I worked in retail and retail generally figures "margin" not "markup". That is "what is my margin?" is the question retailers generally ask. If the answer is less than 40%, (if I'm a retail manager) I'm generally not interested. This is a 30% margin. It is also very high volume, so I would be interested.
This is a good point. I used to work in specialty chemicals. Anything less than 70% margin for us was a no-go unless there was a decent volume. Of course, that was gross margin. I think people tend to forget all the associated costs that must be covered by these margins.
All things being equal, a Camry with the same MSRP as a Malibu or Fusion will resell for more at every step in its life, and it's because Toyota has shown that they're going to hand out approximately the same deal to everyone.
Not really. The difference in prices is due to supply and demand, pure and simple. Demand is driven by such things as perceived quality and fuel efficiency. Overall, the imports beat the American cars in these aspects hands down (or at least, that's the perception). Given the way US manufacturers have operated in the past decade or so, they've also done a good job flooding the market. Just look in the paper. You'll find a dozen used GM vehicles for each Toyota.
Toyota dealers themselves also have a small effect on the used car market. There are many other players (other dealerships with used Toyota trade-ins, used car dealers, private sellers) who will affect price more than Toyota itself after the initial sale.
To place a freeze with TransUnion, consumers will need to submit a request via certified mail, but they will be able to lift it via regular mail or by telephone.
Uh, isn't this backwards? It takes certified mail to issue the stop, but only a phone call to lift it? That's like saying it takes a key, password, and retina scan to shut down your computer but nothing else to turn it on. What's to stop a determined identity thief from lifting the freeze with a phone call?
Machines replaced a line full of low skilled labor on the auto assembly lines with a few high skilled positions.
You've obviously never been in a UAW plant. I've seen a production line where one person's job was to take rubber plugs off of tubes......all day long.
For example, let's develop several pre-conception birth control methods which are highly effective.
But this would not satisfy everybody. The Catholic Church believes that anything that disrupts the natural method of conception is wrong. Hence, anything but abstaining or the rhythm method is morally wrong. Even a vasectomy is wrong in the eyes of the Church and many others.
That said, I seem to know a lot of church-going Catholic men (guys who contribute a lot to the church and parochial school, vote pro-life, etc.) who have had said operation.....
Man, am I glad I've got 192.168.0.100 through 192.168.0.105 setup on my network at home. Hmmm.....maybe I should lay claim to 106 through 110, just in case.....
Come on, who cares? Let people be ignorant. It's not like bringing people of below average intelligence or fundamentalist mindset into the scientific fold is going to make them valuable contributors. It'll just be a new type of ignorance to deal with. Let them be.
That would be all fine and well except for one thing: they're reproducing....and at a higher rate than those of us who value science. And those people and their progeny will vote.
No, No, No! The sound is caused by the spirits of dead pirates all saying "Arrgh." His Noodlyness merely alters the frequency so we think it's caused by waves. Yet more proof of his existence.
There are something like 2+ million weddings per year in the US. Imagine if every couple-to-be sent a letter to him, asking for permission to tape people doing the dance. Put in something like, "If you do not respond to this request within 30 days, you hereby grant us a royalty-free license to record and distribute representations of the dance in any form, good or bad, electronic or otherwise."
Let's see him and his lawyers try to answer 6000 letters a day.
Re:Good programming is a boundaries problem
on
Why Software is Hard
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Unlike most engineering projects that are completed and done, most programming is a living growing process that is constantly changed modified and improved.
Most engineering projects (and software projects...hell, any project) are like children. They're never completed and done. Once you give birth to one, you're stuck with it for a long time....
At some point a customer demands more then their current and future business is worth and you have to set your foot down.
I agree that you need to "fire" unprofitable customers. But there's a difference between "firing" them and telling them to fuck off.
If you want to fire a customer, you simply state the policy in a professional manner and then ignore any more correspondence. You don't berate them, no matter how they treat you. If you ignore them after simply, professionally stating the policy, you fire them. If you treat them in a mean fashion, you end up on slashdot. How would you prefer to be remembered?
...the Constitution? They claim to do that. And if you strictly do that, you realize that the government only has the powers specifically given to it in the Constitution. All other rights and powers go to the people and/or the states. Thus, unless the government is specifically given the power to suspend habeas corpus (which it *is* in limited circumstances), it cannot infringe upon on that right. That right, as specifically protected in the 9th amendment, is not disparaged merely by not being listed.
Now, if one wants to "liberally" interpret the Constitution (e.g., not use a "strict" interpretation), then you could make the argument that Gonzales is making. Of course, no neocon would do that for political gain, nosiree. Yep, they'd strictly interpret the Constitution in all cases.....
