And indeed my biggest 'data' collection of over a decade old is all directly exposed to the Web, and other than taking care of significant errors in the original naming, I've followed the "Cool URIs Don't Change" manta and had the presentation app tie itself in knots if need be to leave the data as-is and present it in any new ways required.
It's like having an ancient monument: you don't shuffle it around to suit the latest whim, else you'll most likely mess it up beyond repair.
I had the same problem with my bank (Nationwide Building Society in the UK).
I pointed out that I don't have a favourite colour/pet/group/heartthrob, etc, not being a teenage girl, and I certainly won't have made-up answers to hand without *writing them down and carrying them around with me* at the stressful moment when my primary authentication fails.
Thankfully enough people complained that the bank backed down an introduced a rather smarter (though not totally sensible) system based on a stand-alone card reader. Now, in effect, your normal car PIN authorises significant online banking transactions.
I wish all my client's understood the same security reasoning.
With respect, you have no idea where the staff are located.
And yes, some merchants may be able to pay lower acquirer fees if accepting Entropay payments for various reasons, so Entropay's cut is not necessarily on top. (I'm out of the loop and don't know if any take advantage of those features.) A fixed fee hides a great deal of complexity in how Entropay is/was itself charged and its risks. I was for exposing all its eyewatering rigmarole for transparency and pushing customers to use things in ways cheaper for all of us, but was overruled by wiser heads.
And your sniping at EU social benefits is simply distasteful in this context. Actually, I'm glad I don't live in the US, shackled to some nasty employer because of the long-standing medical conditions that I do have. Though not terrible, I haven't had to worry about bankrupting myself if I've needed treatment and I've been able to take bigger risks than I might otherwise, and stay freelance all my working life, just about. I also notice that much of the difference in my US peers' income/taxes and mine has been spent by them on health insurance. And yes I've spent plenty of time in the US. I would not have been able to start Entropay in the US health regime AFAIK. So please let's just drop this line of attack since at best it's pots and kettles.
So, back to the issue. Knowing some of what goes on to provide the service, and the need to present a simple charging structure to end users, that fee is in no way gouging. And there's lots of competition.
Recycling is key, just as with phone numbers, given the finite (though large) numbering space some of which is given up to structuring that space.
It's good to leave used numbers fallow for as long as possible of course, and there are some thresholds that you probably don't want to undercut such as the maximum time to be sure a card is clear of chargeback and other processing, and get out of any directories/DBs/etc.
And tainted numbers should generally be left for even longer of course (such as a card number that has been stolen and misused and/or is otherwise blacklisted), or a phone number that was, for example, a massage or pizza parlour (or both)!
1) That's considerably less than the loading some credit-card acquirers gouge their merchants for, by comparison, and which you probably never see.
2) Fraud prevention and customer service are expensive wherever you are in the world. I suspect you'll find that you're still getting decent personable service from Entropy.
But please note that I'm no longer involved day-to-day and I don't in any way speak for Entropay.
Demand Control currently is with industrial users in the main, not domestic.
But a bit of ToD tariff in the retail market (as for example happens various US and European markets already) may change that.
And actually the fridge can coast perfectly happily on stored 'cool' for a while without any harm, and indeed 'dynamic demand' enabled fridges are creeping into the UK market right now...
It is *not* necessary to have 100% backup for wind, that's an old canard. For a start there is such as thing as 'demand control' where load is disconnected (eg automatically without notice in return for a fee or discount upfront) or load is shifted (by big price signals). It already happens. If, in extremis, we had 100% demand-controllable load then we would need 0% backup.
Secondly, your post seems to carry the assumption that the fossil/nuke alternatives have capacity (reliability) factors of 100%: they don't.
And indeed one *good* feature of a typical renewables mix over (say) big nukes is that no big chunk can fail all at once (ie in a matter of a few cycles or seconds). We had the UK's biggest nuke cut out for no especially good reason a couple of years ago, and the result in short order was 500,000 people spread over the UK being load-shed involuntarily (which is another form of demand control of course).
Likewise I think the 20% value you vote is plucked from the air and insupportable, apart from anything else different geographic areas and populations and usage patterns will influence what can be managed in the local grid on any given hour/day/month. There can be no magic fixed threshold given physics as I understand it.
