Just popping in to say NoClueBoy, I’ve read several of your posts tonight… just go to bed, man 
Computer hardware is much easier to work on then people think. for example hard drives are easier to hook up then dvd players. skip the over priced pc repair shop and do a search on google.
I would like to clarify i meant dvd players as in the ones you hook up to a tv. just to aviod confusion. dvd-roms(and burners) are also easier to hook up to the computer than dvd players to the tv, by the way.
Computer chips have little pictures on them that are so small you could easily fit them on the head of a needle. (some not all)
Do not eat yellow snow.
There actually isn’t any computer software. It’s just little midgets inside the box who draw stuff really fast on the monitor.
We invented LCDs by breeding smaller midgets.
Car Dealers
My first job out of college was selling new Japanese cars. I worked really hard at not being the stereotypical car salesman.
With 90% of my customers I was the nicest guy you would ever meet. Many of my customers would introduce me to their sisters or daughters, so I know I was not the sterotypical sleazy car salesman.
Anyway, for those 10% that insisted upon being obnoxious jackasses, I was always nice to them, but then I would totally screw-up their paperwork. On every form being filled out for their insurance company, rebates, registration, warranty, title, etc. I would transpose some of the numbers in the serial number of their car. I was then happy in the fact that everything associated with their car would be delayed by months, and that the jackasses would encounter hassles evertime they would call to inquire why something was delayed or not taken care of.
Now you jackasses out there now know why buying a car is such a horrible experience for you.
And yes, for my nice, polite customers I would go out of my way
to insure that everything went as smooth as possible.
The jackasses of the world not only get more spit and boogers in their food, but their bad karma also makes everything else in their life more difficult also.
How very benevolent of you.:rolleyes:
Computers are really, really easy to set up. Really. Do your homework, buy all the components, put it together yourself. You’ll save a couple of hundred bucks, easy. Just make sure you have sufficient guidance to:
a) Get everything plugged in right
b) Get the mounting screws placed right (misplace just ONE and you’ll short circuit the board - you won’t damage it, probably, but the computer won’t start up right)
c) don’t accidentally fry any of your components.
Scary is it sounds, it’s really easy as pie if you don’t assemble it on the fuzzy throw rug.
Also, pay attention to CPU and RAM throughputs. A good example of WHY you should do this is RDRAM, which is crap. The theory is, you have a very, very high bitrate, so you don’t need as “wide” a pipeline (go figure, I can’t remember the names of the things…). What actually happens is a major backup, as the data all tries to go through at once and basically clogs up the works. This results in RAM with what LOOKS like an awesome bus speed, but which is actually slow as all hell.
Same concept holds clear for chips, though it can get complicated. Not all CPUs are created equal. A G4 1 Ghz is actually significantly fast than an Intel of equivalent clock speed because of the more efficient way it handles data. (I’m not claiming Macs are better, merely that Apple emphasizes different aspects of the technology to get good results than Intel, IBM, etc.)
I remember they used to talk about wait states a lot, then I stopped reading the mags for a while, and when I picked them up again year later there was no mention any more.
I assumed that it became inconsequential at the higher speeds, but I suppose that was wrong. Thanks for the info, dal.
Windows is overpriced, bug-ridden, and inherently insecure.
But you will almost always get the recommendation to purchase it for your operations because it ensures job security for us IT Support types.
Well, I’m just going to offer a hodgepodge of knowledge based on my previous jobs, as my current position doesn’t really lend itself to juicy secrets.
Commercial (and military) airplanes are often outfitted with refurbished parts. Fan blades? Yup. Seals for the engines? Yup. The tolerances, though, are very strict (often within a few ten-thousandths of an inch) and even if the guys out on the floor screw up, the inspectors–generally the best employees–have to give the final okay.
Sony phones are generally made by Uniden. (At least they were when I worked there.) This is not a bad thing, but if you find a Sony phone you like, try looking for a comparable one from Uniden. It’ll probably cost you less.
Most electronic failures are caused by “cold solder.” That means that often, nothing is wrong with the components in your TV/VCR/whatever, but the solder (the metal that holds the components in place and creates a path for the electricity) is not making contact. (NOTE: This might be more of a problem with hand-soldered circuit boards than it would be with machine-soldered circuit boards. That’s just a SWAG, though.)
This is becoming less of an issue now that most of us have DVDs, but here goes anyway: When you pause your VCR, the drum (the thing with the heads–which read the tape–on it) keeps spinning and will get the heads dirty. Plus it’s hard on the tape.
