Did you get commissions? Or some sort of bonuses? Two years ago, I had 7 Best Buy employees accost me and try to dissuade me from buying the cheap-ass computer monitor I was buying.
Everytime, they would say "We don't get paid on commission, but I really don't think you should buy this monitor. In six months, it's going to die on you." and when I refused to upgrade to a better monitor and when I refused to buy their stupid extended warranty. They would pass me to another employee who would repeat the exact same spiel once again. This happened 7 times !
I know the policy must have changed since then. Nowadays, their sales staff is not as pushy as they used to be. But I am just wandering if you could explain to me what was the company policy at the time.
Personally, if an an employee started talking shit about my company and if that employee started publishing this information for all the World to see, I would fire him without a doubt.
It's not that the company was embarassed. It's not that there was a real security breach. It's that, when the shit hits the fan, you want employees you can trust.
Check your link again. The first book on your list is not the book we're talking about. The book we're talking about is the fourth down the page you linked to.
Here is another
list of all its prices. Barnes and Noble seems to be the better deal if you want it new and Half.com seems to be the better deal if you're willing to get it used.
I'll second "the postmark method" is a myth comment. I would post a link to it, but this myth keeps coming up so many times on Slashdot. It's not even funny.
One nuclear plant can produce about as much electricity as 100 coal-burning plants, which would make it very cost-effective both in terms of cost per kilowatt and in terms of facilities and maintainence fees for electrical companies -- they'd only have to maintain 1/100th of the facilities they currently use if they converted completely.
I agree with your main point, but you're oversimplying a bit. If 100 coal-burning power plants can replace 1 nuclear power plant, it doesn't mean 1 nuclear power plant can replace 100 coal-burning power plants. That will depend mostly on the geographical distances this electricity has to be distributed to. Electricity degrades over long distances.
Guys have been known to be harmed when their girlfriends found out what sites they had visited
In any case, I don't understand why he can't have two separate user accounts for both himself and his girlfriend. He doesn't need to be cookie paranoied for both of them.
You can't really put an image across the screen that takes away from the visual effect of the film, and by the same token, you don't want tones on the audio track that take away from the soundstage. Any watermark would simply be useless in the longrun.
An "image"? You only need to change the shade of ONE pixel in the entire movie to make a unique watermark. In that situation, hackers will be able to reconstruct the original movie if they have access to multiple watermarked copies of the same movie.
So assuming we have 1000 Oscar Members, the real solution would be to watermark 1000 pixels and to have 999 identical overlapping watermarks accross multiple copies of the movie. This way, everytime a hacker runs into a tainted pixel, he will be fooled into thinking it was in the original movie.
Can you stop a debt collector from contacting you?
You can stop a debt collector from contacting you by writing a letter to the collector telling them to stop. Once the collector receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action. Please note, however, that sending such a letter to a collector does not make the debt go away if you actually owe it. You could still be sued by the debt collector or your original creditor.
May a debt collector continue to contact you if you believe you do not owe money?
A collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you receive the written notice, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed.
Intricate, no? Why, I asked myself, would they be buying now? Google didn't have much to show.
Just when I thought I'd hit a dead end, I started to read Drugstore.com's 10Q, their most recent one, just filed this month. Because this is another company Integral has invested in heavily, maybe I'd find something there, I thought.
And lo and behold, guess who was just elected a director of Drugstore.com? Melinda French Gates. Yes, that Mrs. Gates. Well, that got my attention. I switched to some other search engines and really started digging, and I went to the SEC to see what I could find.
As of last December, Integral Capital Management V didn't own any SCO stock, according to this SEC filing. They did own Microsoft stock back in November. But they didn't the previous May of 2002. So the chain of investment timeline appears to go like this: First, they invested in Drugstore.com, then Microsoft, and then in SCO.
Small world, isn't it? But why? A venture capital firm is investing in Microsoft? Doesn't it seem like it should be the other way around?
