Too much power concentrated on top of the foodchain. Investors have TINY input on decisions, i.e. no input how to make their investment better....as it should be. Stock holders are like parasites on a company that might have a slight symbiotic benefit for the host. Sort of like how a tapeworm could help you lose weight.
Somehow it got lost that at least some of the employees probably have a bigger clue as to what the company should do, how it should execute, etc., than outside investors. At least most employees care enough about their company to care about their job, to see that it is there tomorrow and the day after that. Investors? If enough of them get in the mindset that selling out to Microsoft is in the "best" interest in the company, then the company is forced to do it. It matters not whether the company has technology and IP portfolio that can keep it ahead, enough intellectual capital to hold off Microsoft, etc.
Investors can be, and often are, little "veruca salt" characters. "I want my golden goose, and I want it NOW!", whether they are big or small.
But that does NOT necessarily make it better.
Do read into your statement: Better for whom? It should be better for Google, and Google should do the right thing for Google (and its current Vulture Capitalists). They should definitely keep other outside investors at arm's length.
Think of your stocks like the bet you lay down on a Craps table on someone else's roll. You pay your money and take your chances, right? If you put $100K on a roller, do you then beat the shit out of the roller later, and sue him and the casino for losing the "sure bet"? Nope.
If you don't like how a company is going, fine. Sell your shares. Sell them like a man. Vote with your feet, as it were.
Hmm... IIRC, iron filings that have LO2 dropped on them burst into flames, because the rate of oxidation of iron is fast enough with the LO2...
If the LO2 tank bursts, the Kerosene tank will burst also (look at old videos of Vanguard rockets blowing up on the pad). Lots of oxygen + kerosene. Hmm... fire!
the LO2 will vaporize as soon as the temp gets above -282 deg F, or whatever that temp is.
Vaporizing kerosene helps it burn more in "normal" atmospheric conditions. but being in a pure O2 environment is not normal.
Get a little cylinder of O2 at your hardware store (they're red. propane is blue, and MAPP gas is yellow). Make an "oxygen" tent, and try to burn things in it. Paper burns nice and slow, right? in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere, it burns MUCH faster.
Kerosene does have a much higher flash point than gasoline, yes. But throwing a bunch of O2 seriously tips the scale the other way.
If a B-2 Stealth crashed, would the Air Force ground them all (especially if the B-2s were needed at the time for missions?) Doubtful.
Yes, the military will ground an entire flight system if need be, or even entire flight operations. During Gulf War I, the B-1 bombers were not used much, if at all, because the fleet was grounded for a technical issue, except for national emergency (i.e., drop nuclear bombs).
CH-46 helos have a tendandy to crash in bunches, killing lots of marines flying in them. If it appears to be a systematic hardware problem, the entire fleet can be and has been grounded until the problem is addressed.
If it appears to be a pilot training issue, if need be, the entire flight operations will be grounded until the Brass feel that the training issue has been addressed. But this is usually more related to a facility (i.e., air base, carrier) than anything else.
Obviously, because commercial aviation is involved with making money, it is not as feasible to ground all the world's 747's to fix a technical problem. IIRC, they have come close to doing so, but usually with a very strict set of parameters so that it only affects certain planes, especially with the rudder activator in 737's, the door lock assembly in 747's, etc.
No, think Evil Kineval [sp], and his failed "rocket-powered motorcycle" jump across the Snake River.
At least with the balloon-assisted launch, if the engine fails to produce enough thrust, hopefully the capsule can be separated before Range Control blows the whole thing up.
Hmm... someone in the Bay Area explained to me about Prop 13 and property taxes. If you owned property way back then, then you're OK. But if you buy property now, you're not.
In California, you pay pretty high sales tax as well as pretty high state income tax. Car registration is pretty expensive in CA, as is car emissions checking. Gasoline is currently $.20-30 more per gallon than the rest of the US in the Bay Area. Can't imagine what it's like in San Diego.
Operating your personal life in an urban area in SoCal can be pretty expensive.
...but if Craig is already netting $25mil/yr, he should have plenty of dough to spread around, unless he's living like an NBA player or Mike Tyson. (While undoubtedly a "nice" ride, a Bently Continental is probably not a good investment).
Somehow I don't think his personal wealth, at this point, is in danger of anything, if he has any amount of brain at all.
By selling 75% of the company, he loses control of the company. Then, the outside investors take control. If they decide they have no more use for Craig, they can fire him if they're evil, or buy out his shares, and then turn Craigs List into another Yahoo/MSN portal.
Strange. When I was at the Univ. of washington, the only mandatory CS language class was Ada (and before that, Modula-2): CS210. Of course, this was the only class that actually USED Ada. But it was to teach concepts. After that, there were lots of classes that required knowledge of C, etc., but you were expected to have learned at least the rudiments of that on your own. There were no official C programming classes at the UW, except in UW Extension.
