Be warned, this is LONG, but it's not a rant, it's a summation. I've tried to edit it down, but I'm my own worst editor, I tend to write (and speak) long. So please bear with me.
OK, here's the deal: Some of you will think this belongs on infowars, or breitbart, or whatever the paranoid-consipiracist right-wingnut site du jour is. Others will think this belongs in motherjones, or huffpost, or whatever the paranoid-conspiracist left wingnut site du jour is. And I'm sure there's people who wrote "WHY IS THIS HERE?!@?!!", I just can't see them since I have no mod points today I'm reading at threshold=1.
Sad truth is both sides are playing us. This story is so whack it could pass for a legit Onion story!
The short of it: This guy Powell -- a Democrat, who served on the boards of 11 big companies wrote a memo in 1971 basically saying Academia was mounting an attack on Free Enterprise. This memo was sent to his buddy, the Director of the US Chamber of Commerce, Eugene Sydnor. Then Powell gets put in the Supreme Court by Nixon.
The result of the memo - which was kept secret from The People for a while - was the rise of Neo-Liberalism, that is, de-regulation, free-trade, and turning our economy from a production economy to a "services" economy - which really means "Financial" economy. Yeah. Banks rule us, and they crashed mightily in 2007-2008, and are still trying to put the pieces back together.
So this Powell memo becomes one of the factors that created the corporate culture we have today. Republicans and Conservatives get the blame, when the idea and first motions were from a Liberal Democrat.
Essentially, the result was the manipulation of media and Academia - through grants, through favors, through good old-fashioned cocksuckery - to shift the thinking of the People to thinking that Free Enterprise was a good thing, that Government shouldn't meddle with business (de-regulation). A number of think-tanks were established, that were pro-business and anti-socialist.
At the same time while all those pieces were put together, Nixon un-hitched the dollar from the gold standard, the 1973 and 1979 energy crisis happened, the economy tanked, and the rest of the 20th century was spent in a downard slope.
This neo-liberal foundation helped shape the Reagan economic policies, the whole trickle-down thing, the reduction of corporate taxes, etc.
By the 90's it looked like the slope had stopped, but in the early 00's it fell off a cliff and it's still doing so.
So yes, people - we got robbed by liberals, democrats, conservatives and republicans combined. But somehow the blame has been shifted to the conservatives, as if it is their fault for breaking the US.
Sources? Citations? Do your own reading. Start with the Powell Memo itself, then some Chomsky, and your own examination of the event past half century. Find out what think-tanks were created and what the spout. Find out what rules were taken out to let business "flourish." This is all out there, in the open, from sites and books that are both conservative and liberal. This is not a one-sided thing, folks.
It'll turn your stomach, it will, doing that kind of reading.
We got played, by both sides, but the foundation was a liberal foundation, upon which most of the economic policies of today were built on.
I don't believe any of these people. Not a one. Especially not Billary, and especially not Trump.
What do we do? Suffer quietly, England-style? Revolution? We're trapped, folks. And what happened here spread to other countries, so emigration to say, England, is not an option, things over there and in Europe are also whacked.
I think we're going to have to let this take its course. Let it burn, stand back and just let it burn. People already are hurting. People already have lost jobs and are having no luck in getting something like what they lost. And we're going to have to let it burn, and once it's all ashes, we'll build it again. But
There's already a perfectly good word: "incited". You don't need to make up "incentivized".
It's called MBA-speak. They come up with new words to describe mundane actions.. like Monetize. And yes, Incentivize. It's so cromulent my spell checker didn't flag it.
Before I bought a house in the favorable post-2008 market / housing crash I had thought of going to Central or South America an do IT work there, make a killing, and perhaps stay there. Im 100% spanish-english bilingual, you see.
Maybe it's time I sell / rent my house and do the south / central america thing anyway.
I've lost all faith in the US and in "Western Civilization." To the point where I"m almost ashamed of being American. That, from a 10-year veteran of the USAF.
I'm ashamed of what we've become. Maybe a decade or two down south.. way down south.. is what I need.
But then again, I don't need a laptop for most of what I do, in terms of personal, recreational leisure. I don't even need a desktop. I use my desktop pretty much when i'm having breakfast.
I read books. I watch movies. I do a bit of web surfing. I look at radar when the sky turns battleship gray. I read/write email. And that's about it. A tablet does all that very well, especially the movie, book, web and radar parts.
