Early in my legal career, I got a job with a law firm that did collections. There are a few good liar stories, like the contractor with "no money" but a Rolex and top shelf car...his wife owned a nail salon..cash business...and she owned everything. I also learned a lot of folks WILL buy stuff with no intent to pay for it. I also learned what "Judgement Proof" meant. (no assets, so they don't care)
Reverse directories and skip tracing, prior to google-stalking, were an art form, one I learned well-that part helped me later in my career many times.
Most seriously broke people have medical bills, not a desire for widescreen TV sets. Most of them worked, saved, and were basically normal before they got snowed with six figure invoices. Unlike the scammers, they had stories that rang true.
The staff HATED when the boss would buy old credit card debit, because it was always bitch collection and always stale. He'd pay 10 cents on the dollar, so if we got a third of it, he still made out. We just got extra abuse, and he was extra interested to make sure we worked the "old cards".
One day, my wife said "we can pay the rent on my income...you'll find another job-just quit-you are miserable" .
I can negotiate. I can face down tough adversaries, Judges, and run a business.
I just wasn't cut out for debt collection.
The one secret that even the internets don't know is...what does it cost to built a car ? That 18k small runabout...The 35k "near luxury car"...the $60k statusmobile ? I'm sure the spread between the 18k car and the 35k or 60k car isn't massive, but the profits are.
If the Chinese can make a 20k car for 4k, whereas the US maker will need 8k, quality being equal, then there is a problem here.
What does it cost for GM, or Ford, or even BMW, to build that car ?
Oh yes. German made VW owner here. Just look at the quality of the plastics and rubber. It is clear one VW is made cheap to be sold to Americans and one VW faces Opel, Peugeot, and low end BMW and Mercedes cars we don't get here. I drove a Mexi Jetta and a German Golf, both diesels. The German car was just better, and worth the slightly higher price.
I do 30k per year. Back in 03, I bought a car with 25 mpg. It was fine at $2 per galllon. In 08 I bought a car that got 17 mpg. Joke was on me, gas doubled shortly thereafter.
New car time. Euro diesel experience, rental and relatives, at $10 per gallon, was instructive. Here in the US, though, cheap is VW, moderate BMW, expensive MB.
Hybrid is great for short distances and city. I considered and drove the Volt, but it was going "gas" at 40 miles....
A VW TDi diesel gets close to 40 mpg at 80 mph. I'd love the e90 320d I rented in Berlin, but that never made it over to North America.
Diesel has great torque....pulls constantly, and other than winning 0-60 drag races, is a better overall package for the normal driver. I'm only limited by tires around town. My 3 series wins on a highway, but for city or normal commuting, the less horsepower diesel with more torque is more useful than the bigger horsepower car.
We drove around bavaria with a 320d and a 316i. The diesel spanked the gas car on the autobahn. At the end of the same trip at same speeds, the gas car used a tank and a half more fuel, which meant $180 in fuel costs. (they are same price in Germany-not in US).
Different tools for different jobs. I've had a few different cars, and a diesel car is like the old big block two barrel version of the big American car. Huge pull off the line, just don't spin it up. (The diametric opposite of the Euro car-like my Mk. 2 16v GTi) I'm still amazed that in Berlin I saw Chrysler minivans with 4 cyl turbodiesels but none in the US...on the very same school run.
Business deals...monitoring encrypted financial transactions.
Congress critters.
The President ( don't doubt this for a second )
oh, and maybe a jihadi or two.
This makes NSA the most powerful player in the loop. Who runs it ? Who appointed them ? What are the internal checks and balances, if any ?
Snowden is a hero, because, while he did break a trust, he did so to warn us that there is a new player, more dangerous than even oligopoly-america, spying in a way the KGB or Stasi could only dream about.
If he is ever arrested, he will spend the rest of his life in solitary....so he is smart to stay away, and I hope he lives a long and happy life in exile.
Two Jetski carbs...fill with brown gunk...also hoses dry out and get hard.
Lower energy value. I got real gas on a road trip recently and could feel the difference.
If it wasn't a boondoggle for connected Agribusiness, I couldn't see any reason for it-not that that is a "reason", but here in the US of A, it is often why (see, Corn syrup and why it is not illegal for food use). Here in the NYC area, there are NO options for real gas.....
Law School is a huge profit center, as lawyers sit with books. No labs, no electronics, just old school learning of a set course load.
Get used to it, with the WEST publishing monopoly law books are stooopidly overpriced.
I'm not a pirate, yarrr... but Blu Ray sucks.
