There are things that I will not buy without the peace of mind the Credit Card offers me. I will almost exclusively use my american express for online purchases, and for electronics purchases (free extended warranty, buyer protection, etc...). There is enough competition that I will find someone else with the same price range and that will take my card. Are the 3% lost to fraud really worth the 50% drop in business you would get from refusing credit cards ? These are made up numbers, but fraud is unfortunately part of doing business.
Now I do understand your point of view and I never refuse to show my ID since it's little effort on my part and it makes it harder for bad guys to use my credit card.
There are 2 sorts of cards in the US: ATM (or check) cards and Credit Cards.
The ATM cards, are pulling money directly from your checking account, and they require a PIN.
Credit Cards, are credit. You receive a monthly bill that you can pay in full (for no fee), or partially but with a usually high interest rate (what most people seem to do). You only need to sign, no PIN involved.
Now, you can pay with your Visa ATM without the PIN by saying it is a credit card (I believe they like that since the credit card transaction fees are higher).
I was at Target a 2-3 years back and the cashier requested the ID of the customer before me. He refused, the cashier called his manager that would not let the transaction go through without a valid id. The customer was furious and eventually showed his license even after arguing the signature was enough with his VISA credit card. I remember because the customer was really pushed back hard (yet eventually gave up) and Visa was running ads about how you do not need an idea with their card at the time (before I stopped watching TV).
So what are the consequences if a (major) merchant is not abiding by the rules ? Should I file a complaint with Visa/Amex next time they insist on my ID ?
My brother got several thousand euros worth of specialized equipment stolen from his work vehicle. The thief posted the equipment for sale online much lower than the going value. We found his name and address and told the cops. They know him as a drug addict who sells stolen goods... nothing. The police told my brother that the best he could do was to show up at a meeting with the burglar (remember a hardcore drug addict), confront him and then call 911 (or local equivalent) after confirming the serial numbers match. French police.
Have you actually used the hardware ? The laptops are some of the best machines you can get, even for Windows use: unibody (yes it does make a big difference), high end keyboard, large multitouch trackpad, battery life, overall weight...
I am sure you can find other laptops that match or even best some of the features, but nothing that get to that sweet sweet spot that have the MacBook Pros.
Well there could be records of some unholy activities, like getting married to a prostitute or other embarrassing thing that the catholic church has records of but that would throw off the "official way of thinking" for the past millennia or so.
Uh ? There are historical records of Jesus existence. What make you say he never existed ? I'm not claiming the miracles did happen, just the fact that the man that we now call Jesus did exist. Some facts that I am pretty certain are accurate:
- he was born of a woman about 2000 y/ago (give or take 30y)
- he preached and had some followers... what we would call a sect these days
- in Jerusalem he made some fuss about the temple fees
- it pissed local religious authorities who called the occupying roman forces to do the execution
- he was crucified like many criminals were at the time (most representations are inaccurate by the way)
- some of his followers were successful preaching in Rome, and here we are now.
Now In all these facts I do not see a single supernatural thing. So why do you claim he did not exist ? It's like saying that Hubbard never existed because you think that Scientology is a scam.
Case in point, my wife has a Wordpress blog that is hosted in our 'garage' server. It is much, much easier for me to administer her little section of the server and I really do not have to explain 'files' to her. Add to that the many features that come for free and that are nicely integrated: user management and access control, page views counts, comments. Best of all you can update it from almost anywhere, even from your iphone while you wait at the dentist.
Me, I prefer to do it the old fashioned way, with actual files. For 99% of the population, fully online solutions such are wordpress are just great.
I've lived in the US for about 10 years and I still do not grok the non-metric system. To me 32 degrees is quite warm. I kinda can understand 1-2 inches, 1-2 gallons, 1 to 100 miles. But I have no idea what an oz is (both kinds), what 33 gallons are, or what 50k miles are; to me they're all Library of Congress units.
Something that really gets under my nerve is when I try to compare prices by weight the store label is per oz on one product and per lb on the other one. Even worse they're usually wrong anyway.
At least it seems the average american does not grasp *any* unit of measurement anyway, so I can't feel to bad.
An other big think about street 'planning' in older european cities is that they grew with constraints: the population had to fit within the city walls for protection. As the population grew, more walls would be built further out. Usually the gates from the new walls would not align with the previous one to help break the flow of an invading army. So what seem as a wtf planning nowadays was actually tactical warfare at the time.
Grand parent is correct that the large pathways in Paris date from Napoleon. At this time, medieval tactics and city walls were obsolete so being able to send troops quickly to quell a rebelion was much more important than to plan for a siege.