Hmm, yep, done that back in the days when a 2kB EPROM (with ~250nS cycle time for a 4MHz Z80A M1 cycle IIRC) was big and expensive.
But (a) I think it was the little interconnect wires that were glowing, and (b) I seem to remember that the EPROM worked afterwards. I think I did it at least twice. And didn't have to own up.
I object to having all sorts of irreplaceable personal details and biometrics taken by the TSA which repeatedly ignores Congress and loses its own staff personal details and which treats me as a criminal.
So I haven't wanted to travel to the US in many years whereas before I was a frequent visitor.
Turnout is usually low enough even in general elections that if all the people that currently can't be bothered actually voted they could have ANY candidate they like. They could vote in nearly a full house of Greens or whoever.
Rgds
Damon
PS. Anyway, I'm glad that you are voting, whoever it is for. I 'saved' a vote for the BNP in the London Mayoral elections even though I can't stand them since I'd rather that people voted than not for example...
I think you have to try. If you don't make the small effort to put your slip in the ballot box then I think you also throw away your moral right to complain about who gets in. Unless you are confined to bed with a serious illness then it is sheer idleness not to try. Post a spoiled ballot if you must: they provide amusement to the tellers and returning officers.
I rarely get to see the candidate that I want elected, and nearly always have to vote tactically. However, it seems that the UK electorate is sophisticated enough to overcome many of the superficial problems of the first-past-the-post system, by voting to stop the least-wanted candidate getting in.
I always vote the best way I can whenever I have the opportunity.
I've even spent some time as an election observer.
I think it's important to support the system that gives you the right to vote.
And I think that the major parties see the elections as a set of polls that really matters. Suppose we have a hung parliament or one where no side has a large majority, but a lot of people for example voted Pirate, do you think that the parties wouldn't bend their policies at all?
Then you're missing out on a bunch of good jobs in banking, for example, where Linux, Java, Spring, etc, etc, in free and paid-for flavours remain a very healthy source of reputation and income.
What a lot of hirers care about is that you are smart, adaptable, and able to work with the tools and products that they do. And a lot of those are F/OSS.
I'm in one of those roles now, and according to the linked tool, I'm getting decent pay for my work! %-P
I have designed and built my own random-logic boards and 25 years ago before university I designed and wire-wrapped a robotics system and OS that was seen on TV and got lots of investment, etc, etc, but I'm still pleased as punch these days to be able to get a SheevaPlug running an entire Linux with full IP stack, etc, in a smaller volume and with lower power consumption which itself can host Java with its extensive API libraries...
Which lets me focus on the bits I'm interested in.
What about the fact that as a father I'd rather my young kids weren't knocked down my some VERY IMPORTANT PERSON saving a couple of minutes taking a short-cut past my house in a residential area?
Lots of UK towns are introducing 20mph zones in built-up areas and I'm tempted to say that anyone getting above 2nd gear in a residential area should be considered reckless and negligent and endangering life and prosecuted as such. Just as soon as they get off their IMPORTANT phone call. Arrrrgh!
As a boy I used to go and play in traffic because my parents told me not to. So blaming the parents or the children won't do unless they chose to live on a motorway. Guess what, I chose to live in a *residential* area. So please don't whine about your rights being infringed. There are places to drive fast and other to drive slow.
Please just drive safely rather than kill someone young or old and infirm to save a few minutes.
The EU VAT rules AFAIK are going to nobble attempts to lower existing VAT rates for a good or service (never mind the Treasury hanging grimly on to every penny at the moment), otherwise, way ahead of this is the queue is fixing the egregious higher VAT rates on building repairs than new build.
Slashdot Mirror
Stereotypes are such fun, but only very occasionally accurate or respectful to the individual, Mexicano.
Rgds
Damon
Absolutely agreed.
And indeed my biggest 'data' collection of over a decade old is all directly exposed to the Web, and other than taking care of significant errors in the original naming, I've followed the "Cool URIs Don't Change" manta and had the presentation app tie itself in knots if need be to leave the data as-is and present it in any new ways required.
It's like having an ancient monument: you don't shuffle it around to suit the latest whim, else you'll most likely mess it up beyond repair.
Rgds
Damon
Thank you! I was beginning to wonder if I'd turned up on the wrong planet. A fairly strong claim like that could at least be supported by one link...
