How can a system that records every transaction and makes every record available to everyone be private and anonymous? Ok, so it's the IP address that is used as identity rather than a passport number or driving license.. but isn't this just even less anonymous than cash?
I think I may have found this Algae growing in a car park in Spain. Where can I download it? Er, I mean, get them to send me a sample. Assuming it's any different from photobioluminecent Algae that's present in the ocean anyway. Though collecting enough of this for me has been difficult.
I hope they can take a selfless attitude rather than hanging into the limit commercial applications. The little guy can play a role here so I hope they are generous.
I wanted to advertise with Facebook because they seemed to offer the very exact pointpoint precision I needed to advertise what I was looking for and with geographical accuracy in the UK.
It turns out they only offer matching to interests and groups. There's no profiling more than that that I can see to me as an advertiser. However, I still see adverts coming up that have been generated from the friends I associate with - gay holidays for example; they assume I'm gay. How are they doing this?
With the very basic advertising options I wonder how they are making their cash?
Hang on, is there anyone saying climate change isn't happening?
Dissenters are saying:
1) Human impact is against a background of change we can't control
2) Besides, we can't coordinate a decent response so we should adapt
A smokescreen distraction? That's how I felt when I got marked down for covering sunspots after my Uni lecturer showed us the IPCC graph zoomed in. And I know where I'm buying land, c'mon 30m b'bye pacific islanders, hello dutch refugees
I had the exact same problem. Here's the ideas and why I did or did not go for them:
1) At first I carried round my own personal laptop. This is the best way, but it was adding ~20% extra weight to practically everything I own as a semi-permanent traveller.
2) I thought about asking the IT dept for a permission to do X or Y. I considered this and then decided firmly against it. What exactly am I going to ask? Having to ask to install everything would definitely be unworkable.
3) Then I thought about asking IT for permission to install a separate O/S for personal use. I felt this would single me out for special attention ( a case for anonymouse communication methinks) & they'd probably have to say no for fear of plugging that unauthorised software into the company network.
4) So when my personal laptop broke I bought a much bigger hard drive and imaged to this. If I need to return the laptop or use the company network I just plug the old hard drive back in. This has reduced what I need to carry around with me by a large factor, but I'd prefer to be able to buy my own ultra light and use that for work rather than having to lug this around. I originally had linux for personal work and Windows for work but I've found this was too ambitious - have a separate partition imaged from the original hard drive.
A few things to add:
- a coworker once pointed out that if he asked to use 'my' laptop then really I have to let them do so, since it is not my laptop - be prepared, have everything well organised and passworded - it's a shame I don't trust the IT dept to talk openly and honest about it, no? A good casestudy for anonymous communication as a workaround - Be realistic. The OP admits he's internet addicted like the rest of us, be honest with yourself - are you really going to be able to resist the temptation to read Slashdot on the laptop? There's no way you're going to be able to resist not breaking IT policy. Remember what the policy is there for. Care for your company network. Remember that any device getting plugged into the network is a risk not just for them, but for you. That's a line to take responsibility at. If the company has sensitive data on there, see to protect that data from random software - Failure to manage people in these cases is the greatest failure of IT departments. Giving someone a laptop and then expecting them to do what you say without any interest into human nature can be logical (not what my job's worth, not what I'm paid for) but actually complacent. In a perfect world people would go to work, follow the rules... sleep at work and carry on working, forever. In reality we have a confusing mismash of work and private life. Because of this YOU HAVE TO DRAW THE LINE CLEARLY. Draw a line at company data. Offer users a safe conduit for personal stuff - better to legalise and control than prohibition and black market
My brother is sysadmin and he takes a very simple "You're not allowed to do it, so don't do it" attitude.
I'm sure if enough people were sacked globally, the fear could enforce enough control for this to be feasible. But thankfully the world isn't like that. People aren't robots running on electric. People are people.