If I'm home, or on a plane, or in a hotel, I use the tablet. (first model of iPad Air)
When I'm out and about, I use my phone. (iPhone 5S)
The two have different missions and due to my tastes in size, there is no common ground. I don't like a big phone and I don't like a little tablet.
Both, however, have almost identical loads in term of apps, books, etc. They have identical screen layouts. It's seamless, for me, to go from one to the other.
"Comey added that while there is "evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information," they think that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."
I think he means "no reasonable prosecutor terrified of the prospect of never-ending retribution against self and family would bring such a case."
The political machine is so broken it it were a car, i'd strip it down to the bare frame, clean whatever can be kept, replace whatever is FUBAR, and put it back together.
Sadly, there is no way that trick can be done to an organization made of money and people. So.. what can be done? Can anything be done? Yeah, so my question is rhetorical, but it still stands -- how can We the People fix it? I'm convinced it'll take many decades, if not a century to fix.
Or maybe we just implode like our daddy did a couple of weeks ago. How's that Brexit working, UK?
Crazy thing is, I admire them for having the sheer balls to give the V to their leaders. (I'm not talking about the peace sign. Turn it around.)
Because it's news for nerds. Oh, there are more nerds than you think they are. I think your definition of nerd is extremely narrow.
There are car nerds, computer nerds, aviation nerds, boat/ship nerds, literature nerds, and more.
So yes, an article about a controversial (and beloved) TV show that was about cars, politics and humor appeals to a broad spectrum of nerds and merits discussion on a board about news for nerds.
I rarely reply to ACs but this whole "DOES THIS BELONG HERE" faction is even screechier and irritating than SJWs.
GO away. If you don't like Slashdot, GTFO. Do I need to spell it out for you? OUT!
1. Do not, under any circumstance, say anything in email that you wouldn't say to your boss' face.
2. See #1.
It's not rocket science, people. Most IT depts I've been in have language in the "IT Policy" newbs must sign saying something like "All communications may be monitored bla bla bla"
Why would I want to talk to a bot? I mean, Eliza was fun back in the day, Siri is fun to taunt from time to time, but.. why would I want to talk to a bot? (talk, type, whatever. Interact.)
Now, if this were a sentient android, yes, I probably would. But a bot? A bot that spews trendy chat and gifs? For businesses? What?
Oh and I forgot, with pencil, I can emphasize certain words or divide pages into different days by just re-tracing what I wrote once or twice. This makes them jump out of the page.
A nice hardback notebook with sewn pages, with a.5 mm Pentel pencil. Has a nice red ribbon bookmark and good paper. The last one lasted a good 4 years before I ran out of paper.
At home a battered old Mead spiralbound with a length of twine tied to the topmost wind and knotted at the free end to serve as bookmark.
I number pages, and have a running index in the last 4 pages to find important things quickly.
Note-taking apps take away my ability to ad-hoc sketch out some concept, or idly doodle during an endless meeting that has no IT relevance. There's a freedom with paper that I've yet to experience on Windows or iToys.
The only place a notes app I use is the Notes app on the iToys, and I use it more as a rudimentary database such as serial numbers of stuff, a list of my neighbors, etc. I also use it as a rudimentary shopping list for stores I rarely visit.
Would you rather have APK? Or the appy app app LUDDITE guy?
Don't feed the trolls, don't even try to understand them.
For any The Amazing World of Gumball viewers, these appy app apk racial epithet types probably look and feel *just* like TAWOG's representation of the Internet: An old-school 1990's tan PC with CRT monitor living in a basement, surrounded by decades-old pizza debris, constantly hounded by his Mom.
If I were that, I'da tripped my own circuit breaker years ago.
They are an advertising platform. Instead of complaining, make the best of it and try to pull in a few bucks yourselves. It doesn't cost you anything.
Do you have your car vinyl-wrapped in a garish multicolor rolling ad in exchange for compensation?
That's one physical manifestation of what you seem to be suggesting we do. Deface our "X" for money.
Or are you suggesting something else? What is it, exactly? How would users monetize it for their own gain? Become an advertiser? Of what, precisely? Jimmy Joe's Bit Shack, Computer Services and IT Management?
Oh good god I said "monetize," now I feel like I need a shower, so filthy is MBA-speak.
Does Android permit any app to access Location Services without the user allowing it?
In iOS the default is "NO," and one has to explicitly grant access to any app that wants to access Location Services (and Microphone, Camera, Photos, Contacts)
*sigh* this came out all wrong, I shouldn't multitask.