Rgds
Damon
[citation needed]
Yes, many.
Rgds
Damon
I had the same problem with my bank (Nationwide Building Society in the UK).
I pointed out that I don't have a favourite colour/pet/group/heartthrob, etc, not being a teenage girl, and I certainly won't have made-up answers to hand without *writing them down and carrying them around with me* at the stressful moment when my primary authentication fails.
Thankfully enough people complained that the bank backed down an introduced a rather smarter (though not totally sensible) system based on a stand-alone card reader. Now, in effect, your normal car PIN authorises significant online banking transactions.
I wish all my client's understood the same security reasoning.
Rgds
Damon
With respect, you have no idea where the staff are located.
And yes, some merchants may be able to pay lower acquirer fees if accepting Entropay payments for various reasons, so Entropay's cut is not necessarily on top. (I'm out of the loop and don't know if any take advantage of those features.) A fixed fee hides a great deal of complexity in how Entropay is/was itself charged and its risks. I was for exposing all its eyewatering rigmarole for transparency and pushing customers to use things in ways cheaper for all of us, but was overruled by wiser heads.
And your sniping at EU social benefits is simply distasteful in this context. Actually, I'm glad I don't live in the US, shackled to some nasty employer because of the long-standing medical conditions that I do have. Though not terrible, I haven't had to worry about bankrupting myself if I've needed treatment and I've been able to take bigger risks than I might otherwise, and stay freelance all my working life, just about. I also notice that much of the difference in my US peers' income/taxes and mine has been spent by them on health insurance. And yes I've spent plenty of time in the US. I would not have been able to start Entropay in the US health regime AFAIK. So please let's just drop this line of attack since at best it's pots and kettles.
So, back to the issue. Knowing some of what goes on to provide the service, and the need to present a simple charging structure to end users, that fee is in no way gouging. And there's lots of competition.
Rgds
Damon
Recycling is key, just as with phone numbers, given the finite (though large) numbering space some of which is given up to structuring that space.
It's good to leave used numbers fallow for as long as possible of course, and there are some thresholds that you probably don't want to undercut such as the maximum time to be sure a card is clear of chargeback and other processing, and get out of any directories/DBs/etc.
And tainted numbers should generally be left for even longer of course (such as a card number that has been stolen and misused and/or is otherwise blacklisted), or a phone number that was, for example, a massage or pizza parlour (or both)!
Rgds
Damon
1) That's considerably less than the loading some credit-card acquirers gouge their merchants for, by comparison, and which you probably never see.
2) Fraud prevention and customer service are expensive wherever you are in the world. I suspect you'll find that you're still getting decent personable service from Entropy.
But please note that I'm no longer involved day-to-day and I don't in any way speak for Entropay.
Rgds
Damon
See https://www.entropay.com/
Disclaimer: I'm biased as I was one of the founders!
Rgds
Damon
Good: I'm in favour of vastly increasing the proportion of solar in the energy mix.
Rgds
Damon
Demand Control currently is with industrial users in the main, not domestic.
But a bit of ToD tariff in the retail market (as for example happens various US and European markets already) may change that.
And actually the fridge can coast perfectly happily on stored 'cool' for a while without any harm, and indeed 'dynamic demand' enabled fridges are creeping into the UK market right now...
Rgds
Damon
It is *not* necessary to have 100% backup for wind, that's an old canard. For a start there is such as thing as 'demand control' where load is disconnected (eg automatically without notice in return for a fee or discount upfront) or load is shifted (by big price signals). It already happens. If, in extremis, we had 100% demand-controllable load then we would need 0% backup.
Secondly, your post seems to carry the assumption that the fossil/nuke alternatives have capacity (reliability) factors of 100%: they don't.
And indeed one *good* feature of a typical renewables mix over (say) big nukes is that no big chunk can fail all at once (ie in a matter of a few cycles or seconds). We had the UK's biggest nuke cut out for no especially good reason a couple of years ago, and the result in short order was 500,000 people spread over the UK being load-shed involuntarily (which is another form of demand control of course).
Likewise I think the 20% value you vote is plucked from the air and insupportable, apart from anything else different geographic areas and populations and usage patterns will influence what can be managed in the local grid on any given hour/day/month. There can be no magic fixed threshold given physics as I understand it.
