Simply because it's only the idiots in my office that insist on printing out every single email they get. They will be enshrined for history to judge us all.
I laugh when one of them prints his email, handwrites a response onto it, and then faxes it back to the origin. I guess the jokes' on me.
The reason you don't see any companies investing their $$ in it is simple; time scale.
It's hard enough to find any companies who are looking at next year, much less 3- or 5-year strategic plans. Why should they, when in most (American) companies, the middle managers will all be let go and the execs cashed out and gone?
Space exploration is a high-capital/high-risk (but eventually, almost certainly high-profit) venture. It may take 10 years, 20 years, FIFTY YEARS of high expenses to get to the really big payoff, though. Who's going to invest in that?
Cheap lift capacity is critical to commercial investment, actually. If someone could design a $50 mill project that wasn't going to eat 60% of its budget in launch costs, maybe it would be more attractive.
Nice fuzzy math. Fuzzy language now too.
He said the first INCREASE in 7 years. No matter what inflation has done, an increase is an increase.
Sigh.
If I give you a dollar last year, and then $1.10 this year (but meanwhile your costs have increased 30%) I HAVEN'T CUT YOUR BUDGET. Unless of course, you're a bleeding heart that believes that all government programs are *entitled* to continual and eternal funding increases with inflation....and we wonder why gov't agencies are inefficient.
While I understand the need for authors to get paid, they MIGHT want to recognize that one of the reason used book sales are climbing is that their damn cover prices are increasing for NO good reason.
Anyone notice that a paperback that used to commonly be 3.95 is now 7.95 (the price preprinted on the cover). That would be SOLELY so they can throw the book on the "50% discount" table and get the same pile of $$$ as if they'd (10 years ago) sold it for full retail. They're so clever.
Well sorry guys, but Adam Smith wins. You raise your prices, and the market goes elsewhere. Get over it, or stop being so greedy.
Is it just me, but do most anime fans (all the ones I know) seem to treat the medium as nigh-unto a religion?
Suggest that Mononoke Hime was not that great a movie, and one is liable to be lynched. Hey, anime making it in the mass market stream -fantastic, I'm all for it. But this movie is simply not the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I see the relative lack of critical discernment in the anime-literati as a BAD THING (tm) for its widespread acceptance.
I saw Mononoke Hime in the original Japanese (w/subtitles) on the big screen. But the movie itself, while having stunning visuals, was IMVHO a letdown.
Of course, one has to keep in mind that Jeb Bush, one candidate's brother HAS RECUSED HIMSELF from the investigatory commission, so as to reduce any appearance of impropriety. Not so the Attorney General for Florida, who was Gore's campaign manager in the state.
Conflict of interest? Me? Nah...
St. Louis MO polls open an extra 3 hours in heavily democratic urban area.
The ability to freely 'transfer votes' from a dead man to a woman who did not, in her own right, gain a single vote. If they wanted her, couldn't they have legally written her in?
Milwaukee: reports are that minority voters were picked up by the busload and taken to the polling station, where they were compensated with packs of cigarettes for voting.
(hearsay) A friend mentioned to me that when he went to his polling place in upstate NY, the campaign judges had "Clinton" badges on, and one was even caught on-camera INSIDE the booth with a non-english-speaking immigrant "helping her figure out how to vote".
That's not true. There IS a constitutional basis that voters *must* be minimally competent. That would be the reason for the fact that children cannot vote. (semi flame on this list, I know)
But that's ridiculous. If there was such a potential for confusion, the ballot (designed by a democrat) should have been rejected in the approval process when BOTH the Republican and Democratic parties signed off that it was "ok".
If someone screwed up in not making it 'idiot-proof-enough' then it's the guy who approved it. The implied suggestion of 'do-over' is patently impossible to conduct fairly, and ridiculous on it's face. If you want, then disqualify the 25 Florida electoral votes - the result's the same: neither candidate has the 270 electoral votes needed, so the decision is made by the (R-controlled) Senate.
And, by the way, I find it hilarious that the MIT prof that wrote the 'proof' supporting the electoral system did it at the behest of the Gore campaign which expected Bush would get the populare vote.
Hoist by one's own petard, indeed.
Oh, great.
Just as I was entering a stage of denial that I'd actually voted for Jesse the Moron, you go and remind me. Another 6 months in therapy.
I was encouraged by his fairly straight talk. By his directness in a election where the other candidates were either a) a whiny slit-eyed turncoat whose political leanings were as stable as the wind or b)a mealy mouthed wuss whose greatest political attribute was that half his chromosomes had come from Hubert Humphrey - if he hadn't been name HH the 3rd, he'd have changed his name to make it that.
In any case, Ventura is either a bad, or horribly good, example of the power of the electorate to elect one of their own. As was said of Truman: he proves that literally ANYONE can win.
I wonder if Hazelden has an outpatient therapy for recovering Ventura voters?
