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The USA accepted the metric system in 1866, but has never rejected the customary units. But there are a lot of caveats (metric-only labeling is rare, for example). But Americans seldom use metric units outside of medicine, engineering, and science (and anything electrical, since there are no customary electrical units).

(I say "customary" instead of "imperial" because the USA never adopted the British imperial standard of 1824. The difference between the two systems is substantial in the the units of capacity (e.g. the gallon).

But units of measure are perhaps the perfect example of open standards. And historically, they were enacted to protect consumers.

"good measure, pressed down, and shaken together"

His rights have already been violated because the debt is bogus.

How, exactly, do you think he's going to push back? He can complain here but the credit agency can lose a maximum of $500,000 for this fraud. Is he going to hire a lawyer over this? What lawyer is going to want work that will pay them a maximum of $1,000 for an individual's case? I'd really like to know how to fight back, but it looks like the odds are firmly in favor of the hired weasels.

Now check out what North Shore Agency promisses their customers,

• Continuous Customer Contact, by phone, e-commerce, even their very own US Post office.
• A whole team of specialists with 65,000 square feet of office space!
• "Art of the Collection Letter," for maximum intimidation.
• Total Data Processing - I'm afraid to ask, but they got computers, perhaps their very own line to credit agencies.

The limits of liability are galling:

What can you do if you believe a debt collector violated the law? You have the right to sue a collector in a state or federal court within one year from the date from the date the law was violated. If you win, you may recover money for the damages you suffered plus an additional amount up to $1000. Court costs and attorneys fees also can be recovered. A group of people also may sue a debt collector and recover money for damages up to $500,000, or one percent of the collectors net worth, whichever is less.

So how many thousands of dollars can be made by abusing thousands of people? Yet the limit is $500,000. Disgusting.

I'm sure I've only scraped the tip of the iceburg here. I've never been served one of these letters and am unaware of anything on my own credit record. Be aware however that bad credit will cost you dearly when you try to buy a car, house or anything else you can't buy outright. Is that teeth enough for you?

If this story is true, it's deplorable. Wired is not, I hope, so stupid as to burn the world's good will $12 at a time.

GSA Smartpay is a program through which gov't employees are issued what is essentially a company credit card, but the US Gov't is the company. They're used for official purchases, for gas cards for government owned vehicles, etcetera.

The following website explains it in governmentese:
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/channelView.do?pa geTypeId=8199&channelPage=%2Fep%2Fchannel%2FgsaOve rview.jsp&channelId=-13497

With rare exceptions ten year old 'bills' are not collectable. They can't garnishe your wages or report it to credit services(see http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/money/fair-cred it/fair-crd.htm) or even continue contacting you if you tell them to stop. Think of it like a statute of limitations on bills.
Also most hospital emergency rooms are in hospitals that are publicly funded. As such they can only bill you a limited amount, if any, if your income is below certain levels.
You can probably tell both of these billers to go jump. If they don't tell them you will call the appropriate authorities.
Now IANAL or a financial expert, and some of the rules on 'old' debts vary from state to state . But I have listened to knowledgeable people (Clark Howard, others) on the radio give mostly the same advice to quite a few people.
However if you make a payment over eigther one you migh be screwed. I think the time limit is from "last payment" or some such, and can sometimes be reset even if expired by you actually paying them.
My advice would be to find someone who knows the actual details (cpa? lawyer?) as a professional in the field and find out before doing ANYTHING else about it.
Besides if someone with a foriegn accent called me and said he was collecting on a 10year old debt I believed I'd paid my bs detector would be pegged on SCAM (I'd ask if he was selling bridges too).
Possible starting place is http://www.clarkhoward.com/, not shure haven't been there much myself, but I do know he's had a LOT of questions about old/odd/fraudulent debts so it's likely there somewhere.
I did just check there, there is some odds and ends in there. Including his drop dead letter to 'bill collectors' apparently federal law says you can tell them to stop harrassing you: http://clarkhoward.com/topics/drop_dead_letter.htm l
Again, don't let anyone fast talk/intimidate you into sending them money. Find out if and who you owe what too and what your rights are or you could wind up with far worse than a few bucks light in your bank account.

