a quick back of the envelope calculation would suggest the Shannon limit for a 6MHz channel with SNR of 28 would only be of the order of 20Mbit/sec

Quick and dirty... I get ~48Mbit/sec.

Is QAM-256 in that wide of usage?

It seems to be. Not exactly a definitive study of the subject, but plenty of user reports out there, even from quite a few years back, saying QAM-256. And would you really doubt that cable companies will do anything to squeeze double the channels into the available space?

How do they get 40Mbps in a 6MHz channel? That sounds like it would be above the Shannon limit unless the SNR is ridiculously good.

QAM-64 needs a SNR above 23, while QAM-256 needs a SNR above 28.

Modern cable systems are fiber-optic to the neighborhood, and only there do they switch to coax for a relatively short distance, so the SNR is actually very high.

QAM-64 is going to put them at around 26Mbps.

But (like 16-VSB) QAM-256 will put them at around 38Mbps.

Wake me when we surpass the highest-ever recorded temperature on earth, set in Death Valley about a century ago.

Most "records" are BS that only gets reported because a computer is tracking all this data, and can very easily spit out a record for SOMETHING, whenever desired, with no effort. Nobody would keep track of how much it rained on Tuesdays in April, but a computer will be happy to spit out that "record"-setting event, and news-models are so desperate for many hours of cheaply acquired content, daily, that they'll tell you about this new "record".

When Death Valley hits 135 ÂF, wake me up. Until then, fuck off with your BS "records" all the god-dammed time...

that they can't ruin your credit score because they never extended credit

Do you pay up-front for your service BEFORE they give it to you? If not (hint: no you don't), they're extending credit to you, EVERY SINGLE MONTH.

I like the pre-paid model, and it works well for any predictable bill like "unlimited"-anything plans. But for something billed based on consumption (electric, gas, water, etc.) it's somewhat impractical.

In a cable system, each 6MHz channel also gives around 20Mbps.

No, thanks to the higher S/N ratio of cable versus OTA broadcasts, less error correction is needed, and much more aggressive and efficient modulation can be used that provides more bits per symbol. So in the same 6MHz, they might be able to fit 40Mbps of content, not just 20Mbps. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Cable companies still compress the video to hell and back, because 2X as many channels isn't good enough for them... They want MORE, MORE, MORE. It's so bad that 1080i broadcast over cable often looks worse than a 480i DVD.

I'm not going to resort to lying, or begging or pleading to get my service canceled.

I will make one call, give them maybe 30 minutes max, and if they don't cancel my service, no problem... I'm just not paying my next bill. Problem solved.

I don't care how skilled a women is, she ain't gonna be fighting worth a damn in 5 inch 'fuck-me-heels' with her ass and boobs falling out of her costume.

Face it, no woman can fight a man worth a damn, in any case. Biology just simply precludes it as an option. If you think I'm wrong, you've never really fought an adult man. In a fight between a female Olympic athlete, and an over-weight, middle-aged male office worker, I'll bet good money on the man, every time.

Not to get too dark, but that's a key point in nearly every military rape story... Woman was trained to fight, thought she could handle herself... Is horrified to find men are incredibly strong and she can't do a thing to help herself when she, for the first time, really needs to.

Heartland Institute deliberately misrepresenting something to influence public policy? Surely you jest!

It would actually be easy enough for Walmart to switch to paper debit cards that had the amount of the card printed on the front. When you used that card, the cashier simply gave you lower-denomination of cards (say, a $5 debit card when you paid for a 5 dollar item with a $10 debit card).

Once this practice became pervasive enough, unfortunately the government would have to step in to create rules and regulations as to how all the printing would appear, and to prevent fraud. I suggest they mandate the use of engraved printing plates; green magnetic ink; and heavy cotton rag for the card. Oh, and to certain security features like holograms, watermarks, embedded plastic strips, etc.

My god, the level of convenience we'd enjoy would blow away any other form of paying for goods and services literally overnight.

no -40 F rated sleeping bag from Walmart is gonna keep you comfortable even at +30 F, that rating is all just bullshit.

No problem there, I avoid Walmart for a great many reasons.

heads covered, and breathing through a small opening

Instead of a "narrow passage" I've found that throwing a light and thin breathable sheet over your face does a superb job of holding a small amount of heat and warming incoming air, without restricting breathing like anything any heavier. (a T-shirt works, in a pinch)

Peasant Han: "Honest officer! Our child was sold into slavery over a year ago!"

Officer Zau kicks over the wood stove, lifts open a patch of the tile floor and shines his light into the darkness below. A dozen eyes shine back.

Officer Zau (screaming): Zui cha. Chaqu. Yongyuan!

Officer Zau unholsters her Type 15 pistol, takes aim at Han and puts her finger on the trigger.

(fade to black)

Is there any other kind?</snark>

I recall an old Science Fiction story along the same lines, back in the early 80s.

The protagonist was a young man in a third-world middle-eastern shitehole. He was tired of war, of losing friends and families, when he had a revelation: the "Blue Hats" (UN) were neutral, so if he joined their "army" he'd be relatively safe and wouldn't have to fight any more.

So, he obtains a discarded steel pot and paints it blue. Reveling in his newfound "immunity," he convinces his friends and neighbors to do the same. Even the other side starts doing it until everyone is a Blue Hat -- and peace breaks out for the first time in living memory.

I forget how it ended, but the gist was that the First-World was using the Third-World as a "live culture" of warfare, to keep the former's own troops trained and budgets justified. The old sides were eventually convinced to go back to fighting one another.