The only group that gets that privilege at my job are the engineers and that's only because their boss is above my boss.

FYI, it's probably not the IT department that doesn't think that other software is essential. It's probably the CTO/CIO/Whoever's in charge of spending money. That's the guy that IT always has to get approval from in order to spend money on anything. Get approval for MSOffice is relatively easy since everyone uses it. Getting approval for Photoshop is difficult since only 1 or 2 people (where I'm at) use it.

Installing the rest of that stuff wouldn't be a big deal (we keep a software inventory of everything installed on every machine). The problem of course comes when you see a new program that you want, which probably happens at least once a week. Then you'd have to tell IT that you're installing it (if you don't have admin and you're asking for a program to be installed, you're effectively telling IT you want it). You don't want to have to do that. Even though if you end up having a problem with something you'll be calling IT to troubleshoot it (and you're also assuming they know how to use every damn program you have installed) you don't want to have to bother with letting them know when you're installing every media player under the sun (you need WinAmp and VLC?)

And then there'll be that one package that people want that isn't available in the repository. Then they'll have to go out and find it somewhere else. That's where the trouble starts.

You think it takes something special other than "Now you're going to need to do a few things to get these updates to install because they're out of bandwidth updates. Just follow these simple steps and everything will be fine and you'll be completely secure".

It doesn't take much to make the average user think that what they're doing is going to completely secure their system.

Only temporarily. Once a massive amount of transactions starts to go through the new payment processor, the payment processor will likely start offering lower prices to everyone which would end up driving the cost down.

Why would anyone ever do anything but this? If you get an email from a friend saying he needs money, wouldn't you at least pick up the phone and attempt to reach them first? Don't you think if they really needed money, they'd find a way to call you rather than send you an email?

That's because of a bunch of stupid laws that get passed many years apart with no care of the previous law. It use to be very simple. Slower traffic stay to the right (it is still marked like this on many four lane highways, but hardly anyone follows it). Then the speed limit got reduced from 65 to 55 (I know it went back up many years ago, but there are still freeways marked with 55) and now the "fast lane" is no longer fast. I've seen stories on the news where a policeman is giving a reporter a ride and they're watching someone tailgate because they're doing 55 and the other driver wants to go faster. Do they move to the right? No. They ask why the other driver doesn't slow down.

The reason for the "TRUCKS MAY USE ALL LANES" is because on some freeways, and this is mostly coming into LA County from the north (as far as I've ever seen) there are lanes specifically for the trucks. You won't see very many cars on them and they're usually pretty empty, even when the freeway is filled with cars. It's because those roads usually have only one or two lanes and they're specifically meant to get the big trucks out of the traffic. Having an 18 wheeler stuck in stop and go traffic is a lot worse than letting them take a different route (the route is usually longer anyway).

Some places include "utilities" in the rent each month. With those places, you could run your television, air conditioner, and lights all day and it wouldn't cost you any more that it does to not run them. Your rent doesn't change so you are effectively not paying for electricity.

Would you know the serial number is invalid just by looking at it? You might know what makes a serial number valid, but I doubt you'd know if one was invalid if it had the proper makeup. This is why it's mostly 10s and 20s (and higher) that get the metal strip. Counterfeiting anything else isn't worth the trouble.

I don't know about you, but I don't pay anything to use my Visa or MasterCard. The "tax" you refer to is probably the interest payment for not paying the balance in full each month. Not everyone has that problem, so that defeats point 2.

Depending on how I handle a transaction, I can send money through PayPal without any extra fees.

That's the time in circulation. That is not how long a dollar bill will last. I have a handful right now that are 5 years old and a few that are 8 years old. The more damaged they are, and when they are changed, the more likely they are to be pulled out of circulation.

The "average lifespan" is how often the money is pulled out of circulation, shredded, and reissued.

http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/coinfacts/unitedstates_3.asp

You realize that is a problem with any industry when government is close to the people that run anything, right? Nukes, oil, coal, "green" energy. You name it. When government gets in bed with companies, they end up looking the other way every time.

No because the shop keeper can simply take the Canadian currency and exchange it for US currency at a local bank. Any store can do the same thing with any currency that is accepted. They can also refuse to accept currency over a certain denomination. And that's the trick with bitcoin. A few online retailers might be accepting it, but most are not and I don't know of any brick-and-mortar stores that are.

It's funny how everyone here is acting like BitCoin is this super important thing that is gaining widespread acceptance. Go out on the street and ask someone what bitcoin is and they'll probably look at you funny followed by a "What's a bitcoin?"

Here's something to think about though. If everyone were able to print money, money would be worthless. It would be completely over inflated and totally worthless. Why would I take money you printer when I can print my own? I think the same holds true of bitcoin. Someone with a bunch of computers laying around can just generate bitcoin all day long and cash it in. That seems, to me, to make the currency essentially worthless.

I don't care what that video says, that does not affect all inkjet printers. That mostly affects HP printers. It likely affects any printer that uses a tricolor ink cartridge. I happen to own an Epson and it does not do that (uses separate ink cartridges for every color). I've had it for several years and it still works just as good today as it did when I got it.

Salted meat last quite a long time. If you wanted the ribs and I knew enough to be able to give you the ribs, I could probably salt the rest of it to slow down the clock.

Forget the encryption part for a moment. Their own privacy policy stated that they reserved the right to sell your information if they ever go bankrupt. One of the other online backup places, Carbonite, has no such statement in their privacy policy. Personally, I'd rather pay for a service that isn't going to sell my info.

The only problem with this bit of advice is that we keep telling people it, but they keep doing it anyway because they don't want to pay our rates. Then they get mad when it ends up coming out worse.

I do computer repair on the side (I have a regular day job) and I constantly get people asking me about problems with their computer. They don't even have the computer with them yet they want the error explained and solved (they've written it down of course) so they can go home and fix it. I don't even bother trying to help them. And of course, there are people who want their machine fixed because they're a co-worker. They will actually bring their computer to work and ask if you can look at it. Most of the time I just tell them "Sure, after work and I usually bill X amount". Then I glance at it before giving them an estimate. Sorry folks, I am not your personal computer repair technician. It's rare for someone at work to ask about their home computer and be willing to pay to have it fixed.

The only people that get a pass on that are the two owners of the company and the VP.