Mycroft

Come one - slashdot editors regularly seem to believe that "foot", "ounce", "gallon" and "mile" are metrics used in the modern western world.

If they could start changing the little things, they can use light-year as a time measure for another year for all that I care ;)

"Federal agencies were required by this legislation, with certain exceptions, to use the metric system in their procurement, grants and other business-related activities by the end of 1992. "

The missing W key story is one of the best debunked lies of this administration. Which is an impressive feat.

Check this story out. Yes, the place was a mess, but the General Services Administration determined that "The condition of the real property was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate office space after an extended occupancy."

If you read the story, you'll also see that the GAO and the GSA have both said that there is no documented evidence of vandalism.

But then again, who needs documentation when your support base never looks any further than innuendo?

The small tip of the Pyramid shows fats, oils, and sweets. These are foods such as salad dressings and oils, cream, butter, margarine, sugars, soft drinks, candies, and sweet desserts. These foods provide calories and little else nutritionally. Most people should use them sparingly.

(...)

At the base of the Food Guide Pyramid are breads, cereals, rice, and pasta - all foods from grains. You need the servings of these foods each day.

What they neglect to mention is that sugar and white flour might as well be the same thing. It doesn't matter if you consume 50g of carbs from sugar, or from flour, they rapidly become the exact same thing in your body.

The biggest problem with food in america is that we have a tendency to eat preprocessed food, and preprocessed food tends to have huge amounts of sugar added to it for flavor. Personally, I have always hated overly sweet food, such as the pizza sauce at Domino's... But the fact is, all this extra sugar is making us fat. Any carbohydrates you take in become fat if you don't burn (use) them.

What you need to read on this topic is a fine article in the NYT by one Gary Taubes entitled "What if it's all been a big fat lie?" Unfortunately, NYT moved that to an archive article and you have to pay $2.95 to read it now, because they are bastards. I mean seriously, I can see a dollar or something, but three bucks? In any case I condensed the article (sharply, I'm afraid) in an article I wrote for Everything2 entitled "How the Government Fattened America". Please be gentle to E2, though it has moved to a new host it is still pretty fragile in terms of overuse.

One of the important paragraphs from my article runs like so:

The run up on fat began in earnest in 1977, as a Senate committee led by George McGovern declared that Americans should reduce their fat intake to curb disease, in the report "Dietary Goals for the United States". The National Institutes for Health summarily spent several hundred million dollars trying to prove a link between being fat and contracting heart disease -- which failed. On their sixth try, though, they found something they could use to prove that the previous money had not gone to waste; a study showing reducing cholesterol via drug therapy reduced the risk of some kinds of heart disease.

The bottom line is that the government tells us to choke down the carbs. A bag of sugar (from C&H) says that "Sugar Contains No Fat" but eating fat doesn't even raise your cholesterol, eating fat mixed with a bunch of carbohydrates does. The emphasis on low-fat diets (which do not work for most people) causes many people to consume more carbohydrates. Problem is, the more carbs you eat, the more glucose ends up in your body at once. Glucose regulates hunger. Your brain will eventually build up a tolerance to it, meaning you have to eat more carbs to feel full. So, then you eat more carbs, which means you become more resistant to glucose - a classic vicious cycle.

On top of all this, when you consume carbohydrates your pancreas produces insulin as part of the conversion process. The more carbs you take in, the more insulin is produced. The more insulin you produce, the harder your pancreas has to work, and eventually it will give up and you will become a diabetic. How's that for your carb-heavy payoff?

So, in summation; The government says sugar is bad and other carbs are good, when in fact all carbohydrates (except fiber, which is indigestible, and cleans out your colon) have the same effect on your system. (The less processed they are, however, the slower they are

They will be surplused by the General Services Adminstration like any other old piece of government hardware. See ifyou can find your local depot/auction location.

