If you don't _have_ to pay for something, why would you? Same with taxes - they know darned well they _should_ pay taxes, but with a little corporate slight of hand, they don't have to.
We're close...it's AppleTV on the above-board pay side. You want a show, you watch it, they charge you. Because of the overhead, though, you are paying a great deal more per show than a typical household would consume. Even at $1 an episode, you start racking up the bill pretty fast. Even if you only watch weekly content, and watch just two shows each, a family of 4 is going to find themselves with a $32/month bill, plus the cost of bandwidth (currently $19-$59/mo in the 250GB cap flavor). Throw in Netflix for movies and you're looking at $80/mo for second run movies on Netflix and TV service. This discounts any daily material like the daily show and colbert report which would be another $32/mo combined.
The holy grail for streaming is sports, but DirecTV and the NFL have proven the gouging consumers is a serious buisiness, with 18 weeks of programming (essentially 2 full games a week = 7hrs, since the evening game(s) and Mon night are not included nor are playoffs or suberbowl, nor are any local blacked out or broadcast games) costing nearly $400!
What "we" really want is the cost per program that we're currently paying for, at $100/mo. for 300 channels x 24h/dy, divided up into "just what we watch" chuncks, with little or no additional markup. And that, my friend, is never happening.
Fair point. I haven't had a mortgage for a couple of years now. How soon I forget;-) I would argue that it's not really a valuable incentive, but then I look at the average American and realize that - yes, they really are too stupid to realize that you paying a bank $12k/yr so you can get back $2.5k on your taxes from the government is not really a financially sound play.
Well, they could be lying...but it's the basis for their entire business model. I tried them in late 2010, but the syncing to other computers had issues that I couldn't get resolved. It was a cool, geek-centric service, I just couldn't make it work. With 200GB of data I share between 4 computers that _have_ to be in sync for my business to run, I couldn't take a chance that the service would start to fail (which is how it happened - the first 3-5GB were great, then a couple weeks after I uploaded the full data set it stopped syncing properly).
I deal with two other (very) non-computer savvy users, so truecrypt in dropbox wasn't really a workable solution.
This should make you a fan of SpiderOak cloud storage. See, not only is your data local, it's encrypted locally before uploading. Even the feds - or the MPAA - gets their hands on the server there is no way to decrypt the data there. Even SpiderOak doesn't have the keys. Unless there is a specific reason or evidence to support that what you have there is infringing, they shouldn't even be able to get a warrant to require you divulge the key or show them your local storage.
"Staying in touch quickly facebook and + are *horrible* ways to do it. Email, IM, and the phone are much quicker ways to get in touch with someone."
You're right. But FB and G+ are great ways to communicate casual information to lots of people at once. If you and I are going to have a beer, I'll email or - more likely - call you. If I'm headed out to go hike the cascades, I'll send out a FB post, and whomever is free will show up.
Yes, I have tried a real tablet PC. They're heavy (4lb vs 1.5), thick (.4" vs 1.2"), and have poor battery life with the standard battery (1/3-2/3 time in real life usage). They're also double (or more) the price of an iPad.
The iPad is currently a consumption device, as are basically all capacitive tablets. However, I can remember back to the resistive smart phones of the earlier years, and I'm loathe to forego the ease of use of the capacitive screen. The dual interface exists, it's just not available yet.
I would tend to agree - the iPhone (and most good android phones) have cool gadgets, but I would not rely on them for something like this. Altitude is much easier to accomplish with a static pressure sensor. HP Rocket folks have several sensors that might be useful. Featherweight Altimeters carries a model that is only a couple dozen grams that has a two axis accelerometer and barometer altimeter that's good to a couple of feet. It has temporary and latched relay outputs (good for about 30W and 10W respectively, I think) for firing pyro charges (parachute, for example) and turning on tracking beacons.
Actually, the whole set of electronics that rocket guys use would be good for the cheap and "expendible with regret" philosophy. For a few hundred dollars, he could build in a fairly lightweight recovery system. Can he recover it in the kind of terrain he's flying over? That's a question only he can answer, but $1000 in recovery gear could save tens of thousands of dollars in autonomous gear for the outlying conditions, and still let him recover a substantial investment with (hopefully) minimal damage.
Housing may be related to interest rates, which are somewhat controlled by the Fed, or to the guarantee / purchase program for banks, but it's not subsidezed by the feds. Up until 2008, they were making money hand over fist. Houses went up due to rampant speculation.
