"So....you didn't do any due diligence when buying the house?"
Three years after our purchase, FEMA issued new maps based on new standards. Yes, in fact, at the time of purchase we did our due diligence, and we were not at the time in a flood zone. The geography has not changed, the standard for flood risk has changed, largely due to the Hurricane Sandy losses in New York City.
"Yes....so arbitrary that they come down to $/sq foot + a factor for number of bedrooms + a factor for features such as an attached garage vs carport." "So incredibly arbitrary that they wrote them down and I can read them if I care to actually understand them!!" Well, yes, they chose criteria. It's a blessing that the criteria they chose were reasonably objective. Some homeowners, however, challenge the assessment decisions despite that, because indeed some decisions are not so objective.
"So...you didn't do any due diligence when buying the house? Or are you now whining about something you accepted when you purchased?" "Also, I really want to open a hog rendering plant next to your house and then see what you think about zoning."
Actually, right now, an old steel fabrication plant is being redeveloped into an auto recycling facility, what you used to call a 'junkyard', and the neighbors have decided that they don't want that. They actually want ti all cleaned up and gone, at someone else's expense, but in exchange for this new use the owners are in fact cleaning up the decades of waste left behind by the steel co. And the current standards require the auto recycling facility handle fluids etc. responsibly. As a homeowner, my complaints with zoning authorities pale compared to my complaints with the Home Owners Association - not their rules and regulations, but the inconsistent and arbitrary enforcement of them, and that's just the effort of challenging them, formal complaints, and ultimately arbitration - we are a long way from going to actual court, since 99.9% of these issues are resolved long before that becomes a problem. And yes, our due diligence at purchase, actually reading the HOA documents, though those documents did not actually reference the arbitrary and unfair (to some, yes) behavior of the board. We knew this could be a problem going in.
"They're required to share them if you ask and pay the cost of copying it."
Actually, I was referring to the sharing of this map data with commercial interests, such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and a variety of for-profit interests. Supposedly it reduces my taxes, but in reality more revenue sources never reduce taxes, they just permit increased expenditures. That's government. That's why we need to work harder at controlling our government.
All my complaints were about the variety of mapping data sources government has to sell or give away, and how it's not really necessary to mandate an additional fee to finance delivering and maintaining this data to open-source customers. But your shallow responses to my perceived complaints about government etc deserved a somewhat equally shallow response. Don't think I'm lying awake at night fretting over my flood insurance. I understood that about a half hour after the first notice, and it's just another cost I'll pay, since ultimately we taxpayers pay it all.
"Perhaps the government for a certain location or country taxes their people a small fee, say $1/yr to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of their data sets. "
That's called a tax, and already pay that, perhaps more.
Where I live, in the USA, municipalities maintain maps for a variety of reasons:
Flood zones so they can bill me an additional 50% on homeowner insurance because I live in a 100-year flood zone, because they designed the drainage that way, intentionally, because they just decided back in 1980, and they expected me to pay for it some day, somehow, and of course so that my flood insurance will pay for the failed commercial insurance in actual, regular, dangerous hurricane country.
Property maps, so they can apportion taxation to me based on their arbitrary rules, and apply the same rules as they choose to others.
Zoning maps, so they can tell me if what I want to have on my property is permissible according to their standards, derived from professional planners and fellow citizens that believe their desires are sufficiently compelling to be made law.
And others. And they share these maps as they choose, with little concern for my interests, and sometimes for a fee. IF they choose.
"Fuck Google maps. There's really no need to have that much data available"
Um, Google chooses what information show you, even depending on context.
You think open-source mapping diminishes this? It will not, some nimrod will develop an app that shows you way more than is actually useful. You will get nauseous.
However, open-source mapping encourages competition. Right now your choice of map apps is mostly driven by platform - Apple v Android v Web. I suspect Apple has the most to lose here, so watch them. Otherwise, encourage open-source and deal with global mapping becoming Wikipedia, with revenge edits and politicization of everything, because, you know, winning.
"Yet GM will sell you a machine that ignites a gallon of explosive vapour 100 times a minute and won't get in your way if you want to replace the individual parts. And somehow you're alive."
Bearing in mind that the gasoline explosion is enclosed in metal, vented through a somewhat complex system, and is itself somewhat small and brief. But I sort of agree, they will happily sell you brake parts with no assurance that you won't put the replacement pads in backwards...
But try and replace the radio in a GM W-body without a trip to the dealer. Oh, and when you replace it with something aftermarket, you can at least get the warning chimes back... But can't change the way the lights stay on or the keyless entry works without either a t-harness or tearing off the dash again.
