I was in a wal-mart at 2am one night because I realized that I needed some things for a trip the next morning and couldn't pick them up on my way out of town.
I get to the checkout and in front of me are two guys and a girl. The guys had matching tatoos on their necks that read "100% Honky"
I kid you not. I nearly choked because I was trying very hard not to laugh.
But, sometimes it seems that the Unions are fighting tooth and nail against economic realities in a way that only puts the company they work for in deeper peril.
The union doesn't work for the company. Some *members* of the union may work for the company, but the union doesn't work for the company. This is an important distinction to make.
The union is supposed to work for the betterment of the workers (which, unfortunately, doesn't always happen). Ususally that means that they work *with* the company to come to an agreement. However, sometimes it means that they fight the company for the rights and privelidges of the employees which are members of the union.
In a world where everyone was reasonable and nobody tried to play fast and loose with the wellbeing of their employees, unions wouldn't be needed. Unfortunately, this isn't that world.
I find it kind of funny that one of the things they faught for was the five day work week and sane hours and now companies are trying to call anyone who doesn't do manual labor a "professional" in order to pay them a flat salary and coerce them into working insane amounts of hours because it's cheaper than actually hiring enough people to do the job.
Nope. They offer what they're willing to pay, some people take them up on it, and others don't. The only way to "drive wages down" is by force, like when Dick Nixon instituted wage and price controls to keep the economy from coping with inflation.
You're missing an important part of the equation. When a wal-mart comes into a smaller town, it tends to drive a lot of the smaller shops out of business because people go to by the uber-cheap (usually poorly made) stuff at wal-mart. Those were stores that were supporting the people who owned them and their employees.
Those people have to have a job to pay the bills. Since Wal put so many places out of business, they are, in effect, the only game in town.
Believe it or not, I generally try to resolve things without resorting to any kind of violence. In fact, I tend to be the mediator and voice of reason in whatever group I happen to find myself.
While I am perfectly capable of *really* hurting someone, I'd really rather everyone just be decent to each other. It makes life a lot more plesant.
Part of the problem with a lot of people, I think, is that they don't feel any responsibility for their actions because there are generally no really serious consequences. That makes a lot of people more prone to try and screw other people over. After all, nothing bad happens to the people who succeed.
Downside of knives: The world would be controlled by physical strength, scientists and engineers (especially computer geeks) would be at a sever disadvantage in culture and law
Sorry, but you're really wrong on that one. Knife fighting, and indeed most kinds of fighting, does not favor the stronger person. The victor is generally the one who finds an opening and exploits it - something that is generally better done by the more agile and quicker combatant.
You have three general groups of people when it comes to fighters - big, strong people who are slower than average. People who may not hit as hard, but are a lot faster and more agile. And then there's the third group - people with strength, speed, and agility.
The problem is that most Americans are fixated on attacking someone head on, and that's just stupid. Experienced fighters try to find weak spots or create them instead of just trying to steamroller their opponant.
One of the things that I taught my students was to not to try and overpower your opponant unless you had good reason. It was especially easy for me to teach that to them considering that it would have been laughable for most of them to try and overpower me in the first place (I'm a rather large guy). My students generally ended up being the best in the group even though I started out with the problem people because I taught them the fact that skill, agility, and speed are often more important than brute strength.
People are fragile. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to open someone like a package of chips.
I fenced duello instead of olympic, so my mileage is a little different than yours. Having said that, my most common weapon selection was either epee or twin epees though I was also known to fight with epee and dagger.
I understand missing it. There's nobody to play with where I am now. I grew up training in kung fu with cross training in Japanese and European sword arts and now I have to train alone. It's kind of hard to get motivated, but my point control with my newest blade, a US model 1840 NCO sword (lightweight backsword, which is basically a straight saber, that handles much like a rapier) is still within 1" of a 1" round target.
That's how resources at most universities work. They're funded by either a portion of the general fee that the university charges or a line item on your bill whether you use it or not.
As for paying several times that much a month, I must be weird, because I don't need a trainer. Not counting my weaponry, I have spent all of a few hundred dollars on weights and equipment. Having access to the weight room at college was nice, but the only thing I used very often at all was the leg press machine. The rest of the work out time was spent in the martial arts room using the bags or during fencing practice, at home using free weights, or at the lake, training on the beach.
