it looks like they are really just going after the heavy filesharing crowd.
Well, I think they are about to find out how many of their customers are telecommuting for work as well. I find myself included in this, and I would hit this cap in about 20 days just for the data I have to move for work.
The 'going after pirates' line works just fine when you don't attach any real world activities to it, and just use it as a line. However, when something is actually implemented with this made up excuse, and lets face it it's made up, a large backlash of people are going to be calling AT&T and already be very upset that their ISP lumps them in with pirates. I was one of those customers today, and had to wait on hold for 1hr45min just to talk to someone. This is before the 'official' letters have even been sent out to customers. When I finally began asking questions about this, the AT&T rep asked if I had called in about this same issue already today, because this was the 3rd phone call this one rep had taken regarding this.
Coincidentally, when I called to file an informal complaint with my state regulators after my AT&T phone call, they also had a long wait. I was told that this was caused by a large spike in people filing reports against AT&T starting today, for exactly this same thing.
I spent almost 2 hours on the phone today trying to get answers from AT&T about this. I called them first earlier this morning to discuss an unrelated billing error they made, and there was 0 minute wait. During this second 2 hour plus phone call, over 1hr45min of it was 'waiting' to talk to someone. There seems to have been a MASSIVE response to this, in that the call centers simply could not handle the volume.
Before talking with them the second time today, I had called up Comcast to see what their comparable business rates are. I was informed that starting TODAY, Comcast was offering an incentive to ATT customers in my area who switched by the end of the month. Upon talking to ATT about this 'cap' they suddenly were calling it 'just a rumor' and that there was nothing official released by the company. I was also told that I COULD NOT switch my U-verse account to a business class U-verse account for the reasons I was describing to them. This, even though the terms I signed up for were that the service MUST match my previous ATT DSL service, which was business class with 5 static IPs and was not restricted by any caps. Suddenly the phone rep was telling me they 'did not know' if these rumors of caps would be in place, and that one of the reasons they would not switch my account to business class was they could not ensure such limits would not be put in place on the business service as well.
Oh, I also filed an informal complain with my states Commerce Commission against ATT. Informal complaints must be filed in my state first, then a formal complaint can be filed. Amazingly, THEIR contact number also had a large wait time today, which I was told was being caused by a spike in people filing reports for the exact same issue against ATT.
Between all of this, there sure seems to be a LOT of people getting very active about, MUCH more than the 2% they are claiming this will affect.
Oh, I easily use 350-400GB per month, just in the data I have to transfer due to my J.O.B. for those of you who cant understand why these caps are irritating so many people. 95% of the employees of the company I work for all work remotely, or from home. While this company may be at the high end of the scale of how many employees do this, I imagine AT&T has many telecommuters who work remotely who are literally exploding at this sudden change.
The response rate for people sending out messages to these 250,000 members has got to be zero
Not really. It doesn't take a genius to craft up some boilerplate emails to send out to people for an initial contact. An automated script could easily handle that.
And you have to keep in mind the human factor, that even with a few nibbles, someone on a dating site is more than likely going to have the mindset of 'Im sure the NEXT one will be it'... There's always a 'next one' after all. People tend to have a hard time realizing when they are being 'duped', and will usually not admit to themselves, therefore continuing their previous actions that landed them there in the first place.
I've been on the site, and while I wont go into details about the 'quality' of some of the women I've met, I can tell you for sure that I have zero problem getting the initial contact. On average, I'd say about 5-6 a week come in from my local area, from me doing nothing at all.
Granted, the pool of quality women is JUST as limited as the pool of quality men available to a woman is. But then again, I'm picky.
In all fairness, did you check the power adapter for the DSL modem?
I had a similarly difficult problem to troubleshoot. The connection would drop at least that many times a day, if not more. Rebooting the modem seemed to fix it, even if temporary.
The DSL co ran numerous tests on the line, and found nothing wrong. Even hooking it up at the point of entry of the house, before house wiring did not fix the problem. I thought for the longest time, there HAD to be a problem with the line as well.
It turns out, that the STOCK power supplies with the modem, were not strong enough to power the actual modem. Increasing the mA about 15% by using another Power Converter fixed the problem, and it has been 100% since. Getting a new modem would not have solved the problem, as the stock power supply came with every one.
That sounds incredibly unbelievable and unrealistic.
The largest month saw 21GB of usage. And many months well over 10. During the colder months it is less. Not one single instance of 'illegal downloading' went over the network.
