https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/starlink
Hey y’all. Here is an opinion of the startlink internet service I found in my news feeds. Maybe it will be the service you’re looking for.
Category Archives: Tools
Jarte – Better Than Word pad
http://www.jarte.com/store.html
Jarte – Better Than Word pad
I don’t know how everyone else is writing their posts, I don’t get to sit behind them and see what program they’re using. I didn’t like Office, and Open Office, the free program was just as much a pain, as the Microsoft program was. I never liked notepad, as it always wrapped the sentences. So for years I have used Word pad, which is a great program, except…..
Word pad has great features, and is a well written program, utilizing an engine that functions extremely well. It is versatile and always reminds me when I need to save my work. My only complaint with Word pad is it didn’t come with a spell- check feature, and that will be it’s downfall!
When I want a document for purposes other than a post for this site, I would have to pretend I was creating a new post, so I could edit the document, as this site has a spell-check function, and lets me know when the wording is not right. Word pad doesn’t have those features. Apparently Word pad doesn’t have many features other document editing programs have, so I have changed to a new program!
http://www.jarte.com/?so=j&ed=s&ve=53
Jarte \jär · ‘tay\ noun (est. 2001) 1. A free word processor based on the Microsoft Word Pad word processing engine built into Windows. 2. A fast starting, easy to use word processor that expands well beyond the Word Pad feature set. 3. A small, portable, touch enabled word processor whose documents are fully compatible with Word and Word Pad.
“It’s one of life’s little ironies that in a country with free speech, a program called Word costs over a hundred dollars. Fortunately, we also have Carolina Road Software and their free-of-charge word processor, Jarte.”
—PC World magazine
The Jarte word processor relieves that problem by including only the features likely to be needed by real people. Jarte is designed for students, writers, small business people, and home users. But what really makes Jarte special is the unique way it makes the features that are included easily accessible.
You expect a word processor to be able to handle Word documents, font and paragraph formatting, spell checking, print preview, and more. While Jarte performs all the standard functions well, the most important aspect of Jarte is the numerous small details that make it an efficient and enjoyable tool for creating documents. Small details like:
-Jarte Plus Store
Tabbed document windows for easy access to your open documents
Larger buttons for the most commonly used functions
Instant dictionary and thesaurus word lookup (integrates with free WordWeb)
Spell check and text search tools that do not park themselves on top of the text you are trying to edit
Single click bookmarking that make bookmarks both useful and usable
Instant access to the documents and folders you designate as your favorites
Instant access to the fonts you designate as your favorites
Use of the mouse scroll wheel button to copy and paste text
It is Jarte’s thoughtful details that will leave you wondering how you lived with that cumbersome office word processor for so long.
Take it With You!
Jarte may be the best word processor available for mobile PCs. Jarte takes up very little space on your SSD or hard drive, it runs quickly and efficiently, and Jarte’s compact display is perfect for small screen PCs. Jarte supports touch screen gestures, such as finger swipe scrolling and pinch zoom, for use on tablet PCs such as Microsoft’s Surface Pro. Jarte is an ideal word processor for mobile PCs!
Jarte may also be the best portable word processor available. Jarte can easily be run directly from a USB flash drive (or even a DropBox folder), so your word processor is always ready for you no matter what PC you’re using, providing the ultimate experience in portable word processing.
Stable WordPad Editing Engine
At the heart of Jarte sits the same word processing engine used by Windows’ WordPad. The difference is that Jarte builds far more capability around the WordPad editing engine than the WordPad program itself does. The significance of this fact is that Jarte users are secure in the knowledge that Jarte is making use of the same reliable, time tested editing engine used by millions of other Windows users all over the world. If you have tried other alternative word processors and found them to be unstable that may be in part due to their use of unreliable, home grown editing engines.
Microsoft is continually upgrading the WordPad editing engine, although you would never know it by examining WordPad. The WordPad program itself has not changed since it was first introduced. Jarte, on the other hand, continues to evolve and take advantage of useful features as Microsoft adds them to the WordPad editing engine.
Jarte is a Free Word Processor? What’s the Catch?