Other than that, I used the basketball court in order to shoot for relaxation and shot the occasional game of pool.
At my university, the gym was "free" in the sense that every student had access to it. However, we all paid for it with a seperate fee on our quarterly tuition (I think it was like $60 per quarter, which was really cheap for the facility that we had - indoor track, climbing wall, weight rooms, basketball and racketball courts, aerobics and martial arts training rooms, etc etc etc).
In other words, you didn't have to pay when you went there, but you were still paying for it if you actually looked at the breakdown of your tuition bill.
Agreed. I used the gym at my university at least twice a week for fencing practice and generally one or two other times a week to train or shoot basketball, and there were always the occasional games of pool while I was trying to work through a programming problem.
Any region that is destabalized politically and economically is dangerous not only for the neighboring areas because of raids, but it can also serve as a breeding and training ground for militant groups, causing it to be a danger to regions that those groups resent as well (especially in this age, when world travel is common)
I didn't debate that, but if you want to be really correct, the numbers came from India. They were brought here by the Muslims, but they weren't developed by them.
Not to mention the fact that some of the states would have nearly third world status because there's no way they could sustain themselves economically or agriculturally.
There would be insane amouts of chaos and certain parts of the country would be as destabilized as large portions of the middle east and Africa are now.
Just remember - it worked for IBM (who at one time held the exact same position.)
Actually, most of the flack IBM caught was for being stuffy corporate drones - all the straight faced guys in perfectly pressed black suits, white shirts, and black ties. They were generally considered to be more laughable than nasty - the big, slow, heavy dinosuar in the world of fast, sleek mammals.
Completely different creature.
AT&T was the evil one in the view of most of the people in the tech community. Remeber that they're the ones who were basically trying to kill BSD, though I suppose you should thank them in a backhanded way for making Linux as popular as it is (since the legality of BSD was in question at the time).
punting the kobold into the larger monsters. Casting Cantrip to create a banana peel on the stairs in the middle of a group of enemies, taking out half the group. In the middle of the night, casting Darkness on an arrow, shooting it into the wall above the head of a guard and walking past with my lantern. Casting Alarm on the magistrate's chamber pot...
The list goes on. I was the smartassed bard in the group.
My character is standing watch one night while the rest of the party is sleeping. A lone goblin approaches. Me: I toss a marshmallow to the goblin *DM looks at we strangely for a moment*: the goblin pokes the marshmallow with his spear and then sticks it into his mouth Me: I cast enlarge on the marshmallow. *everyone falls out of their chairs*
(sometimes I think the DM just wanted to see what the heck I was going to pull next)
"Admitting" seems a bit strong. There is no evidence yet of them denying the matter.
Not really. All that saying they admit there is a problem means is that they came out and said "guys, we have a problem with the following batteries". It has absolutely nothing to do with a possible cover up.
The thing that gets me is how much less responsive new hardware is running Vista.
My neighbor got a couple of new laptops a couple of months ago. Naturally, they run Vista. He asked me to set them up on his network, and I was amazed at how much slower they are than my laptop (which I got in 2004) that runs XP.
Every person over 18 in this country is "a party to getting the assholes in office" -- regardless of who you voted for, and whether or not you even voted at all.
No, only the people who voted for him (and possibly the ones who didn't vote) are a party to getting him elected. If you voted against him, you were part of the OPPOSITION.
I think they're hoping that since it's Google offering the service, that it will magically be viewed as superior to everything else no matter the cost. I wouldn't want Google to have their claws on all of my data anyway.
I agree with your "advertisement" of dreamhost. I've heard a lot of good things about them, and plan for all of my future sites to be through them unless I have something that I need dedicated hosting for.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually for the people involved, it happens quite a bit before that. At the latest, when the other guy comes at you with a knife.
I was in a wal-mart at 2am one night because I realized that I needed some things for a trip the next morning and couldn't pick them up on my way out of town.
I get to the checkout and in front of me are two guys and a girl. The guys had matching tatoos on their necks that read "100% Honky"
I kid you not. I nearly choked because I was trying very hard not to laugh.
