I think if you were dealing with one factory for all your product and you only had one warehouse to receive the goods, DDP might make sense.
But suppose you work for a large sportswear company and you contract with several footwear and apparel factories in a country. On top of that, you may have more than one major warehouse and may also ship some product directly to the warehouses of your largest customers. In that case, you're probably better off with FOB because then you have better control over how the product is shipped. There are several reasons for this:
1) you can probably get better deals with the shipping carriers shipping all your consolidated products to a handful of locations than the factories might get shipping to many different locations
2) you can coordinate shipments of related products. The green and white shoes from one factory get shipped together with the green and white shorts and shirts from 2 other factories.
3) if a factory finishes product early, they might send it before you really want it (they want to transfer ownership and get paid). If you control things from the consolidator forward, you can hold it there or schedule it on slower/cheaper vessels.
4) you may need to switch from vessel to air-freight by the time the goods are manufactured. This will be easier to accomplish if you own the product at the consolidator.
5) if for whatever reason you wanted to have the product destroyed (e.g. all your "McCain/Palin t-shirts that didn't get finished until December '10), it's easier and cheaper to have them destroyed in the remote country than doing it locally after paying freight and customs.
In any case, however you structure your contracts, you will have to a premium for the factory/shipper keeping ownership and liability further into the supply chain. So even if you do choose DDP as your terms, you'll pay for that, and probably more than if you had chosen FOB and arranged for shipping and insurance yourself.
They probably have to file a 1099-something to the IRS for any payments they make to claimants.
It will be interesting to see if they end up getting a bigger payment for the lost personal data than they will for their ruined lives and environment.
Straight-talk has both CDMA and GSM. You can tell which by the ending letter of the serial number. My R451C is a CDMA (and uses Verizon's network) and they have an LG620G that's GSM.
I don't know if it's possible to unlock them for use on other carriers.
From my own experience, both Virgin Mobile and Straighttalk work that way. Pay up-front for a phone and the monthly rates are cheaper. Plus with no contract, you can switch to something better whenever you want.
My Straight-talk phone was $90 and my monthly unlimited everything is $45/month. Split that 90 over 2 years and that makes my monthly rate under $50 when compared to a subsidized "free phone". Are there any first-tier carriers offering unlimited voice, text, and data for $50/month?
Of course, it's not perfect. I can't download/upload my contacts.
The thing with FEBO is they try to keep the food fresh. It doesn't appear to be a thing where they load up the food once a day. There is a person working there and they cycle the food in and out. I'm curious to see how much they waste and what they do to try and limit waste.
Agreed. I used to be a Virgin Mobile customer for several years and switched 18 months ago to Straight Talk. Both are pretty good. I switched because I liked the phone better and they had unlimited "everything" for $45/month.
Oddly enough, a friend of mine this weekend needed to replace her blackberry with Verizon but was not due for an upgrade. A refurb was $150, and her ETF was only $130. However if she canceled her Verizon service and started a new account (which would give her a new phone), she would probably lose her number. While she could still cancel her account, then open a new one with another carrier and still keep her number. She switched to T-mobile.
While shopping, though, I saw Virgin now has a Blackberry Curve (the phone she wanted). It's $200 up front, but the monthly rates were very appealing. If I decide to get a smarter phone, I may switch back to Virgin.
I love not being bound by a contract, so I doubt I will ever go back to one of the big carriers.
There are actually some pretty good pre-paid programs now that offer unlimited service.
I've used StraightTalk for a year and half now and have been pretty happy with it. The phone was $90. The service has unlimited voice, texts, and internet for $45/month.
The phone is not bad. Mine is a Samsung with a slide out keyboard - which I use far more than I ever thought I would. It takes decent pictures as well. My biggest complaints are that there appears to be no way to tether it, its web-browser is somewhat limited, and I can't use bitpim to download and update my contacts.
A "smart"-phone would be nice, but I'm not willing to pay so much more for the service, nor be locked into a 2-year contract.
