These days, most people don't bother because a new TV is barely a month's disposable income, or much less on sale, an oil change can be had for a twenty and be done in 20 minutes, and fixing a PC costs as much as a new PC at current labor rates. People didn't bother and these appliances became throwaway purely because it's cheaper to buy the latest and greatest than fix last year's model.
These people also are up to their asses in debt as well. As far as the $20 oil change in 20 minutes that is a pretty bad oil change but it is still better than nothing. When I change my own oil there is still oil coming out of the pan after 20 minutes (pretty steady drips). The best I can seem to do on my own is $40 on my daily drive for a DIY oil change with 8 quarts of synthetic oil (buy it in bulk when on sale) with a good filter. It takes about 40 to 60 minutes to do and everything gets checked, topped off, and lubed. Also I don't strip out the threads on the oil pan. An 8 quart synthetic fill at any of those places costs substantially more than I can change my own oil for.
Sounds similar to various automotive clubs, it is just being a "car nerd" is more acceptable than being a computer or science nerd. You should hear a discussions on the relative merits of Holly vs Edelbrock carburetors it quickly descends into a Vi vs Emacs style flame war and neither of these compare to a good Ford versus Chevy argument (this would put even a MS vs. Linux vs. Mac flame war to shame).
And I enjoyed life more once I stopped giving a shit what others think. Figured this out while learning about game theory in high school. I can go and do what I like and not worry and the down side is that other don't like it and shun me, or I can try to fit in and others who had shunned me will still shun me because I am different.
I wish this were true, more than likely you will end up working for someone who had the right connections because they got an MBA. Usually this person is someone who couldn't hack in another degree program and was told to go into management because that is where the money is. Either that or they are a family member of the owner. Granted I have worked some places that were run by an actual nerd (a former control data company) and I have had managers with an MBA who were good. The good managers who had an MBA didn't go to school initially to get a MBA but were engineers who moved up into a management position and then got one.
The worst managers I have met were the ones who got a 4 year management degree and thus believe they were god's gift to management. I trained a whole bunch of these ass holes when I worked at the gas station as an assistant manager while in college. They always felt they were superior to everyone and would look down on you because you didn't have a degree in management and that meant you were stupid. One was so bad I took him aside and informed him that he went to college to get a job I was offered and turned down so I could go to college and not have to manage a gas station for the rest of my life.
I wouldn't say that it needs to be atomic but the crap they put in bills should at least be germane to the main topic. I would settle for germane even though I would still like single item bills. Here in Minnesota we have a law that requires amendments be germane to the main issue of the bill and courts have struck down laws because of it. The most recent example of which was the current MN carry law. The problem is that it still requires a judge and there are probably things that they they wouldn't strike down. When the first version of the current MN carry law was struck down it was pointed out that the current pay rate of state judges in MN were also set in a similar fashion and thus should also be struck down. There was lots of talk that someone should file a lawsuit and I don't know if anything was ever done on that issue but I doubt a judge would strike down that part of the law.
I assume that you believe that Ron Paul will some how become president, or that the libertarians will some how manage to takeover both the house and senate the greens would probably do the same thing but I don't follow their party platform closely. While personally leaning to the libertarian side of issues like this I still don't see any of the mainstream candidates planning to do anything about this. It gives them too much power.
Go to one in a smaller town. When I am doing tab renewal the DMV in the larger town I live in is usually busy but I just go over to the next town where they have only limited services. Since it is a smaller town and they offer fewer services almost no one is there and there are always 2 clerks so it is just walk right up.
Along the same lines I have often wondered what would happen if someone would do what one of my buddies in college liked to do in the school cafeteria. Just walk right past the line into the secure area and take off at a run through it and then exit through one of the other doors. After seeing most of the screeners I doubt they would be able to catch someone who was in modest shape. Apart from the charges that might get levied against you the worst that would probably happen is a good tazing.
Thankfully I don't think they let the TSA screeners have guns. They rank about as high as college campus security personnel in my mind but probably with worse training.
Depends on the details. If the judge orders that all scanning and pat downs must end as part of the injunction then it might be possible. If you are lucky enough to live in a state covered by the judge's injunction then you probably could. As an added bonus you could might be able to press charges of assault/sexual assault if the screener still insists on the grope and could possibly get away with some self defense. Of course this is just my speculation and my understanding of the law and judicial system is limited so don't take my non lawyer advice.
