On the other hand, I default to believing that class action lawsuits are frivolous.
Enh.... I will go so far as to posit that many (perhaps most) class action lawsuits are frivolous. They seldom serve the consumer (that jeans lawsuit netted me 67 cents. yippie.) but sometimes serve to make ignoring real problems costly for the vendor, which I believe is a good thing.
Thanks. That was fascinating. (And somewhat gross.) I was aware that cowpox was used to create the vaccine, but there was a lot of things in the wiki that I did not know.
So the answer appears to be, yes, a new wave of mandatory smallpox vaccination would create a whole new generation of people with vaccine scars.
Back then, passenger pigeons were wiped out in part because they were being used for food for the indentured masses. I don't see that... happening... again... Wait.
I know I am going to get a bunch of people who tell me, "Idiocracy is not real dude.". But... If you continue to make life simple for the stupid they will in fact breed more. Being stupid is no longer a death sentence nor does it seem to hinder reproduction in the current society. So we are in fact getting stupider.
I understand that. The basic premise of idiocracy (which was a great movie) is that stupid people breed stupid people. I'm personally not convinced that stupidity is a genetic trait in that way. Or rather, that it would take many more generations than we've had since the invention of safety notices ("Warning: using this toaster in the bathtub voids your warranty. And may result in immediate death.") for natural selection to favor stupidity. (Or, rather, for natural selection to kill off the stupid significantly less often.)
I think it more likely that, at least over non-geological units of time, stupidity is environmental, a learned trait, rather than a gene transmitted by one or more parents.
So how would using a password-based system prevent the doctors from sharing their passwords with each other and continue slacking off?
Unique password dongle (like some companies use to grant vpn access) might help. Since only one at a time can exist for any particular doctor, it at least makes the logistics of covering for someone more difficult.
But I think the person who suggested colon terrain mapping has a good idea. It'd go something like this. "The first time we catch someone trying to game the system, we're switching to colon terrain mapping to grant access to the building. And if we're feeling really magnanimous, you just might get private rooms.
But as yet someone else said, then it becomes a social problem.
Read the wiki. You think you don't have enough pigeons... wait until the passenger pigeon starts breeding, with protected status. 3.5 billion (estimated) in one flock observed in 1866.
I was wondering about that. Wife and I both have smallpox vaccine scars, but we're in our fifties. I don't clearly remember the process, but have a dim memory that it was really intrusive. I wonder, would a new smallpox vaccine leave such a scar, or was that merely a product of the technology of the time?
For the next bird to bring back from extinction, I vote for Phorusrhacids.
I know you've already tried plugs, but try this. Go to a gun store or a well equipped department store. Buy a good set of plugs, the kind that form to your ears. *also* buy a set of earmuff style hearing protection as used by shooters. Wear the muffs over the plugs. Unless you get distracted by your own heartbeat or the sound of your tinnitus, that should do it for you.
Alternate solution: I have a pair of on-ear noise cancelling headphones. I observe that they work even when I'm not listening to music. That is, turn them on, and the surrounding noise is lessened. Although I haven't tried this, I'm suspecting that a good OVER-ear set might seriously reduce the ambient noise level.
(Don't overdo it until you get used to it. Heart attacks while trying to get healthy are embarrassing.) When I started jogging, I went around the block, and I was done. Every few days I'd add another block until I was doing five miles a day. That seemed to be good enough and I didn't try to push it any further. Then my knees gave out, so I walk now.
Take the stairs. Stretch in your office. Walk at lunch. Set your watch to beep on the hour, and when it beeps stop what you're doing, get up, stretch, and walk around the building. Get a dog, walk him when you get home. Try jogging with your dog on weekends. (Don't overdo it until youDo some sit-ups before getting in the shower in the morning. It's not a lot, but it's more than most do, and it'll help keep you alive.
Speaking of which, cross the streets carefully when you're walking the dog.
When it was time to upgrade the main workstation (a high end G4) Apple and Adobe were engaged in a pissing match, and as the CS suite was not negotiable, and I didn't know how that was going to play out, so I switched to Win7 on the front end and Red Hat for storage and web servers. Win7 does some annoying things but it doesn't go out of it's way to be cute, and at least at the moment, Microsoft is playing reasonably nice with Adobe.
The back end will probably stay on Linux (no reason to change -- it works well) but I have Win8 up on a spare laptop (taking advantage of the $69 introductory offer) and it stinks. It's not slow, in fact it's fairly responsive, but Microsoft has broken the desktop paradigm. If this is the future of Windows, I may have to switch back to Apple. And if Apple is trying to put IOS on the desktop, I'm not sure where to go. Maybe Linux with a Win7 virtual instance, for as long as the CS suite supports Win7. Hopefully at some point the major players will realize that a cell phone interface is not appropriate for a desktop machine, and "cute" != "useful". In the meantime, we just have to tough it out.
as opposed to just having the receptionist have a cabinet with the stuff who can hand it out? yeah. We did this same thing at Comcast 10 years ago, except instead of vending machines we used the receptionist at each office as the vending machine... worked great.