Here's a description of Integral on VC Directory:
"20 portfolio companies brought to successful IPO 1997 - 99. This venture capitalist was incubated within Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1991. Integral's partnerships are five years in duration. Integral IV began in March of 1998 with over $300 million of capital and the company currently has over $1.2 billion in capital. In 1999, Integral Capital Partners co-founded and now operates as a managing principal of Silver Lake Partners, a $2.2 billion buyout fund focused on technology and related growth businesses.
"Focus: Integral invests in technology businesses at all stages of company development beyond the start-up phase. . . .
"Integral typically invests between 20% and 50% of the original capital of each fund in private companies and buyout opportunities. Integral is an active investor, both in the venture and public stages. Their greatest contribution typically relates to corporate strategy, business development opportunities, and maximizing market value (either through an IPO or merger). Integral does not take board seats. Integral Capital Partners 2750 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025 . .."
Here's their home page.
Think this is just a coincidence? Could be, but take a look at this article from June 6, 2003, entitled "Best friends -- VC buddies do many of their deals with pals", which explains that in a tough economic market, VC capitalist firms like Integral do business primarily with their friends, as its Roger McNamee explains:
"'People's time is limited,' said McNamee. Quoting a favorite saying in the VC biz, he added: 'When you have a choice, always do business with your friends. When you don't have a choice, your friends are the only ones who will do business with you.'"
There goes the coincidence theory. Well, they appear to know each other, according to this Fast Company article linked to on Integral's web site:
"As early as 1997, he says, 'I realized that we had escaped the earth's gravitational pull -- that we were in the midst of a true mania. The next question was, What do you do after you crash and burn? You need a strategy for investing in a long-term bear market.' So, along with a set of superstar partners, McNamee assembled the first large-scale private-equity fund focused on tech. Silver Lake Partners, which launched in May 1999, raised $2.3 billion in a matter of months, attracting a who's who of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, including Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, major investment banks, and big institutions such as CalPERS and the World Bank. In the four years since its launch, Silver Lake has invested approximately $1.6 billion of the fund in nine megatransactions -- which included involvement in a landmark $20 billion leveraged buyout of legendary disk-drive maker Seagate in late 2000 and that company's IPO two years later."
[...]
Re:Patent protection?
on
Cracking GSM
·
· Score: 1
People don't point guns at people because they don't know any better, they point guns at people precisely because it's dangerous to do so and precisely because it gives them somekind of power over their target.
A (former) friend pointed a paintball gun at my face once. We were not in the gaming area and I was not wearing my mask. He claimed he didn't know his gun could go off because of the plug. That was a lame excuse when I heard it and it is still a lame excuse now. He had been trained and yet he still was acting like an irresponsible asshole. Training can only go so far.
No mention that in white Leon County, machines automatically kicked back faulty ballots for voter correction; whereas in Gadsden County, very Black, the same machines were programmed to eat mismarked ballots.
Anyone happen to know if this is true?
In my county in California, we had no such advanced mechanism, and I voted in a predominantly white county. With no uniform standard, it does make sense that some counties will have better equipment and some others won't.
Re:Patent protection?
on
Cracking GSM
·
· Score: 1
Unfortunately demonstrating "responsibility" isn't a requirement for gun ownership, at least in the US (maybe it's better in Canada). I for one would love to see gun ownership be tied to passing some sort of training course covering both safety and the legal aspects of what you can/cannot do with your gun.
Lack of training might be a problem, but I'd like to see some kind of statistics backing up this claim.
For example, in some parts of Europe, licensed car drivers are some of the best trained and some of the most carefully screened drivers in the world, and yet they can be pretty careless compared to their American counterparts.
They might be the de-facto standard for databases. There are lots of Access users out there.
They could be the de-facto standard for server-side programming, web servers, and application servers, but they're not. The only reason they're not is because they're not giving away those products. A Personal Web Server is fine and dandy, but it does you no good if you can't serve pages to other people. That's why, when I started server-side programming, I immediately installed Apache and I used an Access data source with it. Apache works flawlessly, it's easy to use, and it's free. What more can you really ask for?