The offer was for unlimited data on the droid when I signed up in 2009. It was the only verizon phone to offer such a plan, as the rest were supposedly limited to 5GB/mo. In other words, it was unique to the initial android release on the verizon network. I signed up for the phone because that is exactly what I need. If you cant imagine how I could 'use that much', then its safe to assume your job is FAR less dependent on the benefits of cellular data technology than mine.
At no point did I expect any problems for using what I purchased, and at no time have I had any problems from verizon for it.
The word you are looking for is 'hypothesis', not theories.
Not meant as a dig against you personally, but you probably grew up surrounded by people who do believe that myth, and it can be hard to realize that it really is just a story.
work experience matters more than a paper degree for most jobs in IT once you get beyond entry level.
And a few paragraphs later...
if I was trained in construction or plumbing or auto repair, I'd still have a job.
I'm s software dev as well, but Im also many other things within my company. I was smart enough to put an actual plan behind what you just described, instead of waiting for someone to blame for my inaction. The one thing you failed to mention, is that you dont have a job because you weren't valuable enough to keep around, compared to the alternative. If you cant compete, you go.
Work experience does matter more often than not, but you didn't seem to pick up any of that experience that you are talking about to make sure you positioned yourself internally in the company to keep your job. There are no worse people to work with, than those who feel they only need to do the minimum, especially in IT. It's for the best you are out of the field.
This seems to clearly be a case of one hand not knowing the other hand is doing.
Im going to go with its a case of CNBC and NBC having different internal rules as a result of the planned diversification that GE/NBC has been doing for over 25 years now.
Or in other words;
This parent comment seems to clearly be a case of someone not having the slightest idea of the organizational elements of a large corporation, and instead distilling it down to an incorrectly simplified idea.
NBC is the parent company, which has subsidiary companies below it; like CNBC and MSNBC.
Each of those smaller companies is designed to have a degree of independence from the main corporation(NBC). This allows them to each chose what sets of rules to live by, which in effect gives NBC a pool of running experiments. Some will have desirable outcomes, and some will have undesirable outcomes.
MSNBC has different rules than CNBC, and for current evidence of that all you need to do is look at the suspension of Kieth Olberman from MSNBC. He was suspended for making donations against company policy to political groups. If CNBC had a similar rule, well Larry Kudlow would have been gone long ago for exactly the same thing.
What you see if the end result of the diversification inside NBC, from the customer side. And from that side, its probably annoying.
No. The eating of flesh, and drinking of blood is quite clearly literal.
The Catholic Church is quite clear in its belief structure when it comes to communion. The stale bread, and wine, it is believed by the followers(or should be, or they arent really catholic) that this REALLY becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus, that they then proceed to 'cannibalize' every Sunday.
Having grown up in the (flat) Midwest, one of my first drives through Nevada, I had a similar experience.
On finishing the upward part of climbing through a mountain pass, the road leveled off, and I was able to see the next town in front of me a short distance away. Well, I 'thought' it was a short distance away. The landscape was so wide open that my sense of distance was thrown completely off. After a few minutes, I began to wonder how far the town actually was, only to pass a road sign saying 'Nevada Town XYZ 19 miles'. The town was STILL almost 20 miles away, but my perception of it was that it was much closer.
In many states, mine included(IL), its not legal at all to drive in the left lane, unless you are passing, or in congested traffic. If you are the only car in the left lane, and have the ability to switch to the right lane, YOU are the one breaking the law. Some states will even ticket you if you are going the speed limit, in the left lane.
Based on most reports, its doesn't sound like Flash is watchable on Android.
It might be more accurate to just say "At least Android users have the choice to install Flash if they choose" and leave the playing content part off.
Most reports?
Flash works just fine on my Motorolla Android. Sites I've watched full length movies/videos
Comedy Central
PBS
cbs.com (they have all the twilight zone episodes online)
This was even over the cellular network, and not a wi-fi connection. There was some skipping within the first 5s on longer videos(over 20min), and I imagine this is from the buffering going on in the background. After than, it played smooth as silk
This linked article sounds like something that NetworkWorld would publish(garbage based on opinion/one users experience). Similar to that dig against the Droid they published last fall, claiming the battery was so horrible it only lasted a few minutes for the 'reporter' writing the piece.
Well, since all you are doing is complaining, yes I object.
You offer no detailed plan, you aren't even running yourself for any of these offices.
There ARE elected representatives that actually do know what they are doing, and would be a shining example of that rare specimen of 'statesman'. But since you are too ignorant to know about them, as they don't represent your backwoods bunker, might as well throw them out too?
