Next time you do that, save everyone time and money and get grandma an iPad (or Android equivalent, it really doesn't make much of a difference). Back it up to iCloud (well, the iPad, Android users have to let the NSA do it). About the only thing you're going to have to worry about is replacing the power cord when it gets lost.
No.I'm sure he's correct. I use a Mac at work in a Windows environment. If I have a question, I get 'duh, we don't know, we don't support Macs, figure it out by yourself'.
There most certainly is preferential treatment. If you have money, you can get lots of treatment. If you have social contacts, you might get some help (better to have money, it's more consistent).
Even in the Socialist Democracies with government controlled health care systems, the Golden Rule still applies. You can always pay extra for shiny stuff. The sad part about American Healthcare is that you really need to be in the top 5% before you can be assured that a medical issue won't bankrupt you. That's a pretty damning number.
For most Americans in this sort of condundrum, the most effective thing to do is to declare bankruptcy. Of course, that is a harsh punishment in an of itself but it seems to be the preferred way to go.
Then you can get on Medicaid (the State / Federal low income medical insurance system) and get free - and fairly high quality** - healthcare for life.
** Can depend dramatically on your location, religious preference and citizenship status. YMMV. Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Ball.
See my post above. Although most people cannot motivate ex-Grateful Dead artists it seems to be something of a cottage industry at various Elk Clubs, American Legion Posts and social institutions of similar persuasions.
Yep, criminal and insane but nothing I can do about it. My particular charges are pretty modest, maybe $1000 or so for a couple of hours of work. But that helicopter gets expensive, the nice cardiac team has six highly paid professionals tending to it in three shifts 24 x 7, not to mention the suite costs several million dollars itself. ICU beds typically run several thousand per day. There are drugs that are three figures per dose.
I'd be the first to complain about the costs. I'm the one who gets yelled at in the supermarket, not the hospital CFO.
Just to expand - if you have insurance covered by your employer than if you exceed the policy limits, somebody has paid for re insurance so that will kick in. Sometimes. Not every policy has a backup if you exceed the limit.
There is nothing more confusing and contradictory than American healthcare. Statistics is a walk in the park compared to understanding the morass we've gotten ourselves into.
And won't ever be able to get ourselves out of. But that is another series of whines and complaints.
The Affordable Care Act did a couple of things - dropped the 'pre existing condition' clause for private insurance (if you're sick, we aren't going to cover you, but you're certainly welcome to pay into the program in the event you get some other illness down the road - while you're still healthy enough to pay the premium), made insurers create lower (not low by any means) marginally useful insurance policies and tried to force everyone to get some sort of medical insurance. It also gave insurers the ability to lock in double digit profits for another decade. And gave me even more reasons to write run on sentences.
We don't know just what insurance he had (TFS implies that he had some) but if he had a standard commercial policy with a 1-2 million dollar limit, let me point out two interesting points:
- A year long illness can easily kick you into the million dollar club. A bad MI, a couple of weeks in the ICU, a couple more weeks in a step down unit, rehab, a few more procedures, a couple of expensive drugs and a host of billing errors and you're there. Hell, I'm an ER doc and I can run up $100,000 easy peasy. That's for the first couple of HOURS. - MOST insurances have a 20% copay. Crappy ones don't drop the copay until you get to the quarter million dollar range although most have an out of pocket limit of at most $10,000 or so.
So, lets say he had 'OK' insurance. He's limited to $10K out of pocket plus an enormous number of 'little' expenses. Things that weren't covered, billing errors (did I mention that before>?), lost time, wages, home assistance, family issues.....
He's a lawyer, but probably not that kind of lawyer that has 20K sitting in his savings account.
Yeah, the money goes fast. The most popular thing at our local Elk's Club is drinking, the next most popular is various fund raisers for somebody or others medical bills.
Smartphones ARE Television v2.1. For the vast majority of people they are passive consumers, absorbing curated adverts and programming.
The major form of interaction appears to be the tweet. This has probably been done already and never posted because the results never varied from baseline (or expired fish), but I'd like to see a functional MRI of a person tweeting.
(For those of you not keeping up, reread this thread.)
First they made the Habor-Bosh process and I did not speak out.
Because I liked dynamite. Then came the Green Revolution and I did not speak out.
Because I liked tofu. Then came our nitrogen fixing overlords and I did not speak out.
Because I really like tofu. And then they came for me.
After seeing a pirated copy of Little Shop of Horrors.
I'm in my mid 60's. And I know one hell of a lot more infosec than these clowns. Really, it's not hard. What is even easier is to hire some young'in or even a well known security firm and have them create a security structure for everyone. You can spend ten million dollars on a friggin commercial, you can spend a couple of million on security.
