Unemployment Claims Crash State Web Sites 233
1sockchuck writes "A sign of the times: a surge in filings for unemployment benefits has crashed online application systems in four states this week. Web sites in Ohio, New York, Kentucky and North Carolina have been knocked offline by unusually high volumes of jobless claims. Phone applications systems appearing to be faring even worse in many states. The thin silver lining: states are hiring workers for phone banks and buying new servers to prop up their web sites."
Vast numbers of unemployed, surfing the web (Score:2, Redundant)
and yet I'm able to get first post? This can't be right.
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FAIL (Score:2)
When did the word "fail" acquire its new usages as a noun and an adjective? I'm going to use the word "failure" and sound like an old person because you damn kids keep saying "fail".
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Alas, in comedy, timing is everything. I really don't even go in for that frist prost crap. Check my history -- I have never done this before and will probably never do it again.
But tonight, something was different. The first post was mine for the taking. It was there, I tell you! I felt the adrenaline rush, the dry mouth. The first post could be mine and I decided that I WOULD take it! I just needed to come up with something clever. No, just saying "frst prst" or whatever it is those morons write w
Stand-up philospher (Score:5, Funny)
Comicus (Mel Brooks): "No."
Clerk: "Did you try to bullshit this week?"
Comicus: "Yes!"
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Slashdotted (Score:5, Funny)
Well, when it's back up, someone make sure it gets on the front page of Slashdot.
If the business can handle it... (Score:2)
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"if the company does not contest"
That always bugged me. I pay into the pool, If I leave a company, for ANY reason, I should be able to use those benefits.
Luckily, when I was fired from my last job, they did not contest (they couldn't show any wrongdoing on my part, just that my manager after a reorg didn't like me too much). But I still had to tell the interviewers that I was fired. Stupid company ego.
If you can get it, take it! (Score:2)
Sure, unemployment is meant to be confusing and hard to get to. They set time limits on when you can log on not because their servers can't take it, but because they want you awake for a few minutes during those hours and proving you're in the state you belong in. Anything to get you disqualified...
But, the average human can beat that system and cash with about half the pay they had before, all for the only work being looking for a job like the one you left... not something you weren't going to do. And you'
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all for the only work being looking for a job like the one you left
Most states unemployment rules make you take the first job that comes along, whether it was like the one you left or not.
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True, but they don't insist a computer programmer look at Burger King and they don't really expect Burger King to take them either. You have to accept the first offer you get, but there's nobody blindly throwing offers around to get people off of unemployment.
So, the moral is not to apply to anything you wouldn't want to end up getting and ending your time on unemployment... but there's plenty of "well, that'll never get looked at" bins on monster.com to satisfy most states.
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Spin Cycle (Score:2)
1. Economy Tanks
2. Banks Fail
3. People lose jobs
4. People get unemployment checks
5. People take checks to banks.
7. Economy Tanks
8. Banks Fail...
Cloud Computing... (Score:2)
Wasn't the whole point of outsourcing data-ops to "the cloud" was so that the same hardware and network could be serving football video streams one day, and taking in business (or going-out-of-business) paperwork the next?
Why hasn't this been implemented yet?
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No, the whole point of "the cloud" was to get a new buzzword for salesmen and consultants.
Because then you'd need to invent a new buzzword. "The cloud" is short and nice-sounding, so better milk it for all it's worth, especially in this economy.
Bean counters (Score:3, Insightful)
The upcoming administration is making noises they will be giving employers some sort of tax break or stimulus to "create jobs" and hire more people (up to 3 thousand bucks a job!). So..maybe it isn't far fetched to think a lot of the folks being laid off now will be rehired once this new tax break dodge starts back up again. Just a thought..
Dropped in Comcast Hell (Score:2)
I don't have to wait for a site to become too busy to have connection frustrations. I've got Comcast. Every morning when I try to hook up to the net with my cable modem I have time to boil water and make coffee before I can hook into Comcast. It seems that with HD TV and phone service over cable they simply have everyone in my area waiting, waiting, waiting for their machines to hook up upon request. Class Action Law SUITs are beginning to appeal to me.