Yes, Jarte is completely free. There are no ads, no trial period, no nag screens, and no crippling of essential features. We do sell a separate edition of Jarte called Jarte Plus for those who want more. Many of Jarte’s regular users have been more than willing to pay the small price for the extra bells and whistles provided by Jarte Plus.
Whether or not you choose to upgrade to Jarte Plus, we hope you will go forth and free other weary souls from their corporate office word processors by introducing them to Jarte —the word processor for the rest of us.3/20/2015
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Dear WordPress Support
I don’t know what exactly is going on with OM’s blog or the troubles he’s having, but I had thought I was following people, and they were following me as well, only to find I had to re-follow. I will send Jason an email and see what is going on. I recommend everyone re-blog this as a protest, or at least to make a point , and act as a statement! I know that may seem like biting the hand that feeds us, but sometimes speaking up is more important, than the consequences they bring.
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A Motorcycle that Can Change the Industry !
A Motorcycle that Can Change the Industry !
With the cost of fuel, and cars, wouldn’t it be nice to find a vehicle that runs as inexpensively as a motorcycle, and handles as well as a car? How about a combination of the two? This clip shows a new proto-type vehicle that may be the answer to those questions.
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Electric assisted cargo bike RAIOOO
http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/electric-assist-cargo-tricycle-bike-raiooo.html
Electric assisted cargo bike RAIOOO is stylish & pragmatic (Video)
Electric assisted cargo bike RAIOOO
From hauling groceries and kids, to getting drunk friends safely home, the cargo bike is extremely useful in urban situations and occupies a special place in many TreeHuggers’ hearts. And these hard-working bikes are a diverse bunch too, coming in folding, solar-powered or upscale, department store versions. From a team of design graduates and professors from Portugal’s Polytechnic of Viana Do Castelo comes this electric-assist cargo bike that sports a lot of style — and eco-minded materials like cork and leather details made by local craftsmen.
RAIDOOO
three wheeled mobility
Dubbed Raiooo (“rai” means “spokes” and the triple O’s are a reference to the three wheels), this vehicle was designed for a comfortable and stable ride around the city for urban residents who want to get their daily errands done with a minimum of fuss.
RAIDOOO
three wheeled mobility
It’s urban practicality married to the sustainable ideals of reducing waste using locally available materials and digital fabrication. The Raiooo is also an instance of various local and global, handmade and digitally made components coming together: the bike’s aluminum parts represent industrialism, while the locally made leather bags are a work of traditional craftsmanship. The leather bags are detachable, with the smaller one holding an emergency kit. The cork components and plywood panels are digitally fabricated using CNC machines; the seat was 3D-printed using the polytechnic’s digital fabrication lab, while the front fork and handlebars were made from woods like beech, mahogany, and more exotic woods like eucalyptus and sucupira.
RAIDOOO
three wheeled mobility
The combination of metal, wood, leather and cork makes for a bike that looks and feels quite organic; the battery, controller and wires all hidden in the central plywood body, lending a clean look to the bike as well. Believing that the cargo bike should have a larger role to play in urban transport, the creators are working with commercial manufacturers to hopefully bring this lovely yet pragmatic prototype from design academia to the market. More about the Raiooo on Domus and Behance.
http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2014/08/11/raiooo_three-wheeledmobility.html
RAIDOOO
three wheeled mobility
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IT’S THE LIEBSTER AWARD!
Thank You For The Cool Trophy, Really!
Well looky here, I have been nominated for the prestigious, much coveted and fought over, LIEBSTER AWARD! I truly have to give my thanks and appreciation to Shruti of Shruti Insights, for offering me this unexpected and awkwardly wonderful opportunity. She has offered me a chance to experience a shot at the Golden Ring, the Kewpie Doll, the Final frontier of Fame and Glory in the ” Blogosphere “. I certainly would never have attempted, or volunteered for Honors such as these, on my own, so again Thank you for the inspiration, and privilege, only using my fear of shotguns or Wrathful, and thoroughly disappointed Friends, to make a man of me, and Accept this One Giant Leap For Mankind Test. Shruti, you’re the best!
So there are rules to all of this. Apparently in order to be a big shot around these parts, I have to play by THESE RULES.
