Comment: It is like getting customer service... (Score 1) 375
As a country we aren't willing to pay extra for good service on an airline - it is all about who has the lowest fair on expedia/priceline/... not which brand has good customer service. As a country we are not willing to pay for extras like good customer service, quality, or good business practices. Anyone old enough when the big selling point of walmart was "Made in America"? It was great - walmart was great - jobs were great... Then it was time to lower prices - either by breaking the labor force in the USA or shipping manufacturing somewhere "cheaper". Now walmart requires suppliers to have a plan to manage their manufacturing in China... No more Made in the USA there.
It is a shame isn't it.
Comment: I call shenanegans (Score 1) 130
I want to see some peer review first
Comment: Re:I guess the Vatican doesn't want (Score 1) 323
Comment: Re:A linear induction motor is not a railgun. (Score 1) 314
Comment: Re:"Obamacare" (Score 1) 1530
How about the individual mandate? In a free society such as ours, it is a violation of liberty for the government to require an individual to purchase something from a private company as a cost of living.
I don't understand people arguing this point. Aren't we already required to own car/motorcycle insurance? And given that public transportation is laughable or nonexistent outside of cities, couldn't owning a vehicle be considered a cost of living?
You are not required to own automobile insurance in any state that I am aware of. People are capable of walking, biking, taking a bus, hiring a taxi for that matter, my young daughter has no need for car insurance for another 4-5 years. If you decide it is more convenient to buy a car, pay for insurance and gas - that is great, your free choice.
Comment: Re:"Obamacare" (Score 2, Insightful) 1530
Now on to answer your questions:
What not to love, The requirement to give 1099 forms to any business a company does 600 dollars worth of business with in a year. Imagine you are an independent truck owner - you drive around the country delivering goods. You fill up on diesel at various stops along the way buying 2-300 dollars worth of diesel at a stop. You are responsible for figuring out which companies (realize the gas stations are usually private small companies owned by local franchises) you bought 600 dollars worth of gas from, what their business location is (No - it isn't cheveron, and probably isn't on the receipt) and delivering the documents to them annually. How much will this paperwork cost you, what happens when you make a mistake (really, did you know that some guy owns a gas station in florida and north dakota for some unknown reason?) - what does this have to do with the delivery of health care anyway?
What not to love, The requirement to pay for a product merely for being alive in the country. As an older American, insurance is a great deal - I will spend more than 10-15K in healthcare costs a year. As a young single male, well - lets just say if I see a doctor this year, it is unusual, I am wasting all of my premium. I am forced to pay for this just for being alive in the country now
What not to love, All of the mandates on what coverage has to include. Let me guess, you add required services to a bid, you expect the price to go up. Seems normal to me
What not to love, All of the wheeling and dealing that went into getting all 60 democrats in the senate to vote yes, if you want "good" insurance that covers a lot of things, so it costs 10K a year - you have to pay extra (unless you are in a union). If you happen to live in a few states with smart senators that hold out, your state gets a break by not having to implement things that are required of the rest of the country (so we are all paying for Nebraska now - wish I lived there, or better wish my senator wasn't such a tow the party line guy that they didn't have to pay him off to get a yes vote out of him)
I could go on for a while... next time someone wants to vote on a 1500 page bill, lets give people enough time to read 1500 pages (3-4 days? I mean it would be your full time job) so we can actually know what is in the bill before it is voted on.
Comment: Re:Not bad but.. (Score 4, Informative) 206
1) First Intel (after initially responding poorly to the bug) fully recalled the product without question. If you had a processor in question, you could ask for and recieve a replacement. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug
2) The flaw was caused by a bad division lookup table, not the mathematical nuance of binary logic gates. What I think you are trying to describe is the fact that floating point numbers are not percise, and you never compare them directly, only compare if they are within a small delta of each other.
Comment: Re:HOW much of a golden parachute? (Score 0) 136
Frankly, I have about 1/2 of that in accounts now at 40. I plan on having about 1/20th of that by the time I retire in 25 years. That said - the guy was fired for cause - why are you paying him off with a golden parachute. If I wrote a fraudulent expense report for a few hundred dollars, I expect I would be fired and the police knocking on my door asking some questions about my behavior.
"David After Dentist" Made $150k For Family 234
from the is-this-real-life? dept.