For Fudd only knows what reason, we put the receptionist at each floor in charge of supplies, but she is forbidden to stock phone headsets and computer peripherals. Lead time for these items are one to three weeks, a little longer for monitors. Good luck getting work done in the meantime.
Going through IT for every goofy little peripheral isn't terribly sensible(and IT generally doesn't love spending time being the supply cabinet); but I'd be curious to know whether the additional complexity and cost of the vending machines are sufficiently defrayed by the 'surveillance effect' and inventory tracking they provide.
'Just have a supply closet' is not a sexy strategy; but it sure is KISS-compliant.
No kidding. Especially when mice are like seven bucks in quantity. No inventory system will be cheaper than just giving the part away.
There's a similar system here. When a keyboard or mouse becomes nonfunctional, the user will replace the functional accessory in one of the conference rooms with the broken one. This gets the user back online immediately, and eventually someone will notice and put a replacement on order for the broken one in the conference room.
Of course that isn't at all the way the system is supposed to work. But Life Finds a Way. If you have an end-of-day deadline and the helpdesk insists on a one to three week lead time for common accessories, the only choices are (a) buy it yourself (which violates some kind of rule involving approved vendors, so you may get in trouble when you try to get reimbursed) or (b) scrounge it from somewhere.
Consoles in the computer room are zip-tied to the desk to discourage this kind of "borrowing".
The high tech vending machine idea is cute and I can see value in it, but the *real* finding here is that the company stocks commonly used peripherals. This is incredibly valuable to maintaining workflow, something that a lot of companies do not understand.
Slashdot Mirror
No kidding. It's not for nothing that the last aisle at Fry's (electronics store in the US) before checkout is the porn rack.
Well, yes. Exactly. That doesn't make it genetic, but it may give the appearance of passing on a stupid gene.
On the other hand, I default to believing that class action lawsuits are frivolous.
Enh.... I will go so far as to posit that many (perhaps most) class action lawsuits are frivolous. They seldom serve the consumer (that jeans lawsuit netted me 67 cents. yippie.) but sometimes serve to make ignoring real problems costly for the vendor, which I believe is a good thing.
LG was the manufacturer of the defective screen
They should sue LG instead of Apple
I am no apple fanbois, it's just that if the defective part came from LG, why not home in to the manufacturer, instead of the seller?
Not to take sides, but I think the answer is, because it's not the buyer's job to solve problems in the seller's supply chain.
Thanks. That was fascinating. (And somewhat gross.) I was aware that cowpox was used to create the vaccine, but there was a lot of things in the wiki that I did not know.
So the answer appears to be, yes, a new wave of mandatory smallpox vaccination would create a whole new generation of people with vaccine scars.
Back then, passenger pigeons were wiped out in part because they were being used for food for the indentured masses. I don't see that... happening... again... Wait.
("Soylent green is pigeons!")
People are still just as stupid as they've always been...
Switch off the mind and let the heart decide who you were meant to be (Windpower)
Switch off the mind and you exit the gene pool at the next intersection.
I know I am going to get a bunch of people who tell me, "Idiocracy is not real dude.". ...
But
If you continue to make life simple for the stupid they will in fact breed more. Being stupid is no longer a death sentence nor does it seem to hinder reproduction in the current society.
So we are in fact getting stupider.
I understand that. The basic premise of idiocracy (which was a great movie) is that stupid people breed stupid people. I'm personally not convinced that stupidity is a genetic trait in that way. Or rather, that it would take many more generations than we've had since the invention of safety notices ("Warning: using this toaster in the bathtub voids your warranty. And may result in immediate death.") for natural selection to favor stupidity. (Or, rather, for natural selection to kill off the stupid significantly less often.)
I think it more likely that, at least over non-geological units of time, stupidity is environmental, a learned trait, rather than a gene transmitted by one or more parents.
Which doesn't completely invalidate your point.
So how would using a password-based system prevent the doctors from sharing their passwords with each other and continue slacking off?
Unique password dongle (like some companies use to grant vpn access) might help. Since only one at a time can exist for any particular doctor, it at least makes the logistics of covering for someone more difficult.
But I think the person who suggested colon terrain mapping has a good idea. It'd go something like this. "The first time we catch someone trying to game the system, we're switching to colon terrain mapping to grant access to the building. And if we're feeling really magnanimous, you just might get private rooms.
But as yet someone else said, then it becomes a social problem.
There's medication for that...
Read the wiki. You think you don't have enough pigeons... wait until the passenger pigeon starts breeding, with protected status. 3.5 billion (estimated) in one flock observed in 1866.
I was wondering about that. Wife and I both have smallpox vaccine scars, but we're in our fifties. I don't clearly remember the process, but have a dim memory that it was really intrusive. I wonder, would a new smallpox vaccine leave such a scar, or was that merely a product of the technology of the time?
