That is awesome. Also, the guys at Opera are awesome. Opera is my browser of choice - it's actually what is stopping me from being in BSD-land right this very minute. That and VMWare... *sighs*
Anyhow, nice link and a great idea. I've been thinking that something *like* Google glasses would work well with some tweaking. Augmented reality has a place.
I am out of town, on wanderlust, and I'm in Buffalo. I've been here for a while now (young lady) and have acclimated to the area but there's a strange habit I have of wanting to the know the history of the areas I'm in. I love old things like that - the historical societies are awesome stores of knowledge.
Anyhow, so I was on the Skyway going to Niagara, for yet another time, and I decided to cross the border. It was around this time that I was thinking... I'd like to be able to, somehow, look at something and be able to get some information from it. It would be nice to look at a building, see when it was built, how it was made, who made it, who designed it, what's in it, what it's value is, etc... Obviously selective and whatnot. I'd not want information overload to happen.
As I was driving on the Skyway, I was thinking that I'd like to know how high it was, what the average throughput was, when it was made, and a few other things. I realized that I'd never know - I'd never take the time to look it up but, on the other hand, I would know if that information was immediately available in an easy to use manner. Obviously, I shouldn't use that information when driving but even driving could be safely done - use the information and display it as a HUD on the glasses. I already have a HUD in my car. While distracting, it might be nice to be able to take a screenshot (so to speak) of something that I'm passing, maybe look it up and scan it as I have time, maybe see the vintage information on a nice car that's going by, or things like that.
This beacon idea - it could help. I'd not seen that, it doesn't look like it's Opera's tech or anything, but it's still interesting. I think that might tie in with a wearable device nicely but, to be truly honest, I'd prefer it not be a device at all. I'd absolutely love (and take the risks) of being jacked into the internet 24/7. Sure, I'm wanting to be able to control the output data and whatnot but being able to selectively search for information on the fly? Oh, I'd love that. I'd even let them plant a wireless antenna on my head and an ethernet jack in my neck for when I wanted to plug in for an OS upgrade or do a memory dump. Obviously, I'd want to control the data outputs and maintain my privacy by disabling it as I go but, still...
It'd be like those beacons, only everywhere and full of information. Imagine, having Google at your beck and call - in your head, and immediately. The vast stores of human knowledge, right there in your head. The brain is already a pretty decent operating system (by my accounts but then I look what's telling me that and I'm not sure that it is unbiased). It would be great. Or, could be...
I think you can just scan them as they get loaned. Then the DB is updated automatically with the book title and other information. Thus you'd eventually create the database of your library by lending them out. Those uncategorized books won't matter - they're not loaned out. So you just amass the data as they go out and don't worry about the rest because those are still in your library. I seem to recall that's how some freeware software worked when I looked at it in the past. I went with the paper and pen solution. You'd just scan with a reader and a semi-dedicated device or scan with your phone and it went out and found the info and signed it out and then signed it back in. You didn't have to do your whole collection - you just had to do it when it was signed out.
Nah, those are pretty durable and would work with a book at the expense of ruining a page or cover. Well, making it no longer mint condition. I have one, quite similar, and even have gold leaf to go with it. Why? Out of boredom, I decided to become a Notary Public and it was also an added asset to some friends. The added bonus is the I'm also a Justice of the Peace! So far, I've married two of my friends (done the ceremony) and notarized exactly zero documents no matter how many items I've stamped while playing with my toy. It'd work fine for books if they didn't mind damaging them.
My initial thought: Get better friends or gift the books. I've a very large collection and people sign them out on a paper and return them when they're done. That is all. No technical hoops to jump through. One of the things I'm hoping is that my collection of books, many are academic in nature, is still curated and loaned to those who are interested after I'm gone.
I do have a trust set up to maintain the property but I've made no stipulations as to how I want the house and property dealt with and I prefer to keep it that way. Let the natural course work its magic. I have stated that it is my wish and my children seem inclined to agree though I'm not sure that they'll be inclined to increase the collection when I am gone.
I currently have two rooms dedicated to storage with lined shelves and individual standing shelves. I've been buying books for a very long time but my collection is pretty diverse to it does lack good organization. Either way, there's simply a sign-out paper and people return them when they're done. I'm not that anal about it and they usually come back, in time. Some are just given away as they're not really worth keeping or I have multiple copies. I kind of miss all the used book stores that were around. It's not the same ordering online - a lot were impulse buys.