They left out Connecticut (Score:2)
Not really a problem (Score:2)
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You're paying taxes because if you don't, men in dark suits come for you and make you go away.
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I think the same trolls are somehow getting mod points left, right, and center.
The parent is most definitely not a troll.
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you must be new here. Don't feed the trolls.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, because as a computer programmer, the first thing I'm going to do to cut back when I get laid off is sever my connection to the job boards and cut off my email access to everyone I know who might be in a position to hire me. F-ing genius.
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Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think people quite get it.
I was in the same situation. I've done IT work for longer than most people here have been able to read. :) When I got laid off, I did two things. I filed for unemployment, just in case I couldn't get a job, and then I went job hunting. The unemployment forms in my state take a couple hours, and a good bit of research. How much did I make at that job two years ago? What is their current contact information? Oh shit, the company moved out of country, but I still have to list someone who can verify I worked there. What's their current mailing address? A contact? A phone? I haven't talked to them in almost two years, why should I know this? Even the office phone number was on speed dial ... on my work cell phone that I turned in on my last day there.
After I got done the unemployment paperwork, which the unemployment office actually recommended doing online versus one of their branch offices which just has a terminal to do it online, I then went job hunting. I called every contact I could think of. I checked all the job boards. I went to interviews at crappy places. One of the best was with a scientologist run company. I never "interviewed". They had me take their pseudo-psych profiling test to see if I was worthy. When I researched the test they gave me, I'm sure I scored in the "don't ever contact this person, he will be subversive" range. :) It took a few weeks to get another job. I'm not a McDonalds level employee. I'm close to a C-level tech person (CIO/CTO, depending on the size of the company). While contacts may be begging me to come over and work for them while I'm employed, that window of opportunity isn't always still available the day I need new work.
I collected two checks from unemployment, and that was it. $250/week, the ceiling for unemployment in my state. It wasn't much, but it insured I could put gas in the car and feed the family until I got my next job.
Just because I just got laid off, should I disconnect all my services (power, water, phone, internet), and sell my computers? Hell no. The next job is coming soon, and I *NEED* those. Without them, I wouldn't have landed my next job. I found them on a job board. I applied online. I spent 8 hours a day browsing what was available, and matching them up to my skills. Well, some days I spent at head-hunter offices, with no real advancement. "Oh, we can place you immediately, we'll call you tomorrow". They'd all, say that they sent my resume to some company at a vague loation, and then never hear back. My resume, although glowing, was just one in a stack of 100 that they sent to each place. Head-hunters used to be great. Now they're trying to make a buck too. Hopefully they can get one of those 100 hired, so they make their commission.
I thought the head-hunters had forgotten about me, until I got a flurry of "offers" in a few weeks ago. I actually read them (I'm working, so I'd usually ignore them). They were all for the same job. Everyone was so hopeful to be able to make that deal. It's really sad out there right now.
I say keep what you have, for as long as you can. My "home office" now consists of one PC and a laptop, because I'm no longer living in my nice house, with lots of room for my whole setup (which has since been sold or given away). I'm hopeful that the economy will get better, because if it doesn't, I'm almost tempted to beg to join the Army. Sure, I'll get shot at for 15% of my old pay, but it'll pay better than McDonalds, even though I'll run the risk of getting killed daily. When it gets bad enough, McD won't be any safer. Desperate times call for desperate measures. If you haven't eaten in a week, bringing a gun (the last valuable you own) into McD to rob the place for food and cash on hand doesn't sound all that bad.
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I tend to agree with your situation, however I was able to get my job from a headhunter, because of duplication....I walked into an interview that another head hunter company signed me up for...i forgot to sign the form for one of them, so then the employer got wind of it, and told me to figure out the problem, and who is representing me, with my apologies I told them there had been a mix up...but I am sure that because both were fighting so hard (yeah right....like sending some paper is really working hard
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Insightful)
I missed the part where those forums and your e-mail wouldn't work at the Library.
