> 5. Share my health and fitness data with my doctor and my trainer in real time and get advice.
This is exactly what TrainingPeaks does.
Things I still can't do in November 2014
121–130 of 153 posts
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#122I remain frustrated that world financial systems are unable to handle instant money transfers between institutions. There seems to me to be no good reason that I shouldn't be able to transfer money between my accounts without waiting until midnight for the funds to clear. Worse, the routine seems not to run on weekends. Why is this? Is power unavailable on Saturday night?
Apart from the reasons usually given (fraud protection etc.) the main reason quite simply is that those systems are arcane and Byzantine. We're talking about AS/400 mainframes here with software written in COBOL and RPG (which actually was created for use with punch cards but still is actively used today). The preferred mode of inter-systems communication on these platforms is exchanging fixed-width files via FTP or…
Those are just figleaves. Banks are doing this for a much simpler reason: they make money on it.
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#123Most of these come down to "give me what I want now for less money!"
Is this all that technology is good for?
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apart from the reasons usually given (fraud protection etc.) the main reason quite simply is that those systems are arcane and Byzantine. We're talking about AS/400 mainframes here with software written in COBOL and RPG (which actually was created for use with punch cards but still is actively used today). The preferred mode of inter-systems communication on these platforms is exchanging fixed-width files via FTP or…
Those are just figleaves. Banks are doing this for a much simpler reason: they make money on it.
That's certainly true as well. Not only is replacing those legacy systems expensive but expediting the transfer process would actually be against the banks' interest (because they're still able to use that money while it's in digital limbo).
If banks were only allowed to subtract the amount from the sending account as soon as they got confirmation from the receiving party that the money arrived and was added to the receiving account this would incentivize them to make this process as fast as technically possible.
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/about-112
112 is an emergency number, though.
In the UK we have 101 for non emergency police and 999 (or 112) for emergency. I think 111 does a non emergency call to the health service where they will listen to your problem and give you advice (ambulance, doctor the next day, your fine etc.).
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Smokers die sooner and cost the system less. You should get a tax break for smoking. Forcing people's choices is not a net good for society.
> Smokers die sooner and cost the system less. This is only true if you have high taxes on tobacco products. Those high taxes introduce other distortions -- smuggling of tobacco and increased use of counterfeit product. Smuggling is sometimes done by criminal gangs. Counterfeit product is considerably more harmful than actual products. The reason we want to stop people from smoking has little to do with the fact that…
>This is only true if you have high taxes on tobacco products. Those high taxes introduce other distortions -- smuggling of tobacco and increased use of counterfeit product.
It also introduces other "distortions", like fewer people smoking, especially kids.
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0146....
But, y'know. Free market uber alles.
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apart from the reasons usually given (fraud protection etc.) the main reason quite simply is that those systems are arcane and Byzantine. We're talking about AS/400 mainframes here with software written in COBOL and RPG (which actually was created for use with punch cards but still is actively used today). The preferred mode of inter-systems communication on these platforms is exchanging fixed-width files via FTP or…
Those are just figleaves. Banks are doing this for a much simpler reason: they make money on it.
The Byzantine systems aren't there because they make money. They are there because banks have built up bureaucratic cruft every bit as bad as the worst excesses of poorly run Soviet bureaucracies.
In other industries competition clears some of the cobwebs, but the banking industry is oligopolistic.
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#128I'm sure 30 is probably best achieved by putting a 5% GST-like tax on food and drinks that exceed a certain calorie, sugar or fat content. Making people get weighed for their taxes isn't exactly going to be logistically, morally or politically possible in the foreseeable future.
Subsidizing fresh fruit and veg wouldn't hurt either.
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Smokers die sooner and cost the system less. This is only true if you have high taxes on tobacco products. Those high taxes introduce other distortions -- smuggling of tobacco and increased use of counterfeit product. Smuggling is sometimes done by criminal gangs. Counterfeit product is considerably more harmful than actual products. The reason we want to stop people from smoking has little to do with the fact that…
>This is only true if you have high taxes on tobacco products. Those high taxes introduce other distortions -- smuggling of tobacco and increased use of counterfeit product. It also introduces other "distortions", like fewer people smoking, especially kids. http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0146.... But, y'know. Free market uber alles.
I'm in favour of higher tobacco prices!
But the UK spends about £8bn treating smoking related illness and gets £12bn from excise duties and we have much higher rates on tobacco products. The UK taxes on cigarettes are high. About 77% of the price of a pack of 20 is tax.
> This is, according to the Treasury, equivalent to more than 2 pence on the basic rate of income tax or over 11 pence on the top rate of income tax. On a typical pack of 20 premium cigarettes the total tax burden of £6.17 ($9.66) ccounts for 77% of the recommended retail price (RRP) of £7.98 ($12.50)
http://www.the-tma.org.uk/policy-legislation/taxation/
The highest rate in the US is $6.16 (£3.19) (although most places in US have much lower tax rates).
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0097....
When people smuggle cigarettes to sell illegally they don't care about minimum age laws, so you get children smoking counterfeit product:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2123054.stm
> Many are being bought by schoolchildren, according to trading standards officers in the borough of Camden, north London.
Counterfeit tobacco is a recurring problem in the UK.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-16786358
Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014
#130> 7. Have my car keep a web record of everywhere it has been, how it is doing, and what needs fixing or updating.
There are a lot of worthy problems on this list, but #7 has been completely solved by the current connected car devices like Zubie (http://zubie.co/) or Automatic (https://www.automatic.com/).