I usually file a complaint here and check the "merchant required identification" box.
As a merchant, we wouldn't accept your card, and politely suggest that you pay in cash. We do that to protect ourselves (as you can read about in this thread many times over). If you can't show ID when in person, then we don't want to do business with you.
Your complaints about compact fluorescents are well-founded. Although, in reality, CF's will be replaced by much more efficient, and much prettier-light-producing, and even longer lasting LED's within the decade.
I agree 100%. I don't think solid state drives are "crackpot" at all. I'm waiting for the capacity to get even remotely close (I only need 10-20 gig hard drives for my workstations), and I'm willing to pay an early-adopter premium for them. Even my big fat RAID-5 server only uses 18 gig HD's right now, so I'd swap all of those out for solid state, too, as soon as it's available.
I've said it from the beginning... nobody is going to want to spend years waving around a semi-accurate remote to play games that look like they were written 5 years ago. It just ain't gonna happen. This is the kind of thing that starts collecting dust a few weeks after Christmas. I keep playing my PS2 because it's a good platform, there are good games, and it looks and sounds better with each new game. When I sit down to play, I sometimes play for 4 hours a a time, every day, for weeks at a time (until I'm done with whatever it is I'm playing). I can't imagine doing that with the gimmick-y Wii. It just doesn't have the staying power of a more traditional gameing platform (like the PS2). Wii did real well out of the gates, but it's going to lose most of its steam before the games even begin to hit the PS3 platform.
You forgot that once you "install" this software, you often can't launch it. Last time I played with Ubuntu, I think it was Thunderbird I was trying to install. I went through the steps to "install" it with the "package manager", but then there was no way that I could find to run the thing. I think that "rocks" is a bit over the top at this point.
Why bother handling mail yourself? Like you said, it's a cheap (free) commodity now, and the people running the big services are the experts. Running your own email these days is the equivalent of trying to generate your own power. Yeah, it's neat-o if you can do it yourself, but it's cheaper and easier to let the professionals handle it so that you can get along with doing whatever it is that you do.
You forgot to add: They generate a large fraction of the US GNP, they make the software that has made computers cheap and ubiquitous for everybody on the planet, and Bill Gates personally funds one of the largest charities in the world. Now, if I can only get one of their salespeople to call me back about a large new installation I'm getting ready to do...
Quickbooks isn't designed for a company that size. I have a 10 person company, and I'm looking desperately to dump Quickbooks because performance is insanely bad after a certain point. I've been looking for both an open source accounting and open source point-of-sale package that are as good as the proprietary, Windows-only stuff I'm using now, but I have had next to no luck. In all honesty, we'll probably be going to Microsoft Dynamics because it's a good price, it works, and it does everything we need it to do (much better than the Intuit stuff).
GF ordered a Gateway laptop a few weeks ago. Wanted XP, but she ordered on Vista's release date, and they said they would only sell Vista. If she decides to keep it, it ships at the end of February.
I still like this country. The people running it are complete and total assholes. I'd rather stick around and do my small part to fix things. I have faith that the system will kick them out (and hopefully, imprison some of them) relatively soon, and the US will get back on track. We're seeing a low point in the history of the US right now, and time will tell if the system initially put in place will be resilient enough to recover from the damage done to it by our current "leaders".
Somebody should tell King Bush. Sure, Jeebus won't be happy, but the US is starting to look like a backwater country when it comes to science with him at the helm. The whole "stem cell debate" thing makes me embarrassed to tell people that I'm American.
This is a silly topic. A more relevant one would be, "How would you handle a fresh water crisis?". I find it hard to believe that ISPs at all levels can't or won't continue to add bandwidth. Internet use has exploded in the past decade, and the ISP's have kept up. As long as people are willing to pay, usage will continue to grow, and ISP's will continue to provide access to make money.
Now, all that being said, I still wouldn't build a business that relies on the Net quite yet. We're still in the infancy phase of this new phenomenon, and there might be some serious hiccups in the near future (liability problems for free, open wireless connections will happen very soon, for example).
I agree that the Wii is going to have big problems once the novelty is gone.
I've never seen or used a Wii, but I've got to wonder if the novelty isn't gone for most users of it, already. A $200 device isn't going to have anywhere near the precision (or graphics) necessary to make it a good, long term platform that people will enjoy for years like the PS2 has been. It seems like a gimmick, to me, that will wear off a few days after Christmas.
