Yes. But the statistics only work in the company's favor. For the consumer, it's an all-or-nothing gamble.
For some people, it's an OK gamble. But a lot of people don't have the reserves to shell out hundreds of dollars on emergency repairs to a luxury item. (Leaving aside the argument about whether or not they should have purchased it in the first place.) For them, the insurance may well make sense. Their cash-flow may be such that an extra $10/month or a planned extra $140 at the time of purchase is doable, but a surprise $300 bill isn't.
And sure, they could "self-insure", and stock away $10 every month, but until they've got a years or two of that banked, the surprise bill risk is still out there.
While in terms of pure dollars and cents the math doesn't work out in the consumer's favor in aggregate, individually, it might be a price worth paying for risk mitigation.
Alternatively, Tesla could fulfill the promise it already made to the thousands of pre-orders....
What makes you think it's not? A poster above noted that he had the option to take his pre-order now, or wait on the dual motor version for later this year. I'm not sure how you made the jump between "new options available" to "not going to make pre-ordered cars".
That's what a friend who lived off-grid used. Shed full of marine batteries. Cheap, durable, and easy to replace. About every 3 months he'd test all the batteries, replace any that were wearing out, close the door, and maintenance was done.
Compared to a power wall, that was far cheaper, stored vastly more energy, and provided higher power draw. The only thing it didn't have was looks.
It's more than encouraging and being nudged hard - iCloud notifications are straight-up nagware. I refuse to sign in, and I get random pop-ups to sign in every couple of hours. Sometimes while doing nothing. I've disabled everything cloud related, and it still persists. Short of identifying what processes are triggering this and killing them, or writing a script to auto-kill them, there's no way around the nagware that I can find, other than signing in.
That MBP is now gathering dust, however, because I got pissed enough to switch to a ubuntu laptop from Dell. Still has some quirks, but nothing as irritating as that.
So I don't "bank" - I've got a couple of exceptional credit unions in my area, and use them instead. Because they're non-profit and member-owned, they don't do most of that bullshit. Truly exceptional service, and really robust online services as well. Their fraud policy is the same for debit as it is for credit, so there's no real risk on the debit side - they'll credit a large amount of what was claimed to be fraudulent before any investigation is final.
Credit cards are ok, but not always great. I have a handful of local businesses that are cash/debit only, and they tend to undercut the major chains by up to 30%. A part of that is not having to lose 3-4% on all credit card purchases, and not having to deal with much fraud because of that.
A second reason why we don't mind the small risk of the debit account is that it's a clear budget, unlike a semi-unlimited credit card. We've got a set monthly budget, and when we're getting near the end of the month, what's left in that account determines how much we go out, and how much we stay in. Sure, we could play accountant as a hobby while using the credit card, but that's extra work for minimal extra gain.
Why would you have all your money in the account tied to the debit card? My wife and I have a joint debit account where we pitch in a portion of our pay every month to buy the normal monthly expenses. All the rest of our money is tucked safely away in other accounts.
I'm somewhat baffled by why people seem to think the only options are credit or "all my money is at risk". Does your bank not allow you to make multiple sub-accounts that aren't accessible by your debit card? If that's the case, you've chosen the wrong financial institution.
The only drawback I've encountered so far is if I have to cancel my credit card because it's been compromised. I'm stuck until the new one arrives.
I walk over to my local credit union at lunchtime and they print me a new one. Takes about 3 minutes. You might want to investigate your local places - I'm not sure how I'd ever go back to the timewasting stupidity of the big banks I used to get financially abused by.
NASA can do it. That's what they were built to do. NASA can intercept a laser shot from anywhere on earth at the moon with its satellites and then return it at the precise time to the same location to simulate the retro-reflectors that the lying liars claim to have left on the moon./s
When you understand how many were dropped there, and see one of the laser ranging experiments in action, it becomes really, really difficult to explain that away. When you've got pictures of them on earth, pictures on them being placed on the moon, pictures of them on the moon from the LRO, and you can bounce a laser off them from earth, I have a hard time figuring out how you explain away the retro-reflectors without magic.
