So conversely, if one was to _want_ to decrease service call volume (making people lose their place in line for the next available representative), putting some Celine Dion screeching would be sufficient?
Ah...how about we move all the call centers to India to save the licensing fees for hold music...that must be a good idea. Somebody surely must have thought of it by now...
Let's say Pakistan sends over some unpleasant war business over and knocks down billions of dollars worth of American corporate property, who do you think ends up paying to send Marines in to patch things up?
I don't see any conflicts in taxing companies who wish to enjoy the friendly business and political environment backed by the United States government, but yet will sidestep tax responsibilities (payroll, insurance, etc.). It's like having a job, yet living with your parents and not paying your share of the rent/food/expenses.
And to clarify further: Goodwill is where you will find SCO stock certificates in about 6 months. They will be used to wrap fragile pottery and dinner plates, so they will not break on the way home.
Let's say I made a website or a online video game which features Al Qaida killing the US president, taking over control of the population, and ruling the US.
I dare you to convince me I won't get into trouble with the US government / Secret Service within a week.
"Free Tibet" sticker owners are nothing but bandwagoners. Do you see stickers about "Free Algerians who got their heads cut off by extremists" or "Free [insert oppressed African minority group]"? The only reason the "Free Tibet" sticker is on is because some celebrities endorsed it. Nothing more. Some people go a little further and deify the Dalai Lama as some saviour of human rights in Tibet. What a crock. This is the same guy who at one time ran a theocracy in Tibet (and sicced scorpions on people who didn't pay their taxes on time) - yes, the same guy who got the obviously politically motivated Nobel Peace Prize. History has repeatedly shown that the whole "my enemy's enemy is my friend" thing usually doesn't work out too well in the end.
Well, seriously, the damage has been done a long time ago. Tibet has been continuously ruled by China (via the Qing Dynasty) for several hundreds years prior. Waiting another few more years before the Communist Party disintegrates in the very near future won't be too bad. The rising Chinese middle class will inevitably change things in that region - all for the better.
Imagine a cat with a piece of buttered toast...
on
Why I.T. Matters
·
· Score: 3, Funny
taped on its back...
I.T. needs full-of-security-holes OS for job security.
Microsoft needs clueless I.T. people to buy their products.
Good book, I agree. But hardly anything you can unleash in Middle America without general confusion. I think you'd be pretty confused if you didn't already know the history that they were spoofing.
And finally, in typical Indian fashion, there are hearty celebrations and distribution of sweets if the kids score well (the definition of "well" means anything over 80 or 85%)
We East Asians don't stop getting a whippin' until we get over 99%, you insensitive clod! Sweets will come after we score that 1600 on the SATs and make first violin at Juilliard.
You haven't been paying attention to the news - you can be brought in as a "material witness" now, which circumvents the whole inconvenient notion of having to come up with archaic legal notions, such as the "charges" you speak of.
I'm too lazy to Google for it now, but I swear I heard on the news recently that the US government is going to increase the "minimum price" for milk (minimum price as in artificial sugar subsidies). This stuck in my mind because I remember my daughter saying something like "uh oh we better stock up chocolate milk" after I told her.
Re:Remember this about US gas prices
on
Out of Gas
·
· Score: 1
It's true that US prices are much lower than other industrialized nations. But has anyone done a qualitative comparison of the government's use of gas taxes? I think we can all agree that Europe has much better mass transit than the US, making it pretty much unnecessary for many European city dwellers to have to own a car. Are Europeans getting more from their gas taxes than Americans?
Probably because a car from 1992 would have significantly lower horsepower than a 2004 model.
I remember my 1987 Honda Accord had around 110 horsepower. It's now got what, 150? 160? just for the 4-cyl. model. Around 200+ hp for the V6 model, I heard.
Moe: "I'm going to spend the night ogling the ladies of the Victoria's Secret Catalog." (lie detector beeps) Moe: "Uh I mean JC Penney's" (lie detector beeps) Moe: "OK, Sears." (lie detector remains silent)
Oh and I forgot the point I was making - 2 years later, sure enough - all that hardware could very well have been put into a console box for around $250 or less. Considering Longhorn still has some time left to brew, it's certainly feasible to plan for hardware way into the future.
Why not?
There's nothing wrong with these projections. When I was at Intel, a group (headed by Mike Hawash, by the way) was planning on a console system to be put out by Intel in the next 2 years (this was back in 97, 98?). We were struggling to price the system at under $250 with a Pentium II 233, DVD drive, sound card, hard drive, etc. Of course, at that time, it was sacrilegious to even suggest that to the management (that's like saying put in a P4 Xeon 4.0GHz with 200GB hard drive in for under $250) Needless to say, the project was scrapped. (I remember Hawash suggesting to our group - "How about the name...Intel-tainment Center." We all groaned loudly.)
It also helps that expensive/prestigious private schools are often pressured into giving tuition-payers the "true value" of their payment. Hence, very few people will actually receive a lower grade than a 'C'.
The problem is, even in a crappy educational system, if only 0.000001% of them can exceed US educational standards, it still represents formidable competition for US graduates. Ditto for the Chinese educational system.
Slashdot Mirror
So conversely, if one was to _want_ to decrease service call volume (making people lose their place in line for the next available representative), putting some Celine Dion screeching would be sufficient?
Ah...how about we move all the call centers to India to save the licensing fees for hold music...that must be a good idea. Somebody surely must have thought of it by now...
