Realistically, things you already own are sunk costs. For tax purposes maybe you could pro-rate the portion of time you spend using it for development, but that's about it. Buying a new computer is a prospective cost, and prospective costs are the relevant factor in investment decisions.
Personally, if I bought a Mac the *only* thing I would use it for is iOS development, and the *only* Mac I would consider is a Mac Pro, with a starting price of $2,500. For me, that's a substantial prospective cost to get into iPhone development.
I realize this doesn't hold true for everyone. Some people may "switch" to the Mac as their primary PC, which adds value to their purchase. Some people have enough money that $2,500 is a drop in the bucket. I'm not in either of those categories, however, so there's little incentive for me to make such a purchase unless I'm damn sure my app is going to sell, and sell well.
The better question is why are they storing the information in the first place. There's really no valid reason for them to be doing so beyond what's immediately necessary for the transaction. Assuming the user has opted in.
Yeah, what a mystery. You'd think companies would be lined up to be a scapegoat for the next mass shooting or bombing.
...the cheering isn't constant the whole game. Cheering gets louder or softer depending on what is happening in the game. From what I can tell, the vuvuzelas go at a constant loudness no matter what happens during the game.
Exactly. It's much more difficult to tune out a sound of varying intensity than a monotonous drone. How often do you notice your computer fan? Or your central air? Or your sprinklers (if you have them)? More often when they're new, then maybe for a few seconds when they first turn on, but after that it fades into the background. I think the biggest reason people have a problem with it is because it's different than what they're used to; it's new.
but if there were a plainclothes G-man following everybody around, that would be a Bad Sign(tm)....
But there aren't, and the analogy doesn't hold up. You can't reasonably function without leaving your house, but what you post on Facebook is entirely within your own discretion. It's not at all like being followed around; it's like having one particular space monitored vigilantly, like a stadium, or the streets around the J. Edgar Hoover building. It's entirely up to you whether you wish to visit such places, let alone what you do when you're there. FFS, if your only guard against invasion of privacy is assuming that nobody's paying attention, then you're doing it wrong.
Push-button isn't really much of an insult; it's more of a spiteful term. The military (or the Navy at least) offers automatic advancement to people who show aptitude for, and successfully complete training in, a "technical" skill set. Most everyone else has an n-month waiting period at the very least, followed by competition for advancement based ostensibly on job performance and testing.
That said, the advancement doesn't do much in the way of responsibilities or respect -- an E5 in the Navy isn't nearly as big a deal as it is in the Army or AF -- rather it's mostly a way to pay people commensurate with their skills. Supply and demand. Pretty much anyone can push a broom or paint a bulkhead (and even most push-buttons will have to at some point), but repairing an engine or a radio requires a bit more knowledge and problem solving skills; hence higher rate (rank) and higher pay.
The other side of the coin is that competition for advancement in "push-button" ratings (jobs) can be much heavier than in other rates. It depends on the job* of course, but in many cases the non-technical ratings offer much faster advancement on the scale of an entire career, even with the slower start.
* Nuclear technicians and submariners face very little competition, let alone nuclear submariners. There are, however, few willing candidates in either area, let alone qualified candidates. Both require security clearances, which not every applicant can obtain. The course material (for nukes) is challenging to begin with, and it's easy to get kicked out of nuke and/or submariner school for non-academic reasons on top of that. Submarines tend to make more frequent deployments and rarely make port calls (never, for some subs), so the job sucks too. (I don't care how many years you lived in your mom's basement without seeing the sun. Unless you were sharing your bed, your toilet, and your desk with 80 other stinky bastards, taking turns staying awake, all while eating food from the local school cafeteria, forgoing internet access, and doing training and drills at both regular and random intervals, then you're ill prepared.)
$.99 seems fscking exorbitant for 3 minutes of audio entertainment. If we used that pricing for movies, a 2 hour film would cost $40 just to hear the audio. Worse, most songs are now $1.30. The reason these prices persist is because people suck at math.
I think the ratio is stacked heavily in favor of destroyers. When's the last time you relocated a fly instead of swatting it? Consumption is destructive, though necessary to survive. In fact, the very process of creating necessarily involves the destruction of something else.
