Both Amazon and Apple engage in the kind of "free market capitalism" that made the Soprano's famous: pay us or you won't be around very much longer. They have the same relationship with the market that a pig farmer has to his pigs. The pigs have very little say in the matter.
Actually, I think the overall idea is more akin to renting a booth at a bazaar or flea market. The fact they are charging you to use their infrastructure doesn't seem all that bad. The 30% seems over the top to me and the extra rules they have in place to try to force you to use their infrastructure is the part that looks like racketeering.
The question to ask is: do most developers deal with these factors because it's worth 30%, or do they deal with it because they don't have another option? If it's the latter, then it's not capitalism that we're seeing here. Amazon appears to be trying to prove that there is another way.
I'm not at all convinced that the grass was greener "back in the day." People love to romanticize the time they spent growing up but that doesn't make it true.
let's assume participants are adults who know what they are getting into
What about the American public makes you think this is a reasonable assumption? We can't even assume that people who order hot coffee are adults who know that coffee is hot.
The problem with ascending or descending that fast is that many people will have issues with sinus pressure that can't keep equilibrium. Comfortable ascent/descent in an unpressurized airplane is between 500 fpm and 1000 fpm. 45mph straight up or down is about 4,000 fpm. It hurts my ears just thinking about riding this elevator without it being pressurized!
Grades aren't a measure of intelligence or talent, they are a measure of knowledge. If I'm looking to hire a leader, I am not looking at their GPA from college (or high school), I am looking at what they've done since then.
if you want a minority to get into a school ahead of a white kid even though the white kid worked harder and scored better
Worked harder != scored better. Lots of people work very hard just to get a C, and lots of privileged kids don't work very hard at all and manage an A or at least a B. There's an important debate to be had about whether it's more important for a student to be a hard worker, or a to have higher scores.
What I'm saying is that you need to challenge your implied assumption that just because the white kid had higher scores, he must have worked harder. I'm not saying these minority quotas are a good idea by any means, but definitely the selection process needs to include more than grades, and right now there's no great way to judge if the kid is a hard worker or not.
No, the point is that you think $32k is not a lot of money, and I know plenty of people who would feel rich if they were making a solid $32k right now. Your anecdote falls short. In 2004, I was married, my wife didn't work, and yet we were able to afford our own house, two cars, food, and student loans on only about $27k/yr gross and still had room for extra things like a decent TV or upgrades to the house. $32k income for a single person may not be rich, but it's not even close to poverty. The top of this thread is talking about the poor. You are not poor.
In addition to all that, many people in these situations were not as fortunate as you and I were to be taught how to manage our money. When they do get a little bit ahead, you see them blow the extra money on something stupid instead of socking it away in case something happens, or trying to eliminate a debt (and therefore a payment).
My wife and I are also on this band wagon, and not only do I not think it is selfish, but frankly I think some of the people I know with 5 or 6 kids are actually the selfish ones because they seem to think the rest of the world should praise them for their efforts raising a big family. Yes, raising a child is work, but if you didn't want the job you didn't have to have the child. Don't complain about the crappy hours and poor pay -- instead go get a better paying job with decent hours and then pay for daycare.
I've also been using FreeTaxUSA for a couple of years. On top of what parent said, they don't really have a lot of nags asking you to upgrade. They change for state(s) if you want them to handle that, too, but it's not very much. Yes, they can handle more than one state if you moved. Outside of upgrading to include states, there are no other fees and the site is very easy to use.
Agreed, Slashdot has become a strange place lately. Certainly not the place where people put deep thought to a topic and set their emotions aside like it once was. I'd mod you up but already commented.
Hate to say it, but if you're going to post about how great you are, you should expect people to pick you apart on any internet forum, including Slashdot.
Something goes wrong in a vehicle, the vast majority of the time you end up stuck on the road.
Things go wrong much less in a plane, and when they do the plane has backups for most systems that have any likelihood of failing. Also, all of those systems undergo thorough inspection every year (even more often for rentals). So yes, when something serious goes wrong in a plane, it is far more difficult to safely "pull over" but the level of rigor preventing those bad things from happening more than makes up for it. On top of all that, it's not like anyone is stopping you from asking the pilot to show you his logbook prior to the flight.
Slashdot Mirror
Go figure the parent got modded "Troll." How disappointing.
Actually, I think the overall idea is more akin to renting a booth at a bazaar or flea market. The fact they are charging you to use their infrastructure doesn't seem all that bad. The 30% seems over the top to me and the extra rules they have in place to try to force you to use their infrastructure is the part that looks like racketeering.
