Again. This is a $2500 car meant to replace scooters in developing countries. The Smart and the Trebant are meant to replace full sized vehicles.
If the car ends up with an increase in safety across the board for what it is replacing then what is the problem. Even if the safety isn't up to 1st world country standards. This is how the US built many industries. You think that the Wright brothers had collision detection and autopilot? How about the hundreds+ of guys in their garage that built experimental planes?
Imagine if some alien race prohibited the us from experimenting in this fashion because it wasn't up to their standards. But if we asked them for their technology, they charged full price?
Say there is a disease outbreak in some country. 90% mortality rate. The USA has an FDA stamped and approved cure, 100% success rate but it costs $500 a pill. A small company comes up with a cure that works only 50% of the time, meaning a good chunk of the population still dies AND it's not FDA approved because of a hundred reasons. But it costs $0.01. Who are we to come in and say "Nope can't use it. Not up to our standards. We have this nifty drug already that does that. But you can't afford it, but you can't use your drug either."
The USA and Europe were 'lucky' in the fact that they came first. Industrial Revolution would have never happened if some country was overseeing them putting stuff like pollution controls on everything.
Why is everyone comparing the safety of one of these to a well designed Benz? Everyone is slamming these things into walls at 70+ MPH and showing how everyone inside will be killed. What happens when you run into one of those barriers on a motorcycle? How about a bicycle? I see people voluntarily getting on those things on public motorways every single day (Although no bicycles at 70 MPH). Lets compare it to a motorcycle or what it's designed to replace.
One of these would be perfect vehicle for people living in NYC or Chicago. Especially if you have limited mobility and can't always walk 3-5 blocks to the nearest subway station. For those times that you're running late and need to go out to to a specific point B that isn't near any station. I'm sure you could easily make up the $2500 in Taxi Fees rather quickly plus the added cost of convenience.
So you get rear ended at 30 MPH in downtown Chicago. As long as the thing doesn't explode and the crumple zones are adequate at 30 MPH to let you walk away you're better off than if you were on a motorcycle or one of those little scooters I see around anyway. Anyone ever hit a bicycle at 30 MPH and see what it does? Plus you'd be better off in the rain/snow and may actually arrive at your destination dry.
I say make it a trike and have it imported as a Motorcycle, it'd sell perfectly well here in certain locales.
Sexuality is not protected? Where are you living? It's not in the federal books but it's in most states rule book:
* Race - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Ethnicity
* Religion or sect - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Color - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* National origin - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Age (40 and over) - Federal: Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
* Sex - Federal: Equal Pay Act of 1963 & Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Familial status (Housing, cannot discriminate for having children, exception for senior housing)
* Sexual orientation (in some jurisdictions and not in others)
* Disability status - Federal: Vocational Rehabilitation and Other Rehabilitation Services of 1973 & Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
* Veteran status - Federal Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974
* Political affiliation -- In "Sex Ed" at work we also learned that "Other" is also a valid protected class in California. If someone could produce a reasonable case that Baldness was being discriminated against, they could sue in Cali. Where you can find 2+ people that can be classified by "Other" and they're convinced they are being discriminated against, you're in trouble.
I love the Apple store. I haven't been to one that wasn't packed. Does make me ticked that I sold at 90$.
My favorite game is "Stump the Genius." I'm not too old and I fit the young/hip demographic of the "New" class of Mac users, but I've been using them since I could crawl. The best is breaking out the Terminal and trying to do something:)
Depending on how vertically integrated the Chassis OEM is, it may be more than a generator. Sometimes the coolant is used as the heating fluid in the cab. Yes they are just generators mostly, but that's what the industry decided to call them. Because the 15L engine is the "Main Power Unit" this is the "Auxilary Power Unit"
California for 2009 has enacted STRICT Anti-Idling laws. Any more than 15 minutes idling and not in traffic, the engine must shut down. (Written into the engine software so the driver can't try to bypass it).
Back when fuel was cheap, 0.2 gallon per hour or what ever to idle was nothing. So no one cared. Drivers didn't care because the company was paying for the fuel. Now 1 or 2 gallons saved a day per 1000 trucks is big money.
"Walmart is large, but it is horribly inefficient"
I hate my local Walmart as much as the next guy. And individual stores may be inefficient or suck. But the corporation as a whole is extremely efficient. I work in the trucking industry. Walmart is one of the companies that can afford to spend $1000 on an experimental MPG increaser. Whether it be APUs for the trucks, side skirts for the trailers, single tire rears, etc. If engine company X can provide.1 MPG extra per year on average, that's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for Walmart.