I believe there was a Supreme Court case in the 1800s where the court ruled on something and the president said something like:
"Now let them try to enforce it"
But basically all enforcement activities fall to the executive branch. Now if the executive branch won't enforce court ruling or laws then we the people have to vote them out of office or the legislative branch needs to start impeaching some people. Good luck trying to get the legislature to impeach the president over this, although there are a bunch with Rs after their names (possibly some Ds as well but they would be very few) who are looking for an excuse to impeach Obama. They even made a stink about this when Obama said he wouldn't be enforcing parts of DOMA.
Unfortunately the process is probably more important than the results in this case. Eventually they will have the public comment period where everyone will tell them a billion and a half reason why this sucks and then they will go and do the sham review and say that the problems are unfounded and just implement the system. I really need to write my congress critters about the DHS/TSA again but they never seem to respond or if they do it is with a form letter stating that they support the security and safety of the US and its citizens.
Sounds like a ponzi scheme to me.
1. Substantially higher than market returns. Check
2. A requirement that new people keep coming in to the system. Check
3. Lots of hand waving on how the system works. Check
You could probably do better if you learned how to count cards and then go to Vegas with a few people and do what the MIT students did.
He really just likes to gamble. If he decided to get good a blackjack he could probably do even better with an average 1% return on each dollar bet. Granted this takes a lot of effort but can be done as evidence by the MIT students who did it yeas ago.
For those times when my wife decides to cook. It is either burned or still needs to be killed. This is why I cook. Plus a hammer works wonders on tough meat to tenderize it, this is why I also do the grocery shopping now as well.
As far as putting it in the bed of a modern American pickup truck that is how my dad and I transported my 68 MG Midget back from where I purchased it (near Milwaukee, WI back to the twin cities) as my dad's enclosed car trailer weighs more than the midget. Granted we had to put the tail gate down to do this, but with proper tie downs it wasn't an issue. We got 17mpg round trip.
True that NCLB was created to address the poor performance of our schools, but like most legislative solutions to a societal problem it fails horribly and has only made the problem worse. It sought to get all students to perform at some basic level, unfortunately the only way to achieve that is to race to the bottom and teach to the lowest level. Personally I think we should just be holding back the bottom 10% each year (I would say bottom 20% but that would never go over) as this would probably be less bad than NCLB. It woudl never get done because it would hurt the precious little snowflakes self esteem and we can't have that. I would also prevent them from getting a drivers license until that graduate high school or get a G.E.D. but these are things that should be done at the state level instead of the federal level. Even NCLB doesn't have a federal standard other than some vague statements about every student performing to a standard which is set by each state.
I would argue there is a difference between the weakest and the laziest. I have no problem helping out those who truly can't help themselves but when you have people who are professional pan handlers there is something wrong.
I have seen professional pan handlers while I was in Portland Oregon and yes there is a difference between the professional pan handler and those that are truly destitute. There was one that really stood out as she was about 400 lbs and would always sit on the bus stop bench in front of Starbucks near McDonald's across the street from the Standard Insurance Company. Every day she was out there asking for money for food (she could go a week without food and be fine) and once in the same breath asked me if I had money for food, and then asked if she could buy a cigarette from me. Another time she was yelling at a cop because another pan handler had taken up shop up the street by McDonald's and to quote her:
"You need to do something about him! He is cutting off my business!"
A few days later I decided I would see if she was really "starving" and bought her the $0.99 burger at McDonald's, that didn't go over well and I go yelled at because she wasn't going to eat that food. During the holiday season I saw another vagrant yelling at a salvation army bell ringer because the bell ringer was preventing people from giving the vagrant money. I went over to the nearest ATM and got $200 out and went and put in the bell ringer's kettle while the vagrant was still yelling mostly to spite them. The spring of that year the Oregon department of transportation was looking for people to work on highway projects and was running advertisements on the radio stating that no experience was necessary. I assume that these were some lowly manual labor jobs but they paid $19.50 an hour but yet I was asked countless times by young (late teens early 20s) guys if they had money so they could get some food. I would respond that they should go and apply for a job working for the highway department and they would say that work it too hard. Another time I was riding the train to the airport and overheard a young woman who had dropped out of high school complain because no one would hire her. She had had an interview for a cashier position and had to do some simple math. She told the interviewer that she didn't know how to do that in he head so the interviewer offered to let her use an adding machine. She complained to the interviewer that she didn't know how to use one of those and how can someone expect her to use one if she had never been shown. At which point the interview was ended which is I guess what cause her this despair.
