How would a union help Google workers in the Bay area? If they tried a collective bargaining approach with Google, you can bet the company would just start to staff up facilities in "right to work" states where the cost of living is lower and they can pay less. Then all the guys living in pickup trucks would simply drive their little hovels to where ever and clear even more cash per month.
Ok, Perhaps not, but the subject of the article behind this makes it clear that he was able to save 90% of his pay, paid down his student loans and had enough money to buy a house after 3 years. Seems he's making quite enough to live on, he's just choosing an extremely low cost lifestyle so he can pay off debts and save up for a house. Many older folks would be well advised to learn from his example of lower living standards leading to debt reduction and enables us to have better things in the long term.
Remember the goal here is to reduce the impact of liability suits, specifically for medical malpractice or medical device liability.
No solution is perfect, but the "Looser pays" concept comes at zero cost to the general public, does discourage lawsuits at the right end of the spectrum from being filed, but doesn't really deal a death blow to the existing process like liability and punitive damage caps would.
In your case, it would give YOU pause in filing the lawsuit, to be sure, but if it means enough to you, it doesn't stop you from marching down to the courthouse and filing, it just increases your risk should you loose.
BTW... IMHO, unless your neighbor is firing his weapons at all hours of the day and night (mostly the night) I don't think you have a case on the nuisance idea in the deed restrictions. You might have a case if they are firing all night or shooting skeet in a direction where the shot is falling all over your property or some kind of direct thing that causes you problems. Just legally discharging firearms during the day, while possibly annoying to you, does not constitute a nuisance. The smell of raising pigs or collecting junk cars would be a better case. As you point out, you are likely to loose, so save your money and stop paying the lawyers and spend your time looking for another place. Or if you don't want to move, buy some ear plugs and start sound proofing your home.. OR set up your own shooting range and make it a point of doing your shooting in the cool of the mornings on the weekends or when ever you perceive they are home and trying to sleep and it's light out. Or, all kidding aside, offer to settle your case if they agree to restrict their shooting to specific hours on specific days when you are home.
Going to places specifically for the purpose of trying to meet a woman is a really bad idea. I'm not convinced there is science behind that. It is kinda creepy in general, unless you're exceptionally charismatic.
Oh pish Posh! Almost anybody can talk to somebody if you try. Don't sell yourself short either, you may not be as charismatic as the other guy, but you can have interesting and engaging conversations in your own way if you learn how and try.
The "dating method" depends on *practicing* talking to women as much as possible so this activity becomes as comfortable as possible. Successful relationships are more likely when both parties are comfortable when participating in it. So practice.
Sitting on the couch in Mom's basement isn't going to get you dating. So get up, get out and get some practice talking to different people and at this relationship thing in real life...
Book stores, coffee shops, concerts, local parks and even night clubs have been successful places in the past.
Also: dog parks, yoga classes, horse riding lessons.
These do NOT work: Chess/Go tournaments, model railroading conventions, civil war re-enactments.
Going to a Dog Park can work, but it's best to take a small dog along so that might not be possible.
Yoga classes/Fitness centers, swimming pools, the beach etc. are generally NOT a good idea unless you are in reasonable shape and can keep your eyes to yourself. Leering at women generally makes them uncomfortable with you, which is a huge no-no for the successful dating experience.
Horse riding lessons, assuming you have an interest, can be workable, but can be expensive in some areas if available or require traveling long distances to find.
Chess/Go tournaments can work, but this is a low probability. Talking is generally not wanted or allowed during games and the method described above requires practicing conversation. This is similar to the problems with classical concerts, dance concerts, movies, and opera. Similarly DON'T go to video game and poker tournaments where you expect to play.
Model RR conventions and Civil War re-enactments generally don't attract eligible women, however if one needs practice getting out of the house and engaging in social conversations, they may be good places to practice your conversational skills in a non threatening environment. Spend your time talking to the older gentlemen and asking them for advice about meeting women. The stories may be interesting and instructive plus you may be granted contact with a grand daughter if they like you enough.
They'd get an expert witness, you'd get whatever you could Google...
Five minutes isn't enough time to bring in an expert witness.
