I've always heard that the death penalty involves the automatic appeals process that goes all the way up to the Supreme Court, and costs two to three million dollars. So $40,000 - $60,000 a year works out to be cheaper in the long run. The debate on whether it is cheaper to warehouse killers vs, the lawyer/court costs seems to be neverending.
Well, as stated below, right now it is an unsubstantiated rumour that Orly Taitz is a lawyer for Prenda. Though who knows, since it seems Prenda's lawyers don't appear in court anyway.
These lawsuits are really affecting my decision to but a new iPhone. I just don't want to support such business practices. On the other hand the iPhone 5 is super shiny... decisions, decisions.
Confused about which smartphone OS to buy? Why not get both??
This is what happens when I try to multitask. You're right, I was thinking Baby Pac Man...
Heh, for shame, doc, please calmly wait right there for the/. police...
I only wish that that was the worst mistake I've made here.:-) I usually blame it on my secretary not showing up for the past few months, and if she doesn't show up by next week, I'll show her! (By not paying her anymore!)
This tech is a potentially a society changer. Eventually these glasses will come down in price, probably can be combined with on-the-go prescriptions, and different frames made for fashion sake. In other words, they're going to everywhere, and it will become impossible to know if and when you are being recorded/video uploaded. People are all going to have to learn to always be on their best behavior in public and private, or else they'll be risking losing their job, jail, their marital status. The future looks like it's going to be an interesting place.
POSTED BY Lucy Bradshaw ON Mar 8, 2013
A SimCity UpdateAnd Something For Your Trouble
Here’s a quick update on the problems we were experiencing with SimCity – and a little something extra for people who bought the game.
The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity. But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we’re working fast to address.
So what went wrong? The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.
OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it. In the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 percent. It’s working – the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically. The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 percent.
So we’re close to fixed, but not quite there. I’m hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.
Something Special for Your Trouble (see linked page at bottom of post)
The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets. The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game. But this SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can’t get a stable connection, you’re NOT having a good experience. So we’re not going to rest until we’ve fixed the remaining server issues.
And to get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game.
I know that’s a little contrived – kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy. But we feel bad about what happened. We’re hoping you won’t stay mad and that we’ll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.
SimCity is a GREAT game and the people who made it are incredibly proud. Hang in there – we’ll be providing more updates throughout the weekend.
For impressionable minds, GIGO applies, Garbage In, Garbage Out. To have a a young mind exposed to images of violence and expect that they aren't influenced by it would be a ridiculous arguement, imo.
Since google glasses stream, or instant upload, the video, the taking of any physical sd card won't matter much. Will seizure of your google online account laws be next?
- - -
May you live in interesting times. - Ancient Chinese curse
Foiled again, damn you, High dynamic range imaging! (shakes fist)
All right, that gaudy suit goes back into storage, for now... There is hope, I just saw a commercial where the cool kid exclaims, "And I hear that Disco's making a comeback!"
Interesting points you bring up, thank you. I'm sure anyone faced with certain death would choose the extra time at life.
While doing other, non slashdot things today, I got to thinking about taking the medical documents. Obviously the HMO did not want the P.R. nightmare that would have resulted from a prolonged public trial, and decided to 'cut their losses' by quickly settling out of the public eye. Now, perhaps they knew a crime was committed (assuming that it was a felony back then), what a real p.r. nightmare if they decided to arrest and attempt to prosecute a grieving young widow. The newspapers would've been all over that story with coverage every day of the trial! No, they must've had to realize the fallout would be far more costly to them. Everyone would have learned about it, the Streisand effect... before that happened, better for the HMO to just hush it all up. Makes one wonder how many other stories like this one have happened over the years.
And "falling back" in autumn usually happened just before Halloween. Lots of kids walking the roads in the dark were getting hit by cars due to this, especially in the beginning.
Get rid of DST, it was meant as an energy saving idea during the energy crisis of the 1970's, and never really accomplished its intended goal.
She actually had to go back to work after taking the time off to care for her husband, funeral, and her grieving process, wasn't easy for her, lots of asides from co-workers who used to be her friends.
As to the legality, IANAL, and that's how this story happened to play out. Although I personnally wouldn't have held it against her, admittedly, I am biased here. She's a wonderful woman, and I was around that apartment for the last few months to help out. Theirs was a true 'love story'. I saw the hell that couple went through, multiple sleepless nights, his pain from the cancer and bedsores the good brought out in some people, and the bad in some others. I have had no contact with those people for years.