I don't get why you think making it more difficult for them to find work will get them off of Unemployment faster.
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I missed the part where we're transported to an alternate universe where the crotch rubbing porn surfers monopolizing the workstations at the library jump out of the way to give job seekers priority
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So good luck getting flash bloated web 2.0 ANYTHING, much less webmail to load at all in IE5 on a 10k hookup
Gmail has an HTML-only option. (although they will be dropping IE 6 support soon, don't know about IE 5)
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I don't know what state you live in, but that's not true in California. Employers don't pay into the State Unemployment Fund, employers do. Then, if they fire somebody, that person is entitled to unemployment compensation, taken out of their former employer's contributions. That's why (in California) if you quit,
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Think of it as the football quarterback about to be pulled down for a loss of 3 on 4th and long. You can either be a man and take the hit, or throw the ball to nobody... costing you five yards and the ball still goes over to the other team after a call of intentional grounding.
Pride is nothing... take the unemployment money. It's your tax dollars for the situation you found yourself in.
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Re:HUH?? (Score:4, Insightful)
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"Not to mention that the library has a limited number of seats and so if everyone did as you suggested there wouldn't be enough seat hours to go around."
I'm not sure if it was CSMonitor or the BBC but libraries already are having a demand problem, partially caused by the diminishing economy. They're already setting up limits and upgrading lines.
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Both libraries I used for Internet access (in London) have a 1-hour limit per day, and an elaborate reservation system.
I found it more convenient to go to an Internet cafe in a cheap area and pay 50p/hour. That's easily affordable on benefits here anyway.
Re:HUH?? UH HUH! (Score:5, Informative)
You say "My parents raised 4 kids on about half of what I make now".
Could you be a bit more specific? Lets look a little closer.
A. What did your parents make in '82?
B. Go to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve home page.
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1084177&op=Reply&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=26367983 [slashdot.org]
C. In the "What is a dollar worth" program
C1. Type 1982 into the year
C2. Type your parent's 1982 income amount into the "goods or services" field.
C3. Type 2008 into the "Then in" field. 2008 is the latest year they have data on file.
C4. Press the "calculate" button.
Finally let us know the result!
This Fed calculation is quite useful for all time oriented dollar amounts. You will notice that news sources constantly compare today's dollar to yesterday's dollar as if they were the same. They are not.
Thanks,
Jim
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Interesting)
Disconnecting your internet connection when you need to be searching for a job is the most retarded idea I ever heard. It's an enabling resource, as is a phone and an automobile depending on where you live.
When these people... You're 26 years old and you're so worldly and wise that you get to refer to the down and out as "these people" ? Or is it that you've never been one of them? Do YOU know what it's like to stand in line at a mission? To buy half chicory coffee? Ever live in your car for months at a time? How many times have you had to come to home to people dependent on you and announce you've been laid off? Can you relate to a desire ( the INSTINCT ) to preserve some semblance of normalcy for your family?
I think you lack the needed perspective to be judging these people.
And THIS: Nothing is more disgusting than watching Best Buy drop off a Plasma screen TV to Government subsidized housing and I know full well they all have the $150/month HDTV Cable plan.
I gotta call you out on this one. Nothing pisses me off more than the never ending made up welfare cadillac anecdotes. That's right, I'm saying you made that shit up, you never saw Best Buy drop off a Plasma TV to a government subsidized home.
If there's a Just God, He'll grant you some experience in these matters.
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Why shouldn't they have one luxury anyway?
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Maybe if you did your peeping into people's homes on foot, you would save enough on gas to be able to afford one too. And you'd be a lot less likely to cause an accident for not watching the road.
