If I got a cash bonus and bought a laptop, and partially used that laptop for work, everything on that laptop except the data belonging to the company would be mine.
What he should do, then, is ask for a $1250 bonus with no strings attached, or a note to make clear that the equipment was originally purchased by him and owned by him.
Besides, I'd rather have the $1250 and pay taxes on it then not get it at all... there's never any tax incentive to NOT get money (the same way you don't somehow magically save money by donating it).
They only compete if we make them compete. If you're accusing them of collusion, then present your evidence to the FTC; there are already laws against that.
You can't always ask the government to intervene just because you're not getting what you want.
I understand completely what he said, it's just that your assumption is not valid when the vast majority of people have multiple providers to choose from.
You haven't gained any freedom, what's happened is a private corporation has lost freedom to more government regulation, and I don't see how anyone could think that this is a surprising thing.
I'd rather let companies fight for my dollars and patronage.
Cheap internet != Freedom.
That doesn't mean that I don't want completely cheap and unlimited access, but that's my own greed talking; I'd never in a million years support the government forcing a private company to give it to me.
We had the fairly sensible approach of doing department abbreviated names, followed by room number, followed by a or b (the rooms did not have more than two, but if they ever did, c and d are waiting), so our graphics department would be like "gfx321a," so when we submitted a problem report to IT, they knew which guy needed to handle it (by department) and exactly where it was.
So, being in a whimsical mood, our supervisor dictated that we were renaming all the computers after superheroes. While this made no sense, the important information was kept in a database anyway, so no big deal, right? Except now IT guys had to look up computer names before knowing where to look for them.
The order of choosing names came in order of longevity (people there the longest chose first). Then, while this was happening, our overlord company demanded we put a two letter company code in front of all of our computer names, ruining our already stupid computer names. Could you imagine having "greenlantern" at Slashdot, and then having to ruin it by putting "sd" in front of it? "sdgreenlantern." [eyes rolling] Wow! That's so cool! You guys are so hip and cool! ugh..
Look, why don't we just let people be to what they want to be exposed to.
Being generally libertarian in nature, I'd agree with this except that we're talking about school kids as young as elementary school age. So, for example, your cigarette example is great... I think people should be allowed to smoke if they want, but the smoking age is 18 in most states.
Kids are being brought up in a world where which cellphone they have and their availability to send and receive messages determines their self worth. It's sad, but it's how it is.
Now, these clothes are pretty stupid. The authors of the article are pretty stupid, too. But then, that's just IMHO.
The problem is intrusiveness, and we're in a nasty downward spiral of trying to outdo each other.
People didn't care about ads until they started getting really intrusive, taking up way too much real estate, blinking, shaking... so people started blocking them. So the advertisers, instead of toning them down, made them even more intrusive.... and now people go to greater lengths to block them, with uninformed users caught in the middle.
I don't know how to solve the impasse... if we weren't clicking on enough ads then, we certainly won't be in the future, but if I had any suggestions for the advertisers it would be to start making ads LESS intrusive.
I used to read them along with my other news sites (CNN and other smaller, independent sites), and I just stopped... they f-ed up the formatting and simply made it impossible to read. The few times I've gone back to foxnews it's been like the cover of the sun, it's mandatory there's some skank on the front page.
BTW, I don't think foxnews was any more biased than anyone else... it's funny, IMO, I have a very neutral position, I read a nice variety, and sometimes I see bias, and sometimes I don't; Fox got too tabloid-y, but they weren't any more biased than anyone else. Biased? Yes. More than anyone else? No.
Incidentally, some of those people aren't hypermilers, they just scare easy and take it slow to ease their anxiety (I know some of those people... yes, they're women).
I would assume "hypermilers" because until last year, at least around here, people like that were few and far between. Last Fall the Atlanta area had a full on gas shortage, which drove prices WAY up; the slow drivers got worse... and even when we got back to average prices, they never sped up.
I've gotten pulled over three times in my 24 years of driving.... two speeding tickets, one because the registration sticker was not affixed to my license plate (but the car was registered, so no ticket).
I routinely pass cops ALL the time because I'm never going excessively over the speed limit... a few up to five miles an hour over, and I've NEVER, not ONCE got a ticket for it. The two times I got tickets were both 20+ MPH over the limit.
I even see the frustration in many of the cops faces, as they get mired in a clump of traffic all going below the limit.
"Hypermiling" is not merely the act of coasting when there's a red light, it's pretty much anything people do that they think is saving them money. I take my foot off the gas when approaching red lights, too, unless I know (from experience) that the light is going to change, in which case I'd be wasting more gas to accelerate back up to speed.