I would argue that these individuals are not the weakest members but among the laziest members. Why should I be forced to take care of these people when they won't even bother to try and better their own lot in life. I have met a number of people who have fallen on hard time, had disabilities, or been infirmed. Those people still try to better their lot in life which is what separates them from the just pure lazy.
I would think if you are paying $250,000 for a state university then you have been there too long. I have a friend who falls into this category. 9 years ago when I graduated he had been in college for 11 years, he just keeps taking out more loans. At this point his only choice is to be a professional student. He now has a BS in Physics, a Masters in Physics, a Masters in CS, a Masters in Chemistry, and is working on a Masters in Math.
Have you tried pawn shops. Most of the time they don't know how to price things like collectable coins so usually mark them all the same price maybe with older ones costing more. You can find some hidden gems there if you know what you are looking at, but a lot of what they have is overpriced for what you are getting. Also you can do what I use to do and pick a price per ounce (well below market value) you want to pay and go troll ebay bidding that amount (subtract the shipping price) on all the silver bullion you see and see what you win. I found that when I did that I would win about 1 out of every 200 to 300 auctions. I still have probably close to 100 ounces of silver bullion that I got this way (I had a price of $2/per ounce including shipping and this was years ago when the spot price hung around $5). If I did this now I would probably pick a price in the range of $15 to $20 an ounce.
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These days, most people don't bother because a new TV is barely a month's disposable income, or much less on sale, an oil change can be had for a twenty and be done in 20 minutes, and fixing a PC costs as much as a new PC at current labor rates. People didn't bother and these appliances became throwaway purely because it's cheaper to buy the latest and greatest than fix last year's model.
These people also are up to their asses in debt as well. As far as the $20 oil change in 20 minutes that is a pretty bad oil change but it is still better than nothing. When I change my own oil there is still oil coming out of the pan after 20 minutes (pretty steady drips). The best I can seem to do on my own is $40 on my daily drive for a DIY oil change with 8 quarts of synthetic oil (buy it in bulk when on sale) with a good filter. It takes about 40 to 60 minutes to do and everything gets checked, topped off, and lubed. Also I don't strip out the threads on the oil pan. An 8 quart synthetic fill at any of those places costs substantially more than I can change my own oil for.
Sounds similar to various automotive clubs, it is just being a "car nerd" is more acceptable than being a computer or science nerd. You should hear a discussions on the relative merits of Holly vs Edelbrock carburetors it quickly descends into a Vi vs Emacs style flame war and neither of these compare to a good Ford versus Chevy argument (this would put even a MS vs. Linux vs. Mac flame war to shame).
And I enjoyed life more once I stopped giving a shit what others think. Figured this out while learning about game theory in high school. I can go and do what I like and not worry and the down side is that other don't like it and shun me, or I can try to fit in and others who had shunned me will still shun me because I am different.
I wish this were true, more than likely you will end up working for someone who had the right connections because they got an MBA. Usually this person is someone who couldn't hack in another degree program and was told to go into management because that is where the money is. Either that or they are a family member of the owner. Granted I have worked some places that were run by an actual nerd (a former control data company) and I have had managers with an MBA who were good. The good managers who had an MBA didn't go to school initially to get a MBA but were engineers who moved up into a management position and then got one.
The worst managers I have met were the ones who got a 4 year management degree and thus believe they were god's gift to management. I trained a whole bunch of these ass holes when I worked at the gas station as an assistant manager while in college. They always felt they were superior to everyone and would look down on you because you didn't have a degree in management and that meant you were stupid. One was so bad I took him aside and informed him that he went to college to get a job I was offered and turned down so I could go to college and not have to manage a gas station for the rest of my life.
Unfortunately the rest of their job seems to be kissing the right asses to get campaign contributions while ignoring their constituents.