Never try to work on a TV or monitor unless you really know what you’re doing. You can get a shock that will send you six feet under, even if it’s unplugged. Really.
As someone else pointed out in the other thread, certain electronics items have big markups. TVs? Big markup on those. Computers? Nope, not so much. Accessories? MAJOR markup.
Okay, one last thing: if you ever ate at the A Family Restaurant in Parsons, KS, you have the distinction of being one of the few people who have eaten at what was probably the cleanest restaurant on the planet. I know, 'cause when I was a teenager, I cleaned it. A lot. Only as I have gotten older do I now appreciate how rare it is to find a dining establshment that clean.
I worked in a book store during college (corporate store)
90% of the paperbacks and magazines that they don’t sell are destroyed. The covers are ripped off, and then the spine is ripped in two then the books and mags are thrown in a dumpster. The other 10% are returned to the publisher in one piece. The employees get to keep as many of the “destroyed books” as they like.
Don’t be afraid to ask for or order a book that you might find embarrassing. I have sold everything from how to’s for self enemas to sex guides for paraplegics. We wont make fun of you, and we will help you as much as we can.
After college: computer engineering for a huge ass company
We easily pull 300 to 400 percent profit from our chips. The longer we sell a product, the more profit we make, even if the cost goes down. We paid for all of the development cost with previous sales, so other than the few cents per chip for manufacturing cost, all the rest is profit.
Even though mid level engineers will make from 50k to 70k a year, the company on average allocates 130k per employee per year. The extra cost in for equipment, training, healthcare, and other expenses.
Engineers have no say in what is in the next generation of chips. Marketing will dictate to us what we need to build for the next year, what speed it will need to run at, and what features it will have.
It takes from 4 to 6 years to design a microprocessor, but we design a new chipset every year. The new chipsets due this year are have more transistors than the microprocessors did 4 years ago.
We are putting major bucks into India and Indonesia to enable them to design future chips. Were an American employee will take home 3k to 5k a month, engineers in India will take home aprox 1k a month, but due to cost of living differences, have a higher standard of living.
There is really no reason for faster computer chips right now. Spending money on anything over 1.5 GHz is a waste of money. Difference in real world performance between a 1.5 GHz and a 1.7 GHz processor is about 4 to 6 percent. In other words, you will not notice the difference, and 1.5 GHz is more than adequate for most needs.
In the office, we are between one and two generations behind in the latest computing. In other words, the Pentium 4 processor was designed on Pentium machines.
No one has an office. We all work in cubicals. Even the CEO does not have an office. Not everyone’s cubical size is equal too. I am lucky. I have a larger one, but I have to share it.
Time to make some corrections. Note that this is the toned-down, IMHO rendition for non-technical audiences. Ask how pipelining works in GQ for an answer from somebody who can give the exact details better than I (perhaps MrTuffPaws, for instance), if interested.
That’s because pipelining made it’s way into consumer-level processors. Basically, an instruction (or set of instructions) is broken down into stages, so while one bit of the instruction is stalled on the “wait for memory” stage, another bit that doesn’t depend on memory is executing.
Even if all current instructions are waiting on memory, the processor can get a jump start on future instructions by taking a guess as to what was in the memory. For instance, if the program being run is something like:
if (x == y) then
*do stuff*
else
*do other stuff*
Then the assembler breaks down into something like:
load x
load y
test x==y
if false goto other stuff
do stuff
goto done
other stuff: do other stuff
done
The processor then starts loading x and y, and then starts executing either “stuff” or “other stuff” (called “predictive branching”, doctorate thesises can be written about how to choose which branch with the greatest degree of accuracy) until x and y are loaded. Then, when x and y are loaded, the processor tests if they are equal, and if their prediction was right.
If it was right, then great, keep processing onward from where it got to while it was waiting. If it wasn’t, then you have to flush the pipeline and start at the beginning of the other branch.
This is why programmers who really care about performance down to the nanosecond avoid branching statements like if wherever possible, they don’t want that pipeline to flush.
It still doesn’t give you twice the performance at twice the clock speed, but it is closer to twice the performance than you might think. I’d still agree that 1.5 Ghz is about the most you’d make use of in any case, but there’s a world of difference between 1.5 GHz and 400 MHz.
-lv
I used to umpire softball during the summer, so here are some tips for coaches(and much more importantly, parents). These applies to any sports, not just baseball.