College tuition costs can be masked by government backed loan programs where you can sequester college loan debt, making the cost of tuition appear lower because the cost is deferred. That one...yeah, I think there's culpability there.
Health Care? Doctor bitch incessantly about the public program (medicaid/medicare) reimbursement rates because they're so much lower than private insurers pay, which is in turn a small fraction (often 10-15%) of what medical providers will charge if you come in with cash. Litigation and profiteering is at the heart of medical costs. More than half of ALL court cases in my region are filed by in-house lawyers from the largest local hospital suing for unpaid medical bills.
There's nothing that the government is doing in healthcare that hides costs from people who are paying for service. The whole system is fucked up because there is no good way to shop for pricing vs efficacy, and if a doctor chooses a cheaper way to cure you and you die from even a closely related cause it's their livelihood on the line. It's in their interest to get you every service just to cover their butts. It's closer to the reason why NASA's stuff is so expensive: if you can't afford to fail, you''re going to spend an inordinate amount to try and guarantee success, even ifyou know the money is probably wasted.
HDHPs are awesome if you don't have a chronic condition that requires regular medication or OT/PT/Testing. The key is that you're covered if you get hit by a bus or have a heart attack or get cancer (though they can still drop you at the end of your plan year, so make sure you go down shortly after you re-up for the year). BUT - when you pay out of pocket, you pay at the negotiated health insurers rate. At that point, healthcare is pretty reasonably priced. I got a thyroid ultrasound and thin needle biopsy for under $300. Rack rate was closer to $2k. Amoxicillin? Cheaper than the $4 advertised/lowball rate all the big box stores were touting a couple of years ago.
Is it still expensive? Sure - you've got people taking care of you and lots of regulations to keep up on (i.e. lots of admin paperwork). But it's at least manageable.
This is the way I took notes for my MS work, and it's still my favorite for critical note-taking, short of my custom engineering pads. A thin 3 ring binder, a piece of white cardstock with heavy lines (straight or grid), and a stack of punched 3 hole plain paper. Just slip the lined sheet behind the plain paper as a guide and you get very neat notes which are uncluttered with grid for reproduction or re-copying. I've since made up custom pads with a very light cyan grid which doesn't photocopy which I use for general note taking now.
I'm still disappointed with the quality of the writing available. Unless you prefer to write like a 5 year old with crayons, the iPad interface is just too low resolution (input) to produce useful text with a meaningful/efficient density. I've tried Notability in several meetings, and I find myself grabbing a steno pad or a piece of scrap paper to write down critical information.
Of all the things I wished for this time around on the iPad, it was that it would get a Wacom-type interface with pressure sensitivity and a high resolution digitizer. I might look at the tablet sized Note that's supposed to be released this summer, but with the investment in mobile apps on iOS, I'm not sure it's worth the switch.
(1) You love to teach and work with youth. That's the good reason to become a teacher, because you'll be a good one as a result. I don't want anyone to take this as a slam, but you really don't have to be great in your field if you have drive and enthusiasm. Inspiration of students will cause them to lear so much more then having the smartest person in the world lecture monotonously every day. You'll get paid a good hourly rate with full benefits, but you'll work lots of uncompensated overtime. You'll get a nice break around Christmas and in the summer (or you could say you'll be forced to take leave without pay over Christmas and the summer). It will be like most white collar/professional jobs, except the pay is a little lower, the job security and benefits a little better, and you'll be off of work the same time the kids are. That last one can be good or bad, depending on your family situation.
(2) You want a short work day with good benefits and lots of time off to sit by the pool or go on vacation in the summer. These are the teachers for whom it's just a job. We all know some of them - they arrive 5 minutes before class, run you over if you're standing in the door as the buses pull away, try and put as many multiple choice or computer graded tests in the curriculum as possible, and rarely do projects. You will never see them at a PTA/PTO function. There is a large fraction of the workforce who is like this, and they give the teachers in part (1), above, a bad name.
Facebook want you to open your soul to their system - to make connections and fan out to every friend you have. Until there are 7 billion people putting all of their most intimate secrets on FB, they will have growth potential.
It's true they sell data, but primarily they sell advertising - "anonymous" advertising so that you don't feel like you're being watched. They really don't give a shit how you are and what you do, as long as it can be categorized and sold to people who want to sell their products to people like you. Note I did not say "you" but "people like you."
Personal identification is exactly what FB is worried about when it comes to advertisers, because it scares off the users (aka their product). That's good for users, too.
