It's also illegal to listen in on cordless phones.
I'm a long-time HAM, and I also have one of the old scanners that gets cellular (old Radio Shack model), and many can be modified to receive cellular signals (though this is illegal... do a google for scanner mods and you'll see how easy it is).
The Cordless phone prohibition came later... I can't recall the year, but a hue-and-cry came about from people scanning the old 49.x mHz cordless phones. Naturally, the newer 900 mhz and 2.4ghz models with spread-spectrum require a bit more technical expertise than the old turn-on-the-scanner-and-listen routine. Even the Donald-Duck-sounding "scrambled" ones used a simple frequency inversion routine that you could easily decode (probably a DMCA violation these days).
The trunking radio systems put a brief dent in the scanning scene, but you can even get scanners to track those now.
Years ago, a buddy of mine lived in an apartment, and had an enormous dipole tacked up in the attic of his building, tuned specifically to the 49.x band... got every cordless phone for blocks. It was a rough neighborhood, so he sometimes got to hear the drug dealers doing business, and the ex-cons talking to their parole officers. I suppose that's the lazy man's way to get to know who your neighbors are BEFORE you invite them over for a neighborhood BBQ. However, before you run out and set up a similar rig, I can tell you that most people's conversations are relentlessly boring. Nosy, boring, and illegal... hardly worth it.
Yes, that procedure has come to the forefront in recent years.
They actually run the ethanol down one of your coronary arteries in the procedure you're talking about. They perform a catheterization, and infuse the ethanol into the first septal branch of the LAD (Left Anterior Descending artery). This does cause a small heart-attack of sorts, though it's not really ischemic in the true sense of that term... it's more of a poisoning of that portion of the heart muscle.
Ironically, they take what ends up being a big problem in alcoholics, (alcoholic cardiomyopathy) and use it to the benefit of folks like yourself.
Pharmacologic cardiomyopathies are actually more common than most people think, and are caused by all kind of common and uncommon substances. Alcohol, Cocaine, many chemotheraputic agents... some drugs don't kill only brain cells, they kill a good deal more than that.
Substance abuse is bad for you, and even the "everything in moderation" line ends up not being true for things like Cocaine.
Re:Palmar hyperhidrosis
on
Clammy Modding
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Did you look into some of the aluminum chloride drying preparations that you can apply to your hands? It might be easier than soaking your hands in an ion bath.
You could also consider Botox if the ion bath stops working. You'd have to have a regional nerve block (injections into the palms tend to be VERY painful, particularly when you're getting the dozens per palm that HH typically requires), but you get months of effectiveness out of it. The botox also seems to work better/longer with subsequent usage. Of course, you can't tell that to the anti-botox crowd, who think that it's only used for cosmetics. It's even used by some cardiologists: they inject it into the intraventricular septum in people with Idiopathic Hypertrophic Subaortic Stenosis (IHSS)
I realize your medical conditions are none of my business, and you're probably already aware of the botox, particularly if you were looking into the surgery... just wanted to make a suggestion in case you were unaware, and your ion bath stops working for you.
Cutting one of your nerves, ANY nerve, should be an absolute last resort.
Most people don't know that nerves are one of the least-regenerative cells in the body... they can sometimes regrow axons, but it can take months, and only works if the severed nerve is micro-surgically realigned (if you don't exactly realign the epineurium, which is the outer sheath of that nerve bundle, your odds of regrowth go down dramatically), and cutting nerves can have unexpected consequences.
Operations to sever nerves are sometimes done for RSD, or reflex sympathetic dystrophy (it has new nomenclature now, can't remember it at the moment). In that case, the sympathetic trunks are destroyed in an attempt to alleviate symptoms, with variable success.
I've never heard of anyone getting a nerve ablation for simple dyshidrosis, unless it were part of a larger syndrome... personally, I'd have to be miserable almost to the point of insanity before I'd agree to that procedure.
and a tribute to one very basic principle of teaching and/or lecturing: know your audience.
If you don't teach to them on their level, you'll simply piss them off (either by dumbing it down too much, or by cultivating a sneer and treating them like idiots). I applaud your efforts to understand what your audience truly wants... so many teachers and lecturers either don't care, or have so much ego that it simply fails to occur to them that THEY need to adapt to their audience.
In the vein you mentioned, however... how about a tutorial on the wonders of travel-info sites? URLs like
would be good starting points... make the web useful for travelers! (Note: I don't work, directly or indirectly, for ANY of the above organizations or sites)
Dress codes can actually hurt you, particularly if put in place by folks who are more concerned about form than function.
For instance, I never, ever wear a tie at work, because it's hazardous to my health, and that of others... let me explain. Working in emergency services puts me in contact with all sorts of antisocial, psychotic, and generally dangerous characters. Ever look at a tied necktie and say to yourself "hmmm... that looks kind of like a noose..." Well, you're right, it does. It also ACTS like a noose if a psychiatric patient is trying to strangle you. ER staff get assaulted all the time (a colleague of mine was tackled by a psychotic psych patient and got a detached retina for her trouble... not fun going blind in one eye), and you have to be careful not to give your attacker any ready weapons (kind of like in jail).
I have seen ERs that forbid scrubs, and instead require shirt and tie for their docs... I'm sorry, but I have a problem with that. Not only do I hate trying to get blood and vomit out of my good shirts, but I'm not going to wear a noose to work. Even if it's a clip-on, it can dangle into (and contaminate) a sterile field.