Be patient. Tesla has shown the industry the way. Most other manufacturers will engage you in a subscription model, which will have to (HAVE TO) cut out dealers, and the all-electric drive will end repair revenue, cutting dealer profitability to nearly zero. Ask GM, the EV-1 was a success for everyone but the dealers.
"Is like buying a car, and a salesman gives you the contact for the local mechanic"
If you're under the impression that your car will never need expensive repairs, you're a special kind of stupid. You don't much bother with a $30 protective case for your $1000 phone either, right?
Lots of stuff isn't 'worth' repairing. That by itself doesn't make it unrepairable, nor does it mean the manufacturer denies you the ability to repair it.
But deliberate manufacturing designed to prevent repair is an unfortunate choice. Denying you the necessary information to actually repair that which can be should not be permitted.
My early career included repairing IBM typewriters, and it was this which resulted in a variety of measures that made my work possible. I did not and never worked for IBM. But I could buy parts, documentation, and tools, and did so.
Mind you Apple regularly denies access to parts for third-party repair outfits that competed successfully with their preferred vendors.
Curious Can the NOFORN classification be overridden by higher classifications? Hmmm...
I forget, does higher classification explicitly also enforce lower classifications? I think NOFORN is distinct from and parallel to Confidential, Restricted, and Secret. After that it gets more granular I think.
"If it's such a clown gathering why would he even show up?"
Ah, but the worldwide audience. That's why.
No, not the privileged, the righteous, the ones who know better than you and the rest of the 43%. Sadly, many of those who needed to hear his address won;t be able to, for their leaders will not permit it.
Slashdot Mirror
Good to see you use 'competence' correctly...
OK...
"So....you didn't do any due diligence when buying the house?"
Three years after our purchase, FEMA issued new maps based on new standards. Yes, in fact, at the time of purchase we did our due diligence, and we were not at the time in a flood zone. The geography has not changed, the standard for flood risk has changed, largely due to the Hurricane Sandy losses in New York City.
"Yes....so arbitrary that they come down to $/sq foot + a factor for number of bedrooms + a factor for features such as an attached garage vs carport."
"So incredibly arbitrary that they wrote them down and I can read them if I care to actually understand them!!"
Well, yes, they chose criteria. It's a blessing that the criteria they chose were reasonably objective. Some homeowners, however, challenge the assessment decisions despite that, because indeed some decisions are not so objective.
"So...you didn't do any due diligence when buying the house? Or are you now whining about something you accepted when you purchased?"
"Also, I really want to open a hog rendering plant next to your house and then see what you think about zoning."
Actually, right now, an old steel fabrication plant is being redeveloped into an auto recycling facility, what you used to call a 'junkyard', and the neighbors have decided that they don't want that. They actually want ti all cleaned up and gone, at someone else's expense, but in exchange for this new use the owners are in fact cleaning up the decades of waste left behind by the steel co. And the current standards require the auto recycling facility handle fluids etc. responsibly. As a homeowner, my complaints with zoning authorities pale compared to my complaints with the Home Owners Association - not their rules and regulations, but the inconsistent and arbitrary enforcement of them, and that's just the effort of challenging them, formal complaints, and ultimately arbitration - we are a long way from going to actual court, since 99.9% of these issues are resolved long before that becomes a problem. And yes, our due diligence at purchase, actually reading the HOA documents, though those documents did not actually reference the arbitrary and unfair (to some, yes) behavior of the board. We knew this could be a problem going in.
"They're required to share them if you ask and pay the cost of copying it."
Actually, I was referring to the sharing of this map data with commercial interests, such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and a variety of for-profit interests. Supposedly it reduces my taxes, but in reality more revenue sources never reduce taxes, they just permit increased expenditures. That's government. That's why we need to work harder at controlling our government.
All my complaints were about the variety of mapping data sources government has to sell or give away, and how it's not really necessary to mandate an additional fee to finance delivering and maintaining this data to open-source customers. But your shallow responses to my perceived complaints about government etc deserved a somewhat equally shallow response. Don't think I'm lying awake at night fretting over my flood insurance. I understood that about a half hour after the first notice, and it's just another cost I'll pay, since ultimately we taxpayers pay it all.
Yup, it's pretty common to have a mortgage. And I don't live in hurricane country, just where drainage is a problem due to geology and development.
Preaching to the choir, my friend.
"The idea is to get everything reflecting the wider diversity in the surrounding community. "
How's that working out for them in San Francisco?
"how incredibly shit upper management "
There is no higher 'upper management' than government. And the complaint is even more valid considering that.
Good reason to demand less from government, under the heading of 'leave me alone so I can live/work as I want to'.
