Where would you code the kernel without the desktop? On your tablet?

Please, God, Tell me it's tinfoil... plz plz plz plz

I used to work in a department that handled DMCA notices on the consumer side. (They were complaining that our customers were hosting the content) The vast majority of these complaints were fraudulent. The problem is that the media companies hire other companies to monitor for infringement and send take-down notices. I suspect they pay per notice sent and they are getting swindled. Some were so bad, we literally blacklisted their domain so they'd stop sending us complaints. They'd send take down notices for people that weren't even in our IP block. They were just sending nonsense and collecting money from the content provider. This likely also where the content providers get their insane numbers about the amount of money they are losing.

Right... this isn't even the first time this has been done either. It's just a machine that mixes cement with filler and pours it into a shape. They then move the shapes into place and kind of prop them up against each other. It's slower, wasteful, not as strong and more expensive than the old fashion way. But he got his name in the paper, and that's all that really matters.

Did I ever say there was? You're not trying to get a supervisor, you're trying to waste their time. I am fully aware that you get transferred to the guy in the next cube in a lot of cases. But, you refuse to be transferred, nearly all call centers have a policy on "Warm transfers" meaning, they have to first get your permission and then transfer you in person (i.e. this is frank, he has x problem, etc...) But you refuse to give permission. I guarantee their policy doesn't govern that.

The end result in the call center is the agent can't transfer you or put you on hold per policy, so they have to mute you and walk over and ask what to do. They will either give up on the spot, send a real manager over or have an agent get up from his cube and take over the call to pretend to be supervisor. You'll then ask for another, and they'll switch, and another agent walks over. Soon there's a crowd around this cube, no ones getting anything done, you've created total chaos on the sales managers floor. Keep in mind, the manager (the real one) has stats to. His are for the entire team. You're not just hurting those agents stats, you're hurting HIS stats now. Weather he gets on the phone or not, he knows who you are, what you want and he wants you off the phone.

I know this happens, I've been that manager and I've had that done to me a few times. As soon as I would hear someone was pulling that on one of my agents my reply would be "Give him what he wants, get him off the phone asap" With the caveat that what the person wants is possible. I had one guy try that and want a years refund. I ended up getting on the phone and being frank with that guy "Listen, I want this to be over as much as you do. But there are limits to what I can do. I have no '1 year refund' button on my screen. No amount of arguing can change that. If you want that kind of restitution you're calling the wrong place, you need a lawyer or something." He seemed to accept that I'd done what I could and went on his way.

If your breaks were failing, you didn't do anything about it, and then another car ran a red light and you plowed into them it would be all their fault? No, The person that ran the light, the break manufacturer, and more importantly you, would all be at fault. The healthcare company is just as much at fault as the attackers, there's no excuse for not having patched that equipment.

Not to get in the way of everyones back patting circle jerk here but windmills and skyscrapers are required by California law to take mitigating steps to help prevent deaths. Even where I live in the midwest, they forced a local cell tower to replace its aircraft warning light because it was confusing migratory birds into thinking it was the moon so they'd end up flying in circles around it until they crashed into the wires. Large buildings are required to have those bird shaped stickers on the windows so the birds don't try to fly it and whack themselves on the glass. This is nothing new, the solar tower will have to take similar steps.

That right there is some fantastic Moral equivalence if I've ever seen it.

You clearly don't work in IT. Software doesn't work that way. If the datatable is shaped like this:
Customers
--------------------
name, cust_id, credits

Items
--------------------
Cust_id, song

Then your system would work. But it probably is not organized like that. That's very inefficient. What if the items table is like this:
Items
--------------------
Pinfloyd - the wall Y/N?
Pinfloyd - the Division bell Y/N?
Pinfloyd - Live Y/N?

Each of those Yes/No's only takes up 1 bit of space. It's either 1 or 0 on the datatable.
Now what if you and your brother both own "The wall" ?
How do they reflect that you now own 2?
What if you're 10? And the song is for adults only?
What if you were previously banned from iTunes?!?!

There are 1000 ways to store this data and only a few lend themselves to easily transferring songs from one person to another.

you've no idea what you're talking about. This is a contract dispute between the ISPs, Netflix and the peers (mainly Level3) They all get this hairy, and there's always a lot of bullying going on. The difference here, and what's new is that Netflix has gone full retard, gotten the public and the government involved. If they continue, this will not turn out well for them, the ISPs or us.

You want government enforced net neutrality? Do you think they'll be neutral about porn? "Terrorist" activity? Anti-government sentiment? Once the governments fingers are in your business, they never, ever, come back out. Poison is the cure.