In my job, I spend a large amount of time at many different companies. I've worked with dozens of engineers over the years, and my experience is that the majority of them are not good problem solvers.
They've been taught the basics of engineering (general and the details for their fields), but most couldn't handle anything beyond a simple troubleshooting problem. What's really frustrating are those who have supposedly been trained in things like six sigma yet can't even throw together the simplest experiment to learn something new.
The best engineers I've worked with are problem solvers. It doesn't matter the field. If it's outside his/her area of expertise or training, he/she will research the information, ask intelligent questions, pose experiments or tests, and properly analyze and document the results.
I had an engineering professor who once stated that he could solve any problem. All he needed to do was apply the same basic principles and then take the time to look up and learn the specifics. That is what they should be teaching. Interdisciplinary work helps, but it should be mostly open ended. Throw a problem at a group of engineers like one would get at work, mainly opened ended with lofty goals assigned by someone who doesn't know voltage from resistance, alkalinity from acidity.
Side note: Part of this problem is due to the fact that companies usually don't let engineers be engineers. They make them act as "supplier managers." Got a problem? Call your supplier. Need to cut costs? Ask the supplier to reduce his/her price. Need to improve quality? Ask your supplier to do everything for you. Automotive companies are notorious for this. As a result, many of their engineers are no better than uneducated purchasing managers.
Ironically, it's much easier to establish an individual's identity (many databases that you can look in and merge, require multiple forms of ID, etc.) than the fact whether an individual is actually a proper agent of some huge megacorporation.
Very true, and my experience is that most places don't even make an effort.
Last year, I decided to get a signed certificate for a site that my company uses for internal purposes. When I provided the information, the CA called me and pointed out that I needed to prove who I was by submitting a phone bill with the phone number I provided. Mind you, they called that phone number to ask me to provide information proving that it was my phone number. I obtained a record from a website that I faxed to them. Yes, I could have edited the page before printing.
The kicker is that my phone number is in a different state than the company's. (I work out of my home.) No one ever flagged this or attempted to contact the home office to verify that I was an employee or authorized agent.
If any of you have worked in a manufacturing plant where you have "old bessy"* or any other machine that's worked for years after the OEM went out of business, this could be a great thing to have. You would be able to fab up replacement parts quickly without the need for a full blown machine shop. The only thing that could make it better would be a 3-D scanner that would automatically image your part and create a design plan for it.
* As an example, I used to work at a plant that had a tube bander that was made in the 30s. It worked so well that the company would not let outside people look at it. There was literally no one left alive who knew the designs, but it worked better and faster that a lot of "modern" equipment. Obtaining replacement parts, however, was damn near impossible.
This law has a major loophole. People without hands can visit any pub they like! I'm certain that we'll soon see an increase in alcohol-related violence by people with artificial hands, hooks, stumps, and the like.
Please, please, won't someone think of the children?!?! We need to implement alternative ID methods. Perhaps something like RFID chips implanted in artificial hands. We should also consider banning artificial limbs, hooks, and the like so these people cannot drink excessively and threaten our children. If we save the life of only one child, it will be worth it.
It sounds like it's just a bureaucratic (sp?) paperwork shuffle. The money will be available. And if not, I'm sure they can find a few congressmen/women to either put pressure on the DoD or write a bill to specifically authorize the money. No one wants to look either "soft on terror" or "unconcerned about troop safety", so this will all work out. Hell, I'm sure Bush, as CIC, can move the money if needed.
If I had done something like this when I was a teenager (granted, back before the Internet was really used outside of academic/research organizations), I could be damn sure that a call from the affected party to my dad would have brought down a world of discipline. No, my dad didn't rule with an iron fist, but if he had found out I did something like this, I would only be using the computer in the middle of the dining room from 5:30 to 6:30 to write school reports. Granted, I could go elsewhere, but home use would be severely restricted. I would have also made numerous, in-person public apologies.
I wonder, therefore, if the parents were given a chance to discipline their children. Sadly, this comes down to a sue-at-the-drop-of-a-hat vs. a my-child-can-do-no-wrong situation.
That said, if the parents refused to act, I hope the parents understand that everything on line lasts forever, somewhere. One day, Ben Schreiber and Ryan Todd are going to have their names googled while applying for a job, pursuing a potential mate, running for office, etc. A smart parent should understand the ramifications of these actions where a teenager can't.
Slashdot Mirror
Using geometric principles, calculate the magnitude of the hotness of the women that each can attract.
.1% who don't get it.)
Can I use the ASS theorem? (Angle-Side-Side for the probably
I worked in retail and retail generally figures "margin" not "markup". That is "what is my margin?" is the question retailers generally ask. If the answer is less than 40%, (if I'm a retail manager) I'm generally not interested. This is a 30% margin. It is also very high volume, so I would be interested.