Get a grip on reality, more specifically, that your personal experiences don't transfer to every other citizen of this country. Worry about your OWN elected officials, and stop overlaying your miserable experiences with others just because they are similar in that they are 'elected officials'.
I remember when I first noticed that effect myself a few years ago. Or at least what I think was that effect.
It happened early one morning when I woke up before sunrise. I suddenly noticed that the sky directly above me looked similar to how the bottom of a swimming pool looks on a sunny day, with ripples and patches moving all over the place.
It is easier for me to see it in the morning twilight when my eyes are usually fully dark adapted, as opposed to the evening when Im probably around brighter sources of light which would mask the effect.Although I have never seen a display nearly as strong as the first one I saw.
Im not 100% sure it is the same effect, but its the closest I have come to try to explain it.
Hows that for good timing! Right now, in my area, there are 250,000 people without power as I type this, except me.
MY neighbors who cant afford the same setup(not because they bought a new car on a whim, or other toys for themselves) know that they are welcome in my house anytime. One mother slept here last night with her younger child. There is a second fridge in my garage that is now holding perishable food from 4 other houses. Each person can come and go as they wish, since they all have keys to the place.
Many more will no doubt be over here this afternoon to enjoy the AC when the heat index gets up into the 100's. Each one of them is welcome, and like you said they will return the favor when they can. The power co. reports this morning that the repairs will take WEEKS to restore power to all customers. High temps are expected to be in the mid to upper 90's most of that time. Im sure my elderly neighbor would love your bbq, although Im sure she would much rather live through the next few weeks a little more than that. People DIE when its this hot outside(something you are probably unfamiliar with having lived a sheltered suburban life for so long).
Storms happen, yes. That's EXACTLY why this type of event is planned for, instead of going with the flow and just hoping everything will work out. Ill ask my neighbors if they think it was a 'waste of money' when they are over today. I'm sure they could use a chuckle during this experience.
More than a quarter of a million people without power, some for multiple weeks, is a little more widespread than your subdivision not having power because a truck hit a pole. You aren't going to be able to walk across the street to someone with power, or take a short drive to a nearby store with power in this case.
It amazes me you're so fucking wimpy that you think having your power out now and again is the end of the fucking world.
No, I said that all of those things are worth more to me than money, not that its the end of the world. But then again, a lot of stuff is worth more to me than money. That wimpy, end of the world concept, was your careful choice of words for whatever reason.
Up until the moment something unprecedented happens to you, by definition it's never happened before. You plan accordingly, based on the past. Like I stated above, a follower. Just like all your neighbors that you willingly admit 'were all doing the same thing'. Great plan you have there.
Yes, like I stated.... you now know what price you will sell out your freedom of choice for.
Money is the highest priority to you, so don't be surprised with the results that come along with that choice.
How much money is it worth to you to not have an a/c outage during a heat wave?
How much money is it worth to you to not have no lights for days at a time if there is a regional blackout in the grid like the NE USA experienced just a few years ago?
How much money is it worth to you to have refrigeration during extended power outages?
If having numbers in a bank account if worth more to you than all of those things, then that is exactly the choice you made. Let me know how it works out eating money during an extended power outage.
Or...
"Congratulations on being forward looking enough to supplement your homes power with solar and geothermal power. Feel free to use it however you want. The Smart PERSON"
Obviously your fear isn't well based in reality enough to motivate you to install solar power, geothermal, or wind power on your house to supply all or some of your energy needs, so there must be SOME other reason you are afraid of imaginary boogeymen. Right?
In all honesty, nothing amuses me more than watching someone who is not taking any responsibility for their own life get upset like this. Instead of seeing the obvious solution of being self-sustaining for yourself and taking the initiative to do it, you much prefer sitting back creating nonexistent situations that will upset you.
Oh but you will say its too expensive? Well, I guess you now have an actual number that you will sell out your 'freedom' for, which you were just speaking so highly of. Its your own compromise, so don't run around trying to blame anyone else for it.
Oops, you were looking for someone to enable and validate your victim-hood, weren't you?
Slashdot Mirror
it looks like they are really just going after the heavy filesharing crowd.
Well, I think they are about to find out how many of their customers are telecommuting for work as well. I find myself included in this, and I would hit this cap in about 20 days just for the data I have to move for work.