SI = metric system, something the US is also adverse to adopting

In 1866, Congress authorized the use of the metric system.

In 1875, the United States solidified its commitment to the development of the internationally recognized metric system by becoming one of the original seventeen signatory nations to the Treaty of the Meter.

In 1893, metric standards, developed through international cooperation under the auspices of BIPM, were adopted as the fundamental standards for length and mass in the United States.

Copied from here. Read the whole thing, it's very interesting.

Incidentally, the Australian system requires you by law to vote.

Correct, however as it is also required by law to be a secret ballot, there's nothing to prevent you casting what's known as a donkey vote. This is a ballot paper which has been not filled in, or filled in in a manner which disqualifies it as a valid ballot.

Decades, more like, if the conversion to the metric system is any guide.

The regulations have 9 exemptions, and yes, the first is "classified national defense and foreign relations information". Of course the suit will probably attempt to question the merits of the classification.

Any attempt to form a "Software Consumer's Organization" will have a BSA bullseye painted on it in a heartbeat. It would be far more exciting to see the Alliance Against Fraud in Telemarketing and Electronic Commerce (AAFTEC) decide that current software licensing practices are deceptive, fraudulent and unfair to consumers.

That policy has been changed as of the end of 2001.

See here.

Ogg Theora (could be streamed, could be on a CD-R, could be transmitted very slowly on a telegraph clacker ...) would be better than VHS instructional videos.

Unlike the Ogg Theora infrastructure, the VHS infrastructure is established. Equipment that can play Theora alpha 2 video is currently much more expensive than equipment that can play VHS video. This is a practical obstacle that the government has to overcome somehow.

why is the government providing instructional videos? Is this from that PO box in Pueblo, Colorado?

Either that, or videos used to train federal employees.

And the reason for my comments--I get so incredibly tired of people saying things like you do. "Oh americans only care about themselves" .. "American hates the poor" .. or in reverse.. "cheese eating surrender monkeys" .. "europe is all socialist wackos"

Or how about under the British/American legals codes, anything not forbidden by law is allowed. Under the French/Continental codes, anything not expressively allowed is forbidde

Look Moridineas - I really don't see how you can say that I am "petty and wrong" and "just trying to be deliberately insulting" and then in the same thread make innaccurate and insulting comments about the difference between the French/Contintental & Anglo/US legal systems - one of the most important facets of life for the citizens of a particular country.

My original comment Presuming you're American, you would use feet, pounds, find metric too complicated, etc, etc - so probably wont care if it does. was a gentle poke at US recalcitrants. Go and read about the history of the metric system in the US and you will see what I meant.

Oh, bullshit.

All active duty personnel are enrolled in Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI). If you die while in active duty, your family immediately gets $250,000. Can you see that number? *I* don't have $250k of life insurance, and I think very few people do.

Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance The following are automatically insured for $250,000 under Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI): active-duty members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard; commissioned members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Public Health Service; cadets or midshipmen of the service academies; members, cadets and midshipmen of the ROTC while engaged in authorized training; members of the Ready Reserves; and members who volunteer for assignment to a mobilization category in the Individual Ready Reserve. Individuals may elect to be covered for a lesser amount or not to be covered at all. Part-time coverage may be provided to members of the Reserves who do not qualify for full-time coverage. Premiums are deducted automatically from an individual's pay or are collected by the individual's service branch.

From Here

Stop promulgating lies about shit you know nothing about, and frankly, fuck you for indicating that the servicemen and women of the United States armed forces aren't the best cared for in the world. Eat a dick.

Also This

IIRC, it is called GOVNET.