This is a good point. I used to work in specialty chemicals. Anything less than 70% margin for us was a no-go unless there was a decent volume. Of course, that was gross margin. I think people tend to forget all the associated costs that must be covered by these margins.
All things being equal, a Camry with the same MSRP as a Malibu or Fusion will resell for more at every step in its life, and it's because Toyota has shown that they're going to hand out approximately the same deal to everyone.
Not really. The difference in prices is due to supply and demand, pure and simple. Demand is driven by such things as perceived quality and fuel efficiency. Overall, the imports beat the American cars in these aspects hands down (or at least, that's the perception). Given the way US manufacturers have operated in the past decade or so, they've also done a good job flooding the market. Just look in the paper. You'll find a dozen used GM vehicles for each Toyota.
Toyota dealers themselves also have a small effect on the used car market. There are many other players (other dealerships with used Toyota trade-ins, used car dealers, private sellers) who will affect price more than Toyota itself after the initial sale.
From the article:
To place a freeze with TransUnion, consumers will need to submit a request via certified mail, but they will be able to lift it via regular mail or by telephone.
Uh, isn't this backwards? It takes certified mail to issue the stop, but only a phone call to lift it? That's like saying it takes a key, password, and retina scan to shut down your computer but nothing else to turn it on. What's to stop a determined identity thief from lifting the freeze with a phone call?
Obviously, the female squirrels were not properly covered (being naked and all)....
Machines replaced a line full of low skilled labor on the auto assembly lines with a few high skilled positions.
You've obviously never been in a UAW plant. I've seen a production line where one person's job was to take rubber plugs off of tubes......all day long.
For example, let's develop several pre-conception birth control methods which are highly effective.
But this would not satisfy everybody. The Catholic Church believes that anything that disrupts the natural method of conception is wrong. Hence, anything but abstaining or the rhythm method is morally wrong. Even a vasectomy is wrong in the eyes of the Church and many others.
That said, I seem to know a lot of church-going Catholic men (guys who contribute a lot to the church and parochial school, vote pro-life, etc.) who have had said operation.....
In that case, I'm blocking them with my firewall. Take that, jerk!
Man, am I glad I've got 192.168.0.100 through 192.168.0.105 setup on my network at home. Hmmm.....maybe I should lay claim to 106 through 110, just in case.....
Come on, who cares? Let people be ignorant. It's not like bringing people of below average intelligence or fundamentalist mindset into the scientific fold is going to make them valuable contributors. It'll just be a new type of ignorance to deal with. Let them be.
That would be all fine and well except for one thing: they're reproducing....and at a higher rate than those of us who value science. And those people and their progeny will vote.
Let's build 'em as smart and advanced as we can for whatever we want. I want a Butlerian Jihad. Big time.
No, No, No! The sound is caused by the spirits of dead pirates all saying "Arrgh." His Noodlyness merely alters the frequency so we think it's caused by waves. Yet more proof of his existence.
There are something like 2+ million weddings per year in the US. Imagine if every couple-to-be sent a letter to him, asking for permission to tape people doing the dance. Put in something like, "If you do not respond to this request within 30 days, you hereby grant us a royalty-free license to record and distribute representations of the dance in any form, good or bad, electronic or otherwise."
Let's see him and his lawyers try to answer 6000 letters a day.
Unlike most engineering projects that are completed and done, most programming is a living growing process that is constantly changed modified and improved.
Most engineering projects (and software projects...hell, any project) are like children. They're never completed and done. Once you give birth to one, you're stuck with it for a long time....
At some point a customer demands more then their current and future business is worth and you have to set your foot down.
I agree that you need to "fire" unprofitable customers. But there's a difference between "firing" them and telling them to fuck off.
If you want to fire a customer, you simply state the policy in a professional manner and then ignore any more correspondence. You don't berate them, no matter how they treat you. If you ignore them after simply, professionally stating the policy, you fire them. If you treat them in a mean fashion, you end up on slashdot. How would you prefer to be remembered?
DMS in beer, from bacterial infection or inadequate boiling, is often described as smelling as cooked shellfish or seafood....
"Caffeinated bacon? Baconated grapefruit? ADMIRAL Crunch?!?"
This bodes well for global warming. If enough people see enough of these movies, we'll reverse the trend by creating more pirates.
...the Constitution? They claim to do that. And if you strictly do that, you realize that the government only has the powers specifically given to it in the Constitution. All other rights and powers go to the people and/or the states. Thus, unless the government is specifically given the power to suspend habeas corpus (which it *is* in limited circumstances), it cannot infringe upon on that right. That right, as specifically protected in the 9th amendment, is not disparaged merely by not being listed.