Put the Liebster Award logo on your blog.
Thank and tag the blog who nominated you.
Answer their questions and come up with 10 new ones for you nominees.
Nominate 8 blogs with less than 200 followers, let them know you’ve nominated them and link them in your post.
No tag-back.
So Shruti, with much pounding of heart, I will under take this feat, and I Thank You sincerely for your having Faith and Belief in my abilities!
These are the Ten questions I get to answer!
1.Among your blog posts, which one is your favourite?
Well thank you for asking! My favorite post was a story I wrote a couple of years ago, called ” The Waiting Game”, and It was basically a true story about circumstances I had no control over. I only embellished it a tad.
2.At what time of the day do you usually write a blog post?
That is tricky because I post whenever I am either inspired by an idea, or feel like I’m not delivering enough, or not giving people what they want.
3.What is your favourite word in your native language?
Wow, I wish you hadn’t asked me that. I don’t believe I have a singular favorite word. My favorite phrase is ” Papa, I love you! ”
4.What do you like to eat in the morning?
That is an easy one, as I don’t eat in the early day. Usually I start getting hungry about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and I’m a guy so it really doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it can be wolfed down easily.
5.Choose one: tea, coffee, milk, hot chocolate. Why do you choose it?
Coffee with cream and sugar. But again, I drink freshly ground dark French Roast. Oh I’m sorry, you asked why? I grew up with good coffee in the S.F. bay area, and I’ve learned coffee really is the cheapest beverage, aside from water, and I don’t like water as fish do things in it.
6.Do you have a close friend? Is there one thing that you can only do with that friend?
I am married to my bestest, closest friend, and the thing we do together, I am not allowed to publicly speak about!
7.What is your favourite book and why do you like it?
That’s a hard one, but I can safely say my nearly favorite book, if I can only name one is BattleField Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard. I like that it’s long and involved, even though some of it is rather childish, I enjoy humanity taking back their home, and making a difference out in the cosmos.
8.What do you really want to learn but you haven’t got the time to do it?
Everything! I want my education to always continue. Right now I want to learn how to make my site work for me. The part about not enough time, unfortunately takes presidence over everything.
9.What do you miss from your childhood?
I miss my mommy! She died when I was 9, and I had to grow up because of that.
10.Where will you go if you just feel bored at home?
I am not at home at present. In December, I had to come down here to Reno Nevada to help take care of my family. I don’t get bored at home, as I live on 20 acres, in the mountains, and if the trailer feels cramped I just go outside.
Now it’s time to make my own nominations for the LIEBSTER AWARD, so I hope I don’t lose any friends over this!
Random Musings And Wanderlust
Bittersweet Sensations babyruthbeer
https://girlonstreamblog.wordpress.com/
Dr. J M Landin @ RedNewtGallery
LIZZIE BRIGHT @ http://lizziebright.com/
Victoria Iskak @ Raindrops & Fireflies
Margaret @ Suds & Kisses
mboki_m @ learning web development
And now, finally I get to ask my nominees their most dreaded and difficult to answer, questions.
1) Now that you are here in the magical realm of the blogosphere, what do you want?
2) What is your inner animal?
3) On your blog, are you public, or private, in regard to your personal self?
4) Are you happy in your present place in this life?
5) If I could give you one wish, what would that be?
6) What would be your ideal job?
7) Do you have a favorite kind of pet?
8) Are you able to discuss, religion, politics, or feelings openly, with strangers?
9) Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently, and of course, why?
10) How many fingers am I holding up?
I told you these would be formidable questions, even though I didn’t word it that way. I didn’t want to scare you away. And in advance, Thank You for playing, now take your dang football and go home!
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2-28- Who Knows When?
1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
John Wesley
John Wesley was an Anglican divine and theologian who, with his brother Charles Wesley and fellow cleric George Whitefield, is credited with the foundation of the evangelical movement known as Methodism. His work and writings also played a leading role in the development of the Holiness movement and Pentecostalism.
1827 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
B & O railroad
B & O Railroad 3
B & O Railroad 2
1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members.The Princeton’s reputation in the Navy never recovered from a devastating incident early in her service.