Using a GSA SmartPay purchasing card

Apple Federal Store (for SmartPay) or Apple Retail stores

Federal Employee Purchase Program, via Apple Federal Employee Purchase Store or Apple Retail stores at Tyson's Corner, Clarendon, VA, or Towson, MD

Any number of various federal, GSA, and military contract resellers

Although I don't support the DSSA in its current form, I don't think that Tim has ever tried to sell products to the governments and their agencies - I have. Open Source has inherent disadvantages in trying to sell to a government customer. Government often creates lists of "qualified" vendors. These lists often serve as a procurement "menu" the government agencies decide what sofware technologies to implement. Going with off-list technology often requires extra justification and more work on the part of the procurement agency.

The nature of Open Source makes it difficult or impossible to participate in these lists. The regulation simply doesn't mesh well with the OSS paradigm. Look at California Educational List or the Federal Gov't GSA and try to imagine an Open Source project trying to qualify for a slot on those lists. Even if an Open Source business does qualify itself to the list, none of the other businesses offering service or support qualify - removing a key advantage of Open Source -- multi-vendor competition over support of the same product.

I do think some sort of "Consider Open Source First" software procurement policy is in order. Either that, or a gov't office to specifically qualify Open Source projects to these procurement lists.

United States Population: 278,058,881 (July 2001 est.)
China Population: 1,273,111,290 (July 2001 est.)
India Population: 1,029,991,145 (July 2001 est.)
Japan Population: 126,771,662 (July 2001 est.) That's a lot of people for the amount of land!

We are switching to the metric system. You just can't expect it to happen overnight since the vast majority of the population thinks in feet and miles.

The pyramid signifies strength and duration: The eye over it and the motto, Annuit Coeptis (meaning He, [Godj has favored our undertakings), allude to the many interventions of Providence in favor of the American cause. The Roman numerals below are the date of the Declaration of Independence. The words under it, Novus Ordo Seclorum (meaning a new order of the ages), signify the beginning of the new American era in 1776.

According to the Federal Consumer Information Center

Right now, you can buy a $5 blender at kmart that will work - once.

In a word, bullshit.

Not only will you not find any such blender at Kmart but the GSA publishes a manual that would easily get your satisfication and money back in such a case. If your getting poor quality purchases you need to RTFM about being a intellegent consumer. No government can save you from your own stupidity. Just call your local and state consumer protection offices and stop acting like a victim.

Oh the flamebait...

Well, the 2 hamfests in Timonium have been mentioned; one is in the spring and the other is the last weekend in July. There are others; check ARRL. York PA is 15..16 Sep, Columbia MD is 23 Sep, the FARfest in Bowie is 30 Sep.
You might also look into State of MD Surplus in Jessup. Not to mention your friendly local DRMO store. I got several UPSes at DRMO Aberdeen (now closed); paid $35 each. At DRMO it's where-is, as-is, but you can usually try the electronic stuff before you buy it.

• GSAAuctions.gov - GSA's premier on-line surplus property auction site
• GSAauctions.gov - Purchase surplus Federal Government property here.

• GSAAuctions.gov - GSA's premier on-line surplus property auction site
• GSAauctions.gov - Purchase surplus Federal Government property here.

I picked up a couple of P-120's and P-133's several months ago: ~$35/cpu only, or ~120 for CPU/Monitor/keyboard/mouse. All had either 64 or 128MB of RAM, and were circa 1994 vintage.

Of course, the trick is knowing when and where to buy them, and beating the professional buyers who grab everything in sight. (it's a real feeding frenzy. . .).

Can't tell you for everywhere, but in the Washington DC area, details are here.

Not in the DC area ?? Try here

I picked up a couple of P-120's and P-133's several months ago: ~$35/cpu only, or ~120 for CPU/Monitor/keyboard/mouse. All had either 64 or 128MB of RAM, and were circa 1994 vintage.

Of course, the trick is knowing when and where to buy them, and beating the professional buyers who grab everything in sight. (it's a real feeding frenzy. . .).

Can't tell you for everywhere, but in the Washington DC area, details are here.