So overall, if you're not looking for a "smart"-phone, then there are some pretty decent prepaid phones available, with very affordable plans.
I think I was at a Jack in the Box back in the early 90's that tried this.
I think the average person is just too slow to navigate the menus and actually make their order. Especially when you want "extra tomato, no pickles... and some mayo put on the side" and can't quickly find them.
Plus you miss out on the up-sell opportunities. A pretty girl asking you if you'd like a delicious cookie with your meal will get more hits than the same question on a computer screen.
As for being able to blame the customer for a messed up order, that won't do much for the customer's satisfaction. If the customer can't successfully use your system to place the order they want, it's still your fault because you didn't make a workable system (in their mind).
If you want nearly automated fast food, try a FEBO if you ever make it to the Netherlands. See what you want in a cubby on the wall, drop money in adjacent slot, open cubby door, and take out your food. Their food is tasty, but I don't know how profitable they are.
It made me think of Asimov's short story, Runaround, featured in the I-Robot collection (among others, probably). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaround
I'm particularly fond of the audiobook version read by Scott Brick.
It features a funny robotics-expert duo, Donnovan and Powell, who are sent to Mercury after a failed mining mission some 20 years earlier. They have robots and plans to bring the station back on line, but of course, there's a problem... involving robots.
Yes, I understand that as an interpreted environment, Java will be slower than any natively compiled code. However that's not the issue I'm calling out.
In Ubuntu, I have Sun's java installed. I use Netlogo, an agent-based modeling environment and it's written in java.
If I run Netlogo so that it's using java directly in Ubuntu, it is very slow.
If I then set up Wine and install Netlogo that way, I am actually adding a layer, since I'm now running the java machine on a virtualized windows instance on top of Ubuntu. Even so, the same simulation runs much faster (up to 100 times faster) than it does running with the java running directly in Ubuntu.
It's not a java problem per se, but a problem with the implementation that works in Ubuntu. I do not know if it runs this slowly in other linux distributions.
Just downloaded and installed it. It's fantastic! I enjoy the interface much more than Ubuntu's gnome. And so far, everything I need to run seems to be working.
Is OpenSuse a viable alternative for you? I think it defaults to KDE.
For some background, from 1998 to 2002 I had a job where we had lots of machines with unix variants... SunOS, Solaris, whatever Sequent computers ran, and on PCs, we used Caldera, and most of these were all running fvwm.
For the last 6 years or so, I've been primarily in windows at home, dual-booting into linux. This is because several pieces of software I use (simulation packages, etc) are only available in windows.
In January I had a harddrive crash and decided to take the opportunity to try out some of the more modern linux distros. I was particularly happy to find that VirtualBox ran windows well enough that I could use all my windows-only software. So now I find myself happily using Linux for most of my computing, only booting up my virtual windows to do simulations and turbo tax.
I am currently settled on Ubuntu because it overall works pretty well for what I'm trying to do. I also downloaded and tried installing a few others with mixed success. It took quite a while to tweak the screen to get back my vertical space, with 2 bars (one on top and one on bottom), then an app's title bar and then menu, already a 6th of my screen was taken up. I have it all lined up on the bottom now, but getting some of the things to move there was tricky, and there is still some odd behaviors in that area. I wish they could set up a vertical bar, since my screen is a lot wider than it is tall.
I prefer Dolphin as a file manager to whatever comes with Ubuntu, but the integration is not as tight as I would like - I suppose that's the penalty for using a KDE file manager. I'd be thrilled too, if someone could tell my why gnumeric always opens up in the "next" virtual desktop. The flash screen shows up in the current desktop, but then the app opens up in the one to the right. Very irritating. Java is also really slow for some reason. When I run Netlogo "natively" in Ubuntu, it is dramatically slower than running it in a virtual machine running windows; or even using Wine. It's sad to see side-by-side simulations where the virtual machine in a virtual machine (java in wine/virtualbox) is so much faster than just the virtual machine on the OS.