I sure do. It was a horrible experience. Lack of selection and lack of stock would have you visiting store after store
This created competition between stores, on a small, local scale. I remember this kind of competition, and while it meant you had to walk (do exercise) around town a bit, it also meant you met more people, knew more shopkeepers, and overall interacted more in person, not in front of this glowing screen.
The fox eats the snake that eats the cat that eats the rat. And so on... It's not a defeatist attitude, it's just simply stating that you're not getting anywhere with this philosophy so try something else on for size.
Isn't that what I said? The past 40 years haven't worked out all that well. (online eating big box who ate malls who ate little shop). This isn't working. If online completely triumphs and big boxes fail en masse, what will that do to the economy? Boom, headshot, and everyone loses. Maybe the old, slow, inconvenient way was best for the economy but bad for the insatiable need for instant gratification.
And FWIW, I saw a mall -- my favorite mall ever, actually -- decimate a shopping town called Santurce in Puerto Rico. Killed it dead. Back then it seemed cool, all these neat shops and two big glorious cinemas in this great big beautiful mall. But then I'd ride my bike into Santurce and see the destruction. Now that I'm older, I wish.. I wonder.. if a happy medium could've been found.
I sure do. It was a horrible experience. Lack of selection and lack of stock would have you visiting store after store
The fox eats the snake that eats the cat that eats the rat. And so on... It's not a defeatist attitude, it's just simply stating that you're not getting anywhere with this philosophy so try something else on for size.
Isn't that what I said? The psat 40 years haven't worked out all that well. (online eating big box who ate malls who ate little shop). This isn't working. If online completely triumphs and big boxes fail en masse, what will that do to the economy? Boom, headshot, and everyone loses. Maybe the old, slow, inconvenient way was best for the economy but bad for the insatiable need for instant gratification.
Whomever modded you off-topic didn't understand your comment. I found it insightful.
Wall-E was meant as an indictment of consumerism, and according to tvtropes, that is word-of-god.
We are almost there... just a little further to go
I wish it were. I think we're headed to Idiocracy, instead, which is the insulting, in-your-face version of Wall-E
Yes, I know Idiocracy was first. They both share the same message. Idiocracy goes even further, explicitly stating humanity got real dumb real fast.
How do we go about un-doing the economic rape of 1970's to today? That's what this all really boils down to. There's where these big-box behemoths came from, that's where the demand for these bix-box behemoths came from. Cheaper prices because your dollar is worth so much less than before we got robbed.
I dunno, man... I do most of my shopping online because I truly dislike the decline of retail. The sole exception is high-end goods in small stores.
So. On to the online bit: By carefully using the image zoom (if available), reading between the lines of the reviews (a lot of which are shills, some real, and some just rants), and cross-referencing with Google search results, one can make a reasonable guess at how good that product is.
It is very rare for me to get a sub-par, unexpectedly crappy product online. I usually either get exactly what I expected, or in some cases be blown away by how much better than expected it is.
The one thing I've ran into problems with is shoes: I've had more defects and more "damn it's too small" moments with shoes than with anything else.
Retail is dead. I savor every single stake I drive into it's bleeding heart. Wal-Mart destroyed the small retailer, then let's help Amazon take down Wal-mart.
We'll figure out how to take down Amazon and bring back the Main Street experience later on. This also needs to be done, Amazon is just as abusive as Wal-Mart, the difference is Amazon customers don't put up with the staff and customers.
What, no one remembers that? Life before the Big Boxes? What a shame. It was a nice experience. You had the guy that sold records, the girl who sold books, the old couple who ran the tailor's and dry-clean, the awesome electronics store where the tech in the back had a cigarette *and* a hot soldering iron on a glass ashtray..
We'll never get that back. And that makes my heart ache a bit.
Slashdot Mirror
Be warned, this is LONG, but it's not a rant, it's a summation. I've tried to edit it down, but I'm my own worst editor, I tend to write (and speak) long. So please bear with me.
OK, here's the deal: Some of you will think this belongs on infowars, or breitbart, or whatever the paranoid-consipiracist right-wingnut site du jour is. Others will think this belongs in motherjones, or huffpost, or whatever the paranoid-conspiracist left wingnut site du jour is. And I'm sure there's people who wrote "WHY IS THIS HERE?!@?!!", I just can't see them since I have no mod points today I'm reading at threshold=1.