I used to work in and run call centers for years. (don't anymore, but I manage software that's used in them in some ways) They want to make money off you. You want them to do what you want? Cost them money. The following works every time, I do it myself.
The key is to:
A: Do not be reasonable or polite, they count on that. Remember you're in the midst of a con. The person you're talking to is reading a scripted con, that they relies on you being polite and normal. Being not polite and not normal ruins the process.
B: Do not get upset or use poor language, that's a free ticket to hang up on you. Passive aggressive is the key here.
C: Waste as much of their time as possible.
D: Never let them put you on hold. That gives them a mental break, this is a test of endurance. They've been it for hours, you're fresh and can eat chips and drink soda while you ruin their day.

For example, if you want to disconnect.
Comcast: Thanks for calling in... long nonsense fill speech later... How can I help you?
You: I would like to disconnect my service effective immediately, if you waste my time and/or do anything other than disconnect me immediately, I will request a supervisor, I will accept nothing less than a supervisor, I will not allow you to put me on hold, and I will make this call miserable for the both of us until my service has been satisfactorily disconnected.
*at this point 90% of agents will just do it and take the hit on their stats to not deal with you, but if they wont, read on*
Comcast: I'm sorry to hear that sir, but I will have to transfer you to our disconnect department...
You: *cut them off* Please get your supervisor, do not put me on hold. Thank you.
Comcast: But my supervisor can't...
You:You're wasting both of our time, call your supervisor over, I'd like to speak to them immediately. Inform them that if THEY can't disconnect my service, I'll be asking for their manager as well. This will continue until my service is disconnected, I will not be put on hold.

I doubt the supervisor will even get on the phone. Continue down this path, ask for higher and higher level supervisors. There is a chance you will run into a hardass. Don't worry, take down his name, hang up, call back, get someone else. You're shooting for the weakest link. You will find it, they will get sick of talking to you. You'll ruin their stats for the night and they will eventually just say "Screw it" and give you what you want. Their stats are the only measure by which they keep their jobs. You're a loss either way by acting like this so eventually they'll take the hit on the Sale/disco instead of letting you screw up their call times or keep the manager from browsing Slashdot. Remember, the person you're talking to doesn't hate you, doesnt like doing what they are doing and doesn't care if you buy anything. They are required to keep their average call times under X minuites, to make Y sales per month, to have under Z disconnects. Make it clear which stats they are not going to be able to save on this call and which ones they could make up for them on... namely, this could be a very short call and they could stop talking to you, who's clearly unhinged sooner.

And finally law enforcements wet dream of being able to remotely disable your car becomes a reality. If you think this is anything but that, you're very naive.

Yes, because the single payer systems in Europe of trouble free right?

I'm not saying we don't have an issue, but your 1 step solution is a joke. The same corruption, greed and poor administration that afflicts us now would continue in the new system. It would just include all the problems of government waste and politics as well.

The problem in the US is states have enacted their own laws governing what treatment is required by law. So states that are pro-patient rights oppose allowing patients being able to seek insurance outside of the state as that would be an end run around their laws. As a result, patients cannot for any meaningful patients rights groups of a large enough size to make a difference in the healthcare market. There aren't enough doctors because younger doctors can make more money doing plastic surgery and other cosmetic specialty work, and the older doctors get pair so much they only feel the need to work 2 days a week. Tuition to medical schools in this country is borderline insane.

This is a very complex issue and throwing black and white solutions at it while calling your opponents stupid will get your no-where.

I thought I'd provide some anecdotal evidence for the sake of argument. I've worked at 3 major telephone companies/ISPs over the years and have been involved in installing phone and data lines at multiple power companies across the country including 1 reactor. In every case the power company had a standing police that basically boiled down to "No data enters the facility" It used to be a rule that "no copper entered the facility" but that changed with the advent of fiberoptics. I don't know if this is a law, or just a common security practice, but in the dozens of facilities I've worked with they were all air-gaped. Again, this is anecdotal, I don't know if this is done everywhere, but I certainly found it reassuring when I saw it.

On the other hand, I did work with a local municipality once that opened and closed the local damn with a single copper pair running between the control house and the damn. When the damn overflowed and flooded that copper pair rendering it inoperable, they were furious with us because we wouldn't "fix it" I had to explain to a local community leader that our field techs are not trained to use scubba gear and had we known the safety of the entire community was riding on a single $12/month copper pair we'd have likely suggested an alternative solution.