>>>anyone with an HDHP gets royally screwed paying top dollar for the care they do get
I have HIgh Deductible Health Plan (insurance for expenses over $20,000/annum) and do not get screwed. I spend just $90/month for the insurance and ~$200 for the annual doctor visit. That's less money than what many people pay on Cable and cellphone service.
As for medicare or government healthcare, it really should be like welfare and food stamps. Needs-based rather than something covering everyone. Those who are not poor pay out of pocket (like they do with electricity, phone, car, etc) and those who are poor get the safety net.
>>>I have never had anything but poor experiences with Virgin Mobile..... I hated AT&T and then I hated T-mobile.
Hmmm. Sounds like a case of PEBKAC to me. In contrast my first cell phone was bought in 1999 from Cellular One, who I liked. Then Cingular who I liked. And now VirginMobile who I like. They all offered what was advertised (cheap calling). $10/month for the first two, and $5 a month for VM. Why complain? Life's too damn short to waste on complaints.
Yeah I'm not so sure why this "prepaid smartphone" deal is so surprising. Virgin Mobile has been offerered smartphones a few years now. You had to buy them up front, but the monthly fee was only $25, so worth it.
My VM phone is a cheap phone that was gratis (pay $40 initial airtime and the $40 phone is free). I like the company because they charge only 5 dollars a month for half-an-hour of calltime, which rolls month to month. I've now accumulated 660 minutes! (I make few calls, except for long distance or car breakdowns.)
The original poster wasn't "tweaking settings" or messing with Best Buy's displays. He was inserting a Linux CD and installing it. The dumass piece-of-shit manager was asking him to void the warranty, just because he wanted to run a different OS from windows.
And if the customer has a degree in computer or software engineering, he is more qualified than the manager who clearly has nothing.
I can offer the counter-anecdote of my people who bought extended warranties & either the thing broke while still under the free warranty (thus EW not used), or never broke until the EW was long expired.
If they had taken the hundreds of dollars wasted on EWs and simply put them in a bank, they could have used the cash to replace that rare item that break after the Free 1 year warranty expires.
Good point, but he spoke early modern It had a heavy brogue and sounded semi-Scottish. Also it was pre-vowel shift, so it sounded little like modern British.
If you watch old episodes of Little House on the Prairie, you can see exactly that. Stores that show samples of things and then order the dress, farm equipment, or whatever from the catalog. (Today you'd replace catalog with website.)
How about just straight standard American? (Sometimes called TV english.)
I think it's silly to impose a British accent when the original characters were speaking Middle English (Shakespeare), Old English (King Arthur, Beowulf), Latin (Rome movies), or Celtic (anything pre-Roman). These old or ancient peoples were definitely NOT speaking modern british.
>>> This is what makes the concept of copyright so valuable. It encourages people to release their changes so others can build upon them
If you build upon them, then the corporation sues you. So really copyright stifles the incremental improvement, rather than help it, especially when it's extended to 150 years (almost 8 generations).
Also note I didn't say I was against copyright. You setup a strawman and put words in my mouth I never said. Jackass. You probably work for the RIAA.
One time I had Best Buy match amazon's price on a VCR. The sale manager matched the price + $20 shipping. If more stores did that, then yes they'd make higher sales.
Re:What an extended warranty sales pitch sounds li
on
Best Buy Closing 50 Stores
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· Score: 5, Interesting
When I worked for Sears ten years ago I refused to "push" extended warranties. I told the customer that for $25 extra they can warranty their refrigerator five years and get free replacement of food if there's a power outage or failure. Plus repair. 95% of the time they'd say "no" and I'd ask "Are you sure?" and then drop it.
Sears responded by pulling me off the floor (thus I earn no money except min. wage) and making me watch Warranty training videos, because my EW percentage was too low. Basically punishment.
I didn't stay at that store long. I thought it would be a fun parttime job for extra cash, but it made me feel dirty instead.
