I had a look at the link provided. It looks like MS is providing an offline activation via a web portal, rather then a phone number.
if you have an air gaped machine, you can use the website from your phone (it looks optimized for mobile, even on my desktop) to do the offline activation.
This has to be way better then doing it via phone.

Put the pitchforks down, MS isnt forcing machines to connect to the internet to activate, and they arn't really ending the service, just making it less dumb.

you must have a tiny-ass mug then. I Have a Cuisinart maker that grinds, and has a 4 cup setting, which perfectly fills my travel mug.

that is by biggest complaint about the Keurig - to fill a decent size mug, you need 2 cups on the large setting. at that point you get into the Buy at coffee shop kinda price per cup.

Sadly he is not the first..

most cities have bylaws respecting the use of gas powered r/c craft in parks /public places, and my R/C Scale boat club (Nothing high speed, or gas) carries 2 million in liability insurance.

Why is this Modded 0?? its true.
if you fall off a tower, its because you didn't protect yourself properly. Most often people dont clip onto the proper thing, or they are unclipped, or their harness is too loose. falls are completely preventable.

Yes the employer has a responsibility to train employees, and ensure equipment is up to snuff and used properly. A fall protection harness, and lanyard is $160 its not an excessive cost.
39$ for Harness http://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/safety/protection/harnesses/safelight-fall-protection-harness-10910-universal-size
118 for a climbing lanyard http://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/safety/protection/lanyards/safeabsorb-dual-leg-elast-combo-lanyard-fall-protection-safety-equipment

I suggest you read this post from a former UAL Pilot and Flight instructor for Asiana:
http://originalforum.justhelicopters.com/DisplayThread.asp?BD=2020564&Page=1&ForumID=23&msgid=2020564&OM=2020564&Return=DisplayThread.asp&D83jsd=True

In short, the culture in SE Asia produces pilots who are well trained to operate an aircraft as a piece of Machinery, however are unable to "Fly".

Some Addtional Comments:

there are 3 ways to Authenticate someone - Something you Own, Something you know, and something you are. Choose 2 for best results.

The something you own didnt work. Adding something you know (like a pin) wouldnt work because there is no benifit to keeping it private - on the contrary - you get paid an extra half day for disclosing it. - persumably your bank account has money in it, so you are motivated to not disclose the pin. Therefore the best option is something you are - Most people would not cut off their thumb for a half day of pay.

With the comment about fireing people - Its a unionized shop. this makes it more dificult, and you actully have to catch the culperts before you can peanlize them.

I installed these at a client.
The issue was the employees would take an afternoon off to go to an appointment, and get buddy to clock them out at the end of the day - The emplyoee would then get paid for an afternoon they didnt work.

The time clocks have a fingerprint scanner. You place your thumb on the device as you punch out. Now buddy cant swipe out for you, and you cant defraud your employeer.

They also had biometric locks instead of prox cards on the doors. Much more convieient then having to remember a card the few days when i was on site.

perhaps ironiclly, the last time i flew Air Canada, they were charging for the once complementry nuts.

its a sad state of affairs when Westjet, the "discount airline" offers better complementry snacks.

Your making 8$ and hour, but I wouldn't be surprised if the staffing company was charging 20$ for you.

Like anything, the money is made by the middle man - avoid them at all costs.. (or become one)

An auto switching power Y-cable with two inputs, and one output? ive never seen or heard of these.. Do you have a manufacturer or part number?
id defiantly like some.

its still not incorrect as they stated that it was in standard time. if they only stated 5pm Pacific time, one would assume the current Daylight Savings time.
Canadian (and American I think, but dont hold me to it) Tide and Current tables are in Standard time, so you need to remember to add the hour when you are in Daylight Savings Time, otherwise your calculations are off, and you can hit low things, and run around on high things.

Umm.. thats not throttling, it applying QOS (Quality of service) Throttling would slow your traffic all the time, where as this applies prioritization to data that needs it. Packets have a qos field that says the priority they should be given..

Im glad there is a telco that will respect QOS - I've wasted a week with a voip problem, only to learn that the telco was shaping traffic and discarding everything above 3mb without paying attention to QOS Flags.. Allstream charges more for this!