They forced use of APUs on ALL trucks after doing a trial run. At a trucking conference they presented their savings broke even at 16 months. Now a ton of other companies are following their lead.
I thought I read on/. that they're going to RFID. As soon as Walmart forces RFID, maybe we'll see it everywhere. UPC is nice but old.
I don't have a lot of nice things to say about walmart, but that they're inefficient isn't one of them.
I think the GP isn't talking about suburbs but the actual city. We're talking full blown cities. I have friends who live in and around Chicago. They walk or take public transportation everywhere. Their local deli, the local grocery store. Have maybe 15 parking spots total. Walmart doesn't fit into this 'life style' You don't have 5 acres to put a 800 spot parking lot and a huge store. City dwellers are happy not having to drive anywhere.
In the suburbs, you have a huge sub division with cookie cutter houses and 2.5 children per house. No public transportation nothing. If you have to drive somewhere, you're probably going to want to drive one place rather than 100. This is where walmart is thriving. As population density drops it makes more sense.
And yes, Chicago hates "Big box stores" because they're not union. Target, Meijer, Walmart, etc. They're all non-union and I don't think a single one is within City limits (there wasn't last time I checked).
Yes. I do. And I didn't say ddos it. If I send out a whois every second for a month, I'll probably get banned from doing a whois. Some idiot might have registered 2,592,000 domains, but no one is going to take notice.
Now say I spread that request out so that one computer is doing a whois per month but still the same total. Less likely to get banned and I could probably up that to 2-3 per day and still be safe.
If you DDoS the entire thing, you're done. NO ONE can do anything their scripts will be useless they're just going to chalk it up to a DDoS and go on. However if you load it up to 90% of capacity then these automated "take a whois and register it" scripts will be registering everything possible. If you get enough computers loading the system so that everything is being registered someone is going to notice it.
Or do you spend $250M a year. "Improve the quality of life" for a few hundred people. Then turn the other $250M as profit for your share holders.
Not that the government is any better, but a "For Profit" company trying to please both shareholders AND help people just is beyond my realm of belief.
"but isn't medical insurance cover up to a certain limit of dollar value".
No, at least that's not how my insurance works with my company in the US. Your country or your plan may vary by location.
We have 3 plans each have different cost,deductibles, MooP (maximum out of pocket) and coverage % (and lots of other numbers but for simplicity)
For the sake of argument lets use whole numbers: Cost: $7/month (Subsidized by my employer) Deductable: $1000 MooP: $10,000 Coverage %: 90%
So for the first $1000, I'm on my own. ER, Dentist, Surgery. The first $1000 per year, no matter what, comes out of my pocket.
Once I hit that $1k mark then it switches over to the Coverage %. So I visit the ER twice (Yes, ERs cost a ton.[0]). I hit $1000 exactly.
So I go back to get a procedure done it costs exactly $1000. The insurance company picks up $900 and I owe $100.
So now my current Out of Pocket is $1100.
Now say I have cancer or something worse. My dad's cancer treatments PER BAG are in the $6k range, but lets say we get the good stuff and it's $10k. So I owe $1k. Well say I get 3-4 bags. So now I'm up to my $4k MooP. Everything from there forward is 'free'. Insurance picks up the entire rest of the bill.
So in cases of "expensive" insurance, at least my company HAS to pick up the bill. And in the case of the $6k chemo treatment, after a bag or two it becomes the insurance bean counter's problem to remedy the expenditure of money. Maybe they switch to a $3k bag (Even if that other drug is only 'improves quality of life' and doesn't cure anything). My dad is still out $4000 per year (MooP) but the insurance company may have saved itself $15k. This adds up between users. And the best part about being a public company is that they try to make share holders happy. Meaning if each 'quarter' they only make 5 million$ that's good. But the industry would flip a lid if they made $0 a quarter (but cured everyone) and then made $8M the next quarter because well everyone was cured. Damn it, don't you see the numbers. 10>8. Never mind that they could have made $10M and kept everyone sick or made $8M and cured everyone.
So there's a sweet spot for insurance companies that is just below the Deductible. Below that you pay them to cover you but they don't have to pay anything out. Even better, the Deductible doesn't reset on a "Per incident" it resets "Per year".
So it's Dec 31 and I'm playing touch american football with my friends in the snow. I manage to break my leg. I get rushed to the ER. I pay $800 and get it taken care of. 2 days later I find out I need a metal splint or some other procedure. Well Jan 1 just rolled over so my Deductible resets. I'm out $1600 in 2 days and the insurance company doesn't owe a thing. I wouldn't mind them going "Oh, well this is from that incident you already met the deductible on, we'll cover the extra, etc.