The doctor you where suing IS an expert witness, so if a question came up about a medical choice they made, they'd be the expert. Or do you make a habit of not seeing doctors who are board certified and licensed? If this doctor says, "Well, in this case my choice of treatment was in the best interests of the patient, it was reasonable and customary for the condition being treated. I informed the patient (you) of the possible complications and was directed to proceed as this "Authorization to treat" form, signed by the patient (you) indicates. Other options where discussed, this is what the patient decided to do."
There won't be much you can say after that, without having your own expert testimony, board certified, licensed physician to show how what the defendant is saying isn't true. You can bet the Judge won't know anything but the law and an impartial judge cannot decide a case on facts not presented during the trial...
Now, if you want to allow for a summary judgment by an impartial panel of DOCTORS who review the medical records and the complainant's case and determine if the case has some kind of medical substance and isn't just a lawyer's pipe dream, I'd go for that. But I seriously doubt it's going to do all that much to weed out the "hail Mary" legal plays by desperate personal injury lawyers looking for any kind of payday they can get.
Try personal grooming, clean clothes and getting out of your mother's basement from time to time...
Points are made for each successful conversation. For bonus points, don't live with your parent(s), have a paying job, be polite, smile and make eye contact during any attempted interaction. With enough points you may be rewarded with subsequent dating activity.
However, be warned that some have found that "Dating" if done long enough, often leads to the "Wife" condition which is often accompanied by the complication "Children" which causes decades of sleepless nights and is hugely expensive to treat. If you can avoid the devastation of "divorce", successfully treating the "Children" condition takes just over 2 decades but leads to the "Empty nest" which gives you something to do once you retire and can even provide you with long term satisfaction and even possibly keep you out of the nursing home as you get older.
Are you sure you want to do this? The risks are many, but the rewards can be great in the long term.
Sure... First step is to take a shower, shave and brush your teeth and hair. Dress in reasonably stylish clothes. Then you ascend the stairs in the early evening and depart your mother's house for some social event where members of the opposite sex who are single tend to congregate in their free time. Book stores, coffee shops, concerts, local parks and even night clubs have been successful places in the past.
The *method* is to smile, make eye contact and engage in playful if not meaningful conversation about her as much as you can. Never be rude. Ask her interesting questions. Don't avoid talking about yourself when asked, but keep each answer short and concise then follow up with question about her. If you find that conversation is progressing you can ask if she'd like a drink or something to eat and if so if she'd let you purchase it for her. Proceed from there for as long as you wish and she is interested in you and is willing for you to proceed. When the conversation must end for what ever reason, if you are interested in having another talk at a later time, indicate this by saying something like "It was really nice talking with you. I'd like to do this again sometime, would you?" If she says "yes" then ask her on a date. If she says "no" then ask "What would be a good day for you?" If she says "I don't know" then ask if you can call her later. If she says "Sure" then ask for her phone number while you write yours down for her. If she says "I don't think so" say well, I'll be (insert some other social event or date/time) and I'd love to see you if you are around."
There are a number of scientific dating methods, but the ones that generally work involve not being rude, maintaining a minimum socially acceptable grooming regime, and not being afraid to TALK politely to others IN PERSON. I know it's scary to cross the street on your own, but you want to leave mom at home....
I'm not so sure it would curtail all that many cases with obvious merit. The judgments would still be potentially big and if there was enough merit in the case the draw would be strong to get to trial. What would happen is lawyers would be more selective about the cases they took on contingency and those they didn't. If you have a good case, they will take you, but if your case is not that good, they might be more apt to not take the chance on you. If you want to pay up front and assume the risks, they will be happy to take you. Nobody is prevented from taking a case to court if that's what they want to do.
As it stands now, lawyers are out looking for that big class action, accident, or product liability case they can retire on. That one where they can get a huge settlement, skim off their 2/3rds of the award and walk away with enough money to retire. I know few actually manage to do this, but if you are a lawyer struggling to make ends meet in private practice, filing the case is cheap and your time is free so why not? If you can make a quick settlement for a few thousand dollars, it's easy money. If the case is good and the defendant has lots of money, your chances of turning a quick buck can be pretty good. Or do you think the personal injury, ambulance chasers do it for the thrills? Or that they advertise on local TV during the day as a public service?