It's not all window dressing and appearances... function has to take precedence.
of whether diabetes is hereditary is yes (and no).
Type 1 (or juvenile) diabetes may or may not be genetic in all cases. It was thought for years that type 1 diabetes was sporadic... until some familial clusters were identified, and some related genes located.
Type 2 (or adult) diabetes is almost certainly genetic in a large number of cases, particularly as it relates to "syndrome X," a constellation of high blood pressure, high cholesterol/lipids, diabetes, and insulin resistance. If you want a cocktail that increases your risk for coronary artery disease, cigarette smoking aside, you couldn't ask for a worse mix than the above. It does seem, however, that people with these genes express the syndrome more acutely when they become overweight (weight loss often ameliorates these conditions).
Darwin has been largely supplanted these days, but to be fair, our environment is radically different, with different selection pressures. Everyone has genetic defects, but they may still contribute in a valuable way to society and the human race. Alcoholism may be linked to genetics in some cases, but we would certainly be poorer without the Hemingways, Fitzgeralds, etc.
If you were in class with some of the pre-med gunners, you wouldn't be wasting your time chatting... you'd be watching your logs like a hawk for the hack attempts from your classmates, trying to delete your lecture notes.
I don't know how it is these days, but back when I was in the pipeline, half of all qualified med school applicants just plain didn't get in. The fierce competition really turned some people into boneheads.
I don't know about you, but before I became a terminally-degreed professional, I had a lot of nasty jobs.
I was a janitor (yeah, cleaning up other people's shit, not even figuratively, LITERALLY).
I worked in a warehouse as a box-throwing monkey (teamsters, baby).
I worked retail sales.
I even worked (this was my low point) as a telemarketing phone-bank guy.
Everybody has to start somewhere... sometimes it's exactly because of that shitty, nasty job that people decide to better themselves.
I personally think that one of the best measures of a man is how he treats those who he perceives as his inferiors. Don't be too hard on that Taco-Bell guy; if you sit on your laurels and don't keep working to better yourself, you might find yourself working for that guy.
Someone already said it: watch out for the impact of running. If you want to start out running, use a treadmill (it absorbs some of the shock), and GET GOOD SHOES. Running on the road might be considered an endpoint by itself (if the original poster is doing 70 miles a week, he is a professional runner... much of his advice may or may not apply to you for quite some time).
If you are not built like a runner (I happen to be, and run 15 miles per week to stay in shape), you should be careful you don't overdo it when you start out. If you're already heavy, running might not be a good exercise, at least until you shed a few pounds.
Low-impact exercises like biking, swimming, stairmaster (crank one of those up; it will take EVERYTHING you've got to give), or some kind of eliptical machine... those would be good start-out choices until you thin down. Once you are thinned down, running would be a good way to maintian weight.
Always remember that most osteo-arthritis (distinct from rheumatoid, psoriatic, and a few other sub-types) is a wear-and-tear phenomenon, and repeated injury will predispose you to earlier arthritis at a younger age. Incidently, that macho no-pain-no-gain stuff is bullshit; one of the great secrets to maintaining a long-term exercise program as a lifestyle change is avoiding injury. (taking weeks off to heal a bad sprain, or a YEAR off for an ACL tear could effectively kill your exercise program).
Just my thoughts. Get in shape, and you'll never regret it... You'd shudder if you saw all the problems life-long obesity can bring you. BTW, IAAD (I am a Doctor).
I was going to let your shot at my supposed age and naivete go by... but what the hell, I've got nothing better to do.
If I am receiving a service from someone, then I have absolutely NO PROBLEM throwing them a few bones. Did they provide a few iso's to me? Yes? Then I'm willing to provide some cash in return for their bandwidth and time. If you can't, then fine... the redhat police aren't going to come knocking at your door... but if you have the money, and just refuse to part with it, while at the same time using someone else's work, well... there's a name for that.
If you have too many bills and no job, then I'd suggest you adapt... like taking some of the money you are using to host "the nation's largest collection of free porn" and instead use it to go back to school, or buy a cheeseburger. If you've got no job/money, then you're not in a position to give... totally understandable.
I am NOT referring to people who have no money. If you're broke, and living hand-to-mouth, then you've got more important things to worry about than redhat distros. The people I'm talking about are those who only want to take, and never give anything back, even when they're in a position to do so.
Yes, I'm talking about community. I'm a believer in volunteerism, and I try to practice what I preach. It doesn't make me a better person... just a more satisfied one.
700$ seem expensive, but if you get the top-o-the-line zaurus and throw in a WLAN card, you get about the same price. However, this thing has a bigger screen, and it sounds like the sony may have much better battery life.
Marketing claims, however, aren't... we'll see when it gets independently reviewed.
Proprietary processor though... Hmmm... that might be a red flag.
I also purchase boxed sets of linux, and have for several years. I may or may not use them for very long (latest iso's get downloaded, checked out, and often installed... I can't count how many linux CDs I have laying around), but I believe in supporting the distros.
I use redhat primarily, but I'm also a MandrakeClub member, and I believe in supporting people who provide a valuable service. Now, college students living on Ramen noodles may not have the cash in their paypal account to do this, but as a professional with a respectable income, I feel an obligation to pony up. Bottom line: if you've got the cash, you have no excuse.