By "hypermilers" I'm talking about the people who accelerate excruciatingly slowly and never really get up to speed... there are MANY lights that I drive by every day that if you get up to speed quickly (no, not NASCAR, but reasonably fast) you will make the next several lights... unless I'm stuck behind someone who doesn't understand that. They waste MORE gas sitting at red lights and having more accelerations from zero. I've ALWAYS exceeded EPA estimated gas mileage on my cars.
I don't think that the OP's definition of "hypermiling" was referring to coasting on approach to red lights. I think he's referring to people that are ridiculously slow at reaching the speed limit after the light turns green.
That's precisely what I'm talking about... there are times when I'm at the front of the line when the light turns Green, and it seems like I can go forever without having to stop. But I do know the timing of the lights, as I've driven them thousands of times and actually paid attention instead of texting or blabbing on the phone. I know where if I make one light, I can make the next two, whereas if I get stuck, I will get stuck at the next two, also.
True, but in Atlanta we have Interstates and roads that are 4 or 5 lines wide each direction, and EVERY lane decides they need to inspect the scene at 30 mph in a 65 mph zone.
Again, living in Gwinnett and commuting to Atlanta, that's EXACTLY what I mean.
But I've also traveled enough around the U.S. to know that everywhere has it's problems... when I first moved to the Atlanta area 15 years ago, people actually let you in when you signaled. I don't know what the problem is, but I know that I stick to my policy of "if you are clearly ahead of me and signal to get in my lane, I will do nothing to prevent you from doing it." Of course, half the time the person getting in front of me then goes slower... which is why people don't let other people get in front of them.
Ahh well... it is a therapeutic thread, even if it's impossible to get everyone on the same page. We must accept that there will always be chaos in our lives.
I can only hope that at some future date a court will decide which light beer truly is the best tasting.
I can only hope that, in the future, people will understand the difference between things that can be objectively measured and things that can only be subjectively measured.
I live near Atlanta, and it's true that even 3 miles over the limit could net the city a huge fine (I think it's quite bogus), but everywhere else it's miles over the limit times some number... like $5 for each mile over the limit. A cop would be laughed at for giving 3MPH over the limit.
It's recently gotten out that Duluth (GA) cops are explicitly told not to ticket anyone going less than 10MPH over the limit, it's just not worth it.
I would like to add that part of the problem around here is that when you don't tailgate, "weavers" keep cutting in front of you.
I know this from experience because I try not to tailgate (of course, when someone then jumps in front of me, I'm tailgating - just not through any fault of my own). Whenever you try to improve the situation for everyone, some selfish people take advantage to make it better from themselves, but like the summary points out - if everyone drove the "right" way, it's a better solution than having jerks... but since so many people don't, that's what helps make "jerks" improve the situation.
I guess the "optimal" solution is when everyone works together and we're all on the same page, traffic, even in dense areas, could flow much more fluidly... but since human nature is selfish, you simply can't achieve that.
Yeah, we should have a daily traffic thread to get this out.
Definitely!
But you're exactly right... I pass cops all the time.
Likewise, I often cruise in the right lanes because, where I am, everyone rushes over to the left because it's supposedly the "fast" lane(s). So I sit there on the right and pass the jammed up traffic to my left. I know, I know, you shouldn't pass on the right, but I didn't create the situation.
Another couple of thinks, while we're all whining about it: my interstate, when you get outside the city, goes up to 65 from 55, but nobody speeds up! Also, we have a school zone that is usually 45 and drops down to 35 - as it says on the sign, "School days 8:30-9:30am, 3:30-4:30pm." But people can't be bothered reading the rest of the sign... they just always go 35! AAAARRRRRGGGG!!! It's right near my house, so I deal with it on a daily basis.
I had this argument with my mom... when my parents retired they moved to Florida; the street they live on is off one of the main streets that comes off the interstate. It was two lanes each way when they moved their. As the years went on, it got busier and busier (especially in the winter, when the "snow birds" come down to FL to live for a few months).
So they did several years of construction and expanded the road to three lanes in each direction. My mom made a comment about how the problem was permanently solved, despite the fact that there was always new construction of houses, and condos and apartments (especially by the water, which is where that main street went.. right to the beach area). I explained that unless you change behavior (something I'm not advocating), then all that happens when you increase capacity is that people will take advantage of the increased capacity... it's like, if you increase your internet speed, you simply saturate it by downloading higher resolution movies and music (and if you don't, someone else will).
I don't know if there's a good solution, but widening the roads and adding lanes just encourages more people to use it. It's certainly a better solution than nothing, though.