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Sad to say, I am currently unemployed. I go next door to my in-laws' house for internet (a definite luxury). Many of us do not have access to buses or subways, and are miles away from the "local" unemployment office (my local library is just as far). If I have business with the unemployment office that cannot be handled via internet, I call the office first before using the gas to drive.
I have a cell phone ($50/mo.) rather than a land line, so any potential employers can contact me whether I'm home or not.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Funny)
I, for one, applaud your grandparents for having the fortitude to be able to live without the Internet during the Great Depression. Truly, their sacrifices knew no bounds.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is characteristic of a peculiar mindset. "Look at that guy not wearing a seatbelt. I hope he gets in a crash and dies! Wahhh!" It comes from a fixation on the rules over and above what they are intended to accomplish.
Here, you will enjoy this [theonion.com].
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"I hope we hit another depression. Grandma and Grandpa knew how to live frugally."
The thing they don't tell you in the brochure is what the frugal people turn into in times of plenty. That's right, compulsive pack rats that will not spare a penny to improve their lives one iota when the honey's flowing. And I do mean pennies. They waste more money and time (theirs and others) trying to be penny pinchers than they ever would gain by simply spending the needed money to accomplish their goals.
"When these peopl
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I heard an NPR interview with someone who lived through the depression.
She talked about the sickening sound of her father cracking open a cooked squirrel skull with a spoon (like a boiled egg) to eat the brains.
Eating squirrel brains has been my marker for a real depression ever since.
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When these people have to start cutting their flour with cardboard to make it last longer, call me.
Out of curiosity: what does that mean?
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It means that you take a piece of cardboard, grind it into powder, and mix it with flour, then make food from the mix as you'd do with flour normally. In old times, when food's been really tight, people have used the bark of trees similarly.
Basically, you substitute some of the flour needed to make for example a bread with cardboard.
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Since the link was messed up, here it is: http://www.minneapolisfed.org/ [minneapolisfed.org]
Median income in the US in 2007 [wikipedia.org] was $50,233.00. So, half of that is $25,116.50.
$25,116.50 of 1982 goods would cost $53,954.93 in 2007 according to the calculator.
You wouldn't need double the amount of money your parents made due to inflation to have the same standard of living your frugal parents
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I posted the numbers in another reply. I make about twice as much as my parents do NOW. As in 2008 dollars. I'm just going on the assumption that their salaries have been adjusted by inflation.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't hope we have another depression, but I'd like to see some enforced restrictions on what you can use your unemployment money for. Like not getting fox or 52" screens.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Funny)
...could have come out of the deep fry along with the burger I was giving them...
You guys deep-fried your burgers!?! Tell me the name and location of your former restaurant immediately!!
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Like not getting fox
I might be misunderstanding, but there is an over-the-air channel in my area that calls itself FOX.
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Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Interesting)
According to this website [inflationdata.com].
CPI in 2008 is 211.08, in 1982 was 94.3.
My parents currently make $42k. I currently make $78k. Assuming their jobs were adjusted for inflation they only made quite a bit less when I was born.
I'm socking away money left and right while kids that I went to college with go out and buy big TVs and new cars. My house is set at 45 degrees. I've shut off my hot water heater and shower at the gym (Which costs me less than what running the heater would cost, plus I work out there too). My car is 12 years old and has 220k on it (but still runs fine). Growing up my dad would get 1-2 years out of a $500 car and get another one. I buy almost everything second hand, including clothes.
I do have some 'nice' things like the internet and my MacBook Pro and a house a bit nicer than my parents. But it's frustrating to no end to drive past the subsidized housing on the way to work and see nicer cars than me. People crossing the street on iPhones and wearing brand new clothes. People that bitch they have no money but have plenty of money for 2 packs a day. Some people need to be taught the difference between Want and Need.
And my company has never had an engineering layoff in the entire 85+ year history of the company. I think I'm doing pretty good.
Irrational envy (Score:5, Insightful)
While others need to learn the meaning of irrational envy.