[0]. ERs are an enormous rip off. You get charged twice. Once for 'use of the facility' then the doctor charges you (Often they aren't the same group). Then all of the 'usables' For example I refused a pair of crutches because I knew they would be expensive, they just so happened to 'forget' about it until I asked them an itemized bill and insisted that I didn't get crutches.
Crutches from ER: $150 Crutches, brand new, from any pharmacy: $30-40 Used Crutches from Thrift Store: $6, actually they were 50% off, $3.
I have 2 pair of crutches now, one that I make sure to take to every single rugby game I play at, because its' rugby. If I give them to a teammate or anyone else that's injured I just saved them $150 at the ER
And the users that know what that symbol means, probably won't buy it.
How many times has Mom, Grandma, Uncle John bought that game "becuse it looked so fun" and then you had to explain to them you had a {Wii,360,PS3,DS} and the game they bought you was for the {Wii,360,PS3,DS}. I've heard stories of people getting offended at their Christmas present being returned. Even if it was just exchanged for THE EXACT SAME GAME on the popper platform.
Please, describe to me how you're going to explain to Grandma that Brain Age won't work on your 360 and you have to return it.
I'd actually consider this a 'good' use for a bot net. Let every single one randomly generate a string. Base it off of gpw so that they look like actual words. I'd like to see if their scripts can keep up. Maybe it'll show that something is actually broken in the system.
Because I count all of the credit card industry and voodoo. When credit card companies 'check' to see if you have a valid number they usually put a hold on $1 (sometimes more). Then they charge the full amount. So there you're already looking at +1, but some retailers will do it twice or sometimes it's $2. Those charges never show up on your bill because they were never pushed, but they're 'held' so that they can't be used.
Once a card is used, it can *only* be used by that retailer and for a limited time (default time is the next month).
So if I went and created a virtual card today it would expire 1/2008. So that gives a thief exactly 3 days to steal their $7, they'd also have to figure out how to charge it from that retailer.
Plus if more is charged, I can STILL dispute that $7. But a $7 buffer is enough for me to not get harassed because the number didn't go through. Plus given the % of cards actually stolen and those extra checks... I really don't worry about it much.
How is it any different than PayPal? It's money, it's easy to take and leave. PayPal is Damn slow when it comes to account recovery. Set up 2-3 paypal accounts. Bounce the money around. "Buy" and "Sell" some things on ebay. Go through Tor. Dump it into an account and walk out the door with the money. All you need to become "Verified" is a routing number and an account number.
If you don't pay with credit card in Paypal, you have no 'charge back' option.
And if I decide to scam you with paypal how is it any different?
All I need to open an Emigrant Direct account is a few numbers (which probably aren't hard to come by). I can link the paypal account to the emigrant direct account then flush it out from there.
Congratulations, so ebay knows you've paid. If the money isn't in the account, it's gone. Kiss it good by. Ask me how my Shiny new G5 tower is that I never got. I went through PayPal I was young and dumb. I got the stamp of approval of a "protected" auction.
I'm now short $2k and a G5. Nothing seemed to good to be true... PayPal was thankfully able to recover $200 out of the account.
I wouldn't use "No PayPal" as an immediate red flag. I Put "No Paypal" in all my auctions. I detest them they're holding $800 of my money hostage because somebody I sold something to paid with money that he got from someone else that was 'stolen'. Their fraud detection is a scam and I honestly can't see why anyone uses them.
What I do put is that I accept "Credit Cards" and then if the person wants to pay with CC I just send them an invoice via Google Checkout. I don't put GC directly in the auction because eBay is protecting us from the big evil Google. - So your entire story boils down to: Won Auction Paid for auction. Forgot to sign the check. Signed check. Got goods?
I don't have a problem sending a money order to "John Smith in Michigan," I'm not going to send a check to "Ntonenth Nhontan, Nigeria." There's common sense and then there's being hyper paranoid about everything. PayPal wouldn't help you much in either situation. They'd send you a nice "We tried to recover your funds but the guy only had $10 in his account. Here's $10 of your $500 back. Thank you for using Pay Pal"
Some people don't like paypal, some people actually prefer checks and money orders. It's how I do most of my business on ebay with only 50% wanting to do Credit Cards.
Same thing, except 'buyer' was in Indiana and the Shipping was to AZ.
I got a message about one of my auctions "Do you accept credit card, I wish to purchase all of your units."