(2) you are the person everyone complains about and has to spend extra time tracking down because you're the only one not using the new technology.
If you want to skip the whole FB/G+ thing, it's not a huge deal. But please, don't complain if you start getting left out of shit. I know some people like you and, quite honestly, I tend to simply not invite them to do meatspace stuff half the time. It's too much effort. Part of my being able to run a business, sit on two artistic boards of directors, one community service board, have time to play with my 9 year old, share stories with my relatives and friends on four continents is because I don't waste time on arranging stuff with every person individually. I know phone trees were all the rage in the 1960s (and, yes, the phone company is tracking who you contact, by the way), and chain letters may have been useful in the 19th century (still mostly untrackable if you use the USPS, though that's mostly due to gross incompetence).
I'm sure there are still lots of places where personal interaction for all of your interpersonal communications is manageable and commonplace. Just realize that if you have friends who are on social sites, they're probably leaving you out - intentionally or unintentionally - because if you're not on them you're simply not around for all of the conversations.
This G+ thing may be just a way to entice naysayers into the fold so they can rape their privacy for cold hard advertising cash. Or it may be a way to show the naysayers that there really are good things happening (i hopes that someday they can rape your privacy for cold hard advertising cash). It may just be a way to show FB users how much (they hope) they're missing by not being on G+.
That's great, unless you're in the US. To date there is no phone that will work on more than 1-2 carriers, and most that do are not capable of the fastest data connection (think dial-up speeds). Until LTE is fully rolled out AND we get a phone that can span the frequency range from 700-2400 MHz AND the carriers agree to use compatible SIMs, it won't happen.
The closest thing you can get today is an iPad Verizon LTE model, which will do both Verizon's CDMA and LTE network along with the "standard" GSM up to AT&T's "4G" (HSDPA+) and t-mo's 3G. It's a bit expensive, though, doesn't fit well in your pocket, and you're limited to VoIP service.
This is the core of real engineering work, and it's one of the reasons I loved working at NASA under great management. I mostly squandered the opportunities I had there, and yet I still learned more from that time than anything else in my career. I actually started there working for a brilliant optics guy who was at Perkin Elmer during the Hubble years. Later, my direct supervisor went on to play a key role in the servicing mission, and (last I heard) was part of the JWST team.
Later, worked in private industry for the team the (essentially) discovered the hole in the ozone layer. We got into it verbally from time to time, but I really respected his knowledge of the physics we were involved in. I once joked about getting fired if the part I was working on failed. He looked me right in the eye and said, "Oh, I won't fire you. I'll make you stay here and fix it." I smile a bit every time I think about that meeting.
Slashdot Mirror
HMRC: 'Evening, Executive!
Executive: (stiffly) Good evening.
HMRC: Is, uh,...Is your corporation a goer, eh? Know whatahmean, know whatahmean, nudge nudge, know whatahmean, say no more?
Executive: I, uh, I beg your pardon?
HMRC: Your, uh, your corporation, does it go, eh, does it go, eh?
Executive: (flustered) Well, it sometimes "goes", yes.
HMRC: Aaaaaaaah bet it does, I bet it does, say no more, say no more, knowwhatahmean, nudge nudge?
Executive: (confused) I'm afraid I don't quite follow you.
HMRC: Follow me. Follow me. That's good, that's good! A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat!
Executive: Are you, uh,...are you selling something?
HMRC: SELLING! Very good, very good! Ay? Ay? Ay? (pause) Oooh! Ya wicked Ay! Wicked Ay! Oooh hooh! Say No MORE!
Executive: Well, I, uh....
HMRC: Is, your uh, is your company a sport, ay?
Executive: Um, it's profitable, yes!
HMRC: I bet it is, I bet it is!
Executive: As a matter of fact it's very profitable.
HMRC: 'Oo isn't? Likes profits, eh? Knew it would. Likes profits, eh? It's been around a bit, been around?
Executive: We have offshore accounts, yes. We moved the books to Luxembourg. (pause)
HMRC: SAY NO MORE!!
HMRC: Luxembourg, saynomore, saynomore, saynomore, Executive!
Executive: I wasn't going to!
HMRC: Oh! Well, never mind. Dib dib? Is your uh, is your corporation interested in....taxes, ay? "Taxes, ay", he asked him knowlingly?
Executive: Taxes?
HMRC: Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more?
Executive: Corporate taxes, eh?
HMRC: They could be, they could be corporate. Domestic, you know, DOMESTIC corporate taxes?