Actually, this is an interesting piece of email - it illustrates what I would consider the opposite side of the "flame" coin: trolling.
Some people are (IMO) so desperate for attention that when they cannot think of something appropriately witty to say, they say something really stupid but inclined to draw the flames as a light draws moths.
The above would be an example, another would be the "guns=murder" thread on comp.sys.pc.games.strategic. It's entirely self-justifying, floating along on the hot air of the conversation, but communicating actually NOTHING.
Why do people do this? It's tantamount to (to use the barfight metaphor from above) walking into a biker bar and shouting that they're all assholes. You're begging to be intellectually creamed, but since it's cyberspace then you *really* don't get hurt. So what's the value? As I mention above, IMO it's person who's so socially needy that they just like the idea of "starting" the conversation, no matter how inane or pointless - much like those idiots that race to get the "first post!" in the comments (see, now that would be a Troll).
Either they're socially needy, or so incredibly stupid that they actually think that stepping in front of 000's of USENET gamers and spouting some cliche ideas will ACTUALLY convince anyone? (Or, they don't care that they won't convince anyone, but get some wierd validation out of publicly making the statement.)
Anyway, there's a few reasons, but I'm fascinated by the counter-flamer response of trolling.
I can understand his frustration, but shipping to Russia isn't a problem at all if you understand the system.
I used to work for a forwarder and we sent a container full of crap to the Radisson Hotel Moscow almost every other month.
The reason most people have trouble shipping to Russia is that basically anything of value is likely to disappear enroute. Shipments of liquor and other high-value commodities are typically escorted by bonded thugs riding shotgun to prevent theft - which is only marginally better, since most of the bonded firms are mob-run anyway and if they like what you're shipping they'll take it themselves.
UPS can get a 1 lb package to Khaborovsk for about $85, excluding duties and taxes. The key thing is that you can't INSURE it. That's the limit he was hitting - when she said "the insurance includes the freight" that's normal in the shipping business. I mean, if you ship your goods to somewhere and the ship sinks, you want the insurance to pay not only to replace what's gone, but ALSO to pay the shipping charges you'd be assessed, wouldn't you? That's typical.
So if you refuse insurance - i.e. don't declare a value for your goods and put "value for customs purposes only" on the proforma invoice, they won't charge you insurance. Of course, you're screwed if the stuff disappears, but that's shipping in Russia. Note that Russia does NOT have a personal goods/gift exemption so you will be hit for duty charges equal to the legal duty plus whatever bribe the UPS office had to pay for that package to go through unstolen (by the customs officials, at least).
You need more help, just email me. -Styopa
Slashdot Mirror
Supertoys is written by Brian Aldiss, I found the full text en web at: http://frede.dr.dk/u/braintrust/lab3/sci/artikler/ supertoys.html
I laugh when one of them prints his email, handwrites a response onto it, and then faxes it back to the origin. I guess the jokes' on me.
Here lies one whose name was writ on electrons.
Cheap lift capacity is critical to commercial investment, actually. If someone could design a $50 mill project that wasn't going to eat 60% of its budget in launch costs, maybe it would be more attractive.
Nice fuzzy math. Fuzzy language now too. He said the first INCREASE in 7 years. No matter what inflation has done, an increase is an increase. Sigh. If I give you a dollar last year, and then $1.10 this year (but meanwhile your costs have increased 30%) I HAVEN'T CUT YOUR BUDGET. Unless of course, you're a bleeding heart that believes that all government programs are *entitled* to continual and eternal funding increases with inflation....and we wonder why gov't agencies are inefficient.
While I understand the need for authors to get paid, they MIGHT want to recognize that one of the reason used book sales are climbing is that their damn cover prices are increasing for NO good reason.
Anyone notice that a paperback that used to commonly be 3.95 is now 7.95 (the price preprinted on the cover). That would be SOLELY so they can throw the book on the "50% discount" table and get the same pile of $$$ as if they'd (10 years ago) sold it for full retail. They're so clever.
Well sorry guys, but Adam Smith wins. You raise your prices, and the market goes elsewhere. Get over it, or stop being so greedy.
the operative lesson here is that comments are scored by anime-fans. :)
Is it just me, but do most anime fans (all the ones I know) seem to treat the medium as nigh-unto a religion? Suggest that Mononoke Hime was not that great a movie, and one is liable to be lynched. Hey, anime making it in the mass market stream -fantastic, I'm all for it. But this movie is simply not the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I see the relative lack of critical discernment in the anime-literati as a BAD THING (tm) for its widespread acceptance. I saw Mononoke Hime in the original Japanese (w/subtitles) on the big screen. But the movie itself, while having stunning visuals, was IMVHO a letdown.
Of course, one has to keep in mind that Jeb Bush, one candidate's brother HAS RECUSED HIMSELF from the investigatory commission, so as to reduce any appearance of impropriety. Not so the Attorney General for Florida, who was Gore's campaign manager in the state. Conflict of interest? Me? Nah...