You have to treat people like people. Sorry, no choice. You have to have compassion to understand what it's like to be in someone else's position. Educate and support. Show clearly how a closed source program steals company secrets and give them the means to protect against this.
All too often I hear an attitude from sysadmin and I think to myself "If you were at the coalface I know you'd do exactly the same". It's all to easy to sit in an ivory tower. And from a users point of view you've also got to realise the IT depts point of view too.
-burying gold in his garden like a nutcase -lending cash to friends -'investing' in fake ID -memorising a few bitcoin private keys, or burying a paper key in the woods -opening a no name cash card -generally being a honest citizen
for a long time i thought the rich were a result of poor morals. Is it really cause or effect?
Look at the mormons and their reputation for honest that propelled thier businesses in the previous century.
Likewise, As an englishman in south america this (previously especially) brought alot of trust.
I have changed classes from having no money to having comparitively much more. I've felt a change from lowest class with no power to feeling much more powerful and influential. The power corrupts. It's the power that corrupts for sure.
But what about money? There's a thing in black magic that says symbols can impart a psychological effect... Doesn't really fit my worldview... But it's an idea that's come up many times independently through cultures through history. On a mundane way don't you find talking about money attracts bad luck in relationships? Like it kills the love in the same way as talking politics. Perhaps that's the reasoning on the misogeny on division of roles to single bread winner for each family... one person handling the money. What if it's true? what if money really carries a psycic imprint in it as it is transferred and even thought about? Ok, i get bored easily but i can see how it might seem this way
Well of course. What happens in the USA effects us all.
Whether it's extraditions, financials. Dollar fund routing going througj the usa, Who's going to be bombed next, Technological developments, The influence of usa tv, what's happening with the internet ivluding riaa, dns and new standards...
So while it's not everything, many things are USA led. There's so much reach from the usa the whole world is effected and cannot escape. Is venezuela a notable exception? Iran?
Some of that is natural dominance (silicone valley etc), And some is the subtle empire (oil for dollars, cia)
So why is china so interested? Well we don't know that - 500 comments is nothing in a population of billions. I think the chinese do have a strong interest in the usa but i'd love to have something beyond conjecture.
VISA et al offer a good service I agree and it's not sucking cash from the economy.
But there are many places that do indeed refuse to accept it. In the UK small businesses get round it by saying the machine is broken.
You need a bit of regular volume to justify the merchant bank fee and then the card equipment but then also on each transaction. Sell a $1 item and i think you're losing cash.
Plus there's the need for connectivity of course. How hot's your router running?
I wonder if gold could ever be workable when it needs an xray or very accurate specific gravity test to test it properly.
Interesting. Is there a way to store that safely in my campervan?
I want to put some of these ideas into practice. so far I have:
-preheat water in black bag on the roof -paint pressure cooker black and leave in the sun -put water into pressure cooker -use a stove with a fan to get a good clean burn on fuel.......just not sure which fuel is best yet...
Everythings easier in the sun of course. I wonder if the expanding effect of ice freezing could be utilised? In all of this I'd like to stress that water tends to be just as finite a resource too.
Regards the pressure cooker,
I already use a very small pressure cooker and it still takes about 15mins to soften vegetables. Then you got the washing up afterwards which needs water. All in all I often don't bother and go with cold food instead.
All these findings are useful for people trying to be offgrid in places with a bit more cash too; boaties, log cabins.
I just sold my ipad2 because I found I couldn't read a book on a sunny day and that connector seemed weak to be plugging in and out with a daily battery life.
I'd prefer lower res. I understand the marketability of high res but it takes a lot of hardware and battery to drive that, no?
all this hearing is very interesting. I can hear electrical extention cables.
And this is where it gets really odd. I'm sure i can tell something in the electrics inside walls.
The thing is, if you actually go somewhere with no electricity for the first time it's like being shown something really special. Even a quiet beach usually has a cable a few hundered metres away and to not even have that i'm sure has an influence on people.