Yep, does sound like a made for tv movie, though it happened for real, I was witness to much of the real life drama. Since it happened so long ago, I can look back on it all with hindsight and perspective. Crazy times. I learned a lot then, some about what real love is about, some about peoples greed. Human nature at its best and its worst all got displayed. And I was just there to help my friends out, and to get him to smile every day somehow, which I'm proud to say I did. Even on his last, worst day, I got a little smile out of him. Wouldn't trade those memories and experiences for the world.:-)
Coincidentally, my friend's wife happened to work in the records room of his HMO (it's name rhymes with 'gyp'), and snuck his medical records out. The widow received a large wrongful death settlement only because of her having physical possession of his records, else no one would have known the true cause of his provider's negligence.
That doesn't sound right. In New York State, and I think in every other state, a deceased patient's relatives have a right to get copies of the records. Apart from that right, if they're considering suing the hospital, a lawyer can demand copies of the records.
Allright, let's pretend you are in middle to upper middle management for a large healthcare provider circa 1990, and you also are lacking in morals, a "company man" type. Then, computers are still mostly the greenscreen type monitor, 'whistle-blowing' by employees is still a decade away from being acceptable behaviour, and paper records are the norm. There's also far less oversight by government. You are in a position to keep a potentially large lawsuit against your company from happening by going to the medical records room after hours and removing documents from the patient's folder. That's a quite feasible scenario, completely a work of fiction on my part, but plausible. Whether laws were or weren't in place at that time, it'd only be illegal if you got caught. Removing or losing a key x-ray from one file out of tens of thousands in a large record room? I could see this happening. There might be a nice under the table bonus given to that person. Would this have happened? I don't know, since as this story happened, my friend's wife (who worked in that records room for 15 years, btw) got to them first. Now I like to believe in the goodness and honesty in people and corporations as much as the next guy, but I'm not the babe in the woods I used to be.
True, sh+t happens, perhaps the radiologist in this case had a large caseload that day, or his morning coffee hadn't fully kicked in yet, as someone here suggested, who kniws. If my friend's wife hadn't spirited his records out from the records room, I'd bet any amount that the x-ray in question never would have surfaced. I can understand why doctors, who have a lot on their 'plate', would not want patients to have access to their records, there are a lot of misused lawsuits. It's a dual edged sword. Many lawsuits do have merit, and for health care to be trustable by the HMO's 'customers', patient records should be made available, IMO.
AC, you can call b.s. all you want, afaI am concerned. He died in '92, the HMO settled out of court rather. I watched my friend read the papers and nod as he read the legal paperwork, approximately a month before he passed. A clause in the settlement stated the widow could not speak publically about the case, and she was all fired up to go on the Geraldo show to tell her story, at the time.
My friend who died relatively young trusted his HMO's doctors. Being young and healthy, he had no reason to think about questioning their opinion (this started in the mid nineteen-eighties, MRI's were new and expensive then, not something that would probably be considered due to an HMO worrying about the cost. Sometimes the cheap turns out to be expensive.).
Anyway, my 'story' is real, and I was there at this couple's apartment to witness much of it. For me it was a turning point in my life in many ways, showing all concerned what's truly important in our lives are the people we have in them. Because while you can replace material things like a car or home, you can't argue away terminal cancer from a loved one.
So hold your loved ones close, 'cause you never know how or when they might get taken from you, and don't sweat the small shit in life. (And life is mostly made up of little shit.) And yes, get 2nd and 5th opinions, even. You could be richer than God, but if you don't have your health...
Actually as the years went on my friend did seek out reasons for his stomach problems, all from his same health provider. He was told it must be Crone's disease and that he needed to eat more broccoli. At the time of the first x-ray, a second x-ray could and should have been done, in case it was a speck of dust or some other error. AFAIK, it was the radiologists mistake for not picking up on that white dot as an anomoly needing further investigation. They are being paid, and paid well, to do their job correctly, after all. When one of the world's best cancer doctors finally looked into his stomach during exploratory surgery, he recoiled at the sight of just how large the tumor was. In this case, my friends death from cancer was completely preventable IF that dot had been investigated properly at the time. They gave him two months to live at the time of discovery, he lasted seven, with a tube in his side for stomach drainage. Home to die with the
aid of hospice, it was hell on his dutiful wife.
The point is, if you don't have complete access to your records, facts about your treatment can be... 'lost' by your provider, preventing an otherwise justifiable lawsuit from occurring.