"And my company has never had an engineering layoff in the entire 85+ year history of the company."
The confidence of youth is mainly due to a lack of experience. Now before you start lecturing me about the GoodOldDays(TM) I should inform you that my eldest son was born two years before you were. Like yourself he has never had to find work in a recession, let alone the depression you are wishing for.
"I think I'm doing pretty good."
So STFU and enjoy it instead of bitching about people you know nothing about.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Frustrating? I think you are far too concerned with other people. Seriously, you sound like somebody who is doing well for himself so focus on your own life and stop worrying so much about what other people are doing, buying and how they live their lives.
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I think the point is that unemployment and subsidized housing is paid for by his money, my money, and every other hard-working citizens' money.
It's legitimate to complain that your money is being taken by the government to help out someone "needy" who is only needy because they spent their food and housing money on cars, iphones, and lung cancer.
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Reminds me of when I was an undergrad. I went to school through the summers in a town that only existed for its university, so I lived alone for some of the time. Without other people living with me, I turned off the AC, slept on my schedule, got tons of work done (both for class and for the multiple part-time IT jobs I held down), and ate very frugally. I remember the first summer I had one set of dishes, a skillet, and a sauce pan. When I got a car, I paid cash for it. It lasted me six years with minor re
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The gym's shower is there for showering after working out. I shower after I work out. How is that not the intended purpose?
My car is in perfectly good shape. Quite a few people have recorded 300-400k on their TDIs, it's a durable little engine.
Second hand is goodwill. I need to wear business casual to work, so I shop at goodwill for business casual. Nothing is even close to being worn out and a fraction of what it costs at Kohls.
And the other thing I'm 'spending' my money on that makes up the rest is a savi
Re:HUH?? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm hoping not to work until I'm 65. If I make my pile of gold big enough now (When I'm young, single and can put in 50 hours a week) then hopefully when I have kids I could either quit early or go to part time.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Funny)
Here's a piece of advice. No woman will mate with you or live with you at your current thermostat setting. At the very least, turn it up to about 70 for about half an hour during the deed.
Some women can be pretty downright frugal, but I know none in modern times who will live with a 45-degree thermostat setting. FFS, not even poor peasants in rural China will tolerate that.
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You could save even more money if you cancelled your gym membership, sold your car, bought a bicycle, and cycled to work.
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I do in the summer. Unfortunately with no sidewalks and a lazy government, it's just not possible in the summer.
Plus, where would I shower?
Job HUH?? (Score:2)
I couldn't afford the $40/month for internet.
Good thing Internet service is available in most areas for 5-10 dollars a month, if not free w/ ads.
Quoted so you all can see it. I've been there, done that, am currently wearing the T-shirt.
$10.00 a month really is cheap for what you get out of it. Some may want to keep that in mind next time life kicks them in the pants and some SOB comes along with their "helpful" advice.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Interesting)
I found out that my state (LA) royally fucks you out of UI, if you are self employed.
Yep, they actually have a statute written that says, if you are the primary shareholder of a company, you cannot claim UI. This just isn't fair.
I was recently between contracts for a few months. First time for this....so, I file for UI. Now, I have and S corp. I pay myself a salary out of what I bill. Out of that salary, I pay SS, I pay medicare...and I pay Federal and STATE unemployment fees.
Yet, when I went to collect them...I could not in the state of LA. That isn't fair? I pay into the system, but, I cannot take out when I need to?
I know this isn't that way in all states...I know people with the same set up, that collected UI just fine.
I called....I went in person...I appealed this to the highest set of judges..but, to no avail.
I swear, if I had enough time and money (I'm working again, but that kills the time aspect)...I'd try to get a lawyer and get that law overturned on principal alone. If I pay into a system..I should be able to get out of it.
So anyway...I've got a bad taste for UI complaints....
But you are not unemployed (Score:2)
Guess it sucks to be in LA. I have never incorporated, but here in CA, if you are self employed as a sole proprietor, they don't make you pay UI... and of course, you can't make a claim against it either.