Debian crashed during every attempt to install, so I can't say much about it.
I tried OpenSuse, which seemed pretty nice, and I liked the interface better than Ubuntu. However I couldn't get several of the apps I wanted to work (Oolite, VirtualBox) and so on, so I gave up on it after a day. I may try it again.
I also tried Fedora but I can't remember why I decided not to go with it.
I'm curious to hear about other current and well-maintained linux distros. I'm at a point in my computing where I don't enjoy tinkering and fighting with the operating system as much as I used to. I want it to "just work" so I can do what I need to, yet still be flexible enough to make it "the way I want it."
I'll close with saying how thrilled I am with VirtualBox. It's what has allowed me to switch back to a primarily linux system and I love that! When I first played with virtualization 10 years ago, it was very much hit and miss. VirtualBox runs really well for nearly everything I must do in windows, and it's even quite fast. Even better, I got my mom set up on her Vista box with Ubuntu running in a Virtualbox - she loves all the varieties of solitaire and such... I never would have imagined my mom liking having linux on her computer.
My "attic" is called "current". It used to be called "unindexed".
I have a name that reflects both my optimistic outlook and my tendency to procrastinate: "ToBeSorted". Someday, I know I'll have time to sort all that out, even though I may never actually do it.
If you're a consultant and find a client working in a centralized way, you sell decentralization as the way to solve all their woes. If you find them working in a decentralized way, you sell them on centralizing to solve all their woes.
There are only two constants here: 1) every business has woes, regardless of structure; 2) consultants extract lots of value by shifting those woes around
Do you have any tips for keeping your ISP from directing a "server not found" to one of their crappy ad-ridden search pages? I think that's a major reason people choose DNS servers that aren't at their ISP.
But seriously, I was under the impression that one should assume that other passengers on public transit wish to be left alone.
Some do, but others don't mind, or even enjoy passing the time with some interesting conversation. You clearly read a lot and you might have some very interesting things to say.
Usually start with eye contact of some kind. Maybe as you're sitting down you say, "hi", or "good morning", or ask a social lubricant question like, "how are you doing?", or "nice weather, huh?", or "So, are you ready for the holidays?", or "wow, the bus isn't usually this packed".
The reason people ask questions about the weather, the current season, etc, is not because they're soliciting information about actual opinions. It's because it's something you both have in common (you're both experiencing the weather) and it provides a context to possibly engage in deeper conversation. "It sure is cold today.", "Yeah, I just got back from Brazil. It was 50 degrees warmer"... now you see they're willing to talk. "Wow, I've never been to Brazil. Where did you go? Was it for a vacation?"... and the next thing you know, you've had an interesting peak into someone else's life, and maybe shared some of yours, and you might have even learned some things to look up when you get where you're going.
Maybe someone's reading a book you've enjoyed, so as they're turning a page, make a comment on it. If you only read heavy-reading material that requires lots of source-checking and they're reading the same book, then you already have something in common and you might enjoy sharing perspectives and opinions on the book.
If they're not interested in talking, they'll typically answer briefly and return to whatever they were doing and ignore you. Fine... but you tried. If they answer in more depth, they might actually be up for a conversation, particularly if they ask questions back.
If you really do have a social disability, then trying interactions like this might actually be helpful. Whether we like it or not, we are social creatures and social interactions, even trivial ones, are important for our mental health. And these are safe, low-risk situations where it doesn't matter if someone likes you or not. The practice could be valuable for times when you need to meet and interact with people who can make a difference in your ability to achieve your life goals (interview, seeking a grant, etc). And who knows, you might even make a new friend... or at least a friend you can consistently talk with on the bus.
Then how do I check the works that the book cites?
Above, you asked how you could check your email or surf the web while commuting. Someone else suggests reading a book instead. Now you're shifting the problem to checking sources on the book. And throughout the rest of this thread, you're shifting from one problem to another. You finally write that you have a social disorder, and while I'm sorry about that, you don't seem to be making much effort to mitigate it. You have an excuse for everything.