I wasn't aware of Ms. Fisher's manic-depressive disorder. That could explain why she fell into drugs, as a lot of drug/alcohol abusers are really attempting to "self-medicate", or so it's believed today. Though sometimes the treatment of mothem with modern meds is a lot of guesswork by doctors. Bad reaction to the prescribed drugs? The dose is altered up or down, changed to a different medication, or add another drug and see how the patient reacts in a few weeks.
We are still in the learning stages of diseases of the brain (compund word from the greek: Dis - ease. 'Dis' meaning "not", so the term "disease" means "not at ease"). We've come a long way in our understanding of how the brain works in the last 30 years or so. Still, a large number of misdiagnosing goes on today, resulting in patient suffering needlessly because of improper medication.
Slashdot Mirror
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001000
Ah, carry on.
Well, as stated below, right now it is an unsubstantiated rumour that Orly Taitz is a lawyer for Prenda. Though who knows, since it seems Prenda's lawyers don't appear in court anyway.
> Orly Taitz
You can't make this shit up.
Well, this will definitely provide considerable ongoing entertainment. I feel sorry for the judge(s) though.
I get what you mean, hoo boy! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orly_Taitz
These lawsuits are really affecting my decision to but a new iPhone. I just don't want to support such business practices. On the other hand the iPhone 5 is super shiny... decisions, decisions.
Confused about which smartphone OS to buy? Why not get both??
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/03/goophone-iphone5s-knockoff/
I'm betting Carly can't make a good sandwich ether.
...and I bet when she was three she dreamt she could save Mario from Donkey Kong. Like that could ever happen!... Oh, wait...
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/345409
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1a87wzILF0
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Douglas_Adams/
This is what happens when I try to multitask. You're right, I was thinking Baby Pac Man...
Heh, for shame, doc, please calmly wait right there for the /. police...
I only wish that that was the worst mistake I've made here. :-) I usually blame it on my secretary not showing up for the past few months, and if she doesn't show up by next week, I'll show her! (By not paying her anymore!)
Is it or is it not legal to use unauthorized VPNs in Iran?
'State sanctioned' VPN's are the only 'legal' ones. I suppose changing ports wouldn't matter, since the Iranian internet is all run by the state.
This tech is a potentially a society changer. Eventually these glasses will come down in price, probably can be combined with on-the-go prescriptions, and different frames made for fashion sake. In other words, they're going to everywhere, and it will become impossible to know if and when you are being recorded /video uploaded. People are all going to have to learn to always be on their best behavior in public and private, or else they'll be risking losing their job, jail, their marital status. The future looks like it's going to be an interesting place.
Sounds sort of like Jr. Pac-Man, except in reverse, along with "touch". I think I'll reserve judgement for now...
I think you meant "Baby Pac Man". Found this from your link...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Pac-Man#Pinball_mode
Here’s a quick update on the problems we were experiencing with SimCity – and a little something extra for people who bought the game.
The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity. But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we’re working fast to address.
So what went wrong? The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.
OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it. In the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 percent. It’s working – the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically. The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 percent.
So we’re close to fixed, but not quite there. I’m hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.
Something Special for Your Trouble (see linked page at bottom of post)
The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets. The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game. But this SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can’t get a stable connection, you’re NOT having a good experience. So we’re not going to rest until we’ve fixed the remaining server issues.
And to get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game.
I know that’s a little contrived – kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy. But we feel bad about what happened. We’re hoping you won’t stay mad and that we’ll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.
SimCity is a GREAT game and the people who made it are incredibly proud. Hang in there – we’ll be providing more updates throughout the weekend.
http://www.ea.com/news/a-simcity-update-and-something-for-your-trouble
For impressionable minds, GIGO applies, Garbage In, Garbage Out. To have a a young mind exposed to images of violence and expect that they aren't influenced by it would be a ridiculous arguement, imo.
- - -
May you live in interesting times. - Ancient Chinese curse
All right, that gaudy suit goes back into storage, for now... There is hope, I just saw a commercial where the cool kid exclaims, "And I hear that Disco's making a comeback!"
I'll just patiently bide my time...
While doing other, non slashdot things today, I got to thinking about taking the medical documents. Obviously the HMO did not want the P.R. nightmare that would have resulted from a prolonged public trial, and decided to 'cut their losses' by quickly settling out of the public eye. Now, perhaps they knew a crime was committed (assuming that it was a felony back then), what a real p.r. nightmare if they decided to arrest and attempt to prosecute a grieving young widow. The newspapers would've been all over that story with coverage every day of the trial! No, they must've had to realize the fallout would be far more costly to them. Everyone would have learned about it, the Streisand effect... before that happened, better for the HMO to just hush it all up. Makes one wonder how many other stories like this one have happened over the years.