The question to ask is: do most developers deal with these factors because it's worth 30%, or do they deal with it because they don't have another option? If it's the latter, then it's not capitalism that we're seeing here. Amazon appears to be trying to prove that there is another way.
I'm not at all convinced that the grass was greener "back in the day." People love to romanticize the time they spent growing up but that doesn't make it true.
Yes, or introduce a delay at either the top or the bottom while pressure normalizes, which defeats the purpose of a fast elevator anyway.
I know better than to disagree ;-)
This isn't about "OMG Apple is dying!" it's about the iPad (a single product line) not being able to sustain sales.
What about the American public makes you think this is a reasonable assumption? We can't even assume that people who order hot coffee are adults who know that coffee is hot.
Pronoun, not preposition. Sorry. Need more coffee.
Actually, it technically is the gender neutral preposition. It is not, apparently, politically correct but it *is* grammatically correct.
Wikipedia Reference
Also, "Man" and "Mankind" still refer to all humans, not just male humans.
The problem with ascending or descending that fast is that many people will have issues with sinus pressure that can't keep equilibrium. Comfortable ascent/descent in an unpressurized airplane is between 500 fpm and 1000 fpm. 45mph straight up or down is about 4,000 fpm. It hurts my ears just thinking about riding this elevator without it being pressurized!
Grades aren't a measure of intelligence or talent, they are a measure of knowledge. If I'm looking to hire a leader, I am not looking at their GPA from college (or high school), I am looking at what they've done since then.
That's a great point. If you're trying to fix the problem when the students enter college, you're probably too late.
Worked harder != scored better. Lots of people work very hard just to get a C, and lots of privileged kids don't work very hard at all and manage an A or at least a B. There's an important debate to be had about whether it's more important for a student to be a hard worker, or a to have higher scores.
What I'm saying is that you need to challenge your implied assumption that just because the white kid had higher scores, he must have worked harder. I'm not saying these minority quotas are a good idea by any means, but definitely the selection process needs to include more than grades, and right now there's no great way to judge if the kid is a hard worker or not.
No, the point is that you think $32k is not a lot of money, and I know plenty of people who would feel rich if they were making a solid $32k right now. Your anecdote falls short. In 2004, I was married, my wife didn't work, and yet we were able to afford our own house, two cars, food, and student loans on only about $27k/yr gross and still had room for extra things like a decent TV or upgrades to the house. $32k income for a single person may not be rich, but it's not even close to poverty. The top of this thread is talking about the poor. You are not poor.
In addition to all that, many people in these situations were not as fortunate as you and I were to be taught how to manage our money. When they do get a little bit ahead, you see them blow the extra money on something stupid instead of socking it away in case something happens, or trying to eliminate a debt (and therefore a payment).
Given the numbers you provided, you make over $19/hr. You are working class, not lower class.
My wife and I are also on this band wagon, and not only do I not think it is selfish, but frankly I think some of the people I know with 5 or 6 kids are actually the selfish ones because they seem to think the rest of the world should praise them for their efforts raising a big family. Yes, raising a child is work, but if you didn't want the job you didn't have to have the child. Don't complain about the crappy hours and poor pay -- instead go get a better paying job with decent hours and then pay for daycare.
Ug.
It's amazing how many of the working class don't think of themselves as working class, isn't it?
If GP is going to be considered insightful, please mod parent informative.
I've also been using FreeTaxUSA for a couple of years. On top of what parent said, they don't really have a lot of nags asking you to upgrade. They change for state(s) if you want them to handle that, too, but it's not very much. Yes, they can handle more than one state if you moved. Outside of upgrading to include states, there are no other fees and the site is very easy to use.
That can't be right, the private sector does everything better!
</sarcasm>
Agreed, Slashdot has become a strange place lately. Certainly not the place where people put deep thought to a topic and set their emotions aside like it once was. I'd mod you up but already commented.
I think maybe you completely missed the point of the GP... or I missed your point?
Hate to say it, but if you're going to post about how great you are, you should expect people to pick you apart on any internet forum, including Slashdot.
Things go wrong much less in a plane, and when they do the plane has backups for most systems that have any likelihood of failing. Also, all of those systems undergo thorough inspection every year (even more often for rentals). So yes, when something serious goes wrong in a plane, it is far more difficult to safely "pull over" but the level of rigor preventing those bad things from happening more than makes up for it. On top of all that, it's not like anyone is stopping you from asking the pilot to show you his logbook prior to the flight.
I think you just had a brain sand avalanche.