Can anybody suggest to me what the point of this may be? Is it for Alzheimer's patients who forget who they are? The website suggests that doctors can get your medical information quickly with these chips (assuming the doctors in whatever ER you land in have heard of this, or have a reader). Why not just keep your hospital ID card in your wallet? That's what I do. If I'm found dead or hurt, then whoever opens my wallet will see my drivers' license, and my hospital card, so they can call up my hospital and ask for my records.
While there is no evidence that Main Street firms have lost business due to tax differentials...
That's absurdly untrue. Of course "Main Street" companies are losing business due to tax differentials.
Slashdotters, which seem to have a tendency to shop online more than the general populace, are a prime example. Check out any new gadget article on Slashdot. Nobody talks about buying it locally. You'll find plenty of posts about which generic website has it for pennies cheaper than the other generic website.
Sales tax is just another way to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich.
How so? That doesn't make any sense to me at all. Sales tax is the great equalizer. The more you spend, the more you pay in tax. Sales tax also encourages people to save and invest. I think you have your logic backwards.
I couldn't agree more. I tell my family that I won't deal with their computer questions if they have anything from Norton or McAffee installed on their machines. It's a shame. Back in the DOS days, they were both really good. Now I consider both of those programs malware. (I use Avira AntiVir in my business, and I've been pretty happy with it.)
Any idea how that makes it different from the billions of cell phones on the planet that also have hinges that "bend" to fit your face? I think that this is a solution in search of a problem. I wasn't aware that there are people who have trouble with telephones fitting their face.
Could somebody explain this? Do people physically speak to each other online, while playing games online? If so, why? (Every time I attempt an online game, I invariably end up running into hordes of pre-teens, so I don't play any online games).
Google reportedly noticed the amount of traffic and advertising served by the two websites and assigned them an account representative to help optimize their efforts.
No, in this case, it would be like asking the USPS to please not assign account representatives to personally work with companies mailing kiddie porn.
If they assigned a specific representative to the account, then they certainly are aware of what that site does. That's what makes this a story. I'm sure that there are millions of tiny, illegal sites using Adsense that Google can't possibly police.
Slashdot Mirror
I usually file a complaint here and check the "merchant required identification" box.
As a merchant, we wouldn't accept your card, and politely suggest that you pay in cash. We do that to protect ourselves (as you can read about in this thread many times over). If you can't show ID when in person, then we don't want to do business with you.
Your complaints about compact fluorescents are well-founded. Although, in reality, CF's will be replaced by much more efficient, and much prettier-light-producing, and even longer lasting LED's within the decade.
I agree 100%. I don't think solid state drives are "crackpot" at all. I'm waiting for the capacity to get even remotely close (I only need 10-20 gig hard drives for my workstations), and I'm willing to pay an early-adopter premium for them. Even my big fat RAID-5 server only uses 18 gig HD's right now, so I'd swap all of those out for solid state, too, as soon as it's available.
I've said it from the beginning... nobody is going to want to spend years waving around a semi-accurate remote to play games that look like they were written 5 years ago. It just ain't gonna happen. This is the kind of thing that starts collecting dust a few weeks after Christmas. I keep playing my PS2 because it's a good platform, there are good games, and it looks and sounds better with each new game. When I sit down to play, I sometimes play for 4 hours a a time, every day, for weeks at a time (until I'm done with whatever it is I'm playing). I can't imagine doing that with the gimmick-y Wii. It just doesn't have the staying power of a more traditional gameing platform (like the PS2). Wii did real well out of the gates, but it's going to lose most of its steam before the games even begin to hit the PS3 platform.
You forgot that once you "install" this software, you often can't launch it. Last time I played with Ubuntu, I think it was Thunderbird I was trying to install. I went through the steps to "install" it with the "package manager", but then there was no way that I could find to run the thing. I think that "rocks" is a bit over the top at this point.
Quoting WorldNetDaily is a bit like quoting Fox News... it's about as reliable as all of those "hot stock tips" you get in your email every day.
I just tick the checkbox that says "leave on server". Works fine for me.
Why bother handling mail yourself? Like you said, it's a cheap (free) commodity now, and the people running the big services are the experts. Running your own email these days is the equivalent of trying to generate your own power. Yeah, it's neat-o if you can do it yourself, but it's cheaper and easier to let the professionals handle it so that you can get along with doing whatever it is that you do.
What's wrong with POP? I don't see any limitations or problems with it.
You forgot to add: They generate a large fraction of the US GNP, they make the software that has made computers cheap and ubiquitous for everybody on the planet, and Bill Gates personally funds one of the largest charities in the world. Now, if I can only get one of their salespeople to call me back about a large new installation I'm getting ready to do...