Not in the DC area ?? Try here

This stuff does exist. It is being implemented. Some places you might go for information on real implementations would include:
ACES State of Washington City of San Jose

Note that they're all government. Is it possible that government will lead the charge in this field? Is the rest of the world missing the boat?

Yours,
-jbn

While he and the GSA seem to be committed to implementing a national PKI, the fact is that this project was tied very much to then Vice-President Gore and his "e-gov" initiaves. If this project is continued by the Bush administration, I suspect it will be radically different in form, just because of that.

This seems to work for our national secrets, how about corporate ones : As far as networks are concerned, have a physically seperate network for sharing of sensitive data. Use strong encryption of all files and use removeable hard drives. Lock the drives and other documents in GSA approved safes. Laptops can be stored in the same way, in the safe. Use sign in sheets for asset tracking and for when the safe is opened. Install keypads on doors to secured rooms. You could even go so far as do background checks on your employees before you allow them access to sensitive material. the list really does go on and on.

"sex on tv is bad, you might fall off..."

I am the new .gov domain manager and these names were approved by the previous manager, so I cannot say exactly what his judgement call was, but I'm sure he had good justification. Thanks, Daisy.

Come off it, Daisy. If you've read RFC 2146 (and I'm sure you have) then you know there can be no way that any of the three Domains can be justified under the terms of the RFC; as such, you are somewhat abrogating your responsibility as registrar, and your response brings the .GOV domain into disrepute. If you are happy with this situation, well, then you are exercising much lower standards than I would hope would be enforced by a government registrar.

Her email address is daisy.bhagowalia@gsa.gov

Okay, well, we could try the section on page 2:

"A domain name should be derived from the official name for the organization (e.g., "USDA.Gov" or "AGRICULTURE.GOV".)"

Or, we could try the section on page 2 which says:

"Only ONE registration and delegation shall be made for the purpose of identifying an agency"

and wonder about how Armey has wound up with Freedom.Gov and Flattax.Gov

IMHO, the same problem pertains to GOP.GOV. And, after some more digging, I find that it is nowadays nic.gov that administers your GOV namespace, and one Daisy Bhagowalia who is the Domain Registrar. Sadly, she does not seem to respond to email enquiries about why she has allowed RFC 2146 rules to be broken. Perhaps she needs more emails from others concerned with partisan pollution in that namespace.

As the maintainer of a government web site, I can only say how much I agree. Those repeatedly posting that the web is a visual medium are just flat wrong. The web (and to a greater extent and more importantly the internet) ain't about pretty pictures or fonts only the designer of them can read. It's about ideas. It's a mechanism for communicating those ideas. And anyone who says "They're blind! Let 'em eat cake!" is not only heartless but ignorant. It is simply unacceptable for society to take a group of people who "see" the world in a different way and shut them out. Isn't that what all the Hellmouth uproar has been about? Saying "Blind people? Fuck 'em!" is the moral equivalent of saying "Plays Doom? Put 'em in isolation!" Neither condition is a good reason to cut people off from the rest of the world. And folks, I believe that the 'net has reached a level of importance, of validity, and of ubiquity that cutting people off from the online world is nearly the equivalent of shutting them out of the physical world.

I know my blind users appreciate the fact that I'm not trying to win any design contests. I'm just trying to communicate. Just like any other Any Browser proponent. :-)

As for the nuts and bolts, it's not all that hard to make sites useful to everyone. Check out the IRS web site for a look at a huge site that works in text only mode. And if you're open to making the sites you design more useful, try the basic information available from the Department of Justice page on this topic. There's even a fine page on the topic from the General Services Administration. Just because they're government sites doesn't mean they're bad.

On the flip side, of course, I think the folks filing this suit could have chosen a better place to try to make available for the blind than AOL. Suppose they get everything they ask for and AOL becomes totally accessible? What then? A whole new group of folks gets to look at the service and decide that it's crap?

:-)

Sorry. I couldn't resist the cheap shot.