Brick and mortar stores - all of which have to collect and pay sales taxes - also have to pay corporate income taxes. Why should Amazon have such a huge advantage over brick and mortar stores?
Huge advantage? Ever heard of shipping? Bumps the price of the item up about as much as sales tax. In fact, since I live in WA I already have to pay sales tax on my Amazon orders on top of shipping costs. It makes small items cost about 2 or 3 times what they cost in the local Target/Walmart.
Re:makes windows marginally bearable (Score:1, Troll)
by Zephiris (788562) Alter Relationship on Thursday December 24, @11:43PM (#30549412) Homepage
Looks like some asshole got mod points and went to town again.
Re:makes windows marginally bearable
on
Cygwin 1.7 Released
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I just can't see any reason myself or an average Windows user would need a UNIX command line
If you are a developer or sysadmin who deals with data, then you use the command line. You can take several hundred log files, run them through 1 liner piped commands (find, grep, xargs, awk, sed, perl, sort, uniq, wc, head, tail, etc), output a CSV file, and pop it into Excel in about 10-20 minutes. Try doing that with only Excel and you'll be there all day.
Re:makes windows marginally bearable
on
Cygwin 1.7 Released
·
· Score: 5, Informative
...but both SFU/SUA and Cygwin are pretty much just different shells on top of the limited cmd.exe window, unless you happen to use rxvt (which is usually not worth the trouble).
What are you talking about? First, only lobotomized moron monkeys would use CMD.EXE. Second, put this
C:\cygwin\bin\rxvt.exe -e/bin/bash --login
into a windows short cut. Set "Start in" to c:\cygwin\bin and it works just fine. Now, how much work was that? Have you got 2 minutes to spare out of your day? Quit your bitchin. Wuss.
But the difference is, they blur the faces of those who haven't been found guilty (yet). They are also a news organization with no legal power, but this is a police (military) organization. These police are assuming guilt for anyone merely charged, so I suppose it's natural for them to also apply punishment.
A few years in the future when the police will be scouring the streets performing judgments and executions on the spot, I'm afraid it will be too late for anyone to do anything about our lost rights. By then the court system will be a rarely used dusty relic of the past.
If guys spent any more time playing games, they'd not have time left over for their wank sessions. There are only so many hours in the day. Priorities.
This is not easy vs. hard, but layers upon layers: today's software would never be possible if it weren't for the previous iteration. Cloud computing could've never been handled if the many many layers below it would not exist.
But... complexity doesn't go away by adding a new layer. It accumulates as layers, tools, components, and platforms are added because there are more interfaces and more interactions both horizontally and vertically. That means complexity grows as old problems are solved and software evolves.
One might follow up with "Hey, I can slap together an e-commerce website in minutes because the difficult parts have already been solved (constructing the underlying tools) therefore today's problems are easy!". My answer to that hypothetical statement is there are two concepts: problems and tasks. A problem is a question with no agreed upon answer. When a problem is answered (and thus solved), the implementation is a matter of executing a stock solution to complete a task. Problems are hard; tasks are easy. Today implementing that e-commerce website is an easy task because it's performed by applying stock solutions.
That's why I say problem complexity increases as time passes because today's problems have more to do with high-level processes and integration of numerous parts as opposed to working out an isolated algorithm.
It's just that all the hard (and cool) stuff has already been done
I'd argue exactly the opposite. All the easy problems have been solved first because they were they low hanging fruit. What's left is trying to solve the abstract hard-to-define problems.
Examples. Mnemonic languages, 1950s. High level languages, late 1950s to 1960s. Search and sorting, 1960s. Database storage / SQL, late 1970s to early 1980s. Object oriented design, 1960s to 1980s. Hardware independence, mid to late 1990s. Design patterns, mid-1990s. Distributed computing, 1980s to 1990s.
Solutions have been progressing from primitive and hardware oriented to complex and process oriented. What we deal with today are problems like managing software on the cloud, distributing terabytes of data and making it available on-demand, data analysis and forecasting, collaboration and integration.
We just don't feel ambient temperature as cold as it actually is, because air is a pretty good insulator.
Also, we are warm blooded so heat generation is constant like a treadmill. In order to prevent heat buildup and feel comfortable, the heat has to transfer from the body to the environment which requires a temperature difference, which is why 98.6F ambient temperature feels hot to us, but 72F feels comfortable because the air conducts away heat at a balanced rate of exchange. As you mentioned air is an insulator so heat conduction is slower than with solids such as metal or plastic. Exposed to open air the skin's surface temperature drops a little but does not reach ambient temperature because of body's continual heat generation. A head band with plastic or metal contacts would conduct away more heat so the skin's surface temperature will drop further, which is why solids feel colder to the touch.