After 3 years of waiting for a decent upgrade to the MBP, last year I ditched Apple and bought a Dell Precision laptop running Ubuntu. It's got some quirks, but in general, I'm far more pleased with it than I had been with Macs for the last few years.
It's certainly in the best interests of the people at the top as you are enslaved to a 15 or 30 year mortgage...
What you're missing is that home ownership is traditionally one of the only reliable means of wealth generation for the lower middle class. A 30 year mortgage is cheaper than rent, and at the end of that time the equity in the house is usually much more than the outlay of that loan.
So yes, "enslaved" for 30 years, but coming out of it with probably 2-3x the wealth you went into it. In terms of ROI, that's not great compared to a lot of investments, but when all you have to invest is 10% down, it's reasonable for a household only making 2-3x the federal poverty level. Throughout those 30 years, the monthly outlay is less than rent, allowing more flexibility and a bit of a cushion when managing expenses. And up until this year, mortgage interest deductions and property tax deductions allowed the bottom half of the middle class to have a pretty reasonable tax burden as well. (It remains to be seen what next year will look like with the doubling of the standard deduction and the restriction on property tax pass-through.)
For the lower to middle middle class, home ownership is really a worthwhile thing to strive for. You're going to need to pay rent anyway - might as well be building your wealth while you do it.
That's still my first reaction to April fool's day on the internet every year.
While many other sites have tried shitposting like that over the years, I've found few anywhere near as successful as that one was. It was so fucking annoying and traumatizing. Unbelievable we remember one day from 12 years ago that wasn't some monumental event in our lives.
Or, maybe it was.....says a lot about our history with this site, eh?
1) Slashdotting hasn't been a thing for like a decade now. 2) This is fucking cloudflare. You know, one of the companies SPECIFICALLY IN BUSINESS TO HELP WEBSITES AVOID THINGS LIKE SLASHDOTTING.
If/. could take them down, that would rather sink their business model.
This is going to be a revolution, but not without some pointy haired bosses sinking businesses in the process. It's going to be the next big thing, and it's going to make their business more efficient. But a whole lot of C*s won't get the limitations or understand what's being recommended, and some major rolling disasters are going to occur as they ride AI over a cliff.
There was a very fascinating paper on AI/Machine Learning discussed here on/. the other week which captured anecdotes of AI going wrong. In general, it was due to the humans failing to constrain the logic, and allowing things like AI choosing 0 for a size because it "ran the fastest", choosing things that are logically or physically impossible because nothing told the AI that it couldn't, etc.
A lot of pointy haired bosses are going to pick up and use AI like a bazooka they don't know which way to point. I very much hope I can convince mine not to.
The real question is which one of these two society would rather have, because we can't have both. Either you don't get to discriminate which means you'll occasionally have to serve people you don't like as equals to those you do, or you do get to discriminate, and racism and bigotry get a pass by society.
Personally, I feel limitations on being a bigoted/racist asshole is preferable to totally free expression, because nobody chooses to be black or gay. Everyone is free to choose a profession where they don't have limitations placed on their free speech.
My preference would be that people stop being hateful assholes. In the long run, I think we'll be more likely to get there if people are limited in being bigoted, racist assholes publicly and instead have to do it behind closed doors. When you grow up seeing everyone largely treated as equals, you're probably more likely to actually treat them as equals. While it's painful for people who want to be outright assholes to certain groups of people at the present time, I can't help but think it will be better for everyone in the long run.
Slashdot Mirror
There's a very difference between having a personal political viewpoint and making your company look bad. You generally only get fired for the latter.
This is not twitter. If you want to use stupid fucking hashtags, go there.
Yes. But the statistics only work in the company's favor. For the consumer, it's an all-or-nothing gamble.
For some people, it's an OK gamble. But a lot of people don't have the reserves to shell out hundreds of dollars on emergency repairs to a luxury item. (Leaving aside the argument about whether or not they should have purchased it in the first place.) For them, the insurance may well make sense. Their cash-flow may be such that an extra $10/month or a planned extra $140 at the time of purchase is doable, but a surprise $300 bill isn't.