Hmm... maybe because if it was Linux, they might have made their source code and kernel hacks available at some point, so the rest of the world could go, "hey, cool!"
Me? I would like something like it to be able to hold a long-range, high-res (multispectral?) camera, with a high speed download link, to take aerial photos of farmland, instead of flying a piloted plane, and make them available to the farmer to help plan their chemical usage on their fields.
No, it could be that to be certified for use in a hospital, the device has to be sealed to some extent or another to work in atmospheres that could be highly oxygen-enriched or highly flammable gaseous anesthesias. Most UPSs use lead-acid batteries, which can release hydrogen gas as part of their normal operation. Hmm... They might also have non-sealed switches, relays, etc., that could present sparking hazards.
Even simple things like light switches are different for hospitals.
So let me guess. They used a localized version of MS Flight Simulator 2004, with some localized, highly detailed information loaded into it. And they've figured out a quick way to have it do "checkpoints", in this case, with GPS, some way to confirm real-world observation with what FS is doing inside the plane.
Flying the plane using a simulation of the real-world running on the plane, while updating the simulation periodically with reality checks.
Hmm...
Not so original. That's how US cruise missiles work, for one. For another, seen this on TV some time ago for someone doing exactly this with their own project.
I guess getting cash, as long as I only use Microsoft stuff, for whatever I want to work on, is sort of one of those mixed emotion things. About on par with getting free stuff from Marlboro because I smoke a carton of cigs a week. or Louisiana-Pacific providing me with free siding for my house. or Johns-Manville providing me with free insulation.
...I wonder what the MPAA things of something like this? Better not play your DVD's on the computer driving the display, or they're gonna come knockin'!
...what about applying your accounting skills to something like SAP, Peoplesoft, etc., and hiring a couple of geeks so you can go in and trouble-shoot installations and make them work RIGHT for the customer?
Most of the animals I've seen recovering from (or experiencing) injury are absolutely insane. Generally, if an animal is limping, favoring a limb, or something like that, it's probably hurting pretty damn bad.
The pain threshold for most animals is far and above what it is in most people.
When a sheep with flystrike on its head is desperate enough to not worry about breaking off a horn trying to get the pain from the maggots to stop...
Someone in the House is trying to start up a bill that would essentially remove the jurisdiction for federal courts (and I think, the Supreme Court as well) for ruling on anything regarding marriage rights.
Now, I'm not a great constitutional thinker, nor have I ever played Nomic, but what would happen if Congress passed a law that essentially prohibited the federal courts from overruling its laws by removing their jurisdiction, and the President signed it into power?
How could the Supreme Court even rule against this, if Congress has passed a law that says it has no jurisdiction over that law?
Sure, there is a logic trap here, but...
Too bad a Democrat or other Republican cannot stop this insanity over such a non-issue by trying to pass a law that allows any civil union (whether its called a "marriage" or not) the same legal and financial rights as a "marriage", or prohibits the passage of laws that prevent the passage of laws that punish civil unions at the expense of marriages?
Yes, I'm married. But I see no reason why I should get certain legal privileges, rights, benefits and responsibilities because I am married that an equally committed gay or lesbian pair of people cannot get because they are not "married". That would include being able to take on the responsibility of raising children, will property, implied rights of survivorship, etc.
If these asshats were so hard-up to make a constitutional amendment, why not just roll back their own laws and go back about 60 years, and make it virtually impossible to get a divorce?
Where has the Pope's (the institution, not necessarily the current one's) opposition to divorce gone?
the minimum tip for big parties is because when everyone just throws in their $5, $10 or $20 bill, odds are that at least one person didn't pay up, and the group will leave a miniscule tip anyways. Ask anyone who has worked in a restaurant about this, and they'll agree.
Well, if you want a stereo in your fancy GM car, you know, which doesn't have a standard DIN hole to put it in, I will tell you this, but if you really want to buy it anyways, sure, I'll sell it to you. But what am I supposed to do when you come back bitching about your dash getting mutilated just to fit your stereo in where the Delco radio went?
I bought a refrigerator slightly too big for the hole it was supposed to go in. Did I complain to the salesman or delivery guy about it? NO! I made the hole bigger. I should have measured it more carefully.
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Too much power concentrated on top of the foodchain. Investors have TINY input on decisions, i.e. no input how to make their investment better. ...as it should be. Stock holders are like parasites on a company that might have a slight symbiotic benefit for the host. Sort of like how a tapeworm could help you lose weight.
Somehow it got lost that at least some of the employees probably have a bigger clue as to what the company should do, how it should execute, etc., than outside investors. At least most employees care enough about their company to care about their job, to see that it is there tomorrow and the day after that. Investors? If enough of them get in the mindset that selling out to Microsoft is in the "best" interest in the company, then the company is forced to do it. It matters not whether the company has technology and IP portfolio that can keep it ahead, enough intellectual capital to hold off Microsoft, etc.