Princeton
On February 28, 1844, during a Potomac River pleasure cruise and demonstration of her two heavy guns for dignitaries, one of the guns exploded and killed Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer, and other high-ranking U.S. federal officials. President John Tyler barely escaped death in the incident.
PRINCETON
1849 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
February 28 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay. The California leaves New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounds Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrives at San Francisco, California after the 4 month 21 day journey.
SS CALIFORNIA
SS CALIFORNIA
1883 – The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston
Benjamin Franklin Keith, “the father” of American Vaudeville.
1883 established his own museum in Boston featuring “Baby Alice the Midget Wonder” and other acts. His success in this endeavor allowed Keith to build the Bijou Theatre. The Bijou, a lavishly appointed, state-of-the-art, fireproof theatre, set the standard for the shape of things to come. At the Bijou, Keith established a “fixed policy of cleanliness and order.” He strictly forbade the use of vulgarity or coarse material in his acts “so the that the house and the entertainment would directly appeal to the support of women and children.
1883 Vaudevillexroads.vir
1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
Back on February 28, 1940, W2XBS broadcast a men’s basketball doubleheader from Madison Square Garden. Fordham took on the University of Pittsburgh in the first game followed by a matchup between New York University and Georgetown University. Not many people watched the game as it was estimated that fewer than 400 television sets existed in New York City back then, when a top-of-the-line set, a Clifton, sold for about $600.
First Basketball Broadcast
The game didn’t go well for the Rams, who fell to the Panthers, 57-37, and the fact that it was televised was hardly news, not even getting a mention in The Ram’s coverage of the game. But many years later, no one can imagine television without college basketball.
http://www.earlytelevision.org First color television set
1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
The first color system was developed by John Logie Baird in 1928. It used mechanical techniques. In the early 1940s, CBS pioneered a system which transmitted an image in each of the three primary colors sequentially. A wheel with segments of red, green, and blue rotated in front of the camera, while a similar wheel rotated in front of the television screen, synchronized to the one at the camera. The system was simple and produced excellent pictures, though it had many drawbacks, including low resolution, flicker, and most signifcant, it wasn’t compatible with existing black and white broadcasting.
1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork River. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.
1958 floyd county bus crash darkest days in eastern Kentucky’s history
On a cold and cloudy morning, after a period of heavy rains and thaw, a Floyd County school bus loaded with 48 elementary and high school students bound for school in Prestonsburg, Kentucky on U.S. Route 23 struck the rear of a wrecker truck and plunged down an embankment and into the swollen waters of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, where it was swept downstream and submerged.
22 children escaped the bus in the first few minutes as it became fully submerged in the raging flood stage waters and made it safely out of the river. However, 26 other children and the bus driver drowned. National Guard and other authorities and agencies responded. The bus was finally located by Navy divers, and removed from the river 53 hours later.
1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched. It failed to achieve orbit.
Discoverer 1, the first of a series of US satellites that were part of the Corona reconnaissance satellite program, launched on February 28, 1959.
While Discoverer 1 was a prototype KH-1 (Key Hole 1) spy satellite, it did not contain a camera or a film capsule as later such satellites did.
Discovery 1
Discoverer 1 launched on a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and became the first man-made object ever put into a polar orbit. NASA reports that while difficulty was encountered receiving signals after launch, the satellite broadcast intermittently later in the flight.
1975 – In London an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.
FEBRUARY 28, 1975: Forty-two Tube passengers were killed after their train failed to stop at Moorgate station in the worst ever crash on the London Underground on this day in 1975.
Driver Leslie Newson, 56, also died after ploughing – without any apparent reason – into a wall at the terminus of the Highbury branch of the Northern Line at 8.46am.
The force of the 30mph crash was so immense that it caused three carriages to completely crumble up and sever passengers’ limbs with twisted shards of steel.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/-on-this-day–worst-ever-tube-disaster-as-43-die-in-moorgate-crash-172128948.html#dE5xXye
Getty Images-Getty – The aftermath of a tube train crash
A total of 74 people were hurt on the train, which was later found to have had no faults and appeared to speed up as it entered the station at the peak of rush hour.
