One way that they did this at one company that I worked for had every machine was in a metal cage/box. It covered the floppy and CD drives, but the cover over them could be opened with a key.

IT had physical access, but users had none. Just the machine and the files on the server. Zero security issues in the time I was there. Keeping the employees off of the internet was all that was really required. (plus everyone now has phones so let them do their own wi-fi)

Heh.

But the old idea of keeping work and pleasure separate is still the right one. If you keep both computer systems from each other, you keep most of the problems from happening.

The only potential issue might be email, but that's usually simple enough to deal with as an IT administrator.

True, but I think the OP was talking about something that was connected to the outside world/internet.

The truth, though, is that nothing connected to the outside world will ever be secure. At best you minimize your damage. But you can absolutely ensure that users don't do as many stupid things. For instance, you can disable the USB ports and remove the CD and floppy drive from your machines. Then just and run them as terminals. No issues with flash drives or CDs. Then you can of course nuke all internet browsing.

The solution that my last employer provided was an open wi-fi connection for everyone to share that was for phones and such only and 100% not connected in any way (separate ISP and hard line even) to the main server. They could do all of their idiocy on that connection and sure, it was slow and sucked, but there was no way into the servers. Only the IT department's machine had outside access. Not perfect, but far better than letting every employee use the same system.

I had the same problem. Windows doesn't play along nicely with multiple SATA drives sometimes. Especially if you have RAID in the mix or different types of hardware (IDE and SATA and so on). It kept having cache and access and speed issues. Eventually it started dropping the DVD drive or reporting that it was merely a CD drive. I was pulling my hair out.

Then I got an external Firewire case. Problems dropped to ZERO. I tried USB but it was too slow and it conflicted like crazy. But evidently firewire uses its own bus and controller that's separate from the rest of the idiocy (being based upon SCSI technology). I can plug it in and out and it always works. My burner is a bog-standard $30 ASUS burner. My software is happy as a clam with it. I've burned Apple, Windows, and Linux CDs as well as made bit-for-bit copies of the latter (which isn't even a recognized format by Windows). Coasters are a result of bad media if it happens.

It's even worse that you think.

We think of it as the companies being donors. With people in Congress calling and asking for money. But the reality is that the companies come TO the politician first and say "we'll give this money to either you or your opponent - you decide." It's not the officials asking for donations for their election/re-election efforts. It's an outright threat by the corporations to keep their "workers" in Congress in line. We're going to give you this money and you'll accept it - or we'll find someone who will.

93% of the time, the candidate with more money wins. That isn't a threat, it's a promise that you'll be unemployed if you piss off your masters.

Since most of extra-solar space is empty (outside the area where there is a large concentration of solar winds), if you went short distances, you could probably only cause a localized shock-wave. So it might take, say, 10 or 20 jumps to get to the nearest star safely. You'd have to exit and enter the systems on each end somewhere outside its ort cloud, most likely. Considering the potential time savings, though, it's a no-brainer to try to build one of these. Half a year to get to the jump destination plus a few hours per jump. Sure beats slow-boating it for decades.

They did at least get the idea of an oppressive media-driven corporatocracy right. But we're talking about 3 minutes, total, of the entire pile of offal. Given the movie's length, that gives is about a 2% success rate.

If the remake is even close to 25% accurate, it'll be seen as an icon of the genre. It's one of the few times that you actually want a remake of a movie. Plastic and foam kind of don't make for a believable experience. Nor does a casting job from hell. Or effects that Lucas did better 20 years earlier.

As for the muscles, it's an impressive step towards real artificial limbs. With that sort of efficiency and speed, that means a human-strength model would be extremely light and use an extremely compact power source. Sure, you'd have to recharge your arm or leg once every day or two, but that's nothing. In fact, with recent advancements in wearable power generation technology, it might be self-recharging as long as you're outside.

The problem was entirely with the local phone company in my case. I had a new line straight to the box, new lines put under the hours, and all new equipment put in. And still, static. (DSL line worked, but if I can head massive static on the phone, it's certainly affecting the DSL as well) So if the OP is suffering from 20% more usage than his router is reporting, he very well might be dealing with bad lines or equipment as well.

The OP was in a fairly rural state, though, so he's probably lucky to get 256K if he's outside of town. Add in old equipment along the chain and maybe a crappy install on top of that, and I can see 20% overhead and/or losses.

Correct. But they are almost certainly calculating it correctly. There's the data, the headers, any background traffic. Gaming does this a lot, btw. Tons of tiny little wasteful packets and the system constantly asking for updates/pinging/etc. Downloading a torrent is even more crazy - you can send an astonishing amount of traffic back and forth by the time you get even a single small file. Add in some dropped packets when the telephone is being used and there you go.

When I had DSL, if I started talking on the land line, my speed would drop into the dirt. I could hear static on the phone as well. DSL works over amazing distances, but he might be struggling to get even 256K. Note - old wiring in the house also does this. Most proper installs run a new line from the pole directly to the computer. A lot, though, especially if you are in an apartment, do not. Given how crappy DSL generally is, I can see a 20% overhead quite easily.

But, it's certainly not ethical, either, to be counting this towards a cap, especially if there is no non-capped option available. (well, there always is - via their business service, but that's a whole other wad of butt-hurt).

Note - the OP really needs to get cable or something without the insanity. DSL is always the choice of last-resort.

It's almost certainly a bit of debris from the shield and/or lander. If you look at the high definition video, you see the thing slam into the surface right before Curiosity lands and it looks like it hit hard, with a huge plume of dust and debris. Fragments could have reached a few miles from the looks of it.

Or it could be a screw. (arm falls off as it reaches for the item. Camera is now looking at an arm and a screw.)

Trust me on this. There's nothing on Mars. After millions of years being irradiated, it's as lifeless as the Moon except *maybe* at the poles where some bacteria or viruses survived. note - the Moon is similar in that it's covered in a blanket of dust, but below the dust is pretty much normal rock.

Shame, since I find it easier to read the way you put it. ;)

Company having a problem? I know! Just merge it into another corporation and ensure even greater monopoly power.

I sometimes wonder what people are thinking. Don't they ever learn from history?

I think you'd be able to recycle it, though. ;)

But seriously. This would be like coming up with a $1 tax on bullets. And then forgetting that it affects law enforcement, the military, and so on. THe idea (IIRC) was about software initially, but making it apply to physical items is sheer insanity.

My guess is that if this passes, that businesses will be able to re-sell items (since evidently only businesses are people any more - we're just meat-sacks with numbers attached), so either you'd have to apply for and pay re-seller's license fee, or give the item to a place that did.(ie- donate or "recycle")

Think of how many auto dealers alone would scream at this. No used car sales. In fact, I can right off the top of my head just keep coming up with example after example of businesses that sell used equipment. Ebay, for instance, would simply shut down. And they have pretty deep pockets last I checked.

And then there's the absurd part of it. That we actually are limiting ourselves as a nation based upon the IP and copyrights of other nations like China that ignore our same laws. We might as well just give up and move Congress to Shanghai. I really would like to know the thought process behind the idiot who first thought this up. Because once you think about it beyond your tiny little niche and apply it to everyone, it's a disaster.

Welcome to the U.S. Nobody can sell anything used - just throw it away.

This will be Apple's problem in the counter-suit. I expect them to get similarly reamed by Samsung.