EWs truly are a waste of money. Appliances either suffer infant mortality (first few months) or end-of-life mortality (15-20 years). The infant mortality is covered by the manufacturer's 1 year deal, and EOL is just EOL. Extended warranty covers neither of these two cases.
>>> He seemed to feel that I was going to damage the hardware somehow by my personal incompetence
Helps to carry your engineering degree into Best Buy and similar stores. After the manager lectures you about damaging the machine, whip it out and embarass the idiot. "Look I'm an engineer. I don't just use computers. I design them for a living and fly them on airplanes. Why don't you stop hassling me as if I was an idiot, or else I'm going to call the corporate office and bitch. Clear?"
Maybe if they laid-off all their workers and just had self checkout stands. Then they could undercut amazon's prices.
I can't remember the last time I set foot in an electronic store. Oh wait. When Circuit City was going bankrupt. Got three TV converter boxes for $10 and Kingdom Hearts 2 for $5.99. ----- Well other than that I do all my shopping from home because I can watch television and shop at the same time. No time wasted on driving or wandering through the store.
This really doesn't make sense. You're wasting gas driving to the store, to see the item, so you're really not saving any money. Especially with the cost of gas approaching 5 dollars.
I guess you're saving some money but not as much as you think.
Blame the Fed and other central banks for constantly increasing the money supply. The lowly penny has lost 97% of its value since 1920 (hence why it's now worth less than the cost of making it). Your grandparents' SAVINGS have lost 97% of their value since 1920.
And continue to lose value by about 3% per year. It's a hidden tax on your accumulated cash wealth. Time to End the fed and/or affix the dollar value to a fixed standard (like precious metal or land) that the Fed cannot alter. Cannot devalue.
That's silly. I toss my pennies in my car's cupholder, and when I come to a McDonald's drivein, I gather together the 6, 12, or 18 pennies to cover the tax appended to the food price. (Actually I do that with all my change; it all gets dumped in my car for future use at a drivein or tollbooth.)
>>> Your idea of promoting artistic endeavors means giving artists shortcuts by "borrowing" public domain work
Yes. Exactly. And this copyright blocked the New Voyagers people, and even the original author, from converting a script to video form. It very, very clearly STIFLED creativity. The whole point is that Art is meant to be shared with EVERYONE, not locked up for 150 fucking years like YOU want it Anon. Coward
What's even worse is when the copy monopoly is used to deprive artists of their fair pay, as is typical in music contracts. Or when the record companies stole nearly 1 billion dollars from Canadian artists by taking their songs, putting them on greatest hits compilation CDs, and never paid the artists. All legally.
20 years should be enough time for the original author to make money. Then let it fall into the public domain (unless the author renews the copymonopoly).
>>> there has never been a case of a consumer suffering a harmful effect
According to the FOX, CNN, and MicrosoftNBC who are funded and controlled by the corporations. Yeah we can trust them.
I did a bit of research (something you could have done yourself) and Neonicotinoid does indeed come already sprayed onto the seeds. In fact Monsanto is now advising farmers to plant about 80% GMO and 20% non-GMO, in order to provide a "safe harbor" for the bees to find some clean food that is not poisoned.
According to the most recent survey by Websters, the word "drug" is used by 30% of english speakers. It is common usage and you have no right to tell this minority how they are "allowed" to talk.
With possibility of renewal if the original human is still alive.
This script is just sitting around, unused. If it were in the public domain, CBS could use it, or New Voyages could use it, or anybody could use it. Public domain PROMOTES artistic endeavors while the copy monopoly stifles it.
Why do advertisers use sexy models? Because it works. Why so scientists use FUD? Because it works. You can't stop it anymore than you can stop teens from sneaking-out and from having sex. It's human nature to do what works to achieve the objective desired.
Slashdot Mirror
>>>anyone with an HDHP gets royally screwed paying top dollar for the care they do get
I have HIgh Deductible Health Plan (insurance for expenses over $20,000/annum) and do not get screwed. I spend just $90/month for the insurance and ~$200 for the annual doctor visit. That's less money than what many people pay on Cable and cellphone service.