I play along and within a few hours I get all the credit card info via e-mail: "Here is my credit card information: John Smith -------- Crown Point, IN (Cc#) (#Exp) (#phone)
Please ship to Bob Jones --- Phoenix, AZ"
The FIRST thing I did was look up the phone number sure enough, it belonged to John Smith. So I called him and let him know to cancel his card, it had been stolen. Left a voice message on both his cell and home phone.
I debated sending a cinder block via COD but I got lazy.
The only thing that did tick me off is I didn't even get a thank you from John. Nothing. - I would also suggest a credit card company that lets you create 'virtual' credit cards. Citibank does so for every online transaction I set a $ amount limit and the card automatically expires the next month. The # is one time use only so if anyone tries to use it again or the merchant tries to charge more $, it gets denied.
If I buy a $23.43 widget from Widget Co, I create a new Card for $30, use it once. And then it's done. The only time I ever use my Real Number is in physical form.
Sex tours? I thought I read a story about Americans being arrested for going on "Sex tours" of the far east where sex with 12-15 year olds was "Common" (or maybe that's just evil internet rumor).
And I'm sure they pick and choose their battles too. If they had hard proof, they might be able to be prosecuted.
That's ok. That's how I usually spot them everywhere in Illinois.
I would, however, suggest reading "How to Lie with Statistics." If I sent out an anonymous survey to all readers of "Popular Mechanics" asking about which types of makeup they prefer to use, I might get a weighted result.
In the same manner, there is only a certain subset of our country that can afford to take X days off, fly to Europe and have holiday. Most of them probably got there one of two ways: They were born rich with a sense of self entitlement (Paris Hilton) or they are very demanding, pushy and excellent for management material.
It's like "Gaydar", sure you can pick out every single 'flaming' homosexual that talks with a lisp wears pink and flips his wrist. But what about the one sitting next to you, minding his own business who doesn't?
I'd be interested in what your success rate is. Maybe you can spot 95% of the "Americans" maybe you can only spot 2%. And in any culture given any number of people I would say reasonably 2% are annoying, rude, self centered and demanding.
Don't worry, we're embarrassed of those people too.
'One function per file' was solved a little while ago. I don't exactly remember what version it was, but I've been putting multiple functions in a single m file for a few years.
Second, I hate doing it because it goes against lots of many simple functions. When ever I start a new project I try and make numerous tiny scripts which are generic. Turns out I have started to reuse all my old code with out having to resort to copy and paste.
100 seats of concurrent licensing at the 50 toolbox level would be about $100,000; for the 250 seat level, about $300,000. The site license will be less than half the cost of the 100 seat level.
From Yahoo Answers: "List price for the base MATLAB {commercial, single user License} is $1900.00/us. "
15k can get you some pretty shiny toolboxes for someone that doesn't use it that much.
Matlab is short for MATrix LABoratory. There's a reason it sucks for loops and is slow. It's not what it was designed for. It'd probably be cheaper yet to hire an engineer that knew how to vectorize stuff.
I was young and stupid once. I thought the Way was with for loops. Then I started to run into bad stuff. I ran profiler on a few of my scripts and found that loops suck.
Say I have to find something with a hundred thousand or so data points. (We have.MAT files into the GBs).
Say I need to find a certain condition, there are 2 ways.
for i=1:length(var)
if 100060&rpm60 if rpm1200 if clutch==1 coasting(j)=time(i); j=j+1; end end end end
I've called them with a fairly high level support problem. I got patched directly through to an engineer and within 7 hours (we had been pounding our heads against the wall for a week) we had a solution.
I've heard numerous other stories of similar fate (which is where I got the idea to call).
While Octave is fine for supporting *most* of the features of Matlab. There is a segment of the market that Octave is never going to touch. Simulink, most of the extra toolboxes, direct from Simulink to ECM Flash software. Some of the high level Power Sim blocks, hardware in the loop stuff (From dSpace). "Matlab" is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mathworks software. We even have people writing S-Functions, I'm picking up MEX to speed up some data routines.
I live and breathe on Matlab and for most of the stuff I do, Octave won't touch it. For 'us' Octave will never be competitive.
Slashdot Mirror
Again. This is a $2500 car meant to replace scooters in developing countries. The Smart and the Trebant are meant to replace full sized vehicles.
If the car ends up with an increase in safety across the board for what it is replacing then what is the problem. Even if the safety isn't up to 1st world country standards. This is how the US built many industries. You think that the Wright brothers had collision detection and autopilot? How about the hundreds+ of guys in their garage that built experimental planes?
Imagine if some alien race prohibited the us from experimenting in this fashion because it wasn't up to their standards. But if we asked them for their technology, they charged full price?