Now, if one wants to "liberally" interpret the Constitution (e.g., not use a "strict" interpretation), then you could make the argument that Gonzales is making. Of course, no neocon would do that for political gain, nosiree. Yep, they'd strictly interpret the Constitution in all cases.....
In my job, I spend a large amount of time at many different companies. I've worked with dozens of engineers over the years, and my experience is that the majority of them are not good problem solvers.
They've been taught the basics of engineering (general and the details for their fields), but most couldn't handle anything beyond a simple troubleshooting problem. What's really frustrating are those who have supposedly been trained in things like six sigma yet can't even throw together the simplest experiment to learn something new.
The best engineers I've worked with are problem solvers. It doesn't matter the field. If it's outside his/her area of expertise or training, he/she will research the information, ask intelligent questions, pose experiments or tests, and properly analyze and document the results.
I had an engineering professor who once stated that he could solve any problem. All he needed to do was apply the same basic principles and then take the time to look up and learn the specifics. That is what they should be teaching. Interdisciplinary work helps, but it should be mostly open ended. Throw a problem at a group of engineers like one would get at work, mainly opened ended with lofty goals assigned by someone who doesn't know voltage from resistance, alkalinity from acidity.
Side note: Part of this problem is due to the fact that companies usually don't let engineers be engineers. They make them act as "supplier managers." Got a problem? Call your supplier. Need to cut costs? Ask the supplier to reduce his/her price. Need to improve quality? Ask your supplier to do everything for you. Automotive companies are notorious for this. As a result, many of their engineers are no better than uneducated purchasing managers.
Ironically, it's much easier to establish an individual's identity (many databases that you can look in and merge, require multiple forms of ID, etc.) than the fact whether an individual is actually a proper agent of some huge megacorporation.
Very true, and my experience is that most places don't even make an effort.
Last year, I decided to get a signed certificate for a site that my company uses for internal purposes. When I provided the information, the CA called me and pointed out that I needed to prove who I was by submitting a phone bill with the phone number I provided. Mind you, they called that phone number to ask me to provide information proving that it was my phone number. I obtained a record from a website that I faxed to them. Yes, I could have edited the page before printing.
The kicker is that my phone number is in a different state than the company's. (I work out of my home.) No one ever flagged this or attempted to contact the home office to verify that I was an employee or authorized agent.
If any of you have worked in a manufacturing plant where you have "old bessy"* or any other machine that's worked for years after the OEM went out of business, this could be a great thing to have. You would be able to fab up replacement parts quickly without the need for a full blown machine shop. The only thing that could make it better would be a 3-D scanner that would automatically image your part and create a design plan for it.
* As an example, I used to work at a plant that had a tube bander that was made in the 30s. It worked so well that the company would not let outside people look at it. There was literally no one left alive who knew the designs, but it worked better and faster that a lot of "modern" equipment. Obtaining replacement parts, however, was damn near impossible.
This law has a major loophole. People without hands can visit any pub they like! I'm certain that we'll soon see an increase in alcohol-related violence by people with artificial hands, hooks, stumps, and the like.
Please, please, won't someone think of the children?!?! We need to implement alternative ID methods. Perhaps something like RFID chips implanted in artificial hands. We should also consider banning artificial limbs, hooks, and the like so these people cannot drink excessively and threaten our children. If we save the life of only one child, it will be worth it.
It sounds like it's just a bureaucratic (sp?) paperwork shuffle. The money will be available. And if not, I'm sure they can find a few congressmen/women to either put pressure on the DoD or write a bill to specifically authorize the money. No one wants to look either "soft on terror" or "unconcerned about troop safety", so this will all work out. Hell, I'm sure Bush, as CIC, can move the money if needed.
If I had done something like this when I was a teenager (granted, back before the Internet was really used outside of academic/research organizations), I could be damn sure that a call from the affected party to my dad would have brought down a world of discipline. No, my dad didn't rule with an iron fist, but if he had found out I did something like this, I would only be using the computer in the middle of the dining room from 5:30 to 6:30 to write school reports. Granted, I could go elsewhere, but home use would be severely restricted. I would have also made numerous, in-person public apologies.
I wonder, therefore, if the parents were given a chance to discipline their children. Sadly, this comes down to a sue-at-the-drop-of-a-hat vs. a my-child-can-do-no-wrong situation.
That said, if the parents refused to act, I hope the parents understand that everything on line lasts forever, somewhere. One day, Ben Schreiber and Ryan Todd are going to have their names googled while applying for a job, pursuing a potential mate, running for office, etc. A smart parent should understand the ramifications of these actions where a teenager can't.