I do have, if I'm wiling to travel that far down, a store in the nearest large town. It's called Twice Sold Tales, in Farmington, Maine. Nice place but I've not stopped in for a couple of years now. I also appreciate the library sales. There are some good scores to be had. I got a huge number of the TSR books, a lot of the Dragonlance series - many of the sub-series complete even, when a library moved not too too long ago. I already had a bunch of them but they filled in a number of other series. They also had a bunch of the other series as well but mostly Dragonlance. I don't know, exactly, but it has to be pretty close to a complete collection up to a certain date.
Anyhow, non-tech... Use a paper and pen and sign and date. Give them away, if you don't care about them. Get better and more honest friends. Tech is not a solution for bad habits or inappropriate behavior.
There's probably an appropriate adage but it's usually the people who know the least or at the least impacted that complain the loudest.
It's like when I hear a crazy right-winger, who probably lives in a trailer park, yelling about taxing the upper class. I mean, sure, thanks for the defense and all - and I appreciate you thinking about me but I really don't mind the taxes - I just hate how they are spent. Hell, if you tax me more, it's not like I'm going to curb my spending habits or take my money out of the markets.
I suspect that this is very similar. They just know that they're supposed to hate the pharmacies, the hospitals, and the insurance companies. Everything gets painted with a broad brush, skipping the details, and out comes gibberish. It would be like me telling you guys how to best program or administer servers.
I had papers published publicly and even some patents. However, we had lots of internal IP. Scads of it that probably wouldn't have been novel enough to warrant the negatives of publishing and proving another company was using it would have been difficult, so there was no patent and the research will never see the light of day while it still holds value. Sorry, but that's the way it is. We did fund some research at a university a few times, we retained the rights to that work (most of it) as well. Again, sorry, but that's how it works.
So, if this company is like every other company then you can certainly read all sorts of papers but you won't get everything. It's like reading a recipe but not having the secret ingredient. You could read all the public information out there and, maybe, deduce some additional information but you won't have full access. I suspect that that, and the private data about people, were likely to be purloined.
Ah well... Information wants to be free. *nods* (I keed, I keed! Sort of...)
Don't really know ya but I've seen your posts. Good luck. Enjoy the opiates. I'm a Buddhist, we're a pragmatic lot, but I hope you get what's best for you.
No... They're learning what NOT to do so as to avoid the mistakes made in the US. Also, because the security that Anthem had was shit.
Me? I can go to the VA for a lot of stuff. Because of my knee and back, I'm told I'm likely eligible for some sort of disability but I haven't looked in to it. I usually just go to the local doctors down in Farmington. I pay cash (well, use a debit card) and I don't think it's that expensive but I don't really have much in the way of health issues that I worry about. I had them run a fairly standard blood screen, redo my shots, and hit me with preemptive antibiotics prior to going on my latest adventure (just meandering around the country by car) and I think the total was $180 and that included the blood work.
I'm not positive how it all works but I think they give me a discount for using cash. I have no idea how much it is. Farmington Family Practice has an online site somewhere as well as Franklin Memorial Hospital. Those are usually where I go and I think they make some financing information available but it's too much effort to Google for you guys.;-)
There is some sort of co-op? I'm not positive but I think I'm a member by grace of residency. The doctors all work together, are all tied in with the local hospital, and everything is pretty simple. It's a pretty small hospital in a pretty small town but they're actually being studied to be used as a model for other hospitals according to a placard they had on the wall. They used to operate, the doctors - or some of them, out of a different building but a remodel put a goodly number of them into a separate area of the building and the whole campus is pretty well connected.
Which leads me to this... They do have electronic patient records. I can get them on a USB drive if I want. I understand that they have them on a separate, non-public-facing network and that they can transfer records over a separate network to other facilities, as needed, with just a little work. The whole campus is on the second network and the first network, the computers are entirely air-gapped as far as I know. You physically need to use two separate computers to move data from one network to the other.
Yes, this is more difficult. Yes, I'm sure it costs more but it doesn't seem to cost a whole lot - as is evidenced by the prices that I pay. Why is this not standard practice? It has to be cheaper to insulate yourself than to deal with the outcomes of a hack that exposes personally identifiable information. I'm not an overly huge fan of regulation but, perhaps, there needs to be some motivation to ensure this data is kept secure - what happened to HIPPA? Perhaps we don't need to regulate how they do it but to fine them if there's a lapse in their security that causes a large-scale loss of data?