But, sometimes it seems that the Unions are fighting tooth and nail against economic realities in a way that only puts the company they work for in deeper peril.
The union doesn't work for the company. Some *members* of the union may work for the company, but the union doesn't work for the company. This is an important distinction to make.
The union is supposed to work for the betterment of the workers (which, unfortunately, doesn't always happen). Ususally that means that they work *with* the company to come to an agreement. However, sometimes it means that they fight the company for the rights and privelidges of the employees which are members of the union.
In a world where everyone was reasonable and nobody tried to play fast and loose with the wellbeing of their employees, unions wouldn't be needed. Unfortunately, this isn't that world.
I find it kind of funny that one of the things they faught for was the five day work week and sane hours and now companies are trying to call anyone who doesn't do manual labor a "professional" in order to pay them a flat salary and coerce them into working insane amounts of hours because it's cheaper than actually hiring enough people to do the job.
Nope. They offer what they're willing to pay, some people take them up on it, and others don't. The only way to "drive wages down" is by force, like when Dick Nixon instituted wage and price controls to keep the economy from coping with inflation.
You're missing an important part of the equation. When a wal-mart comes into a smaller town, it tends to drive a lot of the smaller shops out of business because people go to by the uber-cheap (usually poorly made) stuff at wal-mart. Those were stores that were supporting the people who owned them and their employees.
Those people have to have a job to pay the bills. Since Wal put so many places out of business, they are, in effect, the only game in town.
And that DOES drive the wages in an area down.
Believe it or not, I generally try to resolve things without resorting to any kind of violence. In fact, I tend to be the mediator and voice of reason in whatever group I happen to find myself.
While I am perfectly capable of *really* hurting someone, I'd really rather everyone just be decent to each other. It makes life a lot more plesant.
Part of the problem with a lot of people, I think, is that they don't feel any responsibility for their actions because there are generally no really serious consequences. That makes a lot of people more prone to try and screw other people over. After all, nothing bad happens to the people who succeed.
Downside of knives: The world would be controlled by physical strength, scientists and engineers (especially computer geeks) would be at a sever disadvantage in culture and law
Sorry, but you're really wrong on that one. Knife fighting, and indeed most kinds of fighting, does not favor the stronger person. The victor is generally the one who finds an opening and exploits it - something that is generally better done by the more agile and quicker combatant.
You have three general groups of people when it comes to fighters - big, strong people who are slower than average. People who may not hit as hard, but are a lot faster and more agile. And then there's the third group - people with strength, speed, and agility.
The problem is that most Americans are fixated on attacking someone head on, and that's just stupid. Experienced fighters try to find weak spots or create them instead of just trying to steamroller their opponant.
One of the things that I taught my students was to not to try and overpower your opponant unless you had good reason. It was especially easy for me to teach that to them considering that it would have been laughable for most of them to try and overpower me in the first place (I'm a rather large guy). My students generally ended up being the best in the group even though I started out with the problem people because I taught them the fact that skill, agility, and speed are often more important than brute strength.
People are fragile. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to open someone like a package of chips.
There's another upside to having it out with knives - people realize that there are actual consequences involved.
I fenced duello instead of olympic, so my mileage is a little different than yours. Having said that, my most common weapon selection was either epee or twin epees though I was also known to fight with epee and dagger.
I understand missing it. There's nobody to play with where I am now. I grew up training in kung fu with cross training in Japanese and European sword arts and now I have to train alone. It's kind of hard to get motivated, but my point control with my newest blade, a US model 1840 NCO sword (lightweight backsword, which is basically a straight saber, that handles much like a rapier) is still within 1" of a 1" round target.
That's how resources at most universities work. They're funded by either a portion of the general fee that the university charges or a line item on your bill whether you use it or not.
As for paying several times that much a month, I must be weird, because I don't need a trainer. Not counting my weaponry, I have spent all of a few hundred dollars on weights and equipment. Having access to the weight room at college was nice, but the only thing I used very often at all was the leg press machine. The rest of the work out time was spent in the martial arts room using the bags or during fencing practice, at home using free weights, or at the lake, training on the beach.