Say there is a disease outbreak in some country. 90% mortality rate. The USA has an FDA stamped and approved cure, 100% success rate but it costs $500 a pill. A small company comes up with a cure that works only 50% of the time, meaning a good chunk of the population still dies AND it's not FDA approved because of a hundred reasons. But it costs $0.01. Who are we to come in and say "Nope can't use it. Not up to our standards. We have this nifty drug already that does that. But you can't afford it, but you can't use your drug either."
The USA and Europe were 'lucky' in the fact that they came first. Industrial Revolution would have never happened if some country was overseeing them putting stuff like pollution controls on everything.
You have to start somewhere.
Why is everyone comparing the safety of one of these to a well designed Benz? Everyone is slamming these things into walls at 70+ MPH and showing how everyone inside will be killed. What happens when you run into one of those barriers on a motorcycle? How about a bicycle? I see people voluntarily getting on those things on public motorways every single day (Although no bicycles at 70 MPH). Lets compare it to a motorcycle or what it's designed to replace.
One of these would be perfect vehicle for people living in NYC or Chicago. Especially if you have limited mobility and can't always walk 3-5 blocks to the nearest subway station. For those times that you're running late and need to go out to to a specific point B that isn't near any station. I'm sure you could easily make up the $2500 in Taxi Fees rather quickly plus the added cost of convenience.
So you get rear ended at 30 MPH in downtown Chicago. As long as the thing doesn't explode and the crumple zones are adequate at 30 MPH to let you walk away you're better off than if you were on a motorcycle or one of those little scooters I see around anyway. Anyone ever hit a bicycle at 30 MPH and see what it does? Plus you'd be better off in the rain/snow and may actually arrive at your destination dry.
I say make it a trike and have it imported as a Motorcycle, it'd sell perfectly well here in certain locales.
Sexuality is not protected? Where are you living? It's not in the federal books but it's in most states rule book:
* Race - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Ethnicity
* Religion or sect - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Color - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* National origin - Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Age (40 and over) - Federal: Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
* Sex - Federal: Equal Pay Act of 1963 & Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Familial status (Housing, cannot discriminate for having children, exception for senior housing)
* Sexual orientation (in some jurisdictions and not in others)
* Disability status - Federal: Vocational Rehabilitation and Other Rehabilitation Services of 1973 & Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
* Veteran status - Federal Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974
* Political affiliation
--
In "Sex Ed" at work we also learned that "Other" is also a valid protected class in California. If someone could produce a reasonable case that Baldness was being discriminated against, they could sue in Cali. Where you can find 2+ people that can be classified by "Other" and they're convinced they are being discriminated against, you're in trouble.
One to One is $99 a year: http://www.apple.com/retail/onetoone/
:)
More general workshops are free: http://www.apple.com/retail/workshops/
I love the Apple store. I haven't been to one that wasn't packed. Does make me ticked that I sold at 90$.
My favorite game is "Stump the Genius." I'm not too old and I fit the young/hip demographic of the "New" class of Mac users, but I've been using them since I could crawl. The best is breaking out the Terminal and trying to do something
Yes. Auxillary Power Units.
Depending on how vertically integrated the Chassis OEM is, it may be more than a generator. Sometimes the coolant is used as the heating fluid in the cab. Yes they are just generators mostly, but that's what the industry decided to call them. Because the 15L engine is the "Main Power Unit" this is the "Auxilary Power Unit"
California for 2009 has enacted STRICT Anti-Idling laws. Any more than 15 minutes idling and not in traffic, the engine must shut down. (Written into the engine software so the driver can't try to bypass it).
Back when fuel was cheap, 0.2 gallon per hour or what ever to idle was nothing. So no one cared. Drivers didn't care because the company was paying for the fuel. Now 1 or 2 gallons saved a day per 1000 trucks is big money.
"Walmart is large, but it is horribly inefficient"
.1 MPG extra per year on average, that's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for Walmart.
/. that they're going to RFID. As soon as Walmart forces RFID, maybe we'll see it everywhere. UPC is nice but old.
I hate my local Walmart as much as the next guy. And individual stores may be inefficient or suck. But the corporation as a whole is extremely efficient. I work in the trucking industry. Walmart is one of the companies that can afford to spend $1000 on an experimental MPG increaser. Whether it be APUs for the trucks, side skirts for the trailers, single tire rears, etc. If engine company X can provide
They forced use of APUs on ALL trucks after doing a trial run. At a trucking conference they presented their savings broke even at 16 months. Now a ton of other companies are following their lead.
I thought I read on
I don't have a lot of nice things to say about walmart, but that they're inefficient isn't one of them.