I'm pretty certain he meant "real world" (workplace, career, etc...) versus the "academic world". Interview are indeed part of the "real" workforce world. Unless you are self employed or have very good family connections, I don't think you can get out of going through interviews for any job above say $25/h.
For the rest of the world, notes are a life saver. Show me one real world scenario where notes and resource materials are not made available to employees.
I'll take the bite: internal transfer interviews. I've experienced both sides of this at 3 different companies where the interviewee is already an employee. We ask 'real world' questions, no notes and resource materials allowed. You asked for 'one'.
I did 120 mph (about 200 kph) on the Extraterestrial Highway last month. Next morning the waitress at the Little A'Le'Inn told me they never drive faster than 45 mph at night because of the cattle who tend to cross the road. That same morning my wife got a ticket for speeding at 87 mph (limit is 70), she was so pissed I had to do all the driving for the rest of the trip (2,500 miles). So yeah driving at only the speed limit on most nevada highways is very difficult, and we don't even have a sports car.
The only job I did not get through recruiters was my internship out of college. I had a classmate who had a brother in a Sillicon Valley startup looking for interns. Since them I got interviews at big name companies and got hired without any insider's help. I have to say that in the ones with the reputation of 'hard' interviews the recruiters where quite excellent. I think the worse one I've talked to was working for Apple... she pretty much hanged up on me when I told her we would have to do a H1-B transfer (takes 15 days and is actually very simple) since I did not have a green card back then. I've had experience with other Apple recruiters and they seemed OK... the main problem being that Apple takes forever to move between each step.
So I don't think recruiters are useless, not only do I think they can find good candidates, they are also a huge help big taking care of the 'paperwork' side of hiring; both for the candidate and the interviewers. Head hunters on the other hand...
Actually it depends on what your name is. If your name is John Smith, then yes using your name for a somewhat unique identifier is a bad idea. In my case I have a 4 letters last name and it is very 'rare' (probably less than 100 people with that last name).
In some companies I've worked the interns were making *more* than $60k/year, well in monthly salaries but you get the idea. Seems pretty common in the larger Silicon Valley companies.
Some relatively small countries have several languages: Belgium has 3 official languages and is not large, same for Switzerland. There is a global push back against globalization where local cultures are getting praised and nourished where they used to be banned. I also think it is short sighted to consider that the need for a 'shared' language (especially when traveling) would cause language extinction. Most people are actually able to learn more than one language, it is quite common in some countries, especially europe, but usually not in the USA. New languages are also created overtimes, based on existing languages: various creoles, or even plain old English forking like African American Vernacular English.
I'm not saying the bikes have no brakes: they are cruiser bikes with a single braking mechanism whis is a coaster brake. That braking system is completely legal, generally considered safe and low maintenance, however the GBikes suffer so much user abuse (they are used a lot, remember, not personal bikes) that the chain do derail quite frequently removing all means of stopping safely. I never said google employees got killed daily because of failing brakes, rather that in this area the bike accidents are quite frequent. I would also expect the attrition there to drown any bike accident statistics. If you do know a Googler ask him/her if the reliability of the breaks is not an ongoing polemic over there.
A lot of googlers drive priuses because of the $3k+ incentive Goggle was giving at the time. Also a lot of Googlers ride bikes with complete disregard of their own, or others, safety. Add to that these bikes are infamous for dropping their chain and hence the only braking system while going downhill at an intersection (they're cheap cruiser bikes).
I don't have any numbers but cyclist/pedestrian meet prius/SUV was quite frequent when I worked there. They even put buckets of small orange flags at street crossing for you to wave "don't run me over", and even got a red light installed by the city a the main parking lot entrance to reduce accident.
This example come to mind because I was biking to work and the concentration of priuses and adults with no clue on how to bike safely where a concern for my own safety.
I use a 17" MacBook Pro provided by my employer, my wallet did not feel anything.
On my desk I use a 30" Display and the laptop has no problem driving it. At my former employer I had a 30" display and a dual 24" setup on the side. I turned out that one 30" display is more than enough for my needs.
As some have mentioned the MacBook Pro keyboard is one of the best laptop keyboards around. Yet for desk use I've had the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for 4+ years now and a Logitech MX Revolution for the mouse.
But you are right my 30" display might have costed as much as your dual 24" setup. Still it is probably less than what some people in my area spend on gas for the year.
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There are things that I will not buy without the peace of mind the Credit Card offers me. I will almost exclusively use my american express for online purchases, and for electronics purchases (free extended warranty, buyer protection, etc ...). There is enough competition that I will find someone else with the same price range and that will take my card. Are the 3% lost to fraud really worth the 50% drop in business you would get from refusing credit cards ? These are made up numbers, but fraud is unfortunately part of doing business.