I've had issues with newer discs not playing on my legit player. The mandatory previews, etc are just bogus. The only reason for blu ray is because the netflix streaming catalog is so limited.
This and the HDCP nonsense. DVI should have won, but as open source, it never had a chance.
Reasonable assumption, but Verizon got some wireless frequencies and agreed not to build out. The cable cos got noncompete on broadband to the home. Fios build out is limited to only those places they are contractually obligated. Sorry.
Lived in NYC for quite a while..saw the horses every day. A Carriage Ride isn't cheap, and the horses looked healthy...I don't think they were abused, and the load pulled was a cart of tourists on flat ground. I too used them a few times for dates and such.
Nope, the real reason is some prime real estate is zoned "stables". Get rid of the horses and a few very, very valuable lots become "residential". Buy up a few bits of "air rights" and the 1% get another choice.
Leave the horses...it is a bit of old NY and isn't hurting anyone, including the horses.
You want to hire an H1-B. You then write a description for the visa that can only be filled by the prospective applicants (must speak Mandarin and Portuguese, code COBOL, have a C++ degree and play good lacrosse) You advertise. Many poor saps, thinking it might be a real job, apply. None of them fit your cookie cutter description. (or, want to work for the offered salary). You get visa.
The visa lives or dies at the employers' whim. Gives a whole new area of control over the employee....
I'm amazed. Kids summer camps. Ski areas. In a nation of folks who need jobs, I see a lot of H1-B in certain industries.
Now, I know Sony justifiably gets no love on Slashdot, for good reason, but....
One of the last products built by "old Sony" is a DVR called the HDD 250. They built it for about six months before being patent trolled by TiVo.
Near indestructable. Would record 25 hours of HD, tuned all OTA, analog and digital, was/is fully cablecard compatible.
I have two, still working. 2006 devices, came out when HDTV was still a new thing..part of the problem was that they were too ahead of the analog shutdown.
Until the scumbags at Rovi (nee Macrovision) shut off the listing service, it was the free OTA DVR with a huge WAF that everyone claims to want but that the Cable co makes sure you cant buy
No matter how much you try, there is always one button that each remote has, you need, and that cannot easily be duplicated on a universal.
This is the same problem that we have with e-payment. A system that works for all cannot arise as each player wants to be the only game in town.
Buy them ? You can get a tivo, but there is a rental. The last "non rental" box was the Sony HDD series, which lasted six months in 2007 or so.
I surmise there is some sort of "must be individually addressable" rule under the Cable card rules. There have been DVR since then, but they either are OTA only, or rental basis (TiVo).
The companies have lobbied successfully to get all signals scrambled-save the OTA local market. Since they used to stream in analog the change to digital was used to restrict things...there is zero reason the QAM signals can't be open, and read by most HDTV sets with no issues...save the desire to bang everyone $8 per box, or more for a DVR.
It doesn't really interfere with that...it is more a background noise. I'm still more concerned with sharing the road with people who need a gadget to tell them they are tailgating.
I'm perturbed, as my Valentine One goes off all the time. Always a low level K band hit. Always near a Mercedes, Volvo, or sometimes new Caddy.
It comes from a small radar transmitter, which if it senses a car in the blind spot, lights up a triangle in the mirror of the car to alert the driver as to a blind spot issue.
A small tweak to the mirrors (see new Fords, or any euro mirrors) allows you to see blind spots with zero tech.
These guys and the morons using laser cruise control, such as Volvo or infiniti, deserve cosmic abuse.
I worry about folks who need a reminder they are too close to another car, or are swerving.
I'm sorely disappointed that we let anyone take our manned ride into space out of the US. We should have gotten the capsules up before we stopped the shuttle. OK, the shuttle never became the space truck it was sold as, but as a kid watching US go into space on the teevee, I'm just amazed.
We may have some launch capability we don't know about...consider that the SR 71 was existing in 1960. What do we have today that is that removed from the daily level of tech ?
Taking this to the limit, if you have an older BMW, it will cost more than a new one to keep it going. If you have some skills and go aftermarket for parts, it costs the same as a normal car to keep running.
I have learned NOT to buy any car without a thriving aftermarket for parts. You do have to avoid Pacific Rim imitation parts, but I have bought many BMW and Honda parts with, as the OP noted, the company brand dremeled off.....for half or less price.