Then you failed miserably. Secondly, the call centers do get measured by complaints by the contracting company.
Ignore the USA FOREVER stuff and running India down
What the hell are you talking about? Turn off the internal bias filter. India is a very poor country. USA is wealthy. POOR EQUALS REDUCED ACCESS TO COMPUTERS AND INFORMATION. Pointing out the difference is not "running [India] down". It's fact you will see the second you step off the plane and walk down the city street. Stop being ignorant.
The Indian guy is probably more qualified and experienced and knows the whole thing is stupid
I doubt that. There are procedures for escalation if the problem does not fit the script. He was unable to realize the script would not work because he lacked core understanding of what a power supply is and does. It was just another part on the catalog to him. He needed the customer to insert the diagnostic CD because he was unable to think on his own without the error code it would have provided. If he had a real understanding of what the part did, he'd have come to the conclusion there was a dependency problem: one cannot run a diagnostic program on an unbootable computer with no power.
I think it's more a symptom hiring random people off the street with no I.T. background and training them to follow a script rather than training them to understand the hardware and software components of a PC. The guy in Texas understood the problem (assuming he had the same corporate training) because he likely had personal experience with using computers at home. I think the penetration of computers in daily life among blue collar workers is far more prevalent in USA than it is in India.
Also, their performance is measured by a number of factors and I think disconnection without resolution would be one of them so I don't think they have an incentive leave callers frustrated.
Equivalent in functionality yea, but not "set and forget" though. I think it appeals to the appliance mindset: always available. My car has a built in radio even though I could easily bring my own radio. It's convenient not having to worry about it and knowing it's always there. Also if the car is a company car, no one has to worry about who has the Wifi/3g thingy or chase down the person who has it.
Maybe communications could be sent through a small worm hole. Small because maintaining a large worm hole for passing ships through would require vast amounts of energy, but one small enough for a tiny communications pipe would become practical sooner. That would create a faster than light communications device (ansible) so that exploratory machines sent through space could then be controlled real time or close to real time by future generations. The machines could be sent today in hopes that by the time of arrival the technology will have been invented to send communications through a worm hole.
Seriously, what good is this to anyone? if you're in the car you would just use your SIM-locked USB modem that you pay 59.99 a month for and if you are outside the car then you would hardly stay connected long enough to send an email before the car you are stealing bandwidth from goes out of range
Forgot to add this in my other post. Anyway, what about car pools? Multiple passengers with laptops sharing the same modem. How about devices that have Wi-fi but no practical USB port? Book readers, MP3, PSP/DS, XBox/PS3/Wii...
Slashdot Mirror
Uhh.. how do you think the products get from the factories to the Amazon fulfillment centers? Shippping. Der.
Huge advantage? Ever heard of shipping? Bumps the price of the item up about as much as sales tax. In fact, since I live in WA I already have to pay sales tax on my Amazon orders on top of shipping costs. It makes small items cost about 2 or 3 times what they cost in the local Target/Walmart.
I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were an idiot. Pardon my reply earlier. Carry on... (with whatever silly thing you were blabbering on about).
And this if you require something more deadly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKy-WSZMklc
It's not a slippery slope "argument". It's real. It's happening. It will get worse.
What are you talking about? It's already begun. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/11/18576256.php
Looks like some asshole got mod points and went to town again.
If you are a developer or sysadmin who deals with data, then you use the command line. You can take several hundred log files, run them through 1 liner piped commands (find, grep, xargs, awk, sed, perl, sort, uniq, wc, head, tail, etc), output a CSV file, and pop it into Excel in about 10-20 minutes. Try doing that with only Excel and you'll be there all day.
What are you talking about? First, only lobotomized moron monkeys would use CMD.EXE. Second, put this
C:\cygwin\bin\rxvt.exe -e /bin/bash --login
into a windows short cut. Set "Start in" to c:\cygwin\bin and it works just fine. Now, how much work was that? Have you got 2 minutes to spare out of your day? Quit your bitchin. Wuss.
What I use:
C:\cygwin\bin\rxvt.exe -geometry 132x60+0+0 -fn "FixedSys" -e /bin/bash --login
because the default font is ugly.
But the difference is, they blur the faces of those who haven't been found guilty (yet). They are also a news organization with no legal power, but this is a police (military) organization. These police are assuming guilt for anyone merely charged, so I suppose it's natural for them to also apply punishment.
A few years in the future when the police will be scouring the streets performing judgments and executions on the spot, I'm afraid it will be too late for anyone to do anything about our lost rights. By then the court system will be a rarely used dusty relic of the past.
Fuck emacs.
If guys spent any more time playing games, they'd not have time left over for their wank sessions. There are only so many hours in the day. Priorities.
