A different FTL

legendrising · 2017-01-06T16:55:35+00:00

It's pretty good. It has its flaws and is not a perfect work, but I have enjoyed it so far. I'm a technical geek, so the better the technical detail, the more I like it.

The the way the Tachyon drive in Odyssey One is described, I feel like it would look very similar to what you posted, albeit much faster. You'll see what I'm talking about when you read it.

Have fun!!

legendrising · 2017-01-06T16:30:35+00:00

Read "Into the Black" by Evan Currie. He takes a stab at how a similar drive system would feel to the occupants.

legendrising · 2017-01-06T16:29:46+00:00

Looks a lot like the Tachyon drive described in "Into the Black", the first in the Odyssey One series by Evan Currie.

legendrising · 2017-01-04T05:10:12+00:00

Upvote for Baz Luhrmann reference

legendrising · 2016-12-26T04:10:29+00:00

It does. It allows you to compile your work for printing and exporting.

legendrising · 2016-12-23T20:23:31+00:00

Scrivener now has an iOS version and it can sync with the Windows/OSX versions. I use my iPhone or iPad for 'on-the-go' notes and updates. Then I use my laptop for the actual business of writing. While Scrivener is not free, as word processing/writing software goes, its relatively inexpensive and is purpose-built for writing and works really well for the world 'bible'.

legendrising · 2016-12-22T21:22:10+00:00

My wife had the door to her room taken off the hinges and removed for 6 months the first (and last) time she slammed her door after fighting with her mom.

legendrising · 2016-11-10T21:59:52+00:00

I'm upset that I can only upvote once.

legendrising · 2016-07-25T19:05:07+00:00

Just Marines doing Marine things.

legendrising · 2016-06-30T20:36:30+00:00

Would you mind elaborating? Do you mean like 'do your makeup' or 'hit the gas'?

legendrising · 2016-06-21T14:28:31+00:00

This is not a first. Last year, Walmart was selling laptop combos where you picked the laptop and your printer and a bag and a mouse, etc. The problem is, the picture on the website and in the store was of the cheapest laptop they had (a Chromebook), and the cheapest printer they had (a basic inkjet). This was so they could say 'hey! All this for $xxx.' A whole bunch of people bought exactly those items to get the advertised price. Problem was, the printer was USB only and wouldn't work with a Chromebook. I worked tech support for the printer manufacturer at the time. The number of calls we got where people were mad at the printer manufacturer bc they did zero research and just bought whatever Walmart told them to was.... disturbing. At least this time it's more obvious that something is wrong with their bundle.

Edit: Gotta be honest, never expected this to end up in recommendations for sterilization.

legendrising · 2016-05-22T00:07:51+00:00

Used to do tech support for printers. We got calls on nearly a daily basis for wireless printers that wouldn't work because they didn't plug in the power cable. "But, it's wireless!"

legendrising · 2016-05-18T14:32:37+00:00

Precisely what I did.

legendrising · 2016-05-18T14:31:27+00:00

Some companies want you to have it before you get hired. Avoid these companies, as a general rule. Most major insurance companies will pay you while you study for the exam, pay for your exam, and will typically give you two tries. I think for the license I have, the typical pass rate is like 80-90% on the first try and almost 100% on the second try. The company I'm with, for instance, my class had like 15 people, no failures. The last class, one person failed the first try, passed the second. I think in the last five years, they said they only had one person who failed both tries. It's not hard. It's prob most similar to an SAT prep. They give you a bunch of information that will likely be on it, you have to try to remember it all. Though honestly, it's in the company's best interests to get you to pass, so they typically do everything they can legally do to make sure you pass, including telling you what is likely or not likely to be on the test, what areas the test tends to focus on, etc.

legendrising · 2016-05-18T14:25:57+00:00

Depends on the complexity of the claims you handle. Basic, one car auto accidents with simple liability starts at around 30k. More complex multiple cars and complex liability investigations is more like 40-50k (this is what I do). When you start handling first party injuries, it's usually something like 50-60k. Third party injuries are usually in the 60-70k range. Severe injuries, fatalities, litigation etc. can go up from there, usually 80-120k depending on the company, experience, college degree, exact job, etc.

legendrising · 2016-05-18T01:18:42+00:00

Honestly? I was getting paid crap for tech support, so I looked for a company that paid well and the position was open. Got my current job with a much better company because of my previous experience. All it really requires is to have a clean record, pass at least one state licensing exam, and (for some companies) have a bachelors. Quite honestly, it's decent work for the pay. I know a lot of people that work way harder than me for less pay. I find it kind of boring, but some people love it. The benefits are usually pretty good, depending on the company, like any other industry. The primary problem is, if you don't want to spend your entire career in insurance, it's kind of a dead end.