If you're interested in productively occupying your time while commuting (and to be sure, there was sprawl and > 1 hour commutes LONG before the internet), then choose books that don't require such massive amounts of fact-checking for that part of your day. There must be SOME media you can consume that won't require a live internet connection. If you really must do such deep reading while on a bus, then look in the "works cited" section and bring some of those (if it would have been on the internet, you can save a copy ahead of time). Surely you won't exhaust all of them in a day's commute. But is a bus (or train, or blimp, or whatever, because I'm expecting an, "I don't ride a bus, it's a 4-person bike") really the best place to be reading that requires such attention and concentration? Of if you're doing your emails, then use a client that downloads them and read them while disconnected - even write your responses while disconnected. Or heck, pick a different book or some lighter reading (you're reading and posting here on slashdot, so not all of your reading is high-intensity... heck, why don't you just open a bunch of tabs in your browser before leaving).
In this whole chain of posts, you're arguing against someone who posted, "Checking my email and surfing the web for those rare moments when I'm not near a desktop or laptop are a luxury I can do without. I can think of many other better uses for the ~$150/mo I'm paying now for multiple lines."
If you really MUST have 24/7 internet access everywhere you go, then pony up the money and get it. I guarantee you that there will be times, no matter how much you pay, when you won't have access. Please don't act like you'll cease to function when that happens.
Good grief, after expressing your concern about not having continuous access to email and the web, several people took the time to offer other suggestions for making good use of that time while you're commuting. And you shot them all down with excuse after excuse.
The world is out there and you only get one shot at it. It's up to you to figure out how to occupy your time and energies in a meaningful way. If you ask the world a good way to handle some of that time, then at least be decent enough to acknowledge their attempt to help and not just throw back an excuse about why you can't do it. A, "Thanks, I'll give that a try" is much more mature than a long series of "but.. but... but...".
But in the end, it's you're life. Only you, despite whatever issues you have, can find a way to live it with meaning and happiness.
I wonder if they could get into agreements where they could make new copies of disks for cases like this. Then when an unavailable disk is damaged beyond use, they could replace it themselves; maybe paying a fee to the owner. That would ensure that they don't lose disks that are part of a series of disks.
I've seen stuff disappear out of my "Instant queue" as well. In fact, I was just starting to watch Farscape for the first time and after only seeing 3 episodes, it was removed.
However, I think even with the stuff that's removed from their streaming service, it's still mostly available via DVD. While you can get the unlimited streaming service for I think $8.00, if you go up to $10/month, you can get unlimited streaming and 1 DVD at a time. You may be able to get those out-of-print programs that way (if they have them on DVD).
I guess I wonder why an email client should be able to wipe the entire phone and make it unusable. And why shouldn't the company only be able to wipe the email client and data. The rest of it should be off-limits.
It's been explained to me that the cosmic rays and high-energy x-rays mostly pass through the body and don't cause any damage. But these low-intensity x-ray machines in the airports are low enough energy that the radiation is mostly absorbed by the skin and the rest of the body. This difference apparently makes the dosage equivalent models invalid because they were designed with the idea that the radiation is high enough intensity so that it passes through the body.
If Google doesn't want to pay for more exclusive access speeds or priority of service why would their bill go any higher than it is right now?
It will work like this: today's "normal" will become tomorrow's premium service, and tomorrow's "normal" will be a degraded lower priority service. If you continue to pay for "normal", your service will get worse. To maintain the service you're used to, you'll need to upgrade to a premium service.
It will be similar to the grocery stores that offer "club" discounts. They raise their "normal" prices and then to get what used to be the normal price, you have to join their club.
Slashdot Mirror
So if Google as +1 and -1 that could be abused, is the solution to have meta-moderators to +1/-1 the people doing +1/-1s?
Go Team Venture!
Thanks for the excellent link.