I have kids this age....he's +1000000. "tv" does not exist for them other than as a bigger screen hanging on a wall. 95% of the time they use it is for streaming anyway
Slashdot Mirror
Early in my legal career, I got a job with a law firm that did collections. There are a few good liar stories, like the contractor with "no money" but a Rolex and top shelf car...his wife owned a nail salon..cash business...and she owned everything. I also learned a lot of folks WILL buy stuff with no intent to pay for it. I also learned what "Judgement Proof" meant. (no assets, so they don't care) Reverse directories and skip tracing, prior to google-stalking, were an art form, one I learned well-that part helped me later in my career many times. Most seriously broke people have medical bills, not a desire for widescreen TV sets. Most of them worked, saved, and were basically normal before they got snowed with six figure invoices. Unlike the scammers, they had stories that rang true. The staff HATED when the boss would buy old credit card debit, because it was always bitch collection and always stale. He'd pay 10 cents on the dollar, so if we got a third of it, he still made out. We just got extra abuse, and he was extra interested to make sure we worked the "old cards". One day, my wife said "we can pay the rent on my income...you'll find another job-just quit-you are miserable" . I can negotiate. I can face down tough adversaries, Judges, and run a business. I just wasn't cut out for debt collection.
+1 Debit card is good for the bank...not YOU.
appear ?
The one secret that even the internets don't know is...what does it cost to built a car ? That 18k small runabout...The 35k "near luxury car"...the $60k statusmobile ? I'm sure the spread between the 18k car and the 35k or 60k car isn't massive, but the profits are. If the Chinese can make a 20k car for 4k, whereas the US maker will need 8k, quality being equal, then there is a problem here. What does it cost for GM, or Ford, or even BMW, to build that car ?
Oh yes. German made VW owner here. Just look at the quality of the plastics and rubber. It is clear one VW is made cheap to be sold to Americans and one VW faces Opel, Peugeot, and low end BMW and Mercedes cars we don't get here. I drove a Mexi Jetta and a German Golf, both diesels. The German car was just better, and worth the slightly higher price.
The Captiva is designed for rental fleets only-they want cheap. They get it. It isn't sold new to "people".
I do 30k per year. Back in 03, I bought a car with 25 mpg. It was fine at $2 per galllon. In 08 I bought a car that got 17 mpg. Joke was on me, gas doubled shortly thereafter. New car time. Euro diesel experience, rental and relatives, at $10 per gallon, was instructive. Here in the US, though, cheap is VW, moderate BMW, expensive MB. Hybrid is great for short distances and city. I considered and drove the Volt, but it was going "gas" at 40 miles.... A VW TDi diesel gets close to 40 mpg at 80 mph. I'd love the e90 320d I rented in Berlin, but that never made it over to North America. Diesel has great torque....pulls constantly, and other than winning 0-60 drag races, is a better overall package for the normal driver. I'm only limited by tires around town. My 3 series wins on a highway, but for city or normal commuting, the less horsepower diesel with more torque is more useful than the bigger horsepower car. We drove around bavaria with a 320d and a 316i. The diesel spanked the gas car on the autobahn. At the end of the same trip at same speeds, the gas car used a tank and a half more fuel, which meant $180 in fuel costs. (they are same price in Germany-not in US). Different tools for different jobs. I've had a few different cars, and a diesel car is like the old big block two barrel version of the big American car. Huge pull off the line, just don't spin it up. (The diametric opposite of the Euro car-like my Mk. 2 16v GTi) I'm still amazed that in Berlin I saw Chrysler minivans with 4 cyl turbodiesels but none in the US...on the very same school run.
Business deals...monitoring encrypted financial transactions. Congress critters. The President ( don't doubt this for a second ) oh, and maybe a jihadi or two. This makes NSA the most powerful player in the loop. Who runs it ? Who appointed them ? What are the internal checks and balances, if any ? Snowden is a hero, because, while he did break a trust, he did so to warn us that there is a new player, more dangerous than even oligopoly-america, spying in a way the KGB or Stasi could only dream about. If he is ever arrested, he will spend the rest of his life in solitary....so he is smart to stay away, and I hope he lives a long and happy life in exile.
Two Jetski carbs...fill with brown gunk...also hoses dry out and get hard. Lower energy value. I got real gas on a road trip recently and could feel the difference. If it wasn't a boondoggle for connected Agribusiness, I couldn't see any reason for it-not that that is a "reason", but here in the US of A, it is often why (see, Corn syrup and why it is not illegal for food use). Here in the NYC area, there are NO options for real gas.....
dog - also happy to see you come home
Law School is a huge profit center, as lawyers sit with books. No labs, no electronics, just old school learning of a set course load. Get used to it, with the WEST publishing monopoly law books are stooopidly overpriced.
