The placebo effect is strong with this one (well GP).
Most vitamins and herbal remedies (ahem, and homeopathy) have little direct benefit unless your body is actually deficient. I know tons of people who sear that a taking 10,000mcg of vitamin c will cure a cold or stop it from happening. I also know there's no legitimate research study showing that's the case...and plenty of evidence, if you go digging, to show where the vitamin supplement market was basically made up out of thin air.
One bill with charge for usage (per kWh) and one charge for delivery (per day). Basically if I use zero electricity my bill is still something like 40 bucks a month.
Makes me want to go count my usage and figure out the cost of batteries... Solar is getting cheaper and cheaper to the point I'm wondering when including a battery pack will be practical. no need to sell back, you can use store your own and only tap the grid for the literal rainy day.
How much was the large tesla pack supposed to cost (or be worth at 80% capacity)
It's similar to the trick where you stare at a B&W pattern on a page then look at the wall to see the inverse of it.
Of if you wear tinted sunglasses the world looks (insert color) at first then a while later you don't notice. When you take the glasses off things look...well brighter...but the colors are a bit odd for a few minutes there too.
Or the bunch of other optical illusions where you surround a color with others and it looks different.
It's not some great big mystery for anyone who works with photography (or anything similar that deals with lighting and color). That's why monitors are calibrated to certain colors and brightness otherwise you'd never get consistency. It's why artists draw/paint/etc. under specific lighting. It's why you put makeup on in front of lit mirror with a certain color bulb. It's why home depot sells warm, natural, and cool colored lights. etc etc etc
I can't believe people are actually making a big deal about this.
Just be careful when assembling particleboard furniture with gorilla glue (aka polyurethane glue)... it will NEVER come apart. You will need to smash the particleboard itself if you ever want to break it down as the glue is far stronger than the wood.
What this means is...if you build it and it does't sit perfectly flat while the glue cures then your furniture will forever be wonky and crooked. I'm careful when I build and have ikea furniture that's lasted close to a decade through 5 or 6 moves without anything coming loose.
Oh, and good luck if get it on your hands of clothes *sigh*
Unlikely to be the same situation. FAA rules require you to be on the same flight as your baggage (unless the airline screws up and loses it on you.)
If they're holding a flight for someone, it's probably because they checked luggage and it's already been loaded on the plane. They can't leave without the person unless they remove the checked bag which is buried somewhere in the baggage hold.
Already done. In fact someone made a $100 module that basically lets you override the controls. Reports have it that it works better without the soap anyhow.
Basically they wanted to make a consumable so they could generate a perpetual revenue stream. It worked. For every person hacking this and that there's many, many more who just but what they need. Look at Keurig 2.0. Despite all the bad press they're sure selling plenty of 'legit' k-cups.
The entire concept of a salary was for people that owned a chunk of the business. 99% of people should be hourly.
Mostly agreed. It's also for individuals who have a direct link between success and compensation. What used to be managers with large stock portfolios and bonuses tied to performance...who also had the ability to set their own schedule. Basically people who it makes more financial sense to take compensation besides hourly pay and overtime.
Then they started including geeks in this somehow. If you manage, develop, design or implement 'computer systems' you're typically in the bucket for exemption. That rule stands apart from the others - ability to commit the company in substantive financial matters, high level business decisions, managing staff or a budget.
However, whenever we interview people to come in and work here, certain folks on the interview committee pretty much require the applicant to genuflect to the common "whatever it takes to get the job done" belief that over 40 hours is no big deal and that they do that "all" the time. Even though that is technically completely against the rules for contracting.
Not only against the rules, but it's against the law. There's quite a bit of employment law and case law that most companies basically ignore outright in the US. Example: if your hired as an exempt employee (not OT) for 40 hour weeks but are routinely scheduled/work more than that to the point it becomes your normal work then you're entitled to compensation (I think at OT rates) for it. Exempt is intended to cover occasional extra time - not mandatory extended hours every week.
However very people sue over it due to various (likely illegal) terms in employment agreements, severance packages, etc.
Annoyed at being a perma-temp or long term consultant alongside people getting paid more, bonuses, vacation, and benefits that you don't get? Google co-employment laws. You probably could sue (or threaten to sue) and win all the back benefits you didn't get. But you're also a consultant and your position would be gone the first hint that you might even know those rights exist.