I appreciate this is a bit hard to believe but i'm sure it has to be more than sound. Possibly you might think you're hearing something when you're not. It really can be imagination but also i really do believe it can also be something else
Have you ever been somewhere with no electricity? Do you know what that feels like?
I've only experienced this a few times in my life. I have to say that when combined with no phone signal i felt a sense of peace i've never felt before. I now want to experience the same thing but in more squalid conditions to see if it's a coinsideance of nature you often get in such electrically quiet situations.
I've also spent time in tower blocks away from city noise and there's still a sense of buzzing. But the air isn't as clean... am i imagining these things.
there's a lot of people commenting on it just being a load of mp3's but actually forum users linked to it so you've got a wealth of data there too... Whoops for them.
Stuff like patches for phones on android forums, gsmforum users used it a lot.
The lack of scrutiny etc made it the easiest resource to use.
All those forum links are dead now. Does the OP respond to requests to repost the files?
I also saw it used for industry (....!) between people who can't be bothered to do it properly
Seeing discussions of WYSIWYG verses raw coding prompts me to ask,
from a project design point of view,
what are some good methods to have various ways of generating code cohabitate?
From the comments in this thread I see different ways of design:
- Some arrange CSS as design and use a WYSIWYG tool for that, but code html content by hand and leave it at that.
- Other people use photoshop for mock-ups and then get a team to make-it-so.
- another way I've seen here is using CMS and then trying to tweak those ContentManagementSystems
- the other thing about WYSIWYG is that it can help with visualising the overall project more quickly. You might also use something like Dreamweaver to do something specific on a handcoded site that would otherwise be a lot of work
How do take the advantages of each of these kinds of approach and get them to mesh efficiently?
If one doesn't use a CMS then we have to have our own methodology.
It reminds me of when I first met a professional musician. We both had sample libaries but somehow his system worked so much better for him than mine did for me. Same for photographers too. In the same way what I'm looking for is to learn from the professionals how to organise development in addition to learning things like html5 which I'm out of date on. What are the resources for this?
On my sideboard I have apple juice with kefir grains inside. Over the course of a few days this bubbles until it is full of bacteria. It's tastes nice like cider! It has been revered as a gift from god in many cultures.
I drink this.
I have never had any illness of any kind while drinking this at least every 3 days. No colds, no coughs. I always get coughs and colds around the season changes to and from winter.
Since doing this I have had no colds.
I am beginning to believe that practically every infection can be prevented to some degree by drinking this.
Yet everyone thinks I'm a health loon. No one will drink it when I offer it. And they suffer. Each to their own.
But I still don't understand how this relates to diabetes.
I'm European. I work at sea in Europe.
My job is a very addictive lifestyle. I would prefer a business due to exactly this kind of issue, but I know this is a change I can't do alone without a massive drop in happiness.
However, as a start I thought I could use other modes of transport on my personal time.
Let me share this with anyone who is interested in this.
I wanted to visit someone in South America so I looked at shipping routes and I did find a company designed for people who want to travel by sea. I am familiar with not being allowed off a ship in port, unable to buy a newspaper, but I also know that this varies by country more so there's a chance this can be much more humane. By the way, I have to hand my passport to the captain and he is, in many ways, king... but somehow this seems to... well, work very well...
I forget the name of the company but it is possible to travel by boat. Unfortunately the price was designed in a premium way, more like cruise accomodation tagged onto merchant shipping. It was ~1/3rd more expensive than flying.
- might there be cheaper similar schemes? Has anyone here approached a shipping company?
Next up, private aircraft. If you're rich enough you can bypass most of the screening with a private jet. It's similar with light aviation, though it's under attack all the time. There's regulation, but check it out.
Overnight buses. In south america you have overnight buses with chairs that convert into beds. Look for this locally because sleeping through journeys is a great way to do it. You get random searches sometimes but it's more traditional.