I'm not a pirate, yarrr... but Blu Ray sucks. I've had issues with newer discs not playing on my legit player. The mandatory previews, etc are just bogus. The only reason for blu ray is because the netflix streaming catalog is so limited. This and the HDCP nonsense. DVI should have won, but as open source, it never had a chance.
Reasonable assumption, but Verizon got some wireless frequencies and agreed not to build out. The cable cos got noncompete on broadband to the home. Fios build out is limited to only those places they are contractually obligated. Sorry.
Lived in NYC for quite a while..saw the horses every day. A Carriage Ride isn't cheap, and the horses looked healthy...I don't think they were abused, and the load pulled was a cart of tourists on flat ground. I too used them a few times for dates and such. Nope, the real reason is some prime real estate is zoned "stables". Get rid of the horses and a few very, very valuable lots become "residential". Buy up a few bits of "air rights" and the 1% get another choice. Leave the horses...it is a bit of old NY and isn't hurting anyone, including the horses.
You want to hire an H1-B. You then write a description for the visa that can only be filled by the prospective applicants (must speak Mandarin and Portuguese, code COBOL, have a C++ degree and play good lacrosse) You advertise. Many poor saps, thinking it might be a real job, apply. None of them fit your cookie cutter description. (or, want to work for the offered salary). You get visa. The visa lives or dies at the employers' whim. Gives a whole new area of control over the employee.... I'm amazed. Kids summer camps. Ski areas. In a nation of folks who need jobs, I see a lot of H1-B in certain industries.
Now, I know Sony justifiably gets no love on Slashdot, for good reason, but.... One of the last products built by "old Sony" is a DVR called the HDD 250. They built it for about six months before being patent trolled by TiVo. Near indestructable. Would record 25 hours of HD, tuned all OTA, analog and digital, was/is fully cablecard compatible. I have two, still working. 2006 devices, came out when HDTV was still a new thing..part of the problem was that they were too ahead of the analog shutdown. Until the scumbags at Rovi (nee Macrovision) shut off the listing service, it was the free OTA DVR with a huge WAF that everyone claims to want but that the Cable co makes sure you cant buy
No matter how much you try, there is always one button that each remote has, you need, and that cannot easily be duplicated on a universal. This is the same problem that we have with e-payment. A system that works for all cannot arise as each player wants to be the only game in town.
Buy them ? You can get a tivo, but there is a rental. The last "non rental" box was the Sony HDD series, which lasted six months in 2007 or so. I surmise there is some sort of "must be individually addressable" rule under the Cable card rules. There have been DVR since then, but they either are OTA only, or rental basis (TiVo). The companies have lobbied successfully to get all signals scrambled-save the OTA local market. Since they used to stream in analog the change to digital was used to restrict things...there is zero reason the QAM signals can't be open, and read by most HDTV sets with no issues...save the desire to bang everyone $8 per box, or more for a DVR.
I'm amazed that they sell you a signal. They scramble the signal. They then make you rent a box to descramble it. What a scam.
It doesn't really interfere with that...it is more a background noise. I'm still more concerned with sharing the road with people who need a gadget to tell them they are tailgating.
I'm perturbed, as my Valentine One goes off all the time. Always a low level K band hit. Always near a Mercedes, Volvo, or sometimes new Caddy. It comes from a small radar transmitter, which if it senses a car in the blind spot, lights up a triangle in the mirror of the car to alert the driver as to a blind spot issue. A small tweak to the mirrors (see new Fords, or any euro mirrors) allows you to see blind spots with zero tech. These guys and the morons using laser cruise control, such as Volvo or infiniti, deserve cosmic abuse. I worry about folks who need a reminder they are too close to another car, or are swerving.
I'm sorely disappointed that we let anyone take our manned ride into space out of the US. We should have gotten the capsules up before we stopped the shuttle. OK, the shuttle never became the space truck it was sold as, but as a kid watching US go into space on the teevee, I'm just amazed. We may have some launch capability we don't know about...consider that the SR 71 was existing in 1960. What do we have today that is that removed from the daily level of tech ?
My cable company forces me to rent a box to descramble a signal I pay for......and unlike phones there are very limited choices.
Taking this to the limit, if you have an older BMW, it will cost more than a new one to keep it going. If you have some skills and go aftermarket for parts, it costs the same as a normal car to keep running. I have learned NOT to buy any car without a thriving aftermarket for parts. You do have to avoid Pacific Rim imitation parts, but I have bought many BMW and Honda parts with, as the OP noted, the company brand dremeled off.....for half or less price.
I have kids this age....he's +1000000. "tv" does not exist for them other than as a bigger screen hanging on a wall. 95% of the time they use it is for streaming anyway