Computer Glitch

Not mine, but I was there when it happened. I went out to dinner Saturday to a "casual dining" chain restaurant, name redacted to avoid undue bashing. At any rate, after I ordered they had a very minor power surge - maybe an instant, and the lights barely flickered.

But all the computers went out. More importantly, the attempt to reboot their system seemed to take a long time - like 15 minutes and counting when I left. Here are some general observations based on the crash:

1) Having cash is good - if I had to pay by credit card, I might still be there.
2) The store had the old-fashioned manual credit card machine (the "slide and click" type) but the youngish staff had never seen one in operation, and had no idea how to use it.
3) The store also didn't have near enough paper forms for a busy Saturday night.
4) All this could have been avoided by putting UPS devices on their PCs.

So, can your firm handle a power surge?

Health Care

As you may have heard, the Health Care Reform bill passed yesterday. For the few people who read me but not John Scalzi, I completely agree with what he said on the subject. Also, via the always-interesting Making Light, a helpful chart on how the bill affects you. Hint - it's not quite The End Of Civilization As We Know It (tm).