Governments are great at running at a loss, simply because they can do it.
There is only one government i the US that can operate at a loss - the federal one. Every other government in the country must balance their budget every year. Yes, some of them issue bonds, or do other forms of borrowing, so they can spend more than they take in in any given year, but it's no different than any other business or individual that takes out a loan.
The one thing a government does have going for it over private industry is it can force all of it's citizens to be customers. If WiFi is paid for by the government out of say, property taxes, then the government has essentially just forced everyone to be a WiFi customer. Even if they don't use WiFi. Does that make it cheaper? Well, for people who use WiFi, yes. But it makes it more expensive for those who don't.
The question becomes, does the overall cost savings of having one benevolent service provider of which everyone is a customer justify everyone putting some money in?
I would say no - roads are necessary for everyone (even if you don't drive, the food and employees has to get to the grocery store somehow), police are necessary for everyone, but wifi is not.
Being successful when dating online is just like being successful at dating in real life - you need to not only be a good catch, but you also have to go after people who will thikn you're a good catch.
You're part-way there by underestimating your income, if hot money-grubbing bitches are not the kind of women you are interested in. Although to be honest, even most normal women are attracted to a guy who is not por, not because they want money, but because they don't want a guy who wants their money.
But, that aside, the real trick to success on sites like match.com is to mail girls who do not have pictures up. They receive a lot less mail, so you won't fall through the cracks. Of the 20 girls you emailed, MAYBE 10 actually found the time to read your email, and of those 10, maybe 5 actually found the time to read your profile, and maybe 2 of them were impressed with it.
Emailing girls without pictures not only means there's less competition for that particular girl, but it also means as a result that girl will have more time to see that you've got things to offer that may not be as obvious as a tan and a 6-pack.
They make money on premium services - email accounts, personal ads, auctions, fees on Yahoo merchants, etc. Having the search makes it easier for you to direct traffic to your premium services.
might thrive in the ice sea announced on Mars yesterday.
Wouldn't it have been much cheaper to announce this ice sea here on good ole' planet earth? Do we really need to be supporting the Martian tourist industry with these thinly vieled vacations to other planets for government officials? We shouldn't be supporting these Martian bacteria when we have so many unemployed Terran bacteria here at home.
We have the right to make backups of our owned discs and put them into a format that is portable.
Your mistake is that you're confusing the RIGHT to do so with the ABILITY to do so.
For example, I have the right to buy a $10,000 supa-large flat-screen TV. But no one is obligated to provide the TV to me.
You do indeed have the right to copy media for backup purposes, but you have no right to buying that media in a form that allows easy copying. Are book publishers OBLIGATED to send you their books on CD ebcause paper books are hard to copy? Of course not. If you don't like the means of distribution, then don't buy your movies on that media.
For a business to survive in the long term, revenue fro providing a good/service must eceed the costs of providing that good/service. There's no guarantee that consolidation will bring better prices or service - in fact, it's quite likely that price will go up, or service will go down, until money in > money out for each business.
That may sound bad, but the alternative is the businesses go bankrupt and the good/service isn't provided at all.
The one thing the consumer might get out of this is better service bundles - i.e. phone+cell+DSL+TV etc.
Personally I can't wait 'til someone invents some sort of uber bandwidth media-tastic bright & shiny "Hyper Net" (now with unbrakabul DRM (tm)). Then all the drongos can go and happily consume on it whilst leaving the rest of us with our "good old" internet.
We call it Usenet. We're glad the drongos have moved on to places like Slashdot.
There are at least 1,000 cookey professors who managed to get tenure at universities running cookey experiments.
There is a very good chance that one out of every 100 of them oberves that their experiment makes a prediction that has only a 1% chance of being coincidence.
Slashdot Mirror
Governments are great at running at a loss, simply because they can do it.
There is only one government i the US that can operate at a loss - the federal one. Every other government in the country must balance their budget every year. Yes, some of them issue bonds, or do other forms of borrowing, so they can spend more than they take in in any given year, but it's no different than any other business or individual that takes out a loan.
The one thing a government does have going for it over private industry is it can force all of it's citizens to be customers. If WiFi is paid for by the government out of say, property taxes, then the government has essentially just forced everyone to be a WiFi customer. Even if they don't use WiFi. Does that make it cheaper? Well, for people who use WiFi, yes. But it makes it more expensive for those who don't.
The question becomes, does the overall cost savings of having one benevolent service provider of which everyone is a customer justify everyone putting some money in?
I would say no - roads are necessary for everyone (even if you don't drive, the food and employees has to get to the grocery store somehow), police are necessary for everyone, but wifi is not.
A site that just compiles a list of information produced by others? Who would read something like that?
Maybe if it had comments.....
We have to INSTALL porn now? I miss the old days when you could just pop it in the VCR.
