Aside from the possibility of paying more than you would from a retailer, there's the time consideration. How much is your time worth? Spending hours haggling and agonizing over the purchase of some trivial item is a waste of time, as well as being an affront to human dignity. There are too many good online retailers with good prices and cheap/free shipping to bother with eBay-related nonsense, unless the item can't be found elsewhere.
There were people who used to do this. Back in '98 or so, there were quite a few people who would haunt flea markets and yard/garage sales, buy anything and everything they thought they could resell and hawk it on ebay. I know I read more than one story about these 'entrepeneurs'.
In my neighborhood, if we don't want to bother hawking something in the classifieds or on eBay (because of that little bugbear called "personal time,") we just put the old crap out in front of the house/apartment. And by God, it matters not how shoddy that chair/mirror/table/wristwatch is, the stuff just disappears.
Then it shows up a week later in front of a house down the street, at their weekly yard sale. Clever. To my reckoning, it kind of violates the spirit of the deed, but it is clever.
It's just too much of a leap for most people...when Windows XP/20XX offers such a warm fuzzy UI feeling.
I can corroborate your observation. I use Windows XP, and the UI does indeed give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. The stock desktop picture with the verdant meadow under a cobalt sky was carefully calibrated to induce an alpha state upon the user. There...I am looking at it now. Ahh... *bliss*
Lafayette should have Credence Clearwater Revival do a benefit concert for the disenfranchised and call it "Broadband On The Bayou." Just think, it'd be like,
I wish I was back on the broadband,
browsing with some Cajun queen,
mfmmphm..(garbled lyrics because I can't remember the original version)...mffmum bbhmm,
Come to think of it....maybe a public execution would be in order.
We could get one of those dudes from Saudi Arabia, you know, the guys with the big scimitars who lop off the heads of criminals. Then we put up billboards of this glowering headsman everywhere with the message, "If you commit identity theft, I will cut your fucking head off."
The hallmark of antisocial personalities like Mr. Cummings is a lack of impulse control and a succeptiblity to boredom. Even if he had had the sense to "retire," he would have spent the proceeds on coke and hookers and would in short order be back to his old tricks.
Your quip may be closer to the truth than you think.
I remember having one particularly vicious depressive fit one dark winter day. My solution was to go out and purchase a copy of Syphon Filter 2 for Playstation and play through the game in it's entirety in one sitting. A bit extreme, perhaps, but from that strangely cathartic experience I concluded that there's something potentially constructive in becoming engrossed in a video game to the extent that a negative mental trip has no place to reside and fester.
Fascinating that the Western bourgeousie venerates what is effectively a state news agency as a source of unbiased news and analysis, and yet the Soviets' TASS was always treated with derision by nearly everyone. What gives? Their funding model is basically the same, as is the final arbiter of content, the state, which as you put it here, "isn't a good idea to annoy." Well, isn't that always true?
Yeah, just make sure you contact the billing authority and tell them to cancel your trial membership when you're done, otherwise they continue to bill you at the full monthly rate, as indicated in the fine print. I mean, at least that's what my friend told me.
Yes, it's right in the town square. I used to drive past that thing and remark to myself how strange and cool it was to have an old rocket in front of the town hall.
but its nice to see the adversisting budget went to free shiping, I think there right, if companys focused more on the product and less on the hype, we'd all be happyer.
Christ, think about what that means if Amazon is sufficiently confident that they no longer advertise. How many businesses, even dominant ones, can manage that feat? Their name and presence is ubiquitous, like the iPod. Amazon is online shopping.
Other than the free shipping for orders over $25, you're probably correct, IF you are insisting upon getting the book new and don't want to go shopping in the physical realm. A good used book store has a mountain of good books at low prices, including new best-sellers, and is staffed by enthusiasts who will bend over backwards to get you the title you want. This is still a potentially lucrative category of small business.
There are several good used book stores in my town, and I've had to cut myself off from visiting any until I've read through all the impulse buys of the last couple years. Needless to say, it will take a while. For all of online shopping's convenience, there is no substitute for a chance encounter with some obscure tome on a musty shelf.
Slashdot Mirror
Check the US census information before you make such a statement. Blacks and Hispanics are still demographic minorities.