The 'going after pirates' line works just fine when you don't attach any real world activities to it, and just use it as a line. However, when something is actually implemented with this made up excuse, and lets face it it's made up, a large backlash of people are going to be calling AT&T and already be very upset that their ISP lumps them in with pirates. I was one of those customers today, and had to wait on hold for 1hr45min just to talk to someone. This is before the 'official' letters have even been sent out to customers. When I finally began asking questions about this, the AT&T rep asked if I had called in about this same issue already today, because this was the 3rd phone call this one rep had taken regarding this.
Coincidentally, when I called to file an informal complaint with my state regulators after my AT&T phone call, they also had a long wait. I was told that this was caused by a large spike in people filing reports against AT&T starting today, for exactly this same thing.
I spent almost 2 hours on the phone today trying to get answers from AT&T about this. I called them first earlier this morning to discuss an unrelated billing error they made, and there was 0 minute wait. During this second 2 hour plus phone call, over 1hr45min of it was 'waiting' to talk to someone. There seems to have been a MASSIVE response to this, in that the call centers simply could not handle the volume.
Before talking with them the second time today, I had called up Comcast to see what their comparable business rates are. I was informed that starting TODAY, Comcast was offering an incentive to ATT customers in my area who switched by the end of the month. Upon talking to ATT about this 'cap' they suddenly were calling it 'just a rumor' and that there was nothing official released by the company. I was also told that I COULD NOT switch my U-verse account to a business class U-verse account for the reasons I was describing to them. This, even though the terms I signed up for were that the service MUST match my previous ATT DSL service, which was business class with 5 static IPs and was not restricted by any caps. Suddenly the phone rep was telling me they 'did not know' if these rumors of caps would be in place, and that one of the reasons they would not switch my account to business class was they could not ensure such limits would not be put in place on the business service as well.
Oh, I also filed an informal complain with my states Commerce Commission against ATT. Informal complaints must be filed in my state first, then a formal complaint can be filed. Amazingly, THEIR contact number also had a large wait time today, which I was told was being caused by a spike in people filing reports for the exact same issue against ATT.
Between all of this, there sure seems to be a LOT of people getting very active about, MUCH more than the 2% they are claiming this will affect.
Oh, I easily use 350-400GB per month, just in the data I have to transfer due to my J.O.B. for those of you who cant understand why these caps are irritating so many people. 95% of the employees of the company I work for all work remotely, or from home. While this company may be at the high end of the scale of how many employees do this, I imagine AT&T has many telecommuters who work remotely who are literally exploding at this sudden change.
The response rate for people sending out messages to these 250,000 members has got to be zero
Not really. It doesn't take a genius to craft up some boilerplate emails to send out to people for an initial contact. An automated script could easily handle that.
And you have to keep in mind the human factor, that even with a few nibbles, someone on a dating site is more than likely going to have the mindset of 'Im sure the NEXT one will be it'... There's always a 'next one' after all. People tend to have a hard time realizing when they are being 'duped', and will usually not admit to themselves, therefore continuing their previous actions that landed them there in the first place.
The competition may be tougher than you think...
No, its not.
I've been on the site, and while I wont go into details about the 'quality' of some of the women I've met, I can tell you for sure that I have zero problem getting the initial contact. On average, I'd say about 5-6 a week come in from my local area, from me doing nothing at all.
Granted, the pool of quality women is JUST as limited as the pool of quality men available to a woman is. But then again, I'm picky.
In all fairness, did you check the power adapter for the DSL modem?
I had a similarly difficult problem to troubleshoot. The connection would drop at least that many times a day, if not more. Rebooting the modem seemed to fix it, even if temporary.
The DSL co ran numerous tests on the line, and found nothing wrong. Even hooking it up at the point of entry of the house, before house wiring did not fix the problem. I thought for the longest time, there HAD to be a problem with the line as well.
It turns out, that the STOCK power supplies with the modem, were not strong enough to power the actual modem. Increasing the mA about 15% by using another Power Converter fixed the problem, and it has been 100% since. Getting a new modem would not have solved the problem, as the stock power supply came with every one.
That sounds incredibly unbelievable and unrealistic.
The largest month saw 21GB of usage. And many months well over 10. During the colder months it is less. Not one single instance of 'illegal downloading' went over the network.
The offer was for unlimited data on the droid when I signed up in 2009. It was the only verizon phone to offer such a plan, as the rest were supposedly limited to 5GB/mo. In other words, it was unique to the initial android release on the verizon network. I signed up for the phone because that is exactly what I need. If you cant imagine how I could 'use that much', then its safe to assume your job is FAR less dependent on the benefits of cellular data technology than mine.