That said, I'm sometimes amazed at how many people are leechers and have no problem with it... where's their pride? Their sense of shame? When did it become OK to simply be a drone?
I don't know about most/.'rs, but I'll be looking for that "donate" button on Redhat's download page. If you've the means, I suggest you do likewise.
Makes sense to a degree... don't you have more fun when you have a powerful character that can roam the land freely? One who doesn't have to fear the first bunch of orcs they run across?
If people want to purchase a pre-leveled character and skip the grunt work (let's be honest... you're just doing it to get a higher-level character and the fun/freedom that comes with that character), then why not?
Personally, my time is valuable... I'd be a bloody fool to spend hours scraping up experience points in an online world. If there's someone who has more time on their hands, and they are willing to sell it that cheaply, then bully for them. If I am willing to spend real world dollars for their time, then good on me.
Enjoyment comes in all shapes and sizes... if someone wants to spend dollars for it, then somebody will fill that market.
I wouldn't do it... those kind of online games are not my thing. However, I can see there from here. Yes, I know money theoretically shouldn't provide an advantage, but all online worlds have to have SOME resemblance to the real world in them... this is perfect. What real-world element could be more appropriate than this "golden rule?" (ie. the one with the gold makes the rules)
Why could they not make it platform independent?... sheesh... it's not like you can't get a C-compiler for just about any platform ever made. Somebody more elite in the security department care to enlighten me about a legitimate reason for choosing a single platform? Anyone?
I RTFA, but didn't see anything about open source code... they can't seriously be relying on security through obscurity...
SOMEBODY needs to audit this, and I'm not talking about a secret "trust-us-it's-good" non-independent audit.
Unlike his wife, who still practices medicine, Dean appears to be a politico from square one, not a doctor who just happened to drift into politics... there's a big difference. Ever wonder why a lot of physicians DON'T belong to the AMA? There are several reasons, one of which is this: it's often viewed as staffed by politicos more interested in their issues and pet political crusades than medicine. I dearly hope Dean doesn't trade on his "medical credentials" too much... a lot of other physicians colleagues I work with aren't impressed by his resume.
When you look at howard dean's resume, he practiced full-time out in the real world (with a partner) for exactly ONE YEAR (I'm not counting his three years of internal medicine residency). He even worked on Jimmy Carter's campaign as a second-year resident, and joined the Vermont legislature when he was a year out of residency.
Even aside from his sparse real-world experience, I have mixed feelings about his health care views. Having practiced in a Universal Coverage arena (the military) and in the Real World (private practice), I see some kind of economic triage as a very Good Thing(TM). It doesn't have to be large... a copay of just five bucks would do wonders to curb unnecessary abuse-of-the-system physician visits... and don't give me that "some people can't afford five dollars" line... not smoking for two days would easily cover a doctor visit. It's a matter of priorities; I have patients who go to the doctor for anything and everything (colds, hangnails, rashes they've had for a year), particularly when they've never paid a dime, and never will. It's a bad idea to completely hide the cost of medicine from people. If you think health care is expensive NOW, just wait until it's free.
The idea that we can do everything for everyone in the healthcare arena is a fallacy. There's not enough money or resources, and that's the bottom line. Unless, of course, you want an insane income tax rate, and a bloated federal agency to administer it all... You can game the numbers all you want, but at some point, it WILL come down to rationing if you go with a single-payer, univeral coverage model. Dean even mentions "univeral coverage" and "fiscally responsible" in the same sentence on his website... bold words.
Besides, some people choose to go without insurance for a time... I'm one of them. That's right... I'm a doctor, and I currently have NO health insurance, so I'm included in that "60 million" people who reportedly desperately need legislative help. Be suspicious of such numbers... they don't tell the whole story.
Dean also wants to expand medicare and medicaid to cover more people. Well... that's great... but the government has already slashed physician reimbursements to the bone (and beyond) in those programs, to the point that it costs some doctors more to file medicaid claims than it does to simply see the patient FOR FREE and write it off.
Even though he's technically a "colleague," I view Dean with the suspicion I reserve only for a politician, because that's exactly what he is.
You're confusing personality disorders with the a particular definition of anti-social behavior
Heh... I didn't feel confused...
I think you may have misunderstood my point. I wasn't implying that geeks who play video games have personality disorders, and I certainly wasn't validating some societal more that video gaming is abnormal and/or dysfunctional. Not that I necessarily have theraputic distance on this issue, being a life-long recreational gamer myself (since the Atari days).
I am not a psychiatrist, but I am a physician who deals frequently with psychotic patients (emergency services). There is a world of difference between someone with a bit of schizotypal trait, and a full blown antisocial or histrionic. Frankly, I'd MUCH rather deal with the former, since schizotypal-leaning folks tend to be nice people, and don't assault you nearly as much as the latter two types.
I quite agree that society will occasionally brand (at least in the throw-away media) a person's behavior as "weird" or "abnormal," whether that behavior causes a problem or not.
You can rest assured that the professional literature is a bit less hysterical about so-called "abnormal" activities than CNN. Those of us who deal with true, florrid mental illness do NOT worry about a guy who simply plays a few video games, and doesn't host a neighborhood barbeque every week.