1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs Final Episode #TBT, with almost almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale.
1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
Alternate title: Gulf War
Iraq WarWorld War IIYom Kippur WarArab LeagueOrganization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)Arab Bank for Economic Development in AfricaOrganization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)World War I
Persian Gulf War, also called Gulf War, (1990–91), international conflict that was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Iraq’s leader, Ṣaddām Ḥussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent aim of acquiring that nation’s large oil reserves, canceling a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait, and expanding Iraqi power in the region.
http://www.britannica.com Persian-Gulf-War.jpg 1
http://www.britannica.com Persian Gulf War 1
1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
Waco Texas
On February 28, 1993, a gunfight erupted soon after federal law enforcement agents raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in an attempt to investigate allegations of illegal weapons and child abuse. When the smoke cleared, four agents and six members of the religious sect were dead. Following a 51-day standoff, the authorities launched a new assault, this time with tear gas. Their plan backfired, however, when an out-of-control blaze, likely started by the Branch Davidians themselves, burned the complex down and claimed at least 75 lives, including those of 25 children. On the 20th anniversary of this tragic siege, take a look at where the key players are now. http://www.history.com/news/waco-20-years-later-where-are-they-now
1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
Map of Iran
The earthquake occurred at 12:57 UTC (4:27 p.m. Iran Standard Time) and lasted for 15 seconds.[1] At least 1,100 people were killed, 2,600 injured, 36,000 homeless, 12,000 houses damaged or destroyed and 160,000 livestock killed in the Ardabil area of northwestern Iran. Severe damage was observed to roads, electrical power lines, communications and water distribution systems around Ardabil.[2] Hospitals and other medical buildings were overflowing with patients as a result of the earthquake. More than 83 villages experienced some form of damage.
1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
Gamma ray burst
The burst had multiple peaks in its light curve and lasted approximately 80 seconds. Peculiarities in the light curve of GRB 970228 suggested that a supernova may have occurred as well.
1998 – First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
A maintenance crew preparing a Global Hawk at Beale Air Force Base
The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveillance aircraft. It was initially designed by Ryan Aeronautical (now part of Northrop Grumman), and known as Tier II+ during development. In role and operational design, the Global Hawk is similar to the Lockheed U-2.
A RQ-4A in U.S. Navy markings
RQ4
The RQ-4 provides a broad overview and systematic surveillance using high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and long-range electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors with long loiter times over target areas. It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (100,000 km2) of terrain a day.
Photograph taken by US Navy Global Hawk with an aerial view of wildfires in Northern California, 2008
2001 – The Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hits the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington.
The Nisqually earthquake (also commonly referred to as “The Ash Wednesday Quake”) was an intraslab earthquake, occurring at 10:54 am PST (18:54 UTC) on February 28, 2001. One of the largest recorded earthquakes in Washington state history, it measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale and lasted approximately 45 seconds. The epicenter of the earthquake was Anderson Island, about 17 km (11 mi) northeast of Olympia.
The focus was at a depth of 52 km (32 mi). Tremors were felt as far away as Scio, Oregon, across the border in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and 175 mi (282 km) east in Pasco, Washington. There were also reports that it was felt as far away as Spokane, Washington and Sandpoint, Idaho
2004 – Over one million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
The 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally (Chinese: 228百萬人手牽手護台灣; Pinyin: 228 Bǎiwànrén Shǒuqiān Shǒuhù Táiwān; meaning literally “228, one million people hand-in-hand to protect Taiwan” – 228 standing for February 28) was a demonstration in the form of a human chain held in Taiwan on February 28, 2004, the 57th anniversary of the 2/28 Incident.
a-giâu – Own work
Approximately two million (estimation ranged from 1.9 to 2.3 million depending on the reporting media) Taiwanese formed a 500-kilometer (310 mi) long human chain, from the harbor at Keelung, Taiwan’s northernmost city, to its southern tip at Eluanbi, Pingtung County to commemorate the 228 Incident, to call for peace, and to protest the deployment of missiles by the People’s Republic of China aimed at Taiwan along the mainland coast.
