Interesting idea. Well covered by/.ers.
My $0.02 to toss into the ring is e-books, one-use disposable books the size of a credit card. once the battery runs out, its time to buy another copy of Lord of the Rings.
On second thought, I hope no deadtree publishers read this comment...
H.Beam Piper - He's dead, but by god he shouldn't be!
Alan Dean Foster - Sheer imagination. And fun. Spellsinging? Who woulda thunk it.
Peter F Hamilton - Nights Dawn. Mindstar. Need i say more?
Steven Baxter - hard science.. fiction
Greg Bear - as above..
L.E. Modesitt - 700 comments and NOT ONE mentions him! I am disappointed.
Heinlein/Clarke/Asimov et al
Philip K Dick - A look inside humanity..
E.E."Doc" Smith - The man did space opera better than any one else, before or since.
C.J Cherryh - Rimrunners/DownBelow Station et al.
Fred Pohl - He is good, and i mean good! Try "Mining the Oort" if you don't believe me!
1st question: why were the insurance company(s) doing unauthorised tests for various conditions?
answer: to discern whether the tested induviduals were more susceptible to various genetically determined conditions.
This is probably morally acceptable(JUST), if the insurance company doesn't change the premiums for that person!
The tests change a probability (say 4-5% over the general population) of a particular genetic condition into a certainty. Yes or no. Could it be that paying out for the treatment of that disease is much too expensive for the insurance companies to absorb, and hence, they are removing those induviduals from being covered?
Because, by increasing the premiums, less people will be able to pay them. And those are the ones who are most in need of the funds to be treated?
On another tack, would YOU bet someone $50 against $200,000, if they are 95% certain to win the $200,000 off you? No way Jose! Neither would the insurance company!
It smells of unethical behaviour. Insurance is about probabilities. Let it remain so.
For when we reduce probabilities to certainties, we will eliminate the need for insurance at all.
Error: file.sig not found. using InaneComment.txt.
Java has its good points and its bad points (as do most other programming languages). Its a case of using the correct tools to do the job.
IMHO, Sun did more things right than they did wrong with Java and its attendant widgets.
On the other hand, Microsoft, while they may write some good software *ducks in anticipation of napalm*, has a shocking business model.
Embrace, Extend, Assimilate. Then charge like a wounded bull for the latest version.
I embrace MS's business model, by paying as little as possible for MS products. All the others I use are free. I haven't figured out how to Extend yet.
And as for Assimilation. Umm. You can forget it.
No.sig.
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting idea. Well covered by /.ers.
My $0.02 to toss into the ring is e-books, one-use disposable books the size of a credit card. once the battery runs out, its time to buy another copy of Lord of the Rings.
On second thought, I hope no deadtree publishers read this comment...
H.Beam Piper - He's dead, but by god he shouldn't be!
Alan Dean Foster - Sheer imagination. And fun. Spellsinging? Who woulda thunk it.
Peter F Hamilton - Nights Dawn. Mindstar. Need i say more?
Steven Baxter - hard science.. fiction
Greg Bear - as above..
L.E. Modesitt - 700 comments and NOT ONE mentions him! I am disappointed.
Heinlein/Clarke/Asimov et al
Philip K Dick - A look inside humanity..
E.E."Doc" Smith - The man did space opera better than any one else, before or since.
C.J Cherryh - Rimrunners/DownBelow Station et al.
Fred Pohl - He is good, and i mean good! Try "Mining the Oort" if you don't believe me!
1st question: why were the insurance company(s) doing unauthorised tests for various conditions?
answer: to discern whether the tested induviduals were more susceptible to various genetically determined conditions.
This is probably morally acceptable(JUST), if the insurance company doesn't change the premiums for that person!
The tests change a probability (say 4-5% over the general population) of a particular genetic condition into a certainty. Yes or no. Could it be that paying out for the treatment of that disease is much too expensive for the insurance companies to absorb, and hence, they are removing those induviduals from being covered?
Because, by increasing the premiums, less people will be able to pay them. And those are the ones who are most in need of the funds to be treated?
On another tack, would YOU bet someone $50 against $200,000, if they are 95% certain to win the $200,000 off you? No way Jose! Neither would the insurance company!
It smells of unethical behaviour. Insurance is about probabilities. Let it remain so.
For when we reduce probabilities to certainties, we will eliminate the need for insurance at all.
Error: file.sig not found. using InaneComment.txt.
Java has its good points and its bad points (as do most other programming languages). Its a case of using the correct tools to do the job. IMHO, Sun did more things right than they did wrong with Java and its attendant widgets. On the other hand, Microsoft, while they may write some good software *ducks in anticipation of napalm*, has a shocking business model. Embrace, Extend, Assimilate. Then charge like a wounded bull for the latest version. I embrace MS's business model, by paying as little as possible for MS products. All the others I use are free. I haven't figured out how to Extend yet. And as for Assimilation. Umm. You can forget it. No .sig.