I usually try to refuse. Once at a Sprint PCS store, the clerk went along just fine - when 111-11-1111 wasn't accepted by their system, he tried 000-00-0000 and it took it.
Another time, a different cell phone company wanted my SSN, I said "no", they said "no". I wanted the phone, so I said "fine" and gave them a slighly different number from my true number... a few minutes later, they asked if it was correct - apparently the credit check didn't go thru. Alas, in that case I had to relent.
But in general, I make no effort whatsoever to keep my consumer information records "clean".
If it is for my benefit for my information to be right, then I keep it correct. If it is only for the convenience of others, I don't care if my name is spelled wrong, my DOB is off, or my SSN is munged.
I also enjoy saying "no" whenever a retail clerk asks something simple like "may I have your zip code?". Most just shrug, but every once in a while you get one that is truly surprised, and in those instances watching their reaction is amusing.
What if I bought property in a area likely to be hit for "redevelopment", specifically for speculation purposes? E.g. I bought "at the going rate", for the express purpose of puting the screws to some developer in the near future. Let's say that is my livelyhood - short-term real estate investments.
Now what's my fair price? It's not that I don't want to sell, in fact, I forsaw the coming values, and "invested" there on purpose. So, you don't need to condem my property to get it, you just need to pay my price.
If you make me take a lower price than what I think is "fair", how is that different from the government coming in and cutting your salary just because "you make too much"?
If you make the old lady down the street who doesn't want to sell, take less than I get, how is that fair?
Sounds like the basis for another suit... with a differnent mix on the court maybe it will change again.
Now that this reprehensible decision has been made, how does the condemed propery owner get compensated?
Let's say the fair market value of a property is $150K under normal circumstances.
Now MegaCondoCorp wants to raize your whole block and put in a multi-mega dollar development... raising property values tremendously. Let's say that a lot right next to the new develpment will be worth $500K AFTER the new "improvements".
What is the fair value of the condemed property? $150K, $500K, something in between?
Unfortunately for the property owner it can't be "priceless" any longer.
Just be happy that physical risks can't be automated (yet). If the real world were like the cyber world...
There would be robo-thugs waiting to rob you every single time you walked down the street without a bodyguard.
Automated wrecking balls would hover over the freeway to smack your car just for the fun of watching the air-bag go off - every time you went down a public highway.
I have no point. Marcus is right - it is the bad guys' fault. Parent is right - crap is a fact of life, get over it.
When you first configure files to publish with Microsoft P2P software, Clippy(TM) will hop out and say "Your MP3 files are not optimized for transition - converting to WMA now..."
Later, when some incoming MPG files have arrived, Rover will trot out, and lift his leg on the MPG icon and magically stream it into a WMV for you.
And, of course the whole file shareing experience will be fun and safe because it will only talk to other Longhorn machines on which the integrity of the files have been verified...
You're done when the customer says you're done. Assuming you do frequent builds and submit them for testing often.
I usually just jot down "features" in my composition book with an empty box by them. I check them off as completed. I do put comments in the code. I put simple "release notes" in a running text file that is part of each build.
This is nothing like decent documentation, separate from the code, for consumption of non-code-viewers. That usually involves real time, using whatever format is requested, drawing diagrams, etc.
Of course, most of my projects are only 3-4 months in duration, with some period of minor tweaks thereafter - projects you can "keep in you mind" all at once. I bit documentation is a must for large projects, projects that multiple programmers work on, and of course fixed-price contracts:-)
For hourly work, or work done "on retainer", if the customer is happy to spec-on-the-fly, no plans, I'll code it and revise it as needed. If they are happy, I'm happy.
No spec? No docs? Imagine that. It's not like I don't tell them I'd like a couple of weeks here and there to document stuff, it just doesn't seem to be their priority.
Other child posts to this one say stuff like [whine] You should be writing documentation while creating the product! [/whine]
Fine, YOU pay for what should be.