For the next bird to bring back from extinction, I vote for Phorusrhacids.
I was thinking, the Rocky Mountain Locust.
Then, after that, smallpox.
I know you've already tried plugs, but try this. Go to a gun store or a well equipped department store. Buy a good set of plugs, the kind that form to your ears. *also* buy a set of earmuff style hearing protection as used by shooters. Wear the muffs over the plugs. Unless you get distracted by your own heartbeat or the sound of your tinnitus, that should do it for you.
Alternate solution: I have a pair of on-ear noise cancelling headphones. I observe that they work even when I'm not listening to music. That is, turn them on, and the surrounding noise is lessened. Although I haven't tried this, I'm suspecting that a good OVER-ear set might seriously reduce the ambient noise level.
But the first solution is probably cheaper.
Like, duh! I strongly suspect the surprise is not that car manufacturers do this, but that they don't get caught more often.
But wait, does this mean if I strip the inside of the car and tape over gaps in the panels, I can get up to 50% increase in gas mileage? Hmm....
Was supposed to have been:
(Don't overdo it until you get used to it. Heart attacks while trying to get healthy are embarrassing.) When I started jogging, I went around the block, and I was done. Every few days I'd add another block until I was doing five miles a day. That seemed to be good enough and I didn't try to push it any further. Then my knees gave out, so I walk now.
Take the stairs. Stretch in your office. Walk at lunch. Set your watch to beep on the hour, and when it beeps stop what you're doing, get up, stretch, and walk around the building. Get a dog, walk him when you get home. Try jogging with your dog on weekends. (Don't overdo it until youDo some sit-ups before getting in the shower in the morning. It's not a lot, but it's more than most do, and it'll help keep you alive.
Speaking of which, cross the streets carefully when you're walking the dog.
When it was time to upgrade the main workstation (a high end G4) Apple and Adobe were engaged in a pissing match, and as the CS suite was not negotiable, and I didn't know how that was going to play out, so I switched to Win7 on the front end and Red Hat for storage and web servers. Win7 does some annoying things but it doesn't go out of it's way to be cute, and at least at the moment, Microsoft is playing reasonably nice with Adobe.
The back end will probably stay on Linux (no reason to change -- it works well) but I have Win8 up on a spare laptop (taking advantage of the $69 introductory offer) and it stinks. It's not slow, in fact it's fairly responsive, but Microsoft has broken the desktop paradigm. If this is the future of Windows, I may have to switch back to Apple. And if Apple is trying to put IOS on the desktop, I'm not sure where to go. Maybe Linux with a Win7 virtual instance, for as long as the CS suite supports Win7. Hopefully at some point the major players will realize that a cell phone interface is not appropriate for a desktop machine, and "cute" != "useful". In the meantime, we just have to tough it out.
I am neither republican nor democrat. What is my bias?
Is there any room at all in this discussion for "this is wrong, regardless of whether the President has an "R" or a "D" after his name"?
"Boss, my monitor has crapped out. Completely black."
"Ok, order another one online and I'll ok it."
"I'd love to, but I haven't yet mastered the art of navigating the intranet blindfolded."
as opposed to just having the receptionist have a cabinet with the stuff who can hand it out? yeah. We did this same thing at Comcast 10 years ago, except instead of vending machines we used the receptionist at each office as the vending machine... worked great.
For Fudd only knows what reason, we put the receptionist at each floor in charge of supplies, but she is forbidden to stock phone headsets and computer peripherals. Lead time for these items are one to three weeks, a little longer for monitors. Good luck getting work done in the meantime.
Going through IT for every goofy little peripheral isn't terribly sensible(and IT generally doesn't love spending time being the supply cabinet); but I'd be curious to know whether the additional complexity and cost of the vending machines are sufficiently defrayed by the 'surveillance effect' and inventory tracking they provide.
'Just have a supply closet' is not a sexy strategy; but it sure is KISS-compliant.
No kidding. Especially when mice are like seven bucks in quantity. No inventory system will be cheaper than just giving the part away.
There's a similar system here. When a keyboard or mouse becomes nonfunctional, the user will replace the functional accessory in one of the conference rooms with the broken one. This gets the user back online immediately, and eventually someone will notice and put a replacement on order for the broken one in the conference room.
Of course that isn't at all the way the system is supposed to work. But Life Finds a Way. If you have an end-of-day deadline and the helpdesk insists on a one to three week lead time for common accessories, the only choices are (a) buy it yourself (which violates some kind of rule involving approved vendors, so you may get in trouble when you try to get reimbursed) or (b) scrounge it from somewhere.
Consoles in the computer room are zip-tied to the desk to discourage this kind of "borrowing".
The high tech vending machine idea is cute and I can see value in it, but the *real* finding here is that the company stocks commonly used peripherals. This is incredibly valuable to maintaining workflow, something that a lot of companies do not understand.