rgblambda

As bummed as I am by this news, I kinda understand the logic. The fan base likely didn't make up the majority of viewing figures when SG-1 and it's spin-offs were on the air. Otherwise, it would have been revived much sooner after their big bet on direct to DVD movies didn't pan out.

Guessing you maybe work in the consulting industry?

The "seniors" tend to be glorified salespeople whose job is to put together presentations and reassure clients that everything's going well, while the one or more interns/recent grads do all the technical work. Some projects there'd be one junior literally writing every line of code while the seniors spent their entire time in meeting rooms talking about god knows what.

Dressing smart, talking smoothly, and being older looking (to imply experience to clients) are the attributes that get you a senior role.

I think this might be more aimed at ensuring that if an attacker gains access to cloud login credentials via a compromised dev machine, those credentials can't then be used to access customer data.

I imagine the costs of purchasing and installing the panels in the UK are similar, but in Ireland there's definitely grants:

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/housing-grants...

You do make a good point about VAT on electricity bills also being a factor in the break even calculation. In Ireland it's 9% and that's a temporary cost of living measure and will revert to 13.5% in 2030.

Although isn't there an Irish government grant to help cover the cost of the panel + installation? That would make comparing break even times across countries quite difficult.

I'm seeing business rates for stamps is the equivalent of $1.20 per stamp. Free delivery though.

That would work for a time, like with Captchas. Then the AI would overcome it and you'd have to come up with a new idea.

I think what robostwantdata was suggesting was that people would supply a "Use my mechanical pen for a fee" type service, where customers send the text they want written and the address they want the letter sent to.

As I've already said in my direct reply, there's still the various costs involved in posting the letter, and if the community is based on a particular geographical area e.g. "Connacht Hill Farmer's Association", then it would raise eyebrows if the envelope had a Kazakhstani stamp on it.

True. To be fair, this was a reply to a comment about a niche community.

Though it's possible that this approach could become normalised if it's proven to work at a small scale.

Not that I don't take your point that such a service could exist, but the site you linked explicitly says they don't offer letter writing as a service.

Also, I imagine it's not impossible to reliably distinguish between an autopen and genuine handwriting. The company who's site you linked say their machine can't perform complex pen movements so calligraphy is impossible.

The real advantage of posting a letter is that you have to pay for postage, and the stamps on the envelope will indicate which country the letter is really coming from.

Where I live a 2nd class stamp costs the equivalent of $1.24. That's $1240 for a thousand.

Not including the cost of the letter itself, or the envelope, or the cost to write it if it's being farmed out to overseas labour, who then has to send it by international postage. And then you have evidence of where the letter originated, and that can be compared with how the user presents themselves online.

Little bit more than 2 hours minimum wage I think.

The Simon Community where I live went around the city one December and counted how many rough sleepers there were. I forget the exact figure but it was less than 100. Meanwhile there were thousands classified as homeless due to being in temporary accomodation. And this is a part of the UK well known for having a homelessness problem.

Or applying for an account could involve sending a handwritten letter by post.

I interpreted that as an attempt to mask the number of bots on the site so as to not scare paying advertisers into thinking their ads won't be seen by real humans.

What happens when someone agrees to sell or give away their id? The credentialing body could catch the very worst abusers who seem to be signing in to various sites and services multiple times an hour, but would fail to catch anything else.

>and a corner store

You mean corner shop. We usually say shop in the UK. When you said you live in London, I didn't realise you meant London, Kentucky.

>You are trying to make it dramatic by saying it is a crime

It is literally a crime. https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law

>installing a VPN is as much a crime

It is not. There is no law against circumventing age gates by means of a VPN. It is illegal to promote VPN services to children as a means of circumventing age gates, but the act itself is not illegal.

I live in the UK, though not in London. I can count on one hand the number of times a group of children asked me to buy alcohol for them. So it's not that it doesn't happen, but it almost never happens.

Compare standing outside a supermarket, repeatedly begging passers by to commit a crime for you every time you want alcohol, with the one time action of installing a VPN client on your device and it's obvious one law is enforceable while the other is not.

A VPN can't get around a cigarette and alcohol ban.

Perhaps children should be given locked down phones, with fines for parents who buy non child safe phones for their kids. It would take time for this to take effect but a social media ban would actually be effective at the end.

The UK has a real problem with pseudoscientific nonsense invading the education system.

To my knowledge they still teach about audio/visual/kinetic learners and how you should structure the way you learn around which one you are. This has been debunked for decades.

>the IT department setting up new computers with 8 little pieces of preinstalled bullshit up there

You can usually toggle hide on the pre installed bullshit at least. It would be helpful if there was a notification or prompt to tell you the menu bar was full so you know to do that.

I'm guessing they might only know how long they had you on the phone per call and be oblivious to the fact you're intentionally wasting their time. I suppose you're still tying down a person who could be otherwise be genuinely scamming someone.

And a government employee, who was only explaining in a polite, matter of fact way, what their department policy and government legislation allowed them to do.

If the story is true (I know it's labelled 'nonfiction' but c'mon) then likely the only reason the fax spamming worked is because the department policy prevented them from blocking numbers outside of very narrow circumstances.

Was thinking this too. She could have blocked that number on the (valid) basis that it was intentionally spamming them, and then stopped their benefits.

Surely every mobile app developer on the planet would quickly discover that those settings aren't what they say they are if that were the case. I think it's perfectly reasonable to trust them.

You can also use a VPN to mask the IP address of your devices, both phone and laptop, though it's a bit redundant at home if you have to give your home address anyway.

Would container tabs solve that? They're pitched as helping separate work and personal logins.

I can understand FB and rewards programmes, but can I ask what level of privacy you believe you're achieving by logging into your bank on your laptop instead of your phone? Same for Amazon, eBay, credit cards.

You can choose to not allow location tracking on those apps if that's your concern.

I'm not sure I'm following, unless you're saying you don't carry your phone around with you? Your bank and Amazon/ebay already know your address.

Voting system reform would probably mitigate the worst aspects of political parties.

Egypt after ousting Mubarak held an election where a third of seats were reserved for independents. Most winning candidates were just Muslim Brotherhood affiliated. I suspect the military interim government did that deliberately to justify their later coup.

Not quite the same thing, but in Ireland, it's become more common for Citizens Assemblies, which are randomly selected (this is disputed by some) citizens appointed to help word referenda on constitutional amendments and otherwise gauge public feeling on certain issues.

The assembly then passes it's recommendation to the Parliament who are free to ignore it if they don't like it.

With a very small number of exceptions, including changing the maximum duration of Parliament from 5 years.