Investors can be, and often are, little "veruca salt" characters. "I want my golden goose, and I want it NOW!", whether they are big or small.
But that does NOT necessarily make it better.
Do read into your statement: Better for whom? It should be better for Google, and Google should do the right thing for Google (and its current Vulture Capitalists). They should definitely keep other outside investors at arm's length.
Think of your stocks like the bet you lay down on a Craps table on someone else's roll. You pay your money and take your chances, right? If you put $100K on a roller, do you then beat the shit out of the roller later, and sue him and the casino for losing the "sure bet"? Nope.
If you don't like how a company is going, fine. Sell your shares. Sell them like a man. Vote with your feet, as it were.
...but this is in France.
My guess would be that Apple simply stops iTMS in France. In spanish, I think the phrase would be something like "come mierda".
Hmm... IIRC, iron filings that have LO2 dropped on them burst into flames, because the rate of oxidation of iron is fast enough with the LO2...
If the LO2 tank bursts, the Kerosene tank will burst also (look at old videos of Vanguard rockets blowing up on the pad). Lots of oxygen + kerosene. Hmm... fire!
the LO2 will vaporize as soon as the temp gets above -282 deg F, or whatever that temp is.
Vaporizing kerosene helps it burn more in "normal" atmospheric conditions. but being in a pure O2 environment is not normal.
Get a little cylinder of O2 at your hardware store (they're red. propane is blue, and MAPP gas is yellow). Make an "oxygen" tent, and try to burn things in it. Paper burns nice and slow, right? in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere, it burns MUCH faster.
Kerosene does have a much higher flash point than gasoline, yes. But throwing a bunch of O2 seriously tips the scale the other way.
If a B-2 Stealth crashed, would the Air Force ground them all (especially if the B-2s were needed at the time for missions?) Doubtful.
Yes, the military will ground an entire flight system if need be, or even entire flight operations. During Gulf War I, the B-1 bombers were not used much, if at all, because the fleet was grounded for a technical issue, except for national emergency (i.e., drop nuclear bombs).
CH-46 helos have a tendandy to crash in bunches, killing lots of marines flying in them. If it appears to be a systematic hardware problem, the entire fleet can be and has been grounded until the problem is addressed.
If it appears to be a pilot training issue, if need be, the entire flight operations will be grounded until the Brass feel that the training issue has been addressed. But this is usually more related to a facility (i.e., air base, carrier) than anything else.
Obviously, because commercial aviation is involved with making money, it is not as feasible to ground all the world's 747's to fix a technical problem. IIRC, they have come close to doing so, but usually with a very strict set of parameters so that it only affects certain planes, especially with the rudder activator in 737's, the door lock assembly in 747's, etc.
No, think Evil Kineval [sp], and his failed "rocket-powered motorcycle" jump across the Snake River.
At least with the balloon-assisted launch, if the engine fails to produce enough thrust, hopefully the capsule can be separated before Range Control blows the whole thing up.
Paraffin in North America is a white wax that melts at about 150 deg F.
In the UK, paraffin is indeed kerosene (in the US).
Hmm... someone in the Bay Area explained to me about Prop 13 and property taxes. If you owned property way back then, then you're OK. But if you buy property now, you're not.
In California, you pay pretty high sales tax as well as pretty high state income tax. Car registration is pretty expensive in CA, as is car emissions checking. Gasoline is currently $.20-30 more per gallon than the rest of the US in the Bay Area. Can't imagine what it's like in San Diego.
Operating your personal life in an urban area in SoCal can be pretty expensive.
...but if Craig is already netting $25mil/yr, he should have plenty of dough to spread around, unless he's living like an NBA player or Mike Tyson. (While undoubtedly a "nice" ride, a Bently Continental is probably not a good investment).
Somehow I don't think his personal wealth, at this point, is in danger of anything, if he has any amount of brain at all.
By selling 75% of the company, he loses control of the company. Then, the outside investors take control. If they decide they have no more use for Craig, they can fire him if they're evil, or buy out his shares, and then turn Craigs List into another Yahoo/MSN portal.
But what about non-white anglo-saxon jesus worshipers (there are a few of these in the region!)?
I think your paint brush is broader than your hand can handle.
Actually, cruise missiles don't take off on their own, either. They're launched (either from an airplane or with a rocket motor booster)...
Strange. When I was at the Univ. of washington, the only mandatory CS language class was Ada (and before that, Modula-2): CS210. Of course, this was the only class that actually USED Ada. But it was to teach concepts. After that, there were lots of classes that required knowledge of C, etc., but you were expected to have learned at least the rudiments of that on your own. There were no official C programming classes at the UW, except in UW Extension.