Breeches are inevitable - they're unpreventable. Keep that shit off the network. Lock down terminals. Make sure the data loss can only be via complex or analog methods. I'm sure that you guys can think of all sorts of ways to fix this, I'm certainly not an expert but I know there are tools to mitigate the risks and I know some of the best practices. I think FMH (I've talked with the IT staff on numerous occasions) even prevents USB access on most machines, everything on the second network is wired, it's locked down by MAC address, people are logged out automatically, not everyone has access, and even still - long and complex passwords are required as far as I know. On top of that, none of the computers that are able to access this are in areas where a non-employee should be able to access it.
The billing department doesn't need to be able to surf Facebook while on her break - not from hospital-owned computers. The receptionist doesn't need to have access to your records. These are isolated and disparate networks. I'm sure, with some work, I can do all sorts of mean stuff - they're running Windows and they allow me to bring in a USB key (for example) to get my records. There's a flaw right there - or a potential f
You're on Slashdot. A good number of us, I don't know how many, enjoy tweaking, poking, and even breaking stuff just for fun. For us, that is enjoyable. No, I am not a gamer. However, if I'm not pushing my hardware to the limits and breaking something then I'm not learning and I like learning new things. Breaking stuff in new and interesting ways is a way of life for some of us.
I don't want to defend him but, and I see you've been here nominally longer than I, but I'm pretty sure that reading the article is expressly (perhaps tacitly but I've not actually read the terms of service) against the rules. Sometimes, I'll approach the limits and open an article link for the express purposes of viewing the pictures but reading the article is simply not allowed. (Sometimes, indeed, I do cheat and read the article but I feel bad for it. Making informed comments is simply not acceptable.)
This is Slashdot. It's where we go to screech and throw poop. We're mostly howler monkeys in cubicle cages.
Whenever the outages occur on my DSL, Fairpoint always pro-rates the bill, without my asking. I don't even use their email service. It went down for a week or two at one point. I didn't notice. Even that meant my bill was smaller than normal. I even got an email saying that it would be prorated and why - even though I didn't complain, didn't notice, and didn't care.
Hell, this is Fairpoint. They're not even known for being all that good. I find them fine or I'd use another provider. It may be because I can just use another provider that they are so proactive, perhaps not. I've no way of knowing. Because the signal is carried on the telephone lines they're not able to lock out other providers so I can use any old DSL provider that's willing to serve my area.
Do you have DSL? If so then, in my home state (Maine), the telco is required to allow me to use any provider that is willing to service my area. I did pay CommTel (now Fairpoint) to put the lines in as well as install a CO. However, I can (and have) use any of the third party DSL service providers. For the longest time I was on GWI but it didn't really mean anything improved - I was just too lazy to switch back. This also happens without interruption. I have three separate lines and they are all able to be switched to any DSL provider I want.
I don't switch because Fairpoint keeps putting me on business class service at consumer prices - I have static IP addresses, can run a public facing server, and don't seem to have any of the ports closed though I certainly only pay residential fees. They also send me lots of superfluous equipment (I don't use the ISP's router even though they have tried to convince me to do so a few times) and keep increasing my speeds but not my costs. I started with 2 MB/sec and now am at 13.
Rumor has it that they'll be running fiber to the village next year. I have no idea what it will cost but I'll probably contact them and see if I can jump on (and they may let me do it) and pay for them to do the last X miles. I had to pay for the CO and for 6 miles of wiring for my current setup. After running the numbers, it was cheaper than going with ISDN.
Anyhow, you may have similar laws. They're probably not advertised but you can also just check with the PUC in your state. I have no idea what Time Warner offers - if it's cable then this probably does not apply.
Do you like making money? If so, I may have a nice bet for you.
Tell me, when you do you think we'll have fully autonomous consumer-grade passenger vehicles on public roads in a percentage greater than 10%?
Depending on your answer, we can use an escrow account, and I'll give you at the odds at which I'm willing to make that bet.
Say, five years? I'll give you 5:1 odds, no bets smaller than $10,000 USD. Ten years? 3:1 odds, same minimal risk on your part. 15 years? How's 2:1 sound? Increase the minimal to 20k USD. Withdrawal of the monies prior to the end of the betting period incurs a 33% loss. Escrow fees to be paid by the winner, of course. You can pick the escrow service of your choice, I withhold the right to decline based on that choice - they need to be properly vetted.