A 3.4MB PDF file? On Slashdot? Do you not like them or something?
Anybody with a decent job ($60,000+)...
Wow...since I only make 55K, I better write my folks and tell them I now work in an "indecent" job.
They've done this on Candid Camera too. And at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Arkansas to boot.
Why not tax them?
Let's say Pakistan sends over some unpleasant war business over and knocks down billions of dollars worth of American corporate property, who do you think ends up paying to send Marines in to patch things up?
I don't see any conflicts in taxing companies who wish to enjoy the friendly business and political environment backed by the United States government, but yet will sidestep tax responsibilities (payroll, insurance, etc.). It's like having a job, yet living with your parents and not paying your share of the rent/food/expenses.
And to clarify further: Goodwill is where you will find SCO stock certificates in about 6 months. They will be used to wrap fragile pottery and dinner plates, so they will not break on the way home.
device=himem.sys
device=emm386.exe noems
files=40
buffers=10
smartdrv c+ 10000
Let's say I made a website or a online video game which features Al Qaida killing the US president, taking over control of the population, and ruling the US.
I dare you to convince me I won't get into trouble with the US government / Secret Service within a week.
"Free Tibet" sticker owners are nothing but bandwagoners. Do you see stickers about "Free Algerians who got their heads cut off by extremists" or "Free [insert oppressed African minority group]"? The only reason the "Free Tibet" sticker is on is because some celebrities endorsed it. Nothing more. Some people go a little further and deify the Dalai Lama as some saviour of human rights in Tibet. What a crock. This is the same guy who at one time ran a theocracy in Tibet (and sicced scorpions on people who didn't pay their taxes on time) - yes, the same guy who got the obviously politically motivated Nobel Peace Prize. History has repeatedly shown that the whole "my enemy's enemy is my friend" thing usually doesn't work out too well in the end.
Well, seriously, the damage has been done a long time ago. Tibet has been continuously ruled by China (via the Qing Dynasty) for several hundreds years prior. Waiting another few more years before the Communist Party disintegrates in the very near future won't be too bad. The rising Chinese middle class will inevitably change things in that region - all for the better.
taped on its back...
I.T. needs full-of-security-holes OS for job security.
Microsoft needs clueless I.T. people to buy their products.
Ad nauseum...
Good book, I agree. But hardly anything you can unleash in Middle America without general confusion. I think you'd be pretty confused if you didn't already know the history that they were spoofing.
And finally, in typical Indian fashion, there are hearty celebrations and distribution of sweets if the kids score well (the definition of "well" means anything over 80 or 85%)
We East Asians don't stop getting a whippin' until we get over 99%, you insensitive clod! Sweets will come after we score that 1600 on the SATs and make first violin at Juilliard.
You haven't been paying attention to the news - you can be brought in as a "material witness" now, which circumvents the whole inconvenient notion of having to come up with archaic legal notions, such as the "charges" you speak of.
I've always pictured Woody Allen as Leisure Suit Larry, 70 years old or not.
Pretty soon, the only people able to afford bicycles will be powered solely by Tandoori Chicken anyways, so I'm not worried.
I'm too lazy to Google for it now, but I swear I heard on the news recently that the US government is going to increase the "minimum price" for milk (minimum price as in artificial sugar subsidies). This stuck in my mind because I remember my daughter saying something like "uh oh we better stock up chocolate milk" after I told her.
It's true that US prices are much lower than other industrialized nations. But has anyone done a qualitative comparison of the government's use of gas taxes? I think we can all agree that Europe has much better mass transit than the US, making it pretty much unnecessary for many European city dwellers to have to own a car. Are Europeans getting more from their gas taxes than Americans?
Probably because a car from 1992 would have significantly lower horsepower than a 2004 model.
I remember my 1987 Honda Accord had around 110 horsepower. It's now got what, 150? 160? just for the 4-cyl. model. Around 200+ hp for the V6 model, I heard.
Moe: "I'm going to spend the night ogling the ladies of the Victoria's Secret Catalog."
(lie detector beeps)
Moe: "Uh I mean JC Penney's"
(lie detector beeps)
Moe: "OK, Sears."
(lie detector remains silent)
Oh and I forgot the point I was making - 2 years later, sure enough - all that hardware could very well have been put into a console box for around $250 or less. Considering Longhorn still has some time left to brew, it's certainly feasible to plan for hardware way into the future.
Why not? There's nothing wrong with these projections. When I was at Intel, a group (headed by Mike Hawash, by the way) was planning on a console system to be put out by Intel in the next 2 years (this was back in 97, 98?). We were struggling to price the system at under $250 with a Pentium II 233, DVD drive, sound card, hard drive, etc. Of course, at that time, it was sacrilegious to even suggest that to the management (that's like saying put in a P4 Xeon 4.0GHz with 200GB hard drive in for under $250) Needless to say, the project was scrapped. (I remember Hawash suggesting to our group - "How about the name...Intel-tainment Center." We all groaned loudly.)
The reason? Why turn away a morons first year tution? :P
Not exactly correct. It's because MBA programs typically generate even more revenue than undergrad engineering programs.
Ducks.
It also helps that expensive/prestigious private schools are often pressured into giving tuition-payers the "true value" of their payment. Hence, very few people will actually receive a lower grade than a 'C'.
The problem is, even in a crappy educational system, if only 0.000001% of them can exceed US educational standards, it still represents formidable competition for US graduates. Ditto for the Chinese educational system.