5 min summary judgments In a malpractice suit? I don't think so. Medical malpractice is a bit more complicated than your average person could argue, and you would be trying to argue with a doctor with a degree, license and experience. They'd get an expert witness, you'd get whatever you could Google... That you had a bad outcome from a medical procedure is NOT evidence enough that the Doctor is responsible, so I'd expect the doctor to win every time at summary judgment.
And you where complaining about "loser pay" being unfair... Shesh..
BTW, Loser pays is what they do in the UK and *most* of Europe. They have a lot less of a problem with stupid civil cases clogging up their courts. It may not be a perfect solution, but it does work... What doesn't work is the politics of the issue because this would make the legal profession a whole lot less necessary on this side of the pond and given the affinity for lawyers and politicians, I seriously doubt one would put the other out of a job.... Either way.
Look, that McAfee even thinks and acts like he has a chance makes him as nuts as the bulk of the fringe crazies who sign up as a presidential contender. Everybody knows that it will boil down to two major candidates from the two major parties, nobody else matters except in how many votes they can suck off the two major contenders. McAfee won't get more votes than I can count on my fingers and toes from people who are actually wanting him to be president. He's crazy.
But McAfee has a long sorted history of crazy behavior so why shouldn't this be any different? My guess is he's just enjoying the publicity this all gets him and that's about all he really wants, unless he really is crazy...
Maybe if we design our system so it's not so hard to apologize when a doctor makes a mistake that would help...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...
McAfee is nuts.... There is no way 75% is even close.
He's also nuts on the solution to the problem....
The solution to this problem is "Looser pays legal fees". Right now, everybody pays their own legal fees, unless you sue for your legal costs and win. This should be "Looser pays" which means if you file a lawsuit and loose for any reason (judge dismisses it or you loose in court) you pay everybody's legal fees. This will make it much more dangerous for lawyers to gin up a possible case, sue Big Daddy War bucks with deep pockets and hope that something sticks and cut down on the border line frivolous suits.
Gambling is stupid. Anyone who gambles is already being ripped off.
Especially in Illinois where because the state hasn't passed a budget, any lottery winners of over $600 cannot be paid.... People are STILL playing the game though... Gota love those people who are born every min...
Look, like it or not, *some* of these players do it professionally. They get PAID to play the games and if they get banned it means the loss of their jobs. They will have to go out and find new work now. What kind of work do you think they can get with experience like this?
This is like a professional sports player getting caught rigging games and getting tossed out of their sport, only in these cases, playing video games doesn't pay all that well and it's doubtful they have enough saved up to live on for very long. You don't have to feel sad for them, but, hey... It's going to be a real shock for some of them having to find real work...
If you are worried about their security, then I don't disagree with you, be careful about what your phone knows about you and use the dumbest phone you can manage. However, it might just be good enough to keep separate identities out there by inventing an alias for yourself like I do. I change some important facts by mixing up stuff between the three people who I know who share my exact name. (And as far as I know, we are they ONLY ones with this name because it's pretty unique.) It is more dangerous for me than most, given that there are only three possible ID's here, but if you have a more common name, doing something like this will be nearly a guarantee that ID thieves will pick somebody else who's being stupid about it..
If you want to be paranoid, feel free to disconnect... I don't think that it's necessary if you are careful, but hey, up to you.
Then as I have said before, consider such "discoveries" to be natural consequences of your choices and stop worrying about it. If you insist on doing stuff that others might judge you for I have no problem with it, in so far as 1. You don't lead people to believe differently about you and 2. You don't claim that your freedoms are infringed should there be negative impacts on you when others find out. I.E. If you are willing to accept any natural consequences w/o complaint and don't have an internal struggle with yourself over the ethics/morals of your choices, do what you think is right.
Every VEC I have been involved with recently charged $15 (ARRL and W5YI) and I knew that the testing fees had once been regulated by the FCC so I assumed they still where. I didn't realize they changed the rules... Thanks for the information.