Any further refinements to the bet needs to be established before any monies are deposited. Any unclear definitions need also be determined.
I'm game. I worked in traffic modeling for a long time. The idea of autonomous vehicles, while nice, is a long time coming. You will see them in mines, closed circuits like delivery docks and shipping receiving areas, and other similar things. As a solution for the consumer class? Not for a long time, not in any great numbers, and very limited in scope.
I was a wee lad when my mother dragged me to a night-time church event, maybe seven or eight years old, and there was a minister from a remote area of the globe (South America, I think) who was talking about euthanasia. I was awfully puzzled but never questioned any of it. Years later, come late middle school or early high school, I finally learned that he was not, in fact, discussing the peaceful deaths of willing Asian children. It cleared up a lot of things that had kind of baffled me for some years.
They have a metric fuck-ton (standard unit of weight) of on-hand cash - never mind other assets. Apple's able to produce nothing but shit for the next 500 years, losing money the entire time, and will still be solvent. I don't remember the exact number but, theoretically, they can buy something like 53 individual countries of something like 13 of the poorest countries and still have enough cash left over to take them all to lunch.
Apple's now not going anywhere - ever. In 500 years we're probably still going to have some form of Apple. Apple is going to outlive IBM and Oracle and, probably, Microsoft. For better or worse, you've got Apple as a choice and will for quite some time.
They could literally, pay for and box up nothing but human fecal matter, call it iShit, put it on shelves, and not sell a single one and still be solvent for generations to come. They probably won't even have to reduce their workforce.
Slashdot Mirror
That is awesome. Also, the guys at Opera are awesome. Opera is my browser of choice - it's actually what is stopping me from being in BSD-land right this very minute. That and VMWare... *sighs*
Anyhow, nice link and a great idea. I've been thinking that something *like* Google glasses would work well with some tweaking. Augmented reality has a place.
I am out of town, on wanderlust, and I'm in Buffalo. I've been here for a while now (young lady) and have acclimated to the area but there's a strange habit I have of wanting to the know the history of the areas I'm in. I love old things like that - the historical societies are awesome stores of knowledge.
Anyhow, so I was on the Skyway going to Niagara, for yet another time, and I decided to cross the border. It was around this time that I was thinking... I'd like to be able to, somehow, look at something and be able to get some information from it. It would be nice to look at a building, see when it was built, how it was made, who made it, who designed it, what's in it, what it's value is, etc... Obviously selective and whatnot. I'd not want information overload to happen.
As I was driving on the Skyway, I was thinking that I'd like to know how high it was, what the average throughput was, when it was made, and a few other things. I realized that I'd never know - I'd never take the time to look it up but, on the other hand, I would know if that information was immediately available in an easy to use manner. Obviously, I shouldn't use that information when driving but even driving could be safely done - use the information and display it as a HUD on the glasses. I already have a HUD in my car. While distracting, it might be nice to be able to take a screenshot (so to speak) of something that I'm passing, maybe look it up and scan it as I have time, maybe see the vintage information on a nice car that's going by, or things like that.
This beacon idea - it could help. I'd not seen that, it doesn't look like it's Opera's tech or anything, but it's still interesting. I think that might tie in with a wearable device nicely but, to be truly honest, I'd prefer it not be a device at all. I'd absolutely love (and take the risks) of being jacked into the internet 24/7. Sure, I'm wanting to be able to control the output data and whatnot but being able to selectively search for information on the fly? Oh, I'd love that. I'd even let them plant a wireless antenna on my head and an ethernet jack in my neck for when I wanted to plug in for an OS upgrade or do a memory dump. Obviously, I'd want to control the data outputs and maintain my privacy by disabling it as I go but, still...
It'd be like those beacons, only everywhere and full of information. Imagine, having Google at your beck and call - in your head, and immediately. The vast stores of human knowledge, right there in your head. The brain is already a pretty decent operating system (by my accounts but then I look what's telling me that and I'm not sure that it is unbiased). It would be great. Or, could be...