Now I do understand your point of view and I never refuse to show my ID since it's little effort on my part and it makes it harder for bad guys to use my credit card.
There are 2 sorts of cards in the US: ATM (or check) cards and Credit Cards.
The ATM cards, are pulling money directly from your checking account, and they require a PIN.
Credit Cards, are credit. You receive a monthly bill that you can pay in full (for no fee), or partially but with a usually high interest rate (what most people seem to do). You only need to sign, no PIN involved.
Now, you can pay with your Visa ATM without the PIN by saying it is a credit card (I believe they like that since the credit card transaction fees are higher).
I was at Target a 2-3 years back and the cashier requested the ID of the customer before me. He refused, the cashier called his manager that would not let the transaction go through without a valid id. The customer was furious and eventually showed his license even after arguing the signature was enough with his VISA credit card. I remember because the customer was really pushed back hard (yet eventually gave up) and Visa was running ads about how you do not need an idea with their card at the time (before I stopped watching TV).
So what are the consequences if a (major) merchant is not abiding by the rules ? Should I file a complaint with Visa/Amex next time they insist on my ID ?
My brother got several thousand euros worth of specialized equipment stolen from his work vehicle. The thief posted the equipment for sale online much lower than the going value. We found his name and address and told the cops. They know him as a drug addict who sells stolen goods ... nothing. The police told my brother that the best he could do was to show up at a meeting with the burglar (remember a hardcore drug addict), confront him and then call 911 (or local equivalent) after confirming the serial numbers match. French police.
Have you actually used the hardware ? The laptops are some of the best machines you can get, even for Windows use: unibody (yes it does make a big difference), high end keyboard, large multitouch trackpad, battery life, overall weight ...
I am sure you can find other laptops that match or even best some of the features, but nothing that get to that sweet sweet spot that have the MacBook Pros.
I guess the "knowingly" wording helps. Granted I have not RTFA so I don't know if the guy is covered or not.
Well there could be records of some unholy activities, like getting married to a prostitute or other embarrassing thing that the catholic church has records of but that would throw off the "official way of thinking" for the past millennia or so.
You forgot about the illegal wiretaps already ?
I stand corrected,there is no evidence for the existence of Jesus that comes from the time of Jesus. I though there were ancient records, but it seems the earliest ones are from many years after his alleged death, and then by christians.
Uh ? There are historical records of Jesus existence. What make you say he never existed ? I'm not claiming the miracles did happen, just the fact that the man that we now call Jesus did exist. Some facts that I am pretty certain are accurate: ... what we would call a sect these days
- he was born of a woman about 2000 y/ago (give or take 30y)
- he preached and had some followers
- in Jerusalem he made some fuss about the temple fees
- it pissed local religious authorities who called the occupying roman forces to do the execution
- he was crucified like many criminals were at the time (most representations are inaccurate by the way)
- some of his followers were successful preaching in Rome, and here we are now.
Now In all these facts I do not see a single supernatural thing. So why do you claim he did not exist ? It's like saying that Hubbard never existed because you think that Scientology is a scam.
Case in point, my wife has a Wordpress blog that is hosted in our 'garage' server. It is much, much easier for me to administer her little section of the server and I really do not have to explain 'files' to her. Add to that the many features that come for free and that are nicely integrated: user management and access control, page views counts, comments. Best of all you can update it from almost anywhere, even from your iphone while you wait at the dentist.
Me, I prefer to do it the old fashioned way, with actual files. For 99% of the population, fully online solutions such are wordpress are just great.
I've lived in the US for about 10 years and I still do not grok the non-metric system. To me 32 degrees is quite warm. I kinda can understand 1-2 inches, 1-2 gallons, 1 to 100 miles. But I have no idea what an oz is (both kinds), what 33 gallons are, or what 50k miles are; to me they're all Library of Congress units.
Something that really gets under my nerve is when I try to compare prices by weight the store label is per oz on one product and per lb on the other one. Even worse they're usually wrong anyway.
At least it seems the average american does not grasp *any* unit of measurement anyway, so I can't feel to bad.
An other big think about street 'planning' in older european cities is that they grew with constraints: the population had to fit within the city walls for protection. As the population grew, more walls would be built further out. Usually the gates from the new walls would not align with the previous one to help break the flow of an invading army. So what seem as a wtf planning nowadays was actually tactical warfare at the time.