As a semi-constant traveler I write about this kind of thing on my blog.
Credit cards can be cheaper than cash in terms of pure numbers, but it's a gamble and to my flawed brain with all it's cognitive mess ups I prefer something I can hold.
1) You're relying on that payment at the end of the month. - If you bank goes bust you need the BoE to print enough money for the bailout. - If your company has a cashflow problem (your own company, or a company you work for), you could be screwed pretty quickly. There's a chance that one late payment snowballs into complete bankruptcy
2) It's a debt system. For the period of time you owe the card company you're in the debt system just that little bit more. This changes the way we think about money. This in turn changes us, what we do and more. More than that, it actually changes how we think about each other; this is a bit hard to get one's head around.
In a simple way I was looking at my bank account this month and thought to myself; I only have a credit card bill coming out each month (yes, really, I've worked at this!) I'm always checking up on that. If I didn't have that I wouldn't need to worry for my bank account. For me that's priceless.
A key thing about working in cash is it's haptic feedback; you know what's going on. It keeps you in touch.
I've learnt this about cash because I've been living in Argentina. There, over 10 years after their last crash banks offer 20% discounts at supermarkets and still people prefer cash. Likewise my girlfriend only uses the bank for big discounts like this and her wage only because she pretty much has to. As an example she gets a 40% discount with her gym for automatic payments. And you know what they do? EVERY month they raise the price without telling her. That's the price of not staying in touch. The thing is, I always thought I knew what £1000 is, but until I started using cash I didn't realise how out of touch I was. You have to use nothing but cash for at least a month to have any experience to judge. It's a bit like arguing the toss on vegetarianism, how's to know if you haven't properly experienced both eating meat and not eating meat, for example?
Of course it's harder to quantify the advantages of cash vs a credit card's cashback % and section51 rights. But I think there has been some studies, something along the lines of people spend more when they see a number (because it's harder to judge). Like I say though, we always think we can judge better than we really can. I'd love to have a number in my head along the lines of "I'll only use this credit card if I get a discount of >20%" because the risks have been budgeted for. I think the number in my head is probably less important than that section51 refund rights.
Just look at some of the things people do with Bitcoins for example, you wouldn't agree to work for a month without pay, yet this is what people have been seen gambling with.
Wow, I didn't realise you're getting TSA random searches in the USA, shocked!
The search always comes at the inconvenient time so the response is more likely to be to comply.
To change this?
hmm... how's about dressing up in authoritative dress and instructing the TSA officer to comply with search in exactly the same way as they do?
This is in addition to reducing police departments to show that they are under threat and hopefully fight the corner for us.
Before I lined up for backscatter xray scanners I told myself I would refuse. But when it came down to missing and flight, a load of people around me compling and authority I couldn't do it. I felt terrible, almost like crying, but I couldn't resist the instruction. Just couldn't! Finally I understood the people in Milgrams experiment who couldn't disobey the order to kill their subjects. Like a Nazi with regret I want to go back to correct the error of my ways.
It sounds like a very inspiring story for geeks & radio enthusiast entrepreneurs.
His software is of course, closed source so I can't say much more than that.I can't find the website now. I think he focusses on shopping malls but it can work anywhere and if you got the cash he'd probably do that for you.
The bit I don't understand is how he communicates the movement to the customer. In my mind I imagined a full map but it could be more simple; just indicating which shop is closest.
Slashdot Mirror
How can a system that records every transaction and makes every record available to everyone be private and anonymous? Ok, so it's the IP address that is used as identity rather than a passport number or driving license.. but isn't this just even less anonymous than cash?
I think I may have found this Algae growing in a car park in Spain.
Where can I download it? Er, I mean, get them to send me a sample. Assuming it's any different from photobioluminecent Algae that's present in the ocean anyway. Though collecting enough of this for me has been difficult.
I hope they can take a selfless attitude rather than hanging into the limit commercial applications. The little guy can play a role here so I hope they are generous.