Space is not a perfect vacuum, but even if it was, the act of expelling air creates a medium through which sound could travel. So really, it depends how loud I am, how close the listener is, and/or how sensitive the listening device is.
Yeah, but that was this year, and for a different reason (poor audio fidelity). While the validity of the NAACP complaint was questionable, the reaction by Hallmark was not, as ignoring the complaint risked alienating a large customer base. The story you referenced from two years ago, involving a pettifogging commissioner in Dallas, can be found here:
The word "niggardly" is a separate issue, involving a term that is largely archaic, where confusion could easily arise. You don't have to be an idiot to misinterpret it; merely possess an average vocabulary. I'm not saying it's right, just that it's not directly comparable to the term "black hole," which is at least 17x more common, according to Google, and presumably more widely understood in a general sense (though obviously many of the particulars remain unexplained).
The problem with your joke (if it is a joke) is that there are actually people who think there is something racist about using the word "black" in the term "black hole".
There are also people who believe in unicorns. In other words, it's only a problem if you believe it's important to cater to idiots and quibbling malcontents.
It shouldn't really be a debate -- sailors have done this for decades. Essentially you turn your vessel/vehicle at an angle to the wind such that you utilize both the positive pressure from the wind and the negative pressure created by the curved sails which create an air foil. Positive pressure pushes you forward while negative pressure pulls you forward == faster than the wind. The same effect is at play with the "propeller" on the car. It's also the same principle that keeps planes in the air -- higher pressure on the bottom of the wing relative to the top.
Slashdot Mirror
Compared to the iPhone, Windows and Windows Mobile are so wide open they're practically fucking goatse.
::Waits for the idiotic replies pointing out the intentional double entendre like they've just solved the Da Vinci Code::
Realistically, things you already own are sunk costs. For tax purposes maybe you could pro-rate the portion of time you spend using it for development, but that's about it. Buying a new computer is a prospective cost, and prospective costs are the relevant factor in investment decisions.
Personally, if I bought a Mac the *only* thing I would use it for is iOS development, and the *only* Mac I would consider is a Mac Pro, with a starting price of $2,500. For me, that's a substantial prospective cost to get into iPhone development.
I realize this doesn't hold true for everyone. Some people may "switch" to the Mac as their primary PC, which adds value to their purchase. Some people have enough money that $2,500 is a drop in the bucket. I'm not in either of those categories, however, so there's little incentive for me to make such a purchase unless I'm damn sure my app is going to sell, and sell well.
If only there were some kind of sense, possibly a common one, that would help avoid these nasty problems.
Or here's a novel idea.. don't break the law, cheat on your spouse, or skip school.
If only there were some kind of decency, possibly a common one, that would help avoid these nasty problems.
The better question is why are they storing the information in the first place. There's really no valid reason for them to be doing so beyond what's immediately necessary for the transaction. Assuming the user has opted in.
Yeah, what a mystery. You'd think companies would be lined up to be a scapegoat for the next mass shooting or bombing.
Ignorance is a paltry excuse, especially when it's willful.
...the cheering isn't constant the whole game. Cheering gets louder or softer depending on what is happening in the game. From what I can tell, the vuvuzelas go at a constant loudness no matter what happens during the game.
Exactly. It's much more difficult to tune out a sound of varying intensity than a monotonous drone. How often do you notice your computer fan? Or your central air? Or your sprinklers (if you have them)? More often when they're new, then maybe for a few seconds when they first turn on, but after that it fades into the background. I think the biggest reason people have a problem with it is because it's different than what they're used to; it's new.
but if there were a plainclothes G-man following everybody around, that would be a Bad Sign(tm)....
But there aren't, and the analogy doesn't hold up. You can't reasonably function without leaving your house, but what you post on Facebook is entirely within your own discretion. It's not at all like being followed around; it's like having one particular space monitored vigilantly, like a stadium, or the streets around the J. Edgar Hoover building. It's entirely up to you whether you wish to visit such places, let alone what you do when you're there. FFS, if your only guard against invasion of privacy is assuming that nobody's paying attention, then you're doing it wrong.
My brain filtered it out after about 30 seconds. I actually think it's slightly less annoying than the background cheering during a typical NFL game.