But things probably have changed in 20 years.
You've obviously never talked to anyone loyal to the smallest degree about their choice of pickup truck, then.
Hmm... maybe because if it was Linux, they might have made their source code and kernel hacks available at some point, so the rest of the world could go, "hey, cool!"
Me? I would like something like it to be able to hold a long-range, high-res (multispectral?) camera, with a high speed download link, to take aerial photos of farmland, instead of flying a piloted plane, and make them available to the farmer to help plan their chemical usage on their fields.
No, it could be that to be certified for use in a hospital, the device has to be sealed to some extent or another to work in atmospheres that could be highly oxygen-enriched or highly flammable gaseous anesthesias. Most UPSs use lead-acid batteries, which can release hydrogen gas as part of their normal operation. Hmm... They might also have non-sealed switches, relays, etc., that could present sparking hazards.
Even simple things like light switches are different for hospitals.
Hmm...
So let me guess. They used a localized version of MS Flight Simulator 2004, with some localized, highly detailed information loaded into it. And they've figured out a quick way to have it do "checkpoints", in this case, with GPS, some way to confirm real-world observation with what FS is doing inside the plane.
Flying the plane using a simulation of the real-world running on the plane, while updating the simulation periodically with reality checks.
Hmm...
Not so original. That's how US cruise missiles work, for one. For another, seen this on TV some time ago for someone doing exactly this with their own project.
I guess getting cash, as long as I only use Microsoft stuff, for whatever I want to work on, is sort of one of those mixed emotion things. About on par with getting free stuff from Marlboro because I smoke a carton of cigs a week.
or Louisiana-Pacific providing me with free siding for my house. or Johns-Manville providing me with free insulation.
...because it's not really research, but advertising for Microsoft, through MS Research.
XP Embedded probably isn't doing so well in the market, so MS is trying to do what ever they can to keep priming the pump.
...I wonder what the MPAA things of something like this? Better not play your DVD's on the computer driving the display, or they're gonna come knockin'!
"where's my 2 dollars?"
drtcp
...what about applying your accounting skills to something like SAP, Peoplesoft, etc., and hiring a couple of geeks so you can go in and trouble-shoot installations and make them work RIGHT for the customer?
Most of the animals I've seen recovering from (or experiencing) injury are absolutely insane. Generally, if an animal is limping, favoring a limb, or something like that, it's probably hurting pretty damn bad.
The pain threshold for most animals is far and above what it is in most people.
When a sheep with flystrike on its head is desperate enough to not worry about breaking off a horn trying to get the pain from the maggots to stop...
Someone in the House is trying to start up a bill that would essentially remove the jurisdiction for federal courts (and I think, the Supreme Court as well) for ruling on anything regarding marriage rights.
Now, I'm not a great constitutional thinker, nor have I ever played Nomic, but what would happen if Congress passed a law that essentially prohibited the federal courts from overruling its laws by removing their jurisdiction, and the President signed it into power?
How could the Supreme Court even rule against this, if Congress has passed a law that says it has no jurisdiction over that law?
Sure, there is a logic trap here, but...
Too bad a Democrat or other Republican cannot stop this insanity over such a non-issue by trying to pass a law that allows any civil union (whether its called a "marriage" or not) the same legal and financial rights as a "marriage", or prohibits the passage of laws that prevent the passage of laws that punish civil unions at the expense of marriages?
Yes, I'm married. But I see no reason why I should get certain legal privileges, rights, benefits and responsibilities because I am married that an equally committed gay or lesbian pair of people cannot get because they are not "married". That would include being able to take on the responsibility of raising children, will property, implied rights of survivorship, etc.
If these asshats were so hard-up to make a constitutional amendment, why not just roll back their own laws and go back about 60 years, and make it virtually impossible to get a divorce?
Where has the Pope's (the institution, not necessarily the current one's) opposition to divorce gone?
As long as they didn't sequence a cocker spaniel...
Just about no retailer will let you return software once it is opened. Their hands are really tied on this one.
the minimum tip for big parties is because when everyone just throws in their $5, $10 or $20 bill, odds are that at least one person didn't pay up, and the group will leave a miniscule tip anyways.
Ask anyone who has worked in a restaurant about this, and they'll agree.
Well, if you want a stereo in your fancy GM car, you know, which doesn't have a standard DIN hole to put it in, I will tell you this, but if you really want to buy it anyways, sure, I'll sell it to you. But what am I supposed to do when you come back bitching about your dash getting mutilated just to fit your stereo in where the Delco radio went?
I bought a refrigerator slightly too big for the hole it was supposed to go in. Did I complain to the salesman or delivery guy about it? NO! I made the hole bigger. I should have measured it more carefully.