-j
I wanted to advertise with Facebook because they seemed to offer the very exact pointpoint precision I needed to advertise what I was looking for and with geographical accuracy in the UK.
It turns out they only offer matching to interests and groups. There's no profiling more than that that I can see to me as an advertiser.
However, I still see adverts coming up that have been generated from the friends I associate with - gay holidays for example; they assume I'm gay. How are they doing this?
With the very basic advertising options I wonder how they are making their cash?
Hang on, is there anyone saying climate change isn't happening?
Dissenters are saying:
1) Human impact is against a background of change we can't control
2) Besides, we can't coordinate a decent response so we should adapt
A smokescreen distraction? That's how I felt when I got marked down for covering sunspots after my Uni lecturer showed us the IPCC graph zoomed in. And I know where I'm buying land, c'mon 30m b'bye pacific islanders, hello dutch refugees
from alpaca centuri
Backed by quite a few religions though, no?
I had the exact same problem.
Here's the ideas and why I did or did not go for them:
1) At first I carried round my own personal laptop. This is the best way, but it was adding ~20% extra weight to practically everything I own as a semi-permanent traveller.
2) I thought about asking the IT dept for a permission to do X or Y. I considered this and then decided firmly against it. What exactly am I going to ask? Having to ask to install everything would definitely be unworkable.
3) Then I thought about asking IT for permission to install a separate O/S for personal use. I felt this would single me out for special attention ( a case for anonymouse communication methinks) & they'd probably have to say no for fear of plugging that unauthorised software into the company network.
4) So when my personal laptop broke I bought a much bigger hard drive and imaged to this. If I need to return the laptop or use the company network I just plug the old hard drive back in. This has reduced what I need to carry around with me by a large factor, but I'd prefer to be able to buy my own ultra light and use that for work rather than having to lug this around. I originally had linux for personal work and Windows for work but I've found this was too ambitious - have a separate partition imaged from the original hard drive.
A few things to add:
- a coworker once pointed out that if he asked to use 'my' laptop then really I have to let them do so, since it is not my laptop - be prepared, have everything well organised and passworded
- it's a shame I don't trust the IT dept to talk openly and honest about it, no? A good casestudy for anonymous communication as a workaround
- Be realistic. The OP admits he's internet addicted like the rest of us, be honest with yourself - are you really going to be able to resist the temptation to read Slashdot on the laptop? There's no way you're going to be able to resist not breaking IT policy. Remember what the policy is there for. Care for your company network. Remember that any device getting plugged into the network is a risk not just for them, but for you. That's a line to take responsibility at. If the company has sensitive data on there, see to protect that data from random software
- Failure to manage people in these cases is the greatest failure of IT departments. Giving someone a laptop and then expecting them to do what you say without any interest into human nature can be logical (not what my job's worth, not what I'm paid for) but actually complacent. In a perfect world people would go to work, follow the rules... sleep at work and carry on working, forever. In reality we have a confusing mismash of work and private life. Because of this YOU HAVE TO DRAW THE LINE CLEARLY. Draw a line at company data. Offer users a safe conduit for personal stuff - better to legalise and control than prohibition and black market
My brother is sysadmin and he takes a very simple "You're not allowed to do it, so don't do it" attitude.
I'm sure if enough people were sacked globally, the fear could enforce enough control for this to be feasible. But thankfully the world isn't like that. People aren't robots running on electric. People are people.
You have to treat people like people. Sorry, no choice. You have to have compassion to understand what it's like to be in someone else's position. Educate and support. Show clearly how a closed source program steals company secrets and give them the means to protect against this.
All too often I hear an attitude from sysadmin and I think to myself "If you were at the coalface I know you'd do exactly the same". It's all to easy to sit in an ivory tower. And from a users point of view you've also got to realise the IT depts point of view too.
Personally I'd be looking for an open source kernel I can trust but able to run Android in a sandboxed environment quickly too.