I think you can just scan them as they get loaned. Then the DB is updated automatically with the book title and other information. Thus you'd eventually create the database of your library by lending them out. Those uncategorized books won't matter - they're not loaned out. So you just amass the data as they go out and don't worry about the rest because those are still in your library. I seem to recall that's how some freeware software worked when I looked at it in the past. I went with the paper and pen solution. You'd just scan with a reader and a semi-dedicated device or scan with your phone and it went out and found the info and signed it out and then signed it back in. You didn't have to do your whole collection - you just had to do it when it was signed out.
Nah, those are pretty durable and would work with a book at the expense of ruining a page or cover. Well, making it no longer mint condition. I have one, quite similar, and even have gold leaf to go with it. Why? Out of boredom, I decided to become a Notary Public and it was also an added asset to some friends. The added bonus is the I'm also a Justice of the Peace! So far, I've married two of my friends (done the ceremony) and notarized exactly zero documents no matter how many items I've stamped while playing with my toy. It'd work fine for books if they didn't mind damaging them.
My initial thought: Get better friends or gift the books. I've a very large collection and people sign them out on a paper and return them when they're done. That is all. No technical hoops to jump through. One of the things I'm hoping is that my collection of books, many are academic in nature, is still curated and loaned to those who are interested after I'm gone.
I do have a trust set up to maintain the property but I've made no stipulations as to how I want the house and property dealt with and I prefer to keep it that way. Let the natural course work its magic. I have stated that it is my wish and my children seem inclined to agree though I'm not sure that they'll be inclined to increase the collection when I am gone.
I currently have two rooms dedicated to storage with lined shelves and individual standing shelves. I've been buying books for a very long time but my collection is pretty diverse to it does lack good organization. Either way, there's simply a sign-out paper and people return them when they're done. I'm not that anal about it and they usually come back, in time. Some are just given away as they're not really worth keeping or I have multiple copies. I kind of miss all the used book stores that were around. It's not the same ordering online - a lot were impulse buys.
I do have, if I'm wiling to travel that far down, a store in the nearest large town. It's called Twice Sold Tales, in Farmington, Maine. Nice place but I've not stopped in for a couple of years now. I also appreciate the library sales. There are some good scores to be had. I got a huge number of the TSR books, a lot of the Dragonlance series - many of the sub-series complete even, when a library moved not too too long ago. I already had a bunch of them but they filled in a number of other series. They also had a bunch of the other series as well but mostly Dragonlance. I don't know, exactly, but it has to be pretty close to a complete collection up to a certain date.
Anyhow, non-tech... Use a paper and pen and sign and date. Give them away, if you don't care about them. Get better and more honest friends. Tech is not a solution for bad habits or inappropriate behavior.
I think this predates the agreement. Not that it matters or detracts from your point but, still.
OTOH, if you hear hooves horses are more likely then zebras.
Pfft! What if I'm out on an African safari? Hmm?!? What then, Mr. Smarty Pants?
There's probably an appropriate adage but it's usually the people who know the least or at the least impacted that complain the loudest.
It's like when I hear a crazy right-winger, who probably lives in a trailer park, yelling about taxing the upper class. I mean, sure, thanks for the defense and all - and I appreciate you thinking about me but I really don't mind the taxes - I just hate how they are spent. Hell, if you tax me more, it's not like I'm going to curb my spending habits or take my money out of the markets.
I suspect that this is very similar. They just know that they're supposed to hate the pharmacies, the hospitals, and the insurance companies. Everything gets painted with a broad brush, skipping the details, and out comes gibberish. It would be like me telling you guys how to best program or administer servers.
Probably. But...
I had papers published publicly and even some patents. However, we had lots of internal IP. Scads of it that probably wouldn't have been novel enough to warrant the negatives of publishing and proving another company was using it would have been difficult, so there was no patent and the research will never see the light of day while it still holds value. Sorry, but that's the way it is. We did fund some research at a university a few times, we retained the rights to that work (most of it) as well. Again, sorry, but that's how it works.
So, if this company is like every other company then you can certainly read all sorts of papers but you won't get everything. It's like reading a recipe but not having the secret ingredient. You could read all the public information out there and, maybe, deduce some additional information but you won't have full access. I suspect that that, and the private data about people, were likely to be purloined.
Ah well... Information wants to be free. *nods* (I keed, I keed! Sort of...)
Don't really know ya but I've seen your posts. Good luck. Enjoy the opiates. I'm a Buddhist, we're a pragmatic lot, but I hope you get what's best for you.