As for medicare or government healthcare, it really should be like welfare and food stamps. Needs-based rather than something covering everyone. Those who are not poor pay out of pocket (like they do with electricity, phone, car, etc) and those who are poor get the safety net.
>>>I have never had anything but poor experiences with Virgin Mobile..... I hated AT&T and then I hated T-mobile.
Hmmm. Sounds like a case of PEBKAC to me. In contrast my first cell phone was bought in 1999 from Cellular One, who I liked. Then Cingular who I liked. And now VirginMobile who I like. They all offered what was advertised (cheap calling). $10/month for the first two, and $5 a month for VM. Why complain? Life's too damn short to waste on complaints.
>>>Virgin Mobile
Yeah I'm not so sure why this "prepaid smartphone" deal is so surprising. Virgin Mobile has been offerered smartphones a few years now. You had to buy them up front, but the monthly fee was only $25, so worth it.
My VM phone is a cheap phone that was gratis (pay $40 initial airtime and the $40 phone is free). I like the company because they charge only 5 dollars a month for half-an-hour of calltime, which rolls month to month. I've now accumulated 660 minutes! (I make few calls, except for long distance or car breakdowns.)
The thing I use to record Digital TV because it ignores the "don't record" copyright flags. And because it's a Super VHS it looks as good as DVD.
The original poster wasn't "tweaking settings" or messing with Best Buy's displays. He was inserting a Linux CD and installing it. The dumass piece-of-shit manager was asking him to void the warranty, just because he wanted to run a different OS from windows.
And if the customer has a degree in computer or software engineering, he is more qualified than the manager who clearly has nothing.
I can offer the counter-anecdote of my people who bought extended warranties & either the thing broke while still under the free warranty (thus EW not used), or never broke until the EW was long expired.
If they had taken the hundreds of dollars wasted on EWs and simply put them in a bank, they could have used the cash to replace that rare item that break after the Free 1 year warranty expires.
Good point, but he spoke early modern It had a heavy brogue and sounded semi-Scottish. Also it was pre-vowel shift, so it sounded little like modern British.
If you watch old episodes of Little House on the Prairie, you can see exactly that. Stores that show samples of things and then order the dress, farm equipment, or whatever from the catalog. (Today you'd replace catalog with website.)
How about just straight standard American? (Sometimes called TV english.)
I think it's silly to impose a British accent when the original characters were speaking Middle English (Shakespeare), Old English (King Arthur, Beowulf), Latin (Rome movies), or Celtic (anything pre-Roman). These old or ancient peoples were definitely NOT speaking modern british.
What are you referring to?
>>> This is what makes the concept of copyright so valuable. It encourages people to release their changes so others can build upon them
If you build upon them, then the corporation sues you. So really copyright stifles the incremental improvement, rather than help it, especially when it's extended to 150 years (almost 8 generations).
Also note I didn't say I was against copyright. You setup a strawman and put words in my mouth I never said. Jackass. You probably work for the RIAA.
One time I had Best Buy match amazon's price on a VCR. The sale manager matched the price + $20 shipping. If more stores did that, then yes they'd make higher sales.
When I worked for Sears ten years ago I refused to "push" extended warranties. I told the customer that for $25 extra they can warranty their refrigerator five years and get free replacement of food if there's a power outage or failure. Plus repair. 95% of the time they'd say "no" and I'd ask "Are you sure?" and then drop it.
Sears responded by pulling me off the floor (thus I earn no money except min. wage) and making me watch Warranty training videos, because my EW percentage was too low. Basically punishment.
I didn't stay at that store long. I thought it would be a fun parttime job for extra cash, but it made me feel dirty instead.
EWs truly are a waste of money. Appliances either suffer infant mortality (first few months) or end-of-life mortality (15-20 years). The infant mortality is covered by the manufacturer's 1 year deal, and EOL is just EOL. Extended warranty covers neither of these two cases.