I bet he regrets not:
-burying gold in his garden like a nutcase
-lending cash to friends
-'investing' in fake ID
-memorising a few bitcoin private keys, or burying a paper key in the woods
-opening a no name cash card
-generally being a honest citizen
for a long time i thought the rich were a result of poor morals.
Is it really cause or effect?
Look at the mormons and their reputation for honest that propelled thier businesses in the previous century.
Likewise,
As an englishman in south america this (previously especially) brought alot of trust.
I have changed classes from having no money to having comparitively much more. I've felt a change from lowest class with no power to feeling much more powerful and influential. The power corrupts. It's the power that corrupts for sure.
But what about money?
There's a thing in black magic that says symbols can impart a psychological effect... Doesn't really fit my worldview... But it's an idea that's come up many times independently through cultures through history.
On a mundane way don't you find talking about money attracts bad luck in relationships? Like it kills the love in the same way as talking politics. Perhaps that's the reasoning on the misogeny on division of roles to single bread winner for each family... one person handling the money. What if it's true? what if money really carries a psycic imprint in it as it is transferred and even thought about?
Ok, i get bored easily but i can see how it might seem this way
Well of course. What happens in the USA effects us all.
Whether it's
extraditions,
financials. Dollar fund routing going througj the usa,
Who's going to be bombed next,
Technological developments,
The influence of usa tv,
what's happening with the internet ivluding riaa, dns and new standards...
So while it's not everything, many things are USA led. There's so much reach from the usa the whole world is effected and cannot escape. Is venezuela a notable exception? Iran?
Some of that is natural dominance (silicone valley etc),
And some is the subtle empire (oil for dollars, cia)
So why is china so interested? Well we don't know that - 500 comments is nothing in a population of billions. I think the chinese do have a strong interest in the usa but i'd love to have something beyond conjecture.
VISA et al offer a good service I agree and it's not sucking cash from the economy.
But there are many places that do indeed refuse to accept it. In the UK small businesses get round it by saying the machine is broken.
You need a bit of regular volume to justify the merchant bank fee and then the card equipment but then also on each transaction. Sell a $1 item and i think you're losing cash.
Plus there's the need for connectivity of course. How hot's your router running?
I wonder if gold could ever be workable when it needs an xray or very accurate specific gravity test to test it properly.
Interesting. Is there a way to store that safely in my campervan?
I want to put some of these ideas into practice. so far I have:
-preheat water in black bag on the roof ....just not sure which fuel is best yet...
-paint pressure cooker black and leave in the sun
-put water into pressure cooker
-use a stove with a fan to get a good clean burn on fuel...
Everythings easier in the sun of course. I wonder if the expanding effect of ice freezing could be utilised?
In all of this I'd like to stress that water tends to be just as finite a resource too.
Regards the pressure cooker,
I already use a very small pressure cooker and it still takes about 15mins to soften vegetables. Then you got the washing up afterwards which needs water. All in all I often don't bother and go with cold food instead.
All these findings are useful for people trying to be offgrid in places with a bit more cash too; boaties, log cabins.
I just sold my ipad2 because I found I couldn't read a book on a sunny day and that connector seemed weak to be plugging in and out with a daily battery life.
I'd prefer lower res. I understand the marketability of high res but it takes a lot of hardware and battery to drive that, no?
all this hearing is very interesting.
I can hear electrical extention cables.
And this is where it gets really odd. I'm sure i can tell something in the electrics inside walls.
The thing is, if you actually go somewhere with no electricity for the first time it's like being shown something really special. Even a quiet beach usually has a cable a few hundered metres away and to not even have that i'm sure has an influence on people.
I appreciate this is a bit hard to believe but i'm sure it has to be more than sound. Possibly you might think you're hearing something when you're not. It really can be imagination but also i really do believe it can also be something else
Question, slashdotter.
At the risk of going slightly offtopic...
