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Health Exchange Sites Crushed By Demand; Shutdown Blanks Other Gov't Sites
An anonymous reader writes "The launch of a national health exchange site was marred by overloaded servers in several states around the country. In a White House press conference, President Obama said that by 7 a.m., there were over a million users, and he likened the capacity problems to the glitches that Apple experienced after discovering bugs in their rlease of iOS 7. 'I don't remember anybody suggesting Apple should stop selling iPhones or iPads, or threatening to shut down company if they didn't,' the president argued."
Meanwhile, a number government websites went blank as a result of the shutdown, instead of simply lying dormant until personnel could return. The National Science Foundation, NASA, the FCC, and the Library of Congress are a few examples.
As someone who enrolled today, I beg to differ....
Actually, they may have powered down many servers. For example, nsf.gov, fastlane.nsf.gov, and research.gov all point to the same host and serve the same generic page. Additionally, since the notice pages are static, then it is entirely possible, maybe probable, that the database servers for the Library of Congress, the FCC, the NASA sites may all have been shut down.
The IRS is still collecting taxes, but has suspended audits and answering questions, among other things. They might consider the website essential to the tax collection thing.
Nah, our representation is still getting paid too, alas.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
> Most of the sequester cuts were planned ... to have a negative impact.
My wife works for the federal government, so I think I know a bit about what's going on. :)
You are absolutely right. The fact is, during a "shutdown," the government can decide which employees are "essential" and which can be furloughed. My wife is considered "essential," so she WILL go to work. She just may not get paid on time if this thing drags on.
Both parties are guilty of this: when there's a shutdown, they decide whom to send home, and they will inevitably play to their base(s) and try to get the public angry at the other party. It's all political theater. They ought to wear makeup and costumes. And really: is there any geek here who doesn't know how to leave a Web server running overnight or on weekends? :)
Hey, it's not like they didn't know this has been coming MONTHS in advance, is it? And to REALLY cheer you up, remember that we have a debt ceiling debate coming up in a couple of weeks. How much you wanna bet this wink, wink "shutdown" will continue past THAT debate? :)
Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
No, the current proposal from the GOP is to strip out funding for the ACA and replace it with "..." - they don't have alternate suggestions. That's the problem. Also, the Senate has been asking the House to have a joint budget conference since last May, but the House only thought that was a good idea on September 30th.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
It is written into law which parts of government stay open and which close.
It also turns out to be a Federal crime to undertake unfunded actions during the shutdown. These would put the employee in violation of the Antidefiniency Act of 1870:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101078243?__source=xfinity|mod&par=xfinity
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
You say do the research? I have.
Your daily caller article is pure BS.
It's a myth, frequently and easily debunked.
No one sneaks into the US from canada to get treatment.
Very few come to the US for treatment.
And no one is dying for lack of treatment in Canada. Its very improtant to note just what elective treatment is, and what treatments we're talkijng about specifically.
the procedures your article is lying about arent lifesaving, arent emergency. that's what "elective" means! the statistics they always use are for treatmetns for senios citizens like hip replacements, being a popular statistic.
thing is....who pays for old people in this country? Medicaire.
And what is Medicaire? A centralized single payer system....just like Canada's... that also happens to be the most efficient and cost effective sector of our health care system.
http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/in-defense-of-canada/
They pay similar taxes.
They earn similar pay.
Their healthcare is more effective, more widely available, and cheaper too.
Oh, and they have a fairly balanced budget.
In short: Hey thanks for the story from your biased and full of crap article that was spoon fed you and you bought hook line and sinker without having to do all that crazy research stuff. So ya, it is all BS, Canada is a nice country, they aren't trained sheep, and their healthcare IS tons better than ours.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
I assume the GP was referring to the fact that the ACA is based very closely on the Massachusetts healthcare plan signed into law by Gov. Romney in 2006. And he/she is correct in noting that a sizable chunk of people who "do not approve" of the ACA are actually disappointed because it didn't go far enough. Remember, nationwide, there was well over 70% support for the so-called "public option", but that got tossed out before the "discussion" even began.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
Yeah, except gerrymandering is the real reason why the GOP held the house. Dems actually got more votes nationwide for Congress in 2012. Even so, the Dems still held the Senate, and gained eight seats in the House... hardly a "resounding mandate" for the GOP's crusade against Obamacare.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC