Political Discussion
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Hemotep
Well-Known Member
Not to celebrate someone getting stabbed, but...
www.yahoo.com
Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar stabbed by another inmate at federal prison
Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexually abusing Olympic and college female gymnasts, was stabbed multiple times by another inmate at a federal prison in Florida that is experiencing staffing shortages. The attack happened Sunday at United States Penitentiary Coleman...
UK battles hacking wave as ransomware gang claims ‘biggest ever’ NHS breach
The U.K.’s largest NHS trust is investigating a ransomware incident as the country’s public sector battles a wave of cyberattacks
techcrunch.com
They are age-old questions: How much do you need to feel financially secure? How much would you need to feel rich?
More than 2,500 US adults said they would need to earn, on average, $233,000 a year to feel financially secure and $483,000 annually to feel rich or to attain financial freedom, according to a new survey from Bankrate.
Just for comparison’s sake, the median earnings for a full-time, year-round worker in 2021 was $56,473, according to the US Census Bureau.
Of course, there is no objective or “right” answer to these questions. What it takes for one person to feel financially comfortable – or like they’re set for life – can depend a lot on their early childhood experiences with money, how much they perceive those around them to have, their current financial situation, the cost of living in their area and, if they’ve thought about it, what is most important to them in life.
Bull Shannon
Well-Known Member
Not sure where I saw it but I recall seeing 70k as the benchmark a few years back. Though it framed it more like “anything above this yields diminishing returns re: happiness.” I always thought it bogus, and this number makes a lot more sense to my unable-to-buy-a-house ass.
This happiness dollar estimate is now up to $95K.
Hemotep
Well-Known Member
So that's why I'm not happy why more,
The current state of broadcast TV in the United States continues to undwelm me as we fall behind other developed countries.
And the main issue is money. In our capitalistic economy, our broadcast networks don't want spend any money on innovation and won't do upgrades without being mandated by the government. And even so, we saw how that went with the switch from NTSC to ATSC and how that got delayed from 2004 to 2008 because the broadcast stations dragged their feet and lobbied for more time.
ATSC is based on broadcast and digital video encoding technology that is more than 30 years old today.
ATSC 3.0 was approved by the FCC in 2017. ATSC 3.0 biggest selling point is it allows for more modern video encoding formats, such as streaming platforms allow for today. Meaning we can much better quality, and unclogging of the air waves. A current 1080i HD broadcast requires between 150 and 200 megabits per second of bandwidth on the spectrum. With more modern video codecs, a 4k broadcast needs only 15 mbps.
ATSC 3.0 would allow for the following features to be added to broadcast tv.
But despite being approved more than 5 years ago now, there has been almost no adaption. The broadcast networks don't want to spend money to update equipment so shortly after doing so around or before 2008 as "it's not in the best interest of their shareholders". Most TV's you buy today don't support it either, meaning we are back in another situation where set top boxes will be needed for most people to continue to watch TV after a station converts over to ATSC 3.0. In the few cities where ATSC 3.0 does exist (test markets were stations broadcast in both ATSC and ATSC 3.0 on different spectrums), the only set top boxes available to receive the newer signals are TiVo DVRs. However, for whatever reasons, these networks have decided to turn on the highest copy protection DRM flag meant for PPV only to be always on, which prevent the TiVo DVRs from being able to record or timeshift any broadcast. So essentially you have an expensive box where you need to pay for features you can't use. Not to mention, TiVo is likely to go out of business soon, or at least exist the DVR market altogether. During the Trump Administration, the FCC reversed a rule requiring cable companies to support third party equipment. So this means cable companies are saying people must once again use their set top boxes and are not support TiVo devices.
Because broadcast stations are not adapting ATSC 3.0, TV manufacturers are keeping off the feature list for low end and middle end TV Sets all to save an estimated less than $5 per TV set in hardware and royalty costs.
So, essentially, there will be no movement unless the government mandates it. And the government will not mandate without set top converter boxes being funded and provided to consumers by the government. Which has zero support from congress to fund with tax payer dollars. Fun fact, congress also did not support paying for the converter boxes during the ATSC transition. That was done so by the FCC with money they obtain with spectrum actions. There are currently no spectrum actions taking place and non planned with the transition to ATSC 3.0. So this is not an option. Set top converter boxes would need to be funded by the private sector, and we have a better chance of congress paying for them.
Meanwhile, Japan, Korea, India and parts of Europe have not only moved on to their equivalent of ATSC 3.0 years ago. They are already rolling out the next generation with 8k support and will be likely fully 8k before the US transitions to 4k.
And the main issue is money. In our capitalistic economy, our broadcast networks don't want spend any money on innovation and won't do upgrades without being mandated by the government. And even so, we saw how that went with the switch from NTSC to ATSC and how that got delayed from 2004 to 2008 because the broadcast stations dragged their feet and lobbied for more time.
ATSC is based on broadcast and digital video encoding technology that is more than 30 years old today.
ATSC 3.0 was approved by the FCC in 2017. ATSC 3.0 biggest selling point is it allows for more modern video encoding formats, such as streaming platforms allow for today. Meaning we can much better quality, and unclogging of the air waves. A current 1080i HD broadcast requires between 150 and 200 megabits per second of bandwidth on the spectrum. With more modern video codecs, a 4k broadcast needs only 15 mbps.