Have you ever been somewhere with no electricity? Do you know what that feels like?
I've only experienced this a few times in my life. I have to say that when combined with no phone signal i felt a sense of peace i've never felt before. I now want to experience the same thing but in more squalid conditions to see if it's a coinsideance of nature you often get in such electrically quiet situations.
I've also spent time in tower blocks away from city noise and there's still a sense of buzzing. But the air isn't as clean... am i imagining these things.
Might wifi be similar to the grid in effects?
It's really inconvienient for a tech addict
use your cameraphone? use spectacle lens to focus
Or burn it all and run naked in the garden
there's a lot of people commenting on it just being a load of mp3's but actually forum users linked to it so you've got a wealth of data there too... Whoops for them.
Stuff like patches for phones on android forums, gsmforum users used it a lot.
The lack of scrutiny etc made it the easiest resource to use.
All those forum links are dead now. Does the OP respond to requests to repost the files?
I also saw it used for industry (....!) between people who can't be bothered to do it properly
Seeing discussions of WYSIWYG verses raw coding prompts me to ask,
from a project design point of view,
what are some good methods to have various ways of generating code cohabitate?
From the comments in this thread I see different ways of design:
- Some arrange CSS as design and use a WYSIWYG tool for that, but code html content by hand and leave it at that.
- Other people use photoshop for mock-ups and then get a team to make-it-so.
- another way I've seen here is using CMS and then trying to tweak those ContentManagementSystems
- the other thing about WYSIWYG is that it can help with visualising the overall project more quickly. You might also use something like Dreamweaver to do something specific on a handcoded site that would otherwise be a lot of work
How do take the advantages of each of these kinds of approach and get them to mesh efficiently?
If one doesn't use a CMS then we have to have our own methodology.
It reminds me of when I first met a professional musician. We both had sample libaries but somehow his system worked so much better for him than mine did for me. Same for photographers too.
In the same way what I'm looking for is to learn from the professionals how to organise development in addition to learning things like html5 which I'm out of date on. What are the resources for this?
The real test would be for me to eat a load of it and then see if eating someone elses infected crap would effect me.
But I can't bring myself to do it.
Can you think of an easier way to test?
On my sideboard I have apple juice with kefir grains inside.
Over the course of a few days this bubbles until it is full of bacteria. It's tastes nice like cider! It has been revered as a gift from god in many cultures.
I drink this.
I have never had any illness of any kind while drinking this at least every 3 days. No colds, no coughs. I always get coughs and colds around the season changes to and from winter.
Since doing this I have had no colds.
I am beginning to believe that practically every infection can be prevented to some degree by drinking this.
Yet everyone thinks I'm a health loon. No one will drink it when I offer it. And they suffer. Each to their own.
But I still don't understand how this relates to diabetes.
I'm working on it.
I'm European. I work at sea in Europe.
My job is a very addictive lifestyle. I would prefer a business due to exactly this kind of issue, but I know this is a change I can't do alone without a massive drop in happiness.
However, as a start I thought I could use other modes of transport on my personal time.
Let me share this with anyone who is interested in this.
I wanted to visit someone in South America so I looked at shipping routes and I did find a company designed for people who want to travel by sea. I am familiar with not being allowed off a ship in port, unable to buy a newspaper, but I also know that this varies by country more so there's a chance this can be much more humane. By the way, I have to hand my passport to the captain and he is, in many ways, king... but somehow this seems to... well, work very well...
I forget the name of the company but it is possible to travel by boat. Unfortunately the price was designed in a premium way, more like cruise accomodation tagged onto merchant shipping. It was ~1/3rd more expensive than flying.
- might there be cheaper similar schemes? Has anyone here approached a shipping company?
Next up, private aircraft.
If you're rich enough you can bypass most of the screening with a private jet. It's similar with light aviation, though it's under attack all the time. There's regulation, but check it out.
Overnight buses.