When you are trying to help a company with a tech solution, you probably try to educate them, so that they can pick the appropriate hardware/software for what they are doing.
By the same token, I try to educate my patients so that they can make appropriate decisions about their own healthcare. They are the ones who bear the ultimate consequences of any medical decision... I'd rather they make an informed decision. Now, some people will say "you decide for me, doc." and that's fine... but I still educate them as thoroughly as possible about risks and benefits.
That's what informed consent is really all about... education.
Physicians, of which I am one, MUST be able to explain things in layman's terms. When it comes down to it, health care decisions are made by the patient, so it is incumbent upon us to educate them to the best of our ability. Doctor comes from the Latin word Docere, which means "to teach"... and so teach we must.
One of the most common complaints among patients is that their doctor doesn't talk to them, or doesn't explain things to them. Personally, I like patients who are educated about their own health and disease process... it makes my job infinitely easier. It's much simpler to have a risks-and-benefits discussion with someone who knows what you're talking about, compared to someone for whom you must break everything down.
I NEVER talk to a patient about alleles, or cytochrome p-450 induction, or receptor up-regulation... they'd think I was some kind of space alien. When patients are upset, or feel they've been mistreated or talked-down-to, they sue... even if your medical care was totally above-board.
I try to make everyone happy, and am mostly successful, but in Emergency Services, I'm often shackled by time constraints. That said, if I have to cut short an explanation to attend to a critical patient, I ensure the patient knows why I'm being pulled away... most people are quite understanding when they know the circumstances.
There's nothing wrong with being a lone wolf... as long as it doesn't go too far.
Lots of people have personality traits of one type or another... it is only when it interferes with functioning (ie. leads to arrest, health problems, etc) that it becomes classified as a frank disorder. Personality disorders are considered Axis-II in the DSM-IV manual of psychiatric disorders. (axis I disorders would be schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc).
Probably lots of geeks have traits of schizoid or schizotypal personalities, and maintain high-functioning, productive careers. By definition, these individuals do not have a personality disorder... only a trait or tendency.
I'd bet few geeks truly have outright antisocial personality disorder (Check out the antisocial link)... doesn't sound like too many geeks I know. It stands to reason that most geeks are smart enough to figure out that getting your ass kicked and getting arrested sucks. Ergo, most geeks are probably not "antisocials" in the true sense of the word... either that, or they learn to sublimate those impulses into other activities.
Disorder is all a question of how big a problem your personality is causing you. If there's no problem (apart from a slightly misanthropic attitude), there's no disorder.
These guys not only protect from poor manufacturering... they're also in the idiot-proofing business.
Manufacturers these days have to take into account nearly every stupid, "hey guys, watch this!" scenario that anyone can do with a product.... and either improve it, or add a warning label (much of this is driven, of course, by our litigious society, and a cadre of personal injury lawyers happy to help).
As an example, I just got a little fire-truck, sit and scoot/walker thingie for my young son. It came with a bunch of stickers you could apply to it... but by far the largest sticker (already applied by the manufacturer) was the enormous trilingual warning label on the back. Man, was I relieved! After all, without that label I might have let him run the thing off the top of the steps or something. I can take a paternalistic lecture from somebody so Uber-1337 in their field that I have no chance of ever understanding it or reaching their level of expertise... but I wish they'd save the common sense hand-holding advice. Most people resent being treated like idiots, so I don't think I'm beyond the pale on this one.
These guys help the manufacturers... but they also help protect joe citizen who puts waaaay too damn many devices on the power strip (Hmmm... nobody HERE would be guilty of that, would they?)
Laptops are useful for all kinds of things, even older laptops... my most-used linux box is an old laptop. Check Ebay... older, quite functional laptops can be had for very reasonable money.
Laptops make nifty consoles for your home server rack (you DO have a rack of computers in your house, don't you?).
They make good terminals (I've seen them used for LTSP applications). I've a plan to use a couple of these booted from flash-disk as terminals at home. One in the kitchen, one in the guest room, one in the garage...
Faster laptops can even play games... not high-end FPS, but counterstrike runs quite well on pretty wimpy hardware, including older laptops.
Portability is important... not everyone wants to lug their "LAN party" box around with them.
Don't they realize that this makes their trademark MORE commonly known, and probably increases their sales?
Now honestly, apart from college students (and most of them probably prefer Ramen noodles), who actually eats spam regularly? Don't they realize that people might hear the term, see their can on the grocery store shelf and think "oh, so that's what it was named for... wonder what it tastes like?"
This is computer cracking/fraud at its seedy worst.
Are these the jokers responsible for the Pornographic spam and Mail-order brides dreck that fills up my inbox? And they are using hacked commercial webservers as relay points for this cruft?
Anyone who assists these guys is guilty of multiple computer crimes, at least as an accessory if nothing else (unless they are in a country that HAS no such laws, or doesn't honor extradition requests from foreign nations). Nobody can claim this is innocent "hacking" for education, curiousity, or "helping out" the victim by showing them what holes they have... this is outright exploitation of someone else's property, equipment, bandwidth, etc for your own financial gain, via spam, no less.
This is fraud, any way you slice it... somebody needs to go to jail.
Slashdot Mirror
It's also illegal to listen in on cordless phones.