I think if you were dealing with one factory for all your product and you only had one warehouse to receive the goods, DDP might make sense.
But suppose you work for a large sportswear company and you contract with several footwear and apparel factories in a country. On top of that, you may have more than one major warehouse and may also ship some product directly to the warehouses of your largest customers. In that case, you're probably better off with FOB because then you have better control over how the product is shipped. There are several reasons for this:
1) you can probably get better deals with the shipping carriers shipping all your consolidated products to a handful of locations than the factories might get shipping to many different locations
2) you can coordinate shipments of related products. The green and white shoes from one factory get shipped together with the green and white shorts and shirts from 2 other factories.
3) if a factory finishes product early, they might send it before you really want it (they want to transfer ownership and get paid). If you control things from the consolidator forward, you can hold it there or schedule it on slower/cheaper vessels.
4) you may need to switch from vessel to air-freight by the time the goods are manufactured. This will be easier to accomplish if you own the product at the consolidator.
5) if for whatever reason you wanted to have the product destroyed (e.g. all your "McCain/Palin t-shirts that didn't get finished until December '10), it's easier and cheaper to have them destroyed in the remote country than doing it locally after paying freight and customs.
In any case, however you structure your contracts, you will have to a premium for the factory/shipper keeping ownership and liability further into the supply chain. So even if you do choose DDP as your terms, you'll pay for that, and probably more than if you had chosen FOB and arranged for shipping and insurance yourself.
They probably have to file a 1099-something to the IRS for any payments they make to claimants.
It will be interesting to see if they end up getting a bigger payment for the lost personal data than they will for their ruined lives and environment.
Straight-talk has both CDMA and GSM. You can tell which by the ending letter of the serial number. My R451C is a CDMA (and uses Verizon's network) and they have an LG620G that's GSM.
I don't know if it's possible to unlock them for use on other carriers.
From my own experience, both Virgin Mobile and Straighttalk work that way. Pay up-front for a phone and the monthly rates are cheaper. Plus with no contract, you can switch to something better whenever you want.
My Straight-talk phone was $90 and my monthly unlimited everything is $45/month. Split that 90 over 2 years and that makes my monthly rate under $50 when compared to a subsidized "free phone". Are there any first-tier carriers offering unlimited voice, text, and data for $50/month?
Of course, it's not perfect. I can't download/upload my contacts.
The thing with FEBO is they try to keep the food fresh. It doesn't appear to be a thing where they load up the food once a day. There is a person working there and they cycle the food in and out. I'm curious to see how much they waste and what they do to try and limit waste.
Agreed. I used to be a Virgin Mobile customer for several years and switched 18 months ago to Straight Talk. Both are pretty good. I switched because I liked the phone better and they had unlimited "everything" for $45/month.
Oddly enough, a friend of mine this weekend needed to replace her blackberry with Verizon but was not due for an upgrade. A refurb was $150, and her ETF was only $130. However if she canceled her Verizon service and started a new account (which would give her a new phone), she would probably lose her number. While she could still cancel her account, then open a new one with another carrier and still keep her number. She switched to T-mobile.
While shopping, though, I saw Virgin now has a Blackberry Curve (the phone she wanted). It's $200 up front, but the monthly rates were very appealing. If I decide to get a smarter phone, I may switch back to Virgin.
I love not being bound by a contract, so I doubt I will ever go back to one of the big carriers.
There are actually some pretty good pre-paid programs now that offer unlimited service.
I've used StraightTalk for a year and half now and have been pretty happy with it. The phone was $90. The service has unlimited voice, texts, and internet for $45/month.
The phone is not bad. Mine is a Samsung with a slide out keyboard - which I use far more than I ever thought I would. It takes decent pictures as well. My biggest complaints are that there appears to be no way to tether it, its web-browser is somewhat limited, and I can't use bitpim to download and update my contacts.
A "smart"-phone would be nice, but I'm not willing to pay so much more for the service, nor be locked into a 2-year contract.