Executive: No, no I'm afraid we don't pay any domestic taxes.
HMRC: Oh. (leeringly) Still, mooooooh, ay? Mwoohohohohoo, ay? Hohohohohoho, ay?
Executive: Look... are you insinuating something?
HMRC: Oh, no, no, no...yes.
Executive: Well?
HMRC: Well, you're a man of the world, Executive.
Executive: Yes...
HMRC: I mean, you've been around a bit, you know, like, you've, uh.... You've "done it"....
Executive: What do you mean?
HMRC: Well, I mean like,....you've SKIPPED on you taxes....
Executive: Yes....
HMRC: What's it like?
If you don't _have_ to pay for something, why would you? Same with taxes - they know darned well they _should_ pay taxes, but with a little corporate slight of hand, they don't have to.
We're close...it's AppleTV on the above-board pay side. You want a show, you watch it, they charge you. Because of the overhead, though, you are paying a great deal more per show than a typical household would consume. Even at $1 an episode, you start racking up the bill pretty fast. Even if you only watch weekly content, and watch just two shows each, a family of 4 is going to find themselves with a $32/month bill, plus the cost of bandwidth (currently $19-$59/mo in the 250GB cap flavor). Throw in Netflix for movies and you're looking at $80/mo for second run movies on Netflix and TV service. This discounts any daily material like the daily show and colbert report which would be another $32/mo combined.
The holy grail for streaming is sports, but DirecTV and the NFL have proven the gouging consumers is a serious buisiness, with 18 weeks of programming (essentially 2 full games a week = 7hrs, since the evening game(s) and Mon night are not included nor are playoffs or suberbowl, nor are any local blacked out or broadcast games) costing nearly $400!
What "we" really want is the cost per program that we're currently paying for, at $100/mo. for 300 channels x 24h/dy, divided up into "just what we watch" chuncks, with little or no additional markup. And that, my friend, is never happening.
Hmmm, I don't think that word means what you think it means...
It'll probably be encased in MP35N. Not that that makes it less valuable as dirty bomb fodder.
"Housing is subsidized by the tax code."
Fair point. I haven't had a mortgage for a couple of years now. How soon I forget ;-) I would argue that it's not really a valuable incentive, but then I look at the average American and realize that - yes, they really are too stupid to realize that you paying a bank $12k/yr so you can get back $2.5k on your taxes from the government is not really a financially sound play.
Well, they could be lying...but it's the basis for their entire business model. I tried them in late 2010, but the syncing to other computers had issues that I couldn't get resolved. It was a cool, geek-centric service, I just couldn't make it work. With 200GB of data I share between 4 computers that _have_ to be in sync for my business to run, I couldn't take a chance that the service would start to fail (which is how it happened - the first 3-5GB were great, then a couple weeks after I uploaded the full data set it stopped syncing properly).
I deal with two other (very) non-computer savvy users, so truecrypt in dropbox wasn't really a workable solution.
Commas might help here, but if you always capitalize proper nouns, you can also remove the alternate meaning.
I happen to have an uncle who's name is Jack. I never had to help him dismount from a horse, though.
This should make you a fan of SpiderOak cloud storage. See, not only is your data local, it's encrypted locally before uploading. Even the feds - or the MPAA - gets their hands on the server there is no way to decrypt the data there. Even SpiderOak doesn't have the keys. Unless there is a specific reason or evidence to support that what you have there is infringing, they shouldn't even be able to get a warrant to require you divulge the key or show them your local storage.
"Staying in touch quickly facebook and + are *horrible* ways to do it. Email, IM, and the phone are much quicker ways to get in touch with someone."
You're right. But FB and G+ are great ways to communicate casual information to lots of people at once. If you and I are going to have a beer, I'll email or - more likely - call you. If I'm headed out to go hike the cascades, I'll send out a FB post, and whomever is free will show up.
I want a teacher that makes learning fun. Projects don't always involve construction paper and paste.
Yes, I have tried a real tablet PC. They're heavy (4lb vs 1.5), thick (.4" vs 1.2"), and have poor battery life with the standard battery (1/3-2/3 time in real life usage). They're also double (or more) the price of an iPad.
The iPad is currently a consumption device, as are basically all capacitive tablets. However, I can remember back to the resistive smart phones of the earlier years, and I'm loathe to forego the ease of use of the capacitive screen. The dual interface exists, it's just not available yet.
