And there's a lot to be said for making it to your exact specs. My sister likes to sew, and one time I asked her if she made dresses because it was cheaper. She looked horrified and said that it was usually more expensive, but she ended up with clothes that fit perfectly and had the detailing and adjustments she wanted. That's pretty much the same rationale for building your own computer.
That's sadly accurate, and calls that you're trolling aside, I've known people who explicitly claimed to believe exactly that. A variant is "God made this world; he reserves the right to end it and wouldn't allow man to harm it". Unfortunately, that argument devolves to the idea that we're allowed to take any actions we want because if they weren't approved then we wouldn't be allowed to take them.
Finally, the Bible says that god punished man the first time with water, and that the next time it will be with fire. I'm betting that plenty of fundamentalist Christians privately believe that this is the start of God burning the Earth, it's inevitable, it's punishment for our sins (and for allowing our neighbors to sin), and that trying to stop it is in direct violation of God's plan.
I grew up in a nearly-fundamentalist household and much of my family still worships that way. Trust me on the above statements: I've heard them first-hand.
Alternatively, consider adaptations (including cultural ones) that make you less likely to get into a knife fight or car crash in the first place. I can't think of too many fang-or-claw-proof prey animals, but I can think of plenty of big-eared, big-eyed, skittish ones.
My wife hit one of them a while back as it tried to cross the highway. If you're taking requests, can we have big-eared, big-eyed, skittish, and not suicidal?
Granted, but there's only so far you can (even unrealistically) pursue things. If SCOTUS doesn't pan out, where do you appeal next? The UN Human Rights Council? The Pope?
You buy electronics at crackhead prices, don't be surprised if you get burned.
I have computers I'd sell for that price, all legitimate and everything. Furthermore, our school system sells old computers each summer for next to nothing. I bought a nice Mac, complete with OS install disks, for $30. $60 isn't an outlandishly cheap price for a used computer, depending on its source. For a brand new Macbook Pro? Stolen. However, the article said "[t]he student told her that the laptop was messed up and that his parents had given him a new one." How many perfectly good computers have we all seen thrown out because they were loaded with viruses and running slow?
I understand that sentiment completely, says the guy with a bootable Alpha system sitting in his basement. But realistically, that's a 12-year-old computer. What's that running, a P3 667 or so? Probably about 512MB of RAM? Upgraded to a 30GB hard drive? Long-deceased battery? There's nothing wrong with keeping such a system around, just as long as you understand that developers can't reasonably be expected to support it at the cost of worse support for modern platforms.
You joke, but Best Buy is actually my closest Apple dealer by quite a few miles. Still, it's not so much closer that I wouldn't drive the extra distance to get an un-screwed-with Mac fresh from the Apple store. The additional drive time is less than I'd spend at home wiping the drive and reinstalling the OS from media (yes, even with Lion) so I could be sure I was getting everything and only what Cupertino wanted me to have. Nuts to that. I have better things to do with my time.
Do you have a prepared spiel that you give them ("Before I buy this, I'd like to verify that it all works correctly")?
That's pretty much exactly it. "OK, I like this one, but I'd like to open it and make sure everything's alright before I take it home." The salesman will figure out a way to make that happen if he wants his commission. Be firm, though. Sometimes they'll reply with something like, "you can tell it's in good shape because it's still sealed and the box looks fine." Stand your ground. You aren't asking for anything unreasonable, even if it's not very common. You wouldn't take delivery of a car without checking it out first, would you? There's no shame in looking at your would-be new refrigerator or TV, either.
The last time I was at a large electronics store in another city, I told the salesman that I wanted to inspect my purchase before I got home because it was a long drive to return it if it wasn't in perfect condition. He kind of balked until I said "thanks anyway, but I'm not buying it sight unseen" and started to leave. He stopped me and had the box open in no time.
It's been a lot of years so please don't hold me to the exact details, but that was the gist of it. Wear and tear is different from manufacturing defects. For example, shoes wear out. If you buy a pair of Nikes and run the tread off them, they won't be covered under warranty. The warranty covers things like the sole falling off.
A conversation between a friend and a Best Buy employee:
Friend: I need to return this.
CS Rep: What's wrong with it?
Friend: It doesn't work anymore.
CS Rep: It's out of warranty.
Friend: But I bought the extended warranty.
CS Rep: It looks like normal wear and tear. That's not covered.
Friend: Is accidental damage?
CS Rep: [checks warranty text] Ummm, yeah.
Friend: So if I leave here and trip in the parking lot and it shatters into a million pieces and I accidentally slip while getting up and kick the shit out of it, it'd be covered?
CS Rep: Ummmm.....
Friend: See where I'm going with this?
CS Rep: I'll start the replacement process.
Friend: Knew you would.
Slashdot has always been a beakon of good taste on the Internet.