Fossil fueled Generators.. They use JP-8 which is a military version of Jet 1-A with a lower freezing temperature. JP-8 fueled turbine generators generate electricity. I'm guessing they burn it directly for heat too. The JP-8 is delivered during the "summer" months both over land and by air if necessary though flying fuel in is pretty expensive.
The current test fee for Armature Radio tests administered by a VEC is EXACTLY $15. Not a penny more or less is allowed. For this fee you are allowed to take as many of the 3 written tests elements in order starting with Element 2 (technician) as you wish to try and can successfully pass. So, if you want to study enough, you could conceivably take and pass all three in one setting. When I went for my General class test and passed, I took the Extra on the chance and happened to pass it so I suggest everybody try the next element when you can.
BTW... For those who don't know it.... ALL the questions you will see on these tests are selected from Question Pools which are published along with the correct answers. It's easy to study for these tests and there are a multitude of freely available websites and smartphone aps to help you. Go for it!
Is it too hard for them to actually go out and do the one thing they unquestionably have the authority to do?.
The FCC has been ramping down Enforcement because it has been spending it's cash on *other* things. They have closed the majority of field offices where monitoring personnel used to work, eliminated the jobs which used to be located there, and cut the enforcement division's staff in DC. It is so bad that it took over a decade to yank the license of a misbehaving amateur radio operator in Maine they had dead to rights on multiple and repeated violations. Heaven only knows if they will ever collect the fines from this nut, or actually get him off the air even though he's now unlicensed. They just don't have the staff.
So they used to do what you suggest regularly, but now they don't have the people or the equipment necessary to do what you think they can or should.
I would expect that they simply used some GNU licensed GUI and not go to all the trouble of rolling their own, but Silicon Dust doesn't seem to be talking too much about this yet.
Slashdot Mirror
How would a union help Google workers in the Bay area? If they tried a collective bargaining approach with Google, you can bet the company would just start to staff up facilities in "right to work" states where the cost of living is lower and they can pay less. Then all the guys living in pickup trucks would simply drive their little hovels to where ever and clear even more cash per month.
Ok, Perhaps not, but the subject of the article behind this makes it clear that he was able to save 90% of his pay, paid down his student loans and had enough money to buy a house after 3 years. Seems he's making quite enough to live on, he's just choosing an extremely low cost lifestyle so he can pay off debts and save up for a house. Many older folks would be well advised to learn from his example of lower living standards leading to debt reduction and enables us to have better things in the long term.
Improbable anybody would do it..
Remember the goal here is to reduce the impact of liability suits, specifically for medical malpractice or medical device liability.
No solution is perfect, but the "Looser pays" concept comes at zero cost to the general public, does discourage lawsuits at the right end of the spectrum from being filed, but doesn't really deal a death blow to the existing process like liability and punitive damage caps would.
In your case, it would give YOU pause in filing the lawsuit, to be sure, but if it means enough to you, it doesn't stop you from marching down to the courthouse and filing, it just increases your risk should you loose.
BTW... IMHO, unless your neighbor is firing his weapons at all hours of the day and night (mostly the night) I don't think you have a case on the nuisance idea in the deed restrictions. You might have a case if they are firing all night or shooting skeet in a direction where the shot is falling all over your property or some kind of direct thing that causes you problems. Just legally discharging firearms during the day, while possibly annoying to you, does not constitute a nuisance. The smell of raising pigs or collecting junk cars would be a better case. As you point out, you are likely to loose, so save your money and stop paying the lawyers and spend your time looking for another place. Or if you don't want to move, buy some ear plugs and start sound proofing your home.. OR set up your own shooting range and make it a point of doing your shooting in the cool of the mornings on the weekends or when ever you perceive they are home and trying to sleep and it's light out. Or, all kidding aside, offer to settle your case if they agree to restrict their shooting to specific hours on specific days when you are home.
Going to places specifically for the purpose of trying to meet a woman is a really bad idea. I'm not convinced there is science behind that. It is kinda creepy in general, unless you're exceptionally charismatic.