ATSC 3.0 would allow for the following features to be added to broadcast tv.
- 4k
- HDR
- Paid Subscription Channels
- Pay Per View
- Digital Rights Management (ewww)
But despite being approved more than 5 years ago now, there has been almost no adaption. The broadcast networks don't want to spend money to update equipment so shortly after doing so around or before 2008 as "it's not in the best interest of their shareholders". Most TV's you buy today don't support it either, meaning we are back in another situation where set top boxes will be needed for most people to continue to watch TV after a station converts over to ATSC 3.0. In the few cities where ATSC 3.0 does exist (test markets were stations broadcast in both ATSC and ATSC 3.0 on different spectrums), the only set top boxes available to receive the newer signals are TiVo DVRs. However, for whatever reasons, these networks have decided to turn on the highest copy protection DRM flag meant for PPV only to be always on, which prevent the TiVo DVRs from being able to record or timeshift any broadcast. So essentially you have an expensive box where you need to pay for features you can't use. Not to mention, TiVo is likely to go out of business soon, or at least exist the DVR market altogether. During the Trump Administration, the FCC reversed a rule requiring cable companies to support third party equipment. So this means cable companies are saying people must once again use their set top boxes and are not support TiVo devices.
Because broadcast stations are not adapting ATSC 3.0, TV manufacturers are keeping off the feature list for low end and middle end TV Sets all to save an estimated less than $5 per TV set in hardware and royalty costs.
So, essentially, there will be no movement unless the government mandates it. And the government will not mandate without set top converter boxes being funded and provided to consumers by the government. Which has zero support from congress to fund with tax payer dollars. Fun fact, congress also did not support paying for the converter boxes during the ATSC transition. That was done so by the FCC with money they obtain with spectrum actions. There are currently no spectrum actions taking place and non planned with the transition to ATSC 3.0. So this is not an option. Set top converter boxes would need to be funded by the private sector, and we have a better chance of congress paying for them.
Meanwhile, Japan, Korea, India and parts of Europe have not only moved on to their equivalent of ATSC 3.0 years ago. They are already rolling out the next generation with 8k support and will be likely fully 8k before the US transitions to 4k.
debianlinux
Well-Known Member
Don't threaten me with a good time! Less TV is more.
Farmers Insurance is pulling out of the state of Florida. They are calling this a necessary business decision to reduce risk exposure to hurricanes.
More than 100,000 Famers customers in Florida will now have to seek different insurance options.
I wonder how many other insurance companies will follow and for those that remain, how this will impact rates.
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
Insurance shouldn’t be for profit and this should be against the law.
yukbon
Well-Known Member
You know how Trump got elected and then did a bunch of stuff that was like, measurably bad for the country in ways that no one even thought anyone would dream of doing? Like, I thought Bush The Lesser was a fumbling moron -- and I do still think he's sort of lazy in a if-only-he-applied-himself kind of way, but I never not for a moment thought "well what if he's actually a wholly bought-and-paid-for-actual-foreign-agent" or (somehow cradling the line between "just-as-bad" and "omg that's worse") the other thought was "what if he is actually brain damaged and he's just trying his actual best".
Anyway, that's what DeSantis has been for Florida. Lock, stock and barrel. Everything the meatball touches turns to shit.
Saw something similar regarding CA and fires. Considering the amount of money these companies make and how little people actually use the benefits they pay for, it’s pretty ridiculous, but capitalism I guess.
djdavedk
Well-Known Member
Stabbing is too good for him... Sorry not sorry.Not to celebrate someone getting stabbed, but...
Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar stabbed by another inmate at federal prison
Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexually abusing Olympic and college female gymnasts, was stabbed multiple times by another inmate at a federal prison in Florida that is experiencing staffing shortages. The attack happened Sunday at United States Penitentiary Coleman...
And this is why it's so hard to usher in change.
Trickle Down Economics does not work. That's a fact.
As much as Disney is trying to stay out of it, they are becoming ground zero for the culture war.
folsom_lives
pretty_lil_dirt_boi
Not trying to pick an internet fight and I think I understand the perspective you are coming from, but I have questions.
Your use of society has me confused since the "society" Nassar and the larger prison population has been deemed guilty of committing a crime by (hopefully) a jury of their peers. These crimes were decided to be crimes also by "society". We on the outside, I would argue, have no way of really controlling the motivations of other people whether they are prisoners or not. If someone stabs a registered sex offender in his home is it any different than in a prison? If anything, having them register and telling the general public where they live is probably worse than in prison where the only way their crimes could be discovered is from second-hand information.
I guess my point is feeling bad for people who are brutalized is all well and good, especially if we feel that the privatized prison system is really the culprit. But yeah, I'm not going to lose sleep over a sex offender getting stabbed in or outside of prison. Truly nothing we can do about it without going to even greater lengths of control that might then be deemed barbaric on the other side.
Virginia Is Part of Successful Climate Alliance. Now Republicans Want to Abandon It — TIME
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has cut emissions in 12 states by 50%, and raised $6 billion. Yet some want to ditch it.
apple.news
Sighs...
What really pisses me off more then them pulling out, is they completely ignore the facts and create their own. How is a program that has been very successful at reaching it's goal a "failed program".
