (at horrendous markups, even), while Microsoft's contact with individual consumers is pretty much limited to activating a copy of Windows, which comes as the default OS when you buy a computer from Best Buy. Nobody makes a conscious choice to buy Windows, it's just "what you get" when you don't buy (or can't afford) an Apple. And Microsoft could care less what happens to you after the sale, while Apple has Genius Bars.

Microsoft has misjudged how strong its relationship is with consumers and failed to acknowledge its own shortcomings.

You owe me a new keyboard.

Microsoft has never given the least bit of thought to its (individual) customers or their needs. To say that there has ever been a "relationship" is laughable. For the past few years, Microsoft's effort has been to force upgrades to maintain a revenue stream. Useless features and frills (Metro, ribbon, addition of gratuitous whitespace) have been added to products, because the company is either unable or unwilling to make substantial improvements in quality or performance, choosing instead to force upgrades with incompatible features and formats. Each release is less well thought out than the previous one, and I have yet to meet someone who wants a Microsoft tablet. (I will grant that Microsoft has paid some attention to the corporate customers, but that's not who we're talking about here)

OK, maybe the above is a bit harsh, but the fact remains that Microsoft seems to have lost the trail (if it was ever on it). When I think about companies in touch with individual customers and their wants, Apple comes to mind, not Microsoft. Love 'em or hate 'em, the folks in Cupertino don't seem to have any problem shifting their rounded-corner wares... People don't want to upgrade from XP, because it does what they need it to do, and it works for them. They don't want (or need) to learn a completely new UI. They'd probably appreciate a more secure OS, but buying an entirely new computer to get it (and shifting all their applications and data over) seems like too much work.

All RFID scheme would allow hands-full exit. A high power tag reader at the door would read the RFID badge and whatever equipment tags were being removed, tying equipment to the person who removed them. If yourfacility doesn't have RFID badges, just get some more RFID tags (different series number, perhaps) and stick 'em on the back of the users' ID badges..

Locating the equipment would still be an issue, though.

I suspect they shoveled the shit (from wherever it was accumulating -- the road?) into the barrels for removal. Why they decided to do this instead of shoveling it into wagons and dumping it outside the town somewhere, I can't tell you. I also have no idea why expensive barrels would be used to store shit (though it's obvious that they wouldn't ever be used for anything else) or why they chose to bury them under the town square. Maybe it was a message to the politicians of the day?

I *can* tell you that shit-shoveler was probably not a job high in prestige.

Just one current example of Microsoft's "support" for open standards: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...

SSDD

Yeah. Now if you could just go ahead and make sure that your T.P.S. report has a cover sheet on it this week, that'd be greeeat.

You miss my point entirely. Evolution is a scientific (hypothesis based on observations and testable) theory. Creationism is not based on observations, it's based on a book (or books) and a very few observations which are made which "fit" the story written in the book(s). Creationism is not open to debate or revision (God said it, I believe it and that's that). That's not science, it's religion. If you can't see the difference, it's not important.

I'll assume you're not a troll, and I'll also assume you understand the concept of the "scientific method": observations -> hypothesis -> new observations -> modified hypothesis, etc.

One (evolution/natural selection) is a theory based on multiple observations by many scientists in different fields over many years. It's the "best" explanation that fits all the observed data.

Creationism is based on what's written in a single book (which some consider "the word of God" and others consider a fairy tale), as "interpreted" by those who can't even agree among themselves. It also conflicts (young earth) with geologic observations.

If your object is to teach science in schools, creationism has no place, ecept, perhaps, as an example of "what's not science" and why.

I thought it was the North Koreans who were printing perfect copies of $20 bills? Now we find out it's being done in Canada? These presses aren't cheap, so who was behind this scheme? Inquiring minds want to know.

In God We Trust, eh?

Yeah, sorry, I got carried away with what *could* be. Seriously, though, what's wrong with this? Share all you want for $20/month. No prosecutions, because all the studios/publishers/artists get their cut from the subscription fee.

Pirate Bay manages the site, keeps the books and distributes the shares to the various companies on the basis of the proportion their properties make up out of the total downloads. The companies give up the hassle of distributing DVDs and/or running a subscription service, but get fairly compensated. Pirate Bay operators collect a bit to support the operation.

$5 for the owners of Pirate Bay, $15 for the media companies to split.

My check for this month's in the mail. Now, go away, **AA, and leave me alone.

I'd happily pay $1.98 for each and every torrent I download from Pirate Bay. Upload anything you like, the download fees are split amongst the media companies on the basis of what percentage of the downloads are "theirs". Set it up a an open exchange, everyone wins.

Just do *something*, please, to give people what they want. For some reason, media companies think that witholding content is to their benefit. Look, if someone wants to pay you for something, shouldn't you just let them have it and take their money? I pay for Netflix, but every time I search for a movie, it's not available. So, I head for Pirate Bay. I'd rather not do this, and I'd rather pay for the movie, but I just can't. I don't want to buy a DVD, I just want to watch the movie...once, and right now, without going to a bunch of subscription-only apps to find it.

Example: Sherlock, season 4: shown last month on BBC, already available on Pirate Bay. Not available on Netflix. Why the delay?