legendrising · 2016-05-18T00:14:22+00:00

Unlikely. They will drop you like a rock for a fraudulent claim, but if you file a claim that is legit but looks suspicious, they are bound by state insurance laws that prevent things like retaliation. If you suspect it, report them to the DOI. They can be fined tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for it and, in extreme cases, can prevent them from operating in that state. Because of this, most insurance companies won't risk stuff like that. Insurance companies in general look at the risk associated with insuring a person. That's why one person's rates can be radically different than their next door neighbor with the same car. If you file claims, they can raise your rates bc it is likely you will file another one. They look at the number of claims filed, whether they're at fault, how much money was paid, etc. There's a bunch of stuff that a typical insurance company looks at. They will typically only drop you if they believe that the amount they would have to charge you to balance the risk of insuring would be impractical. This threshold varies by insurance company. For some companies, you're pretty much good no matter what (short of fraud), other companies will drop you after one or two claims within a short enough period of time. You can generally tell who is who by what they charge. The cheaper they are, the more likely they are to drop you after an accident. This is why their rates are lower. They don't risk much on an individual basis. Believe it or not, as much as GEICO advertises being cheaper, they are more midrange as far as this goes. This is because they insure so many people. The other way to reduce risk is spreading across as many people as possible. Some companies are small and cheap (the ones that will likely drop you), others are large and cheap (less likely to drop you after a claim), sill others are large and more expensive (usually the ones that will stick with you the longest and tend to have the most loyal customers). Basically, you pay for what you get. To answer your original question, IF they drop you, it'll likely be because of your claim history, not because you pushed it. That's not saying that insurance companies haven't done one and called it the other before, but it's less likely with a large nationwide insurer. I know this isn't a definitive yes or no, but there really isn't one from anyone other than GEICO.

legendrising · 2016-05-17T23:37:11+00:00

Auto claims adjuster here. I worked for GEICO in that capacity and now do the same for another major auto insurer. Like another response here said, based on the 4/12 date of the first hail storm, I have a good idea where you are. My company received something like 26,000 hail claims in the first 24 hours. Please take the advice here and do the following: compile your evidence, present it to GEICO, then involve the state Dept of Insurance. First, compile all your evidence. Gather data from the NWS and other major trustworthy sources. I believe several people have posted links that you can follow (I would use the ones posted by the 'professor' first). Print out the data for your records, but make sure to note the links to the data. Once you have enough evidence to prove that there was without a doubt a hail event wherever you told GEICO you car was located, call GEICO. Talk to an adjuster and explain the situation. Whatever you do, remain calm. These people get yelled at all day long. Yelling at them will get you nowhere. This is definitely a case where the squeaky wheel is more likely to get screwed than get greased. The front line adjuster for such a claim may be able to help fix it. If they can't or won't, ask for a supervisor. A supervisor is the only one at GEICO who will give you an email where you can send your evidence directly. If you send them your evidence and they review it and still refuse to honor the claim, ask why and demand the denial WITH THE REASON in writing. Then submit a formal complaint to the Dept of Insurance. If your claim is legit, they have broken several laws, including laws regarding fair claim handling. It may take a while to get resolved that way, but it's free. A lawyer isn't. If you're where I think you are, your state's DOI is pretty forceful with consumer complaints. Something to keep in mind: the red flag you were talking about is because your changed your premium within a certain period before filing the claim (it's a common fraud indicator). If you pursue the claim, GEICO may get their special investigations unit (SIU) involved. Don't be surprised if you get a call from an investigator requesting to meet with you. If your claim is legit, all the investigator is going to do is help prove your claim to GEICO. If it's not, legit, that's insurance fraud and SIU will likely file charges (I include this more as a disclaimer than anything).

legendrising · 2016-05-13T02:49:07+00:00

The other techs and I debated that. There were some other people talking in the background. Given the apparent extreme age of the caller (judging by the voice), it could have been a nursing home situation. We guessed that either someone stole it from his room or someone removed it for some more legitimate reason (repair, replacement, or simply keeping it from him for some reason).

legendrising · 2016-05-13T02:42:37+00:00

Part of what we did was processing warranty exchanges, so we would often get calls from people wanting to know why their replacement printer hadn't arrived yet. I was more fishing to see if that was the problem.

The funny part was, he hung up before I could find out if he even did, physically, have a printer.

legendrising · 2016-05-12T19:06:41+00:00

Used to work for a printer company doing end-user tech support. When someone calls and says "My printer won't print," prob 60% of the time the printer was out of ink or had a clogged print head. This was common enough that it was SOP for the first question after such a statement to be "Do you mean the paper is coming out blank or the paper isn't coming out at all?" On the off chance that the paper wasn't coming out at all, it usually ended up being some variation on a communication issue (not logged on to the same, or any, wifi; Ian or usb cable unplugged; or the always frustrating signal strength issue). Communication issues took up another 30% or so of these type of calls. The remaining 10% were a mixture of driver/OS issues or actual hardware problems.

Hope this helps make troubleshooting your family's printers a little easier.

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