They are a very crude tool using broad, flawed algorithms.
Indeed. They just grab sales records from county clerk websites, and do quick comparisons that are often wildly inaccurate. For instance, a lakefront or oceanfront home often has "comparables" that are on the other side of the street where prices are half as much.
Zestimates are just ballpark numbers that nobody takes very seriously.
You can't rely on a database without a method to keep it up to date from every jurisdiction.
No you don't. An SDC only needs up-to-date info for where it is actually driving. If I am driving to work in San Jose, California, it doesn't really matter that the data for Mobile, Alabama is a little out of date. Anyway, SDCs have a method for keeping data up-to-date: The cellular network.
Do we make alternative energy more attractive to end users by subsidizing it
No we should not. Unless alternative energy is ACTUALLY COST EFFECTIVE it will not scale, and will not be a significant part of the solution. Subsidizing bad technology just means that you get more bad technology, and you divert research dollars and talent away from the search for something that actually works.
The money spent on subsidies should be spent on R&D instead.
You could say the same about Yahoo when Google started
When Google started, 16 million people were online. Today 3.6B are. That is 200 times as many. Also, Yahoo paid very little attention to search, and devoted almost no resources to it. The thinking at the time was that search was a commodity service and the real money was in being a "portal" like AOL.
Public power is common in America. About 50 million Americans, or about 15%, get their electricity from government owned utilities. They get a monthly bill and pay for their electricity the same way that the other 85% do.
So does "public power" work better? No, not really. But it doesn't seem to be any worse either. It is about the same in terms of both reliability and price. In general, a competitive market is superior to government provision, but since power generation is a natural monopoly anyway, competition isn't really possible, so the government isn't any worse than a regulated utility.
With the exception of the flagmen, everything else you listed is something that SDCs already do better than HDCs. They handle damaged/missing signs better because they have a database that says what signs are supposed to be there. They handle missing lane markings better because they can fall back on GPS and data of where other cars drove on that section of road. They handle animals, children, and blowing bags better because of their much better attention and reaction times.
Google can have a startup take over tomorrow. They aren't doing anything in search that some guy in a garage can't do.
Exactly... except the garage would need to be a few million square meters, and the guy would need ten billion dollars to pay for all the servers to hold the caches and indexes. But other than that, sure, a guy in a garage could easily do it.
The defining characteristic of a monopoly is not market share, but lack of choice. Google dominates search, and I use it, but I could switch to Bing in 10 seconds. Likewise for advertisers, although Google has a large market share, they don't charge more per eyeball, because advertisers can easily switch.
Draft horses are bred to pull loads, they know what to do, and require minimal effort to direct them.
Another advantage of draft horses over tractors is that they reproduce. So by the time one wears out, the next generation is ready to go.
And getting them home is even easier...
Yup. Horses have built-in GPS. At the end of the working day, you can harness up the team, shake the reins, and then go to sleep in the bed of the wagon. The horses know the way home.
And how about if he fired a FBI director that has publicly said on at least three different occasions that he isn't under investigation for anything at all?
Comey never publicly said that, Trump just said that he said it.
Well, Trump himself has said that he is firing Comey for the actions that he previously praised. Why would he lie? If you can't believe the president, then who can you believe?
2) Various stations that don't accept credit cards.
I have a credit card from my wife's business. I buy gas with it as a "business expense" that is fully deductible, so I never buy with cash. If they don't take credit cards, they lose my business. ARCO is the only company in my area that has a "cash only" policy, although some others charge 5 cents/gal more (which I am happy to pay for the tax writeoff).
Logical conclusion: 21st-century TVs are built like shit
Same with cars. I have seen a working Ford Model-T over 100 years old, but I have never seen a 100 year old Tesla. They just don't last like they used to.
We need price stability for gasoline - something like "no more than a 1% change per week"
They have laws like that in Venezuela. I heard it is working out really well. Why should the market set the price, when the government can obviously do it better?
... Dutch city, the price of a gallon of unleaded gas started ticking higher, rising more than three-and-a-half cents by closing time.
...do they really price gas in variable fractional cents?
No. In the Netherlands, gasoline is sold in liters and priced in Euros. TFA translated that to gallons and US dollars, which resulted in an odd fractional cent.
Slashdot Mirror
how every single one just kept on doing the same thing over and over thinking if it works once or twice, it'll surely work 200 times...
That is selection bias. You only know about those dumb enough to get caught.
How could his cousin possibly know that a lying scamming thief would also be dishonest?
They are a very crude tool using broad, flawed algorithms.
Indeed. They just grab sales records from county clerk websites, and do quick comparisons that are often wildly inaccurate. For instance, a lakefront or oceanfront home often has "comparables" that are on the other side of the street where prices are half as much.
Zestimates are just ballpark numbers that nobody takes very seriously.
You can't rely on a database without a method to keep it up to date from every jurisdiction.
