I remember reading that back during Prohibition, there was a tavern that was built right over the US/Canadian border with the bar stools in the US and the bar itself in Canada. That way, if/when US law enforcement came in, all the customers needed to do was put down their glasses and lean back and there was nothing that could be done about it.

... And don't have other options.

In my case, Glypizide, Metformin (pills) and Lantus (injected) was doing a good job. However, there was always the possibility that mealtime insulin (instead of Glypizide) could be better. Alas, it wasn't, but at least none of the problems were catastrophic, and now I know.

I'm not sure how well it worked for her, but I'm glad that my trial's over and I'm back on my old treatment. Not only did I find myself obsessing over how much and when I was eating, I had vastly more hypoglycemic episodes than normal. (Of course, at least half of them had no symptoms other than a low reading, so I can't be sure.) I know that mealtime insulin works for many people; now I know that I'm not one of them.

Shrug! Even if I were part of the control, I'd still be doing something to help.

Name another group of the population willing to be guinea pigs for experimental medication?

People with chronic conditions that might be helped by it. My sister has MS and was part of a clinical study of a new treatment. I have Type II diabetes and just finished a clinical trial of a new form of mealtime insulin. Neither of us is homeless, destitute or mentally ill.

Same here. That's why I have a friend who's a hardware-geek build my computers for me.

Let's not forget the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that collapsed in November, 1940 during high winds.

I didn't say you shouldn't be able to be paid in vacation days or in insurance or in gallons of milk. All I am saying is that you should be able to make those choices for yourself and not have government dictate to you how to get paid.

Agreed. However, the whole point of my post was not just to show that there's more to your compensation than just what you see on your paycheck but to give an example of how such alternate forms of payment can be worth much more than most people think.

You want to get medical insurance through your employer then your hourly rate is going to be lower, same with any tax.

Back in the '50s my father voted in favor of a proposal by his union to accept medical benefits instead of a raise in the hourly rate. Years later, he told me he considered it one of the best decisions he ever made.

Now that we have the Magic Helmet, is somebody going to develop the spear that's supposed to go with it?

It's important to note that when speaking about infinity don't fall into the fallacy of treating it as a value.

Even trained mathematicians can fall into that trap. In Infinity and the Mind, Rudy Rucker made the mistake of talking about a mountain that was "more than infinitely tall," which is nothing more than gibberish. I don't recommend that book to anybody, and this is just one of the many reasons I was disappointed by it.

My point is that all of those emails I get about accounts I don't have is a counter-example to the claim that spear-phishing is carefully crafted to look real.

I still think we should get Galaxy Quest back on the air.

The spam from your bank doesn't normally address you by name...

Actually, much of the spam/phishing email I get claiming to be from my bank has my name in the subject. I'm rather glad it does because I never get any real email from my bank that does this, so seeing my name there is a dead giveaway.

In spear-phishing, the emails are tailored to the intended victim, pretending to be from someone the attacker knows or believes the victim trusts...

You mean like the urgent notices I get about my accounts at banks I've never done business with or the "invoices" from companies I've never heard of before, let alone done business with?