What is your legal liability when you shoot a rifle and your bullet crashes into a human being, injuring or killing said human?
What is your legal liability when you throw a hammer and it crashes into a human being, injuring or killing said human?
What is your legal liability when you fall asleep at the wheel of your car and it crashes into a human being, injuring or killing said human?
I suspect it's going to be involuntary manslaughter in the case of a death, regardless of what you used.
I would tend to agree - the iPhone (and most good android phones) have cool gadgets, but I would not rely on them for something like this. Altitude is much easier to accomplish with a static pressure sensor. HP Rocket folks have several sensors that might be useful. Featherweight Altimeters carries a model that is only a couple dozen grams that has a two axis accelerometer and barometer altimeter that's good to a couple of feet. It has temporary and latched relay outputs (good for about 30W and 10W respectively, I think) for firing pyro charges (parachute, for example) and turning on tracking beacons.
Actually, the whole set of electronics that rocket guys use would be good for the cheap and "expendible with regret" philosophy. For a few hundred dollars, he could build in a fairly lightweight recovery system. Can he recover it in the kind of terrain he's flying over? That's a question only he can answer, but $1000 in recovery gear could save tens of thousands of dollars in autonomous gear for the outlying conditions, and still let him recover a substantial investment with (hopefully) minimal damage.
Housing may be related to interest rates, which are somewhat controlled by the Fed, or to the guarantee / purchase program for banks, but it's not subsidezed by the feds. Up until 2008, they were making money hand over fist. Houses went up due to rampant speculation.
College tuition costs can be masked by government backed loan programs where you can sequester college loan debt, making the cost of tuition appear lower because the cost is deferred. That one...yeah, I think there's culpability there.
Health Care? Doctor bitch incessantly about the public program (medicaid/medicare) reimbursement rates because they're so much lower than private insurers pay, which is in turn a small fraction (often 10-15%) of what medical providers will charge if you come in with cash. Litigation and profiteering is at the heart of medical costs. More than half of ALL court cases in my region are filed by in-house lawyers from the largest local hospital suing for unpaid medical bills.
There's nothing that the government is doing in healthcare that hides costs from people who are paying for service. The whole system is fucked up because there is no good way to shop for pricing vs efficacy, and if a doctor chooses a cheaper way to cure you and you die from even a closely related cause it's their livelihood on the line. It's in their interest to get you every service just to cover their butts. It's closer to the reason why NASA's stuff is so expensive: if you can't afford to fail, you''re going to spend an inordinate amount to try and guarantee success, even ifyou know the money is probably wasted.
HDHPs are awesome if you don't have a chronic condition that requires regular medication or OT/PT/Testing. The key is that you're covered if you get hit by a bus or have a heart attack or get cancer (though they can still drop you at the end of your plan year, so make sure you go down shortly after you re-up for the year). BUT - when you pay out of pocket, you pay at the negotiated health insurers rate. At that point, healthcare is pretty reasonably priced. I got a thyroid ultrasound and thin needle biopsy for under $300. Rack rate was closer to $2k. Amoxicillin? Cheaper than the $4 advertised/lowball rate all the big box stores were touting a couple of years ago.
Is it still expensive? Sure - you've got people taking care of you and lots of regulations to keep up on (i.e. lots of admin paperwork). But it's at least manageable.
One doesn't simply walk into one infinite loop in Cupertino.
This is the way I took notes for my MS work, and it's still my favorite for critical note-taking, short of my custom engineering pads. A thin 3 ring binder, a piece of white cardstock with heavy lines (straight or grid), and a stack of punched 3 hole plain paper. Just slip the lined sheet behind the plain paper as a guide and you get very neat notes which are uncluttered with grid for reproduction or re-copying. I've since made up custom pads with a very light cyan grid which doesn't photocopy which I use for general note taking now.
I'm still disappointed with the quality of the writing available. Unless you prefer to write like a 5 year old with crayons, the iPad interface is just too low resolution (input) to produce useful text with a meaningful/efficient density. I've tried Notability in several meetings, and I find myself grabbing a steno pad or a piece of scrap paper to write down critical information.
Of all the things I wished for this time around on the iPad, it was that it would get a Wacom-type interface with pressure sensitivity and a high resolution digitizer. I might look at the tablet sized Note that's supposed to be released this summer, but with the investment in mobile apps on iOS, I'm not sure it's worth the switch.