Push-button isn't really much of an insult; it's more of a spiteful term. The military (or the Navy at least) offers automatic advancement to people who show aptitude for, and successfully complete training in, a "technical" skill set. Most everyone else has an n-month waiting period at the very least, followed by competition for advancement based ostensibly on job performance and testing.
That said, the advancement doesn't do much in the way of responsibilities or respect -- an E5 in the Navy isn't nearly as big a deal as it is in the Army or AF -- rather it's mostly a way to pay people commensurate with their skills. Supply and demand. Pretty much anyone can push a broom or paint a bulkhead (and even most push-buttons will have to at some point), but repairing an engine or a radio requires a bit more knowledge and problem solving skills; hence higher rate (rank) and higher pay.
The other side of the coin is that competition for advancement in "push-button" ratings (jobs) can be much heavier than in other rates. It depends on the job* of course, but in many cases the non-technical ratings offer much faster advancement on the scale of an entire career, even with the slower start.
* Nuclear technicians and submariners face very little competition, let alone nuclear submariners. There are, however, few willing candidates in either area, let alone qualified candidates. Both require security clearances, which not every applicant can obtain. The course material (for nukes) is challenging to begin with, and it's easy to get kicked out of nuke and/or submariner school for non-academic reasons on top of that. Submarines tend to make more frequent deployments and rarely make port calls (never, for some subs), so the job sucks too. (I don't care how many years you lived in your mom's basement without seeing the sun. Unless you were sharing your bed, your toilet, and your desk with 80 other stinky bastards, taking turns staying awake, all while eating food from the local school cafeteria, forgoing internet access, and doing training and drills at both regular and random intervals, then you're ill prepared.)
$.99 seems fscking exorbitant for 3 minutes of audio entertainment. If we used that pricing for movies, a 2 hour film would cost $40 just to hear the audio. Worse, most songs are now $1.30. The reason these prices persist is because people suck at math.
I think the ratio is stacked heavily in favor of destroyers. When's the last time you relocated a fly instead of swatting it? Consumption is destructive, though necessary to survive. In fact, the very process of creating necessarily involves the destruction of something else.
Space is not a perfect vacuum, but even if it was, the act of expelling air creates a medium through which sound could travel. So really, it depends how loud I am, how close the listener is, and/or how sensitive the listening device is.
And don't call me Screech.
Yeah, but that was this year, and for a different reason (poor audio fidelity). While the validity of the NAACP complaint was questionable, the reaction by Hallmark was not, as ignoring the complaint risked alienating a large customer base. The story you referenced from two years ago, involving a pettifogging commissioner in Dallas, can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_naming_controversies
The word "niggardly" is a separate issue, involving a term that is largely archaic, where confusion could easily arise. You don't have to be an idiot to misinterpret it; merely possess an average vocabulary. I'm not saying it's right, just that it's not directly comparable to the term "black hole," which is at least 17x more common, according to Google, and presumably more widely understood in a general sense (though obviously many of the particulars remain unexplained).
The problem with your joke (if it is a joke) is that there are actually people who think there is something racist about using the word "black" in the term "black hole".
There are also people who believe in unicorns. In other words, it's only a problem if you believe it's important to cater to idiots and quibbling malcontents.
I have things in my refrigerator that live longer than some of these damned disks.
Er, me too... but I don't usually brag about my fungus infested fridge. :X
Backups are *for* disaster recovery. There are other, better methods of archiving, and archives should be backed up.
In other words, this story is shrubbish.
The red line is for the immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There's no stops on the white line.
They're both whiny bitches with overinflated egos?
It shouldn't really be a debate -- sailors have done this for decades. Essentially you turn your vessel/vehicle at an angle to the wind such that you utilize both the positive pressure from the wind and the negative pressure created by the curved sails which create an air foil. Positive pressure pushes you forward while negative pressure pulls you forward == faster than the wind. The same effect is at play with the "propeller" on the car. It's also the same principle that keeps planes in the air -- higher pressure on the bottom of the wing relative to the top.
Well there's also this.
Incidentally, "mixed reception" is the perfect description of AT&T's service.
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me.
That would have made a much better headline: OH Senate Passes Bill Banning Baby Jesus.
Catgirls: because putting up with the cattiness of real girls just isn't enough, we added allergies to the mix.
Worst. Idea. Ever.