Quickbooks isn't designed for a company that size. I have a 10 person company, and I'm looking desperately to dump Quickbooks because performance is insanely bad after a certain point. I've been looking for both an open source accounting and open source point-of-sale package that are as good as the proprietary, Windows-only stuff I'm using now, but I have had next to no luck. In all honesty, we'll probably be going to Microsoft Dynamics because it's a good price, it works, and it does everything we need it to do (much better than the Intuit stuff).
GF ordered a Gateway laptop a few weeks ago. Wanted XP, but she ordered on Vista's release date, and they said they would only sell Vista. If she decides to keep it, it ships at the end of February.
I still like this country. The people running it are complete and total assholes. I'd rather stick around and do my small part to fix things. I have faith that the system will kick them out (and hopefully, imprison some of them) relatively soon, and the US will get back on track. We're seeing a low point in the history of the US right now, and time will tell if the system initially put in place will be resilient enough to recover from the damage done to it by our current "leaders".
Somebody should tell King Bush. Sure, Jeebus won't be happy, but the US is starting to look like a backwater country when it comes to science with him at the helm. The whole "stem cell debate" thing makes me embarrassed to tell people that I'm American.
This is a silly topic. A more relevant one would be, "How would you handle a fresh water crisis?". I find it hard to believe that ISPs at all levels can't or won't continue to add bandwidth. Internet use has exploded in the past decade, and the ISP's have kept up. As long as people are willing to pay, usage will continue to grow, and ISP's will continue to provide access to make money.
Now, all that being said, I still wouldn't build a business that relies on the Net quite yet. We're still in the infancy phase of this new phenomenon, and there might be some serious hiccups in the near future (liability problems for free, open wireless connections will happen very soon, for example).
I agree that the Wii is going to have big problems once the novelty is gone.
I've never seen or used a Wii, but I've got to wonder if the novelty isn't gone for most users of it, already. A $200 device isn't going to have anywhere near the precision (or graphics) necessary to make it a good, long term platform that people will enjoy for years like the PS2 has been. It seems like a gimmick, to me, that will wear off a few days after Christmas.
Can anybody suggest to me what the point of this may be? Is it for Alzheimer's patients who forget who they are? The website suggests that doctors can get your medical information quickly with these chips (assuming the doctors in whatever ER you land in have heard of this, or have a reader). Why not just keep your hospital ID card in your wallet? That's what I do. If I'm found dead or hurt, then whoever opens my wallet will see my drivers' license, and my hospital card, so they can call up my hospital and ask for my records.
I just don't get it.
While there is no evidence that Main Street firms have lost business due to tax differentials...
That's absurdly untrue. Of course "Main Street" companies are losing business due to tax differentials.
Slashdotters, which seem to have a tendency to shop online more than the general populace, are a prime example. Check out any new gadget article on Slashdot. Nobody talks about buying it locally. You'll find plenty of posts about which generic website has it for pennies cheaper than the other generic website.
Sales tax is just another way to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich.
How so? That doesn't make any sense to me at all. Sales tax is the great equalizer. The more you spend, the more you pay in tax. Sales tax also encourages people to save and invest. I think you have your logic backwards.
I couldn't agree more. I tell my family that I won't deal with their computer questions if they have anything from Norton or McAffee installed on their machines. It's a shame. Back in the DOS days, they were both really good. Now I consider both of those programs malware. (I use Avira AntiVir in my business, and I've been pretty happy with it.)
Any idea how that makes it different from the billions of cell phones on the planet that also have hinges that "bend" to fit your face? I think that this is a solution in search of a problem. I wasn't aware that there are people who have trouble with telephones fitting their face.
Maybe they should have said, "Mission Accomplished!". As we all know, when you make a big red, white, and blue banner and say it, it's true.... Right?
Could somebody explain this? Do people physically speak to each other online, while playing games online? If so, why? (Every time I attempt an online game, I invariably end up running into hordes of pre-teens, so I don't play any online games).
Google reportedly noticed the amount of traffic and advertising served by the two websites and assigned them an account representative to help optimize their efforts.
No, in this case, it would be like asking the USPS to please not assign account representatives to personally work with companies mailing kiddie porn.
If they assigned a specific representative to the account, then they certainly are aware of what that site does. That's what makes this a story. I'm sure that there are millions of tiny, illegal sites using Adsense that Google can't possibly police.