- You do not know the rules better than I do. I don’t care if you’ve been coaching for 20 years, unless you read the rulebook every year, chances are your knowledge of the rules is not as good as mine. Your memory is not as good as you think it is, and in all probability, you never knew the rules as well as you thought you did.
Corollary to #1: Rules change. Just because when you used to play turning towards second base meant you were in jeopardy of being put out, doesn’t mean that the rule is the same today.
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I don’t know all the rules either. There will always be occasions when you do have the rule right and I don’t. It’s unfortunate when it happens, and I try to avoid it as much as possible, but it will happen. If you’re absolutely certain that you’re right and I’m wrong, ask me to look it up in the rulebook after the game. I’ll probably do it anyways. But by no means try to convince me to change my ruling. I’ll make a decision based on my understanding of the rules, and I will stick to them. You’re wasting your breath and my time by arguing.
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I am not out to get you. Do you know why it seems like too many of the calls are going against you? It’s because you think that all the calls should go your way! I try my very best to be impartial, and I do a damned good job of it, even when I show up to the game and your immediate reaction is to say, “Oh, great, it’s the stupid ump.”
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It’s impossible to make a close call on a tag from between second and third. I’ll do my best, but unless I can clearly see that you got him, I’m going to have to assume he made it back onto base. And repeatedly(as in after every pitch) trying to throw this guy out isn’t going to improve my disposition or going to change my call, especially when your first baseman interferes with the runner every time you do it!
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There’s a reason there aren’t enough officials in many sports today. They make minimum wage(or less) to get abused by parents and coaches. It’s not worth it. You either have to be very motivated, or be like me and get guilt-tripped into do it. If you want better officials, stop berating the poor ones. The good officials all got their start as bad ones - no one in their first year has any real clue what they’re doing, so lay off.
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If you block my view, the call is going against you. This especially goes out to all the catchers out there who like to crouch down low, and then jump up right in front of me when the pitch is made. How am I supposed to make the call if all I can see is your back? And why are you standing up in the first place?
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How much time is left? Enough time to play baseball, that’s how much time is left. I know that the only reason you’re asking this question is that you want to know if you can delay the game long enough so that we don’t play another inning, so don’t expect a substansive answer. And if you decide to play time games anyway, expect me to come down hard on you for any rules violation. If you want to get technical with the rules, we can, but trust me, you will lose that battle.
Ok, now that I’ve got that off of my chest, let’s get to the tips that can actually help most people.
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I am here to help. Do you have a question? Unsure about the rules? Ask! I’m happy to answer. I’m amazed that I’m asked as few questions as I am. A good official will always answer questions. Maybe if the explanation is long they’ll won’t answer it right away, but during half-time/between innings or after the game they’ll get back to you on it.
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I can watch for special situations if you want me to, just tell me what to watch for. Maybe the other team like to interfere with runners, or the pitcher crow hops. Let me know. Does your pitcher have a mean curve ball that just nicks the outside corner? Have the catcher tap me on the foot before the pitch, and I’ll know to watch the corner.
And here are some very softball-specific ones:
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A walk is a live ball. This means that players can steal bases. Including the player who was just walked. If you have a runner on third with the other bases empty, have the walked batter run like mad to second. If they try to throw him out, the guy from third can score. If they don’t, you get two batters in scoring position and lose the force at second. Remember, your batter can still continue to second even if the pitcher gets the ball before your batter reaches first. He can even turn around and go back to first without being called for lead-off(this is one of the few situations where this is true).
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Dropped third strike happens so often it’s not funny. Take advantage of this. Now, unless there’s someone on base, just running to first will probably get the batter-runner thrown out. But remember, dropped third strike is often overlooked by most teams, so you can try this: If your bench is beside first, have the batter who just got the first strike walk to the bench. Then, just as he’s about to enter the bench, run to first. He’ll probably be close enough that they won’t be able to throw him out. How will he know to run? Have the first base coach yell at him to run once he’s close enough to the bench. The other team will probably wise up quickly, but at least you’ll get some runners on base and negate some outs. Make sure that the batter doesn’t leave the playing field, though. If he does, he’s out.
An aside on dropped third strike:
A dropped third strike is a third strike(whether swung at or not) that touches the ground before the catcher can catch it(keep in mind, catch means retaining control of the ball, just like in football). The batter can run to first if either of these conditions are met:
a) There is no one on first base
b) There are two outs
Note that in situation b, the runner on first is forced to go to second. This means that if the bases are loaded with two outs, and there’s a dropped third strike, the catcher just has to tag home plate to get the final out.