Maybe even get a Blackberry. We didn't have these problems when BB's were all the rage, did we?
Nope. Most power users - the ones that don't need to use the drop down menus - use keyboard shortcuts. The professional programs allow you to create your own bindings so you can improve your workflow since a given user tends to use a certain subset of the program's functionality on a regular basis. So having the keyboard 'show' you the new binding really doesn't help. If you can't remember it, you aren't working fast enough to worry about it anyway. The keybindings need to be on the main rows in order to use quickly, so this sort of device / feature, while not entirely useless, typically won't be seen as a plus by a power user.
Unfortunately, that is becoming increasingly true of Apple computers in general, but i digress a tad.
Those a awfully niche products. You really have to push yourself to learn what amounts to an entirely different layout for each bit of software. What happens if you use After Effects along with Premiere? Or Photoshop?
I hardly ever use function keys. Just give me assignable keyboard shortcuts and a friggin' 17 inch laptop, Apple.
1) Buy all of the junked Note 7's for a song 2) Put a cover on the back that holds a bunch of rechargeable AA cells 3) Advertise here on Slashdot and sell a couple to everybody whose always wanted a replaceable battery and a thicker phone. 4) As a bonus, you can push it as 1980's retro and grab a few more of the 'get off my lawn' crowd here. 5) Profit!
And that would pass legal muster? Can you just imagine what the VP of marketing would think of this?
While this is a perfectly reasonable technical solution, the Spreadsheet Folks are just going to say bury the damned things, fire a few people and get on with it.
We can make recycling more profitable in an instant - simply raise the prices of raw materials 10 fold. Just a wee little political problem. President Trump will get right on it, I'm sure.
Slashdot Mirror
Next time you do that, save everyone time and money and get grandma an iPad (or Android equivalent, it really doesn't make much of a difference). Back it up to iCloud (well, the iPad, Android users have to let the NSA do it). About the only thing you're going to have to worry about is replacing the power cord when it gets lost.
By that logic, close the help desk and let everyone figure out everything for themselves, you'll save the company even more!
You're hired! (We've been look for a CIO.)
If you are in an environment where Lotus Notes is mandatory then you have a whole bunch more problems that machine support.
In fact, if the PC is dead, that could well be a feature, not a bug.
No.I'm sure he's correct. I use a Mac at work in a Windows environment. If I have a question, I get 'duh, we don't know, we don't support Macs, figure it out by yourself'.
So I do. Costs the system a lot less.
Macs for the win!
There most certainly is preferential treatment. If you have money, you can get lots of treatment. If you have social contacts, you might get some help (better to have money, it's more consistent).
Even in the Socialist Democracies with government controlled health care systems, the Golden Rule still applies. You can always pay extra for shiny stuff. The sad part about American Healthcare is that you really need to be in the top 5% before you can be assured that a medical issue won't bankrupt you. That's a pretty damning number.
For most Americans in this sort of condundrum, the most effective thing to do is to declare bankruptcy. Of course, that is a harsh punishment in an of itself but it seems to be the preferred way to go.
Then you can get on Medicaid (the State / Federal low income medical insurance system) and get free - and fairly high quality** - healthcare for life.
** Can depend dramatically on your location, religious preference and citizenship status. YMMV. Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Ball.
See my post above. Although most people cannot motivate ex-Grateful Dead artists it seems to be something of a cottage industry at various Elk Clubs, American Legion Posts and social institutions of similar persuasions.
And that's pretty sad.....
Yep, criminal and insane but nothing I can do about it. My particular charges are pretty modest, maybe $1000 or so for a couple of hours of work. But that helicopter gets expensive, the nice cardiac team has six highly paid professionals tending to it in three shifts 24 x 7, not to mention the suite costs several million dollars itself. ICU beds typically run several thousand per day. There are drugs that are three figures per dose.
I'd be the first to complain about the costs. I'm the one who gets yelled at in the supermarket, not the hospital CFO.
It's a fucking mess.
Just gotta love Slashdot's editing function.....
Just to expand - if you have insurance covered by your employer than if you exceed the policy limits, somebody has paid for re insurance so that will kick in.
Sometimes. Not every policy has a backup if you exceed the limit.
There is nothing more confusing and contradictory than American healthcare. Statistics is a walk in the park compared to understanding the morass we've gotten ourselves into.
And won't ever be able to get ourselves out of. But that is another series of whines and complaints.
The Affordable Care Act did a couple of things - dropped the 'pre existing condition' clause for private insurance (if you're sick, we aren't going to cover you, but you're certainly welcome to pay into the program in the event you get some other illness down the road - while you're still healthy enough to pay the premium), made insurers create lower (not low by any means) marginally useful insurance policies and tried to force everyone to get some sort of medical insurance. It also gave insurers the ability to lock in double digit profits for another decade. And gave me even more reasons to write run on sentences.