Grand parent is correct that the large pathways in Paris date from Napoleon. At this time, medieval tactics and city walls were obsolete so being able to send troops quickly to quell a rebelion was much more important than to plan for a siege.
I'm pretty certain he meant "real world" (workplace, career, etc...) versus the "academic world". Interview are indeed part of the "real" workforce world. Unless you are self employed or have very good family connections, I don't think you can get out of going through interviews for any job above say $25/h.
For the rest of the world, notes are a life saver. Show me one real world scenario where notes and resource materials are not made available to employees.
I'll take the bite: internal transfer interviews. I've experienced both sides of this at 3 different companies where the interviewee is already an employee. We ask 'real world' questions, no notes and resource materials allowed. You asked for 'one'.
I did 120 mph (about 200 kph) on the Extraterestrial Highway last month. Next morning the waitress at the Little A'Le'Inn told me they never drive faster than 45 mph at night because of the cattle who tend to cross the road. That same morning my wife got a ticket for speeding at 87 mph (limit is 70), she was so pissed I had to do all the driving for the rest of the trip (2,500 miles). So yeah driving at only the speed limit on most nevada highways is very difficult, and we don't even have a sports car.
You mean SQLite ?
The only job I did not get through recruiters was my internship out of college. I had a classmate who had a brother in a Sillicon Valley startup looking for interns. Since them I got interviews at big name companies and got hired without any insider's help. I have to say that in the ones with the reputation of 'hard' interviews the recruiters where quite excellent. I think the worse one I've talked to was working for Apple ... she pretty much hanged up on me when I told her we would have to do a H1-B transfer (takes 15 days and is actually very simple) since I did not have a green card back then. I've had experience with other Apple recruiters and they seemed OK ... the main problem being that Apple takes forever to move between each step.
So I don't think recruiters are useless, not only do I think they can find good candidates, they are also a huge help big taking care of the 'paperwork' side of hiring; both for the candidate and the interviewers. Head hunters on the other hand ...
Actually it depends on what your name is. If your name is John Smith, then yes using your name for a somewhat unique identifier is a bad idea. In my case I have a 4 letters last name and it is very 'rare' (probably less than 100 people with that last name).
In some companies I've worked the interns were making *more* than $60k/year, well in monthly salaries but you get the idea. Seems pretty common in the larger Silicon Valley companies.
Some relatively small countries have several languages: Belgium has 3 official languages and is not large, same for Switzerland. There is a global push back against globalization where local cultures are getting praised and nourished where they used to be banned. I also think it is short sighted to consider that the need for a 'shared' language (especially when traveling) would cause language extinction. Most people are actually able to learn more than one language, it is quite common in some countries, especially europe, but usually not in the USA.
New languages are also created overtimes, based on existing languages: various creoles, or even plain old English forking like African American Vernacular English.
I'm not saying the bikes have no brakes: they are cruiser bikes with a single braking mechanism whis is a coaster brake. That braking system is completely legal, generally considered safe and low maintenance, however the GBikes suffer so much user abuse (they are used a lot, remember, not personal bikes) that the chain do derail quite frequently removing all means of stopping safely. I never said google employees got killed daily because of failing brakes, rather that in this area the bike accidents are quite frequent.
I would also expect the attrition there to drown any bike accident statistics. If you do know a Googler ask him/her if the reliability of the breaks is not an ongoing polemic over there.
Was the NHTSA study corrected for 'location' ?
A lot of googlers drive priuses because of the $3k+ incentive Goggle was giving at the time. Also a lot of Googlers ride bikes with complete disregard of their own, or others, safety. Add to that these bikes are infamous for dropping their chain and hence the only braking system while going downhill at an intersection (they're cheap cruiser bikes).
I don't have any numbers but cyclist/pedestrian meet prius/SUV was quite frequent when I worked there. They even put buckets of small orange flags at street crossing for you to wave "don't run me over", and even got a red light installed by the city a the main parking lot entrance to reduce accident.
This example come to mind because I was biking to work and the concentration of priuses and adults with no clue on how to bike safely where a concern for my own safety.
Dont' get me started on "turn of the century".
I use a 17" MacBook Pro provided by my employer, my wallet did not feel anything.
On my desk I use a 30" Display and the laptop has no problem driving it. At my former employer I had a 30" display and a dual 24" setup on the side. I turned out that one 30" display is more than enough for my needs.
As some have mentioned the MacBook Pro keyboard is one of the best laptop keyboards around. Yet for desk use I've had the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for 4+ years now and a Logitech MX Revolution for the mouse.
But you are right my 30" display might have costed as much as your dual 24" setup. Still it is probably less than what some people in my area spend on gas for the year.