So overall, if you're not looking for a "smart"-phone, then there are some pretty decent prepaid phones available, with very affordable plans.
I think I was at a Jack in the Box back in the early 90's that tried this.
I think the average person is just too slow to navigate the menus and actually make their order. Especially when you want "extra tomato, no pickles... and some mayo put on the side" and can't quickly find them.
Plus you miss out on the up-sell opportunities. A pretty girl asking you if you'd like a delicious cookie with your meal will get more hits than the same question on a computer screen.
As for being able to blame the customer for a messed up order, that won't do much for the customer's satisfaction. If the customer can't successfully use your system to place the order they want, it's still your fault because you didn't make a workable system (in their mind).
If you want nearly automated fast food, try a FEBO if you ever make it to the Netherlands. See what you want in a cubby on the wall, drop money in adjacent slot, open cubby door, and take out your food. Their food is tasty, but I don't know how profitable they are.
It made me think of Asimov's short story, Runaround, featured in the I-Robot collection (among others, probably). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaround
I'm particularly fond of the audiobook version read by Scott Brick.
It features a funny robotics-expert duo, Donnovan and Powell, who are sent to Mercury after a failed mining mission some 20 years earlier. They have robots and plans to bring the station back on line, but of course, there's a problem... involving robots.
java was slow and will always be slow.
Yes, I understand that as an interpreted environment, Java will be slower than any natively compiled code. However that's not the issue I'm calling out.
In Ubuntu, I have Sun's java installed. I use Netlogo, an agent-based modeling environment and it's written in java.
If I run Netlogo so that it's using java directly in Ubuntu, it is very slow.
If I then set up Wine and install Netlogo that way, I am actually adding a layer, since I'm now running the java machine on a virtualized windows instance on top of Ubuntu. Even so, the same simulation runs much faster (up to 100 times faster) than it does running with the java running directly in Ubuntu.
It's not a java problem per se, but a problem with the implementation that works in Ubuntu. I do not know if it runs this slowly in other linux distributions.
Have you looked at Kubuntu much?
Just downloaded and installed it. It's fantastic! I enjoy the interface much more than Ubuntu's gnome. And so far, everything I need to run seems to be working.
Thanks for the tip!
Is OpenSuse a viable alternative for you? I think it defaults to KDE.
For some background, from 1998 to 2002 I had a job where we had lots of machines with unix variants... SunOS, Solaris, whatever Sequent computers ran, and on PCs, we used Caldera, and most of these were all running fvwm.
For the last 6 years or so, I've been primarily in windows at home, dual-booting into linux. This is because several pieces of software I use (simulation packages, etc) are only available in windows.
In January I had a harddrive crash and decided to take the opportunity to try out some of the more modern linux distros. I was particularly happy to find that VirtualBox ran windows well enough that I could use all my windows-only software. So now I find myself happily using Linux for most of my computing, only booting up my virtual windows to do simulations and turbo tax.
I am currently settled on Ubuntu because it overall works pretty well for what I'm trying to do. I also downloaded and tried installing a few others with mixed success. It took quite a while to tweak the screen to get back my vertical space, with 2 bars (one on top and one on bottom), then an app's title bar and then menu, already a 6th of my screen was taken up. I have it all lined up on the bottom now, but getting some of the things to move there was tricky, and there is still some odd behaviors in that area. I wish they could set up a vertical bar, since my screen is a lot wider than it is tall.
I prefer Dolphin as a file manager to whatever comes with Ubuntu, but the integration is not as tight as I would like - I suppose that's the penalty for using a KDE file manager. I'd be thrilled too, if someone could tell my why gnumeric always opens up in the "next" virtual desktop. The flash screen shows up in the current desktop, but then the app opens up in the one to the right. Very irritating. Java is also really slow for some reason. When I run Netlogo "natively" in Ubuntu, it is dramatically slower than running it in a virtual machine running windows; or even using Wine. It's sad to see side-by-side simulations where the virtual machine in a virtual machine (java in wine/virtualbox) is so much faster than just the virtual machine on the OS.