Oh pish Posh! Almost anybody can talk to somebody if you try. Don't sell yourself short either, you may not be as charismatic as the other guy, but you can have interesting and engaging conversations in your own way if you learn how and try.
The "dating method" depends on *practicing* talking to women as much as possible so this activity becomes as comfortable as possible. Successful relationships are more likely when both parties are comfortable when participating in it. So practice.
Sitting on the couch in Mom's basement isn't going to get you dating. So get up, get out and get some practice talking to different people and at this relationship thing in real life...
Book stores, coffee shops, concerts, local parks and even night clubs have been successful places in the past.
Also: dog parks, yoga classes, horse riding lessons.
These do NOT work: Chess/Go tournaments, model railroading conventions, civil war re-enactments.
Going to a Dog Park can work, but it's best to take a small dog along so that might not be possible.
Yoga classes/Fitness centers, swimming pools, the beach etc. are generally NOT a good idea unless you are in reasonable shape and can keep your eyes to yourself. Leering at women generally makes them uncomfortable with you, which is a huge no-no for the successful dating experience.
Horse riding lessons, assuming you have an interest, can be workable, but can be expensive in some areas if available or require traveling long distances to find.
Chess/Go tournaments can work, but this is a low probability. Talking is generally not wanted or allowed during games and the method described above requires practicing conversation. This is similar to the problems with classical concerts, dance concerts, movies, and opera. Similarly DON'T go to video game and poker tournaments where you expect to play.
Model RR conventions and Civil War re-enactments generally don't attract eligible women, however if one needs practice getting out of the house and engaging in social conversations, they may be good places to practice your conversational skills in a non threatening environment. Spend your time talking to the older gentlemen and asking them for advice about meeting women. The stories may be interesting and instructive plus you may be granted contact with a grand daughter if they like you enough.
They'd get an expert witness, you'd get whatever you could Google...
Five minutes isn't enough time to bring in an expert witness.
The doctor you where suing IS an expert witness, so if a question came up about a medical choice they made, they'd be the expert. Or do you make a habit of not seeing doctors who are board certified and licensed? If this doctor says, "Well, in this case my choice of treatment was in the best interests of the patient, it was reasonable and customary for the condition being treated. I informed the patient (you) of the possible complications and was directed to proceed as this "Authorization to treat" form, signed by the patient (you) indicates. Other options where discussed, this is what the patient decided to do."
There won't be much you can say after that, without having your own expert testimony, board certified, licensed physician to show how what the defendant is saying isn't true. You can bet the Judge won't know anything but the law and an impartial judge cannot decide a case on facts not presented during the trial...
Now, if you want to allow for a summary judgment by an impartial panel of DOCTORS who review the medical records and the complainant's case and determine if the case has some kind of medical substance and isn't just a lawyer's pipe dream, I'd go for that. But I seriously doubt it's going to do all that much to weed out the "hail Mary" legal plays by desperate personal injury lawyers looking for any kind of payday they can get.
I am NOT having a good word usage day. Please apply the following: s/sorted/Sordid/...
Try personal grooming, clean clothes and getting out of your mother's basement from time to time...
Points are made for each successful conversation. For bonus points, don't live with your parent(s), have a paying job, be polite, smile and make eye contact during any attempted interaction. With enough points you may be rewarded with subsequent dating activity.
However, be warned that some have found that "Dating" if done long enough, often leads to the "Wife" condition which is often accompanied by the complication "Children" which causes decades of sleepless nights and is hugely expensive to treat. If you can avoid the devastation of "divorce", successfully treating the "Children" condition takes just over 2 decades but leads to the "Empty nest" which gives you something to do once you retire and can even provide you with long term satisfaction and even possibly keep you out of the nursing home as you get older.
Are you sure you want to do this? The risks are many, but the rewards can be great in the long term.
Sure... First step is to take a shower, shave and brush your teeth and hair. Dress in reasonably stylish clothes. Then you ascend the stairs in the early evening and depart your mother's house for some social event where members of the opposite sex who are single tend to congregate in their free time. Book stores, coffee shops, concerts, local parks and even night clubs have been successful places in the past.