Welcome to abusive corporate america where the shareholder and stock price is far, FAR more important than doing what's legal or moral.
Some things - like VPN and Citrix are relatively secure. Unfortunately many executives also use things like gmail, facebook, SMS, chat, xyz-gaming-app and so on during their travel. I've seen plenty of senior people send confidential information outside of accepted/expected channels. They don't want to remember passwords, much less change them. There's a lot of 'I'm too busy and it won't happen to me anyhow' mentality with data security.
'Sorry, we don't allow abc gizmo you have to use the standard whatever for your presentation' 'Ok, fine'
'You need a 12 character password changed every 30 days for administrative access the core production servers' 'Well I'm just checking on data for meetings from my iPhone, I can't type all that in. Set it the same as my windows password that never changes'
'This computer connects to a real-time stock market trading network, it has a password and 15 minute screen saver timeout' 'I can't waste time entering passwords, that's way too much work and complexity. I just need to do my trades!'
Having been to some conventions in RI... I will say the fire marshals aren't known for what's between their ears. Silly rules and pointless enforcement are only the beginning. Wielding power for amusement, revenge, and personal gain is considered much more the norm.
Maybe it's the NYer in me but I always keep my important things on my person. I'd never be stuck without a phone, keys, or money (or my special needs child!?) because I left them at a convention.
I figure RICC is getting hit with tons of reversed CC charges today.
Erm...but netflix will drop a cache server in the ISP's datacenter, configure it, and maintain it. Oh, and it's free. The ISP saves on bandwidth/interconnect at the cost of a few U of rackspace and a couple bucks in power/cooling.
But then why would they comcast or TW want to do something to help their competition even if it also benefits their customers. Monopoly and conflict of interest. Good job politicians.
Actually netflix offered to foot the bill for upgrading the bandwidth - it's literally a couple cross-connects in a datacenter, maybe a fiber card or two.
Oh, and netflix ALSO offers to drop a server in your datacenter *free* which caches all the common netflix streams. This reduces the internet bandwidth demands by something like 90+% since it lives within the ISP's datacenter and just needs to download each stream once.
But the last line is exactly the point. The ISPs are also TV providers and they don't want you to have a good netflix experience. If they can passively let that happen...well of course they will. No one can accuse them of taking any action to damage your netflix streaming...it's their complete inaction that's resulting in it.
They all have viable streaming avenues...unfortunately they don't often belong to the networks:)
It's amusing how underground, pirate, and other groups have done (with little to no funding) what the companies have been unable (or unwilling) to effectively do despite having the ability to easily throw $millions at the problem. Bad CBS, no cookie.
It's not like hiring them guarantees they will create the next superman. Plenty are paid "fair" wages to create comics... and then there's the times where something new and special is created, catches on, and becomes the Next Big Thing. You can't exactly just make it happen.
So...it's OK to disrespect and yell at people until you know who they are? (and perhaps only if they've done something you find worthwhile) I mean... it's off-topic but that's still more than a little messed up.
It's sad though that the creators of these things don't get something more out of it, but if you do 'works for hire' and assign copyright in return for a salary that's how it goes. If you failed to negotiate good contract terms you dun goofed. Plus how many comic characters do people get paid to make that/don't/ do anything special? We're talking about the exception, not the rule here. COnsider the gazillion indie bands that make music no one ever hears until a record company waves it's magic wand, picks one, and ding ding ding...played twice an hour on every radio station and suddenly they're #1.
I love my cash back, but not at the expense of proper, well-proven fraud protection.
10% off? Sure I'll sign up and use it for a big purchase or two then remove all my info/cancel. Otherwise it's about the same as regular cash back, without the net-30 terms and proven history of consumer protection.
As it stands, if I get a bad TV from w-mart and the d*ck manager decides it's my fault it I just dispute the charge. Then Amex goes to bat for me and I typically get my way. If the entity that processed the charge is owned/run by w-mart to begin with how do you think that will go over?
Yah...I'm with you. No thanks, no way. Nothing about this seems enticing, interesting, or worth the trouble.
Plus many people use their CC because they don't have $ immediately available in their bank account. "Sorry, I can't go out tonight my credit cards are maxed"
Exactly. When the retailers offer an across-the-board 1% discount I'll stop and pay attention to what else they're including. As it stands 1% is the *minimum* cash back I get on everything I spend via CC. More at places like gas stations and restaurants. Plus basically net-30 terms as long as I pay my CC in full each month.