Debian crashed during every attempt to install, so I can't say much about it.
I tried OpenSuse, which seemed pretty nice, and I liked the interface better than Ubuntu. However I couldn't get several of the apps I wanted to work (Oolite, VirtualBox) and so on, so I gave up on it after a day. I may try it again.
I also tried Fedora but I can't remember why I decided not to go with it.
I'm curious to hear about other current and well-maintained linux distros. I'm at a point in my computing where I don't enjoy tinkering and fighting with the operating system as much as I used to. I want it to "just work" so I can do what I need to, yet still be flexible enough to make it "the way I want it."
I'll close with saying how thrilled I am with VirtualBox. It's what has allowed me to switch back to a primarily linux system and I love that! When I first played with virtualization 10 years ago, it was very much hit and miss. VirtualBox runs really well for nearly everything I must do in windows, and it's even quite fast. Even better, I got my mom set up on her Vista box with Ubuntu running in a Virtualbox - she loves all the varieties of solitaire and such... I never would have imagined my mom liking having linux on her computer.
My "attic" is called "current". It used to be called "unindexed".
I have a name that reflects both my optimistic outlook and my tendency to procrastinate: "ToBeSorted". Someday, I know I'll have time to sort all that out, even though I may never actually do it.
Decentralization is the way.
If you're a consultant and find a client working in a centralized way, you sell decentralization as the way to solve all their woes. If you find them working in a decentralized way, you sell them on centralizing to solve all their woes.
There are only two constants here: 1) every business has woes, regardless of structure; 2) consultants extract lots of value by shifting those woes around
Use your own ISP for DNS.
Do you have any tips for keeping your ISP from directing a "server not found" to one of their crappy ad-ridden search pages? I think that's a major reason people choose DNS servers that aren't at their ISP.
But seriously, I was under the impression that one should assume that other passengers on public transit wish to be left alone.
Some do, but others don't mind, or even enjoy passing the time with some interesting conversation. You clearly read a lot and you might have some very interesting things to say.
Usually start with eye contact of some kind. Maybe as you're sitting down you say, "hi", or "good morning", or ask a social lubricant question like, "how are you doing?", or "nice weather, huh?", or "So, are you ready for the holidays?", or "wow, the bus isn't usually this packed".
The reason people ask questions about the weather, the current season, etc, is not because they're soliciting information about actual opinions. It's because it's something you both have in common (you're both experiencing the weather) and it provides a context to possibly engage in deeper conversation. "It sure is cold today.", "Yeah, I just got back from Brazil. It was 50 degrees warmer"... now you see they're willing to talk. "Wow, I've never been to Brazil. Where did you go? Was it for a vacation?"... and the next thing you know, you've had an interesting peak into someone else's life, and maybe shared some of yours, and you might have even learned some things to look up when you get where you're going.
Maybe someone's reading a book you've enjoyed, so as they're turning a page, make a comment on it. If you only read heavy-reading material that requires lots of source-checking and they're reading the same book, then you already have something in common and you might enjoy sharing perspectives and opinions on the book.
If they're not interested in talking, they'll typically answer briefly and return to whatever they were doing and ignore you. Fine... but you tried. If they answer in more depth, they might actually be up for a conversation, particularly if they ask questions back.
If you really do have a social disability, then trying interactions like this might actually be helpful. Whether we like it or not, we are social creatures and social interactions, even trivial ones, are important for our mental health. And these are safe, low-risk situations where it doesn't matter if someone likes you or not. The practice could be valuable for times when you need to meet and interact with people who can make a difference in your ability to achieve your life goals (interview, seeking a grant, etc). And who knows, you might even make a new friend... or at least a friend you can consistently talk with on the bus.
Then how do I check the works that the book cites?
