Exactly this. The mobile version is a one off version of the primary development effort. Mobile browsers are supposed to be modern and fully supporting web standards, but it's not enough if the site designers make you jump through too many hoops (if you're allowed at all) just to get to the regular version again.

Very nice! Yeah, I didn't mean to come off as one of those folks because I'm not. I just didn't want people thinking that having the equipment was all you needed because the training and exams and licensing are pretty important. Either way, have a good one and 73, sir.

Ecommie wannabe? Only group of folks I've heard refer to hams by that moniker operate their Maxtracs under their employers' public safety LMRS licenses. I certainly hope you're not bootlegging that on 30-50 MHz.

I do want to clarify that any radio on any frequency may be used if the threat of human life is clear and present and no other means of communication are available, but it is much better to be able to make contact out with a licensee callsign. It's even better to know how to operate the radio and follow established procedures and protocols of the amateur service so you can be helpful rather than have to get help from someone on the air just to know how to operate the device. That radio is little more than an electronic brick in the hands of someone that doesn't know how it works.

You are incorrect, uninformed, and perpetuating misinformation. Licensees participating in ARES (amateur radio emergency service) and RACES (radio amateur civil emergency service) drills practice not only how to operate their stations in power blackout situations, they also practice operating frequencies under net control conditions and how to report and relay relevant emergency information in concise, brief messages that won't interfere with any ongoing emergency response efforts. A disaster is the time in which it is most important to be licensed, understand how the equipment works, and understand protocols and procedures for operating on the air so you don't interfere with the ongoing radio communications during the disaster. The last thing that will help is someone who doesn't know how to work their radio, how to follow authorized operating protocol, and how to be helpful and keep your head screwed on under duress. What will get you a stern talking to in a time of peace will get the book thrown at you in a time of crisis when there really are lives on the line. You will also be more likely to be caught operating illegally during a time of crisis since that's when the powers that be will need that resource the most.

It would help to get an amateur radio license before hand so you can contact what's left of the authorities to regroup (or just let them know not to shoot you). A CB would work just as well, but you're more likely to get in touch with them on the amateur 2 meter 144 MHz VHF frequencies than the CB 11 meter 27 MHz HF frequencies. 70 centimeter 440 MHz UHF frequencies may also help if you want to link up with others operating FRS/GMRS radios, and a GMRS license will give you the privilege of working the GMRS emergency repeaters.

Also, I would like to point out that the principle of the banality of evil is at work here. The individual in question was not a horrible, shambling monster, but just a normal person with a normal life that failed to make good decisions that resulted in the commission of a crime. It was likely not his intention to commit grand theft auto, but he did, and he should face the consequences for it. There were no mitigating circumstances or emergencies that prompted him to do this, but he chose to commit a crime because it was more convenient than doing the right thing.

Would you still keep that friend around if they broke into your house to sleep in the basement for a week? There's a lot of difference between trespassing and grand theft. Besides, an employer trusts their employees to follow the rules and cultivate trust. The driver broke the rules, didn't get permission to use the vehicle on personal time, and violated present and future trust that they could be relied on at all. It doesn't matter if they depend on that salary or not, because if it matter that much to them, they wouldn't have screwed up. Sounds to me like the individual in question had no qualms about breaking the rules and proved it, and is only sorry that they got caught.

Can I borrow your car to visit my sick relative? No harm, no foul, but ignore that sticky mess in the back...

I concur with your observation, and I agree with your approach to dealing with estimation. Estimates are definitely used as a bargaining chip between engineering and management, and there's some tricks of the trade to help maintain honest and reasonable estimates without sandbagging (overestimating out of self interest) the numbers. It does take some tenure to pull off, so the guy that just got hired a few months ago is likely not going to have a lot of bargaining power. It also takes intellectual honesty, the ability to clearly communicate the breakdown of the tasks step by step, and a credibility that only comes from a history of being professionally honest.

Reminds me of accounts of the colonial slave trade. Seriously, why don't they just design standing seats already and make everyone stand up for 8 solid hours? They already prove that they care nothing about human comfort! Could probably squeeze people into containers resembling coffins while they're at it like the Japanese hotels...

I agree wholeheartedly because this is the most visible departure point for people that aren't programmers. They want to know when your application will work, bug free, according to spec, and even handle the corner cases that no one thought about in the design meetings. They don't care about how to iterate over a list of elements in a collection or sort through config files or transition through states, but they damn sure want it to work within a reasonable amount of time even if they don't know how they think it should work.

2.4 and 5 GHz are ISM bands, not ham bands... Some of the higher frequency 5 GHz (5.8 particularly) are licensed for amateur use, but that's outside the ISM frequency range.

I really hope they're not planning on selling off part of the 1.2 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands, and I do intend to make use of those bands in the near future. I would be unaffected since I'm under FCC oversight here in the US, but it wouldn't be good for international equipment interoperability. Yeah, I haven't messed with D-STAR at all yet simply due to equipment costs, but it does seem a lot of local clubs and EmCom folks like it.

Yes, I wear my owl costume to them.