It also explains why you get hypothermia faster submerged in water when compared with exposure to air of equal temperature.
But... complexity doesn't go away by adding a new layer. It accumulates as layers, tools, components, and platforms are added because there are more interfaces and more interactions both horizontally and vertically. That means complexity grows as old problems are solved and software evolves.
One might follow up with "Hey, I can slap together an e-commerce website in minutes because the difficult parts have already been solved (constructing the underlying tools) therefore today's problems are easy!". My answer to that hypothetical statement is there are two concepts: problems and tasks. A problem is a question with no agreed upon answer. When a problem is answered (and thus solved), the implementation is a matter of executing a stock solution to complete a task. Problems are hard; tasks are easy. Today implementing that e-commerce website is an easy task because it's performed by applying stock solutions.
That's why I say problem complexity increases as time passes because today's problems have more to do with high-level processes and integration of numerous parts as opposed to working out an isolated algorithm.
I'd argue exactly the opposite. All the easy problems have been solved first because they were they low hanging fruit. What's left is trying to solve the abstract hard-to-define problems.
Examples. Mnemonic languages, 1950s. High level languages, late 1950s to 1960s. Search and sorting, 1960s. Database storage / SQL, late 1970s to early 1980s. Object oriented design, 1960s to 1980s. Hardware independence, mid to late 1990s. Design patterns, mid-1990s. Distributed computing, 1980s to 1990s.
Solutions have been progressing from primitive and hardware oriented to complex and process oriented. What we deal with today are problems like managing software on the cloud, distributing terabytes of data and making it available on-demand, data analysis and forecasting, collaboration and integration.
Also, we are warm blooded so heat generation is constant like a treadmill. In order to prevent heat buildup and feel comfortable, the heat has to transfer from the body to the environment which requires a temperature difference, which is why 98.6F ambient temperature feels hot to us, but 72F feels comfortable because the air conducts away heat at a balanced rate of exchange. As you mentioned air is an insulator so heat conduction is slower than with solids such as metal or plastic. Exposed to open air the skin's surface temperature drops a little but does not reach ambient temperature because of body's continual heat generation. A head band with plastic or metal contacts would conduct away more heat so the skin's surface temperature will drop further, which is why solids feel colder to the touch.
You are the one injecting and driving this thing you call a "pissing match".
An inline straight 6/8/etc is just a V6/8/etc with an angle of zero. :D
Then you failed miserably. Secondly, the call centers do get measured by complaints by the contracting company.
What the hell are you talking about? Turn off the internal bias filter. India is a very poor country. USA is wealthy. POOR EQUALS REDUCED ACCESS TO COMPUTERS AND INFORMATION. Pointing out the difference is not "running [India] down". It's fact you will see the second you step off the plane and walk down the city street. Stop being ignorant.
Ummm..
I doubt that. There are procedures for escalation if the problem does not fit the script. He was unable to realize the script would not work because he lacked core understanding of what a power supply is and does. It was just another part on the catalog to him. He needed the customer to insert the diagnostic CD because he was unable to think on his own without the error code it would have provided. If he had a real understanding of what the part did, he'd have come to the conclusion there was a dependency problem: one cannot run a diagnostic program on an unbootable computer with no power.
I think it's more a symptom hiring random people off the street with no I.T. background and training them to follow a script rather than training them to understand the hardware and software components of a PC. The guy in Texas understood the problem (assuming he had the same corporate training) because he likely had personal experience with using computers at home. I think the penetration of computers in daily life among blue collar workers is far more prevalent in USA than it is in India.
Also, their performance is measured by a number of factors and I think disconnection without resolution would be one of them so I don't think they have an incentive leave callers frustrated.
Equivalent in functionality yea, but not "set and forget" though. I think it appeals to the appliance mindset: always available. My car has a built in radio even though I could easily bring my own radio. It's convenient not having to worry about it and knowing it's always there. Also if the car is a company car, no one has to worry about who has the Wifi/3g thingy or chase down the person who has it.
Maybe communications could be sent through a small worm hole. Small because maintaining a large worm hole for passing ships through would require vast amounts of energy, but one small enough for a tiny communications pipe would become practical sooner. That would create a faster than light communications device (ansible) so that exploratory machines sent through space could then be controlled real time or close to real time by future generations. The machines could be sent today in hopes that by the time of arrival the technology will have been invented to send communications through a worm hole.
Forgot to add this in my other post. Anyway, what about car pools? Multiple passengers with laptops sharing the same modem. How about devices that have Wi-fi but no practical USB port? Book readers, MP3, PSP/DS, XBox/PS3/Wii...
Ever heard of after market upgrades? Custom kits? Replacement electronics? It's an industry in the billions.
Beowulf. *cough*