The only problem with your comparative theory is that Lasik (which I personally paid for out of my pocket even though the military offered to pay for PRK) is for the most part elective. So I had the time to shop and research AND the info was actually out there and available. You have no such luxury when the ambulance is called, you're told you need surgery, you're too unstable to be moved to another hospital (as if you even had price/benefit info with which to make that choice), you are not given the chance to source drugs for less cost / cheaper, you are not given the option to decline to have other doctor's consult on your case (at least not without being very well informed, cognizant, and FORCEFUL), etc etc etc.

Non-elective medical care breaks all tenants of a free-market system as far as choice and access to information are concerned. To pretend otherwise is delusion.

Because punishment is the only viable deterrent to activities deemed "bad" because they are clearly too much fun, and how else can you justify a massive bureaucracy (DEA + Prisons) with the power to ruin people's lives.

DING DING DING ... maybe some of those parents who are indeed buying it for their kids are doing just what we've been asking them to do, decide for themselves what is appropriate for their kids instead of asking / forcing / letting the government to do it for them based on the lowest common denominator (i.e. hyper-puritanical / violent video games = violence believers).

I'm not saying what age I believe GTAV is appropriate for, but lets not forget that like MPAA ratings, ESRB ratings are informational guides and not enforceable limits. Yes I know it is enforceable on minors, I'm talking about for legal adults they are not limits.

Perhaps. But in fairness SMS is THE MOST robust comms channel with a pretty significant link margin by virtue of being part of the control channel which needs to be robust and "up" before anything else can work. When data and voice are have no chance, SMS may still make it through. Couple that with the ability to store and retry without user intervention and suddenly texting on a flight is not THAT surprising. I'm' going to guess you hade mostly clear skies because clouds really do add to the signal path lose, but again, SMS is pretty robust, so maybe not. Also a flight "across TX" tells me you probably also weren't very high being a regional flight vice cross-country.

In any case, your experience isn't surprising, but it also doesn't change the fact that reliably hitting towers at altitude, in a metal tube, possibly with clouds between you, is unlikely especially for anything more than SMS. There is a reason there is a market for in-flight wifi and it isn't just because it would save you a TON of battery life.

Hmmm not sure that actually works at all. I mean really, I'm not sure. Here's my thinking:

No matter how random the seed is, if you ultimately are pulling from a pseudo random algorithm you have a risk of collisions which iirc is the problem. By your description it would be valid to say, "generate a random seed and then use that to choose from a PRNG that is based on choosing a 0 or 1 depending on the seed's even/odd status" It may be an overly simplistic example, but no matter how complex the PSNG algorithm, or how you seed it, it is ultimately still an algorithm that can allow for generating collision.

But I'm willing to concede I might be missing something in your example. It just seems better to use the random seed in the first place rather than throw it into some PRNG.

Plex Media Server can run natively on many NAS boxes. I personally run it on UnRaid, but i know it works with Synology and a few others

I'd like it if we applied a slightly modified version of this ... instead of asking the question, "what does a reasonable person *expect* to be private?" We should ask ourselves, "What do we as The People *want* to be private? Do we *want* our private correspondence, regardless of transmission or storage medium, to be subject to 4th amendment protections or not?"

Because i believe that is the question The Founders (tm) were asking themselves. And we know their answer. As time went on and society and technology advanced the courts have used various tests to draw lines. Lines that seemed reasonable until they become convoluted tortured logic paths to fit square pegs into round holes in the name of jurisprudence. At some point we need to hit the big red RESET button and ask ourselves that basic question: What do we want as a free society and how do we get there the simplest way possible?

The problem here is a question of energy STORAGE not generation. Until we have better batteries, or some other form of storage, that are comparable to hydrocarbon storage roof top solar will still not be as practical for a lot of transportation needs.

Mind you I'm not saying this is a great idea, especially if beats require "quality" arable land. But if by chance they are viable on land that is not great for other, edible, crops, then it might not be such a horrible idea. IIRC that is why everyone is/was so enthralled with switch-grass.

We need something a bit more sustainable and more carbon neutral to bridge the gap till we get a suitably dense storage medium for automotive use.

Umm yeah, right up until 4c .. then it reverses the contracting and starts to expand. By 8c the density is the same as at 0c and continues to drop (read: expand) as temp further increase.

Only if you plug them in. My Dish 722 is NOT plugged into a phone line nor into a network. So no reporting back. They tried to charge me $5 for that fact. I asked them what plugging in got me. Response: "it allows you to order PPV programs without having to use the internet." To which I said, "Oh so if i make it easier for myself to spend money with you, you'll stop making me spend $5 every month?" They repeated their initial response a few more time, I reworded mine to mirror theirs, and I now do not pay the $5 fee. In fairness they might not even charge it anymore. But for a few years they did, and I didn't pay it and they still have no idea what i watch or how i watch it.

Not to mention, even if it DID ... it would have to lower it a LOT and your score would already have to be on the margain to be bumped down into a new rate range. But alas, it is NOT true.

Yes x100. My sister was an outstanding teacher for 18 years ... with math as a specialty. Then she got divorced and realized, "Oh crap I can't afford to keep teaching without someone else supplementing my income." So she went back to serving food, was soon tapped to be a local and then regional trainer, and soon after put into the management program. Now she's making a decent living wage without the physical demands (her age made lugging trays around for 8 hours / 6 days a week unsustainable). The ultimate irony IMO is that her teach abilities, and her work ethic, are what drive her rise to management so quickly. I don't know what number $$$ would have conviced her to stay in teaching, but it was a not even a difficult calculation to make when she was looking to rebuild her life.

"don't complain about a lack blah blah blah ..."

The only reason is because I made a phone call from work. For many people that is the only reason they use landlines is because they are on their desk at work. Probably would have been a useful option for clarity. Otherwise my answer would have been over a year ago.

"In broad strokes yes" ... the point about my analogy is that OP says that it is not some parasitic relationship. She wants data to help better sell her product. That is fine, but don't sell it as some altruistic attempt to help the customer. It is a business trying to improve their targeted marketing. Call it what it is, and suddenly it doesn't sound quite so innocuous. At least to me it doesn't.

But the galling part about it, because I agree fully anonymous data is fine with me, is her attitude that it is "her data". It is NOT her data. It is the retailers and it is mine.