Rgds
Damon
But teach him to never silently swallow exceptions either, at least not without producing a log once in a while...
Rgds
Damon
Hmm, yep, done that back in the days when a 2kB EPROM (with ~250nS cycle time for a 4MHz Z80A M1 cycle IIRC) was big and expensive.
But (a) I think it was the little interconnect wires that were glowing, and (b) I seem to remember that the EPROM worked afterwards. I think I did it at least twice. And didn't have to own up.
Rgds
Damon
Yep me too.
I object to having all sorts of irreplaceable personal details and biometrics taken by the TSA which repeatedly ignores Congress and loses its own staff personal details and which treats me as a criminal.
So I haven't wanted to travel to the US in many years whereas before I was a frequent visitor.
Rgds
Damon
Turnout is usually low enough even in general elections that if all the people that currently can't be bothered actually voted they could have ANY candidate they like. They could vote in nearly a full house of Greens or whoever.
Rgds
Damon
PS. Anyway, I'm glad that you are voting, whoever it is for. I 'saved' a vote for the BNP in the London Mayoral elections even though I can't stand them since I'd rather that people voted than not for example...
I think you have to try. If you don't make the small effort to put your slip in the ballot box then I think you also throw away your moral right to complain about who gets in. Unless you are confined to bed with a serious illness then it is sheer idleness not to try. Post a spoiled ballot if you must: they provide amusement to the tellers and returning officers.
I rarely get to see the candidate that I want elected, and nearly always have to vote tactically. However, it seems that the UK electorate is sophisticated enough to overcome many of the superficial problems of the first-past-the-post system, by voting to stop the least-wanted candidate getting in.
I always vote the best way I can whenever I have the opportunity.
I've even spent some time as an election observer.
I think it's important to support the system that gives you the right to vote.
And I think that the major parties see the elections as a set of polls that really matters. Suppose we have a hung parliament or one where no side has a large majority, but a lot of people for example voted Pirate, do you think that the parties wouldn't bend their policies at all?
Rgds
Damon
Please try.
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Rgds
Damon
Then you're missing out on a bunch of good jobs in banking, for example, where Linux, Java, Spring, etc, etc, in free and paid-for flavours remain a very healthy source of reputation and income.
What a lot of hirers care about is that you are smart, adaptable, and able to work with the tools and products that they do. And a lot of those are F/OSS.
I'm in one of those roles now, and according to the linked tool, I'm getting decent pay for my work! %-P
Rgds
Damon
Dead right.
I have designed and built my own random-logic boards and 25 years ago before university I designed and wire-wrapped a robotics system and OS that was seen on TV and got lots of investment, etc, etc, but I'm still pleased as punch these days to be able to get a SheevaPlug running an entire Linux with full IP stack, etc, in a smaller volume and with lower power consumption which itself can host Java with its extensive API libraries...
Which lets me focus on the bits I'm interested in.
Rgds
Damon
Agreed that that is also not a good thing, but driving at 40mph is fixing the wrong problem...
Rgds
Damon
What about the fact that as a father I'd rather my young kids weren't knocked down my some VERY IMPORTANT PERSON saving a couple of minutes taking a short-cut past my house in a residential area?
Lots of UK towns are introducing 20mph zones in built-up areas and I'm tempted to say that anyone getting above 2nd gear in a residential area should be considered reckless and negligent and endangering life and prosecuted as such. Just as soon as they get off their IMPORTANT phone call. Arrrrgh!
As a boy I used to go and play in traffic because my parents told me not to. So blaming the parents or the children won't do unless they chose to live on a motorway. Guess what, I chose to live in a *residential* area. So please don't whine about your rights being infringed. There are places to drive fast and other to drive slow.
Please just drive safely rather than kill someone young or old and infirm to save a few minutes.
Rgds
Damon
The EU VAT rules AFAIK are going to nobble attempts to lower existing VAT rates for a good or service (never mind the Treasury hanging grimly on to every penny at the moment), otherwise, way ahead of this is the queue is fixing the egregious higher VAT rates on building repairs than new build.
Rgds
Damon
Hey, very good! I even knew about that, but no that wasn't what I had in mind. Think "bears" and "woods" and "not news"! B^>
Rgds
Damon