At no point did I expect any problems for using what I purchased, and at no time have I had any problems from verizon for it.
You did say 'just about everyone', but... My android phone with Verizon is unlimited data, and I regularly use around 7-8GB/mo with no charges.
The word you are looking for is 'hypothesis', not theories.
Not meant as a dig against you personally, but you probably grew up surrounded by people who do believe that myth, and it can be hard to realize that it really is just a story.
work experience matters more than a paper degree for most jobs in IT once you get beyond entry level.
And a few paragraphs later...
if I was trained in construction or plumbing or auto repair, I'd still have a job.
I'm s software dev as well, but Im also many other things within my company. I was smart enough to put an actual plan behind what you just described, instead of waiting for someone to blame for my inaction. The one thing you failed to mention, is that you dont have a job because you weren't valuable enough to keep around, compared to the alternative. If you cant compete, you go.
Work experience does matter more often than not, but you didn't seem to pick up any of that experience that you are talking about to make sure you positioned yourself internally in the company to keep your job. There are no worse people to work with, than those who feel they only need to do the minimum, especially in IT. It's for the best you are out of the field.
This seems to clearly be a case of one hand not knowing the other hand is doing.
Im going to go with its a case of CNBC and NBC having different internal rules as a result of the planned diversification that GE/NBC has been doing for over 25 years now.
Or in other words;
This parent comment seems to clearly be a case of someone not having the slightest idea of the organizational elements of a large corporation, and instead distilling it down to an incorrectly simplified idea.
Not odd at all.
NBC is the parent company, which has subsidiary companies below it; like CNBC and MSNBC.
Each of those smaller companies is designed to have a degree of independence from the main corporation(NBC). This allows them to each chose what sets of rules to live by, which in effect gives NBC a pool of running experiments. Some will have desirable outcomes, and some will have undesirable outcomes.
MSNBC has different rules than CNBC, and for current evidence of that all you need to do is look at the suspension of Kieth Olberman from MSNBC. He was suspended for making donations against company policy to political groups. If CNBC had a similar rule, well Larry Kudlow would have been gone long ago for exactly the same thing.
What you see if the end result of the diversification inside NBC, from the customer side. And from that side, its probably annoying.
As much as I love reading posts from people who overlay their limited life experience to EVERYONE, it's obvious you don't live in a 'no-fault' state.
No. The eating of flesh, and drinking of blood is quite clearly literal.
The Catholic Church is quite clear in its belief structure when it comes to communion. The stale bread, and wine, it is believed by the followers(or should be, or they arent really catholic) that this REALLY becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus, that they then proceed to 'cannibalize' every Sunday.
Eucharist
Of course the bible doesnt say so...
The scientific knowledge of the time wasn't even enough to understand that there were other planets, much less that the Earth was on of them.
What a silly argument you are making.
Having grown up in the (flat) Midwest, one of my first drives through Nevada, I had a similar experience.
On finishing the upward part of climbing through a mountain pass, the road leveled off, and I was able to see the next town in front of me a short distance away. Well, I 'thought' it was a short distance away. The landscape was so wide open that my sense of distance was thrown completely off. After a few minutes, I began to wonder how far the town actually was, only to pass a road sign saying 'Nevada Town XYZ 19 miles'. The town was STILL almost 20 miles away, but my perception of it was that it was much closer.
In many states, mine included(IL), its not legal at all to drive in the left lane, unless you are passing, or in congested traffic. If you are the only car in the left lane, and have the ability to switch to the right lane, YOU are the one breaking the law. Some states will even ticket you if you are going the speed limit, in the left lane.
"At the start of the summer, the Washington State Patrol began pulling people over for violating the state's left-lane law, which prohibits "impeding the flow of other traffic." http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourCar/left-lane-slowpokes-drive-you-crazy.aspx?vv=800
Based on most reports, its doesn't sound like Flash is watchable on Android. It might be more accurate to just say "At least Android users have the choice to install Flash if they choose" and leave the playing content part off.
Most reports?
Flash works just fine on my Motorolla Android. Sites I've watched full length movies/videos
PBS
cbs.com (they have all the twilight zone episodes online)
This was even over the cellular network, and not a wi-fi connection. There was some skipping within the first 5s on longer videos(over 20min), and I imagine this is from the buffering going on in the background. After than, it played smooth as silk
This linked article sounds like something that NetworkWorld would publish(garbage based on opinion/one users experience). Similar to that dig against the Droid they published last fall, claiming the battery was so horrible it only lasted a few minutes for the 'reporter' writing the piece.