Oh man, why did you have to bring up that memory? I ask because my coffee is coming with it. *Urp*
Well, at least it would be a conversation piece.
Which your typical MBA program is designed to produce.
I want a final battle royale between the Monster Browsers, Mozilla and The Explorah! Tokyo be damned!
Aside from the possibility of paying more than you would from a retailer, there's the time consideration. How much is your time worth? Spending hours haggling and agonizing over the purchase of some trivial item is a waste of time, as well as being an affront to human dignity. There are too many good online retailers with good prices and cheap/free shipping to bother with eBay-related nonsense, unless the item can't be found elsewhere.
In my neighborhood, if we don't want to bother hawking something in the classifieds or on eBay (because of that little bugbear called "personal time,") we just put the old crap out in front of the house/apartment. And by God, it matters not how shoddy that chair/mirror/table/wristwatch is, the stuff just disappears.
Then it shows up a week later in front of a house down the street, at their weekly yard sale. Clever. To my reckoning, it kind of violates the spirit of the deed, but it is clever.
And "Trusted Computing" must be Judas Iscariot, then.
I can corroborate your observation. I use Windows XP, and the UI does indeed give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. The stock desktop picture with the verdant meadow under a cobalt sky was carefully calibrated to induce an alpha state upon the user. There...I am looking at it now. Ahh... *bliss*
I wish I was back on the broadband,
browsing with some Cajun queen,
mfmmphm..(garbled lyrics because I can't remember the original version)...mffmum bbhmm,
broadband on the bayou!
broadband on the bayou!
That would rock.
We could get one of those dudes from Saudi Arabia, you know, the guys with the big scimitars who lop off the heads of criminals. Then we put up billboards of this glowering headsman everywhere with the message, "If you commit identity theft, I will cut your fucking head off."
Might make a dent at least.
The hallmark of antisocial personalities like Mr. Cummings is a lack of impulse control and a succeptiblity to boredom. Even if he had had the sense to "retire," he would have spent the proceeds on coke and hookers and would in short order be back to his old tricks.
Was it Plato or Pythagoras who remarked about the extraordinary amount of time the Olympic athletes of the day spent sleeping?
I remember having one particularly vicious depressive fit one dark winter day. My solution was to go out and purchase a copy of Syphon Filter 2 for Playstation and play through the game in it's entirety in one sitting. A bit extreme, perhaps, but from that strangely cathartic experience I concluded that there's something potentially constructive in becoming engrossed in a video game to the extent that a negative mental trip has no place to reside and fester.
Man: Doh.
Man: Cool trick, God. We've learned to do the same thing.
God: Cool trick. Now try it from first principles.
Man: What do you mean?
God: Well, next time, make your own dirt.
Man: Hey, God!
God: Now what?
Man: I think I figured out that last trick.
God: Doh.
That's alright--just give them some Burroughs to help them come down.
Yes, and I doubt any of them are virgins.
Fascinating that the Western bourgeousie venerates what is effectively a state news agency as a source of unbiased news and analysis, and yet the Soviets' TASS was always treated with derision by nearly everyone. What gives? Their funding model is basically the same, as is the final arbiter of content, the state, which as you put it here, "isn't a good idea to annoy." Well, isn't that always true?
WHILE it was snowing, and uphill both ways!
Yeah, just make sure you contact the billing authority and tell them to cancel your trial membership when you're done, otherwise they continue to bill you at the full monthly rate, as indicated in the fine print. I mean, at least that's what my friend told me.
Yes, it's right in the town square. I used to drive past that thing and remark to myself how strange and cool it was to have an old rocket in front of the town hall.
Do gnomes really live inside rockets? I thought they lived in big hollow logs.
Christ, think about what that means if Amazon is sufficiently confident that they no longer advertise. How many businesses, even dominant ones, can manage that feat? Their name and presence is ubiquitous, like the iPod. Amazon is online shopping.
There are several good used book stores in my town, and I've had to cut myself off from visiting any until I've read through all the impulse buys of the last couple years. Needless to say, it will take a while. For all of online shopping's convenience, there is no substitute for a chance encounter with some obscure tome on a musty shelf.