Somebody here can't take a joke. By the way, I don't intend to convert the masses. People will use Linux if they want to. It's not my place to tell them what to do.
I doubt the SEC will get involve though, as this is looking less and less like a stock "pump and dump" scheme and more and more like an average case of sheer corporate idiocy.
SCO executives have already been dumping their stocks. I doubt the SEC will get involved too, but that's because they're understaffed and have bigger fishes to fry.
Slashdot Mirror
Everytime, they would say "We don't get paid on commission, but I really don't think you should buy this monitor. In six months, it's going to die on you." and when I refused to upgrade to a better monitor and when I refused to buy their stupid extended warranty. They would pass me to another employee who would repeat the exact same spiel once again. This happened 7 times !
I know the policy must have changed since then. Nowadays, their sales staff is not as pushy as they used to be. But I am just wandering if you could explain to me what was the company policy at the time.
It's not that the company was embarassed. It's not that there was a real security breach. It's that, when the shit hits the fan, you want employees you can trust.
Check your link again. The first book on your list is not the book we're talking about. The book we're talking about is the fourth down the page you linked to.
Here is another list of all its prices. Barnes and Noble seems to be the better deal if you want it new and Half.com seems to be the better deal if you're willing to get it used.
You're forgetting the time of the prohibition.
I'll second "the postmark method" is a myth comment. I would post a link to it, but this myth keeps coming up so many times on Slashdot. It's not even funny.
I second that. I must have wasted one week compiling/installing it and all its dependent packages, and it still doesn't work on my linux box.
I agree with your main point, but you're oversimplying a bit. If 100 coal-burning power plants can replace 1 nuclear power plant, it doesn't mean 1 nuclear power plant can replace 100 coal-burning power plants. That will depend mostly on the geographical distances this electricity has to be distributed to. Electricity degrades over long distances.
Someone is obviously bitter because he's not the smartest IT man of Australia.
Unfortunatly, the overwhelming majority of Americans have learned all they know about nuclear energy through the Simpsons and the popular media.
In any case, I don't understand why he can't have two separate user accounts for both himself and his girlfriend. He doesn't need to be cookie paranoied for both of them.
You're right. One pixel watermarks won't do for low quality duplicates.
Would it be more accurate to say Gator is a Trojan program.
An "image"? You only need to change the shade of ONE pixel in the entire movie to make a unique watermark. In that situation, hackers will be able to reconstruct the original movie if they have access to multiple watermarked copies of the same movie.
So assuming we have 1000 Oscar Members, the real solution would be to watermark 1000 pixels and to have 999 identical overlapping watermarks accross multiple copies of the movie. This way, everytime a hacker runs into a tainted pixel, he will be fooled into thinking it was in the original movie.
I guess it's considered bad luck not to have your mom sleep around with the CEO of IBM.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fdc.htm
Can you stop a debt collector from contacting you?
You can stop a debt collector from contacting you by writing a letter to the collector telling them to stop. Once the collector receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action. Please note, however, that sending such a letter to a collector does not make the debt go away if you actually owe it. You could still be sued by the debt collector or your original creditor.
May a debt collector continue to contact you if you believe you do not owe money?
A collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you receive the written notice, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed.
[...]
[...]
Intricate, no? Why, I asked myself, would they be buying now? Google didn't have much to show.
Just when I thought I'd hit a dead end, I started to read Drugstore.com's 10Q, their most recent one, just filed this month. Because this is another company Integral has invested in heavily, maybe I'd find something there, I thought.
And lo and behold, guess who was just elected a director of Drugstore.com? Melinda French Gates. Yes, that Mrs. Gates. Well, that got my attention. I switched to some other search engines and really started digging, and I went to the SEC to see what I could find.
As of last December, Integral Capital Management V didn't own any SCO stock, according to this SEC filing. They did own Microsoft stock back in November. But they didn't the previous May of 2002. So the chain of investment timeline appears to go like this: First, they invested in Drugstore.com, then Microsoft, and then in SCO.