Well, since all you are doing is complaining, yes I object.
You offer no detailed plan, you aren't even running yourself for any of these offices.
There ARE elected representatives that actually do know what they are doing, and would be a shining example of that rare specimen of 'statesman'. But since you are too ignorant to know about them, as they don't represent your backwoods bunker, might as well throw them out too?
Get a grip on reality, more specifically, that your personal experiences don't transfer to every other citizen of this country. Worry about your OWN elected officials, and stop overlaying your miserable experiences with others just because they are similar in that they are 'elected officials'.
I remember when I first noticed that effect myself a few years ago. Or at least what I think was that effect.
It happened early one morning when I woke up before sunrise. I suddenly noticed that the sky directly above me looked similar to how the bottom of a swimming pool looks on a sunny day, with ripples and patches moving all over the place.
It is easier for me to see it in the morning twilight when my eyes are usually fully dark adapted, as opposed to the evening when Im probably around brighter sources of light which would mask the effect.Although I have never seen a display nearly as strong as the first one I saw.
Im not 100% sure it is the same effect, but its the closest I have come to try to explain it.
Hows that for good timing! Right now, in my area, there are 250,000 people without power as I type this, except me.
MY neighbors who cant afford the same setup(not because they bought a new car on a whim, or other toys for themselves) know that they are welcome in my house anytime. One mother slept here last night with her younger child. There is a second fridge in my garage that is now holding perishable food from 4 other houses. Each person can come and go as they wish, since they all have keys to the place.
Many more will no doubt be over here this afternoon to enjoy the AC when the heat index gets up into the 100's. Each one of them is welcome, and like you said they will return the favor when they can. The power co. reports this morning that the repairs will take WEEKS to restore power to all customers. High temps are expected to be in the mid to upper 90's most of that time. Im sure my elderly neighbor would love your bbq, although Im sure she would much rather live through the next few weeks a little more than that. People DIE when its this hot outside(something you are probably unfamiliar with having lived a sheltered suburban life for so long).
Storms happen, yes. That's EXACTLY why this type of event is planned for, instead of going with the flow and just hoping everything will work out. Ill ask my neighbors if they think it was a 'waste of money' when they are over today. I'm sure they could use a chuckle during this experience.
More than a quarter of a million people without power, some for multiple weeks, is a little more widespread than your subdivision not having power because a truck hit a pole. You aren't going to be able to walk across the street to someone with power, or take a short drive to a nearby store with power in this case.
It is very much the reality for a lot of people, there is no doubt of that.
Do you think the GP is one of them?
It amazes me you're so fucking wimpy that you think having your power out now and again is the end of the fucking world.
No, I said that all of those things are worth more to me than money, not that its the end of the world. But then again, a lot of stuff is worth more to me than money. That wimpy, end of the world concept, was your careful choice of words for whatever reason.
Up until the moment something unprecedented happens to you, by definition it's never happened before. You plan accordingly, based on the past. Like I stated above, a follower. Just like all your neighbors that you willingly admit 'were all doing the same thing'. Great plan you have there.
Yes, like I stated.... you now know what price you will sell out your freedom of choice for.
Money is the highest priority to you, so don't be surprised with the results that come along with that choice.
How much money is it worth to you to not have an a/c outage during a heat wave?
How much money is it worth to you to not have no lights for days at a time if there is a regional blackout in the grid like the NE USA experienced just a few years ago?
How much money is it worth to you to have refrigeration during extended power outages?
If having numbers in a bank account if worth more to you than all of those things, then that is exactly the choice you made. Let me know how it works out eating money during an extended power outage.
Or... "Congratulations on being forward looking enough to supplement your homes power with solar and geothermal power. Feel free to use it however you want. The Smart PERSON"
You are afraid because you are a follower.
Obviously your fear isn't well based in reality enough to motivate you to install solar power, geothermal, or wind power on your house to supply all or some of your energy needs, so there must be SOME other reason you are afraid of imaginary boogeymen. Right?
In all honesty, nothing amuses me more than watching someone who is not taking any responsibility for their own life get upset like this. Instead of seeing the obvious solution of being self-sustaining for yourself and taking the initiative to do it, you much prefer sitting back creating nonexistent situations that will upset you.
Oh but you will say its too expensive? Well, I guess you now have an actual number that you will sell out your 'freedom' for, which you were just speaking so highly of. Its your own compromise, so don't run around trying to blame anyone else for it.
Oops, you were looking for someone to enable and validate your victim-hood, weren't you?