I was only the piano player. I did all the non immigration work there. I'm only reporting what I saw. Would it be better if I didn't report it ? I never appeared in any Imm proceedings, or drafted the paperwork, personally. Immigration is generally a very effed up area of law. All the illegals aren't wrong...they know there will be eventual amnesty, like in the past, and will show up with coffee cans full of cash to pay whatever penalty fee the INS comes up with.

IAAL. Learned in a stint at an immigration law firm, that H1B means you write a job description that only your candidate can fill. For example, if I wanted an airplane engineer who knew jumbo jets, I could get a thousand Americans for the job. If I needed a jumbo jet guy who also could work on Bleriot biplanes, that might be a lot less. If I also said he needed to be fluent in Mandarin and Farsi, I've just written an H1-B for my candidate. The key to success is making sure that only your guy can meet the job description that YOU create. Had a friend who was H1-B, even though he was raised in the states...he never bothered for the green card, took the easy way through school, etc. Had a falling out with his boss, and the H1-B went "poof". This essentially American had to relocate to Europe, and when he didn't self deport, was excluded for five years. H1-B means your employer owns your ass. Sadly, it is now a means to "on shore" a docile labor force.

The factory is not often stupid. It is, however, very, very cheap. All gearheads learn this quickly, usually when something fails when run 20% over design.

You can get camera location databases for most satnavs as a subscription. It is worth it. The sort of free way is to use Waze. The crowd source works very well for fixed threats. Friend goes to Wash, DC. Two camera tix, speed and red light. I go, zero over more miles. When the goal is "gotcha", not safety, the bing-bing of the Garmin is good to know. Really, there's no excuse if you own a smartphone or can pony up $80 for a cheap nav and $30 for a subscription.

The biggest danger to driving, drivers and pedestrians is the cell phone. Folks walk out into traffic staring at the samsung. Go 10 blocks in Manhattan, you will get at least a dozen of these folks. No spatial awareness at all. In public. I saw a guy holding a cell phone conversation on speaker while bicycling yesterday. The guy who doesn't move from the light when it goes green didn't stall his manual, he's texting. Left Lane blocker ? contractor or housewife in huge SUV/Pickup...62 in a 70...ON THE PHONE. Really, just close your eyes instead and go lalalalalalaaa

I'm sufficiently concerned that I use a private company for my mail. I could do it for "free", but prefer to pay for my work files not being data mined... You mean there are folks who don't ad-block ? Oh, and yes, I do FF commercials. The second thing I did with my Tivo was to activate the 30 second skip. That alone is worth the monthly subscription fee.

Whenever I get the "please remove my viruses and why is google now some odd page I've never heard of" request, the computer is left with full on ad and flash blockers, with instructions on how to use them.

Sure. Using a set of mechanical switches to fire spark, along with a set of weights to advance spark, is a great idea, very reliable, and adapts to real time conditions.

I had two of the excellent Sony HDD 250 DVRs. They are/were better than Tivo until this last generation....well built, and a good first effort. They got data from TV Guide onscreen. Listings, info, and time. TV Guide onscreen was a listing service that would download from an OTA or cable station, interlaced into the signal. It was carried by PBS in the analog era, then CBS when digital transition took place. TV Guide was sold to Rovi (Macrovision). Shortly thereafter, the listing service was shut down. Sony and Rovi were both mute as to those of us who had bought into TV Guide onscreen. I mean, really, who could get screwed by TV GUIDE ???? So much for the old economy and assumptions. We were left high and dry. There was no alternate way to get the listings. Some units with later versions of TV Guide onscreen were internet compatible, but these weren't. Now, I'm not ranting about free listings. These units would not take a time stamp from anything other than a TVGOS source, over the air... So, once the TVGOS service died, your clock did too. No, there was no "clock set" in the menu. Whose idea or requirement this was should be shot. Twice. Some convoluted work arounds were devised, but the simple fact is that you had a random clock when you plugged it in. For the normal person, you just bricked it. No TVGOS signal = no clock = no programming. Thanks Sony.

Moron. Won't change a thing here. Cut the cable cord a while back, Hulu for back episodes, and non usian web sites for the current season. The Stig-The Stig The Snob-to be replaced The Bloke-Hammond The Bard-May Reboot with another Snob. I can only imagine what his real snob position as real or faker is in the brit class system. Here in the US we don't pick up on that fine gradation.

At the end of the year, I look at the disgusting amount of money I give the Feds. I always hope that paid for a solar panel on the ISS, or maybe a few titanium bolts.

I find it fascinating that everyone now carries a digital spread spectrum, full duplex device. When I was a kid, messing with (yes) 11 meters, and later graduation to ham, this was a fantasy from sci-fi. When the first brick cell phone came out, hams had already been "phone patching" to local repeaters for years. Try to explain to someone why they can or cannot get a signal, basic propagation knowledge, and you get a blank stare. No one has a clue how any of this works. We have seen Heinlein's Law in my lifetime !

The presentation is spot on about the lack of innovation with the current big 3 ham equipment makers. Thank you for pushing the envelope in a hammy way. I'm impressed by the current crop of SDR, but it comes at a price and this promises to do more with less. Come out with a moderate power HF rig before china finally gets it's act together and spits them out....

Everyone there is gunning to be the next Visa...taking a permanent 2% tax on every transaction. Sharp elbows and such are to be expected. I still don't see a need to make my charge card two orders of magnitude more complicated-the battery in my credit card never runs out. Maybe thats a bad thing... No one ever makes it cheaper. They want you to bank on line, but no one ever offers to rebate you the billing by dead tree expenses.... Do you accept....CASH ?

Godwin's law...score ! It is nice to travel to places where it is legal or tolerated. A trip to Colorado is instructive. I await the east coast....