So you're saying merit is based on a number of factors, including getting along, gaining approval from others, and gaining trust?
Yea, that seems about right.
Oh, and wanting the same things as the others? Yea, that too.
"Perhaps the government for a certain location or country taxes their people a small fee, say $1/yr to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of their data sets. "
That's called a tax, and already pay that, perhaps more.
Where I live, in the USA, municipalities maintain maps for a variety of reasons:
Flood zones so they can bill me an additional 50% on homeowner insurance because I live in a 100-year flood zone, because they designed the drainage that way, intentionally, because they just decided back in 1980, and they expected me to pay for it some day, somehow, and of course so that my flood insurance will pay for the failed commercial insurance in actual, regular, dangerous hurricane country.
Property maps, so they can apportion taxation to me based on their arbitrary rules, and apply the same rules as they choose to others.
Zoning maps, so they can tell me if what I want to have on my property is permissible according to their standards, derived from professional planners and fellow citizens that believe their desires are sufficiently compelling to be made law.
And others. And they share these maps as they choose, with little concern for my interests, and sometimes for a fee. IF they choose.
Now? You're still in 1993?
"Fuck Google maps. There's really no need to have that much data available"
Um, Google chooses what information show you, even depending on context.
You think open-source mapping diminishes this? It will not, some nimrod will develop an app that shows you way more than is actually useful. You will get nauseous.
However, open-source mapping encourages competition. Right now your choice of map apps is mostly driven by platform - Apple v Android v Web. I suspect Apple has the most to lose here, so watch them. Otherwise, encourage open-source and deal with global mapping becoming Wikipedia, with revenge edits and politicization of everything, because, you know, winning.
And yes, I entirely ignore Unclassified...
I saw it on Confidential and Restricted. I did not have TS clearance.
Clarity.
"Yet GM will sell you a machine that ignites a gallon of explosive vapour 100 times a minute and won't get in your way if you want to replace the individual parts. And somehow you're alive."
Bearing in mind that the gasoline explosion is enclosed in metal, vented through a somewhat complex system, and is itself somewhat small and brief. But I sort of agree, they will happily sell you brake parts with no assurance that you won't put the replacement pads in backwards...
But try and replace the radio in a GM W-body without a trip to the dealer. Oh, and when you replace it with something aftermarket, you can at least get the warning chimes back... But can't change the way the lights stay on or the keyless entry works without either a t-harness or tearing off the dash again.
Be patient. Tesla has shown the industry the way. Most other manufacturers will engage you in a subscription model, which will have to (HAVE TO) cut out dealers, and the all-electric drive will end repair revenue, cutting dealer profitability to nearly zero. Ask GM, the EV-1 was a success for everyone but the dealers.
So you never owned your old analog cell phone, since it's not upgradeable to current digital networks, no matter what you try.
Change my mind.
"Is like buying a car, and a salesman gives you the contact for the local mechanic"
If you're under the impression that your car will never need expensive repairs, you're a special kind of stupid. You don't much bother with a $30 protective case for your $1000 phone either, right?
Lots of stuff isn't 'worth' repairing. That by itself doesn't make it unrepairable, nor does it mean the manufacturer denies you the ability to repair it.
But deliberate manufacturing designed to prevent repair is an unfortunate choice. Denying you the necessary information to actually repair that which can be should not be permitted.
My early career included repairing IBM typewriters, and it was this which resulted in a variety of measures that made my work possible. I did not and never worked for IBM. But I could buy parts, documentation, and tools, and did so.
Mind you Apple regularly denies access to parts for third-party repair outfits that competed successfully with their preferred vendors.
"Glacial rebound"...
"Mantle convection"...
"massive loss of ice on Greenland and other areas"...
That's two causes. Two.
Siri delivers accurate results. How original, and how dangerous.
Um you know about the eternal flame over at the Salt River landfill?
Yeah, it's there. Cute.
Curious Can the NOFORN classification be overridden by higher classifications? Hmmm...
I forget, does higher classification explicitly also enforce lower classifications? I think NOFORN is distinct from and parallel to Confidential, Restricted, and Secret. After that it gets more granular I think.
Not ALL countries do this.
Just the ones who can.
Actually, you missed Huma and Anthony. And Lois, Loretta, Eric, Sally, John (Longface), Samantha, and Barack.
I'm certain I missed several.
"If it's such a clown gathering why would he even show up?"
Ah, but the worldwide audience. That's why.
No, not the privileged, the righteous, the ones who know better than you and the rest of the 43%. Sadly, many of those who needed to hear his address won;t be able to, for their leaders will not permit it.
Communism is for other people. Stupid git.