Thank you. I didn't realize I had to define RDBMS when I referred to SQL - as I had to help the novice in t-sql (transact structured query language that has some microsoft bits that don't work in the other RDBMS flavors) which is tied to MSSQL.which he had no Idea that the backend to the access/mssql platform the internal apps referred to (which is a nightmare in itself as the programmer who wrote that crap had three access databases running most of the data storage instead of porting all of it to MSSQl).

I was under the impression that it's often easier to just refer to SQL when real techs talk. (we pronounce it "see-quell")

I can go into how I built an external server for customer data and linked it to the internal server to keep financial data secure (without using MSSQL linked servers) but that would get into actual programming. Something that bootcamp devs can't do.

The last contract I had I walked into the "star" programmer using hidden text files to store data on client machines.

It took over two weeks to prove to him that SQL could store the data without errors.

People who are tossed into a learning environment for a month or two can't program their way out of a wet paper sack, let alone analyze and create tested solutions for a business.

But businesses will get what they pay for. If they want someone who can do a web page without a real back end (that's secure and actually usable) will end up paying the price.

It's good business for me. I can charge 4 years salary (of the bootcamp idiot) for six months worth of work to fix boot camp idiots work.

This would be great for NAS if they make motherboards with a large number of SATA ports.

This. In my home server, I have an A4 on one of these, which has six SATA ports. It's probably about as fast as the Core 2 Duo that was in it previously, it uses not much power at all (though probably still more than these new chips), and I think I didn't spend much more than $70 or so for the CPU and motherboard. I'm currently using one port for the boot drive and three for the data drives (JBOD with Greyhole). That gives me 7.5 TB, with selectable redundancy so a drive failure doesn't kill my docs or photos (video and music can be restored from BD-R), and I still have two ports available before I need to add a card.

The thing that bugs me about all these claims of planets and star wobble and theories on how to predict life and all are all based on the latest iteration of conjecture.

The light being examined is really, REALLY ancient. There's no (as far as I can tell) any leeway given to what may be between the star and us - like dust, or any other thing like dark matter (which is a theory) between us and the exoplanet - Honestly?

To me all this planet discovery is about as verifiable as the canals of mars were when I was a kid.

A star "wobbles" after 15 million years of the light traveling to where we can observe it - and It's as definable as the canals of mars were 40 years ago?

Really? I can't say that the people declaring plants and life are wrong - but then again, science about the near planets is woefully lacking.

How can we definitively say that life exists light years away when we're fucking clueless about what is going on under the surface of Europa?

Netflix isn't a network carrier, provider of internet services, or anything else that involves routing or handling of network packets. They are a catalyst for a discussion on Internet monopolies because they came up with something Done Right. They have a successful business model in that they provide a service that a LOT of people enjoy and want to use. What stands in the way is the network and rent-seeking companies unwilling to improve infrastructure because it cuts into their profits. Netflix's involvement is incidental to this discussion, and it could've been any other product with such popularity. Skype, if video calling ever really took off. Facebook, if it comes up with Virtual Reality social networking. Video poker, with real video streams.

So, from this Netflix-instigated problem, we have these questions. Is it acceptable for Comcast to use it's monopoly position over its user base to provide preferential treatment to it's own video on demand services, the same services in direct competition to Netflix? Is it acceptable for composite local+transit ISPs to keep their peering interconnects at or near capacity to encourage content providers to co-locate services at said ISP, and then blame self-imposed network saturation as reason why? Is it acceptable that the expectation is that, once you get one kind of internet service, you are unlikely to get another improved service in anything under a decade?

I'm all for companies making a profit. I don't hold a grudge against them for doing it. What I hold a grudge against is said companies using their position not to provide the best possible service, but to extract the most profit possible for the least amount of work.

They aren't "dumping huge amounts of traffic onto them" for the purposes of routing through their backbone to some other carrier's user, though. They're dumping huge amounts of traffic onto Comcast's network because Comcast USERS are ASKING for it. You make it sound like Netflix is DDOSing Comcast, but it's frankly just providing a service that customers want to access. If you, as an last-mile or local ISP cannot handle that traffic, then it is either on you to improve your service to handle the traffic your users are requesting, throttle it down so that you have bandwidth for other purposes, or advertise "Cannot access Internet Video Services here" and ensure that your customers know where not to go if that is the service they're after.

If you can phrase your disgust in a way that doesn't involve misunderstanding how client-server traffic works, we might find understanding with your position. As it is, though, you totally misunderstand how data from Netflix finds its way onto the Internet, and why it goes where it goes.

I'm just not so sure that processed soybeans fried in rapeseed oil and salt water is any healthier than meat.

Meat doesn't lead to gynecomastia, either, unlike soy protein.

Netflix isn't a network carrier, they are a content provider. That would seem to be problem #1 with your comments. Problem #2 is that content must be delivered to the requester, the end user. This idea that Netflix's CDN must pay to another carrier via peering trunks because the data is going to that other carrier's user doesn't seem much like a peering relationship. I mean, how can you be a peer with a local ISP? That Comcast built their own network backbone to run traffic along is nice and all that, but they're trying to be local ISP and a transit ISP at the same time. They've changed the look of the traditional model of Internet interconnects and are attempting to declare that everyone (customer and transit ISPs alike) must pay them to deliver content their own users are requesting. It is an abuse of these peering agreements, in my opinion.

When I'm out riding on my touring bike - Monty Python Is mixed into my cruise music.

This might be their last "Visit before the chorus Invisible" But their classic and awesome humor will live on far past their "bring out yer dead" bell clanging.

Thank you from the bottom of my humor warped heart, Monty Python is and was one of the greatest entertainment shows on the planet.

And if anyone disagrees, It's fishes on the wharf at dawn.

Just remember to deduct that $100 next year (for those that don't know, tax prep fees are deductible).

Not always. Tax-prep fees go in a part of Schedule A for which there's a minimum you have to meet (2% of adjusted gross income) before you can deduct anything. The $500+ my wife and I forked over to H&R Block last year? Not deductible. :-P

OTOH, I was able to do my own filing this year by looking at what forms had been generated last year and making changes where appropriate. I grabbed the fillable forms from the IRS website, filled them in with Okular, printed them out, stapled our W-2s to them, and stuffed them into an envelope. Since we still owed money (less than $100 this year, vs. $3000+ last year...w00t!), I don't care how long it takes for the mail to get through and for the IRS to do its processing.

p.s. the current win 8 experience has both testicles being torn from your body, or so my father said when he received a win 8 machine as an x-mas gift..

BTW

Seriously?

dumb bosses made me use a win 7 machine.

Saying "Vista was ok" is like saying "Ok, one of my testicles was torn from my body, but otherwise it was a good experience"...

If you're a linux prophet, how do you know about windows and upgrading?

I ask this because pert damn near everyone I've worked with over the past 15 years knows that when you move to a new Microsoft release, it's a wipe and reinstall.

And just like Star Trek Movies, every second windows release sucks. XP was great, Vista sucked balls, win 7was ok, win 8 ran for goatse .

(p.s. - never upgrade until the second service pack for the release)

If the person paying the penalty has not been audited over the issue, how can the debt be arbitrarily assigned?

Sounds like the ACLU can suck up a crapload of public funds over this fiasco.

I can actually preserve food by canning, smoking, pickling and curing as well as hunt. I also have mason jars stockpiled.

So I'll raise the farming by one and have the shotgun ready for defense against soldier boy.

P.S. Be sure you want to be tough and steal, cause if there's a jar or two not prepped well, you'll just die from botulism when you run across it. It's called "insurance". :)