The batter is out on a dropped third strike if first is occupied and there are less than 2 outs
This may not apply everywhere, but it doesn’t hurt to find out.
My hospital charges $60.00 extra for a private room. You will be assigned a semiprivate room upon admission and then asked if you want to upgrade to a private.
We only have about 8 semiprivate rooms and about 100 privates. Chances are that you will get a private room anyway because the semiprivates are usually occupied.
Once you are in a private room, you won’t get bumped back to a semiprivate room, if one becomes available, because of the cost factor (although you could be moved to another room for other reasons- usually medical).
The best strategy at my hospital is to take the semiprivate. If you are actually moved to a semiprivate and desire a private, you can the pay for the upgrade and get moved at that time, if you wish.
As someone who as done both many times, I’m calling BS on this one, too.
To set up a dvd player to a modern tv, you have to:
- Figure out if the TV has a composite input, an S-Video input, or a component input.
- Buy the proper cable if it didn’t come with.
- Hook up the video cable. The key here is that even if you choose the “wrong” type of input that your TV has, it will still work. Maybe not as perfectly as if you chose the S-Video over the component, but still…
- Hook up the audio cable
- Plug it in.
To set up a dvd drive in a computer, you have to:
- Figure out how to open your case.
- Figure out how drives mount in your case. This may involve using sliders. That you may then have to find.
- Punch out the front panel where the drive is going.
- Screw the sliders into the drive and slide the drive into place.
- Plug the power cord in, hoping that there’s an extra connector.
- Set the master/slave/select. If you don’t get it right, the computer doesn’t boot.
- Plug the extra IDE plug in. If you don’t have one, go and buy a new IDE adapter or decide which drive you can live without.
- Find the internal audio in port on your sound card. If your CD-rom drive’s already connected to it, decide if you really need sound from your movies. If you do, train yourself not to use the cd-rom drive for audio disks. Hook the tiny little cable up to your DVD drive and the sound card. Tweezers may help.
- Boot up the computer (assuming it still does this, see step 6). Install DVD-viewing software.
It’s not a task of heracles, but no way in hell it’s easier than hooking a DVD player up to a TV.
-lv
That is quite funny. I’ll tell all the pharmacists I work for that tid bit of info. They need a good laugh too 
- You do not know the rules better than I do. I don’t care if you’ve been coaching for 20 years, unless you read the rulebook every year, chances are your knowledge of the rules is not as good as mine. Your memory is not as good as you think it is, and in all probability, you never knew the rules as well as you thought you did.
Corollary to #1: Rules change.
What Rysto said, but substitute my area of bureaucracy/law for baseball. I’ve spent thousand of hours interpreting and discussing the laws. Heck, I’ve even wrote some laws. When I say, “X means X”, it’s true.
And for dog’s sake, try to look the answer up first. For every step of the process, we have a guidebook with the most common questions and answers. You can have them mailed to you, you can look at and download them from the web, and I know your boss has one, because I send him/her one every year and I’ve been in most of their offices.
Whistlepig, who can never say these things to customers.
you forgot one important part. The part where you spend the time hooking it up with your face pressed against the tv cabinet, and hunched over in just the right way to make your spin crawl out and picket you for unsatisfactory work conditions while that @!$%#^! s-video cable will not line up just right to go in. but maybe thats just my experance though.
is that even remotely hard? most of the cases I have been seeing have thumb screws now. you don’t even a need a screw driver for this part anymore.
do they hide them in some cases? cases get it cases? cases as in computer cases or cases as in an instance of something, ah you people don’t apreciate a good pun. anyway they seem to be right in plain sight usually.
thats a little misleading sounding. they usually snap right off for me.
just as easy as it sounds.
now thats misleading. in almost every pc free power connectors are a given. it’s like saying. plug the dvd in hoping the outlet can bare the extra load.
just pulling out the jumper for setting it works most of the time.
something similer applies to dvd players. plug the dvd in to the a/v jacks. if you don’t have any free go get an a/v switch or decide which a/v source you can live with out.
you must have large hands. anyway a lot of if not most sound cards have auxilery inputs (usually labeled aux_in) right by the main input.
if you pulled the jumper booting should happen.
I think someone feels I threatened their trade.
However I am not to small minded to admit I may have over exgerated a bit. However still installing a dvd-rom is quite easy. easy enough goerge dumya bush could do it. certainly a dvd install is not worthy of the cost of $45 bucks the shops around here seem to want. oh and if you don’t have a free ide input it’s an additional $45 plus the cost of the ide card. more then the cost of the drive in many cases.