2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
The Al Hillah bombing killed 127 people, chiefly men lining up to join the Iraqi police forces, at the recruiting centre on February 28, 2005 in Al Hillah, Iraq.
February 28 – 127 Iraqis are killed by a suicide car bomb outside a medical center in Hilla, south of Baghdad. The bomber, who later turned out to be a U.S. educated Jordanian lawyer from al Qaeda targeted a large crowd of mainly teachers and police recruits outside a health clinic. It was the deadliest single blast in Iraq’s history.
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pope-benedict-to-resign-citing-age-and-waning-energy/
LONDON — Citing failing strength of “mind and body,” Pope Benedict XVI stunned his closest aides and more than 1 billion Catholics by resigning on Monday, becoming the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years and ending the tenure of a formidable theologian who preached a gospel of conservative faith to a fast-changing world.
Pope Benedict XVI
In keeping with his reputation as a traditionalist, Pope Benedict delivered his resignation — effective Feb. 28 — in Latin, to a private church body in Vatican City. “I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” he said. “For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter.”
Pope Benedict XVI
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FCC Passes Net Neutrality Rules in Victory for Open-Internet Activists
BY JULIANNE PEPITONE
ter more than a year of heated public debate, the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday passed “net neutrality” rules: They allow the agency to prohibit Internet service providers from granting faster access to companies that pay for the privilege.
The new rules treat broadband providers as “common carriers” under Title II of the Telecommunications Act — the same category as utility companies that provide gas, electricity, etc. — in which all customers have equal access to service.
As was expected, the FCC commissioners voted along party lines with the three Democrats voting for the rules and two Republicans voting against.
“There are countries where it is routine for government, not the consumer, to determine who has access and what kind of content can be accessed by its citizens,” said FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at the meeting on Thursday. “I am proud to be able to say we are not one of them.”
The fight leading up to Thursday’s vote drew public debate — the FCC received more than 4 million public comments — and was generally split between content providers like Netflix and Google, in favor, and Internet providers like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, against. (Comcast, a major Internet service provider, is the parent company of NBCUniversal and NBC News.)
Supporters of net neutrality have said allowing Internet “fast lanes” would unfairly raise prices on content services, as they would need to pay providers (and ultimately raise prices for their services) if they want to avoid slow speeds for customers.
But net neutrality opponents say the Title II designation will stifle innovation in broadband. Last May a group of CEOs from Internet providers including AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and Comcast sent a letter to the FCC arguing the new classification allows the FCC to conduct “unprecedented government micromanagement of all aspects of the Internet economy.”
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai reflected that philosophy in his dissenting remarks on Thursday. “Title II is not just a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “It’s a government solution that creates a real-world problem.”
First published February 26th 2015, 9:59 am
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geothermal energy
Now is the time to invest in real geothermal energy
Thousands of drilling rigs are idle. Why not put laid-off roustabouts to work drilling for renewable energy?
Sun, Feb 22, 2015 at 12:17 PM
Hey, if we can drill for oil, we can drill for heat. (Photo: Getty Images, Roustabouts at Spindletop)
In a recent post on ground source heat pumps, I purposely used a photo of a geothermal installation in Iceland to make the point that geothermal energy was a very different thing. Many complained that I obviously didn’t know what I was talking about (“The big clue starts with the picture at the top which is NOT a geothermal heat pump system.”) Well, duh — that was the whole point. Geothermal power is a very different thing and a very important source of renewable energy.
With true geothermal energy systems, the heat of the Earth’s interior is used to make steam, which drives turbines, just like coal or nuclear plants do. This heat is close enough to tap at geologic faults, so the hot spots are along the Pacific rim and Iceland, the geothermal capital of the world. Almost every building in Iceland is heated by hot water, and all the country’s electricity is made using geothermal steam. There is so much of it that there is talk of building a multibillion dollar submarine cable to Scotland. Meanwhile, the United States has 3,500 megawatts of installed geothermal electrical power, about 30 percent of the world’s supply. It could have a lot more.