No you don't. An SDC only needs up-to-date info for where it is actually driving. If I am driving to work in San Jose, California, it doesn't really matter that the data for Mobile, Alabama is a little out of date. Anyway, SDCs have a method for keeping data up-to-date: The cellular network.
Do we make alternative energy more attractive to end users by subsidizing it
No we should not. Unless alternative energy is ACTUALLY COST EFFECTIVE it will not scale, and will not be a significant part of the solution. Subsidizing bad technology just means that you get more bad technology, and you divert research dollars and talent away from the search for something that actually works.
The money spent on subsidies should be spent on R&D instead.
Nowhere can I save that amount of money from the energy saved :\
Unless you live in Hawaii, where the sun is brighter and power costs 4 times the mainland rate.
You could say the same about Yahoo when Google started
When Google started, 16 million people were online. Today 3.6B are. That is 200 times as many. Also, Yahoo paid very little attention to search, and devoted almost no resources to it. The thinking at the time was that search was a commodity service and the real money was in being a "portal" like AOL.
50 million households is far more than 15% of the American populace. Even if it was actually 50 million people ...
It is 50 million people, not households.
that's still far more than 15% of the American populace (~300million).
The current population of the USA is about 320M. 50/320 = 15.6%.
so dumbfuck - who pays?
Public power is common in America. About 50 million Americans, or about 15%, get their electricity from government owned utilities. They get a monthly bill and pay for their electricity the same way that the other 85% do.
So does "public power" work better? No, not really. But it doesn't seem to be any worse either. It is about the same in terms of both reliability and price. In general, a competitive market is superior to government provision, but since power generation is a natural monopoly anyway, competition isn't really possible, so the government isn't any worse than a regulated utility.
www.publicpower.org
With the exception of the flagmen, everything else you listed is something that SDCs already do better than HDCs. They handle damaged/missing signs better because they have a database that says what signs are supposed to be there. They handle missing lane markings better because they can fall back on GPS and data of where other cars drove on that section of road. They handle animals, children, and blowing bags better because of their much better attention and reaction times.
Google can have a startup take over tomorrow. They aren't doing anything in search that some guy in a garage can't do.
Exactly ... except the garage would need to be a few million square meters, and the guy would need ten billion dollars to pay for all the servers to hold the caches and indexes. But other than that, sure, a guy in a garage could easily do it.
capturing of regulators
Why does on-line search need to be "regulated"?
The defining characteristic of a monopoly is not market share, but lack of choice. Google dominates search, and I use it, but I could switch to Bing in 10 seconds. Likewise for advertisers, although Google has a large market share, they don't charge more per eyeball, because advertisers can easily switch.
Since America and France have never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, it is outrageous that they are interfering in ours.
Draft horses are bred to pull loads, they know what to do, and require minimal effort to direct them.
Another advantage of draft horses over tractors is that they reproduce. So by the time one wears out, the next generation is ready to go.
And getting them home is even easier...
Yup. Horses have built-in GPS. At the end of the working day, you can harness up the team, shake the reins, and then go to sleep in the bed of the wagon. The horses know the way home.
God forbid someone grab a telescope and point out the fucking rover tracks on the moon...
You can only see the rover tracks because the telescope makers are in on the hoax.
And how about if he fired a FBI director that has publicly said on at least three different occasions that he isn't under investigation for anything at all?
Comey never publicly said that, Trump just said that he said it.
Well, Trump himself has said that he is firing Comey for the actions that he previously praised. Why would he lie? If you can't believe the president, then who can you believe?
Most, if not all states only allow one price change per 24 hour period.
Bullcrap.
I often see some kerfluffle happen in the middle east and suddenly prices soar, despite the fact that their costs wouldn't be effected
Things are not sold for what they cost, they are sold for what they are worth.
If you see both a diamond and a piece of coal on the ground, the cost to pick them up is the same. Would you sell them for the same price?
If you require companies to price products below what they are worth, the result will be shortages and black markets.
2) Various stations that don't accept credit cards.
I have a credit card from my wife's business. I buy gas with it as a "business expense" that is fully deductible, so I never buy with cash. If they don't take credit cards, they lose my business. ARCO is the only company in my area that has a "cash only" policy, although some others charge 5 cents/gal more (which I am happy to pay for the tax writeoff).
Logical conclusion: 21st-century TVs are built like shit
Same with cars. I have seen a working Ford Model-T over 100 years old, but I have never seen a 100 year old Tesla. They just don't last like they used to.
We need price stability for gasoline - something like "no more than a 1% change per week"
They have laws like that in Venezuela. I heard it is working out really well. Why should the market set the price, when the government can obviously do it better?
... Dutch city, the price of a gallon of unleaded gas started ticking higher, rising more than three-and-a-half cents by closing time.
...do they really price gas in variable fractional cents?
No. In the Netherlands, gasoline is sold in liters and priced in Euros. TFA translated that to gallons and US dollars, which resulted in an odd fractional cent.
Don't forget paying 0 in tax.
Apple paid $10.7B in income tax last year on net income of $69B.
They paid billions more in sales and payroll taxes.