Sad truth is both sides are playing us. This story is so whack it could pass for a legit Onion story!
The short of it: This guy Powell -- a Democrat, who served on the boards of 11 big companies wrote a memo in 1971 basically saying Academia was mounting an attack on Free Enterprise. This memo was sent to his buddy, the Director of the US Chamber of Commerce, Eugene Sydnor. Then Powell gets put in the Supreme Court by Nixon.
The result of the memo - which was kept secret from The People for a while - was the rise of Neo-Liberalism, that is, de-regulation, free-trade, and turning our economy from a production economy to a "services" economy - which really means "Financial" economy. Yeah. Banks rule us, and they crashed mightily in 2007-2008, and are still trying to put the pieces back together.
So this Powell memo becomes one of the factors that created the corporate culture we have today. Republicans and Conservatives get the blame, when the idea and first motions were from a Liberal Democrat.
Essentially, the result was the manipulation of media and Academia - through grants, through favors, through good old-fashioned cocksuckery - to shift the thinking of the People to thinking that Free Enterprise was a good thing, that Government shouldn't meddle with business (de-regulation). A number of think-tanks were established, that were pro-business and anti-socialist.
At the same time while all those pieces were put together, Nixon un-hitched the dollar from the gold standard, the 1973 and 1979 energy crisis happened, the economy tanked, and the rest of the 20th century was spent in a downard slope.
This neo-liberal foundation helped shape the Reagan economic policies, the whole trickle-down thing, the reduction of corporate taxes, etc.
By the 90's it looked like the slope had stopped, but in the early 00's it fell off a cliff and it's still doing so.
So yes, people - we got robbed by liberals, democrats, conservatives and republicans combined. But somehow the blame has been shifted to the conservatives, as if it is their fault for breaking the US.
Sources? Citations? Do your own reading. Start with the Powell Memo itself, then some Chomsky, and your own examination of the event past half century. Find out what think-tanks were created and what the spout. Find out what rules were taken out to let business "flourish." This is all out there, in the open, from sites and books that are both conservative and liberal. This is not a one-sided thing, folks.
It'll turn your stomach, it will, doing that kind of reading.
We got played, by both sides, but the foundation was a liberal foundation, upon which most of the economic policies of today were built on.
I don't believe any of these people. Not a one. Especially not Billary, and especially not Trump.
What do we do? Suffer quietly, England-style? Revolution? We're trapped, folks. And what happened here spread to other countries, so emigration to say, England, is not an option, things over there and in Europe are also whacked.
I think we're going to have to let this take its course. Let it burn, stand back and just let it burn. People already are hurting. People already have lost jobs and are having no luck in getting something like what they lost. And we're going to have to let it burn, and once it's all ashes, we'll build it again. But
This one should work.
I had mangled the random and encoded settings on the wheels. Have at it!
(Model 1, reflector on "B")
Oh never mind I completely screwed up the rotor settings.
Then this could happen
Similar to the cry of 2nd amendment people in the US.
.
There's already a perfectly good word: "incited". You don't need to make up "incentivized".
It's called MBA-speak. They come up with new words to describe mundane actions.. like Monetize. And yes, Incentivize. It's so cromulent my spell checker didn't flag it.
Before I bought a house in the favorable post-2008 market / housing crash I had thought of going to Central or South America an do IT work there, make a killing, and perhaps stay there. Im 100% spanish-english bilingual, you see.
Maybe it's time I sell / rent my house and do the south / central america thing anyway.
I've lost all faith in the US and in "Western Civilization." To the point where I"m almost ashamed of being American. That, from a 10-year veteran of the USAF.
I'm ashamed of what we've become. Maybe a decade or two down south .. way down south.. is what I need.
Net Neutrality: Level playing ground. We can't be having none of that, nope... because it stifles:
Innovation: New and interesting ways in which to squeeze every farthing out of every consumer / customer / person.
But then again, I don't need a laptop for most of what I do, in terms of personal, recreational leisure. I don't even need a desktop. I use my desktop pretty much when i'm having breakfast.
I read books. I watch movies. I do a bit of web surfing. I look at radar when the sky turns battleship gray. I read/write email. And that's about it. A tablet does all that very well, especially the movie, book, web and radar parts.
If I'm home, or on a plane, or in a hotel, I use the tablet. (first model of iPad Air)
When I'm out and about, I use my phone. (iPhone 5S)
The two have different missions and due to my tastes in size, there is no common ground. I don't like a big phone and I don't like a little tablet.