And thanks to the drop in the price of oil, now might be a good time to drill, baby, drill for geothermal energy. According to Bloomberg, drillers are parking rigs as oil prices collapse and have laid off thousands of workers. According to Reuters, “Oil drilling in the United States will continue to fall in the first half of this year, and could even halve, according to major oil service companies looking to past slowdowns as a guide.”
North of the border in Alberta, Canada’s oil powerhouse, they are trying to put those drills and workers to work on geothermal. According to Corporate Knights, it’s a big opportunity, a silver lining for the geothermal industry. The head of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA), Alison Thompson, is teaching drillers how to adapt oil technology to geothermal drilling.
“These drilling rig operators are selling their services right now at half the price,” said Thompson. “So this is a prime opportunity for us to be more cost-competitive, but to also get out-of-work people back to work.”
Tyler Hamilton of Corporate Knights notes that it’s tough to find drillers when the times are good in the oil patch; that’s where the big money is. However it’s a very different market right now.
“It’s just such a wonderful opportunity to have some cost decreases in our own industry,” Thompson said. “Now, when they find themselves out of work, we’re welcoming them with open arms.”
Tech transfer from the oil industry is actually happening in the geothermal world; Norway’s Statoil is drilling for geothermal in Iceland, and Chevron is a big player in geothermal, although it recently pulled back because, well, nothing is as profitable as oil, or at least wasn’t last year.
Red is hot, hot hot! (Photo: U.S. Energy information agency)
According to an MIT study of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), geothermal energy could change the whole energy picture in America.
Geothermal energy from EGS represents a large, indigenous resource that can provide base-load electric power and heat at a level that can have a major impact on the United States, while incurring minimal environmental impacts. With a reasonable investment in R&D, EGS could provide 100 GWe or more of costcompetitive generating capacity in the next 50 years. Further, EGS provides a secure source of power for the long term that would help protect America against economic instabilities resulting from fuel price fluctuations or supply disruptions.
Stanford economist Paul Romer noted in 2004 that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” The oil drilling industry and its workers are certainly having a crisis right now. Why not put them to work on the real geothermal energy right now?
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Blue Screen Of Death
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I once had a problem ( sounds like an old Beatles song ) and had to fix my old pc, the hard way. It took me two weeks of looking up information and calling various computer geeks and manufacturers. None of these folks would help me unless I was willing to shell out a pile of bucks.
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To find out what’s causing the blue screen / programming conflict, you’ll have to : Turn off the computer.
Press the start button and immediately press the F8 key ( several times ) until you get one of the ADVANCED BOOT MENU screens.
Follow all prompts to get to Safe-Mode.
In Safe-Mode open all of the programs you normally use, including all of the programs in your start-up folder. ( Some programs will not open in Safe-Mode ) If the problem that caused the blue screen hasn’t showed up, you can figure the default settings for the operating system are all fine.
Safe-Mode doesn’t run all of the programs on your system, ( only enough to run Windows ) so if the problem isn’t found in Safe-Mode, you’ll have to go through all of the programs on your system.
In Safe-Mode you can check out what is in your computer in the way of programs and the processes involved with them.
Safe-Mode does not let you connect to the Internet, so I had no idea the problem I was having was with a conflict between the wireless devices. I kept trying to start my computer in different modes and removing unwanted programs and apps.
Had I really recognized what was happening when I tried to start the system, I could have saved myself tons of messing around. The trick is to turn on the system and watch the computer come to life. As each start-up program comes to life, an icon in the tray displays that it is ready and then the next one comes up. ( There may be as many as 50 or 60 processes trying to start ) I saw the Netgear program try to start, and then the blue screen, but it was one of the last programs to load up. I should have watched the start-up closely from the beginning and paid attention to what was trying to load up.
Once the conflict has been eliminated your system should act just fine again. If you’ve removed programs and decided they weren’t the problem after all, try to re-install them, but make a log on what changes you are making. That will help if the blue screen comes back! Keeping a log of the changes you make to your system and the reasons for it, can make a real difference as to how your system operates. Just as you’re always told to back up your work, meaning make back ups, you should create a log of all changes to your computer, and refer to it when something doesn’t work the way is should.
Rusty Garner-Smith
05/09/2012
My Blog News And Blues Reviews 