I've never heard of a Slashdotter who reads the articles but not the comments. At least, that's the only possible interpretation of your words. I love me some Slashdot, but I've never, never heard anyone accuse us of good taste.
And typing that just now, I choked up. I wrote "us", and realized that I meant is as much as if I actually owned part of Slashdot. I mean, it's not really mine in any way but it still feels like it is. This has been my geek home on the Internet for well over a decade and now it's fundamentally changing. Good luck and godspeed, Rob. This site has shaped my career and life for the better in a lot of ways over the years. You built something special and I appreciate it.
Since we're discussing Apache anyway... I've used Apache for over a decade now. Right now I'm working on a Pyramid app and publishing it with mod_wsgi on Apache 2.2, for no other reason than that I'm already familiar with Apache. Since this is a brand new project and will be running on its own dedicated server - and therefore doesn't have play nicely with any pre-existing web apps - I wanted to re-evaluate my decision. If you needed to publish a WSGI app today, what server would you use and why?
I guess my point, which was admittedly not well stated, is that as a dual-income household, all these people already have this problem. They'll just have it more frequently...
But it's not "just" more frequently. It's the difference between missing a few days a year with sick kids versus missing all the same days plus an extra hour+15 about 40 times a year. A lot of companies (and coworkers who have to cover those hours) won't be thrilled.
You school system is seriously FUBAR. If you teach class all day to an average of 35 students, then the expenditure for your class is about $350,000 (based on the national average). If the school can't give you a good salary and buy textbooks at the same time then someone above you is criminally incompetent.
I'm lucky enough to be on flex time, so leaving the office earlier than normally planned is only an inconvenience for me. When my kids are sick, I can stay home with them (and just work on things that don't require a lot of interaction with my coworkers). But how many people on a 7-3 schedule can easily tell their boss that they can't work a full shift one day every single week?
I only find the new schedule annoying. I have neighbors who are having a much, much harder time of it.
Slashdot Mirror
And there's a lot to be said for making it to your exact specs. My sister likes to sew, and one time I asked her if she made dresses because it was cheaper. She looked horrified and said that it was usually more expensive, but she ended up with clothes that fit perfectly and had the detailing and adjustments she wanted. That's pretty much the same rationale for building your own computer.
That's sadly accurate, and calls that you're trolling aside, I've known people who explicitly claimed to believe exactly that. A variant is "God made this world; he reserves the right to end it and wouldn't allow man to harm it". Unfortunately, that argument devolves to the idea that we're allowed to take any actions we want because if they weren't approved then we wouldn't be allowed to take them.
Finally, the Bible says that god punished man the first time with water, and that the next time it will be with fire. I'm betting that plenty of fundamentalist Christians privately believe that this is the start of God burning the Earth, it's inevitable, it's punishment for our sins (and for allowing our neighbors to sin), and that trying to stop it is in direct violation of God's plan.
I grew up in a nearly-fundamentalist household and much of my family still worships that way. Trust me on the above statements: I've heard them first-hand.
Ever notice that it's not any of the kids you'd actually want to keep around anyway?
Why doesn't this ever happen at companies I work at?
Everyone was too busy making stuff?
Alternatively, consider adaptations (including cultural ones) that make you less likely to get into a knife fight or car crash in the first place. I can't think of too many fang-or-claw-proof prey animals, but I can think of plenty of big-eared, big-eyed, skittish ones.
My wife hit one of them a while back as it tried to cross the highway. If you're taking requests, can we have big-eared, big-eyed, skittish, and not suicidal?
Two really, really big flashes. You don't want Earth to have red-eye (it hates when people mistake it for Mars).
You mean, exactly like the linked image from the summary?
Granted, but there's only so far you can (even unrealistically) pursue things. If SCOTUS doesn't pan out, where do you appeal next? The UN Human Rights Council? The Pope?
You buy electronics at crackhead prices, don't be surprised if you get burned.
I have computers I'd sell for that price, all legitimate and everything. Furthermore, our school system sells old computers each summer for next to nothing. I bought a nice Mac, complete with OS install disks, for $30. $60 isn't an outlandishly cheap price for a used computer, depending on its source. For a brand new Macbook Pro? Stolen. However, the article said "[t]he student told her that the laptop was messed up and that his parents had given him a new one." How many perfectly good computers have we all seen thrown out because they were loaded with viruses and running slow?
Um... yes, it tells you exactly what the short cut keys are. Hold down the alt key.
UI fail. A WIMP GUI that requires keyboard interaction to learn needs to be taken out back and shot.
I understand that sentiment completely, says the guy with a bootable Alpha system sitting in his basement. But realistically, that's a 12-year-old computer. What's that running, a P3 667 or so? Probably about 512MB of RAM? Upgraded to a 30GB hard drive? Long-deceased battery? There's nothing wrong with keeping such a system around, just as long as you understand that developers can't reasonably be expected to support it at the cost of worse support for modern platforms.