There are two reasons to become a teacher
(1) You love to teach and work with youth. That's the good reason to become a teacher, because you'll be a good one as a result. I don't want anyone to take this as a slam, but you really don't have to be great in your field if you have drive and enthusiasm. Inspiration of students will cause them to lear so much more then having the smartest person in the world lecture monotonously every day. You'll get paid a good hourly rate with full benefits, but you'll work lots of uncompensated overtime. You'll get a nice break around Christmas and in the summer (or you could say you'll be forced to take leave without pay over Christmas and the summer). It will be like most white collar/professional jobs, except the pay is a little lower, the job security and benefits a little better, and you'll be off of work the same time the kids are. That last one can be good or bad, depending on your family situation.
(2) You want a short work day with good benefits and lots of time off to sit by the pool or go on vacation in the summer. These are the teachers for whom it's just a job. We all know some of them - they arrive 5 minutes before class, run you over if you're standing in the door as the buses pull away, try and put as many multiple choice or computer graded tests in the curriculum as possible, and rarely do projects. You will never see them at a PTA/PTO function. There is a large fraction of the workforce who is like this, and they give the teachers in part (1), above, a bad name.
Yes and no. Mostly no.
Facebook want you to open your soul to their system - to make connections and fan out to every friend you have. Until there are 7 billion people putting all of their most intimate secrets on FB, they will have growth potential.
It's true they sell data, but primarily they sell advertising - "anonymous" advertising so that you don't feel like you're being watched. They really don't give a shit how you are and what you do, as long as it can be categorized and sold to people who want to sell their products to people like you. Note I did not say "you" but "people like you."
Personal identification is exactly what FB is worried about when it comes to advertisers, because it scares off the users (aka their product). That's good for users, too.
There are two possibilities:
(1) all your friends are Luddites, too.
(2) you are the person everyone complains about and has to spend extra time tracking down because you're the only one not using the new technology.
If you want to skip the whole FB/G+ thing, it's not a huge deal. But please, don't complain if you start getting left out of shit. I know some people like you and, quite honestly, I tend to simply not invite them to do meatspace stuff half the time. It's too much effort. Part of my being able to run a business, sit on two artistic boards of directors, one community service board, have time to play with my 9 year old, share stories with my relatives and friends on four continents is because I don't waste time on arranging stuff with every person individually. I know phone trees were all the rage in the 1960s (and, yes, the phone company is tracking who you contact, by the way), and chain letters may have been useful in the 19th century (still mostly untrackable if you use the USPS, though that's mostly due to gross incompetence).
I'm sure there are still lots of places where personal interaction for all of your interpersonal communications is manageable and commonplace. Just realize that if you have friends who are on social sites, they're probably leaving you out - intentionally or unintentionally - because if you're not on them you're simply not around for all of the conversations.
This G+ thing may be just a way to entice naysayers into the fold so they can rape their privacy for cold hard advertising cash. Or it may be a way to show the naysayers that there really are good things happening (i hopes that someday they can rape your privacy for cold hard advertising cash). It may just be a way to show FB users how much (they hope) they're missing by not being on G+.
That's great, unless you're in the US. To date there is no phone that will work on more than 1-2 carriers, and most that do are not capable of the fastest data connection (think dial-up speeds). Until LTE is fully rolled out AND we get a phone that can span the frequency range from 700-2400 MHz AND the carriers agree to use compatible SIMs, it won't happen.
The closest thing you can get today is an iPad Verizon LTE model, which will do both Verizon's CDMA and LTE network along with the "standard" GSM up to AT&T's "4G" (HSDPA+) and t-mo's 3G. It's a bit expensive, though, doesn't fit well in your pocket, and you're limited to VoIP service.
Setting - Network - Cellular Data - Off
That's the easiest way to avoid cell data overage charges. If you need it, you can turn it on; otherwise find a wifi spot.
This is the core of real engineering work, and it's one of the reasons I loved working at NASA under great management. I mostly squandered the opportunities I had there, and yet I still learned more from that time than anything else in my career. I actually started there working for a brilliant optics guy who was at Perkin Elmer during the Hubble years. Later, my direct supervisor went on to play a key role in the servicing mission, and (last I heard) was part of the JWST team.
Later, worked in private industry for the team the (essentially) discovered the hole in the ozone layer. We got into it verbally from time to time, but I really respected his knowledge of the physics we were involved in. I once joked about getting fired if the part I was working on failed. He looked me right in the eye and said, "Oh, I won't fire you. I'll make you stay here and fix it." I smile a bit every time I think about that meeting.