Some of these don't feed video back to a headquarters*. They just drive object detection software to sense vehicles present and trigger the signal cycle. They replace inductive traffic loops, which are high maintenance items.
Until the lamp goes out or the city/county/state sends Bubba up with his ladder truck to do periodic maintenance.
"Aw sheeeit! Must be all these extra gol durn wires that messed up the light."
Takes side cutters, removes all the crap he doesn't recognize and re-lamps the fixture. Fixed. I've worked in the utility biz. Their database of who owns what is atrocious. They just go out and fix lights that the public report as being out. No sense risking complaints because "our records don't show who is responsible for that hardware."
On the other hand, you probably go shopping for groceries once a week at best
Maybe for major re-stocking at the local Costco. But I do stop by and pick up fresh fruit and whatnot almost every day. With a car, it's a 10 minute side trip. Too many people living in urban villages have no such option. It's junk food at the corner bodega or hours on the bus (at which point it's not really 'fresh') . The USA doesn't have traditions like a neighborhood bakery or butcher. We do have some nice farm fruit stands. But these are usually out of town a ways (good luck without a car). The bodega owners keep them out.
Cash cards are a thing. Just line up at the local speedy mart with the other homeless people and you are good to go.
2. Credit cards are LESS secure than DCB (direct carrier billing).
Credit cards are VERY secure. I have a federally mandated right to dispute charges. Cash (debit) cards, less so. But there are regulations covering these as well. I am comfortable with them.
... we just don't allow the common carriers to do billing for third parties. Want to use dial-a-porn? Fine. Call and enter your credit card number. No more of this $5.99/minute charging through the phone company. There are far too many scams (telemarketing) that will never go away until the telecoms are no longer allowed to be silent partners in the deals.
I'm with Google on this. But I suspect that their motive might be to drive these web services to their own billing platform.
they designed the roadways for less than half of the current traffic load
Then the city is full. And they need to stop issuing building permits. If it was an overtaxed water or sewer system, it's not unheard of for cities to declare moratoriums on new construction. Why not with roads?
Because owning your own flexible mode of transportation gives you the option of bypassing all of the crappy businesses that transit-bound people are stuck with. I don't mind taking the bus or riding a bike. But once the local stores figure that they have a significant captive market in their little urban villages, their prices go up and their quality goes down. While all the carless people are stuck shopping within a raduis dictated by how far they are willing to lug groceries on a bus, I'll just jump in my car and head out to the big box store in the suburbs.
Politicians enamored with their socialist Central Planning Bureaus hate people like me.
But I may not be able to agree to attend such an early meeting.
That's a different problem. If one of the organizers prefers to meet at your 8:30 am and they outrank you, you either show up or lose your job. If you outrank them, then you get to set the meeting time at their 10:30 am.
If your company gets bought out by a firm based on the East Coast, you'd better get used to 6:30 am meetings. And that has nothing to do with a change in DST schedules.
The larger sites are both economically and environmentally better.
Yeah, right. Until a pump quits or a valve gets stuck open. Then it's thousands of gallons of sewage dumped into the lake. Meanwhile, all us people with septic tanks continue on with no problems.
The nearby city wants to extend sewer and water to our neighborhood. But for the people out here, that just means a $50,000 property assessment for the improvements plus the privilege of paying about $100 per month for something we get for free. And the chance of being able to watch our shit float by the dock occasionally. The only upside is that instead of a minimum lot size or 2 acres (needed for drain fields), I'll be able to sell my place to a developer for a 50 unit condo.
Not a big deal. You already have to look up the time for remote locations. Keeping track of who changes to/from DST and on what date is too much work to handle manually. Calendar apps will do that for you. And on top of all that, you need to account for businesses that keep different hours.
Obviously, it's also a potential problem with absentee ballots sent by mail... the difference is, absentee ballots are an edge case, generally used by a relatively small number of voters.
Not an edge case any more. Oregon and Washington State are 100% vote by mail.
Actually, these are all examples of taxing you. Bad habits don't pay taxes. Those that engage in them do. As far as the tech giants, its the owners, workers and customers that are paying the tax. The concept that we call a tech giant, or actually any corporation, can move* at the drop of a hat.
*Which brings up an interesting question. How does a corporation like Apple move the 'nexus' for business receipts from the USA to Ireland? If I move any sort of money, property or security across the US border (in excess of $10,000 in value), there are forms to fill out and taxes to pay. When the order to relocate business operations moved from the USA to Ireland, probably in the form of a memo, that memo had an imputed present value of billions of dollars. Did they file the appropriate paperwork? Pay the duties?
Ever seen the people who volunteer to staff polling places? Do you want to budget for the tech support staff needed to reset passwords when Aunt Eugenia forgot it again?
Slashdot Mirror
traffic control cams
Some of these don't feed video back to a headquarters*. They just drive object detection software to sense vehicles present and trigger the signal cycle. They replace inductive traffic loops, which are high maintenance items.
*But you can never be sure.
My dog to the rescue!
Until the lamp goes out or the city/county/state sends Bubba up with his ladder truck to do periodic maintenance.
"Aw sheeeit! Must be all these extra gol durn wires that messed up the light."