I, like many others get paid for doing what the customer/employer wants, and guess, what? They want stuff done, and often don't care too much about nice docs, as long as the product does what they are thinking right now. Of course the specs will change next week too, by the way.
I know that good documentation would be nice, but, I get paid by the hour, and if the paying customer wants to allocate my hours to some other task... well, the customer is always right!
You realize, of course, you are *supposed* to pay the "use tax" on any such items that you, as a California resident use, consume or store in the state. In other words, just because some out-of-state retailer didn't charge you, doesn't mean you don't owe the taxes. The use tax just happens to be equivalent to your local sales tax.
When you fill out your CA State income tax, there is a place for you to report stuff that you bought out of state and didn't pay sales tax on.
As a practical matter, I suspect compliance is very low on this matter.
Of course, I'd rather all the attention be paid to this stinky plant, than have those same people paying attention to my young son's stinky gym shoes.
Such a plant could cease to exist and cause no crises whatsoever, just going to show, if something is rare enough, maybe nothing else will depend on it for food!
I would love to buy a Windows(tm) OS that was just an OS. I might or might not pay extra for an "apps pack" that included stuff like Notepad, IE, MediaPlayer, Solitare, etc. Maybe someone else would offer a better package. Maybe it would be "free", maybe not.
Start with an installer that had about a jillion checkboxes to include/exclude optional components that I may or may not need. By default, include as few as necessary, but make these options easy to enable later if I run across something that needs it.
The basic OS should run most run-of-the-mill Windows programs.
There should be no GUI that "twiddles things" that doesn't also let you save the settings to a command-line version, so you can do it again, without having to remember (or document) how you did it the first time in a GUI.
Aww, crap, I thought I'd have more to say, but let's just cut to the chase. Windows is nice to use, why? It's hard to say why. I use both Linux and Windows, but more often than not, Windows, for whatever reason. However, I think the Unix model is the correct one - separate components, each with a specific function. For a small glimpse into my whacky world, ponder the fact that I still use "vi" almost daily, even on Windows.
If I could mount Windows(tm) in a read-only partition it would be great.
It seems to me as soon as "Marketing" gets involved and starts mandating engineering decisions, you end up with crap, like Windows. You have a product that most people use, because it is good enough, but it is not as good as it could be because there is so much stuff tossed in, embedded deep, for no reason other than "marketing". There is no technical reason, for example, why IE is so deeply entwined in Windows - as any user of FireFox can attest, you can get a 5 MB browser that works great! IE sucks like it does, not for strictly technical reasons, but for marketing and legal reasons. (I have no idea what I am talking about here, but it sounds right.)
Finally; Aren't there laws against software doing stuff that it is not supposed to? Everytime I see a blurb about an "Easter Egg" - I don't think "cool", I think, how much space is wasted on that "feature" I don't need. Does it add any instability to the product? Seems to me Windows does a lot more than an OS should, much that I didn't ask for.
I am going to press Submit now, and go off an watch a movie.
How about the simpler explaination that large organization often can't manage a sufficiently complex project? (Of course small organizations rarely even try.)
Heck, just type in "DMV software debacle" in google, that comes up with an Amazon.com book on the subject as the numeber one hit. Try just "software debacle" for even more instances.
The choice between Conspiracy or Incompetence comes up all too often. While Conspiracy is more interesting, the sad truth is that something much less is usually involved.
In any event, the money doesn't dissappear. It ends up in the economy somewhere, and was probably better spent on a failed high-tech program than it would have been in an outright give-away (like unemployment benefits for those same programmers).
Slashdot Mirror
Since they already have EuroDisney, and this Fusion thingy might not pan out, the headline just as easily could have been:
France to Be Site of World's Second Largest Boondogle
I could be wrong about that formula.
Somthing is not right there... I usually put my books on the shelf side-by-side, not end-to-end. They take a lot less space that way.
lol
Binoculars and a star chart.