And sure, they could "self-insure", and stock away $10 every month, but until they've got a years or two of that banked, the surprise bill risk is still out there.
While in terms of pure dollars and cents the math doesn't work out in the consumer's favor in aggregate, individually, it might be a price worth paying for risk mitigation.
Alternatively, Tesla could fulfill the promise it already made to the thousands of pre-orders....
What makes you think it's not? A poster above noted that he had the option to take his pre-order now, or wait on the dual motor version for later this year. I'm not sure how you made the jump between "new options available" to "not going to make pre-ordered cars".
That's what a friend who lived off-grid used. Shed full of marine batteries. Cheap, durable, and easy to replace. About every 3 months he'd test all the batteries, replace any that were wearing out, close the door, and maintenance was done.
Compared to a power wall, that was far cheaper, stored vastly more energy, and provided higher power draw. The only thing it didn't have was looks.
It's more than encouraging and being nudged hard - iCloud notifications are straight-up nagware. I refuse to sign in, and I get random pop-ups to sign in every couple of hours. Sometimes while doing nothing. I've disabled everything cloud related, and it still persists. Short of identifying what processes are triggering this and killing them, or writing a script to auto-kill them, there's no way around the nagware that I can find, other than signing in.
That MBP is now gathering dust, however, because I got pissed enough to switch to a ubuntu laptop from Dell. Still has some quirks, but nothing as irritating as that.
That could never go wrong.....
It's only strange for you if you ignore large amounts of climate science and instead troll a we debunked bit of science denial.
So I don't "bank" - I've got a couple of exceptional credit unions in my area, and use them instead. Because they're non-profit and member-owned, they don't do most of that bullshit. Truly exceptional service, and really robust online services as well. Their fraud policy is the same for debit as it is for credit, so there's no real risk on the debit side - they'll credit a large amount of what was claimed to be fraudulent before any investigation is final.
Credit cards are ok, but not always great. I have a handful of local businesses that are cash/debit only, and they tend to undercut the major chains by up to 30%. A part of that is not having to lose 3-4% on all credit card purchases, and not having to deal with much fraud because of that.
A second reason why we don't mind the small risk of the debit account is that it's a clear budget, unlike a semi-unlimited credit card. We've got a set monthly budget, and when we're getting near the end of the month, what's left in that account determines how much we go out, and how much we stay in. Sure, we could play accountant as a hobby while using the credit card, but that's extra work for minimal extra gain.
They're only on "B" right now. If you'd suggested "Buggering Baboon" you might have had a shot. Be patient - M will come around again.
Why would you have all your money in the account tied to the debit card? My wife and I have a joint debit account where we pitch in a portion of our pay every month to buy the normal monthly expenses. All the rest of our money is tucked safely away in other accounts.
I'm somewhat baffled by why people seem to think the only options are credit or "all my money is at risk". Does your bank not allow you to make multiple sub-accounts that aren't accessible by your debit card? If that's the case, you've chosen the wrong financial institution.
The only drawback I've encountered so far is if I have to cancel my credit card because it's been compromised. I'm stuck until the new one arrives.
I walk over to my local credit union at lunchtime and they print me a new one. Takes about 3 minutes. You might want to investigate your local places - I'm not sure how I'd ever go back to the timewasting stupidity of the big banks I used to get financially abused by.
Absolutely! Because of the near vacuum, the fire will explode into giant fireballs! Fueled by the thousands of gallons of jet fuel on board!
HOLY SHIT, THE HYPERLOOP IS A TERRIBLE IDEA!!!!! ECLECTRO, YOU'VE SAVED US ALL!
You either don't understand what the GP said, or you don't understand what shell games are. Which is it?
Luckily bullets drop out of the air at property lines, so there's no worry about them straying onto public or private property.
With a Faraday knife!
No, just do what Dell did, and stick it on the bottom bezel so it looks up your nose.