>>> He seemed to feel that I was going to damage the hardware somehow by my personal incompetence
Helps to carry your engineering degree into Best Buy and similar stores. After the manager lectures you about damaging the machine, whip it out and embarass the idiot. "Look I'm an engineer. I don't just use computers. I design them for a living and fly them on airplanes. Why don't you stop hassling me as if I was an idiot, or else I'm going to call the corporate office and bitch. Clear?"
Maybe if they laid-off all their workers and just had self checkout stands. Then they could undercut amazon's prices.
I can't remember the last time I set foot in an electronic store. Oh wait. When Circuit City was going bankrupt. Got three TV converter boxes for $10 and Kingdom Hearts 2 for $5.99. ----- Well other than that I do all my shopping from home because I can watch television and shop at the same time. No time wasted on driving or wandering through the store.
This really doesn't make sense. You're wasting gas driving to the store, to see the item, so you're really not saving any money. Especially with the cost of gas approaching 5 dollars.
I guess you're saving some money but not as much as you think.
Blame the Fed and other central banks for constantly increasing the money supply. The lowly penny has lost 97% of its value since 1920 (hence why it's now worth less than the cost of making it). Your grandparents' SAVINGS have lost 97% of their value since 1920.
And continue to lose value by about 3% per year. It's a hidden tax on your accumulated cash wealth. Time to End the fed and/or affix the dollar value to a fixed standard (like precious metal or land) that the Fed cannot alter. Cannot devalue.
That's silly. I toss my pennies in my car's cupholder, and when I come to a McDonald's drivein, I gather together the 6, 12, or 18 pennies to cover the tax appended to the food price. (Actually I do that with all my change; it all gets dumped in my car for future use at a drivein or tollbooth.)
>>>All I can figure is that there were politics or other internal pressures.
ALL science is like this.
That's why it's good to question the results, rather than just accept them.
>>> Your idea of promoting artistic endeavors means giving artists shortcuts by "borrowing" public domain work
Yes.
Exactly.
And this copyright blocked the New Voyagers people, and even the original author, from converting a script to video form. It very, very clearly STIFLED creativity. The whole point is that Art is meant to be shared with EVERYONE, not locked up for 150 fucking years like YOU want it Anon. Coward
What's even worse is when the copy monopoly is used to deprive artists of their fair pay, as is typical in music contracts. Or when the record companies stole nearly 1 billion dollars from Canadian artists by taking their songs, putting them on greatest hits compilation CDs, and never paid the artists. All legally.
20 years should be enough time for the original author to make money. Then let it fall into the public domain (unless the author renews the copymonopoly).
>>>People who make shit like that up should be banned from the internet for a month.
Read the first amendment.
Or the enumeration of rights in your State constitution.
Nobody's speech may be censored.
>>> there has never been a case of a consumer suffering a harmful effect
According to the FOX, CNN, and MicrosoftNBC who are funded and controlled by the corporations. Yeah we can trust them.
I did a bit of research (something you could have done yourself) and Neonicotinoid does indeed come already sprayed onto the seeds. In fact Monsanto is now advising farmers to plant about 80% GMO and 20% non-GMO, in order to provide a "safe harbor" for the bees to find some clean food that is not poisoned.
According to the most recent survey by Websters, the word "drug" is used by 30% of english speakers. It is common usage and you have no right to tell this minority how they are "allowed" to talk.
With possibility of renewal if the original human is still alive.
This script is just sitting around, unused. If it were in the public domain, CBS could use it, or New Voyages could use it, or anybody could use it. Public domain PROMOTES artistic endeavors while the copy monopoly stifles it.
IMHO
Why do advertisers use sexy models? Because it works.
Why so scientists use FUD? Because it works.
You can't stop it anymore than you can stop teens from sneaking-out and from having sex. It's human nature to do what works to achieve the objective desired.