St. Louis MO polls open an extra 3 hours in heavily democratic urban area. The ability to freely 'transfer votes' from a dead man to a woman who did not, in her own right, gain a single vote. If they wanted her, couldn't they have legally written her in? Milwaukee: reports are that minority voters were picked up by the busload and taken to the polling station, where they were compensated with packs of cigarettes for voting. (hearsay) A friend mentioned to me that when he went to his polling place in upstate NY, the campaign judges had "Clinton" badges on, and one was even caught on-camera INSIDE the booth with a non-english-speaking immigrant "helping her figure out how to vote".
That's not true. There IS a constitutional basis that voters *must* be minimally competent. That would be the reason for the fact that children cannot vote. (semi flame on this list, I know)
But that's ridiculous. If there was such a potential for confusion, the ballot (designed by a democrat) should have been rejected in the approval process when BOTH the Republican and Democratic parties signed off that it was "ok". If someone screwed up in not making it 'idiot-proof-enough' then it's the guy who approved it. The implied suggestion of 'do-over' is patently impossible to conduct fairly, and ridiculous on it's face. If you want, then disqualify the 25 Florida electoral votes - the result's the same: neither candidate has the 270 electoral votes needed, so the decision is made by the (R-controlled) Senate. And, by the way, I find it hilarious that the MIT prof that wrote the 'proof' supporting the electoral system did it at the behest of the Gore campaign which expected Bush would get the populare vote. Hoist by one's own petard, indeed.
Oh, great. Just as I was entering a stage of denial that I'd actually voted for Jesse the Moron, you go and remind me. Another 6 months in therapy. I was encouraged by his fairly straight talk. By his directness in a election where the other candidates were either a) a whiny slit-eyed turncoat whose political leanings were as stable as the wind or b)a mealy mouthed wuss whose greatest political attribute was that half his chromosomes had come from Hubert Humphrey - if he hadn't been name HH the 3rd, he'd have changed his name to make it that. In any case, Ventura is either a bad, or horribly good, example of the power of the electorate to elect one of their own. As was said of Truman: he proves that literally ANYONE can win. I wonder if Hazelden has an outpatient therapy for recovering Ventura voters?
Actually, this is an interesting piece of email - it illustrates what I would consider the opposite side of the "flame" coin: trolling. Some people are (IMO) so desperate for attention that when they cannot think of something appropriately witty to say, they say something really stupid but inclined to draw the flames as a light draws moths. The above would be an example, another would be the "guns=murder" thread on comp.sys.pc.games.strategic. It's entirely self-justifying, floating along on the hot air of the conversation, but communicating actually NOTHING. Why do people do this? It's tantamount to (to use the barfight metaphor from above) walking into a biker bar and shouting that they're all assholes. You're begging to be intellectually creamed, but since it's cyberspace then you *really* don't get hurt. So what's the value? As I mention above, IMO it's person who's so socially needy that they just like the idea of "starting" the conversation, no matter how inane or pointless - much like those idiots that race to get the "first post!" in the comments (see, now that would be a Troll). Either they're socially needy, or so incredibly stupid that they actually think that stepping in front of 000's of USENET gamers and spouting some cliche ideas will ACTUALLY convince anyone? (Or, they don't care that they won't convince anyone, but get some wierd validation out of publicly making the statement.) Anyway, there's a few reasons, but I'm fascinated by the counter-flamer response of trolling.
Except for the fact that the "Organized Crime" title will make them wonder if their picture's in it, and steal it on principle. :)
I can understand his frustration, but shipping to Russia isn't a problem at all if you understand the system. I used to work for a forwarder and we sent a container full of crap to the Radisson Hotel Moscow almost every other month. The reason most people have trouble shipping to Russia is that basically anything of value is likely to disappear enroute. Shipments of liquor and other high-value commodities are typically escorted by bonded thugs riding shotgun to prevent theft - which is only marginally better, since most of the bonded firms are mob-run anyway and if they like what you're shipping they'll take it themselves. UPS can get a 1 lb package to Khaborovsk for about $85, excluding duties and taxes. The key thing is that you can't INSURE it. That's the limit he was hitting - when she said "the insurance includes the freight" that's normal in the shipping business. I mean, if you ship your goods to somewhere and the ship sinks, you want the insurance to pay not only to replace what's gone, but ALSO to pay the shipping charges you'd be assessed, wouldn't you? That's typical. So if you refuse insurance - i.e. don't declare a value for your goods and put "value for customs purposes only" on the proforma invoice, they won't charge you insurance. Of course, you're screwed if the stuff disappears, but that's shipping in Russia. Note that Russia does NOT have a personal goods/gift exemption so you will be hit for duty charges equal to the legal duty plus whatever bribe the UPS office had to pay for that package to go through unstolen (by the customs officials, at least). You need more help, just email me. -Styopa