NASA can do it. That's what they were built to do. NASA can intercept a laser shot from anywhere on earth at the moon with its satellites and then return it at the precise time to the same location to simulate the retro-reflectors that the lying liars claim to have left on the moon. /s
When you understand how many were dropped there, and see one of the laser ranging experiments in action, it becomes really, really difficult to explain that away. When you've got pictures of them on earth, pictures on them being placed on the moon, pictures of them on the moon from the LRO, and you can bounce a laser off them from earth, I have a hard time figuring out how you explain away the retro-reflectors without magic.
After 3 years of waiting for a decent upgrade to the MBP, last year I ditched Apple and bought a Dell Precision laptop running Ubuntu. It's got some quirks, but in general, I'm far more pleased with it than I had been with Macs for the last few years.
It's certainly in the best interests of the people at the top as you are enslaved to a 15 or 30 year mortgage...
What you're missing is that home ownership is traditionally one of the only reliable means of wealth generation for the lower middle class. A 30 year mortgage is cheaper than rent, and at the end of that time the equity in the house is usually much more than the outlay of that loan.
So yes, "enslaved" for 30 years, but coming out of it with probably 2-3x the wealth you went into it. In terms of ROI, that's not great compared to a lot of investments, but when all you have to invest is 10% down, it's reasonable for a household only making 2-3x the federal poverty level. Throughout those 30 years, the monthly outlay is less than rent, allowing more flexibility and a bit of a cushion when managing expenses. And up until this year, mortgage interest deductions and property tax deductions allowed the bottom half of the middle class to have a pretty reasonable tax burden as well. (It remains to be seen what next year will look like with the doubling of the standard deduction and the restriction on property tax pass-through.)
For the lower to middle middle class, home ownership is really a worthwhile thing to strive for. You're going to need to pay rent anyway - might as well be building your wealth while you do it.
OMG Ponies!
That's still my first reaction to April fool's day on the internet every year.
While many other sites have tried shitposting like that over the years, I've found few anywhere near as successful as that one was. It was so fucking annoying and traumatizing. Unbelievable we remember one day from 12 years ago that wasn't some monumental event in our lives.
Or, maybe it was.....says a lot about our history with this site, eh?
1) Slashdotting hasn't been a thing for like a decade now.
2) This is fucking cloudflare. You know, one of the companies SPECIFICALLY IN BUSINESS TO HELP WEBSITES AVOID THINGS LIKE SLASHDOTTING.
If /. could take them down, that would rather sink their business model.
This is going to be a revolution, but not without some pointy haired bosses sinking businesses in the process. It's going to be the next big thing, and it's going to make their business more efficient. But a whole lot of C*s won't get the limitations or understand what's being recommended, and some major rolling disasters are going to occur as they ride AI over a cliff.
There was a very fascinating paper on AI/Machine Learning discussed here on /. the other week which captured anecdotes of AI going wrong. In general, it was due to the humans failing to constrain the logic, and allowing things like AI choosing 0 for a size because it "ran the fastest", choosing things that are logically or physically impossible because nothing told the AI that it couldn't, etc.
A lot of pointy haired bosses are going to pick up and use AI like a bazooka they don't know which way to point. I very much hope I can convince mine not to.
But how we will know?
There are lots of things that look good to eat that aren't, and lots of things that are delicious that don't look good.
Only way to know is to bring them back for bbq related reasons.
Personally, I think it's terrible.
But I also think racism and bigotry are terrible.
The real question is which one of these two society would rather have, because we can't have both. Either you don't get to discriminate which means you'll occasionally have to serve people you don't like as equals to those you do, or you do get to discriminate, and racism and bigotry get a pass by society.
Personally, I feel limitations on being a bigoted/racist asshole is preferable to totally free expression, because nobody chooses to be black or gay. Everyone is free to choose a profession where they don't have limitations placed on their free speech.
My preference would be that people stop being hateful assholes. In the long run, I think we'll be more likely to get there if people are limited in being bigoted, racist assholes publicly and instead have to do it behind closed doors. When you grow up seeing everyone largely treated as equals, you're probably more likely to actually treat them as equals. While it's painful for people who want to be outright assholes to certain groups of people at the present time, I can't help but think it will be better for everyone in the long run.