In south america you have overnight buses with chairs that convert into beds. Look for this locally because sleeping through journeys is a great way to do it. You get random searches sometimes but it's more traditional.
As a semi-constant traveler I write about this kind of thing on my blog.
Credit cards can be cheaper than cash in terms of pure numbers, but it's a gamble and to my flawed brain with all it's cognitive mess ups I prefer something I can hold.
1) You're relying on that payment at the end of the month.
- If you bank goes bust you need the BoE to print enough money for the bailout.
- If your company has a cashflow problem (your own company, or a company you work for), you could be screwed pretty quickly. There's a chance that one late payment snowballs into complete bankruptcy
2) It's a debt system. For the period of time you owe the card company you're in the debt system just that little bit more. This changes the way we think about money. This in turn changes us, what we do and more. More than that, it actually changes how we think about each other; this is a bit hard to get one's head around.
In a simple way I was looking at my bank account this month and thought to myself; I only have a credit card bill coming out each month (yes, really, I've worked at this!) I'm always checking up on that. If I didn't have that I wouldn't need to worry for my bank account. For me that's priceless.
A key thing about working in cash is it's haptic feedback; you know what's going on. It keeps you in touch.
I've learnt this about cash because I've been living in Argentina. There, over 10 years after their last crash banks offer 20% discounts at supermarkets and still people prefer cash. Likewise my girlfriend only uses the bank for big discounts like this and her wage only because she pretty much has to. As an example she gets a 40% discount with her gym for automatic payments. And you know what they do? EVERY month they raise the price without telling her.
That's the price of not staying in touch.
The thing is, I always thought I knew what £1000 is, but until I started using cash I didn't realise how out of touch I was. You have to use nothing but cash for at least a month to have any experience to judge. It's a bit like arguing the toss on vegetarianism, how's to know if you haven't properly experienced both eating meat and not eating meat, for example?
Of course it's harder to quantify the advantages of cash vs a credit card's cashback % and section51 rights. But I think there has been some studies, something along the lines of people spend more when they see a number (because it's harder to judge). Like I say though, we always think we can judge better than we really can.
I'd love to have a number in my head along the lines of "I'll only use this credit card if I get a discount of >20%" because the risks have been budgeted for. I think the number in my head is probably less important than that section51 refund rights.
Just look at some of the things people do with Bitcoins for example, you wouldn't agree to work for a month without pay, yet this is what people have been seen gambling with.
Wow, I didn't realise you're getting TSA random searches in the USA, shocked!
The search always comes at the inconvenient time so the response is more likely to be to comply.
To change this?
hmm...
how's about dressing up in authoritative dress and instructing the TSA officer to comply with search in exactly the same way as they do?
This is in addition to reducing police departments to show that they are under threat and hopefully fight the corner for us.
Before I lined up for backscatter xray scanners I told myself I would refuse. But when it came down to missing and flight, a load of people around me compling and authority I couldn't do it. I felt terrible, almost like crying, but I couldn't resist the instruction. Just couldn't! Finally I understood the people in Milgrams experiment who couldn't disobey the order to kill their subjects. Like a Nazi with regret I want to go back to correct the error of my ways.
But how can I do so without missing my flight?
If this is the same system as I remember reading about before it was setup by a Brit entrepreneur with GNURadio:
http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/153689
It sounds like a very inspiring story for geeks & radio enthusiast entrepreneurs.
His software is of course, closed source so I can't say much more than that.I can't find the website now. I think he focusses on shopping malls but it can work anywhere and if you got the cash he'd probably do that for you.
The bit I don't understand is how he communicates the movement to the customer. In my mind I imagined a full map but it could be more simple; just indicating which shop is closest.
I think the company is called Path Intelligence?
http://groups.google.com/group/london-hack-space/browse_thread/thread/564ac80ec04b8b3f
http://www.pathintelligence.com/en/products/footpath/footpath-technology
The patent:
http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=EP&NR=1779133&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP
-j