Oh, and all the other perks that CC's offer (travel insurance, discounts, etc.) which typically come to higher-tier spenders.
What's CurrenC going to do for me? Automatically integrate my frequent-shopper card? Pretty sure there's an app for that... oh passbook. (among others)
Isn't it wonderful? Two numbers and the assumption that you're not a bad actor, especially if you have inside access. Even better, the routing numbers are public information!
I'm rather shocked there hasn't been a whole lot more fraud along these lines...especially among smaller/older banks using consecutive account numbers.
You can undo all the transactions you want... except when someone then wires the money elsewhere, withdraws it via non-retractable means, etc.:) Granted that takes some doing without it being obvious who-dun-it unless you have access to someone else's identity...and that *never* happens. Oh crap wait...
Bitcoin sounds like an answer but, from someone who recently went through buying something in bitcoin, it's not quite a simple as "use teh bitcoinz"... not by a long shot.
Buying "anonymous" bitcoins often involves more information than getting a car loan unless you want to meet someone face to face. Are there other ways? Sure. Are they easily accessible, reasonably legit (seeming at least), and not complex? Erm...not at all. Tempted to buy a few anyhow in hopes they pop back up to the $ range they peaked at. I remember when people would give away 1BTC to anyone willing to create a wallet just for cool-factor. Oops!
There's the part about willfully violating someone's privacy to obtain the image in the first place. Digital trespass laws the gov't throw around when they don't have anything else useful to arrest someone probably cover it.
If something is already on the internet it's very difficult to make a convincing argument that it's actually private anymore. Doesn't make it right to share those ex-girlfriend nudies you downloaded but on a totally different level.
Slashdot Mirror
The placebo effect is strong with this one (well GP).
Most vitamins and herbal remedies (ahem, and homeopathy) have little direct benefit unless your body is actually deficient. I know tons of people who sear that a taking 10,000mcg of vitamin c will cure a cold or stop it from happening. I also know there's no legitimate research study showing that's the case...and plenty of evidence, if you go digging, to show where the vitamin supplement market was basically made up out of thin air.
Actually I get this now in NY.
One bill with charge for usage (per kWh) and one charge for delivery (per day). Basically if I use zero electricity my bill is still something like 40 bucks a month.
Makes me want to go count my usage and figure out the cost of batteries... Solar is getting cheaper and cheaper to the point I'm wondering when including a battery pack will be practical. no need to sell back, you can use store your own and only tap the grid for the literal rainy day.
How much was the large tesla pack supposed to cost (or be worth at 80% capacity)
Fossil fuels are also a renewable energy source by that logic.
It's similar to the trick where you stare at a B&W pattern on a page then look at the wall to see the inverse of it.
Of if you wear tinted sunglasses the world looks (insert color) at first then a while later you don't notice. When you take the glasses off things look...well brighter...but the colors are a bit odd for a few minutes there too.
Or the bunch of other optical illusions where you surround a color with others and it looks different.
It's not some great big mystery for anyone who works with photography (or anything similar that deals with lighting and color). That's why monitors are calibrated to certain colors and brightness otherwise you'd never get consistency. It's why artists draw/paint/etc. under specific lighting. It's why you put makeup on in front of lit mirror with a certain color bulb. It's why home depot sells warm, natural, and cool colored lights. etc etc etc
I can't believe people are actually making a big deal about this.
Just be careful when assembling particleboard furniture with gorilla glue (aka polyurethane glue) ... it will NEVER come apart. You will need to smash the particleboard itself if you ever want to break it down as the glue is far stronger than the wood.
What this means is...if you build it and it does't sit perfectly flat while the glue cures then your furniture will forever be wonky and crooked. I'm careful when I build and have ikea furniture that's lasted close to a decade through 5 or 6 moves without anything coming loose.
Oh, and good luck if get it on your hands of clothes *sigh*
Food there costs so much because it's how they make their money. Something like 90% of the ticket price goes to the movie studios afaik.
Unlikely to be the same situation. FAA rules require you to be on the same flight as your baggage (unless the airline screws up and loses it on you.)