I think the GP isn't talking about suburbs but the actual city. We're talking full blown cities. I have friends who live in and around Chicago. They walk or take public transportation everywhere. Their local deli, the local grocery store. Have maybe 15 parking spots total. Walmart doesn't fit into this 'life style' You don't have 5 acres to put a 800 spot parking lot and a huge store. City dwellers are happy not having to drive anywhere.
In the suburbs, you have a huge sub division with cookie cutter houses and 2.5 children per house. No public transportation nothing. If you have to drive somewhere, you're probably going to want to drive one place rather than 100. This is where walmart is thriving. As population density drops it makes more sense.
And yes, Chicago hates "Big box stores" because they're not union. Target, Meijer, Walmart, etc. They're all non-union and I don't think a single one is within City limits (there wasn't last time I checked).
Yes. I do. And I didn't say ddos it. If I send out a whois every second for a month, I'll probably get banned from doing a whois. Some idiot might have registered 2,592,000 domains, but no one is going to take notice.
Now say I spread that request out so that one computer is doing a whois per month but still the same total. Less likely to get banned and I could probably up that to 2-3 per day and still be safe.
If you DDoS the entire thing, you're done. NO ONE can do anything their scripts will be useless they're just going to chalk it up to a DDoS and go on. However if you load it up to 90% of capacity then these automated "take a whois and register it" scripts will be registering everything possible. If you get enough computers loading the system so that everything is being registered someone is going to notice it.
Or do you spend $250M a year. "Improve the quality of life" for a few hundred people. Then turn the other $250M as profit for your share holders.
Not that the government is any better, but a "For Profit" company trying to please both shareholders AND help people just is beyond my realm of belief.
"but isn't medical insurance cover up to a certain limit of dollar value".
No, at least that's not how my insurance works with my company in the US. Your country or your plan may vary by location.
We have 3 plans each have different cost,deductibles, MooP (maximum out of pocket) and coverage % (and lots of other numbers but for simplicity)
For the sake of argument lets use whole numbers:
Cost: $7/month (Subsidized by my employer)
Deductable: $1000
MooP: $10,000
Coverage %: 90%
So for the first $1000, I'm on my own. ER, Dentist, Surgery. The first $1000 per year, no matter what, comes out of my pocket.
Once I hit that $1k mark then it switches over to the Coverage %. So I visit the ER twice (Yes, ERs cost a ton.[0]). I hit $1000 exactly.
So I go back to get a procedure done it costs exactly $1000. The insurance company picks up $900 and I owe $100.
So now my current Out of Pocket is $1100.
Now say I have cancer or something worse. My dad's cancer treatments PER BAG are in the $6k range, but lets say we get the good stuff and it's $10k. So I owe $1k. Well say I get 3-4 bags. So now I'm up to my $4k MooP. Everything from there forward is 'free'. Insurance picks up the entire rest of the bill.
So in cases of "expensive" insurance, at least my company HAS to pick up the bill. And in the case of the $6k chemo treatment, after a bag or two it becomes the insurance bean counter's problem to remedy the expenditure of money. Maybe they switch to a $3k bag (Even if that other drug is only 'improves quality of life' and doesn't cure anything). My dad is still out $4000 per year (MooP) but the insurance company may have saved itself $15k. This adds up between users. And the best part about being a public company is that they try to make share holders happy. Meaning if each 'quarter' they only make 5 million$ that's good. But the industry would flip a lid if they made $0 a quarter (but cured everyone) and then made $8M the next quarter because well everyone was cured. Damn it, don't you see the numbers. 10>8. Never mind that they could have made $10M and kept everyone sick or made $8M and cured everyone.
So there's a sweet spot for insurance companies that is just below the Deductible. Below that you pay them to cover you but they don't have to pay anything out. Even better, the Deductible doesn't reset on a "Per incident" it resets "Per year".
So it's Dec 31 and I'm playing touch american football with my friends in the snow. I manage to break my leg. I get rushed to the ER. I pay $800 and get it taken care of. 2 days later I find out I need a metal splint or some other procedure. Well Jan 1 just rolled over so my Deductible resets. I'm out $1600 in 2 days and the insurance company doesn't owe a thing. I wouldn't mind them going "Oh, well this is from that incident you already met the deductible on, we'll cover the extra, etc.
[0]. ERs are an enormous rip off. You get charged twice. Once for 'use of the facility' then the doctor charges you (Often they aren't the same group). Then all of the 'usables' For example I refused a pair of crutches because I knew they would be expensive, they just so happened to 'forget' about it until I asked them an itemized bill and insisted that I didn't get crutches.