We don't know just what insurance he had (TFS implies that he had some) but if he had a standard commercial policy with a 1-2 million dollar limit, let me point out two interesting points:
- A year long illness can easily kick you into the million dollar club. A bad MI, a couple of weeks in the ICU, a couple more weeks in a step down unit, rehab, a few more procedures, a couple of expensive drugs and a host of billing errors and you're there. Hell, I'm an ER doc and I can run up $100,000 easy peasy. That's for the first couple of HOURS.
- MOST insurances have a 20% copay. Crappy ones don't drop the copay until you get to the quarter million dollar range although most have an out of pocket limit of at most $10,000 or so.
So, lets say he had 'OK' insurance. He's limited to $10K out of pocket plus an enormous number of 'little' expenses. Things that weren't covered, billing errors (did I mention that before>?), lost time, wages, home assistance, family issues .....
He's a lawyer, but probably not that kind of lawyer that has 20K sitting in his savings account.
Yeah, the money goes fast. The most popular thing at our local Elk's Club is drinking, the next most popular is various fund raisers for somebody or others medical bills.
USA! USA! USA!
Smartphones ARE Television v2.1. For the vast majority of people they are passive consumers, absorbing curated adverts and programming.
The major form of interaction appears to be the tweet. This has probably been done already and never posted because the results never varied from baseline (or expired fish), but I'd like to see a functional MRI of a person tweeting.
(For those of you not keeping up, reread this thread.)
Yep. Carburetors, point contact ignitions. 16 ton transmissions. Steering more appropriate on the farm than a roadway. Metal dashboards.
Those were the days.
Puts another, ahem, light on the old 'blinky' tag.
First they made the Habor-Bosh process and I did not speak out.
Because I liked dynamite.
Then came the Green Revolution and I did not speak out.
Because I liked tofu.
Then came our nitrogen fixing overlords and I did not speak out.
Because I really like tofu.
And then they came for me.
After seeing a pirated copy of Little Shop of Horrors.
Careful what you ask for.
All wars are resource wars.
I'm in my mid 60's. And I know one hell of a lot more infosec than these clowns. Really, it's not hard. What is even easier is to hire some young'in or even a well known security firm and have them create a security structure for everyone. You can spend ten million dollars on a friggin commercial, you can spend a couple of million on security.
Maybe even get a Blackberry. We didn't have these problems when BB's were all the rage, did we?
It's all Apple's fault.
Nope. Most power users - the ones that don't need to use the drop down menus - use keyboard shortcuts. The professional programs allow you to create your own bindings so you can improve your workflow since a given user tends to use a certain subset of the program's functionality on a regular basis. So having the keyboard 'show' you the new binding really doesn't help. If you can't remember it, you aren't working fast enough to worry about it anyway. The keybindings need to be on the main rows in order to use quickly, so this sort of device / feature, while not entirely useless, typically won't be seen as a plus by a power user.
Unfortunately, that is becoming increasingly true of Apple computers in general, but i digress a tad.
Those a awfully niche products. You really have to push yourself to learn what amounts to an entirely different layout for each bit of software. What happens if you use After Effects along with Premiere? Or Photoshop?
I hardly ever use function keys. Just give me assignable keyboard shortcuts and a friggin' 17 inch laptop, Apple.
Oh, and ports. Lots and lots of ports.
Getting late. Must be time for my meds. Nurse!
1) Buy all of the junked Note 7's for a song
2) Put a cover on the back that holds a bunch of rechargeable AA cells
3) Advertise here on Slashdot and sell a couple to everybody whose always wanted a replaceable battery and a thicker phone.
4) As a bonus, you can push it as 1980's retro and grab a few more of the 'get off my lawn' crowd here.
5) Profit!
What, for fire sales?
And that would pass legal muster? Can you just imagine what the VP of marketing would think of this?
While this is a perfectly reasonable technical solution, the Spreadsheet Folks are just going to say bury the damned things, fire a few people and get on with it.
We can make recycling more profitable in an instant - simply raise the prices of raw materials 10 fold. Just a wee little political problem. President Trump will get right on it, I'm sure.
Oh you naive boy ....
Look, on your next round of funding, remember that some of us still play Crysis and don't have the line into the CFO that you seem to have.
Don't Bogart that box, my friend.
Nonono. Amazon is channeling William Gibson's "Lucky Dragon stores.
They aim to have matter transmission nailed down just a soon as they get the fusion reactors a bit smaller.
That nefarious persons, politicians and the occasional hacker will go after large sums of money that are poorly protected from theft and diversion.
Raise the moat!