Takes side cutters, removes all the crap he doesn't recognize and re-lamps the fixture. Fixed. I've worked in the utility biz. Their database of who owns what is atrocious. They just go out and fix lights that the public report as being out. No sense risking complaints because "our records don't show who is responsible for that hardware."
How many more are in there?
I think that's all of them.
... for the unstressed control group. Because the primary source of male stress is having to deal with the female of the species.
Now pardon me while I make up my bed in the garage.
Deal directly with the phone company.
The idea is to cut the phone company out of the billing loop. Since they suffer no consequences for the fraud that they enable.
Cities plan for growth, and when it stops happening, bad things happen
Ponzi planned for growth.
Many perfectly viable businesses have upper limits on growth and seem to succeed without it. My dentist, for one example.
That post pretty much says "I don't understand anything about economics, sociology, or politics
Well then. Please elucidate. Bestow some of your vast wisdom upon us.
On the other hand, you probably go shopping for groceries once a week at best
Maybe for major re-stocking at the local Costco. But I do stop by and pick up fresh fruit and whatnot almost every day. With a car, it's a 10 minute side trip. Too many people living in urban villages have no such option. It's junk food at the corner bodega or hours on the bus (at which point it's not really 'fresh') . The USA doesn't have traditions like a neighborhood bakery or butcher. We do have some nice farm fruit stands. But these are usually out of town a ways (good luck without a car). The bodega owners keep them out.
1. Not everyone has a credit card.
Cash cards are a thing. Just line up at the local speedy mart with the other homeless people and you are good to go.
2. Credit cards are LESS secure than DCB (direct carrier billing).
Credit cards are VERY secure. I have a federally mandated right to dispute charges. Cash (debit) cards, less so. But there are regulations covering these as well. I am comfortable with them.
"Hello sir. Can you hear me?"
They have you saying 'Yes' and now they can scam you for anything. This is a major profit center for the phone companies.
I'm with Google on this. But I suspect that their motive might be to drive these web services to their own billing platform.
they designed the roadways for less than half of the current traffic load
Then the city is full. And they need to stop issuing building permits. If it was an overtaxed water or sewer system, it's not unheard of for cities to declare moratoriums on new construction. Why not with roads?
Why do we live like this?
Because owning your own flexible mode of transportation gives you the option of bypassing all of the crappy businesses that transit-bound people are stuck with. I don't mind taking the bus or riding a bike. But once the local stores figure that they have a significant captive market in their little urban villages, their prices go up and their quality goes down. While all the carless people are stuck shopping within a raduis dictated by how far they are willing to lug groceries on a bus, I'll just jump in my car and head out to the big box store in the suburbs.
Politicians enamored with their socialist Central Planning Bureaus hate people like me.
But I may not be able to agree to attend such an early meeting.
That's a different problem. If one of the organizers prefers to meet at your 8:30 am and they outrank you, you either show up or lose your job. If you outrank them, then you get to set the meeting time at their 10:30 am.
If your company gets bought out by a firm based on the East Coast, you'd better get used to 6:30 am meetings. And that has nothing to do with a change in DST schedules.
Why bother when there's a perfectly good street right there?
The larger sites are both economically and environmentally better.
Yeah, right. Until a pump quits or a valve gets stuck open. Then it's thousands of gallons of sewage dumped into the lake. Meanwhile, all us people with septic tanks continue on with no problems.
The nearby city wants to extend sewer and water to our neighborhood. But for the people out here, that just means a $50,000 property assessment for the improvements plus the privilege of paying about $100 per month for something we get for free. And the chance of being able to watch our shit float by the dock occasionally. The only upside is that instead of a minimum lot size or 2 acres (needed for drain fields), I'll be able to sell my place to a developer for a 50 unit condo.
If only there was a database of time zones that computers and calendaring apps could use to convert between various local times.
Not a big deal. You already have to look up the time for remote locations. Keeping track of who changes to/from DST and on what date is too much work to handle manually. Calendar apps will do that for you. And on top of all that, you need to account for businesses that keep different hours.
Thanks, SF.
Obviously, it's also a potential problem with absentee ballots sent by mail... the difference is, absentee ballots are an edge case, generally used by a relatively small number of voters.
Not an edge case any more. Oregon and Washington State are 100% vote by mail.
Actually, these are all examples of taxing you. Bad habits don't pay taxes. Those that engage in them do. As far as the tech giants, its the owners, workers and customers that are paying the tax. The concept that we call a tech giant, or actually any corporation, can move* at the drop of a hat.
*Which brings up an interesting question. How does a corporation like Apple move the 'nexus' for business receipts from the USA to Ireland? If I move any sort of money, property or security across the US border (in excess of $10,000 in value), there are forms to fill out and taxes to pay. When the order to relocate business operations moved from the USA to Ireland, probably in the form of a memo, that memo had an imputed present value of billions of dollars. Did they file the appropriate paperwork? Pay the duties?
Ever seen the people who volunteer to staff polling places? Do you want to budget for the tech support staff needed to reset passwords when Aunt Eugenia forgot it again?
Might as well try to ban water because kids drown in it.