I took a tour of the hanford Ligo site a few years ago..

The staff there said at one point they were trying to figure out a vibration they were detecting on a regular basis..

They finally figured out they were picking up when the spillways were open on McNary dam 60 miles away.

They also pick up trains in the Columbia river gorge and traffic on highway 240 near by.

Catholic Health Initiatives.. Outsourced to Wipro.. laid off all IT staff below management without severance. WiPro H1B's took over their positions.

Yup.. Wipro took over IT at the last place I worked.. 200 US workers pushed out the door..

Just wanted to get one thing straight.. 240v is single phase.. 120 comes from center tapping a single phase 240v transformer.. (your neutral line in the house is the center tap) AKA Split Phase.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-phase_electric_power

In 3 phase the wave form of each 60hz phase is shifted 120 degrees so each peaks at a different time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase_electric_power

The old OKI C5200N color laser used toner tanks.. I could get a refiled set of 4 for $100.

I ran it for 7 years on the original imaging drums until it started having feed problems.

It was replaced with an HP Pro 200 color laser.. I'm a little over 1 year in on the demo toner it came with.. We did replace black once..
It's been complaining about the color and black being 0% left for a few months but it keeps printing so why bother..

The major networks don't make many big hot shows anymore.. It's a vast sea of low cost reality TV crap with a few good shows in the mix..
HBO, Showtime and Netflix have stepped in to fill a void the major networks left plus they control the copyrights, content and distribution..

HBO and showtime learned years ago that producing edgy shows that go beyond what the FCC allows for broadcast TV pulls in and keeps subscribers.
Netflix is just following that successful model.

Lets face it.. Orange is the new black wouldn't be half of what it is edited for broadcast TV.

The new twist netflix offers is binge watching a whole season at one time.

CHI?

Interesting perspective..

I work on a government contract that requires all workers to be US nationals so I don't see that side of it.

Now at my last job they decided to outsource IT to WiPro and laid off everyone below management nationally.. everyone! They were replaced with H1B workers.

From what I've heard management is regretting that decision but now they lost all their staff that had experience with they systems.

OK boys.. We need $3000 for gas, 6 oil changes en route and a new set of tires when we get home.

I've only killed 1 LED bulb so far.. Well wounded is more like it...

It spent 6 months in a sealed shower light fixture before it started to flicker after it was on for 10-20 minutes.

I moved it to a desk lamp and it's happy there.. Another LED is in the torture box and doing fine.

There are folks in the RC car world that are 3D printing parts for vintage RC Cars that are not supported by the manufacturer anymore.

All kinds of things like transmission cases, suspension mounts, control arms, steering arms.

There was one project that built a replica of the 1991 World champion RC10 that was never released to the public. It's made from a mix of 3D parts, stock parts and milled carbon fiber plate.

As for useful 3d printed items.. How about a rocket engine using a sintered metal process.
http://www.gizmag.com/3d-printed-rocket-seds/29306/

You can also 3d print wax for investment casting a metal final product. (you can do this at home)
http://www.stratasys.com/solutions-applications/digital-manufacturing/tooling/investment-casting

Lots of ways to use a 3D printer if you use your imagination.

My only experience with a recruiter was the company I was hired into lying about their production systems, projects and even the job duties. I phoned a friend, landed another job and gave notice on day 3.

All the models listed except the WNR2500 are supported by DD-WRT.

Upgrade people!

As another bonus Sony made their blu-ray players stream netflix through Sony's own proxy servers. So rather then use the caching servers netflix places all over the country they are forced through a single bottle neck.. Streaming on that thing sucked ass while every other device in the house was streaming fine. I got a Roku and never had another problem.

They already exist..