I'm a long-time HAM, and I also have one of the old scanners that gets cellular (old Radio Shack model), and many can be modified to receive cellular signals (though this is illegal... do a google for scanner mods and you'll see how easy it is).
The Cordless phone prohibition came later... I can't recall the year, but a hue-and-cry came about from people scanning the old 49.x mHz cordless phones. Naturally, the newer 900 mhz and 2.4ghz models with spread-spectrum require a bit more technical expertise than the old turn-on-the-scanner-and-listen routine. Even the Donald-Duck-sounding "scrambled" ones used a simple frequency inversion routine that you could easily decode (probably a DMCA violation these days).
The trunking radio systems put a brief dent in the scanning scene, but you can even get scanners to track those now.
Years ago, a buddy of mine lived in an apartment, and had an enormous dipole tacked up in the attic of his building, tuned specifically to the 49.x band... got every cordless phone for blocks. It was a rough neighborhood, so he sometimes got to hear the drug dealers doing business, and the ex-cons talking to their parole officers. I suppose that's the lazy man's way to get to know who your neighbors are BEFORE you invite them over for a neighborhood BBQ. However, before you run out and set up a similar rig, I can tell you that most people's conversations are relentlessly boring. Nosy, boring, and illegal... hardly worth it.
Yes, that procedure has come to the forefront in recent years.
They actually run the ethanol down one of your coronary arteries in the procedure you're talking about. They perform a catheterization, and infuse the ethanol into the first septal branch of the LAD (Left Anterior Descending artery). This does cause a small heart-attack of sorts, though it's not really ischemic in the true sense of that term... it's more of a poisoning of that portion of the heart muscle.
Ironically, they take what ends up being a big problem in alcoholics, (alcoholic cardiomyopathy) and use it to the benefit of folks like yourself.
Pharmacologic cardiomyopathies are actually more common than most people think, and are caused by all kind of common and uncommon substances. Alcohol, Cocaine, many chemotheraputic agents... some drugs don't kill only brain cells, they kill a good deal more than that.
Substance abuse is bad for you, and even the "everything in moderation" line ends up not being true for things like Cocaine.
Did you look into some of the aluminum chloride drying preparations that you can apply to your hands? It might be easier than soaking your hands in an ion bath.
You could also consider Botox if the ion bath stops working. You'd have to have a regional nerve block (injections into the palms tend to be VERY painful, particularly when you're getting the dozens per palm that HH typically requires), but you get months of effectiveness out of it. The botox also seems to work better/longer with subsequent usage. Of course, you can't tell that to the anti-botox crowd, who think that it's only used for cosmetics. It's even used by some cardiologists: they inject it into the intraventricular septum in people with Idiopathic Hypertrophic Subaortic Stenosis (IHSS)
I realize your medical conditions are none of my business, and you're probably already aware of the botox, particularly if you were looking into the surgery... just wanted to make a suggestion in case you were unaware, and your ion bath stops working for you.
Good luck
Cutting one of your nerves, ANY nerve, should be an absolute last resort.
Most people don't know that nerves are one of the least-regenerative cells in the body... they can sometimes regrow axons, but it can take months, and only works if the severed nerve is micro-surgically realigned (if you don't exactly realign the epineurium, which is the outer sheath of that nerve bundle, your odds of regrowth go down dramatically), and cutting nerves can have unexpected consequences.
Operations to sever nerves are sometimes done for RSD, or reflex sympathetic dystrophy (it has new nomenclature now, can't remember it at the moment). In that case, the sympathetic trunks are destroyed in an attempt to alleviate symptoms, with variable success.
I've never heard of anyone getting a nerve ablation for simple dyshidrosis, unless it were part of a larger syndrome... personally, I'd have to be miserable almost to the point of insanity before I'd agree to that procedure.
and a tribute to one very basic principle of teaching and/or lecturing: know your audience.
If you don't teach to them on their level, you'll simply piss them off (either by dumbing it down too much, or by cultivating a sneer and treating them like idiots). I applaud your efforts to understand what your audience truly wants... so many teachers and lecturers either don't care, or have so much ego that it simply fails to occur to them that THEY need to adapt to their audience.
In the vein you mentioned, however... how about a tutorial on the wonders of travel-info sites? URLs like
Mapquest
Cheap tickets
Orbitz
would be good starting points... make the web useful for travelers! (Note: I don't work, directly or indirectly, for ANY of the above organizations or sites)
Dress codes can actually hurt you, particularly if put in place by folks who are more concerned about form than function.
For instance, I never, ever wear a tie at work, because it's hazardous to my health, and that of others... let me explain. Working in emergency services puts me in contact with all sorts of antisocial, psychotic, and generally dangerous characters. Ever look at a tied necktie and say to yourself "hmmm... that looks kind of like a noose..." Well, you're right, it does. It also ACTS like a noose if a psychiatric patient is trying to strangle you. ER staff get assaulted all the time (a colleague of mine was tackled by a psychotic psych patient and got a detached retina for her trouble... not fun going blind in one eye), and you have to be careful not to give your attacker any ready weapons (kind of like in jail).
I have seen ERs that forbid scrubs, and instead require shirt and tie for their docs... I'm sorry, but I have a problem with that. Not only do I hate trying to get blood and vomit out of my good shirts, but I'm not going to wear a noose to work. Even if it's a clip-on, it can dangle into (and contaminate) a sterile field.