Crutches from ER: $150
Crutches, brand new, from any pharmacy: $30-40
Used Crutches from Thrift Store: $6, actually they were 50% off, $3.
I have 2 pair of crutches now, one that I make sure to take to every single rugby game I play at, because its' rugby. If I give them to a teammate or anyone else that's injured I just saved them $150 at the ER
And the users that know what that symbol means, probably won't buy it.
How many times has Mom, Grandma, Uncle John bought that game "becuse it looked so fun" and then you had to explain to them you had a {Wii,360,PS3,DS} and the game they bought you was for the {Wii,360,PS3,DS}. I've heard stories of people getting offended at their Christmas present being returned. Even if it was just exchanged for THE EXACT SAME GAME on the popper platform.
Please, describe to me how you're going to explain to Grandma that Brain Age won't work on your 360 and you have to return it.
Anyone know what Storm costs for an hour of use?
I'd actually consider this a 'good' use for a bot net. Let every single one randomly generate a string. Base it off of gpw so that they look like actual words. I'd like to see if their scripts can keep up. Maybe it'll show that something is actually broken in the system.
Because I count all of the credit card industry and voodoo. When credit card companies 'check' to see if you have a valid number they usually put a hold on $1 (sometimes more). Then they charge the full amount. So there you're already looking at +1, but some retailers will do it twice or sometimes it's $2. Those charges never show up on your bill because they were never pushed, but they're 'held' so that they can't be used.
Once a card is used, it can *only* be used by that retailer and for a limited time (default time is the next month).
So if I went and created a virtual card today it would expire 1/2008. So that gives a thief exactly 3 days to steal their $7, they'd also have to figure out how to charge it from that retailer.
Plus if more is charged, I can STILL dispute that $7. But a $7 buffer is enough for me to not get harassed because the number didn't go through. Plus given the % of cards actually stolen and those extra checks... I really don't worry about it much.
a) I got $200 out of $2000 back.... Sorry but that doesn't cut it in my book.
How is it any different than PayPal? It's money, it's easy to take and leave. PayPal is Damn slow when it comes to account recovery. Set up 2-3 paypal accounts. Bounce the money around. "Buy" and "Sell" some things on ebay. Go through Tor. Dump it into an account and walk out the door with the money. All you need to become "Verified" is a routing number and an account number.
If you don't pay with credit card in Paypal, you have no 'charge back' option.
And if I decide to scam you with paypal how is it any different?
All I need to open an Emigrant Direct account is a few numbers (which probably aren't hard to come by). I can link the paypal account to the emigrant direct account then flush it out from there.
Congratulations, so ebay knows you've paid. If the money isn't in the account, it's gone. Kiss it good by. Ask me how my Shiny new G5 tower is that I never got. I went through PayPal I was young and dumb. I got the stamp of approval of a "protected" auction.
I'm now short $2k and a G5. Nothing seemed to good to be true... PayPal was thankfully able to recover $200 out of the account.
Thanks PayPal!
I wouldn't use "No PayPal" as an immediate red flag. I Put "No Paypal" in all my auctions. I detest them they're holding $800 of my money hostage because somebody I sold something to paid with money that he got from someone else that was 'stolen'. Their fraud detection is a scam and I honestly can't see why anyone uses them.
What I do put is that I accept "Credit Cards" and then if the person wants to pay with CC I just send them an invoice via Google Checkout. I don't put GC directly in the auction because eBay is protecting us from the big evil Google.
-
So your entire story boils down to:
Won Auction
Paid for auction. Forgot to sign the check. Signed check.
Got goods?
I don't have a problem sending a money order to "John Smith in Michigan," I'm not going to send a check to "Ntonenth Nhontan, Nigeria." There's common sense and then there's being hyper paranoid about everything. PayPal wouldn't help you much in either situation. They'd send you a nice "We tried to recover your funds but the guy only had $10 in his account. Here's $10 of your $500 back. Thank you for using Pay Pal"
Some people don't like paypal, some people actually prefer checks and money orders. It's how I do most of my business on ebay with only 50% wanting to do Credit Cards.
Same thing, except 'buyer' was in Indiana and the Shipping was to AZ.
I got a message about one of my auctions "Do you accept credit card, I wish to purchase all of your units."
I play along and within a few hours I get all the credit card info via e-mail:
"Here is my credit card information:
John Smith
--------
Crown Point, IN
(Cc#) (#Exp)
(#phone)
Please ship to Bob Jones
---
Phoenix, AZ"
The FIRST thing I did was look up the phone number sure enough, it belonged to John Smith. So I called him and let him know to cancel his card, it had been stolen. Left a voice message on both his cell and home phone.