If they're holding a flight for someone, it's probably because they checked luggage and it's already been loaded on the plane. They can't leave without the person unless they remove the checked bag which is buried somewhere in the baggage hold.
Already done. In fact someone made a $100 module that basically lets you override the controls. Reports have it that it works better without the soap anyhow.
Basically they wanted to make a consumable so they could generate a perpetual revenue stream. It worked. For every person hacking this and that there's many, many more who just but what they need. Look at Keurig 2.0. Despite all the bad press they're sure selling plenty of 'legit' k-cups.
Site down, random shuffle, site comes back. I wonder if they'll find someone else to arrest this time around.
Though I thought they finally got smart and started hosting elsewhere?
The entire concept of a salary was for people that owned a chunk of the business. 99% of people should be hourly.
Mostly agreed. It's also for individuals who have a direct link between success and compensation. What used to be managers with large stock portfolios and bonuses tied to performance...who also had the ability to set their own schedule. Basically people who it makes more financial sense to take compensation besides hourly pay and overtime.
Then they started including geeks in this somehow. If you manage, develop, design or implement 'computer systems' you're typically in the bucket for exemption. That rule stands apart from the others - ability to commit the company in substantive financial matters, high level business decisions, managing staff or a budget.
However, whenever we interview people to come in and work here, certain folks on the interview committee pretty much require the applicant to genuflect to the common "whatever it takes to get the job done" belief that over 40 hours is no big deal and that they do that "all" the time. Even though that is technically completely against the rules for contracting.
Not only against the rules, but it's against the law. There's quite a bit of employment law and case law that most companies basically ignore outright in the US. Example: if your hired as an exempt employee (not OT) for 40 hour weeks but are routinely scheduled/work more than that to the point it becomes your normal work then you're entitled to compensation (I think at OT rates) for it. Exempt is intended to cover occasional extra time - not mandatory extended hours every week.
However very people sue over it due to various (likely illegal) terms in employment agreements, severance packages, etc.
Annoyed at being a perma-temp or long term consultant alongside people getting paid more, bonuses, vacation, and benefits that you don't get? Google co-employment laws. You probably could sue (or threaten to sue) and win all the back benefits you didn't get. But you're also a consultant and your position would be gone the first hint that you might even know those rights exist.
Welcome to abusive corporate america where the shareholder and stock price is far, FAR more important than doing what's legal or moral.
So...like the stock market essentially.
As gaming becomes worth more money I can only see this expanding right in line. The more you stand to win, the more you can invest in doing so.
Agreed in many cases.
Some things - like VPN and Citrix are relatively secure. Unfortunately many executives also use things like gmail, facebook, SMS, chat, xyz-gaming-app and so on during their travel. I've seen plenty of senior people send confidential information outside of accepted/expected channels. They don't want to remember passwords, much less change them. There's a lot of 'I'm too busy and it won't happen to me anyhow' mentality with data security.
'Sorry, we don't allow abc gizmo you have to use the standard whatever for your presentation'
'Ok, fine'
'You need a 12 character password changed every 30 days for administrative access the core production servers'
'Well I'm just checking on data for meetings from my iPhone, I can't type all that in. Set it the same as my windows password that never changes'
'This computer connects to a real-time stock market trading network, it has a password and 15 minute screen saver timeout'
'I can't waste time entering passwords, that's way too much work and complexity. I just need to do my trades!'
Because that would 1) take work and 2) not let the fire marshal punish the con.
Having been to some conventions in RI ... I will say the fire marshals aren't known for what's between their ears. Silly rules and pointless enforcement are only the beginning. Wielding power for amusement, revenge, and personal gain is considered much more the norm.
Maybe it's the NYer in me but I always keep my important things on my person. I'd never be stuck without a phone, keys, or money (or my special needs child!?) because I left them at a convention.
I figure RICC is getting hit with tons of reversed CC charges today.
Erm...but netflix will drop a cache server in the ISP's datacenter, configure it, and maintain it. Oh, and it's free. The ISP saves on bandwidth/interconnect at the cost of a few U of rackspace and a couple bucks in power/cooling.
But then why would they comcast or TW want to do something to help their competition even if it also benefits their customers. Monopoly and conflict of interest. Good job politicians.
Actually netflix offered to foot the bill for upgrading the bandwidth - it's literally a couple cross-connects in a datacenter, maybe a fiber card or two.