It's not all window dressing and appearances... function has to take precedence.
this criticism from a guy named "larry bagina?"
/.
Too funny. Only on
of whether diabetes is hereditary is yes (and no).
Type 1 (or juvenile) diabetes may or may not be genetic in all cases. It was thought for years that type 1 diabetes was sporadic... until some familial clusters were identified, and some related genes located.
Type 2 (or adult) diabetes is almost certainly genetic in a large number of cases, particularly as it relates to "syndrome X," a constellation of high blood pressure, high cholesterol/lipids, diabetes, and insulin resistance. If you want a cocktail that increases your risk for coronary artery disease, cigarette smoking aside, you couldn't ask for a worse mix than the above. It does seem, however, that people with these genes express the syndrome more acutely when they become overweight (weight loss often ameliorates these conditions).
Darwin has been largely supplanted these days, but to be fair, our environment is radically different, with different selection pressures. Everyone has genetic defects, but they may still contribute in a valuable way to society and the human race. Alcoholism may be linked to genetics in some cases, but we would certainly be poorer without the Hemingways, Fitzgeralds, etc.
If you were in class with some of the pre-med gunners, you wouldn't be wasting your time chatting... you'd be watching your logs like a hawk for the hack attempts from your classmates, trying to delete your lecture notes.
I don't know how it is these days, but back when I was in the pipeline, half of all qualified med school applicants just plain didn't get in. The fierce competition really turned some people into boneheads.
I don't know about you, but before I became a terminally-degreed professional, I had a lot of nasty jobs.
I was a janitor (yeah, cleaning up other people's shit, not even figuratively, LITERALLY).
I worked in a warehouse as a box-throwing monkey (teamsters, baby).
I worked retail sales.
I even worked (this was my low point) as a telemarketing phone-bank guy.
Everybody has to start somewhere... sometimes it's exactly because of that shitty, nasty job that people decide to better themselves.
I personally think that one of the best measures of a man is how he treats those who he perceives as his inferiors. Don't be too hard on that Taco-Bell guy; if you sit on your laurels and don't keep working to better yourself, you might find yourself working for that guy.
Someone already said it: watch out for the impact of running. If you want to start out running, use a treadmill (it absorbs some of the shock), and GET GOOD SHOES. Running on the road might be considered an endpoint by itself (if the original poster is doing 70 miles a week, he is a professional runner... much of his advice may or may not apply to you for quite some time).
If you are not built like a runner (I happen to be, and run 15 miles per week to stay in shape), you should be careful you don't overdo it when you start out. If you're already heavy, running might not be a good exercise, at least until you shed a few pounds.
Low-impact exercises like biking, swimming, stairmaster (crank one of those up; it will take EVERYTHING you've got to give), or some kind of eliptical machine... those would be good start-out choices until you thin down. Once you are thinned down, running would be a good way to maintian weight.
Always remember that most osteo-arthritis (distinct from rheumatoid, psoriatic, and a few other sub-types) is a wear-and-tear phenomenon, and repeated injury will predispose you to earlier arthritis at a younger age. Incidently, that macho no-pain-no-gain stuff is bullshit; one of the great secrets to maintaining a long-term exercise program as a lifestyle change is avoiding injury. (taking weeks off to heal a bad sprain, or a YEAR off for an ACL tear could effectively kill your exercise program).
Just my thoughts. Get in shape, and you'll never regret it... You'd shudder if you saw all the problems life-long obesity can bring you. BTW, IAAD (I am a Doctor).
I was going to let your shot at my supposed age and naivete go by... but what the hell, I've got nothing better to do.
If I am receiving a service from someone, then I have absolutely NO PROBLEM throwing them a few bones. Did they provide a few iso's to me? Yes? Then I'm willing to provide some cash in return for their bandwidth and time. If you can't, then fine... the redhat police aren't going to come knocking at your door... but if you have the money, and just refuse to part with it, while at the same time using someone else's work, well... there's a name for that.
If you have too many bills and no job, then I'd suggest you adapt... like taking some of the money you are using to host "the nation's largest collection of free porn" and instead use it to go back to school, or buy a cheeseburger. If you've got no job/money, then you're not in a position to give... totally understandable.
I am NOT referring to people who have no money. If you're broke, and living hand-to-mouth, then you've got more important things to worry about than redhat distros. The people I'm talking about are those who only want to take, and never give anything back, even when they're in a position to do so.
Yes, I'm talking about community. I'm a believer in volunteerism, and I try to practice what I preach. It doesn't make me a better person... just a more satisfied one.
700$ seem expensive, but if you get the top-o-the-line zaurus and throw in a WLAN card, you get about the same price. However, this thing has a bigger screen, and it sounds like the sony may have much better battery life.
Marketing claims, however, aren't... we'll see when it gets independently reviewed.
Proprietary processor though... Hmmm... that might be a red flag.
Indeed.
/.'rs, but I'll be looking for that "donate" button on Redhat's download page. If you've the means, I suggest you do likewise.
I also purchase boxed sets of linux, and have for several years. I may or may not use them for very long (latest iso's get downloaded, checked out, and often installed... I can't count how many linux CDs I have laying around), but I believe in supporting the distros.