I wouldn't say that it needs to be atomic but the crap they put in bills should at least be germane to the main topic. I would settle for germane even though I would still like single item bills. Here in Minnesota we have a law that requires amendments be germane to the main issue of the bill and courts have struck down laws because of it. The most recent example of which was the current MN carry law. The problem is that it still requires a judge and there are probably things that they they wouldn't strike down. When the first version of the current MN carry law was struck down it was pointed out that the current pay rate of state judges in MN were also set in a similar fashion and thus should also be struck down. There was lots of talk that someone should file a lawsuit and I don't know if anything was ever done on that issue but I doubt a judge would strike down that part of the law.
I assume that you believe that Ron Paul will some how become president, or that the libertarians will some how manage to takeover both the house and senate the greens would probably do the same thing but I don't follow their party platform closely. While personally leaning to the libertarian side of issues like this I still don't see any of the mainstream candidates planning to do anything about this. It gives them too much power.
Go to one in a smaller town. When I am doing tab renewal the DMV in the larger town I live in is usually busy but I just go over to the next town where they have only limited services. Since it is a smaller town and they offer fewer services almost no one is there and there are always 2 clerks so it is just walk right up.
Thanks I knew someone here would know what I was talking about and be able to refresh my memory.
Along the same lines I have often wondered what would happen if someone would do what one of my buddies in college liked to do in the school cafeteria. Just walk right past the line into the secure area and take off at a run through it and then exit through one of the other doors. After seeing most of the screeners I doubt they would be able to catch someone who was in modest shape. Apart from the charges that might get levied against you the worst that would probably happen is a good tazing.
Thankfully I don't think they let the TSA screeners have guns. They rank about as high as college campus security personnel in my mind but probably with worse training.
Depends on the details. If the judge orders that all scanning and pat downs must end as part of the injunction then it might be possible. If you are lucky enough to live in a state covered by the judge's injunction then you probably could. As an added bonus you could might be able to press charges of assault/sexual assault if the screener still insists on the grope and could possibly get away with some self defense. Of course this is just my speculation and my understanding of the law and judicial system is limited so don't take my non lawyer advice.
I believe there was a Supreme Court case in the 1800s where the court ruled on something and the president said something like:
"Now let them try to enforce it"
But basically all enforcement activities fall to the executive branch. Now if the executive branch won't enforce court ruling or laws then we the people have to vote them out of office or the legislative branch needs to start impeaching some people. Good luck trying to get the legislature to impeach the president over this, although there are a bunch with Rs after their names (possibly some Ds as well but they would be very few) who are looking for an excuse to impeach Obama. They even made a stink about this when Obama said he wouldn't be enforcing parts of DOMA.
Unfortunately the process is probably more important than the results in this case. Eventually they will have the public comment period where everyone will tell them a billion and a half reason why this sucks and then they will go and do the sham review and say that the problems are unfounded and just implement the system. I really need to write my congress critters about the DHS/TSA again but they never seem to respond or if they do it is with a form letter stating that they support the security and safety of the US and its citizens.
But then how could some representatives bribe others by adding subsidies for spinach in a war funding bill. I really wish that stuff like this was a joke but it isn't.
Sounds like a ponzi scheme to me.
1. Substantially higher than market returns. Check
2. A requirement that new people keep coming in to the system. Check
3. Lots of hand waving on how the system works. Check
You could probably do better if you learned how to count cards and then go to Vegas with a few people and do what the MIT students did.
He really just likes to gamble. If he decided to get good a blackjack he could probably do even better with an average 1% return on each dollar bet. Granted this takes a lot of effort but can be done as evidence by the MIT students who did it yeas ago.
For those times when my wife decides to cook. It is either burned or still needs to be killed. This is why I cook. Plus a hammer works wonders on tough meat to tenderize it, this is why I also do the grocery shopping now as well.
Crazy! This is like putting a Morris Mini in the bed of a Ford F350.
did you mean the BMC Mini, or perhaps the Morris Minor.
As far as putting it in the bed of a modern American pickup truck that is how my dad and I transported my 68 MG Midget back from where I purchased it (near Milwaukee, WI back to the twin cities) as my dad's enclosed car trailer weighs more than the midget. Granted we had to put the tail gate down to do this, but with proper tie downs it wasn't an issue. We got 17mpg round trip.