Interesting post... I do that all the time, too. I use my cruise not just to maintain speed, but because I'm a leadfoot it helps keep me from getting tickets, and I see it all the time. I think some people are just jerks, but many people do it subconsciously... they'll actually slow when someone is behind them (not necessarily tailgating, as I avoid that), and speed up when you change lanes. It's just perception, as we've both come to the same conclusion by the same means.
Other things that completely screw up traffic (besides the obvious grid-lockers and rubberneckers, even when someone is just changing a tire or getting a ticket):
1. "hypermilers" who don't understand lights are timed for the speed limit, and if you don't get up to speed in a reasonable amount of time, you're just going to waste all that gas at red lights.
2. During rush hour, the problem on "surface" streets is that lights can't be long enough to allow everyone to go through during the green light, so those people just sitting there when the light turns green are racking up the number of cars that are going to get stuck for an extra cycle... but the problem, as I see it, is people have largely stopped honking, so they'll just sit behind such an oblivious person and just wait. If people honked, we could get things moving again. It doesn't have to be a nasty lean on the horn, just a toot-toot.
3. Cops... I like cops, I appreciate cops, I have cops in the family; it's not really the cops, it's the people who drop below the speed limit simply because one is nearby.
A few other things that affect me daily: we have a number of locations where the right turn goes into a protected lane... so there are "keep moving" signs... nothing so infuriating as the people in front of you coming to a COMPLETE stop at a "keep moving" sign. In the same vein, there are a number of places with RIGHT turn arrows that are green when the cross traffic has the left turn... again, people come to a complete stop, and sometimes don't even continue moving at all, treating it as a right turn on red.
And lately, the past year or so, I wouldn't necessarily call them "hypermilers" but so many people seem unwilling to even get up to the speed limit, let alone exceed it by a few miles per hour, as if you're going to get a ticket for 48 in a 45... I know the police aren't going to give me a ticket for 5 miles over, and I often get passed by cops when doing so.
Whew. Nice to rant about it every once in awhile... "cathartic" experience.
Slashdot Mirror
What are you paying government for? Roads? Police? Military protection? You know, essential services.
I have no illusions about the drawbacks of capitalism, but I also know that, historically, no other system has worked as well or given us as much.
Really? Funny, because I see that when one lowers their price, the others do to. They also have relatively average profit margins.
If I got a cash bonus and bought a laptop, and partially used that laptop for work, everything on that laptop except the data belonging to the company would be mine.
What he should do, then, is ask for a $1250 bonus with no strings attached, or a note to make clear that the equipment was originally purchased by him and owned by him.
Besides, I'd rather have the $1250 and pay taxes on it then not get it at all... there's never any tax incentive to NOT get money (the same way you don't somehow magically save money by donating it).
They only compete if we make them compete. If you're accusing them of collusion, then present your evidence to the FTC; there are already laws against that.
You can't always ask the government to intervene just because you're not getting what you want.
The only way your argument can apply is if there is no choice.
If you have only one road to travel, you would be at the whim of the entity that "owns" it (be it government or anyone else).
If you wanted to enforce net neutrality in markets where there is a granted (and forced) monopoly on internet service, you might have a point.
As long as there is choice for consumers, there should be no more regulation on this luxury item.
If you were to restrict net neutrality to markets where there was NO choice in providers, you might have a valid argument.
I understand completely what he said, it's just that your assumption is not valid when the vast majority of people have multiple providers to choose from.
How does this grant you freedom?
You haven't gained any freedom, what's happened is a private corporation has lost freedom to more government regulation, and I don't see how anyone could think that this is a surprising thing.
I'd rather let companies fight for my dollars and patronage.
Cheap internet != Freedom.
That doesn't mean that I don't want completely cheap and unlimited access, but that's my own greed talking; I'd never in a million years support the government forcing a private company to give it to me.
I'm more excited about the Last Airbender, to be perfectly honest, so "Avatar" in the thread title always gets me...
I think people should stop nit-picking about Avatar being science fiction... yes, it is science fiction.
Kind of like the Fugitive...
However, I also want to point out that, fictional movies and television aside, cops actually usually want to catch the correct criminal.
We had the fairly sensible approach of doing department abbreviated names, followed by room number, followed by a or b (the rooms did not have more than two, but if they ever did, c and d are waiting), so our graphics department would be like "gfx321a," so when we submitted a problem report to IT, they knew which guy needed to handle it (by department) and exactly where it was.