Above, you asked how you could check your email or surf the web while commuting. Someone else suggests reading a book instead. Now you're shifting the problem to checking sources on the book. And throughout the rest of this thread, you're shifting from one problem to another. You finally write that you have a social disorder, and while I'm sorry about that, you don't seem to be making much effort to mitigate it. You have an excuse for everything.
If you're interested in productively occupying your time while commuting (and to be sure, there was sprawl and > 1 hour commutes LONG before the internet), then choose books that don't require such massive amounts of fact-checking for that part of your day. There must be SOME media you can consume that won't require a live internet connection. If you really must do such deep reading while on a bus, then look in the "works cited" section and bring some of those (if it would have been on the internet, you can save a copy ahead of time). Surely you won't exhaust all of them in a day's commute. But is a bus (or train, or blimp, or whatever, because I'm expecting an, "I don't ride a bus, it's a 4-person bike") really the best place to be reading that requires such attention and concentration? Of if you're doing your emails, then use a client that downloads them and read them while disconnected - even write your responses while disconnected. Or heck, pick a different book or some lighter reading (you're reading and posting here on slashdot, so not all of your reading is high-intensity... heck, why don't you just open a bunch of tabs in your browser before leaving).
In this whole chain of posts, you're arguing against someone who posted, "Checking my email and surfing the web for those rare moments when I'm not near a desktop or laptop are a luxury I can do without. I can think of many other better uses for the ~$150/mo I'm paying now for multiple lines."
If you really MUST have 24/7 internet access everywhere you go, then pony up the money and get it. I guarantee you that there will be times, no matter how much you pay, when you won't have access. Please don't act like you'll cease to function when that happens.
Good grief, after expressing your concern about not having continuous access to email and the web, several people took the time to offer other suggestions for making good use of that time while you're commuting. And you shot them all down with excuse after excuse.
The world is out there and you only get one shot at it. It's up to you to figure out how to occupy your time and energies in a meaningful way. If you ask the world a good way to handle some of that time, then at least be decent enough to acknowledge their attempt to help and not just throw back an excuse about why you can't do it. A, "Thanks, I'll give that a try" is much more mature than a long series of "but.. but... but...".
But in the end, it's you're life. Only you, despite whatever issues you have, can find a way to live it with meaning and happiness.
I wonder if they could get into agreements where they could make new copies of disks for cases like this. Then when an unavailable disk is damaged beyond use, they could replace it themselves; maybe paying a fee to the owner. That would ensure that they don't lose disks that are part of a series of disks.
I've seen stuff disappear out of my "Instant queue" as well. In fact, I was just starting to watch Farscape for the first time and after only seeing 3 episodes, it was removed.
However, I think even with the stuff that's removed from their streaming service, it's still mostly available via DVD. While you can get the unlimited streaming service for I think $8.00, if you go up to $10/month, you can get unlimited streaming and 1 DVD at a time. You may be able to get those out-of-print programs that way (if they have them on DVD).
I guess I wonder why an email client should be able to wipe the entire phone and make it unusable. And why shouldn't the company only be able to wipe the email client and data. The rest of it should be off-limits.
It's been explained to me that the cosmic rays and high-energy x-rays mostly pass through the body and don't cause any damage. But these low-intensity x-ray machines in the airports are low enough energy that the radiation is mostly absorbed by the skin and the rest of the body. This difference apparently makes the dosage equivalent models invalid because they were designed with the idea that the radiation is high enough intensity so that it passes through the body.
If Google doesn't want to pay for more exclusive access speeds or priority of service why would their bill go any higher than it is right now?
It will work like this: today's "normal" will become tomorrow's premium service, and tomorrow's "normal" will be a degraded lower priority service. If you continue to pay for "normal", your service will get worse. To maintain the service you're used to, you'll need to upgrade to a premium service.
It will be similar to the grocery stores that offer "club" discounts. They raise their "normal" prices and then to get what used to be the normal price, you have to join their club.
So what we did is found some English "obfuscation" program on the net
That reminds me of the Sokal Affair, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair), where they guy made up some gibberish and managed to get it published.