I debated sending a cinder block via COD but I got lazy.
The only thing that did tick me off is I didn't even get a thank you from John. Nothing.
-
I would also suggest a credit card company that lets you create 'virtual' credit cards. Citibank does so for every online transaction I set a $ amount limit and the card automatically expires the next month. The # is one time use only so if anyone tries to use it again or the merchant tries to charge more $, it gets denied.
If I buy a $23.43 widget from Widget Co, I create a new Card for $30, use it once. And then it's done. The only time I ever use my Real Number is in physical form.
Sex tours? I thought I read a story about Americans being arrested for going on "Sex tours" of the far east where sex with 12-15 year olds was "Common" (or maybe that's just evil internet rumor).
And I'm sure they pick and choose their battles too. If they had hard proof, they might be able to be prosecuted.
That's ok. That's how I usually spot them everywhere in Illinois.
I would, however, suggest reading "How to Lie with Statistics." If I sent out an anonymous survey to all readers of "Popular Mechanics" asking about which types of makeup they prefer to use, I might get a weighted result.
In the same manner, there is only a certain subset of our country that can afford to take X days off, fly to Europe and have holiday. Most of them probably got there one of two ways: They were born rich with a sense of self entitlement (Paris Hilton) or they are very demanding, pushy and excellent for management material.
It's like "Gaydar", sure you can pick out every single 'flaming' homosexual that talks with a lisp wears pink and flips his wrist. But what about the one sitting next to you, minding his own business who doesn't?
I'd be interested in what your success rate is. Maybe you can spot 95% of the "Americans" maybe you can only spot 2%. And in any culture given any number of people I would say reasonably 2% are annoying, rude, self centered and demanding.
Don't worry, we're embarrassed of those people too.
'One function per file' was solved a little while ago. I don't exactly remember what version it was, but I've been putting multiple functions in a single m file for a few years.
Second, I hate doing it because it goes against lots of many simple functions. When ever I start a new project I try and make numerous tiny scripts which are generic. Turns out I have started to reuse all my old code with out having to resort to copy and paste.
$15k for ONE seat? What the hell else did you buy?
From: http://www.socialtext.net/researchcomputingtest/index.cgi?matlab_site_license
* What is the cost of simply increasing our current licenses to 50/100/250 seats for concurrent use with all 50 toolboxes? How does that compare to the site license?
100 seats of concurrent licensing at the 50 toolbox level would be about $100,000; for the 250 seat level, about $300,000. The site license will be less than half the cost of the 100 seat level.
From Yahoo Answers:
"List price for the base MATLAB {commercial, single user License} is $1900.00/us. "
15k can get you some pretty shiny toolboxes for someone that doesn't use it that much.
Dang it, even though I had "Plain old text" it still is reading the < and >
There are 2 ways to find times when RPM60 and clutch=on
Slow:
for i=1:length(speed)
if rpm(i)<1200&&speed(i)>60&&clutch(i)==1
coasting(j)=time(i)
end
OR the fast way
coasting=time(rpm<1200&speed>60&clutch==1);
Time savings enters the tens of seconds with large data sets.
Matlab is short for MATrix LABoratory. There's a reason it sucks for loops and is slow. It's not what it was designed for. It'd probably be cheaper yet to hire an engineer that knew how to vectorize stuff.
.MAT files into the GBs).
I was young and stupid once. I thought the Way was with for loops. Then I started to run into bad stuff. I ran profiler on a few of my scripts and found that loops suck.
Say I have to find something with a hundred thousand or so data points. (We have
Say I need to find a certain condition, there are 2 ways.
for i=1:length(var)
if 100060&rpm60
if rpm1200
if clutch==1
coasting(j)=time(i);
j=j+1;
end
end
end
end
Define not "not treating customers well."
I've called them with a fairly high level support problem. I got patched directly through to an engineer and within 7 hours (we had been pounding our heads against the wall for a week) we had a solution.
I've heard numerous other stories of similar fate (which is where I got the idea to call).
While Octave is fine for supporting *most* of the features of Matlab. There is a segment of the market that Octave is never going to touch. Simulink, most of the extra toolboxes, direct from Simulink to ECM Flash software. Some of the high level Power Sim blocks, hardware in the loop stuff (From dSpace). "Matlab" is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mathworks software. We even have people writing S-Functions, I'm picking up MEX to speed up some data routines.
I live and breathe on Matlab and for most of the stuff I do, Octave won't touch it. For 'us' Octave will never be competitive.