A thousand years from now someone will find Those famous high-desert DVD-Rs... which some freak of preserving environments will have saved.
What? And you DON'T have a backup?
I usually try to refuse. Once at a Sprint PCS store, the clerk went along just fine - when 111-11-1111 wasn't accepted by their system, he tried 000-00-0000 and it took it.
Another time, a different cell phone company wanted my SSN, I said "no", they said "no". I wanted the phone, so I said "fine" and gave them a slighly different number from my true number... a few minutes later, they asked if it was correct - apparently the credit check didn't go thru. Alas, in that case I had to relent.
But in general, I make no effort whatsoever to keep my consumer information records "clean".
If it is for my benefit for my information to be right, then I keep it correct. If it is only for the convenience of others, I don't care if my name is spelled wrong, my DOB is off, or my SSN is munged.
I also enjoy saying "no" whenever a retail clerk asks something simple like "may I have your zip code?". Most just shrug, but every once in a while you get one that is truly surprised, and in those instances watching their reaction is amusing.
Now what's my fair price? It's not that I don't want to sell, in fact, I forsaw the coming values, and "invested" there on purpose. So, you don't need to condem my property to get it, you just need to pay my price.
If you make me take a lower price than what I think is "fair", how is that different from the government coming in and cutting your salary just because "you make too much"?
If you make the old lady down the street who doesn't want to sell, take less than I get, how is that fair?
Sounds like the basis for another suit... with a differnent mix on the court maybe it will change again.
Let's say the fair market value of a property is $150K under normal circumstances.
Now MegaCondoCorp wants to raize your whole block and put in a multi-mega dollar development... raising property values tremendously. Let's say that a lot right next to the new develpment will be worth $500K AFTER the new "improvements".
What is the fair value of the condemed property? $150K, $500K, something in between?
Unfortunately for the property owner it can't be "priceless" any longer.
There would be robo-thugs waiting to rob you every single time you walked down the street without a bodyguard.
Automated wrecking balls would hover over the freeway to smack your car just for the fun of watching the air-bag go off - every time you went down a public highway.
I have no point. Marcus is right - it is the bad guys' fault. Parent is right - crap is a fact of life, get over it.
2) visitors can suggest worthy targets, subject to "star-chamber" review.
3) Solicit bids from "contractors".
Of course, this would all have to be hosted some place that doesn't have laws against this sort of thing, etc.
Certainly a sucessful businessman like Bruce Wayne would appreciate the power of franchising!
When you first configure files to publish with Microsoft P2P software, Clippy(TM) will hop out and say "Your MP3 files are not optimized for transition - converting to WMA now..."
Later, when some incoming MPG files have arrived, Rover will trot out, and lift his leg on the MPG icon and magically stream it into a WMV for you.
And, of course the whole file shareing experience will be fun and safe because it will only talk to other Longhorn machines on which the integrity of the files have been verified...
2) Wait for someone else to actually make it or something vaguely like it work.
3) [have your lawers knock on their door] Profit!
I usually just jot down "features" in my composition book with an empty box by them. I check them off as completed. I do put comments in the code. I put simple "release notes" in a running text file that is part of each build.
This is nothing like decent documentation, separate from the code, for consumption of non-code-viewers. That usually involves real time, using whatever format is requested, drawing diagrams, etc.
Of course, most of my projects are only 3-4 months in duration, with some period of minor tweaks thereafter - projects you can "keep in you mind" all at once. I bit documentation is a must for large projects, projects that multiple programmers work on, and of course fixed-price contracts :-)
For hourly work, or work done "on retainer", if the customer is happy to spec-on-the-fly, no plans, I'll code it and revise it as needed. If they are happy, I'm happy.
No spec? No docs? Imagine that. It's not like I don't tell them I'd like a couple of weeks here and there to document stuff, it just doesn't seem to be their priority.
I won't do it for free.