So, being in a whimsical mood, our supervisor dictated that we were renaming all the computers after superheroes. While this made no sense, the important information was kept in a database anyway, so no big deal, right? Except now IT guys had to look up computer names before knowing where to look for them.
The order of choosing names came in order of longevity (people there the longest chose first). Then, while this was happening, our overlord company demanded we put a two letter company code in front of all of our computer names, ruining our already stupid computer names. Could you imagine having "greenlantern" at Slashdot, and then having to ruin it by putting "sd" in front of it? "sdgreenlantern." [eyes rolling] Wow! That's so cool! You guys are so hip and cool! ugh..
Look, why don't we just let people be to what they want to be exposed to.
Being generally libertarian in nature, I'd agree with this except that we're talking about school kids as young as elementary school age. So, for example, your cigarette example is great... I think people should be allowed to smoke if they want, but the smoking age is 18 in most states.
Kids are being brought up in a world where which cellphone they have and their availability to send and receive messages determines their self worth. It's sad, but it's how it is.
Now, these clothes are pretty stupid. The authors of the article are pretty stupid, too. But then, that's just IMHO.
The problem is intrusiveness, and we're in a nasty downward spiral of trying to outdo each other.
People didn't care about ads until they started getting really intrusive, taking up way too much real estate, blinking, shaking... so people started blocking them. So the advertisers, instead of toning them down, made them even more intrusive.... and now people go to greater lengths to block them, with uninformed users caught in the middle.
I don't know how to solve the impasse... if we weren't clicking on enough ads then, we certainly won't be in the future, but if I had any suggestions for the advertisers it would be to start making ads LESS intrusive.
And that's available for Chrome?
I used to read them along with my other news sites (CNN and other smaller, independent sites), and I just stopped... they f-ed up the formatting and simply made it impossible to read. The few times I've gone back to foxnews it's been like the cover of the sun, it's mandatory there's some skank on the front page.
BTW, I don't think foxnews was any more biased than anyone else... it's funny, IMO, I have a very neutral position, I read a nice variety, and sometimes I see bias, and sometimes I don't; Fox got too tabloid-y, but they weren't any more biased than anyone else. Biased? Yes. More than anyone else? No.
I would assume "hypermilers" because until last year, at least around here, people like that were few and far between. Last Fall the Atlanta area had a full on gas shortage, which drove prices WAY up; the slow drivers got worse... and even when we got back to average prices, they never sped up.
I've gotten pulled over three times in my 24 years of driving.... two speeding tickets, one because the registration sticker was not affixed to my license plate (but the car was registered, so no ticket).
I routinely pass cops ALL the time because I'm never going excessively over the speed limit... a few up to five miles an hour over, and I've NEVER, not ONCE got a ticket for it. The two times I got tickets were both 20+ MPH over the limit.
I even see the frustration in many of the cops faces, as they get mired in a clump of traffic all going below the limit.
"Hypermiling" is not merely the act of coasting when there's a red light, it's pretty much anything people do that they think is saving them money. I take my foot off the gas when approaching red lights, too, unless I know (from experience) that the light is going to change, in which case I'd be wasting more gas to accelerate back up to speed.
By "hypermilers" I'm talking about the people who accelerate excruciatingly slowly and never really get up to speed... there are MANY lights that I drive by every day that if you get up to speed quickly (no, not NASCAR, but reasonably fast) you will make the next several lights... unless I'm stuck behind someone who doesn't understand that. They waste MORE gas sitting at red lights and having more accelerations from zero. I've ALWAYS exceeded EPA estimated gas mileage on my cars.
That's precisely what I'm talking about... there are times when I'm at the front of the line when the light turns Green, and it seems like I can go forever without having to stop. But I do know the timing of the lights, as I've driven them thousands of times and actually paid attention instead of texting or blabbing on the phone. I know where if I make one light, I can make the next two, whereas if I get stuck, I will get stuck at the next two, also.
Again, living in Gwinnett and commuting to Atlanta, that's EXACTLY what I mean.
But I've also traveled enough around the U.S. to know that everywhere has it's problems... when I first moved to the Atlanta area 15 years ago, people actually let you in when you signaled. I don't know what the problem is, but I know that I stick to my policy of "if you are clearly ahead of me and signal to get in my lane, I will do nothing to prevent you from doing it." Of course, half the time the person getting in front of me then goes slower... which is why people don't let other people get in front of them.
Ahh well... it is a therapeutic thread, even if it's impossible to get everyone on the same page. We must accept that there will always be chaos in our lives.
I can only hope that, in the future, people will understand the difference between things that can be objectively measured and things that can only be subjectively measured.