The *method* is to smile, make eye contact and engage in playful if not meaningful conversation about her as much as you can. Never be rude. Ask her interesting questions. Don't avoid talking about yourself when asked, but keep each answer short and concise then follow up with question about her. If you find that conversation is progressing you can ask if she'd like a drink or something to eat and if so if she'd let you purchase it for her. Proceed from there for as long as you wish and she is interested in you and is willing for you to proceed. When the conversation must end for what ever reason, if you are interested in having another talk at a later time, indicate this by saying something like "It was really nice talking with you. I'd like to do this again sometime, would you?" If she says "yes" then ask her on a date. If she says "no" then ask "What would be a good day for you?" If she says "I don't know" then ask if you can call her later. If she says "Sure" then ask for her phone number while you write yours down for her. If she says "I don't think so" say well, I'll be (insert some other social event or date/time) and I'd love to see you if you are around."
There are a number of scientific dating methods, but the ones that generally work involve not being rude, maintaining a minimum socially acceptable grooming regime, and not being afraid to TALK politely to others IN PERSON. I know it's scary to cross the street on your own, but you want to leave mom at home....
Loser. I agree with your assessment, but... Loser.
Thank you... Sorry about the usage issues.... Not enough caffeine today..
I'm not so sure it would curtail all that many cases with obvious merit. The judgments would still be potentially big and if there was enough merit in the case the draw would be strong to get to trial. What would happen is lawyers would be more selective about the cases they took on contingency and those they didn't. If you have a good case, they will take you, but if your case is not that good, they might be more apt to not take the chance on you. If you want to pay up front and assume the risks, they will be happy to take you. Nobody is prevented from taking a case to court if that's what they want to do.
As it stands now, lawyers are out looking for that big class action, accident, or product liability case they can retire on. That one where they can get a huge settlement, skim off their 2/3rds of the award and walk away with enough money to retire. I know few actually manage to do this, but if you are a lawyer struggling to make ends meet in private practice, filing the case is cheap and your time is free so why not? If you can make a quick settlement for a few thousand dollars, it's easy money. If the case is good and the defendant has lots of money, your chances of turning a quick buck can be pretty good. Or do you think the personal injury, ambulance chasers do it for the thrills? Or that they advertise on local TV during the day as a public service?
5 min summary judgments In a malpractice suit? I don't think so. Medical malpractice is a bit more complicated than your average person could argue, and you would be trying to argue with a doctor with a degree, license and experience. They'd get an expert witness, you'd get whatever you could Google... That you had a bad outcome from a medical procedure is NOT evidence enough that the Doctor is responsible, so I'd expect the doctor to win every time at summary judgment.
And you where complaining about "loser pay" being unfair... Shesh..
BTW, Loser pays is what they do in the UK and *most* of Europe. They have a lot less of a problem with stupid civil cases clogging up their courts. It may not be a perfect solution, but it does work... What doesn't work is the politics of the issue because this would make the legal profession a whole lot less necessary on this side of the pond and given the affinity for lawyers and politicians, I seriously doubt one would put the other out of a job.... Either way.
Are you Crazy John?
Yep! You are.
Look, that McAfee even thinks and acts like he has a chance makes him as nuts as the bulk of the fringe crazies who sign up as a presidential contender. Everybody knows that it will boil down to two major candidates from the two major parties, nobody else matters except in how many votes they can suck off the two major contenders. McAfee won't get more votes than I can count on my fingers and toes from people who are actually wanting him to be president. He's crazy.
But McAfee has a long sorted history of crazy behavior so why shouldn't this be any different? My guess is he's just enjoying the publicity this all gets him and that's about all he really wants, unless he really is crazy...
>McAfee: Healthcare costs would be cut by 75% if medical malpractice lawsuits were outlawed or at least massively curtailed.
Or around 2.5% - http://health.usnews.com/healt...
Maybe if we design our system so it's not so hard to apologize when a doctor makes a mistake that would help... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...
McAfee is nuts.... There is no way 75% is even close.
He's also nuts on the solution to the problem....