Other than that, I used the basketball court in order to shoot for relaxation and shot the occasional game of pool.
At my university, the gym was "free" in the sense that every student had access to it. However, we all paid for it with a seperate fee on our quarterly tuition (I think it was like $60 per quarter, which was really cheap for the facility that we had - indoor track, climbing wall, weight rooms, basketball and racketball courts, aerobics and martial arts training rooms, etc etc etc).
In other words, you didn't have to pay when you went there, but you were still paying for it if you actually looked at the breakdown of your tuition bill.
Agreed. I used the gym at my university at least twice a week for fencing practice and generally one or two other times a week to train or shoot basketball, and there were always the occasional games of pool while I was trying to work through a programming problem.
You have a lot to learn.
Any region that is destabalized politically and economically is dangerous not only for the neighboring areas because of raids, but it can also serve as a breeding and training ground for militant groups, causing it to be a danger to regions that those groups resent as well (especially in this age, when world travel is common)
I didn't debate that, but if you want to be really correct, the numbers came from India. They were brought here by the Muslims, but they weren't developed by them.
We use their alphabet
Actually, the Latin Alphabet is what we use.
Not to mention the fact that some of the states would have nearly third world status because there's no way they could sustain themselves economically or agriculturally.
There would be insane amouts of chaos and certain parts of the country would be as destabilized as large portions of the middle east and Africa are now.
Just remember - it worked for IBM (who at one time held the exact same position.)
Actually, most of the flack IBM caught was for being stuffy corporate drones - all the straight faced guys in perfectly pressed black suits, white shirts, and black ties. They were generally considered to be more laughable than nasty - the big, slow, heavy dinosuar in the world of fast, sleek mammals.
Completely different creature.
AT&T was the evil one in the view of most of the people in the tech community. Remeber that they're the ones who were basically trying to kill BSD, though I suppose you should thank them in a backhanded way for making Linux as popular as it is (since the legality of BSD was in question at the time).
I was known for things like:
punting the kobold into the larger monsters.
Casting Cantrip to create a banana peel on the stairs in the middle of a group of enemies, taking out half the group.
In the middle of the night, casting Darkness on an arrow, shooting it into the wall above the head of a guard and walking past with my lantern.
Casting Alarm on the magistrate's chamber pot...
The list goes on. I was the smartassed bard in the group.
Almost as good as the following.
My character is standing watch one night while the rest of the party is sleeping. A lone goblin approaches.
Me: I toss a marshmallow to the goblin
*DM looks at we strangely for a moment*: the goblin pokes the marshmallow with his spear and then sticks it into his mouth
Me: I cast enlarge on the marshmallow.
*everyone falls out of their chairs*
(sometimes I think the DM just wanted to see what the heck I was going to pull next)
The difference between D&D, and Magic, is that people (as far as I know) don't play D&D in any sort of tournaments.
Unless you count D&D minis, and then there are quite a few tournies. But for standard D&D rpg? I just can't see a tournament working.
"Admitting" seems a bit strong. There is no evidence yet of them denying the matter.
Not really. All that saying they admit there is a problem means is that they came out and said "guys, we have a problem with the following batteries". It has absolutely nothing to do with a possible cover up.
The thing that gets me is how much less responsive new hardware is running Vista.
My neighbor got a couple of new laptops a couple of months ago. Naturally, they run Vista. He asked me to set them up on his network, and I was amazed at how much slower they are than my laptop (which I got in 2004) that runs XP.
You make a sane argument (and one that I've made for a long time).
So tell me, what the heck are you doing *here*? =]
Every person over 18 in this country is "a party to getting the assholes in office" -- regardless of who you voted for, and whether or not you even voted at all.
No, only the people who voted for him (and possibly the ones who didn't vote) are a party to getting him elected. If you voted against him, you were part of the OPPOSITION.
I think they're hoping that since it's Google offering the service, that it will magically be viewed as superior to everything else no matter the cost. I wouldn't want Google to have their claws on all of my data anyway.
I agree with your "advertisement" of dreamhost. I've heard a lot of good things about them, and plan for all of my future sites to be through them unless I have something that I need dedicated hosting for.
You beat me to it :P
I just loved the irony involved in his post.