Get rid of DST, it was meant as an energy saving idea during the energy crisis of the 1970's, and never really accomplished its intended goal.
Finally, an excuse for me to pull out the old disco era mirror-ball suit! And the matching tin-foil hat accessory.
As to the legality, IANAL, and that's how this story happened to play out. Although I personnally wouldn't have held it against her, admittedly, I am biased here. She's a wonderful woman, and I was around that apartment for the last few months to help out. Theirs was a true 'love story'. I saw the hell that couple went through, multiple sleepless nights, his pain from the cancer and bedsores the good brought out in some people, and the bad in some others. I have had no contact with those people for years.
Yep, does sound like a made for tv movie, though it happened for real, I was witness to much of the real life drama. Since it happened so long ago, I can look back on it all with hindsight and perspective. Crazy times. I learned a lot then, some about what real love is about, some about peoples greed. Human nature at its best and its worst all got displayed. And I was just there to help my friends out, and to get him to smile every day somehow, which I'm proud to say I did. Even on his last, worst day, I got a little smile out of him. Wouldn't trade those memories and experiences for the world. :-)
Coincidentally, my friend's wife happened to work in the records room of his HMO (it's name rhymes with 'gyp'), and snuck his medical records out. The widow received a large wrongful death settlement only because of her having physical possession of his records, else no one would have known the true cause of his provider's negligence.
That doesn't sound right. In New York State, and I think in every other state, a deceased patient's relatives have a right to get copies of the records. Apart from that right, if they're considering suing the hospital, a lawyer can demand copies of the records.
Allright, let's pretend you are in middle to upper middle management for a large healthcare provider circa 1990, and you also are lacking in morals, a "company man" type. Then, computers are still mostly the greenscreen type monitor, 'whistle-blowing' by employees is still a decade away from being acceptable behaviour, and paper records are the norm. There's also far less oversight by government. You are in a position to keep a potentially large lawsuit against your company from happening by going to the medical records room after hours and removing documents from the patient's folder. That's a quite feasible scenario, completely a work of fiction on my part, but plausible. Whether laws were or weren't in place at that time, it'd only be illegal if you got caught. Removing or losing a key x-ray from one file out of tens of thousands in a large record room? I could see this happening. There might be a nice under the table bonus given to that person. Would this have happened? I don't know, since as this story happened, my friend's wife (who worked in that records room for 15 years, btw) got to them first. Now I like to believe in the goodness and honesty in people and corporations as much as the next guy, but I'm not the babe in the woods I used to be.
True, sh+t happens, perhaps the radiologist in this case had a large caseload that day, or his morning coffee hadn't fully kicked in yet, as someone here suggested, who kniws. If my friend's wife hadn't spirited his records out from the records room, I'd bet any amount that the x-ray in question never would have surfaced. I can understand why doctors, who have a lot on their 'plate', would not want patients to have access to their records, there are a lot of misused lawsuits. It's a dual edged sword. Many lawsuits do have merit, and for health care to be trustable by the HMO's 'customers', patient records should be made available, IMO.
My friend who died relatively young trusted his HMO's doctors. Being young and healthy, he had no reason to think about questioning their opinion (this started in the mid nineteen-eighties, MRI's were new and expensive then, not something that would probably be considered due to an HMO worrying about the cost. Sometimes the cheap turns out to be expensive.).
Anyway, my 'story' is real, and I was there at this couple's apartment to witness much of it. For me it was a turning point in my life in many ways, showing all concerned what's truly important in our lives are the people we have in them. Because while you can replace material things like a car or home, you can't argue away terminal cancer from a loved one.
So hold your loved ones close, 'cause you never know how or when they might get taken from you, and don't sweat the small shit in life. (And life is mostly made up of little shit.) And yes, get 2nd and 5th opinions, even. You could be richer than God, but if you don't have your health...
The point is, if you don't have complete access to your records, facts about your treatment can be... 'lost' by your provider, preventing an otherwise justifiable lawsuit from occurring.
We are still in the learning stages of diseases of the brain (compund word from the greek: Dis - ease. 'Dis' meaning "not", so the term "disease" means "not at ease"). We've come a long way in our understanding of how the brain works in the last 30 years or so. Still, a large number of misdiagnosing goes on today, resulting in patient suffering needlessly because of improper medication.