Fine, YOU pay for what should be.
I, like many others get paid for doing what the customer/employer wants, and guess, what? They want stuff done, and often don't care too much about nice docs, as long as the product does what they are thinking right now. Of course the specs will change next week too, by the way.
I know that good documentation would be nice, but, I get paid by the hour, and if the paying customer wants to allocate my hours to some other task... well, the customer is always right!
When you fill out your CA State income tax, there is a place for you to report stuff that you bought out of state and didn't pay sales tax on.
As a practical matter, I suspect compliance is very low on this matter.
Now that you know, don't you feel bad?
Heh, after you watch the FBI warning again, and maybe some other crap, depending how the disc was produced.
I don't check email when I am on vacation. Things are supposed to be a change of pace. Isn't that why you are on vacation?
Of course, I'd rather all the attention be paid to this stinky plant, than have those same people paying attention to my young son's stinky gym shoes.
Such a plant could cease to exist and cause no crises whatsoever, just going to show, if something is rare enough, maybe nothing else will depend on it for food!
Start with an installer that had about a jillion checkboxes to include/exclude optional components that I may or may not need. By default, include as few as necessary, but make these options easy to enable later if I run across something that needs it.
The basic OS should run most run-of-the-mill Windows programs.
There should be no GUI that "twiddles things" that doesn't also let you save the settings to a command-line version, so you can do it again, without having to remember (or document) how you did it the first time in a GUI.
Aww, crap, I thought I'd have more to say, but let's just cut to the chase. Windows is nice to use, why? It's hard to say why. I use both Linux and Windows, but more often than not, Windows, for whatever reason. However, I think the Unix model is the correct one - separate components, each with a specific function. For a small glimpse into my whacky world, ponder the fact that I still use "vi" almost daily, even on Windows.
If I could mount Windows(tm) in a read-only partition it would be great.
It seems to me as soon as "Marketing" gets involved and starts mandating engineering decisions, you end up with crap, like Windows. You have a product that most people use, because it is good enough, but it is not as good as it could be because there is so much stuff tossed in, embedded deep, for no reason other than "marketing". There is no technical reason, for example, why IE is so deeply entwined in Windows - as any user of FireFox can attest, you can get a 5 MB browser that works great! IE sucks like it does, not for strictly technical reasons, but for marketing and legal reasons. (I have no idea what I am talking about here, but it sounds right.)
Finally; Aren't there laws against software doing stuff that it is not supposed to? Everytime I see a blurb about an "Easter Egg" - I don't think "cool", I think, how much space is wasted on that "feature" I don't need. Does it add any instability to the product? Seems to me Windows does a lot more than an OS should, much that I didn't ask for.
I am going to press Submit now, and go off an watch a movie.
* Some corporations are corrupt, most just want to earn money. If you don't like that, too bad.
* All governments are inept, After all if those folks could get a real job, they wouldn't be in government...
* huh?
* Resistance to conformity is your own fault.
* You will be assimilated quicker if you buy Nikes, eat at McD's, use MS products ... I guess I am unassimilated then. I feel fine, thanks for asking.
The government's own stats ( http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/pub/irs-soi/01in01ts.xl s ) show that the "lower 50%" don't even pay 4% of the taxes.
Heck, just type in "DMV software debacle" in google, that comes up with an Amazon.com book on the subject as the numeber one hit. Try just "software debacle" for even more instances.
The choice between Conspiracy or Incompetence comes up all too often. While Conspiracy is more interesting, the sad truth is that something much less is usually involved.
In any event, the money doesn't dissappear. It ends up in the economy somewhere, and was probably better spent on a failed high-tech program than it would have been in an outright give-away (like unemployment benefits for those same programmers).
Just for kicks - the current random song playing on my collection is "Doom II" - "13 - waiting for romero to pl"
Hmmm... a sign?
(I understand the technical part of it ;-) just joshing ya!)