No... They're learning what NOT to do so as to avoid the mistakes made in the US. Also, because the security that Anthem had was shit.
Me? I can go to the VA for a lot of stuff. Because of my knee and back, I'm told I'm likely eligible for some sort of disability but I haven't looked in to it. I usually just go to the local doctors down in Farmington. I pay cash (well, use a debit card) and I don't think it's that expensive but I don't really have much in the way of health issues that I worry about. I had them run a fairly standard blood screen, redo my shots, and hit me with preemptive antibiotics prior to going on my latest adventure (just meandering around the country by car) and I think the total was $180 and that included the blood work.
I'm not positive how it all works but I think they give me a discount for using cash. I have no idea how much it is. Farmington Family Practice has an online site somewhere as well as Franklin Memorial Hospital. Those are usually where I go and I think they make some financing information available but it's too much effort to Google for you guys. ;-)
There is some sort of co-op? I'm not positive but I think I'm a member by grace of residency. The doctors all work together, are all tied in with the local hospital, and everything is pretty simple. It's a pretty small hospital in a pretty small town but they're actually being studied to be used as a model for other hospitals according to a placard they had on the wall. They used to operate, the doctors - or some of them, out of a different building but a remodel put a goodly number of them into a separate area of the building and the whole campus is pretty well connected.
Which leads me to this... They do have electronic patient records. I can get them on a USB drive if I want. I understand that they have them on a separate, non-public-facing network and that they can transfer records over a separate network to other facilities, as needed, with just a little work. The whole campus is on the second network and the first network, the computers are entirely air-gapped as far as I know. You physically need to use two separate computers to move data from one network to the other.
Yes, this is more difficult. Yes, I'm sure it costs more but it doesn't seem to cost a whole lot - as is evidenced by the prices that I pay. Why is this not standard practice? It has to be cheaper to insulate yourself than to deal with the outcomes of a hack that exposes personally identifiable information. I'm not an overly huge fan of regulation but, perhaps, there needs to be some motivation to ensure this data is kept secure - what happened to HIPPA? Perhaps we don't need to regulate how they do it but to fine them if there's a lapse in their security that causes a large-scale loss of data?
Breeches are inevitable - they're unpreventable. Keep that shit off the network. Lock down terminals. Make sure the data loss can only be via complex or analog methods. I'm sure that you guys can think of all sorts of ways to fix this, I'm certainly not an expert but I know there are tools to mitigate the risks and I know some of the best practices. I think FMH (I've talked with the IT staff on numerous occasions) even prevents USB access on most machines, everything on the second network is wired, it's locked down by MAC address, people are logged out automatically, not everyone has access, and even still - long and complex passwords are required as far as I know. On top of that, none of the computers that are able to access this are in areas where a non-employee should be able to access it.
The billing department doesn't need to be able to surf Facebook while on her break - not from hospital-owned computers. The receptionist doesn't need to have access to your records. These are isolated and disparate networks. I'm sure, with some work, I can do all sorts of mean stuff - they're running Windows and they allow me to bring in a USB key (for example) to get my records. There's a flaw right there - or a potential f
You're on Slashdot. A good number of us, I don't know how many, enjoy tweaking, poking, and even breaking stuff just for fun. For us, that is enjoyable. No, I am not a gamer. However, if I'm not pushing my hardware to the limits and breaking something then I'm not learning and I like learning new things. Breaking stuff in new and interesting ways is a way of life for some of us.
How the fuck is misinformation considered worth moderating as "informative?"
C'mon now... The OP is blatantly lying. I've no idea why, but they are.
Maybe add nomodeset to GRUB.
Steganography and Tubgirl... You might be on to something.
He's an Apple fanboy. You can't really expect him to be knowledgeable and informed, can you?
I don't want to defend him but, and I see you've been here nominally longer than I, but I'm pretty sure that reading the article is expressly (perhaps tacitly but I've not actually read the terms of service) against the rules. Sometimes, I'll approach the limits and open an article link for the express purposes of viewing the pictures but reading the article is simply not allowed. (Sometimes, indeed, I do cheat and read the article but I feel bad for it. Making informed comments is simply not acceptable.)
This is Slashdot. It's where we go to screech and throw poop. We're mostly howler monkeys in cubicle cages.