Small world, isn't it? But why? A venture capital firm is investing in Microsoft? Doesn't it seem like it should be the other way around?
Here's a description of Integral on VC Directory:
"20 portfolio companies brought to successful IPO 1997 - 99. This venture capitalist was incubated within Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1991. Integral's partnerships are five years in duration. Integral IV began in March of 1998 with over $300 million of capital and the company currently has over $1.2 billion in capital. In 1999, Integral Capital Partners co-founded and now operates as a managing principal of Silver Lake Partners, a $2.2 billion buyout fund focused on technology and related growth businesses.
"Focus: Integral invests in technology businesses at all stages of company development beyond the start-up phase. . . .
"Integral typically invests between 20% and 50% of the original capital of each fund in private companies and buyout opportunities. Integral is an active investor, both in the venture and public stages. Their greatest contribution typically relates to corporate strategy, business development opportunities, and maximizing market value (either through an IPO or merger). Integral does not take board seats. Integral Capital Partners 2750 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025 . . ."
Here's their home page.
Think this is just a coincidence? Could be, but take a look at this article from June 6, 2003, entitled "Best friends -- VC buddies do many of their deals with pals", which explains that in a tough economic market, VC capitalist firms like Integral do business primarily with their friends, as its Roger McNamee explains:
"'People's time is limited,' said McNamee. Quoting a favorite saying in the VC biz, he added: 'When you have a choice, always do business with your friends. When you don't have a choice, your friends are the only ones who will do business with you.'"
There goes the coincidence theory. Well, they appear to know each other, according to this Fast Company article linked to on Integral's web site:
"As early as 1997, he says, 'I realized that we had escaped the earth's gravitational pull -- that we were in the midst of a true mania. The next question was, What do you do after you crash and burn? You need a strategy for investing in a long-term bear market.' So, along with a set of superstar partners, McNamee assembled the first large-scale private-equity fund focused on tech. Silver Lake Partners, which launched in May 1999, raised $2.3 billion in a matter of months, attracting a who's who of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, including Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, major investment banks, and big institutions such as CalPERS and the World Bank. In the four years since its launch, Silver Lake has invested approximately $1.6 billion of the fund in nine megatransactions -- which included involvement in a landmark $20 billion leveraged buyout of legendary disk-drive maker Seagate in late 2000 and that company's IPO two years later."
[...]
A (former) friend pointed a paintball gun at my face once. We were not in the gaming area and I was not wearing my mask. He claimed he didn't know his gun could go off because of the plug. That was a lame excuse when I heard it and it is still a lame excuse now. He had been trained and yet he still was acting like an irresponsible asshole. Training can only go so far.
Anyone happen to know if this is true?
In my county in California, we had no such advanced mechanism, and I voted in a predominantly white county. With no uniform standard, it does make sense that some counties will have better equipment and some others won't.
Lack of training might be a problem, but I'd like to see some kind of statistics backing up this claim.
For example, in some parts of Europe, licensed car drivers are some of the best trained and some of the most carefully screened drivers in the world, and yet they can be pretty careless compared to their American counterparts.
They could be the de-facto standard for server-side programming, web servers, and application servers, but they're not. The only reason they're not is because they're not giving away those products. A Personal Web Server is fine and dandy, but it does you no good if you can't serve pages to other people. That's why, when I started server-side programming, I immediately installed Apache and I used an Access data source with it. Apache works flawlessly, it's easy to use, and it's free. What more can you really ask for?
Somebody here can't take a joke. By the way, I don't intend to convert the masses. People will use Linux if they want to. It's not my place to tell them what to do.
I go after the good looking ones and those usually have Macs.
I don't know. May be.
SCO executives have already been dumping their stocks. I doubt the SEC will get involved too, but that's because they're understaffed and have bigger fishes to fry.
Who needs (Microsoft-using) friends anyway?