You joke, but Best Buy is actually my closest Apple dealer by quite a few miles. Still, it's not so much closer that I wouldn't drive the extra distance to get an un-screwed-with Mac fresh from the Apple store. The additional drive time is less than I'd spend at home wiping the drive and reinstalling the OS from media (yes, even with Lion) so I could be sure I was getting everything and only what Cupertino wanted me to have. Nuts to that. I have better things to do with my time.
Do you have a prepared spiel that you give them ("Before I buy this, I'd like to verify that it all works correctly")?
That's pretty much exactly it. "OK, I like this one, but I'd like to open it and make sure everything's alright before I take it home." The salesman will figure out a way to make that happen if he wants his commission. Be firm, though. Sometimes they'll reply with something like, "you can tell it's in good shape because it's still sealed and the box looks fine." Stand your ground. You aren't asking for anything unreasonable, even if it's not very common. You wouldn't take delivery of a car without checking it out first, would you? There's no shame in looking at your would-be new refrigerator or TV, either.
The last time I was at a large electronics store in another city, I told the salesman that I wanted to inspect my purchase before I got home because it was a long drive to return it if it wasn't in perfect condition. He kind of balked until I said "thanks anyway, but I'm not buying it sight unseen" and started to leave. He stopped me and had the box open in no time.
It's been a lot of years so please don't hold me to the exact details, but that was the gist of it. Wear and tear is different from manufacturing defects. For example, shoes wear out. If you buy a pair of Nikes and run the tread off them, they won't be covered under warranty. The warranty covers things like the sole falling off.
By that point, they were pretty eager to get us out the door and on with our business.
A conversation between a friend and a Best Buy employee:
Friend: I need to return this.
CS Rep: What's wrong with it?
Friend: It doesn't work anymore.
CS Rep: It's out of warranty.
Friend: But I bought the extended warranty.
CS Rep: It looks like normal wear and tear. That's not covered.
Friend: Is accidental damage?
CS Rep: [checks warranty text] Ummm, yeah.
Friend: So if I leave here and trip in the parking lot and it shatters into a million pieces and I accidentally slip while getting up and kick the shit out of it, it'd be covered?
CS Rep: Ummmm.....
Friend: See where I'm going with this?
CS Rep: I'll start the replacement process.
Friend: Knew you would.
You just have to know how to ask properly.
In '92, I bought an Amiga 2000HD with a 120MB drive, with monitor, for under $1200.
Slashdot has always been a beakon of good taste on the Internet.
I've never heard of a Slashdotter who reads the articles but not the comments. At least, that's the only possible interpretation of your words. I love me some Slashdot, but I've never, never heard anyone accuse us of good taste.
And typing that just now, I choked up. I wrote "us", and realized that I meant is as much as if I actually owned part of Slashdot. I mean, it's not really mine in any way but it still feels like it is. This has been my geek home on the Internet for well over a decade and now it's fundamentally changing. Good luck and godspeed, Rob. This site has shaped my career and life for the better in a lot of ways over the years. You built something special and I appreciate it.
Saab.
And you all should know that it has been the readers that kept Rob and I going for as long as we did.
You mean people actually read what we write? I always assumed I was one step away from standing on a box on a street corner.
Is Python common enough for you? It supports named functions as closures, not just lambda expressions.
Since we're discussing Apache anyway... I've used Apache for over a decade now. Right now I'm working on a Pyramid app and publishing it with mod_wsgi on Apache 2.2, for no other reason than that I'm already familiar with Apache. Since this is a brand new project and will be running on its own dedicated server - and therefore doesn't have play nicely with any pre-existing web apps - I wanted to re-evaluate my decision. If you needed to publish a WSGI app today, what server would you use and why?
I guess my point, which was admittedly not well stated, is that as a dual-income household, all these people already have this problem. They'll just have it more frequently...
But it's not "just" more frequently. It's the difference between missing a few days a year with sick kids versus missing all the same days plus an extra hour+15 about 40 times a year. A lot of companies (and coworkers who have to cover those hours) won't be thrilled.
You school system is seriously FUBAR. If you teach class all day to an average of 35 students, then the expenditure for your class is about $350,000 (based on the national average). If the school can't give you a good salary and buy textbooks at the same time then someone above you is criminally incompetent.
I'm lucky enough to be on flex time, so leaving the office earlier than normally planned is only an inconvenience for me. When my kids are sick, I can stay home with them (and just work on things that don't require a lot of interaction with my coworkers). But how many people on a 7-3 schedule can easily tell their boss that they can't work a full shift one day every single week?
I only find the new schedule annoying. I have neighbors who are having a much, much harder time of it.