Both, however, have almost identical loads in term of apps, books, etc. They have identical screen layouts. It's seamless, for me, to go from one to the other.
"Comey added that while there is "evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information," they think that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."
I think he means "no reasonable prosecutor terrified of the prospect of never-ending retribution against self and family would bring such a case."
The political machine is so broken it it were a car, i'd strip it down to the bare frame, clean whatever can be kept, replace whatever is FUBAR, and put it back together.
Sadly, there is no way that trick can be done to an organization made of money and people. So.. what can be done? Can anything be done? Yeah, so my question is rhetorical, but it still stands -- how can We the People fix it? I'm convinced it'll take many decades, if not a century to fix.
Or maybe we just implode like our daddy did a couple of weeks ago. How's that Brexit working, UK?
Crazy thing is, I admire them for having the sheer balls to give the V to their leaders. (I'm not talking about the peace sign. Turn it around.)
Because it's news for nerds. Oh, there are more nerds than you think they are. I think your definition of nerd is extremely narrow.
There are car nerds, computer nerds, aviation nerds, boat/ship nerds, literature nerds, and more.
So yes, an article about a controversial (and beloved) TV show that was about cars, politics and humor appeals to a broad spectrum of nerds and merits discussion on a board about news for nerds.
I rarely reply to ACs but this whole "DOES THIS BELONG HERE" faction is even screechier and irritating than SJWs.
GO away. If you don't like Slashdot, GTFO. Do I need to spell it out for you? OUT!
It's almost like... like they don't want employees at all.
1. Do not, under any circumstance, say anything in email that you wouldn't say to your boss' face.
2. See #1.
It's not rocket science, people. Most IT depts I've been in have language in the "IT Policy" newbs must sign saying something like "All communications may be monitored bla bla bla"
Why would I want to talk to a bot? I mean, Eliza was fun back in the day, Siri is fun to taunt from time to time, but.. why would I want to talk to a bot? (talk, type, whatever. Interact.)
Now, if this were a sentient android, yes, I probably would. But a bot? A bot that spews trendy chat and gifs? For businesses? What?
Does not compute.
Oh and I forgot, with pencil, I can emphasize certain words or divide pages into different days by just re-tracing what I wrote once or twice. This makes them jump out of the page.
A nice hardback notebook with sewn pages, with a .5 mm Pentel pencil. Has a nice red ribbon bookmark and good paper. The last one lasted a good 4 years before I ran out of paper.
At home a battered old Mead spiralbound with a length of twine tied to the topmost wind and knotted at the free end to serve as bookmark.
I number pages, and have a running index in the last 4 pages to find important things quickly.
Note-taking apps take away my ability to ad-hoc sketch out some concept, or idly doodle during an endless meeting that has no IT relevance. There's a freedom with paper that I've yet to experience on Windows or iToys.
The only place a notes app I use is the Notes app on the iToys, and I use it more as a rudimentary database such as serial numbers of stuff, a list of my neighbors, etc. I also use it as a rudimentary shopping list for stores I rarely visit.
Would you rather have APK? Or the appy app app LUDDITE guy?
Don't feed the trolls, don't even try to understand them.
For any The Amazing World of Gumball viewers, these appy app apk racial epithet types probably look and feel *just* like TAWOG's representation of the Internet: An old-school 1990's tan PC with CRT monitor living in a basement, surrounded by decades-old pizza debris, constantly hounded by his Mom.
If I were that, I'da tripped my own circuit breaker years ago.
Did they use toothpicks to hold its eyes open?
Will it stop fancying a bit of the old in-out in-out ultra-violence?
1. Suddenly the Citroen DS-19 seems drop-dead gorgeous.
Hm. On reflection, the older I get, the prettier the DS gets. I may even wind up getting one.. one day.
2. Silk?! SILK?! REAL cars use leather, always have, always will!
3. Did RR crib that design from the back of a third-grader's notebook?
It isn't April 1, right?
Besides, hasn't AT&T been using "Thank you for using AT&T" in adverts / product placement as far back as Back to the Future II and Blade Runner?
Still.. this is just another sign that the end is nigh. They're running out of scams. Once they're out, what then? Do an honest day's work?
They are an advertising platform. Instead of complaining, make the best of it and try to pull in a few bucks yourselves. It doesn't cost you anything.
Do you have your car vinyl-wrapped in a garish multicolor rolling ad in exchange for compensation?