I use redhat primarily, but I'm also a MandrakeClub member, and I believe in supporting people who provide a valuable service. Now, college students living on Ramen noodles may not have the cash in their paypal account to do this, but as a professional with a respectable income, I feel an obligation to pony up. Bottom line: if you've got the cash, you have no excuse.
That said, I'm sometimes amazed at how many people are leechers and have no problem with it... where's their pride? Their sense of shame? When did it become OK to simply be a drone?
I don't know about most
Makes sense to a degree... don't you have more fun when you have a powerful character that can roam the land freely? One who doesn't have to fear the first bunch of orcs they run across?
If people want to purchase a pre-leveled character and skip the grunt work (let's be honest... you're just doing it to get a higher-level character and the fun/freedom that comes with that character), then why not?
Personally, my time is valuable... I'd be a bloody fool to spend hours scraping up experience points in an online world. If there's someone who has more time on their hands, and they are willing to sell it that cheaply, then bully for them. If I am willing to spend real world dollars for their time, then good on me.
Enjoyment comes in all shapes and sizes... if someone wants to spend dollars for it, then somebody will fill that market.
I wouldn't do it... those kind of online games are not my thing. However, I can see there from here. Yes, I know money theoretically shouldn't provide an advantage, but all online worlds have to have SOME resemblance to the real world in them... this is perfect. What real-world element could be more appropriate than this "golden rule?" (ie. the one with the gold makes the rules)
Why could they not make it platform independent?... sheesh... it's not like you can't get a C-compiler for just about any platform ever made. Somebody more elite in the security department care to enlighten me about a legitimate reason for choosing a single platform? Anyone?
I RTFA, but didn't see anything about open source code... they can't seriously be relying on security through obscurity...
SOMEBODY needs to audit this, and I'm not talking about a secret "trust-us-it's-good" non-independent audit.
Unlike his wife, who still practices medicine, Dean appears to be a politico from square one, not a doctor who just happened to drift into politics... there's a big difference. Ever wonder why a lot of physicians DON'T belong to the AMA? There are several reasons, one of which is this: it's often viewed as staffed by politicos more interested in their issues and pet political crusades than medicine. I dearly hope Dean doesn't trade on his "medical credentials" too much... a lot of other physicians colleagues I work with aren't impressed by his resume.
When you look at howard dean's resume, he practiced full-time out in the real world (with a partner) for exactly ONE YEAR (I'm not counting his three years of internal medicine residency). He even worked on Jimmy Carter's campaign as a second-year resident, and joined the Vermont legislature when he was a year out of residency.
Even aside from his sparse real-world experience, I have mixed feelings about his health care views. Having practiced in a Universal Coverage arena (the military) and in the Real World (private practice), I see some kind of economic triage as a very Good Thing(TM). It doesn't have to be large... a copay of just five bucks would do wonders to curb unnecessary abuse-of-the-system physician visits... and don't give me that "some people can't afford five dollars" line... not smoking for two days would easily cover a doctor visit. It's a matter of priorities; I have patients who go to the doctor for anything and everything (colds, hangnails, rashes they've had for a year), particularly when they've never paid a dime, and never will. It's a bad idea to completely hide the cost of medicine from people. If you think health care is expensive NOW, just wait until it's free.
The idea that we can do everything for everyone in the healthcare arena is a fallacy. There's not enough money or resources, and that's the bottom line. Unless, of course, you want an insane income tax rate, and a bloated federal agency to administer it all... You can game the numbers all you want, but at some point, it WILL come down to rationing if you go with a single-payer, univeral coverage model. Dean even mentions "univeral coverage" and "fiscally responsible" in the same sentence on his website... bold words.
Besides, some people choose to go without insurance for a time... I'm one of them. That's right... I'm a doctor, and I currently have NO health insurance, so I'm included in that "60 million" people who reportedly desperately need legislative help. Be suspicious of such numbers... they don't tell the whole story.
Dean also wants to expand medicare and medicaid to cover more people. Well... that's great... but the government has already slashed physician reimbursements to the bone (and beyond) in those programs, to the point that it costs some doctors more to file medicaid claims than it does to simply see the patient FOR FREE and write it off.
Even though he's technically a "colleague," I view Dean with the suspicion I reserve only for a politician, because that's exactly what he is.
You're confusing personality disorders with the a particular definition of anti-social behavior
Heh... I didn't feel confused...
I think you may have misunderstood my point. I wasn't implying that geeks who play video games have personality disorders, and I certainly wasn't validating some societal more that video gaming is abnormal and/or dysfunctional. Not that I necessarily have theraputic distance on this issue, being a life-long recreational gamer myself (since the Atari days).
I am not a psychiatrist, but I am a physician who deals frequently with psychotic patients (emergency services). There is a world of difference between someone with a bit of schizotypal trait, and a full blown antisocial or histrionic. Frankly, I'd MUCH rather deal with the former, since schizotypal-leaning folks tend to be nice people, and don't assault you nearly as much as the latter two types.
I quite agree that society will occasionally brand (at least in the throw-away media) a person's behavior as "weird" or "abnormal," whether that behavior causes a problem or not.
You can rest assured that the professional literature is a bit less hysterical about so-called "abnormal" activities than CNN. Those of us who deal with true, florrid mental illness do NOT worry about a guy who simply plays a few video games, and doesn't host a neighborhood barbeque every week.
By educating them, you are HELPING them.