True that NCLB was created to address the poor performance of our schools, but like most legislative solutions to a societal problem it fails horribly and has only made the problem worse. It sought to get all students to perform at some basic level, unfortunately the only way to achieve that is to race to the bottom and teach to the lowest level. Personally I think we should just be holding back the bottom 10% each year (I would say bottom 20% but that would never go over) as this would probably be less bad than NCLB. It woudl never get done because it would hurt the precious little snowflakes self esteem and we can't have that. I would also prevent them from getting a drivers license until that graduate high school or get a G.E.D. but these are things that should be done at the state level instead of the federal level. Even NCLB doesn't have a federal standard other than some vague statements about every student performing to a standard which is set by each state.
To back up the parents statements there is the Disparate Impact doctrine of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that is used in these law suites. Intersetingly when cases of this type make it to the US Supreme Court they are often reversed like in Ricci v. DeStefano or Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio cases.
I would argue there is a difference between the weakest and the laziest. I have no problem helping out those who truly can't help themselves but when you have people who are professional pan handlers there is something wrong.
I have seen professional pan handlers while I was in Portland Oregon and yes there is a difference between the professional pan handler and those that are truly destitute. There was one that really stood out as she was about 400 lbs and would always sit on the bus stop bench in front of Starbucks near McDonald's across the street from the Standard Insurance Company. Every day she was out there asking for money for food (she could go a week without food and be fine) and once in the same breath asked me if I had money for food, and then asked if she could buy a cigarette from me. Another time she was yelling at a cop because another pan handler had taken up shop up the street by McDonald's and to quote her:
"You need to do something about him! He is cutting off my business!"
A few days later I decided I would see if she was really "starving" and bought her the $0.99 burger at McDonald's, that didn't go over well and I go yelled at because she wasn't going to eat that food. During the holiday season I saw another vagrant yelling at a salvation army bell ringer because the bell ringer was preventing people from giving the vagrant money. I went over to the nearest ATM and got $200 out and went and put in the bell ringer's kettle while the vagrant was still yelling mostly to spite them. The spring of that year the Oregon department of transportation was looking for people to work on highway projects and was running advertisements on the radio stating that no experience was necessary. I assume that these were some lowly manual labor jobs but they paid $19.50 an hour but yet I was asked countless times by young (late teens early 20s) guys if they had money so they could get some food. I would respond that they should go and apply for a job working for the highway department and they would say that work it too hard. Another time I was riding the train to the airport and overheard a young woman who had dropped out of high school complain because no one would hire her. She had had an interview for a cashier position and had to do some simple math. She told the interviewer that she didn't know how to do that in he head so the interviewer offered to let her use an adding machine. She complained to the interviewer that she didn't know how to use one of those and how can someone expect her to use one if she had never been shown. At which point the interview was ended which is I guess what cause her this despair.
I would argue that these individuals are not the weakest members but among the laziest members. Why should I be forced to take care of these people when they won't even bother to try and better their own lot in life. I have met a number of people who have fallen on hard time, had disabilities, or been infirmed. Those people still try to better their lot in life which is what separates them from the just pure lazy.
I would think if you are paying $250,000 for a state university then you have been there too long. I have a friend who falls into this category. 9 years ago when I graduated he had been in college for 11 years, he just keeps taking out more loans. At this point his only choice is to be a professional student. He now has a BS in Physics, a Masters in Physics, a Masters in CS, a Masters in Chemistry, and is working on a Masters in Math.
Well I meant most on this site, but a cube 30cm on edge works as well for this crowd.
Have you tried pawn shops. Most of the time they don't know how to price things like collectable coins so usually mark them all the same price maybe with older ones costing more. You can find some hidden gems there if you know what you are looking at, but a lot of what they have is overpriced for what you are getting. Also you can do what I use to do and pick a price per ounce (well below market value) you want to pay and go troll ebay bidding that amount (subtract the shipping price) on all the silver bullion you see and see what you win. I found that when I did that I would win about 1 out of every 200 to 300 auctions. I still have probably close to 100 ounces of silver bullion that I got this way (I had a price of $2/per ounce including shipping and this was years ago when the spot price hung around $5). If I did this now I would probably pick a price in the range of $15 to $20 an ounce.