I live near Atlanta, and it's true that even 3 miles over the limit could net the city a huge fine (I think it's quite bogus), but everywhere else it's miles over the limit times some number... like $5 for each mile over the limit. A cop would be laughed at for giving 3MPH over the limit.
It's recently gotten out that Duluth (GA) cops are explicitly told not to ticket anyone going less than 10MPH over the limit, it's just not worth it.
I would like to add that part of the problem around here is that when you don't tailgate, "weavers" keep cutting in front of you.
I know this from experience because I try not to tailgate (of course, when someone then jumps in front of me, I'm tailgating - just not through any fault of my own). Whenever you try to improve the situation for everyone, some selfish people take advantage to make it better from themselves, but like the summary points out - if everyone drove the "right" way, it's a better solution than having jerks... but since so many people don't, that's what helps make "jerks" improve the situation.
I guess the "optimal" solution is when everyone works together and we're all on the same page, traffic, even in dense areas, could flow much more fluidly... but since human nature is selfish, you simply can't achieve that.
Definitely!
But you're exactly right... I pass cops all the time.
Likewise, I often cruise in the right lanes because, where I am, everyone rushes over to the left because it's supposedly the "fast" lane(s). So I sit there on the right and pass the jammed up traffic to my left. I know, I know, you shouldn't pass on the right, but I didn't create the situation.
Another couple of thinks, while we're all whining about it: my interstate, when you get outside the city, goes up to 65 from 55, but nobody speeds up! Also, we have a school zone that is usually 45 and drops down to 35 - as it says on the sign, "School days 8:30-9:30am, 3:30-4:30pm." But people can't be bothered reading the rest of the sign... they just always go 35! AAAARRRRRGGGG!!! It's right near my house, so I deal with it on a daily basis.
I had this argument with my mom... when my parents retired they moved to Florida; the street they live on is off one of the main streets that comes off the interstate. It was two lanes each way when they moved their. As the years went on, it got busier and busier (especially in the winter, when the "snow birds" come down to FL to live for a few months). So they did several years of construction and expanded the road to three lanes in each direction. My mom made a comment about how the problem was permanently solved, despite the fact that there was always new construction of houses, and condos and apartments (especially by the water, which is where that main street went.. right to the beach area). I explained that unless you change behavior (something I'm not advocating), then all that happens when you increase capacity is that people will take advantage of the increased capacity... it's like, if you increase your internet speed, you simply saturate it by downloading higher resolution movies and music (and if you don't, someone else will). I don't know if there's a good solution, but widening the roads and adding lanes just encourages more people to use it. It's certainly a better solution than nothing, though.
Interesting post... I do that all the time, too. I use my cruise not just to maintain speed, but because I'm a leadfoot it helps keep me from getting tickets, and I see it all the time. I think some people are just jerks, but many people do it subconsciously... they'll actually slow when someone is behind them (not necessarily tailgating, as I avoid that), and speed up when you change lanes. It's just perception, as we've both come to the same conclusion by the same means.
Other things that completely screw up traffic (besides the obvious grid-lockers and rubberneckers, even when someone is just changing a tire or getting a ticket):
1. "hypermilers" who don't understand lights are timed for the speed limit, and if you don't get up to speed in a reasonable amount of time, you're just going to waste all that gas at red lights.
2. During rush hour, the problem on "surface" streets is that lights can't be long enough to allow everyone to go through during the green light, so those people just sitting there when the light turns green are racking up the number of cars that are going to get stuck for an extra cycle... but the problem, as I see it, is people have largely stopped honking, so they'll just sit behind such an oblivious person and just wait. If people honked, we could get things moving again. It doesn't have to be a nasty lean on the horn, just a toot-toot.
3. Cops... I like cops, I appreciate cops, I have cops in the family; it's not really the cops, it's the people who drop below the speed limit simply because one is nearby.
A few other things that affect me daily: we have a number of locations where the right turn goes into a protected lane... so there are "keep moving" signs... nothing so infuriating as the people in front of you coming to a COMPLETE stop at a "keep moving" sign. In the same vein, there are a number of places with RIGHT turn arrows that are green when the cross traffic has the left turn... again, people come to a complete stop, and sometimes don't even continue moving at all, treating it as a right turn on red.
And lately, the past year or so, I wouldn't necessarily call them "hypermilers" but so many people seem unwilling to even get up to the speed limit, let alone exceed it by a few miles per hour, as if you're going to get a ticket for 48 in a 45... I know the police aren't going to give me a ticket for 5 miles over, and I often get passed by cops when doing so.
Whew. Nice to rant about it every once in awhile... "cathartic" experience.