When you are trying to help a company with a tech solution, you probably try to educate them, so that they can pick the appropriate hardware/software for what they are doing.
By the same token, I try to educate my patients so that they can make appropriate decisions about their own healthcare. They are the ones who bear the ultimate consequences of any medical decision... I'd rather they make an informed decision. Now, some people will say "you decide for me, doc." and that's fine... but I still educate them as thoroughly as possible about risks and benefits.
That's what informed consent is really all about... education.
Physicians, of which I am one, MUST be able to explain things in layman's terms. When it comes down to it, health care decisions are made by the patient, so it is incumbent upon us to educate them to the best of our ability. Doctor comes from the Latin word Docere, which means "to teach"... and so teach we must.
One of the most common complaints among patients is that their doctor doesn't talk to them, or doesn't explain things to them. Personally, I like patients who are educated about their own health and disease process... it makes my job infinitely easier. It's much simpler to have a risks-and-benefits discussion with someone who knows what you're talking about, compared to someone for whom you must break everything down.
I NEVER talk to a patient about alleles, or cytochrome p-450 induction, or receptor up-regulation... they'd think I was some kind of space alien. When patients are upset, or feel they've been mistreated or talked-down-to, they sue... even if your medical care was totally above-board.
I try to make everyone happy, and am mostly successful, but in Emergency Services, I'm often shackled by time constraints. That said, if I have to cut short an explanation to attend to a critical patient, I ensure the patient knows why I'm being pulled away... most people are quite understanding when they know the circumstances.
There's nothing wrong with being a lone wolf... as long as it doesn't go too far.
Lots of people have personality traits of one type or another... it is only when it interferes with functioning (ie. leads to arrest, health problems, etc) that it becomes classified as a frank disorder. Personality disorders are considered Axis-II in the DSM-IV manual of psychiatric disorders. (axis I disorders would be schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc).
For a fair list of personality disorders and some of their characteristics, check this link: info about personality disorders
Probably lots of geeks have traits of schizoid or schizotypal personalities, and maintain high-functioning, productive careers. By definition, these individuals do not have a personality disorder... only a trait or tendency.
I'd bet few geeks truly have outright antisocial personality disorder (Check out the antisocial link)... doesn't sound like too many geeks I know. It stands to reason that most geeks are smart enough to figure out that getting your ass kicked and getting arrested sucks. Ergo, most geeks are probably not "antisocials" in the true sense of the word... either that, or they learn to sublimate those impulses into other activities.
Disorder is all a question of how big a problem your personality is causing you. If there's no problem (apart from a slightly misanthropic attitude), there's no disorder.
I disagree, but only slightly.
These guys not only protect from poor manufacturering... they're also in the idiot-proofing business.
Manufacturers these days have to take into account nearly every stupid, "hey guys, watch this!" scenario that anyone can do with a product.... and either improve it, or add a warning label (much of this is driven, of course, by our litigious society, and a cadre of personal injury lawyers happy to help).
As an example, I just got a little fire-truck, sit and scoot/walker thingie for my young son. It came with a bunch of stickers you could apply to it... but by far the largest sticker (already applied by the manufacturer) was the enormous trilingual warning label on the back. Man, was I relieved! After all, without that label I might have let him run the thing off the top of the steps or something. I can take a paternalistic lecture from somebody so Uber-1337 in their field that I have no chance of ever understanding it or reaching their level of expertise... but I wish they'd save the common sense hand-holding advice. Most people resent being treated like idiots, so I don't think I'm beyond the pale on this one.
These guys help the manufacturers... but they also help protect joe citizen who puts waaaay too damn many devices on the power strip (Hmmm... nobody HERE would be guilty of that, would they?)
Laptops are useful for all kinds of things, even older laptops... my most-used linux box is an old laptop. Check Ebay... older, quite functional laptops can be had for very reasonable money.
Laptops make nifty consoles for your home server rack (you DO have a rack of computers in your house, don't you?).
They make good terminals (I've seen them used for LTSP applications). I've a plan to use a couple of these booted from flash-disk as terminals at home. One in the kitchen, one in the guest room, one in the garage...
Faster laptops can even play games... not high-end FPS, but counterstrike runs quite well on pretty wimpy hardware, including older laptops.
Portability is important... not everyone wants to lug their "LAN party" box around with them.
Don't they realize that this makes their trademark MORE commonly known, and probably increases their sales?
Now honestly, apart from college students (and most of them probably prefer Ramen noodles), who actually eats spam regularly? Don't they realize that people might hear the term, see their can on the grocery store shelf and think "oh, so that's what it was named for... wonder what it tastes like?"
You'd think they'd appreciate the free publicity.
This is computer cracking/fraud at its seedy worst.
Are these the jokers responsible for the Pornographic spam and Mail-order brides dreck that fills up my inbox? And they are using hacked commercial webservers as relay points for this cruft?
Anyone who assists these guys is guilty of multiple computer crimes, at least as an accessory if nothing else (unless they are in a country that HAS no such laws, or doesn't honor extradition requests from foreign nations). Nobody can claim this is innocent "hacking" for education, curiousity, or "helping out" the victim by showing them what holes they have... this is outright exploitation of someone else's property, equipment, bandwidth, etc for your own financial gain, via spam, no less.
This is fraud, any way you slice it... somebody needs to go to jail.