That's one physical manifestation of what you seem to be suggesting we do. Deface our "X" for money.
Or are you suggesting something else? What is it, exactly? How would users monetize it for their own gain? Become an advertiser? Of what, precisely? Jimmy Joe's Bit Shack, Computer Services and IT Management?
Oh good god I said "monetize," now I feel like I need a shower, so filthy is MBA-speak.
Does Android permit any app to access Location Services without the user allowing it?
In iOS the default is "NO," and one has to explicitly grant access to any app that wants to access Location Services (and Microphone, Camera, Photos, Contacts)
*sigh* this came out all wrong, I shouldn't multitask.
I sure do. It was a horrible experience. Lack of selection and lack of stock would have you visiting store after store
This created competition between stores, on a small, local scale. I remember this kind of competition, and while it meant you had to walk (do exercise) around town a bit, it also meant you met more people, knew more shopkeepers, and overall interacted more in person, not in front of this glowing screen.
The fox eats the snake that eats the cat that eats the rat. And so on... It's not a defeatist attitude, it's just simply stating that you're not getting anywhere with this philosophy so try something else on for size.
Isn't that what I said? The past 40 years haven't worked out all that well. (online eating big box who ate malls who ate little shop). This isn't working. If online completely triumphs and big boxes fail en masse, what will that do to the economy? Boom, headshot, and everyone loses. Maybe the old, slow, inconvenient way was best for the economy but bad for the insatiable need for instant gratification.
And FWIW, I saw a mall -- my favorite mall ever, actually -- decimate a shopping town called Santurce in Puerto Rico. Killed it dead. Back then it seemed cool, all these neat shops and two big glorious cinemas in this great big beautiful mall. But then I'd ride my bike into Santurce and see the destruction. Now that I'm older, I wish.. I wonder.. if a happy medium could've been found.
I sure do. It was a horrible experience. Lack of selection and lack of stock would have you visiting store after store
The fox eats the snake that eats the cat that eats the rat. And so on... It's not a defeatist attitude, it's just simply stating that you're not getting anywhere with this philosophy so try something else on for size.
Isn't that what I said? The psat 40 years haven't worked out all that well. (online eating big box who ate malls who ate little shop). This isn't working. If online completely triumphs and big boxes fail en masse, what will that do to the economy? Boom, headshot, and everyone loses. Maybe the old, slow, inconvenient way was best for the economy but bad for the insatiable need for instant gratification.
Whomever modded you off-topic didn't understand your comment. I found it insightful.
Wall-E was meant as an indictment of consumerism, and according to tvtropes, that is word-of-god.
We are almost there... just a little further to go
I wish it were. I think we're headed to Idiocracy, instead, which is the insulting, in-your-face version of Wall-E
Yes, I know Idiocracy was first. They both share the same message. Idiocracy goes even further, explicitly stating humanity got real dumb real fast.
How do we go about un-doing the economic rape of 1970's to today? That's what this all really boils down to. There's where these big-box behemoths came from, that's where the demand for these bix-box behemoths came from. Cheaper prices because your dollar is worth so much less than before we got robbed.
I dunno, man... I do most of my shopping online because I truly dislike the decline of retail. The sole exception is high-end goods in small stores.
So. On to the online bit: By carefully using the image zoom (if available), reading between the lines of the reviews (a lot of which are shills, some real, and some just rants), and cross-referencing with Google search results, one can make a reasonable guess at how good that product is.
It is very rare for me to get a sub-par, unexpectedly crappy product online. I usually either get exactly what I expected, or in some cases be blown away by how much better than expected it is.
The one thing I've ran into problems with is shoes: I've had more defects and more "damn it's too small" moments with shoes than with anything else.
Retail is dead. I savor every single stake I drive into it's bleeding heart. Wal-Mart destroyed the small retailer, then let's help Amazon take down Wal-mart.
We'll figure out how to take down Amazon and bring back the Main Street experience later on. This also needs to be done, Amazon is just as abusive as Wal-Mart, the difference is Amazon customers don't put up with the staff and customers.
What, no one remembers that? Life before the Big Boxes? What a shame. It was a nice experience. You had the guy that sold records, the girl who sold books, the old couple who ran the tailor's and dry-clean, the awesome electronics store where the tech in the back had a cigarette *and* a hot soldering iron on a glass ashtray..
We'll never get that back. And that makes my heart ache a bit.