Don't worry, however, CA screws individuals with all kinds of taxes, almost the highest in the nation in every category. And it is never enough.
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Think of the children! Someday, they'll be grown and say WTF? Now you want US to pay for this? Think again.
Why do you think old people have the highest percentage of voters?
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Then why are people who run their corps are forced to pay into it? If they can't ever collect it, why must they pay?
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I understand the rules trying to keep people from gaming the system, but, they need to make it subjective. It was clear that I was laid off from a project that cut 60 heads unexpectedly....the sub was cut, and they cut me, the sub to the sub...that was shown to be my sole source of income. The people at UI wanted to help me, but, said th
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The problem is that you have the power to lay yourself off and could milk the system that way. Perhaps you could trust a relative to be the chief officer of your company,
Re:HUH?? (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, yeah, I know, the moral order of the universe depends on their being a walk of shame that everybody who has the temerity to be unemployed is forced through; but it makes very little economic sense.
Re:HUH?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously? People are too lazy to go to the unemployment office? Why am I paying taxes again?
Lazy is not a synonymn of 'efficient'. Assuming you went to a public school, I'm wondering why I'm paying taxes.
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No More "Offices" (Score:3, Informative)
Most states now do the entire process online or by phone only. There is no office to go to any more.
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Why am I paying taxes again?
Because if they were begging on the street corner and starving you'd probably be whining about that instead.
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I can believe it. I'm in Ohio and I've seen a lot of people being laid off lately. Primarily in what's left of the industrial and manufacturing sectors, at least in the immediate vicinity.
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The reason should be pretty obvious -- it's winter. Connecticut is cold. The tubes are freezing up. The electrons are having a hard time getting though. You all need to unplug your routers and pour some hot water down the pipes. If everybody pitches in, things out to free up pretty soon. Otherwise you'll have to wait for spring.
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Especially Michigan (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Do they need more servers !?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Efficient or not, to process 2 million web submits in one shot, with a database involved, serving the images, bandwidth, database transactions and locks(big deal here!), etc etc etc will trash many data -centers-, nevermind one machine. There's also a lot more involved than the CPU, like memory, which tends to be what goes first =P
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I believe the original poster was using hyperbole. He was suggesting that Kentucky could not have possibly processed 2 million unemployment claims online, seeing as how the the state only has 4 million residents. A really high unemployment rate would be 15-20%, not 50% of the residents.
Which, does not have to be run on the
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I know the previous poster was exaggerating. And I was just making a point that very few servers can process that much. Of course, if your description of the environment is correct (Win2k and IIS5), Im amazed they are able to survive regular traffic.
That said, even Google doesn't get hit by more than 5 figure hits in a second. (which, keeps in mind, would end up being a trillion hits per day, for estimation sake). Even a fraction of the 2 million submits talked about would take the toll if they happened all
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You haven't worked government, have you? The server isn't a core 2 duo. Its a P2 450, that they purchased with grant money in 1999, and haven't been able to replace. It runs NT4, with a website in either cold fusion, or ASP. but either way, it was written with a "Idiots guide to $LANGUAGE" book in hand, And of course, MS SQL Server 6 is running as the primary database, on the same machine.
Or, its a quad core, quad processor system, with 16GB of ram, running either cold fusion, or ASP, with MS SQL server
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MS SQL Server 6 is installed, running, and consuming resources, but the real backend is an Access database.
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I don't know about other states, but the State of Michigan has a mix of internal programming teams and contractors.
Disclosure: I work for one of their internal programming teams.
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So this is YOUR fault! *points finger menacingly*
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No, it's... um... Infrastructure Services fault! Yeah, that's it!
Seriously, though, where I work, we actually do create new sites with new technology. However, since our budget comes from other agencies (we "contract" out to them), we don't upgrade old applications until they ask us to.
They also provide the servers, as I recall.
I actually haven't worked there that long.