The solution to this problem is "Looser pays legal fees". Right now, everybody pays their own legal fees, unless you sue for your legal costs and win. This should be "Looser pays" which means if you file a lawsuit and loose for any reason (judge dismisses it or you loose in court) you pay everybody's legal fees. This will make it much more dangerous for lawyers to gin up a possible case, sue Big Daddy War bucks with deep pockets and hope that something sticks and cut down on the border line frivolous suits.
Wanna bet?
Sure, but I get to hold the money..
Gambling is stupid. Anyone who gambles is already being ripped off.
Especially in Illinois where because the state hasn't passed a budget, any lottery winners of over $600 cannot be paid.... People are STILL playing the game though... Gota love those people who are born every min...
Don't be too sarcastic here..
Look, like it or not, *some* of these players do it professionally. They get PAID to play the games and if they get banned it means the loss of their jobs. They will have to go out and find new work now. What kind of work do you think they can get with experience like this?
This is like a professional sports player getting caught rigging games and getting tossed out of their sport, only in these cases, playing video games doesn't pay all that well and it's doubtful they have enough saved up to live on for very long. You don't have to feel sad for them, but, hey... It's going to be a real shock for some of them having to find real work...
If you are worried about their security, then I don't disagree with you, be careful about what your phone knows about you and use the dumbest phone you can manage. However, it might just be good enough to keep separate identities out there by inventing an alias for yourself like I do. I change some important facts by mixing up stuff between the three people who I know who share my exact name. (And as far as I know, we are they ONLY ones with this name because it's pretty unique.) It is more dangerous for me than most, given that there are only three possible ID's here, but if you have a more common name, doing something like this will be nearly a guarantee that ID thieves will pick somebody else who's being stupid about it..
If you want to be paranoid, feel free to disconnect... I don't think that it's necessary if you are careful, but hey, up to you.
Then as I have said before, consider such "discoveries" to be natural consequences of your choices and stop worrying about it. If you insist on doing stuff that others might judge you for I have no problem with it, in so far as 1. You don't lead people to believe differently about you and 2. You don't claim that your freedoms are infringed should there be negative impacts on you when others find out. I.E. If you are willing to accept any natural consequences w/o complaint and don't have an internal struggle with yourself over the ethics/morals of your choices, do what you think is right.
Every VEC I have been involved with recently charged $15 (ARRL and W5YI) and I knew that the testing fees had once been regulated by the FCC so I assumed they still where. I didn't realize they changed the rules... Thanks for the information.
Fossil fueled Generators.. They use JP-8 which is a military version of Jet 1-A with a lower freezing temperature. JP-8 fueled turbine generators generate electricity. I'm guessing they burn it directly for heat too. The JP-8 is delivered during the "summer" months both over land and by air if necessary though flying fuel in is pretty expensive.
Just a nit pick... But...
The current test fee for Armature Radio tests administered by a VEC is EXACTLY $15. Not a penny more or less is allowed. For this fee you are allowed to take as many of the 3 written tests elements in order starting with Element 2 (technician) as you wish to try and can successfully pass. So, if you want to study enough, you could conceivably take and pass all three in one setting. When I went for my General class test and passed, I took the Extra on the chance and happened to pass it so I suggest everybody try the next element when you can.
BTW... For those who don't know it.... ALL the questions you will see on these tests are selected from Question Pools which are published along with the correct answers. It's easy to study for these tests and there are a multitude of freely available websites and smartphone aps to help you. Go for it!
Is it too hard for them to actually go out and do the one thing they unquestionably have the authority to do? .
The FCC has been ramping down Enforcement because it has been spending it's cash on *other* things. They have closed the majority of field offices where monitoring personnel used to work, eliminated the jobs which used to be located there, and cut the enforcement division's staff in DC. It is so bad that it took over a decade to yank the license of a misbehaving amateur radio operator in Maine they had dead to rights on multiple and repeated violations. Heaven only knows if they will ever collect the fines from this nut, or actually get him off the air even though he's now unlicensed. They just don't have the staff.
So they used to do what you suggest regularly, but now they don't have the people or the equipment necessary to do what you think they can or should.
I would expect that they simply used some GNU licensed GUI and not go to all the trouble of rolling their own, but Silicon Dust doesn't seem to be talking too much about this yet.