Oh, and netflix ALSO offers to drop a server in your datacenter *free* which caches all the common netflix streams. This reduces the internet bandwidth demands by something like 90+% since it lives within the ISP's datacenter and just needs to download each stream once.
But the last line is exactly the point. The ISPs are also TV providers and they don't want you to have a good netflix experience. If they can passively let that happen...well of course they will. No one can accuse them of taking any action to damage your netflix streaming...it's their complete inaction that's resulting in it.
They all have viable streaming avenues...unfortunately they don't often belong to the networks :)
It's amusing how underground, pirate, and other groups have done (with little to no funding) what the companies have been unable (or unwilling) to effectively do despite having the ability to easily throw $millions at the problem. Bad CBS, no cookie.
Is it though?
It's not like hiring them guarantees they will create the next superman. Plenty are paid "fair" wages to create comics ... and then there's the times where something new and special is created, catches on, and becomes the Next Big Thing. You can't exactly just make it happen.
So...it's OK to disrespect and yell at people until you know who they are? (and perhaps only if they've done something you find worthwhile) I mean ... it's off-topic but that's still more than a little messed up.
It's sad though that the creators of these things don't get something more out of it, but if you do 'works for hire' and assign copyright in return for a salary that's how it goes. If you failed to negotiate good contract terms you dun goofed. Plus how many comic characters do people get paid to make that /don't/ do anything special? We're talking about the exception, not the rule here. COnsider the gazillion indie bands that make music no one ever hears until a record company waves it's magic wand, picks one, and ding ding ding...played twice an hour on every radio station and suddenly they're #1.
I love my cash back, but not at the expense of proper, well-proven fraud protection.
10% off? Sure I'll sign up and use it for a big purchase or two then remove all my info/cancel. Otherwise it's about the same as regular cash back, without the net-30 terms and proven history of consumer protection.
As it stands, if I get a bad TV from w-mart and the d*ck manager decides it's my fault it I just dispute the charge. Then Amex goes to bat for me and I typically get my way. If the entity that processed the charge is owned/run by w-mart to begin with how do you think that will go over?
Yah...I'm with you. No thanks, no way. Nothing about this seems enticing, interesting, or worth the trouble.
Plus many people use their CC because they don't have $ immediately available in their bank account. "Sorry, I can't go out tonight my credit cards are maxed"
Exactly. When the retailers offer an across-the-board 1% discount I'll stop and pay attention to what else they're including. As it stands 1% is the *minimum* cash back I get on everything I spend via CC. More at places like gas stations and restaurants. Plus basically net-30 terms as long as I pay my CC in full each month.
Oh, and all the other perks that CC's offer (travel insurance, discounts, etc.) which typically come to higher-tier spenders.
What's CurrenC going to do for me? Automatically integrate my frequent-shopper card? Pretty sure there's an app for that ... oh passbook. (among others)
Isn't it wonderful? Two numbers and the assumption that you're not a bad actor, especially if you have inside access. Even better, the routing numbers are public information!
I'm rather shocked there hasn't been a whole lot more fraud along these lines...especially among smaller/older banks using consecutive account numbers.
You can undo all the transactions you want ... except when someone then wires the money elsewhere, withdraws it via non-retractable means, etc. :) Granted that takes some doing without it being obvious who-dun-it unless you have access to someone else's identity...and that *never* happens. Oh crap wait...
Bitcoin sounds like an answer but, from someone who recently went through buying something in bitcoin, it's not quite a simple as "use teh bitcoinz" ... not by a long shot.
Buying "anonymous" bitcoins often involves more information than getting a car loan unless you want to meet someone face to face. Are there other ways? Sure. Are they easily accessible, reasonably legit (seeming at least), and not complex? Erm...not at all. Tempted to buy a few anyhow in hopes they pop back up to the $ range they peaked at. I remember when people would give away 1BTC to anyone willing to create a wallet just for cool-factor. Oops!
There's the part about willfully violating someone's privacy to obtain the image in the first place. Digital trespass laws the gov't throw around when they don't have anything else useful to arrest someone probably cover it.
If something is already on the internet it's very difficult to make a convincing argument that it's actually private anymore. Doesn't make it right to share those ex-girlfriend nudies you downloaded but on a totally different level.