Meh... It's his karma to burn. ;-)
Whenever the outages occur on my DSL, Fairpoint always pro-rates the bill, without my asking. I don't even use their email service. It went down for a week or two at one point. I didn't notice. Even that meant my bill was smaller than normal. I even got an email saying that it would be prorated and why - even though I didn't complain, didn't notice, and didn't care.
Hell, this is Fairpoint. They're not even known for being all that good. I find them fine or I'd use another provider. It may be because I can just use another provider that they are so proactive, perhaps not. I've no way of knowing. Because the signal is carried on the telephone lines they're not able to lock out other providers so I can use any old DSL provider that's willing to serve my area.
Sure you can quantify it. It's 48 hours!
As evidenced by their posting history, they're also Apple fanboys. Insane might be redundant. ;-)
Do you have DSL? If so then, in my home state (Maine), the telco is required to allow me to use any provider that is willing to service my area. I did pay CommTel (now Fairpoint) to put the lines in as well as install a CO. However, I can (and have) use any of the third party DSL service providers. For the longest time I was on GWI but it didn't really mean anything improved - I was just too lazy to switch back. This also happens without interruption. I have three separate lines and they are all able to be switched to any DSL provider I want.
I don't switch because Fairpoint keeps putting me on business class service at consumer prices - I have static IP addresses, can run a public facing server, and don't seem to have any of the ports closed though I certainly only pay residential fees. They also send me lots of superfluous equipment (I don't use the ISP's router even though they have tried to convince me to do so a few times) and keep increasing my speeds but not my costs. I started with 2 MB/sec and now am at 13.
Rumor has it that they'll be running fiber to the village next year. I have no idea what it will cost but I'll probably contact them and see if I can jump on (and they may let me do it) and pay for them to do the last X miles. I had to pay for the CO and for 6 miles of wiring for my current setup. After running the numbers, it was cheaper than going with ISDN.
Anyhow, you may have similar laws. They're probably not advertised but you can also just check with the PUC in your state. I have no idea what Time Warner offers - if it's cable then this probably does not apply.
Do you like making money? If so, I may have a nice bet for you.
Tell me, when you do you think we'll have fully autonomous consumer-grade passenger vehicles on public roads in a percentage greater than 10%?
Depending on your answer, we can use an escrow account, and I'll give you at the odds at which I'm willing to make that bet.
Say, five years? I'll give you 5:1 odds, no bets smaller than $10,000 USD. Ten years? 3:1 odds, same minimal risk on your part. 15 years? How's 2:1 sound? Increase the minimal to 20k USD. Withdrawal of the monies prior to the end of the betting period incurs a 33% loss. Escrow fees to be paid by the winner, of course. You can pick the escrow service of your choice, I withhold the right to decline based on that choice - they need to be properly vetted.
Any further refinements to the bet needs to be established before any monies are deposited. Any unclear definitions need also be determined.
I'm game. I worked in traffic modeling for a long time. The idea of autonomous vehicles, while nice, is a long time coming. You will see them in mines, closed circuits like delivery docks and shipping receiving areas, and other similar things. As a solution for the consumer class? Not for a long time, not in any great numbers, and very limited in scope.
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I was a wee lad when my mother dragged me to a night-time church event, maybe seven or eight years old, and there was a minister from a remote area of the globe (South America, I think) who was talking about euthanasia. I was awfully puzzled but never questioned any of it. Years later, come late middle school or early high school, I finally learned that he was not, in fact, discussing the peaceful deaths of willing Asian children. It cleared up a lot of things that had kind of baffled me for some years.
They have a metric fuck-ton (standard unit of weight) of on-hand cash - never mind other assets. Apple's able to produce nothing but shit for the next 500 years, losing money the entire time, and will still be solvent. I don't remember the exact number but, theoretically, they can buy something like 53 individual countries of something like 13 of the poorest countries and still have enough cash left over to take them all to lunch.
Apple's now not going anywhere - ever. In 500 years we're probably still going to have some form of Apple. Apple is going to outlive IBM and Oracle and, probably, Microsoft. For better or worse, you've got Apple as a choice and will for quite some time.
They could literally, pay for and box up nothing but human fecal matter, call it iShit, put it on shelves, and not sell a single one and still be solvent for generations to come. They probably won't even have to reduce their workforce.
Ompa lumpa do ba de dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me
Ompa lumpa do ba de do
I wouldn't hit that and neither should you
Yay! I found some marijuana in this silly city.