Being successful when dating online is just like being successful at dating in real life - you need to not only be a good catch, but you also have to go after people who will thikn you're a good catch.
You're part-way there by underestimating your income, if hot money-grubbing bitches are not the kind of women you are interested in. Although to be honest, even most normal women are attracted to a guy who is not por, not because they want money, but because they don't want a guy who wants their money.
But, that aside, the real trick to success on sites like match.com is to mail girls who do not have pictures up. They receive a lot less mail, so you won't fall through the cracks. Of the 20 girls you emailed, MAYBE 10 actually found the time to read your email, and of those 10, maybe 5 actually found the time to read your profile, and maybe 2 of them were impressed with it.
Emailing girls without pictures not only means there's less competition for that particular girl, but it also means as a result that girl will have more time to see that you've got things to offer that may not be as obvious as a tan and a 6-pack.
How about ballots?
"WARNING: THESE CANDIDATES MAY ACTUALLY REPRESENT LARGE CORPORATE DONORS!"
E-Voting machines:
"WARNING: THIS MACHINE MAY JUST DISPLAY A PRETTY PICTURE!"
Although my personal favorite would be, right above the power button on the computer:
"WARNING! PRESSING THIS BUTTON MAY KILL YOU!"
Cause if you're dumb enough to believe it, you shouldn't be pushing the button.
How would I burn my karma if I did that?
Wolves think about the damage done to the their privacy and their freedom.
Can you get a tin-foil hat with cut-outs for wolf ears? Seems like it would be pretty uncomfortable otherwise.
Yahoo! is a portal, and search is a loss-leader.
They make money on premium services - email accounts, personal ads, auctions, fees on Yahoo merchants, etc. Having the search makes it easier for you to direct traffic to your premium services.
Does Netscape even really count anymore?
Even the dead have birthdays.
Brings back memories of my 10th birthday party.
Your parents hired Daryl Strawberry to come to your birthday party too?
Brings back memories of my 10th birthday party.
might thrive in the ice sea announced on Mars yesterday.
Wouldn't it have been much cheaper to announce this ice sea here on good ole' planet earth? Do we really need to be supporting the Martian tourist industry with these thinly vieled vacations to other planets for government officials? We shouldn't be supporting these Martian bacteria when we have so many unemployed Terran bacteria here at home.
To be precise, one hole has at least two pigeons.
To be precise, at least one hole has at least two pigeons.
Unless there's a hawk.
To each according to their need, from each according to their ability.
And I *NEED* to keep Miss Congeniality forever, damnit.
Slashdot using borderline misleading category headings in order to post articles promoting the editor's Agenda of the Day? I'm shocked, SHOCKED!
It's used to send me money, of course.
Thanks,
Qal
We have the right to make backups of our owned discs and put them into a format that is portable.
Your mistake is that you're confusing the RIGHT to do so with the ABILITY to do so.
For example, I have the right to buy a $10,000 supa-large flat-screen TV. But no one is obligated to provide the TV to me.
You do indeed have the right to copy media for backup purposes, but you have no right to buying that media in a form that allows easy copying. Are book publishers OBLIGATED to send you their books on CD ebcause paper books are hard to copy? Of course not. If you don't like the means of distribution, then don't buy your movies on that media.
Absolutely. You're responsible for obeying the law, even if you don't know what it is.
For a business to survive in the long term, revenue fro providing a good/service must eceed the costs of providing that good/service. There's no guarantee that consolidation will bring better prices or service - in fact, it's quite likely that price will go up, or service will go down, until money in > money out for each business.
That may sound bad, but the alternative is the businesses go bankrupt and the good/service isn't provided at all.
The one thing the consumer might get out of this is better service bundles - i.e. phone+cell+DSL+TV etc.
the problem is literacy and common sense, something that many people seem to lose the minute they touch a computer.
They never had it in the first place. It's just more noticable when you let them touch a computer instead of, say, just allowing them to watch TV.
Are those like the Evil Bits?
No, those would be the No_Sex bits.
Personally I can't wait 'til someone invents some sort of uber bandwidth media-tastic bright & shiny "Hyper Net" (now with unbrakabul DRM (tm)). Then all the drongos can go and happily consume on it whilst leaving the rest of us with our "good old" internet.
We call it Usenet. We're glad the drongos have moved on to places like Slashdot.
How about call me when there's Reduced DRM Edition.
I'll sell you this copy of Win 95.
There are at least 1,000 cookey professors who managed to get tenure at universities running cookey experiments.
There is a very good chance that one out of every 100 of them oberves that their experiment makes a prediction that has only a 1% chance of being coincidence.
I modded him +1 Funny, ruining his informative rating.
But then I replied to this, making my mod not count. Bet you didn't see that coming, oh predictor of the future, did you?